By Niki Bakouli/ bakouli@eurohoops.net
After the end of the third place game, the main question was if we just had witness the last Final Four of Panathinaikos with Zeljko Obradovic on its bench. There was even a question in the press conference, about his possible return to Turkey in order to be a permanent resident of Istanbul. The question was tricky and Zeljko reacted playfully: “My future now is a trip back to Athens, the practice and the finals against Olympiacos. I may one day return to Istanbul. Maybe next year, maybe after that, nobody knows”.
What Zoc knows and told a little latter chatting with Greek journalists was that he wants to learn as soon as possible what will happen next season in Panathinaikos. “We must start planning the first day after the Final Four”, he said, because last year nobody knew what were the team’s plans until the middle of the summer.
This time the circumstances are different and Obradovic will soon know what will happen in Panathinaikos, maybe even within the next week. The wheels are turning and there could even be official announcements about Giannakopoulos family keeping the team with changes in the front office, a smaller budget and main objective to re-sign Obradovic.