Willy Workman

Willy Workman (Hebrew: וילי וורקמן‎; born March 14, 1990) is an American-Israeli professional basketball player for Maccabi Haifa of the Israeli Premier League. He played college basketball at Amherst. Workman holds dual-American and Israeli citizenship.

Willy Workman
Workman with Hapoel Tel Aviv, 2014
No. 2 – Maccabi Haifa
PositionSmall forward
LeagueIsraeli Premier League
Personal information
Born (1990-03-14) March 14, 1990
Northampton, Massachusetts
NationalityAmerican / Israeli
Listed height198 cm (6 ft 6 in)
Career information
High schoolDeerfield Academy
(Deerfield, Massachusetts)
CollegeAmherst (2009–2013)
NBA draft2013 / Undrafted
Playing career2013–present
Career history
2013–2014Hapoel Galil Elyon
2014–2015Hapoel Tel Aviv
2015–2016Maccabi Ashdod
2016–presentMaccabi Haifa
Career highlights and awards

Early life

Workman is Jewish[1] and was born to a Jewish mother[2] in Northampton, Massachusetts. He attended Northampton High School before completing a postgraduate year at nearby Deerfield Academy, where he resumed playing basketball after enduring injuries earlier in his high school career.[2] Workman's father, Danny, is a longtime restaurateur.[3] His mother, Dina Fein, is a judge in Springfield, Massachusetts.[4]

College career

Workman attended Amherst College from 2009 to 2013, winning the NCAA3 Championship his senior year.[5] He averaged 10.2 points, 6.1 rebounds and 2.9 assists for his four-year career at Amherst, earning D3hoops.com men's All-America Third Team,[6] ECAC Division III New England First Team[7] and NESCAC First Team honors in 2013.[8]

Professional career

During his first season of professional basketball in 2013-14, Workman played for Hapoel Galil Elyon[9] of the Israeli National League, the second-tier league in Israel, and was able to move to the country’s top-flight Premier League, when signing with Hapoel Tel Aviv for the 2014-15 season.[10]

He was signed by fellow Premier League side Maccabi Ashdod for 2015-16[11] and inked a contract with Maccabi Haifa prior to the 2016-17 Premier League campaign.[12] That season, Workman helped Haifa to reach the 2017 Israeli League Finals, where they eventually lost to Hapoel Jerusalem.

On February 28, 2018, Workman signed a three-year contract extension with Maccabi Haifa.[13] On March 2, 2018, Workman participated in the Israeli League All-Star Game as a replacement for Oz Blayzer.[14] That season, Despite Workman having his best year in the Israeli Premier League in terms of personal averages (6.7 points and 5.4 rebounds per game) - his team, Maccabi Haifa, had finished the season in the last place out of 12 teams and was relegated to the Israeli National League (the second-tier league in Israel).

In the 2018–19 season, Workman won the 2019 Israeli National League Championship title with Haifa, earning a promotion back to the Israeli Premier League.

References
  1. "Israel is a slam-dunk for US basketball players; Israel is a land of opportunity...and sometimes romance...for Jewish-American basketball stars"
  2. "A New Journey Begins". Amherst College. 2013-10-04. Retrieved 2018-06-04.
  3. Lenker, George. "10 Northampton restaurants that have stood the test of time". masslive.com. Retrieved 5 January 2019.
  4. Staff, Mass Lawyers Weekly (1 August 2001). "FEIN, DINA E." Retrieved 5 January 2019.
  5. "'Willy stuff' helps Amherst to Division III national title". Washington Post. Retrieved 2017-05-22.
  6. "2013 D3hoops.com men's All-America team". D3hoops. 2013-03-28. Retrieved 2017-05-22.
  7. "Greenway, Watson & Click Represent GNAC on ECAC Men's Basketball All-Star Team". GNAC. 2013-03-08. Retrieved 2017-05-22.
  8. "Men's Basketball All-NESCAC Selections Released - NESCAC". www.nescacstats.com. Retrieved 2017-05-22.
  9. "A New Journey Begins". Amherst College. 2013-10-04. Retrieved 2017-05-22.
  10. "Hapoel Tel Aviv signs Willy Workman". Sportando. Retrieved 2017-05-22.
  11. LTD, Art-Up. "Willy Workman". מנהלת ליגת העל בכדורסל. Retrieved 2017-05-22.
  12. "Maccabi Haifa signs Willy Workman". Sportando. Retrieved 2017-05-22.
  13. "ווילי וורקמן יישאר ירוק עד 2021". basket.co.il (in Hebrew). Retrieved February 28, 2018.
  14. "אולסטאר: הזרים גברו על הישראלים". basket.co.il (in Hebrew). March 2, 2018.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.