Yotam Halperin ( he, יותם הלפרין; born January 24, 1984) is an Israeli former professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

player. He is currently the

sporting director A sporting director, or director of sport, is an executive management position in a sports club. The role is well known as a manager role for European football clubs, which are sometime also "sports clubs", offering many types of sports. The sport ...

for

Hapoel Jerusalem Hapoel Jerusalem is a sport organization in Jerusalem as a local branch of the Hapoel movement. The branch was established in the 1920s and represents the city in more sports than any other sport organization in Jerusalem. Today, the club's leadi ...

of the

Israeli Premier League The Israeli Premier League ( he, ליגת העל, ''Ligat Ha`Al'', ), is a professional association football league which operates as the highest division of the Israeli Football League – the state's league of Israel. The league is contested b ...

and the Champions League. He is a 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) tall

combo guard A combo guard is a basketball player who combines the attributes of a point guard (1) and shooting guard (2), but does not necessarily fit the standard description of either position. In men's basketball, such guards are usually within the 6' 3" ...

. He was named to the 2007–08 All-EuroLeague Second Team.

Early life

Halperin is Jewish, and was born in

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the ...

, Israel. He played in the

Maccabi Tel Aviv Maccabi Tel Aviv ( he, מכבי תל אביב) is one of the largest sports clubs in Israel, and a part of the Maccabi association. Many sports clubs and teams in Tel Aviv are in association with Maccabi and compete in a variety of sports, such ...

youth team and won two Israeli Youth League titles (2000–01, 2001–02). Simultaneously, He led his high school basketball team into winning the national title.

Professional career

Maccabi Tel Aviv

Halperin debuted in Maccabi senior team at the age of 17 in a EuroLeague game against Alba Berlin. In his first years with Maccabi, Yotam barely recorded minutes, coming off the bench for stars such as

Ariel McDonald Ariel Rene McDonald (born January 5, 1972) is an American-Slovenian retired professional basketball player. He played at the point guard position. A high quality floor general who was the 2000 Israeli Basketball Premier League MVP, FIBA SuproLeagu ...

and

Šarūnas Jasikevičius Šarūnas "Šaras" Jasikevičius (; born 5 March 1976) is a Lithuanian professional basketball coach and former player. He currently serves as a head coach for FC Barcelona of the Liga ACB and the EuroLeague. During his playing career, standing ...

. In his first three seasons he averaged 12.3 minutes per game in the Israeli BSL. Halperin has won the

2003–04 Euroleague The 2003–04 Euroleague was the fourth season of the professional basketball competition for elite clubs throughout Europe, organised by Euroleague Basketball Company, and it was the 47th season of the premier competition for European men's cl ...

title with Maccabi. He scored 7 points and passed 4 assists in the final against Skipper Bologna. The team were able to win the 2004–05 Euroleague as well, but Halperin didn't have a major part in the success.

Union Olimpija

On August 31, 2005 Yotam signed a one-year contract with Slovenian League Champions Union Olimpija. Maccabi agreed to release Halperin, in order for him to gain experience at the EuroLeague level. Halperin immediately took a leading role in the team, averaging 13.9 points in 36 minutes per game during the 2005–06 Euroleague, but the team failed to reach the Top 16. At the domestic level, he won the Slovenian National Cup and the

Slovenian Championship The Slovenian Hockey League is the highest level ice hockey league in Slovenia. The championship phase is contested after the regular season to determine the national champion. History The Slovenian Hockey League was firstly contested in the 1 ...

, after winning 3–2 in the final series against Geoplin Slovan.

NBA draft

After his breakout season with Union Olimpija, Halperin declared himself as available for the 2006 NBA draft. The NBA

Mock draft Mock draft is a term used by sports websites and magazines in reference to a simulation of a sports league draft or fantasy sports league's draft. ESPN has run mock drafts on the front page of its website, allowing any visitor to vote towards a sp ...

websites did not project him to be drafted at all. Despite the earlier predictions, Halperin was selected in the second round (53rd pick overall) by the

Seattle SuperSonics The Seattle SuperSonics (commonly known as the Seattle Sonics) were an American professional basketball team based in Seattle. The SuperSonics competed in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member club of the league's Western Confe ...

Return To Maccabi Tel Aviv

After failing to gain a guaranteed contract in the NBA, Yotam signed a three-year deal with his former club

. He fulfilled a bigger role in the team‘s rotation compared to his first term with the Maccabi, averaging more than 24 minutes per game and starting in 13 out of 19 games during the 2006–07 Euroleague Season. In the

2007–08 Euroleague The 2007–08 Euroleague was the 8th season of the professional basketball competition for elite clubs throughout Europe, organised by Euroleague Basketball Company, and it was the 51st season of the premier competition for European men's clubs o ...

season Halperin helped Maccabi reach the EuroLeague final. His good performance had earned him a place in the All-EuroLeague 2nd Team.

Olympiacos Piraeus

On June 25, 2008 Yotam signed a deal with EuroLeague team Olympiacos Piraeus. The contract was worth 4.5 million

USD The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

spread over three years. The buy-out from Maccabi, in which he had a contract in, had cost Olympiacos 950,000

. In Olympiacos Halperin joined his former teammate Nikola Vujcic, and former

EuroLeague MVP The EuroLeague MVP, or EuroLeague Full Season MVP, is the award bestowed to the player that is deemed to be the "Most Valuable Player" during the full season of the EuroLeague. The EuroLeague is the top-tier level European-wide men's prof ...

Theodoros Papaloukas Theodoros Papaloukas (Greek: Θεόδωρος Παπαλουκάς; born May 8, 1977), commonly known as Theo Papaloukas or Thodoris Papaloukas, is a retired Greek professional basketball player. He was a four - time All-EuroLeague selection, a me ...

. The team has reached 2008–09 Euroleague final four losing to Arch enemies Panathinaikos in the semis. a year later they reached the 2009–10 Euroleague final but lost to

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly referred to as Barcelona and colloquially known as Barça (), is a professional football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish football. Found ...

. Before the 2010–11 season Olympiacos has placed Yotam in the inactive list, and ordered his agent to find him a new team. After his agent wasn't able to locate a team that agreed to carry Halperin's heavy contract, Olympiacos head coach

Dušan Ivković Dušan "Duda" Ivković ( sr-cyrl, Душан "Дуда" Ивковић; 29 October 1943 – 16 September 2021) was a Serbian professional basketball player and coach. He served as head coach of the senior Serbian national basketball team from ...

agreed to give the player a second chance at the roster. eventually, he stayed in Olympiacos for the rest of the season.

Spartak Saint Petersburg

On June 20, 2011 Maccabi Tel Aviv announced the return of Halperin, who signed a contract for three years. Almost a month later, Maccabi has announced cancellation of the contract due to taxation problems. After the fiasco with Maccabi, Halperin signed a 2-years contract with Russian team

Spartak Saint Petersburg BC Spartak Saint Petersburg is a Russian professional basketball team that is based in Saint Petersburg, Russia. During the 2016–17 season, the club was named BC Kondrashin Belov (BCKB), after its former player Alexander Belov and its former head ...

. Yotam had good season in the 2011–12 Eurocup, where his team reached the semi-finals. Yotam has awarded a place in the All-Eurocup 2nd Team, with his teammate

Patrick Beverley Patrick Beverley (born July 12, 1988) is an American professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Arkansas Razorbacks before spending three and a half ...

gaining the MVP award. Yotam was released from Spartak at the end of the season.

Bayern Munich

On July 17, 2012 Yotam signed a one-year contract with Bayern Munich of the Basketball Bundesliga (BBL). He finished a disappointing season with Bayern, averaging only 6.3 point per game.

Hapoel Jerusalem

Despite rumors of being close to Maccabi Tel Aviv, Yotam made a shock signing with their rIvals

for three years. From his first season he became the team captain. In 2013–14 Halperin averaged 11.7 points in EuroCup and reached with his team the quarterfinals of the competition. In 2014–15 season he led Hapoel Jerusalem to its first Israeli League championship. In his fourth season with Jerusalem, he helped the team to win the 2016 Israeli League Cup and the 2017 Israeli League Championship, as well as reaching the 2017 EuroCup Semifinals, where they eventually were eliminated by

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the autonomous community of Valencia and the third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is also the capital of the province of the same name. The wider urban area al ...

. On August 21, 2018, Halperin announced his retirement from playing professional basketball.

Israeli national team

Halperin was a member of the Israel national U-21 team leading the team to the second place of the

2004 FIBA Europe Under-20 Championship The 2004 FIBA Europe Under-20 Championship was the seventh edition of the FIBA Europe Under-20 Championship. The city of Brno, in the Czech Republic, hosted the tournament. Slovenia won their second title. Teams * * * * * * * * * * * * Squads ...

. Yotam finished as the 2nd best scorer with an average of 20.4 points per game. He was also selected to the All-Tournament Team. At the

2005 FIBA Under-21 World Championship The 2005 FIBA Under-21 World Championship was an international basketball competition, held from 5 to 14 August 2005, in Córdoba and Mar de Plata, Argentina. It was the last edition of the FIBA Under-21 World Championship The FIBA Under-21 Wo ...

Halperin finished as the top scorer, averaging 23.5 points per game as Israel finished at 10th place. Halperin served as the captain of the

Israeli national basketball team The Israel men's national basketball team ( he, נבחרת ישראל בכדורסל) represents Israel in international basketball tournaments. They are administered by the Israeli Basketball Association. Israel is currently ranked 33rd in the ...

. He competed in 6 European Championships: 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011,

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...

Coaching career

Hapoel Jerusalem

After retiring as a player, Halperin was hired as the

Sporting Director A sporting director, or director of sport, is an executive management position in a sports club. The role is well known as a manager role for European football clubs, which are sometime also "sports clubs", offering many types of sports. The sport ...

for Hapoel Jerusalem in 2018. He served in this post until he was hired as the team's new interim head coach following the firing of Oren Amiel in 2021.

EuroLeague career statistics

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2001–02 , style="text-align:left;", Maccabi , 3 , , 1 , , 2.0 , , .000 , , .000 , , .000 , , .0 , , .0 , , .0 , , .0 , , .0 , , -1.7 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2002–03 , style="text-align:left;", Maccabi , 8 , , 0 , , 4.0 , , 1.00 , , 1.00 , , .500 , , .3 , , .1 , , .1 , , .0 , , 1.0 , , 0.6 , - , style="text-align:left;background:#AFE6BA;", 2003–04† , style="text-align:left;", Maccabi , 17 , , 0 , , 6.2 , , .416 , , .273 , , .857 , , 1.1 , , .8 , , .5 , , .0 , , 2.1 , , 3.1 , - , style="text-align:left;background:#AFE6BA;", 2004–05† , style="text-align:left;", Maccabi , 15 , , 1 , , 10.0 , , .424 , , .429 , , .636 , , 1.1 , , .7 , , .5 , , .1 , , 2.7 , , 2.5 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2005–06 , style="text-align:left;", Union Olimpija , 14 , , 11 , , 36.0 , , .462 , , .373 , , .900 , , 3.1 , , 3.6 , , 2.2 , , 0.1 , , 13.9 , , 15.4 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2006–07 , style="text-align:left;", Maccabi , 19 , , 13 , , 24.4 , , .371 , , .348 , , .852 , , 2.1 , , 2.0 , , 1.1 , , .1 , , 6.5 , , 5.8 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2007–08 , style="text-align:left;", Maccabi , 25 , , 23 , , 28.0 , , .536 , , .444 , , .873 , , 2.1 , , 4.0 , , 1.0 , , .1 , , 10.2 , , 13.0 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2008–09 , style="text-align:left;",

Olympiacos Olympiacós Sýndesmos Filáthlon Peiraiós ( el, Ολυμπιακός Σύνδεσμος Φιλάθλων Πειραιώς, Olympic Club of Fans of Piraeus) is a major multi-sport club based in Piraeus, Greece. Olympiacos is parent to a number ...

, 22 , , 15 , , 21.5 , , .539 , , .458 , , .795 , , 1.6 , , 1.5 , , 1.0 , , .1 , , 7.4 , , 8.9 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2009–10 , style="text-align:left;", Olympiacos , 21 , , 11 , , 13.5 , , .609 , , .519 , , .957 , , 0.9 , , 1.0 , , 0.6 , , .1 , , 5.4 , , 5.5 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. ...

, style="text-align:left;", Olympiacos , 13 , , 3 , , 14.2 , , .547 , , .450 , , .750 , , 1.9 , , 1.3 , , .9 , , .2 , , 4.5 , , 5.7 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:left;", Career , style="text-align:left;", , 157 , , 78 , , 18.7 , , .492 , , .418 , , .851 , , 1.6 , , 1.8 , , .9 , , .1 , , 6.3 , , 7.2

References

External links

Yotam Halperin
at basket.co.il
Yotam Halperin
at euroleague.net
Yotam Halperin
at easycredit-bbl.de

at fiba.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Halperin, Yotam 1984 births Living people ABA League players Israeli Ashkenazi Jews BC Spartak Saint Petersburg players Israeli expatriate basketball people in Germany FC Bayern Munich basketball players Greek Basket League players Hapoel Jerusalem B.C. players Israeli Basketball Premier League players Israeli expatriate basketball people in Greece Israeli expatriate basketball people in Russia Israeli men's basketball players Israeli people of Russian-Jewish descent Jewish men's basketball players KK Olimpija players Maccabi Tel Aviv B.C. players Olympiacos B.C. players Point guards Seattle SuperSonics draft picks Shooting guards Sportspeople from Tel Aviv

Early life

Professional career

Maccabi Tel Aviv

Union Olimpija

NBA draft

Return To Maccabi Tel Aviv

Olympiacos Piraeus

Spartak Saint Petersburg

Bayern Munich

Hapoel Jerusalem

Israeli national team

Coaching career

Hapoel Jerusalem

EuroLeague career statistics

See also

References

External links