Playing vs. Portugal, though, which is on the bottom quartile for this FIBA Europe Championship. But still, who knows this guy truly has talent. Look at his stat overall below. In particular, look at his game against Russia, who is no slouch - unbeaten so far, leading its division - and has AK47, a very strong defender. He didn't play much on some games, obviously struggling against Greece, Serbia, and Croatia. Against Russia and Portugal, he showed some scoring prowess. The two games when he was on, he shot 70+% from the field. Maybe, just maybe, he can become consistent one day, and will be a great shootout guy for the ROX. GAME-BY-GAME STATISTICS Match Min 2P FG 3P FG FT Reb AS PF TO ST BS Pts M/A % M/A % M/A % OD Tot vs . Greece 10 0/2 0.0 0/0 0.0 0/0 0.0 1 0 1 0 0 3 1 0 0 vs . Russia 22 7/9 77.8 0/1 0.0 3/4 75.0 2 4 6 1 1 1 0 0 17 vs . Serbia 15 2/6 33.3 0/0 0.0 0/0 0.0 1 1 2 2 0 1 0 1 4 vs . Croatia 6 0/2 0.0 0/0 0.0 0/0 0.0 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 vs . Portugal 33 12/17 70.6 0/0 0.0 5/6 83.3 2 7 9 3 1 1 1 0 29 Link here
Very likely, but his game is inside game, using his athletism. But with his ability to score so much against the RUS, I am guessing his recent strength training with the ROX trainer is paying off. If he can combine his athletism and strength inside, as his game matures a bit more, he will be a pretty formidable player. No matter how he scores, whether it is by speed, athletism, great inside position, great movement without the ball, whatever, being able to score with this % is a great achievement.
I'm purely looking at how this translates to the NBA. At that level, his athleticism is nothing special at all. He must develop a jump shot and the ability to take guys off the dribble, neither of which he has now. He needs additional skills, not just a maturation of the little he has now. His inside game wouldn't work in the NBA even if he got stronger. Not trying to be negative, just realistic.
He seems really really inconsistent. I don't have high hopes of him doing anything in the NBA for a long time.
There is a pretty good long description of Lior on DraftExpress Admittedly his outside shot is pretty much missing, but he is like a taller version of Chuck Hayes with his playing style now, much better on offense, better speed, worse rebounder, and worse (prob much worse) on defense. His wingspan gives him about a 6'10" height equivalent, making him more suitable for PF than SF, assuming he can continue to develop his strength. He is very athletic for his height, and more of a slasher and position/movement player than a post-up player. He is a good fit for Adelman's style (or D'antony from Phoenix), but very poor fit for JVG's style. With that in mind, and with NBA shifting to running games, I think he has a pretty good chance of making it to NBA. But, that's at least 2 years away. For now, we got a couple of championships to get.
Great game by Eliahu, yes, most of his points were layups and dunks but he was really feeling it with 12\17 from the field.. and with 9 rebounds and 3 dishes, we can say that he had a great game. about the NBA talent... i don't know, can't shoot, still soft and skinny.. there is alot to improve.
He's playing incredible right now against Spain...Israel is leading by 1 at the half. If they win the game, they advance to the next round. Eliyahu is the only reason they've been able to weather the Spanish comeback effort so far (Israel did have a 10 point lead).
Too bad they lost, but sounds like a great effort. After all, Spain was the World Champion last year, without Pau Gasol, and now Pau is playing like a monster. Click here for game summary The game summary from FIBA Europe is above.
Yeah, Israel fell apart in the fourth quarter. Eliyahu played great in the first half, but didn't do much after he was blocked hard in the 3rd quarter - a play that was the turning point of the game.
