Jason Kapono arrived at the “Eleftherios Venizelos” airport slightly before 19.00. From the airport he headed straight to the OAKA gym where he had his first acquaintance with the Panathinaikos players and technical staff. Although two of his new teammates are already familiar to him from the NBA: Marcus Banks and Roko Leni Ukic.
Kapono stated after his arrival: “I am truly excited to be competing for Panathinaikos. I have been through some rough moments during the last few days, but I am over enthusiastic about competing in a great team with such teammates. What I want is to do the best I can in order for the team to conquer titles. I have been following Panathinaikos’ stride through the last ten games, I know they have been performing great in Euroleague and that the team is up for top spot in its encounter over in Russia . We are competing tough, we are competitive… I believe that we have been playing exceptionally the last few days”.
As far as the reasons behind the delay of his arrival to Greece , Kapono stressed: “A family issue existed, a health issue… Gladly enough we got over it and now all is well. It was something extremely serious but I do not feel that more is needed to be stated. Everything is under control and from now on we look ahead into the future”.
When asked if he feels ready to help the team: “I am ready to get straight into practice and help the team. At the moment I feel tired from the journey but I am ready. I will be undergoing medical exams tomorrow and then I am off straight to the court”.
Knowing already quite a few things concerning Panathinaikos, Kapono did not think twice when asked about his and the team’s goals: “What I want is for us to nail more championships, more titles. The answer to this question is easy. I know that many know me for my shooting abilities but I can also do other things on the floor. It is not only that I have good shooting range. In order to be able to compete in the NBA you must perform other things inbounds. You must play offense and defense. I have competed in quite a few NBA teams, I know what I am supposed to do and I am certain that I can help Panathinaikos. I can play at both ends of the court; I am a smart player… I know all too well what such a team requires of me. I had the chance to play not only next to but also across from some great players such as Kobe Bryant. I have the necessary experience, I have learned from them and certainly all this will come in handy for the career I am starting here in Panathinaikos”.
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