Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv signed Yiftach Ziv (26, 1.91 m) for two years with an option for another season. The leading Israeli point guard – a member of last season’s first team and the Israeli Player of the Season – is also well known to fans in yellow and blue from the last playoff final series, in which he faced the champions as a player of Gilboa-Galil.
Yiftach Ziv is a big and strong point guard with extraordinary daring, a huge hunger to succeed, the ability to dictate the pace of the game, guard players in a variety of positions, he has 7 seasons experience in the Israeli Premier League, good shooting and rebounding skills.
“The signing of Yiftach Ziv is very important for us because we add a very good Israeli player to our squad that will help us in all competitions that we will participate in”, coach Giannis Sfairopoulos told maccabi.co.il. “YIftach has many qualities and I want to welcome him to the family of Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv”.
“I am happy to start a new chapter in my career at a big, glorious and exciting home like Maccabi Tel Aviv”,
Yiftach Ziv told the club’s official website after the signing, adding: “As a player who experienced the crazy power of this arena packed with amazing fans, I’m happy and wating to experience it again – Only this time from the other side when I play for them”.
During the previous finals series, Ziv scored 12 points per evening in an average of 30 minutes on the floor. He delivered nearly 4 assists and grabbed 6 rebounds per game. During the regular season he provided 12.5 points with 37.1% of 3pts range alongside 4.9 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 1.8 steals per game.
One of his highlights games last season was in a 107:91 win over Hapoel Tel Aviv, then scoring 27 points (11 of 11 from the line), adding 5 assists, picking up 5 rebounds and scoring 39 PIR.
Yiftach Ziv began his professional basketball career at Kiryat Ata in the national league in the 2013/14 season. Since then he has played for Maccabi Haifa, Bnei Herzliya, Maccabi Ashdod, two seasons at Nahariya and in the previous two years at Hapoel Gilboa-Galil.
The point guard is a member of the Israel national team and received his first summons to the senior staff during 2016, having previously played for the youth and U20 teams.