By Antonis Stroggylakis / info@eurohoops.net
BERLIN– Amid the small chaos that followed Wednesday’s incident between Panathinaikos Athens coach Ergin Ataman and some Fenerbahce fans that waited outside the team hotel, Olympiacos Piraeus big man Moses Wright became inadvertently viral thanks to just his simple presence.
Wright appeared on some of the videos recording the incident, just casually walking with a big smile and paying small to zero attention to the craziness that was going on around him. It looked like something out of a meme.
“I was just trying to get some food,” Wright told Eurohoops. He didn’t have a comment to make on the incident itself, since, well, he was too rightfully busy with his food-pursuing quest to pay any attention to what was going on.
It was a moment of fine laugh with Wright during the Media Day Thursday, ahead of the Final Four. It will be his first ever appearance in the tournament so, naturally, he can’t hide his excitement.
“I’m excited honestly,” Wright said. “Big stage creates big plays, creates big players. I’m excited to make more moments. And hopefully get the win with the team.”
“They just left me alone. Pap. Nigel. Mous. Haven’t talked to me at all. Just left me here to fend for myself,” Wright joked. After his trolling effort, he gave the real answer.
“They just tell me to play hard. I’ve been having a good couple of practices. I feel like getting myself ready in the case the coach wants to put me in the game. They want me to stay hard, rebound and do the little things that will help us win.”
Earlier in May, Olympiacos coach Giorgos Bartzokas had to make a quite difficult decision regarding which of his three centers he will cut from the Greek League roster for the remainder of the season, due to the foreign players rule.
Bartzokas went with his most experienced guys Moustapha Fall and Nikola Milutinov, leaving Wright out. The American big man understood how tough it was for his coach to make that call and that didn’t have anything to do with the effort he’s been putting on the floor since he joined the Reds.
“He was telling me that it was definitely one of the hardest decisions he’s made,” Wright said. “It’s no hard feelings to me, he told me that I’ve been playing my ass off and everything and competing hard. It’s not because I haven’t been showing that, it’s just that he had to make the decision. Kind of being the new kid around and having to earn your stripes.”