By Lefteris Moutis/ moutis@eurohoops.net
After changing four coaches in four seasons in the post-Obradovic era, Panathinaikos and owner Dimitris Giannakopoulos are once again at a crossroads after the resignation of coach Pedoulakis.
For many years, due to the stability provided by Giannakopoulos family and by Zeljko Obradovic, Panathinaikos was considered one of the best environments for any player in Europe. The club had a system which made every one feel valuable and safe.
That seems to be the first goal of the team, to restore this kind of environment and that’s why Panathinaikos is searching for a long term coach and not just some one to sit on the bench until the end of the season. After all Panathinaikos has this season the biggest budget since the days of Obradovic and the club wants to save this investment.
The respect of Dimitris Giannakopoulos toward Pini Gherson is well documented, however there’s nothing concrete yet on that front. As “El Mundo Deportivo” reported, Panathinaikos contacted Xavi Pascual. Accoding to Eurohoops sources, the Spanish coach wants to have full control on the team, like he had in Barcelona, and a long term quaranteed contract in order to proceed to negotiations. Sarunas Jasikevicius is also on the mind of the club, but that was also the case at the end of last season and nothing happened. Last, but not least, Panathinaikos is considering options from the NBA market with Igor Kokoskov being mentioned as a potential candidate.
With many more candidates being offered to the club, the point is that Panathinaikos will try to have a new coach as soon as possible and that means even in the next few hours before the game against CSKA Moscow and the new coach is not going to be an interim solution, but the man who will build a new project.