The presentation of the Champions
The Euroleague Media Day was held at the Peace and Friendship Stadium together with the presentation of the new Olympiacos. The ‘reds” presented the team that will try to keep the crown of the Champion in both Greece and Europe, with Panagiotis and Giorgos Angelopoulos attending.
During the Press Conference the administrative leaders of Olympiacos welcomed Giorgos Bartzokas and the new players of the team, while they spoke about the goals of the new season and more…
GIORGOS ANGELOPOULOS
About the statement made by Dimitris Giannakopoulos: «Since those appointing referees remain the same, Panathinaikos is once again the favorite. Mr. Giannakopoulos is right. This way, Olympiacos is starting out for the second place. I would also like to comment something else in regard to the interview given by Dimitris Giannakopoulos, who said about Panathinaikos operating on 35 million euro budgets during the previous seasons. We checked the publicized balance sheets of Panathinaikos and concluded that according to the net player salaries, taxation, agent fees and buyouts, the budget had been no more than 13 million euro. One of the two is wrong. At the same time, after constantly increasing our company capital, we have a shareholders capital of 75 million euro, while Panathinaikos is running with 300.000 euro. This means that our company’s capital is 250 times higher. I don’t know how this is possible. You can make your own conclusions".
“I wish a good season to Stratos, Dimitris and the coach. It has never happened before to have a Greek coach taking over the European Champion team. We are very sure about our choice and we are moving forward, that’s why it took us so long to choose a coach”.
About their decision to step down last season: “Today, there are new faces here, a new coach and our players are the European Champions. We owe it to all of them to stand by their side. We’ll talk about the rest later on”.
On whether it’s difficult to bring players from the NBA or renew with the European Champions: “It’s much more difficult to renew the contracts of the European Champions, because they justifiably have different financial expectations”.
PANAGIOTIS ANGELOPOULOS
About the new season” “I wish a good season. I actually dream about being in London. The team is practically the same, we have signed two Greek international players, Stratos Perperoglou and Dimitris Mavroeidis who we believe are going to help us a lot. Of course the team’s big weapon is that it’s very evenly manned. If you look back at the Euroleague history, I don’t think you will find many teams that have remained the same. I very often hear and read that everyone knows Olympiacos very well. Since they know us, let them come to face us. Our goals in Greece are known to everyone, our main opponent is Panathinaikos. I wish to welcome coach Bartzokas and his associates”.
About the decision to hire Bartzokas: “I don’t think it has ever been done before, for the European Champion to have a Greek coach. We trust Bartzokas and his associates and we hope and wish to have the best possible season and achieve our goals. We have been watching the work of coach Bartzokas and we respect him a lot. We think he’s the best Greek coach and he can handle the team”.
About whether there has been a thought of including stars on the team shirt: “The shirt never bothered us at all. What we want is for the people to come to the gym. Last season’s 1.000 season ticket holders have renewed their tickets and we have 500 new ones. We need the fans by our side and not only when a final four is in view and everyone is trying to find a ticket. Thursdays and Fridays, when Euroleague games are going to be plaid, are very good days and especially Friday that gives the chance to families to come to the gym”.
On whether the roster is complete: “You mean to tell me that one more foreign player can fit in the team. Let’s use some basketball sense on how we see things and let’s just see what a great team we have created”.
About the income difference between Champions League teams and Euroleague ones: “It’s not a problem of leadership. There have been some efforts made to increase revenue, that’s why there has been an opening to country markets that were that much into basketball, like Germany and England. But if Euroleague continues the same way, only the Russians and the Turks are going to be able and pay big money in the near future”.
In Germany, people have both the income and the spare time to go and enjoy a game. We don’t lack quality or organization basketball wise in Greece. But with all the problems the people face every day and facing the financial reality of our country, filling a gym in Greece is difficult”.
GIORGOS SKINDILIAS
About the transfer of Vassilis Kavvadas: “We knew that we first had to come to an agreement with Panionios to give us the player and that’s what we did and then we proceeded to an agreement with Vassilis Kavvadas. On July 31 we came to an agreement with Elias Lianos (i.e. Panionios owner) and you know what happened next. Mr. Lianos stepped back with his decision”.