By Niki Bakouli
He retired from basketball before his 30th birthday due to injuries. But nothing can keep him away from the sport that he loves. Efthimis Rentzias, being 36 years old now, is one of the founders of Triple Crown basketball academy, together with fellow former players Dimitris Papanikolaou and Fragkiskos Alvertis, a place where kids can have a sport education, they can learn to function like a team and of course they can have fun, playing basketball.
He is also deputy region governor of Thessaly in charge of sports, culture and education and always ready to be in the service of National Veterans Teams, because first love lasts forever. And of course he a basketball fan “because I am really interested in the sports and I am very unhappy with all those things that are happening in Greek basketball. On the other hand, I am very happy because we have two Greek teams in the Euroleague Final Four”.
One of the most traveled Greek players (he even played the 2002-03 season in the NBA, as a member of the Sixers) must know what is the key to win the Final Four: “First of all I believe that this year’s Final Four is one of the finest in term of players quality in the last years. For sure the key is to have the strength to deliver in two hard games in just three days. I wish to see a Greek Final. This is something that we need in our country for the sport, for the team owners and for the people. Believe me, the outlook of the future is not so good for the sport and one more title can change things. As a fan, but also as a person that loves and played basketball, I will be glad to see Olympiacos and Panathinaikos in the final. We will enjoy a great game, we will advertise Greek basketball in Europe and in the whole world. We can’t have a draw in the end, someone must win. But the important thing for is to bring the cup in Greece, a country that needs more than ever this title”.
Rentzias knows that the atmosphere of the Final Four will be ideal: “I have played one season in Turkey (2003-04 in Ulkerspor), I have lived there and I know how things work. Whoever travels in Istanbul, will understand immediately what is going to happen. And if someone is thinking of causing troubles, it will be better for him to stay away. I just read some statements of Istanbul’s police commissioner and I am sure that the Final Four atmosphere will be as it should: strictly sports oriented”.
Rentzias mission for Eurohoops.net was quite simple and it was to write for us the preview for what will see in the Final Four. First come the four finalists…
“Panathinaikos is the favorite”
“CSKA Moscow has the most expensive roster (costing almost 40 millions US dollars) and starting from that, someone could say that they are the favorite. But I don’t think that millions wins championships. CSKA has very good players, very big bodies that cover the court and play fast, they have produced food basketball, but if you excuse me, I will still say that Panathinaikos can upset them. It’s a given that Obradovic will shuffle his carts. I believe that Panathinaikos can win, because it’s a team with many years of experience. They don’t have the talent that they used to, but they have pride and they want the title more than ever. They are not content with just being in the Final Four. I have personal relationships with many Panathinaikos’ players and I assure you that they live for the Final Four. As a team, they know what they must do on the court, specially in those kind of situations, and therefore they are my favorite. In theory this title belongs to CSKA, but you must not forget that Panathinaikos is a proven winner over the last years. My wish is for Giannakopoulos family to remain as owners of the team. I believe that they can stay, at least for some more years. It will be a great loss for the sport, if they leave, but I can understand their decision and I respect it. My personal wish for them is to stay. Sports and specially basketball is in need of persons like Giannakopoulos family and Aggelopoulos family”.
“Olympiacos can play Barcelona”
“In the start of the season Olympiacos seemed like a team that could make it to the Top 16 and after that, everything else will be a fight. After Christmas, we saw a different Olympiacos. It was a team with identity, that knew what he wanted in the court. They had the eye of the tiger, something that it was missing last year and the years before, when the team had a roster costing millions. The most important thing for me is that Olympiacos has five Greek players playing instrumental roles in the team. Five of our guys were given the chance to be protagonists and they took it. They met the expectations of the owners, the coaches and the fans. Ivkovic, as Obradovic also, has prove that he can transform players, something that Olympiacos should have tried to do earlier. Ivkovic choose younger players, he gave them minutes, he improved them and now he rips the benefits.
Concerning Barcelona, this is a team that always must win. It’s not the same pressure with the one that Greek teams have. Barcelona always has the highest goals, every season they have to get all four titles, even the Supercup. This team has learn how to win, they live to win and this is something that they do for many years. But Olympiacos can play them and can win them, specially if I judge by the last results of the Reds. Barcelona is a team with great history, big budget and used to work in the highest level. They play good, fast basketball. They know how to win and they have experience, but this season they don’t seem to be an unbeatable team by Olympiacos”.
The key-players of the finalists
After the teams, Retzias is picking the players that will make a difference in Istanbul. As he explained: “I will not be very original, but this is the reality”. And the reality is…
“The first name that comes to my mind without a second of thinking is Andrei Kirilenko. He is very versatile. If you can see everything that is happening in the court, you can understand what he gives to the team. Besides his personal game, he has to help every teammate play better. He covers their defensive mistakes, he never take a wild shot, he plays for the team. I believe that he is on a higher level, compared to everybody else.
In Panathinaikos the key for me is Sarunas Jasikevicius. I don’t try to bash any other player in any team, but this is my opinion. “Saras” is the guy that make things happen when he is in the right mood. This is important in a Final Four, he is more mature than ever, he is in great condition and he has the right mentality for those kind of games.
From Olympiacos I choose Vasilis Spanoulis, who is having a great season and in games like those he can shoulder the burden of his entire team. He can push the younger players, he can guide them with his experience. In the end of the day, besides enthusiasm, energy and the… eye of the tiger, in Final Fours you need experience and Billy has it.
In Barcelona there is my teammate for five years, Juan Carlos Navarro and honestly I could not chose anybody else, specially for those games. You can’t guard him easily and he is fearless. You can never understand what exactly he will do and he is always connected with the basket in any possible way. This is not his finest season, but in the Final Four, everything changes for everybody. He has an extra motive and he is the kind of player that he can produce when it counts. That’s they way the make up for everything that happened before. He is born for those kind of games”.
And the coaches
Rentzias job would not be complete if he didn’t speak also about the four Final Four coaches. We asked him to write the first thing that come to his mind about them.
Dusan Ivkovic
“I have experienced a season with him, back in 1993-94 when I was playing for PAOK. I consider myself very unlucky, because after the summer of 1994 Duda left PAOK. He is a great coach and he is proving it time after time. He is a teacher and I consider the young players of Olympiacos really lucky, because they have the chance to work with him and we can see the results on the court”.
Zeljko Obradovic
“If you ask me, he is the greatest. What else can you say? His results in the last 15 years prove it. The fact that he is in charge of Panathinaikos for 13 years is one more proof. It’s a blessing for Greek Basketball that these two coaches, Ivkovic and Obradovic, work in our country. The point, of course, is our coaches to learn from them. If they just keep their eyes open, they will. Coaching is a multilevel job. You have to know how to deal with different personalities, the owners, even the fans. These two coaches have ethics”.
Jonas Kazlauskas
“He is a good and accomplished coach. We have seen his work also in Greece. I believe that a coach in the highest level is doomed to spend time in managing human resources. That’s the key. It’s not enough to prepare your team in practices, or be a good game coach. Kazlauskas has 12 star players in his roster, every one is a capital and I believe that he is doing a fine job. Of course in the Final Four everything changes, the pressure is bigger and everybody is playing also for his next contract. When you have a roster of 40 million dollars, you have to manage also those aspects of the game”.
Xavi Pascual
“He has done a great job. He started from the basketball academy of Barcelona and he proved himself as a coach in the highest level. Every year he is getting better and better and he has a great future in front of him. He made the most of the chance that he was given, he did justice to those that trusted him and gave him one of the most historic teams in Europe, a roster of stars and a big budget. I put him in the top5 of European coaches”.
For the end, we asked Efthimis to chose a Final Four team not to root, but to… play one last game, if he had the chance to do it. “Because I have played for five years in Barcelona, because I miss SO MUCH playing ball from the day I stopped and because I still love the sport, I would choose to be again “Blaugrana”! I am a member of Barcelona’s veteran team and when we play a friendly much with the Greek national team’s veterans, I play with both teams, changing my jersey in the half. My heart is divided in two pieces”. When he is told that if he did that, he would play in Istanbul against his friends, he just smile: “This is the beauty, to play against friends. I would love to play them as opponents”.