By Dionysis Aravantinos / info@eurohoops.net
In a recent interview with SDNA.gr, Dimitris Giannakopoulos talked about Zeljko Obradovic, his decision to leave Athens and join Fenerbahce Istanbul and if he would ever want him back coaching the ‘Greens.’
It is no secret that Zeljko Obradovic is (if not the best) one of the best head coaches ever in European basketball history. Many fans of Panathinaikos would want to see Obradovic make a comeback and join the Greek team. Dimitris Giannakopoulos’ response, is the following: “Obradovic is undoubtedly the best coach in Europe. The best coach in Europe… when coaching stars. He is the best at managing a large budget. We have never seen him managing a smaller budget. They always say he [Obradovic] and Ivkovic are the best. Ivkovic to start a team from scratch, and Obradovic to control emotions, and different types of characters. I don’t know how successful he would be with a smaller budget. I always want the best for Panathinaikos. Obradovic is the best coach in Europe; thus we would want him on the court. I think that he made a huge mistake in the way he left.
Besides, Panathinaikos’ president also talked about Vassilis Spanoulis, stating that even today he would want him back at Panathinaikos: “Spanoulis is a great athlete. As far as I know, he enters the court first and always leaves last. If he had not been too tied with Olympiacos, I would even want him back now. I just know that it is not feasible. It would not be good either to him or us.”
Finally, he also talked about the conflict between Panathinaikos and the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague competition: “We had some meetings with EuroLeague, discussed the matters and our respective opinions. We believe that mistakes have been made from both sides. In my part, I exaggerated my reaction. A lot. However, I think that EuroLeague understood that they can’t hurt an organization like Panathinaikos. There will also be an announcement in the following days regarding this conflict.”
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