By Lefteris Moutis/ moutis@eurohoops.net
Argiris Pedoulakis is officially the new coach of Panathinaikos. One of the most experienced Greek coaches is the new boss of the Greens and he returns to the club after 20 years, this time not as a player, but as the man who has the difficult mission to fill the shoes of Zeljko Obradovic. Pedoulakis is 48 years old and has also coached Panellinios, Rethymno, PAOK, AEK, Makedonikos, which he led to the 2005 ULEB Cup final. The bulk of his coaching career was spend on Peristeri’s bench, a team that under his guidance played in Euroleague, back at 2000-01 season.
Panathinaikos has a Greek coach again, for the first time since 1997, when Michalis Kiritsis was the successor of Bozidar Maljkovic for some months. Pedoulakis signed a two years contract with Panathinaikos and he is ready to accept the challenge.
As he said: “I know that now I am a part of the most successful team in the history of Greek sports and that happened because of Pavlos and Thanasis Giannakopoulos. They supported the team with their passion and generosity over 25 years. I have experienced as a player of Panathinaikos. On the other hand, there was also in the team the presence of Zeljko Obradovic, the best and most successful coach in Europe.
Now under different circumstances, that everybody faces in his daily life – and basketball is a part of society and not an exception – we will try with our know how and hard work to remain competitive in every league, and we will remain competitive. The presence of Dimitris Giannakopoulos as the owner of the team and as the continuation of his family effort, is the guaranty for that.
We know that everybody will judge us immediately, because Panathinaikos is a really great team, but because everything will be new, we asked to be judged strictly at the end of the season. The one thing that remains the same is our fans. Without them we can’t do much, with them we can achieve many. That’s why we want their support”.
Panathinaikos will try to create a new team around Dimitris Diamantidis. Their first official signing will probably be Mike Bramos and there are also very advanced talks with Drew Nicholas and Greek center, Dimitris Mavroeidis from Bilbao. On the renewals front, Panathinaikos is waiting the answers of Perperoglou, Vougioykas and Kaimakoglou. However, Kaimakoglou seems ready to sign a contract with Turkish club Galatasaray.