Jonathan Alon Reflects on Leaving Hapoel Jerusalem and the Season’s Breakpoint

Alon said his own standard for evaluating a coach includes titles, results, and whether players delivered the best seasons of their careers. Jerusalem won the Toto Cup, the Winner Cup, and the Super Cup during his time, and he said that while he does not take all the credit, he does not accept the word “failure” for his stint. He also said he told Adelson from the start that the club was not yet built for a million-dollar player, and that the first year had to be used to create the professional framework around such talent.

He said he realized he would not continue after Jerusalem’s EuroCup quarterfinal loss to Turk Telekom in Belgrade. The next morning, while walking with his family, he told his wife, “That’s it, I am not continuing here next year. It is clear.” He said the decision was obvious to him because the club’s main goal had not been met, even though he praised the management, including Gal, Dan, and Matan, and said he had no criticism of them.

Alon also discussed two key roster decisions. On Kadin Carrington, he said he decided two weeks before the EuroCup quarterfinals that the guard would not play because his wife was due to give birth, after Carrington returned from the Cyprus national team and came back to Israel during wartime to be with her. “I do not believe in that approach,” Alon said, explaining that he could not ask a player to ignore his family in that situation. On Anthony Lamb, he called the summer signing his own biggest failure, saying he did not get the most out of him.

He linked part of the breakdown with the fans to the war and to club decisions that, in his view, did not show enough leadership. Jerusalem, he said, sometimes reacted instead of leading and was dragged along by events. He added that appointing a coach is the owner’s decision, not the professional manager’s, and said he hopes his assistants stay on under new coach Saša Obradović. Alon described Obradović’s hiring as another step in the club’s growth and said the farewell from Jerusalem was respectful.