By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Panathinaikos made big moves during the summer and formed an almost completely new team, with two-time EuroLeague champion Ergin Ataman at the helm.
However, according to the Turkish coach, the Athens team is still looking for potential reinforcements.
“I can’t say the team is 100% at the moment. But we have a group of players who will compete in every way in the Euroleague. But there are some injured players that we cannot replace now. However, we are still active in the market. If we find a scorer we will look into it. At the beginning of the season, we tried to sign Svi Mykhailiuk, but he decided to play for the Celtics. Now we are looking at the names of the players who will be released after the camps of the NBA teams,” Ataman said to NTV Sport.
PAO added Kostas Sloukas, Jerian Grant, Luca Vildoza, Kyle Guy, Dimitris Moraitis, Ioannis Papapetriou, Juancho Hernangomez, Dinos Mitoglou, Kostas Antetokounmpo, Mathias Lessort, and Aleksander Balcerowski during the summer and opened the new season with a 1-1 record in EuroLeague and a 2-0 record in the Greek Basket League, also losing to Olympiacos in the Super Cup final.
Ataman and Can
Coach Ataman was also asked and talked about his heir in Efes, Erden Can, who said during an argument with his player Erten Gazi “I am not Ataman”, and also kissed Zeljko Obradovic‘s hand when Efes faced Partizan in the pre-season tournament ” Pavlos Giannakopoulos”.
“Erdem Can is a new coach. He can become very successful. But it would be better if he was a little more careful with his words. I understand that what he said was on the spur of the moment. Sometimes we are “caught” saying something. This happened to him too. Then he called me to tell me there was a misunderstanding. I told him to look after his work, but to know that he is in one of the biggest clubs in Europe”, Ataman said about the incident with Gazi.
He also added: “What bothered me the most was when he kissed Zelimir Obradovic‘s hand. As a person who has passed through Anadolu Efes, I was surprised. Of course, there is absolute respect. I have the same respect for Aydin Ers (ex: former coach of Efes Pilsen and Fenerbahce), but I wouldn’t kiss his hand in front of people. I would hug him of course. Erdem Can is a respected coach, but I can say that this bothered me, because above all there should be a competitive spirit”.