One of the faces with leading role in basketball, Zeljko Obradovic became for the second time in a short period a very good story for Euroleague and Euroleague TV. The coach of Panathinaikos talked about the way he feels in the team, with his players, how much alive is the player inside him, although he wears the costume of the coach since 1991, conquering since that first year a Euroleague title. The video about him begins with his last Euroleague trophy: 2007 in Athens.
“You always feel satisfied after a Euroleague title. I am happy because I work with people that understand very well what it means to play in high level every year, in every competition. It’s important that I am happy with my staff and of course with my players, because without them it’s impossible to win anything! During the year we have to realize how many difficulties we are going to face and how important it is to have concentration and motivation in every game, in every practice. Without these two it’s impossible to play in such a long season and to end up with titles. For everyone basketball must be a celebration. We must be happy. This is our life, this is our job”.
Obradovic says that he is just happy where he is right now and that is what is keeping him in the team all these years: “I am very happy in Panathinaikos. This is the main thing. First of all there are two presidents that set the example for everybody. They are 77 and 75 years old and they are the first to be at the office every morning. Every afternoon they are coming to the practice. Every time they are there to help us to give us strength. I am happy with my staff because we work 10 years together, the same people. And of course there is one more thing: The relationship I have with the fans of Panathinaikos is very important for me. Of course I like my players. For me basketball is life and I enjoy it very much. And don’t forget that I love Athens as a city and Greece as a country”.
The next subject is something that has to do with his philosophy about the game and his own reactions: “I try to understand not only in the first half of game, but during the 40 minutes. Basketball is a game, that a coach can change many things during the game. Even if you have prepared everything before, you have to be ready for every change, for anything new. The fact that I have played the game is something that helps me a lot during practices and games. It helps when I am thinking how I would react in some cases. Basketball is changing every year. My players understand this and it’s something very important”.
The epilogue is coming down to one question that is common when somebody is talking about Panathinaikos. How is it to have so many stars in a team and how they get along? “Some of them are very good friends with each other, some have normal relationship. What I believe is that there must be respect on the floor. I don’t care about their personal life. It’s their business. I have experience coaching many players from many countries and many cultures. All that we need is to talk the same language on the floor: The language of basketball. The magic word is “respect”.
