THE Panathinaikos He has been in Sydney for a few hours for the “Pavlos Giannakopoulos” tournament and the coach of “Greens”, Ergkin Atamanhe was asked to answer questions from journalists who have followed the “clover” in Australia.
Ergkin Ataman referred to the new basketball season, pointing out that the team has just ten days to be ready for the Eeuroleague, highlighted the depth of the roster, stressing that even two Panathinaikos teams could hit the Final 4.
The Turkish coach also said that he did not feel pressure that the Final 4 is in Athens, stressing that Euroleague made the right choice, did not hide his question that some Greeks did not want to be in their home country, en; V expressed optimism that Matthias Lesor would need to be.
Ergkin Ataman knit the praise of Panathinaikos young players, making special reference to Toliopoulos and Rogavopoulos, while – relatively to the Turkish national – he said he was disappointed with the defeat in the Eurobasket final.
Ergkin Ataman spoke …
For the realization of “Pavlos Giannakopoulos” in Australia and if he expected such a response from the world?
Not only for me, but for everyone in the Panathinaikos team, it is a completely different situation to be in Australia. Yesterday we played in Melbourne in a sold out match and there were about seven thousand Greek fans. I understand and I was told that all Greeks in Australia follow basketball. Especially for our fans we are very happy to come close to them here in Australia.
For his thoughts about the group:
We have a wonderful team. For the last two years we have a wonderful team and now we have signed some new players. I think we will fight for all our great goals throughout the season, for Euroleague, for the championship. At the moment it is pre-season some players have just arrived from Eurobasket yesterday. But as you saw yesterday we are the same, strategically. By 90% we are ourselves and the new players will also contribute, as did Toliopoulos yesterday, who I love and will help us a lot, and he is a very smart player. I have been watching him for the last two years on Mars and with the National Team. The same for Toliopoulos who yesterday showed that he would be a very important player for us. Of course we have many absences at the moment, important players. I believe that this season Panathinaikos even playing with two different teams we can fight for the Final 4 with both teams. But it will be very important to find the best solution in every game and fight for our goals because all teams are very competitive in the Euroleague. We have a little time to prepare, only ten days, to be ready.
Where would you like to become the tournament next season?
Australia is fine, it’s different, another logic. I’m sure we’ll do a big tournament again in the summer, I know but I won’t share it with you, Mr. Giannakopoulos knows, during the season you’ll find out, we want to continue this around the world. There is a great will from our Greeks and fans around the world. At the moment Panathinaikos is the only European team in the world to do such a great job in this field. Mrs. Giannakopoulos is with us is very nice, all Greeks must proud of the Giannakopoulos family.
For Matthias Lesor:
Matthias takes more time, that’s for sure. But we talked and told me that he was going well and probably things would go faster than we expect. I want Matthias and I hope that when we return to Athens all players are on the parquet for our first Euroleague game.
For Eurobasket and the second place by Turkey:
Everyone in the country is very happy because after many years, in a tournament outside Turkey we had such a great result. But for me it is not so, because I always want to win, I want to be first. When you lose some games you see that it doesn’t have the same power as your opponent you can’t be disappointed. But in a game we had control of from the beginning to his last minute and is judged in the last possession for me is something that disappoints me. The story will write this result for Turkey. These days I watched again in the last minutes, I will not be able to forget this final I lost in his last moments.
For the Final -4 in Athens:
I have no pressure in Athens. The pressure is to be in the Final 4 and to win and it doesn’t matter where you are. I would like to congratulate all the league teams and the league for choosing the most beautiful stadium in Europe. In Athens everyone loves basketball, not only in Panathinaikos but also in Olympiacos, and Olympiacos fans are excellent and want to be in any Final 4 in whatever city. What is the most important? That the two teams are in Final 4. You know because Final 4 is in Athens there is no guarantee that Panathinaikos and Olympiacos will be there, we will fight to be and I believe that all Greek basketball supporters will be there. It is very difficult for me that some people in Greece did not want to be the Final 4 in their hometown, in their home country. I believe that the teams finally made the best decision, the smartest decision.