Against absences, o Panathinaikos defeated Peristeri 89-72 for the 6th game of the GBL and returned to positive results, with Ergin Ataman to give information to Matias Lessor and Kenneth Farid after the match.
Ergin Ataman confirmed the imminent transfer of Kenneth Farid and claimed that Matias Lessor’s condition is not clear, leaving “open” the possibility of another operation on his leg.
Ataman’s statements
“We approached this match seriously because we have seen Peristeri get wins in Greece and in Europe recently. It is important for us that certain players showed in good condition, like Nan who did a great job in attack. Defensively we were aggressive, we didn’t make many mistakes and protected our racket. We got a clean win.
Your friends wrote that we signed Kenneth Faried. We hope that he will be in Athens tomorrow. After the medical, if he is ready we will try to use him in the double week. There is no progress in the case of Charles Bassey, we are working on it, but it takes time such a case, an NBAer. And we want to see Yurtseven’s situation as well, he is 50-50 to play some minutes in the double week.
Right now, if we don’t count Mitoglou who is a power forward, we don’t have a center. So we’re looking more and more. I hope that Matias Lessor will also be with us. However, his condition is not clear, whether he will undergo treatment or surgery. There is discussion with many doctors to make a decision. We are looking for all good players who can help the team. Farid will have a two-month contract and then we will decide whether he stays with us or not.
We cannot change the system that gave us the titles in Greece and Europe. Shorts has to adapt, understand our system. We also know he’s trying to play his own basketball. He is a great player and we will find solutions. The problem is that there is a lot of talk from players, agents, people who have left the sport. The players should be talking. Even today I am not satisfied with him. We have a lot of guards, whoever is good will play. Otherwise he will wait for his moment, that is the reality. We can’t change our system for one player, I hope it will help us in the future.”