THE Vassilis Spanoulis talked to her fight National basketball Opposite Spain (4/9/25, 21:30), stressing that in a tournament it is normal to have bad appearances, stressing that many times a defeat in the group stage can prove useful. Indeed, as he typically said, the race will not be the final.
At the same time, Vassilis Spanoulis referred to rebounds as a basic weakness of both national basketball and Spain, pointing out the need for improvement in this part, through the rotations and the right defensive approach. He expressed his confidence in the players and the certainty that they would meet the demands.
Referring to Yiannis Antetokounbos, he explained that the decision not to play in the previous game was taken together, for prevention, and stressed that he was now ready.
Vasilis Spanoulis’ statements
“I think in a tournament there is no team to go … train. Neither Greece ever went undefeated, nor always played perfect in all games. We know what to improve, we knew what to improve, somewhere we were expecting a bad game to come, no matter what we didn’t want. Many times a defeat now, in the clubs, maybe it’s better than doing it later. Isn’t it?
The final is not the match with Spain, because if we lose we are not excluded. But it’s a very important game for us, we want to win it. As the premiere was very important. All kids will be ready and we will be properly prepared for this game.
Spain in this Eurobasket, like us, does not do a good job in rebounds. We are one of the worst teams in rebounds. Both have to do a better job. We know it and we have to find the way, from the way the players are shaking and we defend me. I also need to find the way how we will have more bodies in the racket. Whatever way we find, the will and ability to go to rebound and get the ball counts above all. I trust the kids, I have complete confidence in them and I think they will.
In the morning we talked to John. We decided not to fight for the good of his own. The team went to play like that. John is ready. We have to think not only in the short but also in the long run. We have our own goals, our own logic in our plan and we will follow it. It’s not a worrying thing.
When you build a team, you build it with the materials you have. I made this team with John and so I made this team in National Greece. It’s like getting Doncic, or Jokic from Serbia or Senngun from Turkey from Slovenia. All teams are reasonable to have stars, as we do, to have the protagonists, as we do. It is logical to have a shooter, like us … We are a very dangerous team when we are all together and when you work to be together and then you don’t play as if you are all together, it is difficult for children to assimilate and change all this from day to day. Our job is when a player feels something to protect him to have him in the next games. “