Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv brought back Jake Cohen
The experienced forward-center has signed for two years and will return for his third term in yellow-blue
Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv brought back Jake Cohen, who signed a two-year contract. The forward-center (30, 2.10 meters) played last season in the ranks of Obradoiro from the Spanish league and provided 8.2 points and 3.8 rebounds in 21:39 minutes per game on average.
Jake Cohen, who in recent years has become a key player in the Israeli national team, brings with him intelligence on and off the court, height, shooting ability, extensive experience, leadership in the locker room, acquaintance with the club and coach Giannis Sfairopoulos and of course the ability to play positions 4 and 5 as an Israeli in the local league.
“I am thrilled to be back home with my yellow family”, Jake Cohen told maccabi.co.il. “It is an honor to play once again for Maccabi Playtika Aviv and I hope to help the club achieve its goals. See you in Menorah soon!”.
“We want to welcome Jake Cohen back to Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv”, said coach Giannis Sfairopoulos. “Everybody knows Jake’s high value, as a personality and as a player. That’s why we’re very happy that he rejoined us, to compete all together for our goals”.
Jake Cohen, as is well known, already knows Maccabi well. He joined the Yellows in the summer of 2013 and in January 2014 was loaned to Maccabi Rishon LeZion. He played in the Maccabi Tel Aviv uniform in the 2015 season and then a year in the ranks of Aris Thessaloniki and in the 2016/17 season he starred with Maccabi Ashdod.
In his last season with Ashdod he showed the highest numbers in his career – 18.8 index (third in the league), 13.2 points (third among Israelis), 7.7 rebounds (eighth in the league) and 2.1 assists per game, when he achieved a double-double in six games, including twice Against Maccabi.
Upon his return to Maccabi Tel Aviv in the 2017/18 season, he was a significant factor in winning the championship after 3 years in which the team did not reach the local final. The following season he had already provided 11 points in the playoffs at 84.2% for two and 94.4%, dropped 3.2 rebounds and handed out 2.4 assists en route to a second straight championship.
In the 2019/20 season with Maccabi TLV, which has already secured a place in the Euroleague playoffs (the European season was stopped due to the COVID-19 pandemic) and finished with another national championship win, Cohen averaged 11.3 points with 41.3% from 3pts range and 5.3 rebounds per game in the regular season. He was on fire in the game of two overtimes at Gilboa with 33 points and 14 rebounds and in the playoffs contributed 7.4 points, 4.4 rebounds and 2 assists per game, along with close mentoring to the young Yovel Zoosman and Deni Avdija.