The coaches and players of the four teams which are competing in the first “Pavlos Giannakopoulos Tournament” together with Dimitris Giannakopoulos held a press conference.
"I would like to thank these three unbelievable teams for coming here to play in this tournament to represent an unbelievable man who changed the game of basketball around the world," Panathinaikos captain Nick Calathes said.
"I would like to thank the three teams who are here and make the tournament even more important with their presence," Panathinaikos head coach Xavi Pascual said. "It is an opportunity to commemorate an important personality, not only for Panathinaikos but for European basketball as a whole."
Obradovic spoke from the heart about what Mr. Giannakopoulos meant to him.
"For me personally, it's really something special because I spent 13 years here working together with Mr. Pavlos Giannakopoulos and all of his family, and the contribution of Mr. Pavlos to European basketball and to Panathinaikos especially was something that everyone recognized," Obradovic said. "I would like to say something that I feel deep inside of myself. In this relationship with Mr. Pavlos, he taught me a lot of things. Some moments I will never forget, talking about life, talking about the experience of life and the value of life, and these are things that I used after that, talking to my players and the people close to me."
The moment was summed up by the late Mr. Giannakopoulos's son, Dimitris.
"This tournament is the least we can do to honor the memory of a great man," he said. "I would like to thank Euroleague, which embraced this tournament and has introduced this tournament in the calendar, and I would like to thank the other three teams for accepting our invitation. It's very important that this tournament is going to be held among friends. My father would be very happy tonight watching Panathinaikos unified "
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