By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Olympiacos Piraeus guard Kostas Sloukas feels that he returned to the Reds a much different player, following his five-year run with Fenerbahce Beko.
“I think that the change in my body, way of thinking, and the way of playing is obvious,” Sloukas said for the website of Olympiacos. “I think I became tougher in my five years with Fenerbahce, even though I had it difficult in the beginning. I learned a lot from coach Obradovic and the Fenerbahce organization that was dominating all those years. But, this circle closed and a new, bigger one opens on Olympiacos.”
Per Olympiacos, here’s what Sloukas also said on:
Leaving Olympiacos to sign with Fenerbahce in 2015:
“The decision I made in 2015 was a completely conscious one. Because, like I have said many times before, I’m very ambitious and not greedy in terms of money. I think that I have proven to be able to succeed and I have achieved a lot. Now I’m back and I want to succeed with Olympiacos, just like I wrote on Instagram the day my transfer was announced, I want to make the impossible, possible. I believe in the team’s DNA, the Greek core, and in coach Bartzokas a lot. When I left in 2015, I had said ‘see you again later’ and since I’m one to keep my promises, I’m here once again and everything turned out the way I had thought and imagined they would. I’m very happy and I wish to sincerely thank the Presidents for the special honor they bestowed on me having me return to this family. I’m coming back to Olympiacos at a very good age to give the best I can to the organization I have so much faith in”.
Reuniting with Vassilis Spanoulis, Kostas Papanikolaos, Giorgos Printezis and coach Bartzokas:
“For me, Olympiacos was and is family. I’m happy to be here again with the guys I have played so many years with. We are talking about three players that have given too much to the team, they really feel for the team, they love the team. I’m looking forward to joining them on the floor again. As for the coach, he knows what I can do on the court. I’m simply a team player, I will be following his directives and I will be giving my best to do what I need to do on the floor. I have complete trust in him, I think the best of him and our co-operation in the past had been impeccable. I believe he’s the right person, at the right moment for all we have in mind and dream of”.
Olympiacos’ decision to forfeit the 2019 Greek Cup semifinal against Panathinaikos at halftime (this began a series of decisions that ultimately led to Olympiacos being relegated to the second division):
“What’s been happening with Greek basketball is very upsetting. Having such a big club leaving the floor while the game is being played is sad, but that decision proves to be the right one even today, the Presidents’ decision has been vindicated and it was the right thing for them to do. It’s upsetting that a team with the magnitude of Olympiacos, with so many Final Four under his belt, with two Euroleague trophies in the last ten years, had to leave the floor, it’s strangte and it’s bad for basketball itself. However, from there on, the situation in Greek basketball is not good at all and we need to do something to help the sport in Greece advance forward. We need to act right away to bring basketball where it needs to be”.