Oded Kattash (; 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 (appro ...

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 , he played at the

point guard The point guard (PG), also called the one or the point, is one of the Basketball positions, five positions in a regulation basketball game. A point guard has perhaps the most specialized role of any position and is usually the shortest player ...

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 The EuroLeague is a European men's professional basketball club competition. The league is widely recognised as the top-tier and the most prestigious men's basketball league in Europe. The league consists of 20 teams, of which 16 are given lon ...

title in the 1999–2000 season, while playing with

Panathinaikos Panathinaikos Athlitikos Omilos (, literally in English: "Panathenaic Athletic Club" or Panathinaikos A.C.), also known simply as Panathinaikós , is a major Greek multi-sport club based in the City of Athens. Panathinaikos is one of the mos ...

Early career

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

Maccabi Tel Aviv Maccabi Tel Aviv () 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 as football, basketball, j ...

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

farm team In sports, a farm team (also referred to as farm system, developmental system, feeder team, or nursery club) is generally a Team sport, team or club whose role is to provide experience and training for young players, with an agreement that any s ...

at the time.

Professional career

Kattash played with Maccabi Ramat Gan, and

Hapoel Galil Elyon Hapoel Galil Elyon (), 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 basketball, and internationally in t ...

, 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 Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Manhattan. The Knicks compete in the Na ...

, but he never actually played in the

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

, because of the

1998–99 NBA season The 1998–99 NBA season was the 53rd season of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Due to the lockout, the regular season was reduced to 50 games for each team, and began on February 5, 1999. The 1999 NBA All-Star Game, which was to be ...

lockout, that started on July 1, 1998. Eventually, he signed a three-year contract with

. 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 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 E ...

, 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 responsible for training and developing athletes within a sports team. This role often has a higher public profile and salary than other coaching positions. In some sports, such as associat ...

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 () 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, such as football, basketball, w ...

. 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, ...

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 Greece, Greek cities, Chania, Rethymno and Heraklion, on the island of Crete, from 15 to 23 July 2017. Venues ...

. 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

of the

Greek Basket League The Greek Basketball League (GBL), and also known as the Stoiximan Greek Basketball League (GBL) for sponsorship reasons, is the Greek basketball league system, first tier level professional basketball league in Greece. It is run by the ...

and the

Coaching record

EuroLeague

, - , align="left",

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

, 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 ...

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

Personal life

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

heterochromia Heterochromia is a variation in coloration 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 concentration of mela ...

of the

iris Iris most often refers to: *Iris (anatomy), part of the eye * Iris (color), an ambiguous color term *Iris (mythology), a Greek goddess * ''Iris'' (plant), a genus of flowering plants * Iris (given name), a feminine given name, and a list of peopl ...

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'' () is an Israeli Hebrew-language free daily newspaper. Distributed for free around Israel, it is the country's most widely distributed newspaper. Owned by the family of the late Sheldon Adelson, the casino mogul and politica ...

), 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 Israeli basketball coaches Israeli Basketball Premier League players Israeli expatriate basketball people in Greece Israeli men's basketball players Israeli people of Algerian-Jewish descent Israeli people of Egyptian-Jewish descent Jewish basketball players Jewish Israeli sportspeople Maccabi Ironi Ramat Gan players Maccabi Tel Aviv B.C. players Panathinaikos B.C. coaches Panathinaikos B.C. players Point guards Sportspeople from Givatayim