Mantzaris: “Panathinaikos with the crowd at OAKA will score 80-90 points – Very difficult home”

It can be in the second division of Italy and the Rosettebut the Vangelis Mantzaris continues to monitor the… unfolding in Hellas and Europe.

His former guard Olympiakou talk to EOK Web Radio and referred to the new season that begins, highlighting his improvement Panathinaikou and giving his predictions for the Euroleague.

In detail what he said on EEC Web Radio:

On his first impressions of Roseto: “For now they are perfect. They have me here like a god, cheering. It’s still summer here, I live in a coastal area, very touristy place, the weather is the same for us. At the moment, it reminds me a lot of Greece, so it’s all great. May we have our health, may the year go well and end ideally.”

For this year’s team goals: “We have to go up, that’s the goal, it’s a one-way street. It is very difficult, of course, because there are 36 teams, two groups of 18 teams. In the end they go to play-offs, they play cross-over and the two who go to the final automatically go to A2. It’s a regular “marathon”, it’s not easy, but we certainly have the resources. You also need luck obviously, but we have a lot of chances. We will fight.”

For the interest of the world: “It doesn’t have a football team, there’s only a basketball team and they’re all into basketball. They have organized. We have a stadium with a capacity of 4-5 thousand and it is 2-3 thousand in every match. Now that the season stops in October, because most people work the season, everyone is concerned with when there is a basketball game to go to the court.”

For the Pigeon: “Peristeri has made a big impression on me. And in the friendlies I’ve seen with Sassari, he made terrible appearances. It is very important that Vassilis (s.s. Spanoulis) has taken guys who know from A1, he took Hunts, Renfro, Dangubic, Williams. I think he will have a really good team.”

For the “eternal” derby in the Euroleague (06/10): “For better or for worse, we all know that OAKA has special potential. Especially with the players that Panathinaikos has this year, even though they are not “tied” yet, I believe in OAKA only with the crowd and the pace they will give them, they will put 80-90 points for sure. If they don’t put that many, it will be a failure with this team that Panathinaikos has, based on the momentum they get in there. There will be enough people in every Euroleague match. It will be one of the most difficult seats, and even more so with Olympiakos, as we all know how important these matches are. The crowd will be very enthusiastic and Panathinaikos will get a lot of strength and energy from their crowd.”

For this year’s Euroleague: “I think Monaco with Kemba Walker, if he’s healthy and can bond with James, Lloyd and Okobo, will have a formidable team. They are taking steady steps and have a steady coach who is the only one from the Serbian school who can mold them. He is the perfect fit for this team. Barcelona will be a big question mark, because they are completely renewed with a different style of play and coach.

Real has definitely gotten stronger, because they have kept almost the whole team and they also got Campacho who will raise their level. They will be one of the best teams this year. Efes is a question mark that got a coach who showed an important work last year, kept several players and made the changes he wanted. Fener every year is a team that gives a lot of money and it remains to be seen what they will do. They are a team with tremendous personalities and talent. Partizan and Red Star have gone up 1-2 levels since last year. For the 8th there will be… a massacre this year.”