By George Adamopoulos / info@eurohoops.net
Ergin Ataman led Panathinaikos Athens to the EuroLeague Final Four in his first season as head coach of the team. This qualification ended a 12-year drought for the Greens since the last time they had been in the Final Four was in 2012, with Zeljko Obradovic at the helm.
“It’s not the first time for me, that I change the destiny of a club,” Ataman told Eurohoops. “I did the same things before with Siena, Besiktas, Galatasaray and Efes. If you’re smart, if the people believe in us and if you have enough budget and if you use this budget well like we did in the preseason with Dimitris Giannakopoulos, our staff and the general manager [Sani Besirovic]. We built a good team, we worked well.”
“Of course you need some time for everyone, the players and the coach, to understand each other,” Ataman added. “And then, you can reach big goals if you work well and everything that you did was correct.”
Ataman commended the presence of veteran star Kostas Sloukas not only for what he brings to the team on the court but also for the way he helps him channel his confidence to the rest of the squad.
“I’m lucky because I have Kostas Sloukas on this team,” Ataman mentioned. “He has great experience, he has the same confidence like I have. He has great respect for me, the club and the entire staff. It’s easy to give your confidence through him to the other players. They are all good players and everybody started to believe especially in the second half of the regular season. After every win, we were talking in the locker room that we will reach the Final Four.”