By Antonis Stroggylakis/ info@eurohoops.net
Olympiacos head coach David Blatt was certainly in a pretty good mood the day following his team’s EuroLeague road win over Bayern Munich. This became quite obvious when he addressed the many rumors regarding Olympiacos possibly signing a new player.
“I will say this: If Kevin Durant suddenly decides to leave Golden State, we will take him,” Blatt joked during his pre-game comments ahead of his team’s EuroLeague game vs. Real Madrid Thursday (22/11). “I’ll be so honest with you and tell you: Hands down, we’ll do that!”
“Being that that probably won’t happen anytime in the near future, then I can promise you all that we won’t get him,” Blatt added with a smile.“And that’s the truth from the source.”
Blatt said that even himself gets somewhat amazed about the names that are mentioned on media during a transfer rumor mill. “Somebody asked me about a player that we are ‘getting’. I didn’t even know who he was. And I do know the market and I do know the players. And I didn’t know this player. I didn’t know if he existed.”
“The market is always fluid. Things are happening. People suggest things to you out of nowhere that they want for you. And suddenly that becomes news. There’s nothing we can do to control that,” Blatt mentioned.
The Reds are coming off their first EuroLeague victory after three consecutive losses (to CSKA Moscow, Panathinaikos, Fenerbahce) and will now look to extend their streak against no other than the reigning continental champion.
“Two-game week in EuroLeague is always very challenging and very exciting. A very interesting sequence of games for us because we already played two EuroLeague type games this week after the matches vs. Fenerbahce, Panathinaikos, and Bayern Munich. And now we have Real Madrid. But that’s what we as a staff and the players signed up for. And that’s great.”
Real Madrid is traveling to Athens to protect an undefeated 8-0 run with a fair number of key absences. The Spanish side is missing star player, guard Sergio Llull, and also forward/center Gustavo Ayon, and center Ognjen Kuzmic.
“Axel Toupane won’t be playing for us. This is part of the dynamic of a very-very heavy schedule. Teams are going to miss guys,” Blatt said. “They (Real Madrid) have a roster of 15 high-level players. Missing two is not that significant. Certainly not for one game. It’s not something we depend on to help us. We have to go out there and play a great game to beat a very high-quality opponent.”