Yet to set foot in the NBA, despite having been drafted by the Houston Rockets, Lior Eliyahu will be key for Israel if they are to perform well at EuroBasket 2011. Having returned to Maccabi Tel Aviv after a year in Spain with Tau Ceramica, he is a late bloomer that was born to play the game. Very few players in the world have the feel for the game the Israeli forward possesses. An extremely athletic and long body joins a soft touch around the rim to make him one of the toughest players around to defend. Nobody can match the unorthodox shots Eliyahu creates, but at over 50% accuracy he is realiable as well. In his third EuroBasket Final Round, Eliyahu is expected to be one of the top players in the championship once again having led the team in both scoring and rebounds two years ago in Poland.