The new coach of the Greek Panathinaikos, Ergin Ataman, spoke about the goals of the Athens “greens” in the new season, and he also recalled the period when he joined the Anadolu Efes team.
The Turkish coach has signed a two-year contract with the Turkish giant, who is looking for the seventh title of European champion.
“That is our goal and I cannot lower it. In a club like Panathinaikos, I can’t say that the goal is to play in the playoffs,” Ataman said.
The Turkish coach recalled the period when he came to Anadolu Efes from Turkish Besiktas in 2008.
“When I came to Efes, I had Fenerbahce Zeljko Obradovic in mind when I was building the team. Why? Because Fener was one of the best teams in Europe during that period – they played in the final four of the Euroleague every year and won the title. It’s the same thing now with Olympiakos. If we manage to beat Olympiakos, it means that we are the champions of Greece and in the final four of the Euroleague,” Ataman said.
When asked how PAO managed to sign a contract with a coach who won two consecutive titles with the Turkish team.
The new coach of Panathinaikos relayed a part of the conversation with the president of “Greens” Dimitris Janakopoulos.
“He told me: ‘You are the most successful coach in Europe in the last four years, but there are five or six other experts who are at your level. I invited you because of your leadership skills. We need to start a fire here, we haven’t won Olympiakos for two years and I need someone like you. Do what you want, bring whoever you want, we have a budget’. And then I agreed”, Ataman concludes.
The Greek team will have a big budget for the next season, and the arrivals of Partizan basketball players Kevin Punter and Dante Exum are mentioned.
