He won’t be on the roster, but I’ll post a Yam Madar scouting report here:
56. Yam Madar | G | Hapoel Tel Aviv | Birthdate: Dec. 21, 2000 (Age: 19) | 6-3 | 180 LBS | Hometown: Beit Dagan, Israel BACKGROUND: Father is Zohar Madar, who at one point was the mayor of Beit Dagan, where Madar grew up. Signed with Hapoel Tel Aviv back in the summer of 2018, but really emerged on scouts’ radars in the summer of 2019. That’s when he played in the FIBA European U20 Tournament. Scouts went out to see Deni Avdija, and Madar really proved himself playing next to the potential top-five pick. He led the tournament in assists at 7.7 per game, played extremely high-level defense, and added 15 points per night on top of it. Along with Avdija, Madar was a reason Israel won the tournament, and he made the All-Tournament team. Continued his ascent over the last year in Israel. Won the league’s most improved player in 2020. Still playing for Hapoel. Had a monster start to his season with a 19-point, eightassist game in a Champions’ League qualifier even though his team lost. Considered an extreme competitor in a good way who really fights and puts everything into basketball. YEAR TEAM LEAGUE Age GP PPG RPG APG TOPG BPG SPG FG% 3P% FT% 2018-19 Hapoel Tel Aviv Israel BSL 18 32 2.8 1.0 1.0 1.0 0.0 0.7 42.7 25.0 73.1 2019-20 Hapoel Tel Aviv Israel BSL 19 32 10.1 2.4 3.4 2.5 0.2 1.0 44.4 26.7 81.2 STRENGTHS: The first thing that stands out is his competitiveness. Just an extremely high-level motor and energy giver. Also doesn’t stop pushing the pace and tempo. That’s both on offense when he’s out in transition, and on defense when he’s pressuring at the point of attack. Just a constant effort player who is always trying to make something happen.
I love him on defense in that regard. Just an annoying pest on that end. Really handsy and disruptive, but not in a way that will get called. Fantastic lateral quickness, and a real attitude. Despite Madar’s real size disadvantage against Avdija, Hapoel matched them up at times in their playoff series, and Madar made him look absolutely miserable due to his pressure in the first two games. Just consistently beats everyone to the spot they want to get to. Anticipates what they want to do before they do it. He’s skinny and needs to add some strength, but defense can be his calling card in the NBA. Even though he’s a touch undersized
at 6-2without crazy length, I’d buy him as being able to come in and give teams an energy boost on that end.
Offensively, the critical skills are his creativity and passing. Just has fantastic vision and always has his eyes up. Makes the right pass regularly, as well as the spectacular one. Always hits guys right on target so they can keep going with their drives. Has great touch, but can also throw a rocket pass when necessary. He’s a really poor shooter, which I’ll note momentarily, and that cuts down on some of his passing angles out of pick-and-roll. But he still finds them. In part, that’s because he’s an awesome ballhandler with fun little flourishes he puts on defenders. Knows how to use his body. Loves to crossover and then burst by. Big fan of the spin move into a floater or spin move into a jumper combo. The phrase “plays at his own pace” was made for someone like Madar. He’s just really awkward to deal with because of how slippery he is, but also how quick he is in and out of his moves without looking sped up.
WEAKNESSES: The big one is the shooting. I don’t really buy him in that regard at all right now. His mechanics are too all-over-the-place. It has potential, but he needs to really tighten things up. Has something of a low release point. Doesn’t have a consistent follow through. His base and footwork into the jumper isn’t really all that consistent, and he gets off of his balance point too often. Landing point is all over the place. Does get a relatively clean release, but the ball doesn’t look to have awesome rotation. Think it’s going to take a few years for him to rep out the mechanics. Could get there to where he’s effective as a shooter, though.
The other main one is just that he generally gets a bit overaggressive at times and forces the action. Think this comes more from a lack of experience than anything else, though. Occasionally gets into bad spots on the court and kind of spazzes a touch and makes a mind-numbingly bad choice that is inexplicable. He’ll also get overaggressive on defense, too. I wouldn’t quite say he’s a riverboat gambler, but he will push himself out of proper position sometimes thinking that his quickness and recovery speed allows him to get back into position. Won’t be able to do that as often in the NBA.
SUMMARY: I actually think Madar should probably be drafted and stashed. I tend to like guys who play with this level of competitiveness and fire. It’s going to take some time with him, but there are very clearly the outlines of a backup point guard in the NBA here if he can improve the jumper and slow down a little bit. I think I’d want to see how his physicality and slight frame translates to the NBA before going beyond him being a potential backup point guard, but there are some really interesting tools here when mixed with a mentality that clearly wants to win. GRADE: Draft and stash, but should be drafted and stashed