BARTZOKAS: Success has ruined many people
The Media Day organized by Olympiacos BC was at the same time an official presentation of the team and new head coach of the “reds”, Giorgos Bartzokas…
“I wish to thank the Angelopoulos family for giving me this opportunity and for their kind comments today. I am fully aware of which club I came to work for. I have come to the greatest club of Greece and I’m ready to step up to the challenge”, the European and Greek Champion said at first and added: “You can measure the size of each club at Press Conferences and today there are many of you (i.e. reporters) here, something that shows Olympiacos is of huge proportions”.
About whether the fact the Olympiacos has retained most of its roster has been helpful: “Incredibly so. It’s very helpful to start having to deal with practically the same team. It hadn’t been easy. There are more expectations from a successful team and you know that. We had to renew with some players and we got two new ones. Homogeny is very important, we begin well, and everyone that’s here has proved they are worth being with this team”.
About friendly games and his expectations from them: “We chose to play strong games. We decided to play top games to bring out our weaknesses and work on them. We need to be ready for the official games”.
About the changes in the Euroleague: “Euroleague is closing in to the NBA. The TOP-16 is going to have more games and with strong opponents. Building a roster and organizing a team is going to be very important. Everything should be organized, from practices, to the medical staff, even our trips. The way pace is going to be, a team should be very well organized to cope”.
About his philosophy and the new elements he wants to see in Olympiacos: “What we want is basically see the talent and skills of our players materialize on court. We know what they can do and we are going to intervene to the extend we need to”.
Finally, Giorgos Bartzokas stated: “Coming to the team, I have the feeling that everyone is calmer and feel vindicated. This helps with decisions you have to make. On the other hand, to lead a team that has won so much bears an extra weight. We have to look at the present and the future. At the next day, I don’t like looking at the past. Success has ruined a lot of people”.