At the helm of Hapoel Tel Aviv, the Greek Stefanos Dedas leads a squad with a very strong American accent including Johnathan Motley, Marcus Foster, Ish Wainright, Ben Bentil and the latest arrival, Patrick Beverley. Unsurprisingly, the latter barks constantly, and his coach recognizes that it is not easy, on a daily basis, to contain the former leader of the Bulls and Rockets.
“Beverley is not easy to coach because he has some habits that come from the NBA. We talk to him all the time. He tells me: ‘Coach me, coach me, insult me!’ I tell him that he better not give me the opportunity because I love it.” the Greek technician says ironically.
Stefanos Dedas also talks about the preseason, and there again, Patrick Beverley has kept some bad habits. “I had to change his mentality in the preseason. In the NBA, it’s useless, but here, it counts. You have to win to have confirmation that the game is good, and that the roster is good. Of course, the result doesn’t count for the rest, but we come out of it with good feelings because we played well.”
A soldier
While waiting to play its first match, on September 24 in the EuroCup against Badalone, the Israeli club continues to discover Patrick Beverley, and its coach assures that his playmaker is not overdoing it.
“Nobody says he’s a one-man show player because he’s never been like that. He has the mentality of a high-level role player who will defend the best opposing forward, who will penetrate to get the ball out to the shooters. He knows his job very well. As I progress as a coach, I try to convince myself that the most important thing is not to have big names or great forwards. What you need are soldiers. In all the good periods that I’ve known, I had teams with good soldiers and good cohesion.”
