The “star war” between the green planet and the red planet started with bullets. His missed shot Nigel Williams-Goss shortly before the expiration of her 5th final Basket League gave the domestic title to the already European champion Panathinaikosleft him Olympic with a unique consolation the Greek Cup and marked a change of guard in the throne room, for the first time after the return of the “red and whites” from self-exile. the “greens” they were losing 2-0 in the finals of A1, but they found a way to spoil the party in Faliro and they won the championship with full reset. And led by the once-maestro of the spineless enemy, Kostas Sloukas.
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The Euroleague trophy it is undoubtedly heavier and more valuable than the disreputable Greek, but it was its loss within the scepter’s walls that hurt the game’s erstwhile masters the most. “We are launching a permanent counterattack”, was the slogan of June 15, 2024 in the port. The first days of self-criticism turned Olympiakos in the direction of changing their competitive philosophy, since the lack of a Nan or Sluka type forward in the Greek finals and the European final-four was obvious.
THE George Bartzokas he “saw” the new leader in the person of last year’s MVP Mike James, but the former Panathinaikos player preferred to renew his contract with Monaco, where he will have Nick Calathes as his partner. A quick look at the NBA market left Olympiacos frustrated, with free agents asking for plenty of time to scout the landscape. Panathinaikos may have drawn the first lottery number when they signed Kendrick Nunn (who Bartzokas himself wanted), but that happened in late October, after the first few weeks of the season.
Because the… James are rare in Europe, especially after EuroBasket 2022 MVP Lorenzo Brown joined Panathinaikos (25/6), Olympiacos decided to return to the old recipe and look for players compatible with the “coach’s basketball”. Bartzoka’s chessboard will be his best ally again this year.
The celebrations of May for the acquisition of the wonderful Kinan Evans were cut short when the American guard dislocated his knee for the second time in one of his last games with Zalgiris. However, Olympiacos decided to honor the preliminary agreement and bring Evans to Piraeus, where another 4-5 months of recovery await him.
His repatriation Tyler Dorsey (30/6) in place of Isaiah Kanaan was a very easy decision, while the vote of confidence in Luca Vildosa (2/7), who had just been released without compensation from the two-year contract he had signed with Panathinaikos, must have surprised the Argentine himself.
The summer was relatively calm, until strange signals arrived in Greece from distant Toronto. “Sasha Vezenkov has informed the Raptors that he wishes to return to Europe immediately and that he does not intend to stay another year in the NBA,” the managers informed. The 2022-23 Euroleague MVP played a barren season in Sacramento, felt doomed to play an usher role and decided to don the mayoral armband again.
THE Dimitris Giannakopoulos he remembered last summer’s “golpo grosso” with his conversion Kostas Sloukas and decided to break the piggy bank again, which, after all, knows pennies after the agreement with the government for the multi-year use of OAKA. However, the Vezhenkov case turned out to be more twisted. The proposal submitted by Panathinaikos was of prehistoric mammoth proportions, but the Bulgarian forward decided to celebrate his 29th birthday dressed in the uniform of the team of his heart.
His “reinstatement” was announced on July 25, at the same time that several of his teammates (Woucap, Papanikolaou, Larentzakis) were preparing for a parade in Paris. The unplanned acquisition of Vezenkov has loaded Olympiakos’ “strike line” to the brim, as five other first-class talls have strong contracts: Peters, Milutinov, Fall, Wright, Petrusev.
The latter felt that he was redundant and began to flirt with Red Star, who asked to borrow him for at least one year. However, injuries to the struggling Mustafa Fal and Nikola Milutinov kept the young Serb at Faliro and left him John Sphairopoulos with empty hands. Olympiacos will start the season with a key center Moses Wrightwho didn’t even make the top 12 of last year’s finals.
The Olympics began and ended with a moratorium and apnea in the domestic market. “Transfers over”, they said in Piraeus. “Perhaps we only get one replacement tall,” read the non-paper from OAKA. THE Ergin Ataman looked at several cases to get a better backup center at his position Balcherovskyuntil he found (30/8) someone who speaks the same language.
The 26-year-old Omer Yurtseven he is a capable scorer and rebounder and brings with him quite a few “miles” from his three-year career in the NBA. His debut, with a tally of 22 points, 8 rebounds and 9/10 shooting in the friendly against Bayern, made him Matias Lessor to sleep more peacefully. The Frenchman returned from his homeland with an Olympic medal and with the confidence that his back is protected.
The fires were rekindled and the comings and goings of fans at the airport intensified once September arrived. The decision of the other Olympic silver medalist Evan Fournier to leave the NBA after 12 years of fruitful tenure (724 games, 13.5 points) caused a general alarm in Piraeus, fueled by a “tweet” of the Frenchman from last May: “If I return to the Europe, I would like to play for Olympiakos”.
The Angelopoulos’ wallet opened wide, the generous offer was submitted immediately and the much-lauded transfer was completed before the first “bouncer” was well heard on the Champs-Élysées (2/9). Fournier arrived in Greece hungry and needed some time to get used to the sights and basketball of Europe, but his regular presence in the French national team, where he often took on a leadership role, promises a quick adjustment. In the maiden friendly he played, the newcomer was absent, but distributed 8 assists.
The addition of Fournierwho is a “two-three”, might send some “red and white” (eg Shaquille McKissick) to the edge of the bench. However, Bartzokas emphasizes at every opportunity that the demanding calendar requires the presence of 15-16 ready-to-fight players. “When you have the opportunity to get such a player, first you say “yes” and then you look at the rest”, they said in Piraeus.
The “rumbus” of Olympiakos with Fournier take him out Giannakopoulos in the counterattack, for reasons not only competitive, but also communicative. “I went for a walk with my dog in Sounio and I take this opportunity to announce the acquisition of Cedi Osman,” wrote the owner of Panathinaikos on his favorite Instagram on September 7. Three years younger than the 32-year-old Fournier, Osman is coming off a seven-year NBA career, mostly with the Cleveland Cavaliers, where he played more than 400 games with a career-high . 9.5 points.
Versatile and a key player in the national team of his homeland under the instructions of Ataman, o Chedi Osman became the third pole of the Turkish invasion of Panathinaikos. However, the two basketball players are products of the same “pedomazoma” and earlier it offered citizenship to Turkoglu, Turkchan and other talents of the Turkish diaspora. Osman was born in North Macedonia and Yurtseven in Uzbekistan.
Completing the rosters with little to no losses found our teams sharing the top two spots in the bookmakers’ predictions to win the European crown.
The Rhodes Super Cup it was hailed as a first opportunity to compare the two suitors and ended with a triumph for Olympiakos (86-85), but not so much… last year’s deafening 75-51. They were absent Milutinov, Fal and Osman, Brown.
It is certain that the deafening transcriptions they shot the budgets to unimaginable heights, although the season tickets of the “eternals” became rapturous in the first place. The contracts of Panathinaikos with players and coach for the coming season exceed 27 million euros as long as they are merged with the transfer clauses (Brown) and release clauses (Vildosa), while it is estimated that the management is spending around 15 million for the total renovation of the OAKA and the surrounding areas and in quick depreciation of the investment.
Olympiacos does not have the right to proceed with corresponding ground-breaking innovations in the state-owned SEF (e.g. installation of a “glass floor”), but recently discussed the issue with the prime minister himself and hopes for a similar arrangement in the near future. Fournier’s contract pushes next year’s expenses for player and coaching salaries over the $20 million mark.
His Fenerbahce Sarah Jasikevicius appears at the top of the relevant list with a budget of 31 million euros for contracts, while Real (25 million) is in third place, a “wedge” between Panathinaikos and Olympiakos. It is recalled that the four aforementioned teams claimed the European trophy at the end of last May in Berlin. OR Effectsthe Armanih Monacoh Barcelonah Partisano Red Star and outcast Maccabi are next on the list of generosity.
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