Argyris Pedoulakis and Dimitris Diamantidis, Panathinaikos’ Head Coach and Team Captain, represented the clover in the Basket League OPAP Finals series’ Press Conference held today at the Divani Caravel Hotel. The panel also featured HEBA President, Giorgos Halvatzakis, Olympiacos Head Coach, Girogos Bartzokas and Kostas Papanikolaou, Panionios Head Coach, Giannis Sferopouos and Marios Batis, Rethymno Head Coach Thanassis Giaples and Akis Kallinikidis.
The Panathinaikos Head Coach, Argyris Pedoulakis was asked about the additions made to the team over the last few days and the role they might play in the series: “We won quite a tough bet what with the attempt made during last summer. Even lower range teams rarely change players. As Giorgos (Bartzokas) said, this season Euroleague was different. There were no recesses, there were many games. We had an issue initially on our roster. Trades were made and trades are still being committed; it is easier to repair defense because it is a matter of will, desire, reading. Offense needs a few other things. It calls for talent, homogeneity and many other things. For our first season, I am quite pleased. Many guys leveled-up this year. If we had had one or two additions of Greek players, I believe we could have been even better. We won many battles in both home and away games”
Panathinaikos Captain, Dimitris Diamantidis, was questioned about six times European Champion’s attempt to regain the top of the Greek League and if it is a matter of ego: “Ego certainly plays a part. When you compete in a team such as Panathinaikos, your goal is always to win the championship. Further to that, as Kostas (Papanikolaou) said, it goes for our team also; there is great will. We have reached the finals; we want the title, knowing all too well that we are to come up against a great team. We must take things one game at a time and at the end of each game be able to present ourselves better and better in order to reach our target”.
Pedoulakis, as all three coaches to have led their teams to the championship’s Finals series, was questioned on exactly this; the presence of Greek coaches only: “Greek basketball is based in expertise. The foreign players competing in the Greek League state it to be tough and a matter of mind. The Greek player is taught how to win at a very young age. We started back in the 90’s and Greek basketball, even the national youth squads, use their mind in their game. Greek basketball was ready to face the tough economical conditions, before we had ever heard the word “memorandum”. It had been forged through tough situations, because pressure existed. Pressure brings coiling and it has been proven in the Greek race, that this in its turn provides results. Another element to exist is lots of tough work. Since August 13, when we had started out, counting up to today we have had 19 days off. You can understand that it is also a message toward Greek society, that lots of hard work brings a result. Even distinguished players came to work on 9 or 10 days out of these 19. These elements have kept basketball at a high level. In the past we use to say “you have a good foreigner, you have a good team”. That had been the lack of self-confidence we have. The Greek player through success, through the national team, through players like Diamantidis, Papaloukas, Spanoulis led us to the top, at an international level. Now it’s the Greek Coach’s turn. We had even reached the verge of being ridiculed and laughed at. Giorgos (Bartzokas) did just fine. I believe that this season might be the start of for the Greek Coach to be appreciated throughout Europe”.
Concerning the matter of violence in the court and the probable tension to exist: “This is a matter of Greek society in general and it gets transferred over to basketball. That is my position on the case. I believe that the Greek state has institutional bodies that are supposed to deal with these issues. And we must protect our players, because they are what basketball is made up of. They are the primitive cell and we are all there to assist it. I have been in the Greek League since 1983 and I believe that the coach-player relations have never been better. In the past, they had been rough. Now one tries to protect the other, because they are friends, companions even from little kids in the national squads. Many things have been said; like that the players should leave if something happens. I disagree because if they up and go, it will essentially be as if we are admitting that the institutional bodies of the state are invalid. It is as if we will be taking the law in our own hands. I believe that both teams will try to help one another out”.
When asked about how he will face Spanoulis, but also about the way Olympiacos competes, Pedoulakis stated: “Olympiacos depends mostly on velocity; it is a fast team and we are a different, more set one. Moreover, it invested in young players and its best feature is its velocity in all departments, not only when it comes to running. Now, about Spanoulis… He is a player to read into the plays. It is not him being fast, it is his mind. He can read into situations and you must continuously change things. You can’t play one defense on Vassilis or respectively on Diamantidis, because they are players-creators that can break the game wide open”.
Pedoulakis was asked if he believes if Panathinaikos, as it has been competing lately, is this season’s best Panathinaikos: “When we had started out back in the summer, we had planned to create a new team, a mythical team to have come full circle. There had been those who would support Panathinaikos was falling apart, a belief created for reasons we need not state at this time. Today we have a core of guys on the team who can compete at a high level and we proved it in Europe. We are tragically left back when it comes to Greek players and there is a plan to cover lost ground over the next few years. And I believe that this is the most important part. It is something Olympiacos did and at the moment is gaining from it competitively. We want Greek players. We were competitive in Euroleague but we must bear in mind that in Greece we have an entirely different tax system which countries like Turkey of Russia for example don’t have, which forces both teams to shop from lower levels and assist players in improving. It is a paradox that Panathinaikos covered quite some millage, reaching to win the Greek Cup and getting one step before the Euroleague Final Four, when its initial aspirations had been its presence in the Top16. The most important thing is that it won everyone’s respect. Significant aspects in its stride this season were the passion, the love and the expertise of all in Panathinaikos who offered a great helping hand”.
Adding comments on the last additions to be made he stressed: “I feel that in Panathinaikos it was more of a matter of quantity. It is a chain which has links. As certain guys were added, the rotation grew and some other guys already on the team were offered the opportunity to perform even better. Sofo for instance, who was mentioned, was sidelined for two months. That had an impact on Tsartsaris and Lasme. This season was strenuous, it had many games and there was little time for the players to be able to rejuvenate mentally and physically”.
A special offer during the Finals
HEBA President, Giorgos Halvatzakis, during his opening speech for the Basket League OPAP final phase, also conveyed a different message, an offer to others: “We are heading towards the end of our championship; one to have gone quite well as opposed to what many had though at the beginning of the season. One to offer many thrills; we had quite a increase in ticket sales on all teams, from the ones to be competing down to the very last minute to remain in the league, up to those who made it into the finals and are now here today. During this season, out of 182 games played, 70 of them ended behind a less than 6 points spread; something indicative of what an interesting championship it has been. This however not to say that we have solved all of our issues. Already some of you have received the book to include all statistical facts from 1992 up to 2012, the end of a 20 year period, quite a good achievement. Before handing over the floor to the protagonists, I would like to thank all team administrations and wish what we all do; the finals to be worthy of the league’s teams and that they will follow through in a calm manner. At this point I would like to add one more thing: On an initiative of the SEF and the OAKA arenas administrations, sponsored by HEBA, but also in collaboration with both Panathinaikos and Olympiacos BCs, during the finals, outside specific gates of both arenas, special spots will exist, where fans can leave food and clothing, with the assistance of the Piraeus Metropolis and the Athens Archbishopric, wanting to give a different direction to what we are to see next. Always one will get the Championship, one will win the Greek Cup but the best to compete will win”.
Respectively, Dimitris Diamantidis stressed: “Any initiative towards that direction, any action through which we can help other is always welcome. All players and institutions on both teams will do anything in their power to assure this initiative’s success. It is important to help those in need. Along the same line where Kostas Papanikolaou’s statements: “It is beautiful for such initiatives to exist; they show the social nature of basketball, which is at quite an advanced level. It is good to do things that might help others. Above all we are human beings and to be able to perform such an action and to know that you might be putting a smile on someone’s face is quite a pleasing sentiment”.
