Hapoel Be'er Sheva
NicknameThe Camels
LeaguesIsraeli Basketball Premier League
Founded1965 (1965)
ArenaConch Arena
Capacity3,000
LocationBe'er Sheva, Israel
CEOTomer Yaron
PresidentKfir Arazi
Team managerItay Shamir
Head coachLior Lubin
Team captainTravis Warech
Websitehb7.co.il

Hapoel Be'er Sheva B.C. (Hebrew: הפועל באר שבע) is a professional basketball club based in Be'er Sheva, Israel. The team plays in the Israeli Basketball Premier League, the top tier of Israeli basketball and in the Balkan International Basketball League. It plays its home games in the Conch Arena.

History

20th century

The club was founded in 1965 by Eitan Wegmann. During the eighties, the team won the Second League twice. During the nineties, the team disbanded.

21st century

In 2002 the basketball club Hapoel Be'er Sheva rebranded, and started the season in the Fifth League. Within three years it qualified for the Second League.

During the 2006/07 season, the team stood one game away from ascending to the Israeli Basketball Premier League, but lost the final game of a 5-game series in the Liga Leumit (Second League) finals to Hapoel Holon. This series has been recalled as one of the hardest-fought series in the history of the Second League. A season later Be'er Sheva was eliminated in the quarter-finals of the Second League playoffs.

In order to continue to maintain the club's youth department, called "Future of the Negev",[1] then-chairman Mario Levy and his son Rami (then director) once again rebranded the team in the summer of 2008, and assumed management of the club's youth department starting from the 2008/2009 season. The new team began to play in the Fifth League, and at the end of the season the team progressed to the Fourth League. A season later, the team fought relegation, and in the last cycle of the league remained in the league.

At the beginning of the 2011/2012 season, the men's team was united with Beitar Be'er Sheva under the title of Municipal Be'er Sheva. The united team competed in Liga Artzit (the Third League). The leadership of the club was assumed by local businessman owner and chairman Kfir Arazi,[2] who joined during the summer. The team was re-branded under his ownership, and competed again in the local Fourth League.

In the summer of 2013 the heads of clubs Hapoel Be'er Sheva and Beitar/Municipal Be'er Sheva understood that success required full cooperation between the clubs, paving the way for full convergence between the two clubs under the name "Hapoel Be'er Sheva." Hapoel Be'er Sheva finished the 2013/2014 season in first place in the Fourth League, and at the end of the season returned to the Artzit (3rd) League.

Chris Watson

In the summer of 2014 the club signed sponsorship deals with two major entities, the Bnei Shimon Regional Council and the Altshuler Shaham investment house, thus assuring the financial longevity of the club. Kfir Arazi owned and steered the club. American–Israeli Chris Watson played for the team in 2014-16. On 29 March 2015 Be'er Sheva ensured its rise to the Liga Leumit with a home victory over Hapoel Lod, 56:82.

The 2015-2016 season began well with Beer Sheva consistently at the top of the league, aiming squarely at the Premier League. However, after a series of critical injuries and some locker-room trouble the team lost its bid in the first round of the playoffs, and remained in the Liga Leumit (2nd League).

The 2016-2017 season began with a new coaching team, Yaniv Burger and Zach Schneider, and an almost new team which included Jeff Allen, Jason Williams, David Shamriz, and Ben Eisenhardt.

On May 22, 2018, Hapoel Be'er Sheva won the National League title and earned promotion to the Israeli Basketball Premier League for the first time in their history, as they swept Maccabi Kiryat Gat 3–0 in the best-of-five series. Storm Warren was named Finals MVP.[3][4]

Arena

Conch Arena, home stadium of Hapoel Be'er Sheva.

Conch Arena is a multi-purpose sports arena located in Be'er Sheva, and has 3,000 seats.

On 25 February 2014 the arena was inaugurated, by Rubik Danilovich, the mayor of Be'er Sheva, Shmuel Frenkel, chairman of BSL, and Itzik Larry, Chairman of Wiener, before the Premier League All-Star Game.

Season by season

Season Tier League Pos State Cup League Cup European Competitions
2014–15 3 Liga Artzit 1st
2015–16 2 National League 5th Round of 32
2016–17 2nd Quarterfinalist
2017–18 1st Quarterfinalist
2018–19 1 Premier League 7th Quarterfinalist Runner-up
2019–20 9th Round of 16 Quarterfinalist
2020–21 QF Round of 16 First round Balkan LeagueRS
2021–22 11th — First round
2022–23 Quarterfinalist First round Balkan LeagueC

BIBL League

  • 2023: (13-1)

Current roster

Hapoel Be'er Sheva roster
PlayersCoaches
Pos.No.Nat.NameHt.Wt.Age
SG 5 United States Pemberton, Elijah 1.96 m (6 ft 5 in) 88 kg (194 lb) 26 – (1997-05-31)31 May 1997
G 6 Israel Paretsky, Roy 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in) 21 – (2002-07-24)24 July 2002
SG 8 Israel Argentina Szuchman, Joaquin 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in) 86 kg (190 lb) 28 – (1995-01-29)29 January 1995
PG 14 Israel Segal, Neta (C) 1.87 m (6 ft 2 in) 28 – (1995-07-19)19 July 1995
G/F 15 Israel Russia Koulechov, Egor 1.96 m (6 ft 5 in) 93 kg (205 lb) 29 – (1994-11-05)5 November 1994
G 16 Israel Zipper, Ron 1.92 m (6 ft 4 in) 20 – (2003-01-24)24 January 2003
F 22 Israel United States Iorio, Sam 2.01 m (6 ft 7 in) 25 – (1998-08-31)31 August 1998
F 23 United States Gant, JaKeenan 2.03 m (6 ft 8 in) 27 – (1996-05-06)6 May 1996
G 25 United States Sherfield, Grant 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) 24 – (1999-10-29)29 October 1999
F 30 United States Lee, Ira 2.01 m (6 ft 7 in) 25 – (1998-03-19)19 March 1998
C 77 Israel Levy, Gilad 2.20 m (7 ft 3 in) 21 – (2002-07-03)3 July 2002
Head coach
  • Israel Yoav Shamir
Assistant coach(es)
  • Spain Javier Cal
  • Israel Yaniv Ravins
  • Israel Almog Reshef
Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • Injured Injured
Updated: December 26, 2023

Depth chart

Pos. Starting 5 Bench
C Gilad Levy
PF Grant Sharfield
SF Joaquin Szuchman Egor Koulechov
SG Roy Paretsky Ron Zipper
PG JaKinan Gant Neta Segal
  • The Israeli league rule requires every team to have at least one Israeli on the court at any time.
  • There should be at least 7 Israelis and up to 5 foreigners on a 12-men game sheet.

Source: basket.co.il

Notable players

Note: Flags indicate national team eligibility at FIBA-sanctioned events. Players may hold other non-FIBA nationality not displayed.

Criteria

To appear in this section a player must have either:

  • Set a club record or won an individual award while at the club
  • Played at least one official international match for their national team at any time
  • Played at least one official NBA match at any time.

References

  1. ↑ "Hapoel Be'er Sheva B.C. defeats Maccabi Ashdod 99 to 84". ScoreStream.
  2. ↑ "ISRAEL BASKETBALL SUPER LEAGUE | Israel Basketball | 2018-19 Season | Hapoel Be'er Sheva/Bnei Shimon". basket.co.il.
  3. ↑ "לאומית: הדרום אדום!". safsal.co.il (in Hebrew). 22 May 2018. Archived from the original on 24 May 2018. Retrieved 23 May 2018.
  4. ↑ "Hapoel Beer Sheva lift National League title". eurobasket.com. 23 May 2018.
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