By Rigas Dardalis/ Dardalis@eurohoops.net
His presence in Panathinaikos “gave” him glory, money and titles. Now in Lokomotiv Kuban, Nick Calathes has made the next step to his career, as he is their undisputable leader who guided them to the Eurocup final. Somewhere in Orlando his father John watches full of of pride…
“I am ready to beat my friend Zisis”, was his initial comment to Eurohoops.net and he returns to Zisis the compliment that he is “The Oscar Robertson of Europe” by saying that “Nikos is the Steve Nash of European basketball. His career is unbelievable. He was won titles with every team he played and now in Bilbao he is the leader of this team. I’ve learned a lot from Nikos in the Greek national team, but now I’m ready to beat him”.
-He will have, though the support of other Greeks and you will be alone…
“That shows how great Greek basketball is. It is amazing that we’re gonna be three Greek players in the final and one Greek coach Katsikaris. Even now that the situation in the country is so difficult, basketball has stayed at such a high level and gives (even some small) joy to Greek people. But I’m not alone. We may not have other Greeks, but we have a great team and a great coach. And our fans are crazy, like the Greeks”.
-What will it take to beat them?
“Obviously it’s gonna be a game full of plays and tactics. Coaches have a lot of job to do and we have to do a lot of listening. Bilbao doesn’t have a player who scores 20 points per game, but has many who can “kill” you. But we also have many “weapons” that we can use”.
-Did you expect that Lokomotiv would have such a good season?
“Team looked good on paper, from the very first moment. With coach Pachutin we worked hard and I think that we found good chemistry soon enough. Plus this is a first class organization and people of Lokomotiv take care of everything. It will be very important to win the final and make it to Euroleague next season”.
-Have you missed Euroleague?
“Actually no, cause Eurocup is also a great competition. You saw now that even though we beat Valencia by 10 points in their home, they came back and fought inside our “house” to take the “ticket” to the final”.
-But for sure you missed life in Athens…
“Life is completely different here in Krasnodar, but when you leave Athens you know that you’re not gonna find anywhere the life of this city. For me these 3 years in Panathinaikos were magnificent. I’ve made lifetime friends, I learned lots of things as a human and as a basketball player and of course we had great success with Panathinaikos”.
-So your son is gonna wear some day the green jersey?
“For sure! Little Luke is gonna defend like Mitso (Diamantindis), is gonna shoot like Franki (Alvertis) and Fotsis and if he becomes tall “Tsartsa” will give him some lessons “(laughs). I can’t wait to see him playing basketball”.
-You can’t also wait for Eurobasket of Slovenia?
“Yes it’s gonna be a great tournament. I wanna play and help the national team to achieve something big, cause no one liked the fact that we didn’t make it to the Olympics”.
-Can you set a goal?
“No. First and most important thing is to stay healthy and not have absences. From 2009 that I’ve been in the Greek national team, we always had injuries and lost minute absences. If we stay healthy, we can be really good. I’ve talked with the new coach mister Trinchieri and I’m sure that we can “build: something good”.