Basketball player Tamir Blatt, son of basketball coach and former basketball player David Blatt and former basketball player Kinneret Blatt, is following in their footsteps.
Sources inform "Globes" that Tamir Blatt took part in a buyers group led by the family that recently purchased five apartments in a Ramat Hasharon urban renewal project in the Morasha neighborhood in eastern Ramat Hasharon for a total of NIS 13 million. Yuvalim and Israel Levy Real Estate developed the project, on which work has already begun. The project includes four 23-26-storey towers with 588 apartments in place of 168 apartments that were demolished. The project also includes an 11-dunam (2.75-acre) park with running and bicycle paths, external physical activity spaces, fitness facilities, a ping-pong table, bicycle rooms, and TRX training rooms.
Tamir Blatt is not the only member of the family involved; his sister, Ella Blatt, also took part. While they signed the contract, their mother, Kinneret, did the negotiating for them.
Other members of the buyers group came from the family's associates and other people involved in basketball. The keys to the apartments in the project are scheduled for delivery in four years.
Tamir Blatt selected a five-room, 15th floor apartment with 115 square meters and a 20-square meter balcony for NIS 2.75 million. His sister's five-room apartment, which is on the fourth floor, and also has 115 square meters and a 20-square meter balcony, cost NIS 2.58 million.
Success in sports and business
David Blatt is continuing to develop his overseas coaching career. His first international success was leading the Russian national basketball team to the European championship in 2007. In May 2014, he led the Maccabi Tel Aviv basketball club to an upset victory in the Euroleague championship, and stunned the basketball world several weeks later by signing a contract to coach the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA.
Blatt's contract with the Cleveland team was huge - a reported $20 million for five years, including bonuses. In his first year, he led the team to the NBA finals, where it lost to the Golden State Warriors, following a stormy season accompanied by disputes with the team's star, Lebron James. He was fired as head coach in the middle of his second year, after the team had won 30 of its first 41 games. He then signed a contract to coach Darussafaka in the Turkish basketball league, but was unable to replicate his success, with his team being eliminated in the Euroleague quarterfinals.
Blatt tried to negotiate a return to Maccabi Tel Aviv last summer, but owing to tax problems, among other things, decided at the last minute to coach the Turkish team for another year.
Blatt has also been very financially successful in recent years, thanks to his lucrative contracts at Cleveland and in Turkey. He has been the most successful Israeli coach in the past decade - both professionally and financially. Blatt spent the past two years overseas without his family, which remained in Israel and focused on his son Tamir's basketball career.
The next big prospect?
Tamir Blatt, 20, is one of Kinneret and David Blatt's four children. In the summer of 2014, Hapoal Tel Aviv basketball coach Oded Katash persuaded Tamir Blatt to play for his team. Then only 17 and a half years old, Tamir Blatt spent the first year of his contract playing for the Ramat Hasharon team in the second league in order to give him experience and more playing minutes.
In the two past seasons, Tamir Blatt played on the Hapoal Tel Aviv team, and was one of its most prominent players. At the same time, he exercised his option this summer for early termination of his contract, preferring a better offer from Hapoal Holon.
Despite his young age and lack of height (only 6 feet and 1 inch tall), Tamir Blatt led the Israeli national youth team to its greatest-ever achievement - the finals of the European Cup, where it lost in the final game to host Greece.
Incidentally, David and Tamir Blatt are not the only basketball players in the family. David Blatt met his wife, Kinneret, when he coached the Elitzur Netanya women's basketball team, on which she was a player.
Published by Globes [online], Israel Business News - www.globes-online.com - on August 2, 2017
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2017