Oded Kattash

Oded Kattash
Oded Kattash (2007)
Born	October 10, 1974 (1974-10-10) (age 37) Giv'atayim, Israel
Citizenship	Israeli
Occupation	Basketball coach and former player
Employer	Hapoel Jerusalem BC
Known for	As a player, won a Euroleague title in the 1999–2000 season while playing with Panathinaikos

Oded Kattash (Hebrew: עודד קטש‎, born October 10, 1974 in Giv'atayim, Israel) is an Israeli basketball coach and former player. He is currently the head coach of Hapoel Jerusalem BC. As a player, he won a Euroleague title in the 1999–2000 season while playing with Panathinaikos.

In 2005, he was voted the 68th-greatest Israeli of all time, in a poll by the Israeli news website Ynet to determine whom the general public considered the 200 Greatest Israelis.^[1]

Playing career

He is 194 cm (6'4 3/8") tall and he played as a point guard. When he was 9 years old he joined the junior department of Maccabi Tel Aviv. He played for Maccabi Darom (Which was Maccabi Tel Aviv's farm team at the time), Maccabi Ramat Gan, and Hapoel Galil Elyon, before returning in 1995 to Maccabi Tel Aviv to join the senior team. With Macabbi's senior team he won 4 Israeli Championships and 2 Israeli Cups.

He played at the Eurobasket 1997 European Championship with the Israeli national basketball team, scoring 22 points per game during the tournament. He subsequently agreed to play with the New York Knicks, but he never actually played in the NBA because of the 1998-99 NBA season lockout that started on July 1, 1998.

Eventually, he signed a three-year contract with Panathinaikos BC. In the 2000 Euroleague final 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.

Coaching career

Oded Kattash coaching (2003)

After Kattash retired from playing he took up basketball coaching, and first coached Hapoel Galil Elyon. He was the coach of Macabbi Tel Aviv from summer of 2007 until January 1, 2008, when he resigned.

Shortly after he returned to Galil Elyon, Kattash helped the team stay in the 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 pfknocking out Maccabi Tel Aviv in the semifinal. In 2010, he won the Israeli championship with Galil after a win over Maccabi in the finals.

In June 2010, Kattash was appointed as Hapoel Jerusalem BC head coach, signing a three-year contract.^[2]

Trivia

• Kattash is known to have different-coloured Irises, a condition known as heterochromia of the irises (heterochromia iridis).

References

1. ^ גיא בניוביץ' (June 20, 1995). "הישראלי מספר 1: יצחק רבין – תרבות ובידור". Ynet. http://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-3083171,00.html. Retrieved July 10, 2011. 
2. ^ http://www.jpost.com/Home/Article.aspx?id=178473

External links

• Article about Kattash
• Kattash and Knicks
• News piece about coaching Maccabi
• "Local Hoops: Kattash steps down as Maccabi TA coach". Jerusalem Post. January 1, 2008. http://fr.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1198517262903&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull. Retrieved March 17, 2008. 
• Career

Persondata
Name	Kattash, Oded
Alternative names
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Date of birth	October 10, 1974
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death