Meir Tapiro

Meir Tapiro (Hebrew: מאיר טפירו), born March 28, 1975) is a former Israeli professional basketball player, and current CEO of Ironi Nes Ziona. Tapiro played at the point guard position. He was the 2002 Israeli Basketball Premier League MVP. He was a five-time Israeli Premier League Assists Leader, in 1998, 2004, 2006, 2010, and 2014.

Meir Tapiro
מאיר טפירו

Ironi Nes Ziona
Position	CEO
League	Israeli Premier League
Personal information
Born	(1975-03-28) March 28, 1975 Kiryat Ata, Israel
Nationality	Israeli
Listed height	1.92 m (6 ft 4 in)
Listed weight	87 kg (192 lb)
Career information
Playing career	1994–2016
Position	Point guard
Coaching career	2016–present
Career history
As player:
1993–1994	Maccabi Kiryat Motzkin
1994–1996	Hapoel Tel Aviv
1996–1998	Hapoel Eilat
1998–2000	Maccabi Haifa
2000–2003	Hapoel Jerusalem
2003–2004	Bnei Hasharon
2004–2005	SLUC Nancy
2005–2007	Hapoel Jerusalem
2007–2009	Bnei Hasharon
2009–2010	Maccabi Rishon LeZion
2010–2012	Maccabi Ashdod
2012–2013	Hapoel Jerusalem
2013–2015	Ironi Nes Ziona
2015–2016	Maccabi Kiryat Gat
As coach:
2016–2017	Maccabi Ashdod
2017	Hapoel Eilat
Career highlights and awards
Israeli League MVP (2002) Israeli League Playoffs MVP (2012) 3× All-Israeli League First Team (2002, 2004, 2008) 5× Israeli League Assists Leader (1998, 2004, 2006, 2010, 2014)

He is of a Tunisian-Jewish descent.

Early years

Tapiro started playing basketball with the youth department of Elitzur Kiryat Ata.

Professional career

Tapiro started his professional career at Maccabi Kiryat Motzkin. During his pro club career, Tapiro also played with Hapoel Tel Aviv, Hapoel Eilat, Hapoel Jerusalem, Bnei HaSharon, Nancy, Maccabi Rishon LeZion, and Maccabi Ashdod. He was the 2002 Israeli Basketball Premier League MVP. He was a five-time Israeli Premier League Assists Leader, in 1998, 2004, 2006, 2010, and 2014.

Triple doubles

Tapiro was the first Israeli player to achieve a Triple-double in the Israeli Super League. It happened during a game on February 1, 1999, when he finished the game with 16 points, 12 rebounds, and 10 assists, while playing with Maccabi Haifa. Tapiro was also the first Israeli player to achieve a triple-double in a European-wide game, as he led Hapoel Jerusalem to a 118–95 win over BC Odesa, in a EuroCup Challenge game in 2003. In total, Tapiro had 6 triple doubles throughout his career.

Israeli national team

Tapiro also played with the senior Israeli National Team in every EuroBasket, from 1999 to 2007. He played at the EuroBasket 1999, the EuroBasket 2001, the EuroBasket 2003, the EuroBasket 2005, and the EuroBasket 2007. His best performance in a EuroBasket event was at EuroBasket 2001, where he averaged 13.3 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 3.5 assists per game.

On May 27, 2009, at the age of 34, Tapiro announced his immediate retirement from the Israeli national team, even though he was due to participate in the upcoming EuroBasket 2009. He cited his reasons for retirement from the national team as, his need to get rest, and to prepare himself physically and mentally for the next upcoming season.

Honours

• Israeli State Cup
  • Winner: 2006–07

Regular season Statistics

The blocks have counted since 2001-02 season The minutes have counted since 1997-98 season

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
1994–95	H.T.A	16	?	?	.56	.33	.64	1.7	1.9	.0	0	6.3
1995–96	H.T.A	20	?	?	.52	.38	.81	2.2	2.8	0	0	14.0
1996–97	Eilat	20	?	?	.51	.36	.85	2.2	1.6	0	0	9.3
1997–98	Eilat	21	?	?	.50	.28	.75	2.6	.7	0	0	11.8
1998–99	Haifa	22	?	34.7	.48	.34	.73	5.5	5.4	0	0	14.3
1999–2000	Haifa	20	?	35.6	.51	.34	.85	5.2	5.3	1.3	0	15
2000–01	Jerusalem	28	?	?	.48	.42	.70	2.6	2.5	1.1	0	8.1
2001–02	Jerusalem	26	24	27.7	.48	.34	.76	3.2	2.8	1.7	0	11.9
2002–03	Jerusalem	27	23	34.8	.56	.42	.86	4.7	4.4	1.7	0	17.2
2003–04	Bnei HaSharon	21	21	35.1	.46	.38	.73	4.2	7.3	1.9	0	13.5
2004–05	Nancy	33	18	24.06	.56	.236	.679	3.51	5.5	1	0.15	9.3
2005–06	Jerusalem	30	6	27.1	.48	.42	.81	3.9	5.4	1.5	0	10.6
2006–07	Jerusalem	27	26	27.2	.44	.38	.82	3.1	4	1.3	0	10.9
2007–08	Bnei HaSharon	24	22	34	.49	.36	.82	5.3	5.5	1.4	0	13.6
2008–09	Bnei HaSharon	22	21	31.9	.48	.35	.71	4.8	5.6	1.1	0	12.4
2009–10	Rishon	22	9	28.7	.42	.34	.83	4.6	6.5	1.2	0.1	9.6
2010–11	Ashdod	27	27	32.6	.45	.33	.85	5.1	6.1	2.2	0.1	11.6
2011–12	Ashdod	24	24	30.8	.45	.22	.87	4.6	7.4	1.5	0	9
2012–13	Jerusalem	26	4	20.2	.45	.27	.85	2.6	3.5	.8	0	6.2
2013–14	Nes Ziona	29	29	33.1	.43	.32	.91	4.3	6.6	1.5	0	9.7
2014–15	Nes Ziona	26	19	25	.50	.37	.75	3.5	5.2	1.3	.2	8
2015–16	Kiryat Gat	32	8	21	.48	.28	.86	3.6	4.0	1.0	0	6.5

External links

• Meir Tapiro at the Eurobasket 2007 site
• Meir Tapiro at the Eurocup site