By Lefteris Moutis/ moutis@eurohoops.net
Fenerbahce will host CSKA Moscow in Ulker Arena but the highlight of this great battle is the fight between Zeljko Obradovic and Dimitris Itoudis, the inseparably coaching duo for 13 years. Eurohoops remembers ten of their best moments.
The teacher and the student will play against each other for first time in Euroleague after their two matches in the Turkish League last season when Banvit of Itoudis won twice Fenerbahce of Obradovic.
Let’s remember…
They started their cooperation in the summer of 1999. Obradovic was searching for a Greek assistant and Zeljko Lukajic suggested him Dimitris Itoudis. Zoc and Itoudis started very well their cooperation. Like they were working many years together…
In their first season in Panthinaikos they won the Euroleague in Thessaloniki and the Greek championship. The coaching duo celebrated it in their office at OAKA.
In the autumn of 2003 Panathinaikos travelled overseas and played a friendly game against Toronto Raptors. This was their first contact with the NBA. Some years later, Dimitris Itoudis used to take part in the coaching stuff of NBA teams during summer leagues. Both of them worked in 2013 for a month with Detroit Pistons’ stuff.
The beloved place for Zeljko Obradovic and Dimitris Itoudis every end August was Serbia. Panathinaikos used to spend the preparation period in the homeland of Zoc.
After six years of “mutual life”, Obradovic became the godfather of Itoudis’ daughter, Alexandra.
They continued to win titles every season. In 2007 they won the Triple Crown and two years later they did it again. In total Obradovic and Itoudis celebrated 23 titles!
….and as the Greek teams use to do after winning any title, they had fun many times at “bouzoukia”. Here they celebrate with the owner of Panathinaikos, Thanassis Giannakopoulos.
And of course many times they were rewarded for their achievements.
Obradovic and Itoudis didn’t have the “typical” relationship that has every head coach with his assistant. Here they make their plans with Andreas Pistiolis (assistant of Itoudis now in CSKA Moscow) a little before the start of the Greek Cup final in 2012, their last title.
Few hours before the loss in the fifth final of the Greek Championship in 2012, the coaching duo sits with Dimitris Giannakopoulos. The boss of Panathinaikos started to manage the team after his father’s and uncle’s retirement and some days later Obradovic and Itoudis left Panthinaikos…
