By Dimitris Minaretzis/ info@eurohoops.net
Olympiacos faced some injury troubles in the past week, and the situation is improving with Nigel Williams-Goss getting close to returning to action.
As Coach Georgios Bartzokas revealed before the EuroLeague Round 12 game against Real Madrid (05/12), the US guard is expected to join the team’s practices soon but is anticipated to play against Karditsa in the Basket League next week (11/12).
“Goss’s recovery from his injury is close to 100%. We hope he will play against Karditsa in the next league game, and from there on, he will integrate normally into the team,” Bartzokas said.
Williams-Goss hasn’t played since the game against Maccabi in Belgrade on November 14, where he got injured in the first half after playing only eight minutes. He suffered an injury and was estimated to miss approximately a month of Olympiacos’ competitive fixtures, a prediction that seems to be accurate.
During his absence, Olympiacos made moves in the market and signed two new players, Naz Mitrou Long and Filip Petrusev. The Serbian center came from the NBA but is yet to debut in the red and white jersey. He’ll have to wait a bit longer since Bartzokas noted he hasn’t participated in team practice yet.
“Filip will have his first team practice today. He has done two individual sessions because our schedule was like that. He had individual sessions with other players, of course, but he hasn’t done a single team practice. As you understand, it’s impossible to put him to play tomorrow with just one team practice. Besides the fact that he needs a period, we calculate about a week, ten days for him to get in good condition because he hasn’t had the playing rhythm in the NBA with the Sacramento Kings and needs to find that rhythm through training. So, he won’t be in the team tomorrow,” Bartzokas explained.