Oded Kattash ( he, עודד קטש, born October 10, 1974) is an Israeli professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Coac ...

for Maccabi Tel Aviv and former player. During his playing career, at a height of 194 cm (6' 4 ") tall, he played at the

point guard The point guard (PG), also called the one or the point, is one of the five positions in a regulation basketball game. A point guard has perhaps the most specialized role of any position. Point guards are expected to run the team's offense by ...

position. He was the 1998

Israeli Basketball Premier League MVP The Israeli Basketball Premier League MVP, or Israeli Basketball Super League MVP, is an annual basketball award that is presented to the most valuable player in a given season of the Israeli Basketball Premier League, which is the top-tier level ...

. As a player, he won the EuroLeague title in the 1999–2000 season, while playing with Panathinaikos.

Early career

When Kattash was 9 years old, he joined the junior youth department of

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 ...

. He then played with Maccabi Darom, which was Maccabi Tel Aviv's

farm team In sports, a farm team, farm system, feeder team, feeder club, or nursery club is generally a team or club whose role is to provide experience and training for young players, with an agreement that any successful players can move on to a higher ...

at the time.

Professional playing career

Kattash played with Maccabi Ramat Gan, and

Hapoel Galil Elyon Hapoel Galil Elyon ( he, הפועל גליל עליון), also known as Hapoel Nofar Energy Galil Elion for sponsorship reasons, is an Israeli basketball club. The team competes in the Israeli Basketball Premier League, the top tier of Israeli b ...

, before returning in 1995, to

, to join their senior men's team. With Macabbi's senior team, he won 4 Israeli League championships and 2 Israeli State Cups. He was the 1998

. After leading the 1997 EuroBasket in scoring, he subsequently agreed to play with the

New York Knicks The New York Knickerbockers, shortened and more commonly referred to as the New York Knicks, are an American professional basketball team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The Knicks compete in the National Basketball Associat ...

, but he never actually played in the NBA, because of the

1998–99 NBA season The 1998–99 NBA season was the 53rd season of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Due to a lockout, the season did not start until February 5, 1999, after a new six-year Collective Bargaining Agreement was reached between the NBA and the ...

lockout, that started on July 1, 1998. Eventually, he signed a three-year contract with Panathinaikos. In the 2000 EuroLeague Finals game, he scored 17 points, against his former team Maccabi Tel Aviv, to win the EuroLeague championship with Panathinaikos. His career ended prematurely a few months later, when he suffered a serious knee injury.

National team playing career

Kattash played at the 1997 edition of the

EuroBasket EuroBasket, also commonly referred to as the European Basketball Championship, is the main international basketball competition that is contested quadrennially, by the senior men's national teams that are governed by FIBA Europe, which is the ...

, with the senior Israeli national team, scoring 22 points per game during the tournament.

Coaching career

After Kattash retired from playing basketball, he took up

basketball coach Basketball coaching is the act of directing and strategizing the behavior of a basketball team or individual basketball player. Basketball coaching typically encompasses the improvement of individual and team offensive and defensive skills, as wel ...

ing, and he first coached

. He was the

head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in asso ...

of Macabbi Tel Aviv, from summer of 2007, until January 1, 2008, when he resigned. Shortly after, he returned to Galil Elyon, and helped the team stay in the Israeli first division. In 2009, he remained with Galil, leading them against the odds, to the Israeli League Final Four, and coming within a last shot of knocking out Maccabi Tel Aviv in the semifinals. In 2010, he won the Israeli League championship with Galil, after a win over Maccabi Tel Aviv in the league finals. In June 2010, Kattash was appointed as

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 lead ...

's head coach, signing a three-year contract. On June 21, 2012, Kattash was appointed the head coach of Hapoel Eilat, as the team was re-included into the Israeli Premier League, for the 2012-13 season. On June 27, 2014, at the end of his contract, Kattash signed a three-year contract with

Hapoel Tel Aviv Hapoel Tel Aviv ( he, הפועל תל אביב) is a sports club in Israel, founded in the 1920s, and part of the Hapoel association. It runs several sports clubs and teams in Tel Aviv which have competed in a variety of sports over the years, suc ...

. On November 3, 2015, he was dismissed, after only four games, after three consecutive losses. He subsequently returned to Hapoel Eilat. However, On July 18, 2017, Hapoel Eilat and Kattash decided to part ways. During that summer, Kattash led the Israel men's under-20 national team to a

silver medal A silver medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of, or plated with, silver awarded to the second-place finisher, or runner-up, of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, et ...

at the

2017 FIBA Europe Under-20 Championship The 2017 FIBA U20 European Championship was the 20th edition of the FIBA U20 European Championship. The competition took place in three Greek cities, Chania, Rethymno and Heraklion, on the island of Crete Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, ...

. On October 10, 2017, The Basketball Federation of Israel, named Kattash the new head coach of the senior Israeli national team, for the next four years. On February 22, 2018, Kattash returned for a second stint to Hapoel Jerusalem, signing a one-and-a-half year deal. On January 14, 2021, Kattash signed a one-and-a-half year deal with Panathinaikos of the

Greek Basket League The Greek Basket League (GBL), often also referred to as the Greek A1 Basketball League, or Greek Basketball Championship (originally called Panhellenic Basketball Championship), and also known as the Stoiximan Basket League for sponsorship reaso ...

and the EuroLeague.

Coaching record

EuroLeague

, - , align="left",

, align="left", 2007–08 , 9 , , 6 , , 3 , , , , align="center", Resigned , - , align="left", Panathinaikos , align="left",

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

, 16 , , 5 , , 11 , , , , align="center", Eliminated in the regular season , - , -class="sortbottom" , align="center" colspan=2, Career, , 25, , 11, , 14, , , ,

Personal

*Kattash is of Algerian descent. *Kattash is known to have different-coloured irises, a condition known as

heterochromia Heterochromia is a variation in coloration. The term is most often used to describe color differences of the iris, but can also be applied to color variation of hair or skin. Heterochromia is determined by the production, delivery, and concent ...

of the

iris Iris most often refers to: *Iris (anatomy), part of the eye *Iris (mythology), a Greek goddess * ''Iris'' (plant), a genus of flowering plants * Iris (color), an ambiguous color term Iris or IRIS may also refer to: Arts and media Fictional ent ...

es (heterochromia iridis). *Kattash is a good friend with the former player and current coach

Dror Cohen Dror Cohen is an Israeli basketball coach and former player. He was one of the most respected players in Israeli basketball in the 1990s, when he spent 14 seasons in the Premier League where he scored 2,263 points.

. They have a long history of playing and coaching together."אנחנו לא נחותים משום נבחרת באירופה"
Yaakov Meir (

Israel Hayom ''Israel Hayom'' ( he, יִשְׂרָאֵל הַיּוֹם, lit=Israel Today) is an Israeli national Hebrew-language free daily newspaper. First published in 2007, ''Israel Hayom'' is Israel's most widely distributed newspaper. Owned by the f ...

), 22 February 2021. Accessed 5 July 2021.

References

External links

FIBA ProfileArticle about Kattash

News piece
about coaching Maccabi * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kattash, Oded 1974 births Living people Hapoel Galil Elyon players Ironi Ramat Gan players Israeli basketball coaches Israeli men's basketball players Israeli Basketball Premier League players Israeli expatriate basketball people in Greece Israeli Jews Jewish men's basketball players Maccabi Tel Aviv B.C. players Panathinaikos B.C. players Panathinaikos B.C. coaches Sportspeople from Givatayim Point guards Israeli people of Egyptian-Jewish descent Israeli people of Algerian-Jewish descent