Priftis: “It’s good for the National Team that it goes with lower expectations”

An interview on the EEC Web Radio was spoken by Dimitris Priftistalking about her National our team and its preparation ahead of the World Cup, while he also referred to Olympic, Panathinaikos!

The former coach of the “greens” and now of Reggio Emilia, expressed the opinion that it is good for the national team to go to Mundobasket with lower expectations, while regarding the “eternal”, he described Panathinaikos as the transfer champion, while adding that the Olympiacos has the edge in terms of unity and chemistry.

What the Greek coach said in detail:



For his impressions of the National Team so far: “This team is an idea, a story, which comes from great successes in the past. It rightly excites everyone’s ambitions and there is an excitement. It’s an atmosphere that always prevails in the summers around the National Team and certainly when you raise the bar on expectations, the pressure rises a little. All this pressure is transferred to the team. This year there are very significant absences and the coaches and staff are trying to manage it. It is a team that has 4-5 “3s”, where clearly some internal movements will have to be made, where some will also help the “4”, which is already being done.

It’s good that we go with lower expectations. There’s a good atmosphere in the team at the moment, they make a… swagger out of defence, they don’t give up easily, even when the differences are gone. The last two games we kept it low-scoring, it was important. It is very important to be in a “breathing” distance, because it means that with a “burst”, a shot, two steals you can come back. I think that in the last two friendlies the coach will be a little more specific, because he gave all the kids a chance so far, he tried a lot of formations. He also tried to preserve the “freshness” of some children”.

On whether the defeats at “Acropolis” were useful: “From the first friendly in Slovenia, where in the 1st quarter there was a very large stretch of the score, I had a good feeling about the way I saw the team play, its atmosphere, its aura. I think that these defeats of “Acropolis” create some conditions for us to do better. The team has good elements, it has pieces that the staff has to manage because of the absences and the unevenness of the roster and I think we can do well”.

On the… problem we have had in the knockout games in recent years: “Unfortunately, this is a phenomenon that we have had for years and I hope we will overcome it little by little. However, when the team has this defensive stability, it will greatly increase their chances of making that one match we need. Yesterday, 2-3 shots went in at the last second. If we scored 25 points in every quarter, those shots wouldn’t matter. So we need to concede an average of 15-18 points per quarter, which is within our attacking frame where we usually go, and that’s how we’ll increase our chances. We will have the possibility to take a difficult match, a match with a good opponent, as long as we don’t concede too many easy baskets and many points. We must “bite” in defense”.

For the Men’s National Team roster: “We have good athletes, the whole team I think is very competitive. It’s great to have Mitoglou back here and he’s really a “gift” to the team at the moment. So far it seems how much better we would have had a chance of success last year if Dinos had co-existed with the rest of our strong roster. Thanasis is one of the best game changers, he comes in and has a huge impact on the game without the team playing anything for him. From the way he acts and moves without the ball, he has a tremendous influence and impact on the way the game is played.”.

For children coming from the younger Nationals: “I see that there are children who will come along the way, like for example Lefteris Mantzoukas, who could also be in this team. Children are coming from behind and from the Children’s, Adolescent and Youth Nationals, where they did well this year. I think things are not so pessimistic. We have children below, where in the future some of them can develop. There is talent, it’s a matter of management and work”.

To take over the technical leadership of Reggio Emilia: “It’s a new venture, a different league that I don’t know. I’ve seen, I’ve studied a lot, I know some groups, from time to time I’ve faced some, but it definitely has its peculiarities. It will be a new experience. We made a team almost brand new, with quite a few new faces. I find there Claudio Koldebela who we were together in Unix and that is a very important element for me. From here on, we enter the “battle” of the season in a few days”.

For Panathinaikos and Olympiacos of the new season: “Undoubtedly, Panathinaikos has raised the bar too much. This summer in terms of transfers, he has taken the championship. Of course, it is also a team that did not go to a logic with some additions, but an almost total change. Based on the roster and theoretically the level of players acquired I think it will be a very strong team. From there, it is also a matter of how they will work with each other. There are the specifications and bases to go very far, but without overlooking the element of the work that must be done together.

Olympiacos has an edge over Panathinaikos in terms of unity and chemistry, because they have largely retained some parts of the roster even though some “key” players have left, such as Vezenkov and Slukas. However, it has a base from previous years. As for the Euroleague game, if we add to the equation that some players will be absent due to national teams, there is a peculiarity because they will be in the Nationals, they will come a little late, some will have to rest. I believe that a balance will be restored between the two teams and Panathinaikos shows that it will be very strong”.