Evaluating Yam Madar

April 15th, 2020

by Alan Lu

I took the time to watch Hapoel Tel Aviv’s 6-2 point guard, Yam Madar play in an Israeli BSL game against Hapoel Unet Holon that took place on February 15^th, as I was able to see this with thanks to YouTube via מנהלת ליגת העל בכדורסל. Madar is a smart, skilled playmaker that has had a solid season this year overseas, and he has been mentioned as a second round prospect for the 2020 draft.  I decided to watch this game to assess his skills even further, and here is a breakdown of how he fared on this day, as well as how his game may translate to the NBA.

Yam Madar possesses a decent ability to get scores on quick drives to the basket.  He has a good first step off the dribble to get past his man, and he can use either hand to finish plays at the rim.  He also can draw fouls upon his defenders, and he does a good job of making his free throws when he gets to the foul line.

Plus, he also is a very good mid-range shooter.  Madar has an assortment of dribble moves that he can use to create separation between himself and his defender, and he showed a knack for making mid-range jumpers off the catch and dribble. 

He also showed an adequate ability to knock down threes to provide floor spacing for his team.  Madar was able to make an open pull-up three early on, and he also drew three free throws on another three-point attempt late in this game. He also would’ve made a spot-up three, but it was waved off as his teammate was called for setting a moving screen.  However, he can be quite streaky in taking long-range shots, and he had trouble consistently making pull-up threes from beyond the arc.

Also, he displayed decent playmaking skills.  Madar is an effective game manager that will tend to make safe passes, and he can find open shooters as well as teammates on the break to set up scores for them.  He’ll look to find the open man, and he does a good job of moving the basketball.  Every once in a while, he will drive aggressively to the rim, as he can draw in multiple defenders before kicking it out to an open shooter to set up a scoring opportunity for his teammate.   Sometimes though, he can be prone to throwing hasty passes which can go astray that may lead him to commit turnovers.

He also did a good job of rebounding the basketball.  Madar would crash the glass to collect boards on both ends of the floor, and he would tend to push the ball up the floor after getting defensive rebounds.

Plus, Madar also is a fairly good defender that will apply heavy ball pressure to hound his opponents.  He will jump passes and poke balls away to help his team get steals and deflections, and he will also jump on loose balls to help force additional turnovers.  He also will aggressively defend opposing ball handlers as he possesses good agility and footwork to do so, and he managed to successfully force an opponent to commit an 8-second violation in the backcourt due to bringing constant ball pressure.  He also was able to contest a three to force a miss, and he also successfully drew a charge to get a stop later in this match.

On the downside, his aggressive, ball-pressure style can lead him to commit touch fouls when guarding his man.  Sometimes though, he may get a late jump on the defensive end, as he may not always cut off penetration, which can lead his team to commit fouls and allow scores.  Other times, he may gamble too much for steals, and he can sometimes get beat off the dribble, as he may not always be in a good defensive position.

In general, Yam Madar is a tough, gritty playmaker that can effectively run a team at the point, can get numerous scores off the dribble, and he also has the ability to be a plus-level defender at the NBA level.  On the downside, he may not be an especially dynamic playmaker, as he mostly tends to make safe passes but rarely went beyond that when moving the ball, and he will also need to improve his three-point shot.  Right now, he projects to be a second round prospect for the upcoming draft.  His solid set of skills and basketball IQ could enable him to thrive as a role player in the NBA, and he could end up being a solid rotation player similar to former Washington Wizards’ guard, Chris Whitney in the association.