«We need to build a winning team»
A “hurt” Olympiacos will be hosting CSKA tomorrow (06/02, 20.00 CET), for the 24th round of the Euroleague, since Vassilis Spanoulis, Taylor Rochestie, Giorgos Printezis and Vassilis Charalampopoulos will not be playing due to injuries.
“Each game is tough. It doesn’t only have to do with the fact that we lost in Kaunas or with who the opponent is. There is no easy game in the Euroleague”, the ‘reds’ coach, Giorgos Bartzokas, commented. “We all need to realize that. It is certain that the momentum is not in our favor, in the sense that not only we lost to Zalgiris, but also because during the game we lost two of our main key guards, who provide facilitation, execution and leadership for our team. It’s very hard for the guys who don’t have experience in this level to cover for their absence. If we take into account that we have also lost Charalampopoulos and Printezis, you realize that we are short in numbers and at this level the opponent always exploits that”.
On whether there’s any chance for Giorgos Printezis to play, who also did not play the game against Zalgiris, he said: “When the pain is intense, you cannot be playing. I’m not optimistic. I don’t think he can play. He hasn’t practiced until now. Also, neither Spanoulis and Rochestie, nor Charalampopoulos will be playing. We are very few arithmetically, but despite that, that’s how it is… Injuries are part of sports. I have had similar experience with other teams in the past. We need to be upset, however, only for things that we can control. The health aspect is one integral to sports and doctors are responsible to take care of that. We need to take care of the competition part. And this is a part that at this moment is very particular and very difficult but you need to appear ready to fight for the victory in every game”.
Asked if he plans on using more players from the Academies in the upcoming games, he made clear: “Olympiacos is not a team to offer perspective. It’s a team that has to win. We all need to understand that. Whenever anyone tried to bring a youth project within the Euroleague, it soon failed. This moment, demands in a club of this size is to get players regardless of their age. Someone may be 18 years of age and help the team win and he may be 30 and not be helping the team win. We need to build a winning team. Whoever is a part of a winning team, becomes better. They participate the championing spirit and everyone becomes better with this. If you are asking about Greek players, because in every country, there’s a soft spot for native players, Charalampopoulos, unfortunately for us, followed a special 2 -3 weeks program after coming from Nikaia to match up the speed our team is playing at. And we are really very happy with how he has developed, he has helped us in the game against Baskonia, however, he had surgery. Koniaris has more minutes than what he had with PAOK last season due to the current circumstances and I assure your that if there’s a Greek player that can join the Olympiacos’ core for the next years, we’ll help him do that. However, each one should be helping themselves, it’s not just what we do”.
Finally, on whether Olympiacos has its eyes on the market, he admitted that … “Even more now. We were doing that before, like I had told you, however, there have been some developments in some leagues and also National Cup competitions are still on. I would like to say that before all of that are finished it’s difficult that any team releases players”.
On his part, Augustine Rubit pointed out: “I don’t know what is going to happen tomorrow, what I know is that we need to come out strong, try hard and play our game. We’ll fight for the win”.
About the absence of Vassilis Spanoulis and Taylor Rochestie, he commented: “Many teams play without their star players. Spanoulis is our captain and together with Rochestie they are our main point guards, however, we all need to come forward, play aggressively and ‘strike’ our opponent in all areas. It’s definitely going to be hard against these players”.