On July 8, 2023, Panathinaikos announced the biggest “bang” of the summer, after acquiring the Kostas Sloukas shortly after he chose the path of leaving Olympiakos. 323 days later, the “greens” won the seventh Euroleague them in Berlin, with the experienced guard making a great final and taking his award Final Four MVP.
A main reason why the four-time European champion decided to leave the “red and whites”, was because he did not feel satisfied with the treatment he received from George Bartzokas in terms of participation time. Also typical is the line he was caught on camera saying in the Olympiakos locker room: “No leader with 20 minutes…”.
His move to Panathinaikosbeyond the highest salaries offered to him, was done by him with the aim of taking on more responsibilities and seeing him participation time of increasing. To a large extent, Sloukas he was vindicated from his very first season wearing the green.
Apart from the fact that he was the absolute protagonist in the conquest of the Euroleague by the “cloverleaf”, the statistics testify to the key role of the Panathinaikos captain in his rotation Ergin Ataman. Slukas was almost on the floor in this year’s Euroleague 4 minutes more average over last season. This resulted in managing a lot more possessions, specifically 11 per match (91 average this year, 80 average last year).
In addition to minutes and possessions, the improvement of the international guard in most numbers compared to last season is characteristic. In the 34 Euroleague matches he played this year, he scored 12.7 points and 5.6 assists on average, participating through scoring or creating in 31% of the points which Panathinaikos achieved. In 2022-23, respectively, Slukas averaged 11 points and 5.6 assists per game, having an active participation of approx 29% of points of the ensemble of Giorgos Bartzokas.
The part, however, where his improvement is evident, concerns his percentages. Last season, Slukas counted 53% on two-pointers and just 32% on 3-pointers, having a relatively low eFG% (51%), that is, the special percentage that includes two- and three-point shots, putting the weight on the latter as they offer more points. This year, the experienced guard saw his numbers jump to 59% on two-pointers and 41.5% on three-pointerswith the unthinkable 60% on eFG%!
In summary, the Sloukas he really saw his role grow, and he found in the person of Ergin Ataman a coach who gave him the “keys” to the team, just as he wanted. His minutes, possessions managed and game involvement increased, and so did his confidence, which “jumped” and led to much improved percentages. All this suggests that the Sloukas he was vindicated by his choice to continue his career at Panathinaikos, after finding him in the latter leading role that he was looking for and managed to lead him to a great trophy.
Source: Sport Fm
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