It’s David Blatt for Maccabi Tel Aviv

Forget about American players making good in Europe: David Blatt is simply one of the top head coaches on The Continent, and the Team Russia miracle worker has just added another gold star to his resume in “coming home” to Maccabi Tel Aviv on a three-year contract. Blatt has some huge shoes to fill in Israel in the wake of the departed Pini Gershon (hey, let’s see Blatt nearly cause an international incident in an exhibition game), but he certainly has the acumen to do so. Indeed, Blatt served as assistant coach to Gershon in Tel Aviv in the early 2000s and is credited with helping recruit the likes of Anthony Parker and Maceo Baston. Not to mention becoming part of perhaps the greatest coaching staff ever assembled in Europe with the 2003-04 triple crown-winning Maccabi team — after he’d won consecutive Israeli League titles *as head coach*. Perhaps most known internationally for his Team Russia’s astounding 2007 Eurobasket upset win, Blatt has also earned quite an awes...