Yaniv Green

Yaniv Green (Hebrew: יניב גרין; born 16 May 1980) is an Israeli former professional basketball player. A 2.04 m (6 ft 9 in) forward-center, he is the most capped player in the history of the Israeli national team, with 193 appearances.

Green was born to a Romanian-born father and a Polish-born mother. He attended the local high school in Herzliya and began his basketball career with the youth team of Bnei Herzliya, which he joined in 1994. He played for the club's youth team for five years. His collaboration with two other prominent future basketball players, Tal Burstein and Uri Yitzhaki, made the team one of the strongest youth squads in Israel. In the summer of 1998, Green played for the Israeli national under-18 team at the FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship and was one of his team's standout players. During the 1998–99 season, he won the Israeli youth league championship with Bnei Herzliya while simultaneously beginning to play for the senior Bnei Herzliya team, making his debut in a game against Hapoel Galil Elyon.

During the 1999–2000 season, Green established himself as a key player for Bnei Herzliya's senior team in the Israeli Premier League. That season, he averaged 10.9 points and 5.8 rebounds in 30.6 minutes per game, helping his team reach the league playoffs. Following that season, Green burst onto the Israeli and international stage when he was a main factor in the surprising second-place finish of the U-20 Israeli national team at the 2000 FIBA Europe Under-20 Championship. He was also a part of the team that played at the FIBA Under-21 World Championship and finished in 7th place.

For the 2000–01 season, Green left his boyhood club Bnei Herzliya and transferred to Maccabi Ironi Ra'anana, another team in the Premier League. With Ra'anana, he played in a European club tournament for the first time in his career, participating in the SuproLeague. He displayed solid performances in the competition, averaging 6.6 points and 5 rebounds per game, though Ra'anana was eliminated in the first round with a record of 4 wins and 14 losses. In the domestic league, Green achieved similar averages and finished the season with his team in fifth place, just one spot shy of the playoffs. Green's time at Ra'anana later sparked a scandal when it was revealed that the team's management had opened shell companies in order to pay Green and Uri Yitzhaki—both of whom were serving in the military at the time—salaries higher than those permitted for soldiers by the Israel Basketball Association. Following this incident, the club's chairman, Zohar Halperin, resigned.

In the summer of 2004, Green was invited to play for the Detroit Pistons in the NBA Summer League. He impressed Detroit's management during the Summer League games and was invited to their pre-season camp, having also received offers to join several other NBA teams. Nevertheless, he failed to secure a contract with the Detroit Pistons and decided to sign with Maccabi Tel Aviv.

In his first season with Maccabi Tel Aviv (2004–05), Green achieved the greatest success of his career, winning the EuroLeague title after a victory over Tau Cerámica in the final. He also won his first Israeli Premier League championship following his team's victory in the playoff finals against his former team, Hapoel Tel Aviv, as well as the Israeli State Cup. He averaged 8.9 points and 4.5 rebounds in 17.6 minutes per game in the domestic league. However, in the EuroLeague, head coach Pini Gershon gave Green limited playing time compared to his previous teams, as the team's starting center was the Croatian Nikola Vujčić. Green's EuroLeague averages that season were 3.7 points and 2 rebounds in 9.5 minutes per game.

In the following season (2005–06), Green continued to serve primarily as a backup. He won a second consecutive domestic double (League Championship and State Cup) with Maccabi Tel Aviv, but lost in the EuroLeague final to CSKA Moscow. During 2006, Green became one of the top 20 all-time leading scorers for the Israeli national team.

During the 2006–07 season, Green saw limited playing time in the EuroLeague, averaging 3 points and 2 rebounds in just 8.2 minutes per game. In the Israeli league, however, he was much more integral to his team, averaging 7.1 points and 3.6 rebounds per game. That season, he won his third consecutive championship with Maccabi Tel Aviv, and reached the State Cup semifinals and the EuroLeague quarterfinals. His best performance that season came in May against Hapoel Galil Elyon, where he scored 21 points. At the European Championship that same year, Green excelled for the Israeli national team.

During the summer of 2007, Green was sought after by many teams from Israel and across Europe. He ultimately decided to move to CSK VVS Samara of the Russian Professional Basketball League in order to receive more playing time than he did at Maccabi. In the 2007–08 season, Green was one of Samara's leading players, helping them reach the quarterfinals of the FIBA EuroCup and finish ninth in the Russian league, just one spot below the playoff spots. He averaged 8.9 points and 6.1 rebounds in the league, and 11.6 points and 8.4 rebounds in the EuroCup. He also achieved a personal milestone that season when he was selected to participate in the FIBA EuroCup All-Star Game. Green later testified that the level of play in Russia was higher than in Israel and that it had improved him professionally.

For the 2008–09 season, Green decided to return to Israel and signed a three-year contract with Maccabi Tel Aviv, after the team's new head coach, Efi Birnbaum, promised him more playing time. That season, Green won his fourth career Israeli championship after a Final Four victory over Maccabi Haifa, and reached the Top 16 stage of the EuroLeague. He averaged 5.2 points and 4.4 rebounds in the domestic league, and 4.8 points and 3.2 rebounds in the EuroLeague. At the end of the 2010–11 season, Green was released by Maccabi Tel Aviv.

On August 17, 2011, after three consecutive seasons with Maccabi Tel Aviv, Green signed with Italian club Teramo Basket. Following a particularly rough start to the season, Green had his best game on January 28, scoring 16 points and grabbing 5 rebounds in just 16 minutes against Benetton Treviso. On March 4, 2012, Green was released by the team due to its financial difficulties. The player had not settled well at the club from the start, averaging 12 minutes, 4.1 points, and 2.3 rebounds per game.

In October 2012, after failing to find a team in Europe, he signed a one-season contract with Hapoel Gilboa Galil of the Israeli Premier League.

In the summer of 2013, Green signed a one-season contract with Hapoel Jerusalem. During the 2014–15 season, he suffered a severe knee injury that ended his season. At the end of the season, Jerusalem decided to release him.

On August 14, 2016, Green announced his retirement from basketball.

National team career

Green has played in every European championship, from Eurobasket 2001 to Eurobasket 2015, making a total of 8 championships. At Eurobasket 2007, Green was the leading rebounder, averaging 9.3 rebounds per game.^[1] His highest performance was pulling 16 rebounds in a second stage match against Croatia.

On 10 September 2015, Green played his 189th match for the national team, making him the most capped player in Israeli national team history, after passing former leader Doron Jamchi. He also managed to get 1,478 points which placed him in the top 5 of the all-time points leaders of the national side.^[2]

Euroleague- 22 Games, 6.3 Minutes, 2.1 Points, 1.0 Rebounds, 0.2 Assists
Ligat Winner- 32 Games, 13.1 Minutes, 5.2 Points, 3.6 Rebounds, 0.8 Assists

Euroleague- 19 Games, 7.5 Minutes, 3.0 Points, 2.0 Rebounds, 0.4 Assists
Ligat Winner- 24 Games, 13.3 Minutes, 7.3 Points, 3.5 Rebounds, 0.6 Assists

• Euroleague.net Profile