By Giorgos Adamopoulos/ info@eurohoops.net
Sometimes things are meant to happen, even if initially seem far-fetched, or in this case, a joke.
Olympiacos Giorgos Bartzokas explained how he ended up having a player like Even Fournier on his roster, a story that started almost as a joke: “The whole procedure with Even started two, three years ago, when we played in the Belgrade Final Four when he wrote on Twitter about Olympiacos and the fans of the team. And I remember that immediately after that I checked his salary and it was something like 18-19 million. So I was thinking that every thought about this would be a joke”.
Fournier has already explained that he felt a connection with Olympiacos and Olympiacos on the other hand was following his career, maybe looking for an opening.
As Bartzokas admitted: “We were monitoring the situation and suddenly we got this opportunity, of him having just one offer from an NBA team, from the Wizards if I am not mistaken. That offer wasn’t interesting for him, even if financially he would get much more money compared to the contract he got here”.
The last step was a talk between Fournier and his current coach: “He had already negotiated with the team the financial terms and he wanted to talk with me before signing the contract. He didn’t ask me how I would use him, or what would be his role on the team. That kind of stuff is not important for the great players, they impose themselves via their class. The only thing he asked me was if I wanted him and if I believed that he could help us. The only thing I asked him after his NBA career, after all the money he had made what would be his motivation for coming here, because things are not going to be easy”.
The answer of the French star was more than convincing: “He said he is always motivated, that’s why he never missed a FIBA tournament with the French national team and that didn’t have to do with money. We finished talking and he signed the next minute. Of course, the financial terms were already agreed upon”.
Olympiacos was not expecting to get Fournier this summer and the owners of the club have said during the presentation of Sasha Vezenkov that the roster was completed. However, when Fournier entered the European market after the end of the Olympics, the Reds simply had to get him and this transfer tale had a happy end.
Bartzokas admitted: “I am very happy he is here, it’s something extra to our initial plan, but when it happened, we just couldn’t let the opportunity pass by”.