Kaselakis on sport-fm.gr: “Spanoulis is a perfectionist, he deals with basketball 24 hours a day”

The Pigeon bwin is gearing up for his second season with Vasilis Spanoulis on the bench and expectations are high, after last year’s successful run in the domestic competitions with the achievement of the third place and the presence in the final of Greek Cup.

He talked about these and many other things at sport-fm.gr The Leonidas Kaselakis, who said that despite the changes, the team has managed to find a relative homogeneity before the start of the year and it is important, with the difficult schedule that exists, that the necessary victories come. At the same time, he underlined how to achieve the qualification in Basketball Champions League he and his teammates should give six “final” in the first phase.

At the same time, he also spoke about Vassilis Spanoulis, describing him as one perfectionist personwho – as the 33-year-old power forward estimated – will have an equally great career as a coach.

In detail what Leonidas Kaselakis said to Christos Lois:

How did the preparation go? Are you satisfied with the work done for a year with consecutive games in Greece and Europe?

“I think we worked very hard in preparation, we were almost a new team but we managed to find a relative homogeneity quite early on. The friendlies obviously help a team to build up, however, now they are over, we start the official games, now apart from the appearance and what you present on the floor, what counts is the result and we should focus on that, because especially at the beginning we have quite a difficult time program and we should bring the necessary victories».

Second year of Vassilis Spanoulis at Peristeri bwin. They say that in the first year a team is built and in the second it is ready for something better. In Greece you achieved your goals, in Europe are you ready for the next step?

“Certainly, when a coach stays more years in a team, the easier and faster he assembles it and reaches the level he wants. Beyond that, this does not guarantee you success, we have to work hard and some things may have the right timing to achieve them.

In Europe, our goal is definitely to get to the next stage, which we didn’t do last year, but we can’t look that far. In order to go to Europe we will need to win six finals in the first phase, in Greece we have seen that there is no easy game either at home or away from home, so it is a marathon that we must be very focused and the new players can to enter into this mindset, that every match counts and that it is very important not to lose a single day on the field, either mentally or physically».

In the Super Cup, Peristeri bwin had good intervals with Olympiacos based on the capacity difference. With PAOK, there was a lot of defensive attitude. How do these first samples taste?

“We didn’t have a good image with Olympiakos, who won fairly, we did a lot of things wrong in defense and attack. With this logic, maybe we lost a little bit to Olympiakos based on our image, however, something that the team has shown since last year and I was very happy is our character, because there was a reaction and after a bad performance, we did with PAOK what we had to in defense and attack. The match against Olympiakos revealed some weaknesses, which may be a good thing that we saw them at the beginning of the year».

You are a player of Vassilis Spanoulis and you spend many hours together during the day. Has he imparted to you the winning mentality he had? What is it like to coach a legend of European basketball who has not long since retired?

“What the coach has achieved is amazing, I think he will have a similar career as a coach because he is a perfectionist. He likes to be at it 24/7 and that’s no exaggeration. He is a man who wants to do everything he does as well as possible, this is sometimes stressful, but this is his way of working and this is how he has achieved all this. Obviously he has passed that on to the team and for our part all we have to do is be inspired and follow his instructions and plan to succeed this season as well».



You have played in many games in the Basket League and you know the division well. Has he made strides and will he be more competitive this season?

“It will certainly be competitive, every year maybe even more, the teams now have the know-how and the study in the market of foreign players. Therefore, the necessary research is done so that there are no failed moves. It is important for me that even the Greeks, who are not too many, give the… salt and pepper to the league because a team will take six foreigners, but it also needs experienced Greeks who can stand. Anyway, I’m glad that there are new kids who will get time to participate.

Beyond that we know that because it’s a 12-team league every loss counts, so for that there is pressure from everyone, whether at home or away, especially for a team like Peristeri bwin who want to star and be at the top of the division».