 | |
| Hapoel Jerusalem | |
|---|---|
| Title | Sporting director |
| League | Israeli Premier League FIBA Champions League |
| Personal information | |
| Born | (1984-01-24)January 24, 1984 (age 41) Tel Aviv, Israel |
| Listed height | 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) |
| Listed weight | 95 kg (209 lb) |
| Career information | |
| NBA draft | 2006: 2nd round, 53rd overall pick |
| Drafted by | Seattle SuperSonics |
| Playing career | 2001–2018 |
| Position | Shooting guard /point guard |
| Number | 9, 10, 11, 13, 21 |
| Coaching career | 2018–present |
| Career history | |
Playing | |
| 2001–2005 | Maccabi Tel Aviv |
| 2005–2006 | Union Olimpija |
| 2006–2008 | Maccabi Tel Aviv |
| 2008–2011 | Olympiacos |
| 2011–2012 | Spartak Saint Petersburg |
| 2012–2013 | Bayern Munich |
| 2013–2018 | Hapoel Jerusalem |
Coaching | |
| 2018–present | Hapoel Jerusalem (Sporting director) |
| 2021-2022 | Hapoel Jerusalem (Interim HC) |
| Career highlights | |
| |
Stats atBasketball Reference  | |
Yotam Halperin (Hebrew:יותם הלפרין; born January 24, 1984) is an Israeli former professionalbasketball player. He is currently thesporting director forHapoel Jerusalem of theIsraeli Premier League and theChampions League.[1] He is a 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) tallcombo guard. He was named to the2007–08All-EuroLeague Second Team.[2]
Halperin is Jewish,[3] and was born inTel Aviv, Israel. He played in theMaccabi Tel Aviv 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.
Halperin debuted in Maccabi senior team at the age of 17 in aEuroLeague game againstAlba Berlin.[4] In his first years with Maccabi, Yotam barely recorded minutes, coming off the bench for stars such asAriel McDonald andŠarūnas Jasikevičius. In his first three seasons he averaged 12.3 minutes per game in theIsraeli BSL.
Halperin has won the2003–04 Euroleague title with Maccabi. He scored 7 points and passed 4 assists in the final againstSkipper Bologna. The team were able to win the2004–05 Euroleague as well, but Halperin didn't have a major part in the success.
On August 31, 2005, Yotam signed a one-year contract withSlovenian League ChampionsUnion Olimpija. Maccabi agreed to release Halperin, in order for him to gain experience at theEuroLeague level.[5] Halperin immediately took a leading role in the team, averaging 13.9 points in 36 minutes per game during the2005–06 Euroleague, but the team failed to reach the Top 16.
At the domestic level, he won theSlovenian National Cup and theSlovenian Championship, after winning 3–2 in the final series againstGeoplin Slovan.
After his breakout season with Union Olimpija, Halperin declared himself as available for the2006 NBA draft. The NBAMock draft websites did not project him to be drafted at all.[citation needed] Despite the earlier predictions, Halperin was selected in the second round (53rd pick overall) by theSeattle SuperSonics.
After failing to gain a guaranteed contract in theNBA, Yotam signed a three-year deal with his former clubMaccabi Tel Aviv.[6] 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 the2006–07 Euroleague Season.
In the2007–08 Euroleague season Halperin helped Maccabi reach the EuroLeague final. His good performance had earned him a place in theAll-EuroLeague 2nd Team.
On June 25, 2008, Yotam signed a deal withEuroLeague teamOlympiacos Piraeus.[7] The contract was worth 4.5 millionUSD spread over three years. The buy-out from Maccabi, in which he had a contract in, had cost Olympiacos 950,000USD.[8] In Olympiacos Halperin joined his former teammateNikola Vujcic, and formerEuroLeague MVPTheodoros Papaloukas. The team has reached2008–09 Euroleague final four losing toArch enemiesPanathinaikos in the semis. a year later they reached the2009–10 Euroleague final but lost toFC Barcelona.
Before the 2010–11 season Olympiacos has placed Yotam in the inactive list, and ordered his agent to find him a new team.[9] After his agent wasn't able to locate a team that agreed to carry Halperin's heavy contract, Olympiacos head coachDušan Ivković agreed to give the player a second chance at the roster. eventually, he stayed in Olympiacos for the rest of the season.
On June 20, 2011, Maccabi Tel Aviv announced the return of Halperin, who signed a contract for three years.[10] Almost a month later, Maccabi has announced cancellation of the contract due to taxation problems.[11]
After the fiasco with Maccabi, Halperin signed a 2-years contract with Russian teamSpartak Saint Petersburg.[12] Yotam had good season in the2011–12 Eurocup, where his team reached the semi-finals. Yotam has awarded a place in theAll-Eurocup 2nd Team,[13] with his teammatePatrick Beverley gainingthe MVP award.[14]
Yotam was released from Spartak at the end of the season.[15]
On July 17, 2012, Yotam signed a one-year contract withBayern Munich of theBasketball Bundesliga (BBL). He finished a disappointing season with Bayern, averaging only 6.3 point per game.
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Despite rumors of being close to Maccabi Tel Aviv,[16] Yotam made a shock signing with their rIvalsHapoel Jerusalem for three years.[17][18]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.[19]
In his fourth season with Jerusalem, he helped the team to win the2016 Israeli League Cup and the2017 Israeli League Championship, as well as reaching the2017 EuroCup Semifinals, where they eventually were eliminated byValencia.
On August 21, 2018, Halperin announced his retirement from playing professional basketball.[20][21]
Halperin was a member of theIsrael national U-21 team leading the team to the second place of the2004 FIBA Europe Under-20 Championship. 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.[22]
At the2005 FIBA Under-21 World Championship Halperin finished as the top scorer, averaging 23.5 points per game[23] as Israel finished at 10th place.
Halperin served as the captain of theIsraeli national basketball team. He competed in 6European Championships:2003,2005,2007,2009,2011,2013.
After retiring as a player, Halperin was hired as theSporting Director 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 ofOren Amiel in 2021.[1]
| GP | Games played | GS | Games started | MPG | Minutes per game |
| FG% | Field-goal percentage | 3P% | 3-point field-goal percentage | FT% | Free-throw percentage |
| RPG | Rebounds per game | APG | Assists per game | SPG | Steals per game |
| BPG | Blocks per game | PPG | Points per game | PIR | Performance index rating |
| Bold | Career high |
| † | Denotes season in which Halperin won theEuroLeague |
| * | Led the league |
| Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG | PIR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001–02 | Maccabi | 3 | 1 | 2.0 | .000 | .000 | — | — | — | — | — | 0.0 | -1.7 |
| 2002–03 | 8 | 0 | 4.0 | 1.000 | 1.000 | .500 | .3 | .1 | .1 | — | 1.0 | 0.6 | |
| 2003–04† | 17 | 0 | 6.2 | .416 | .273 | .857 | 1.1 | .8 | .5 | — | 2.1 | 3.1 | |
| 2004–05† | 15 | 1 | 10.0 | .424 | .429 | .636 | 1.1 | .7 | .5 | .1 | 2.7 | 2.5 | |
| 2005–06 | Olimpija | 14 | 11 | 36.0 | .462 | .373 | .900 | 3.1 | 3.6 | 2.2 | 0.1 | 13.9 | 15.4 |
| 2006–07 | Maccabi | 19 | 13 | 24.4 | .371 | .348 | .852 | 2.1 | 2.0 | 1.1 | .1 | 6.5 | 5.8 |
| 2007–08 | 25* | 23 | 28.0 | .536 | .444 | .873 | 2.1 | 4.0 | 1.0 | .1 | 10.2 | 13.0 | |
| 2008–09 | Olympiacos | 22 | 15 | 21.5 | .539 | .458 | .795 | 1.6 | 1.5 | 1.0 | .1 | 7.4 | 8.9 |
| 2009–10 | 21 | 11 | 13.5 | .609 | .519 | .957 | 0.9 | 1.0 | 0.6 | .1 | 5.4 | 5.5 | |
| 2010–11 | 13 | 3 | 14.2 | .547 | .450 | .750 | 1.9 | 1.3 | .9 | .2 | 4.5 | 5.7 | |
| Career | 157 | 78 | 18.7 | .492 | .418 | .851 | 1.6 | 1.8 | .9 | .1 | 6.3 | 7.2 | |