By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
Reacting to a disappointing start to the 2024-25 campaign in the Basketball Champions League and Greece’s Stoiximan GBL, Kolossos H Hotels hired Makis Giatras as the new head coach to replace Giorgos Sigalas.
After four losing efforts in as many team showings in Group C of the BCL Regular Season, the team based in Rhodes is on the verge of elimination. At the domestic level, a 1-7 W-L tally sits at the bottom of the GBL table.
Sigalas. 53, took over Kolossos during the offseason, following two years as an assistant coach under Giannis Kastritis at fellow Greek club, Aris. Earlier in his coaching career, between 2020 and 2022, he worked with the Rhodes outfit as an assistant to Ilias Kantzouris. As a player, he became a household name across European basketball, especially after helping Olympiacos capture its first EuroLeague championship in team history, in 1997.
Giatras, 53, returns to the sidelines after ending a third spell as the play-caller of Promitheas in 2022. In charge of the Patras team, he went from the lower leagues to the top-flight division of Greece. In addition, he guided Promitheas in the 2018-19 edition of the Champions League and reached the Round of 16, before falling in a home-and-away series to eventual runner-up Iberostar Tenerife.
Nzekwesi joins Slask
At 0-4 in Group F of the Regular Season and at the brink of elimination, WKS Slask Wroclaw signed 27-year-old Emmanuel Nzekwesi for the remainder of the season. Carrying the experience of 18 BCL appearances between Cholet and Belfius Mons-Hainaut, the international player with the Netherlands is the first addition since Aleksandar Joncevski became the new head coach.