Bartzokas: “There are no magic wands, I have great confidence in the roster”

In the many problems faced by Olympic gave the George Bartzokas the mediocre start to this season and ahead of the showdown with Partizan (19/10, 21:15).

The coach of the “red and white” once again expressed his confidence in the roster, saying that if all the injured return to action, then the Piraeus team will perform well.

“I don’t think a loss or a win is the end of the world. In the Euroleague everyone loses and will lose. We have a difficult schedule. I also said a long time ago that we have to survive this situation, which comes from not having time for them to train. We haven’t had a single training session with the whole team. These days, having a game on Friday, Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday and so on. it is impossible for the team to train. Since there are several players who have injury problems or because they were absent, they are not in good shape. It’s a process we have to go through. We will try to do our best during this time. I personally have a lot of confidence in the roster and the team. Every fan of the team must understand that the philosophy has always been to look at the next game. The long-term plans and goals of the Final 4 are funny to mention in the EuroLeague. When we are healthy and come together, then we will play really well“, he said in his initial statement George Bartzokas.

About Nigel Williams-Goss: “It will play normally. He did full individual training yesterday. We decided to just not put him in to give him another 1-2 days after the pull he had. So Gosh will play normally and this is important, because yesterday we had a big deficit in guards, especially after Kanan’s expulsion. So it is important how it turns. But we must say that he is returning without having done a team training session with the team. Like Sikma, he played yesterday without having done a single team training session. I understand that it is a difficult time. But we are playing on our field. We want encouragement and support from the team world. We have proven over the years that we have achieved a lot and will achieve even more. It’s just that at some critical turning points that the team goes through during the year, all Olympiacos wants is for us all to be together. That’s what I told the players. Not to worry and doubt about our teammate, about the way we play, about the coaches, the trainers. When you don’t play well and that’s normal, we have to believe in our team. There are no magic wands. When everything becomes normal and the team trains together, it will also play well».

For Partizan: “He lost players, but he got Dozier, he got Kaminsky. All teams add and subtract. You can’t keep all the players. They are a team that plays with great intensity. It has strengths and weaknesses. Not many teams, as in Milan, but also in Partizan, you see deficits in the execution of the systems, as you see in ours. Unfortunately, no team has done regular preparation due to the World Cup and this shows in the first matches. We see mediocre games. It may be a derby but not qualitatively. All teams need time. Partizan has the stamp of its coach, it tries to play well. They will play hard tomorrow, but so will we».

On Kanan and his expulsion: “Whoever is at this level of the Euroleague, of Olympiakos and is well paid, there are also demands from him. I’m talking about every player. It has to be managed. We are here for the tough and this is a tough situation. Everyone should be ready. Yesterday it was a problem that Kanaan was expelled. I will talk to him, but each of us must restrain our emotions».

On Fal’s condition: “Fal has not done any team training. He has played three games and we were hoping that by the time we train he will be in good shape through the games».