By Bilal Baran Yardımcı/ info@eurohoops.net
Fenerbahce Beko reaching the Final Four of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague was credited to Nick Calathes by head coach Sarunas Jasikevicius. The Greek-American guard was indeed clutch in closing out a crazy best-of-five series against AS Monaco in the Playoffs. However, reuniting with Saras and advancing together to the championship-crowning stage of the 2023-24 season seemed unlikely a few years back.
The all-time EuroLeague leader in assists and steals sat down with Eurohoops to discuss Fener preparing to compete for the EuroLeague title in Berlin.
“It is about how hard you work during the offseason, during the season. How you could just take those shots, no matter what,” he answered about pushing his side to the Final Four with a couple of late makes against La Roca Team, “I think I have worked hard enough to be able to shoot them.”
In 2022, the ending to a stint with FC Barcelona combined with Jasikevicius declaring him out of the team plan for the next season. The Lithuanian tactician took over the Istanbul outfit in December and the reunion sparked improved showings for Calathes. At the end of the day, they returned to the final stage of Europe’s premier club continental competition along with Nigel Hayes-Davis, also a member of Barca in the 2021-22 run to the Final Four.
“I would probably say you were a clown,” he confessed projecting a response to such a prediction two years ago.
Calathes, 35, did not wish to put a specific ranking on himself, avoiding direct comparisons to fellow legendary floor generals across the history of EuroLeague, but praised Dimitris Diamantidis, Vassilis Spanoulis, and Jasikevicius for their assistance in him becoming a part of the conversation.
“I consider myself up there with everything that I have done. I know there are a lot of point guards out there, in the past. I learned from three of the best, Diamantidis, Spanoulis and Saras, when I first came to Europe,” he told Eurohoops.
On Friday in Uber Arena, the team coached by Jasikevicius is set to collide with Panathinaikos Aktor in the Semifinals of the 2024 Final Four.