By Lefteris Moutis/ moutis@eurohoops.net
Panathinaikos’s first signing was Sasa Pavlovic, indicating that the “greens” want to equip their backcourt with an experienced scorer who can lead his teammates.
Sasa Djordjevic chose to start Panathinaikos’s transfer reinforcement with the 31-year-old fellow countryman, who will strengthen the backcourt with the experience and the instinct of a scorer.
His career
Sasa Pavlovic began his career in Buducnost, close to his birthplace, Bar in Montenegro. He played professionally for three seasons and with his very good last season as his passport he was drafted at No 19 from the Utah Jazz and moved to the NBA at once.
Next summer he moved to the Cleveland Cavaliers, where he spent the five best years of his career. He reached the NBA Finals having a steady role in the rotation. Actually, he has the unique “badge” of being the only player that started a game in LeBron James’s place in the only game the “King” played in but wasn’t in the starting line-up.
Since 2009 though, Pavlovic’s performance started to drop, and in the following season with the Timberwolves he had a limited role, while in the period to come he didn’t manage to… settle somewhere, as he played in the Mavericks, the Hornets, the Celtics and the Blazers until the summer of 2013.
He sought his next team in vain and in order not to stay out of action the entire season he decided to play, since February 2014, in Partizan under the instructions of Dusko Vujosevic. The same thing happened next summer, but he made the decision earlier, in December 2014.
Prediction: He will succeed according to the expectations that are going to be created
Panathinaikos selected him in order to strengthen their backcourt and released him from his quandary as to how to continue his career. Besides, for the last two years, Pavlovic has been waiting for a challenge such as this: to play at the top level of the Euroleague. Djordjevic chose him in order to add some experience in the small forward position, alongside the constantly elevated Vladimiros Giankovits and the youngster Vasilis Charalambopoulos.
However, at the start of the season Pavlovic will be used more in the position of the shooting guard in order to make up for the absence of the injured Nikos Pappas who will return after the first three months of the season.
Pavlovic is not a good ball handler and he’s not especially known for his creative qualities. He can however penetrate easily the opponent’s paint and make room for his open teammates along the perimeter, since opposing defenses are expected to close the space in the paint in order to cut off his route to the basket. Also, the 32-year-old Serb has a decent long range shot and he can be a consistent threat from the perimeter.
Because of his long term in the NBA, Panathinaikos can find in Pavlovic’s face a leader and a player who will be able to provide solutions without necessarily being the player who, in every important game, will have to take over the scoring.
He can be an excellent solution for Panathinaikos if he is intended for a complimentary role that will have however the room to execute and to come to the fore when the conditions are in place. But if Pavlovic is asked to undertake a constant leading role, it will be hard for him to justify the expectations. So the success of the signing then, will depend on the expectations that are going to be created.