By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
After a season and a double in Greece, coach Argiris Pedoulakis is leading Panathinaikos for one more time and it’s not surprise that the Greens have set their standards high. After all, as Pedoulakis said to Eurohoops: “Panathinaikos‘ moto, its philosophy, and that is something that never changes, is to be competitive in any game and the tradition of the club is asking for the best. We can’t pinpoint exactly what the best means, because in a season that’s like a marathon you never know what will happen. I just want my team to be healthy”.
The Greens are keeping an eye also in Euroleague qualifying tournament, since their group will be competed by the team which will win it and Pedoulakis knows that his last opponent will not be an easy one: “It’s a difficult tournament, because you have to play back to back games. Some very good teams are competing and for some of them you can say that’s unfair for them to have to go through those games, because they belong to Euroleague’s level, speaking about their roster and their investment in the sport”.
After all, Panathinaikos is having two injured players, Roko Leni Ukic and Loukas Mavrokefalidis, who were wear down during the last Eurobasket. Pedoulakis thinκs that there should be a change and the reason is obvious: “Eleven games in 18 days is more than exhausting. The players should be concerned about it and also the FIBA officials. That should change. We must have fewer teams, or a longer Eurobasket format”. However Panathinaikos finally decided not to add a player in order to temporarily replace Ukic who is expected to miss the first month of the season. “At this point a new addition would produce a mix up and not solve any problem”, said Pedoulakis.