Ataman: “Our fans will have the opportunity to see the team we are building”

As a prime opportunity for the world to see the young man up close Panathinaikos and what is being built in the team, presented the 5th tournament “Pavlos Giannakopoulos” the Ergin Ataman.



The Turkish coach of the “greens” also mentioned the fact that it will be the first time host in this big friendly tournament, as he had previously participated several times with Efes.

Ergin Ataman’s statements in detail:



On the fact that this year will be the host of the tournament: “It’s something different for me, I have different feelings as in previous years I came as a guest with respect always to Pavlos Giannakopoulos and his family. For what he had achieved not only in Greece but also in Europe. He brought many great players, coaches, who won many trophies in Europe and Greece.

Now it’s different because I’m the coach of this great team. I hope we have a good tournament for all the fans as they will have the opportunity to see the team we are “building” for the first time and also see the big stars who will play in the Euroleague. I wish everyone a good injury-free tournament and after that all the teams are ready for a good season.”

On how important it is to be in such a great tournament and while your players are not yet well integrated into the teams after Mundobasketball: “Last week we played in Rhodes, it was the first match after five players came back from the World Cup and we did quite badly in attack. In the second we did better. After a week of working together, with the only exception of Vildosa who is still injured and will not play in the tournament, it gives us the opportunity to put even more strategy into our game and see where we are. We are a young team but we know we don’t have much time because the Euroleague starts in two weeks and this tournament will show us where we are.”