By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
Every good thing has an ending and that end is a reality for Fotis Katsikaris’ tenure in Bilbao. The Greek coach was hired by the team in the middle of 2009-10 season, when the Basques were in the second to last place of the Spanish league standings and transformed them to one of the best Spanish teams. Katsikaris has a contract for next season, however it’s a given that he will not stay and his era ended after the Tuesday’s defeat in the play offs by Barcelona.
The Greek coach is on the search of the next stop in his career in club level – since he will also be sitting in the bench of the Russian national team – and the same applies to the other two Greeks of the team, Nikos Zisis and Kostas Vasileiadis. After all, the financial woes of Bilbao will lead to the exit door many members of this season’s roster.
The team owns money to the players, in some cases even six months’ payments and it’s obvious that at this point the future of the team and the level of its ambitions is a big question mark.