By Giorgos Adamopoulos/ info@eurohoops.net
After one year with Panathinaikos Aktor, 29-year-old Luca Vildoza moved his talents to the opposite end of the eternal rivalry and Olympiacos.
Sitting down with Eurohoops before the 2024-25 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague season, he talked about looking to become a two-time EuroLeague champion, combining the Greens and the Reds.
“It was not really, really hard because I know that in my time in Panathinaikos, I gave my everything there. I tried my best. It was not successful, personally. As a team, we achieved something really, really important as winning the EuroLeague. Coming to another great team as Olympiacos, I feel honored to belong to this family,” he said, “My family is happy, and I cannot ask more.”
Before the spell with Panathinaikos, he spent the 2022-23 season with Crvena Zvezda mts.
“I worked Red two years ago in Red Star. I know how connected they are, and I feel like I have already been here,” Vildoza told Eurohoops, “They are kind of brothers, and I feel really, really comfortable here. I feel like people received me with open arms, and I am really feeling like myself again.”
Entering the club of players switching from Panathinaikos to Olympiacos or vice versa emerges as an additional bonus.
“I think it is special,” he projected, “Not all the players can say that they played for Panathinaikos and Olympiacos. So, I am really happy.”
“Perfect pick”
Last summer, Kostas Sloukas went the opposite direction, parting ways with Olympiacos and signing with Panathinaikos.
“I think it has been a lot of things in between his move to Panathinaikos, but I am not going to get into that because it is not my problem,” said Vildoza, “I think for a Greek player it is different. For me, from Panathinaikos to Olympiacos, to be honest, I feel like I was the one left to parting with Panathinaikos. I was pushed to leave. So, I chose to come here, knowing that Olympiacos is fighting for a EuroLeague title every year.”
Under Ergin Ataman at the Greens, the Argentine combo guard logged 28 appearances, including five starts in the 2023-24 edition of the EuroLeague. The seventh campaign in Europe’s premier club competition moves him to the Reds.
“I feel good here,” he described his new assignment, “The coach welcomed me with open arms. He was really warm talking to me, in the way he is treating me and the guys. Everything around here, I feel, is amazing. But of course, it is just the beginning. When you start playing, maybe it gets hard sometimes. I feel like if we stay the way we are right now, we can achieve good things.”
“Playing for a EuroLeague championship again,” he added to opting in favor of joining Olympiacos, “I think once you taste that feeling of winning something, in this case a EuroLeague championship, you want to go back. I feel Olympiacos was the perfect pick for me to come back to that position.”
Coach Ataman and OAKA
The interview shifted into details about last season and his relationship with Ataman.
“I think the way we were playing, it was not my style,” he mentioned, “It is not an excuse to play the way I did. I gave my best, that is for sure. I cannot complain about that, but of course, I know I did not play well.”
“I was hurt,” he continued, “I could not recover myself from after surgery, 100%. But I consider myself at least a good guy. I never said something in the locker room. Every time I stepped in the court, I gave my 100%.”
Naturally, returning to OAKA Altion will be a special part of the next season for the native of Quilmes.
“I think people know how things went,” he referred to Panathinaikos supporters, “It was not a perfect fit for me. Either with the coaches or the philosophy of the coach. So, it does not matter the way they receive me. I know I gave my best. They treated me with a lot of respect last year. So, I appreciate that, and I wish they could keep doing it.”
Relationships with coaches
Between Crvena Zvezda and Panathinaikos, he went from Dusko Ivanovic to Ataman. From there to Giorgos Bartzokas, the head coach of Olympiacos.
“I think there are three different kinds of coaches,” he replied to a Eurohoops question about the three tacticians, “Dusko was, well, we know he was a little bit more structured about the way I was playing with him. With coach Ataman, it was different because it was more a lot of pick and roll, a lot of reading, and individual skills. And now I need to adjust my game to coach Bartzokas. I think it is feeding me really, really good because it is about a lot of passes and we are going to have a lot of open shots. But still, in his philosophy, if you do not play defense, it is going to be hard to be in the court.”
“With Dusko, at the end in Red Star, I had a really good relationship that I can connect with coach Bartzokas here. I think he is very close to the players. Of course, last year I was not having a really good relationship with the coach, as everyone knows. But still, it is the way he coaches, he wins. So you cannot say anything when someone wins everything,” added Vildoza.
Tipping off the 2024-25 campaign, his new side won Greece’s Stoiximan Super Cup. Jumping to the opening week of the EuroLeague Regular Season, visiting Fenerbahce Beko in Istanbul is the Round 1 challenge on Friday.