Vovoras: “Mitoglou changed the level of Panathinaikos – Difficult period for Olympiakos”

THE George Vovoras was hosted on EEC WebRadio’s Live Replay show, talking about many different issues of this year’s EuroLeague season.

The 46-year-old coach referred to his progress so far Panathinaikou and his Olympiakou in the organization, while he also spoke about his future in coaching, expressing it wish of him soon to sit again on the bench of some team.

The statements of Giorgos Vovoras in detail:



For this year’s Euroleague: “As all the coaches say, it is a “marathon” that after the 10th matchday we will start to really see the picture of the teams. At the start of the season, many teams are not at the desired performance point they would like, but we see teams that are slowly finding their rhythm, like, for example, Panathinaikos, who are finding their rhythm and their chemistry. Certainly the pleasant surprise is Virtus who has made an excellent start so far. Partizan has not started well, just like last year. We’ll see a lot of things change along the way.”

For the image of Panathinaikos and Olympiakos this year: “At the beginning of the season, it is reasonable for the world to have huge demands from both teams. Olympiacos is last year’s finalist, Panathinaikos made a huge investment, they brought players who can really take them very high. On the one hand, Panathinaikos had difficult and demanding home games at the beginning of the season. There was a lot of pressure, but we’re seeing a very different approach now to partnerships and the game in general. The inclusion of Mitoglou helped him a lot in finding balance both defensively and in terms of size and he is taking small steps of development. It was clear that he was going to do it and I think he still has a lot of steps to go. Now he has a program that can give him a lot in terms of psychology and scoring. It is up to him to take the small steps he needs to stabilize his performance. As far as Olympiakos is concerned, his injuries are very significant, especially in the matter of heights and so it is very difficult to be able to pull off such a “marathon”. It is a difficult period for Olympiakos, but coach Bartzokas has also proven that he knows how to manage such situations.”

For Real Madrid: “Real is currently combining everything. He combines depth, talent, that he has a “body”, which was a big advantage at the start of the season. In most of the games he has played excellently. It will be very difficult for Real to stay out of the Final-4. He has the experience and I think it will be the team that will have the fewest ups and downs.”

For his future: “Certainly the profession of a coach also has a period of…inactivity. It was important that I was able to go to America, it was a great help for me, I saw things that are very important to see up close. I’m making some trips and watching games and training of some teams and I hope to be back on the bench soon.”