Becirovic: “We almost gave up on the transfer of Lesor – Dragic helped a lot in the acquisition of Nan”

Panathinaikos AKTOR reached the top of Europe for the seventh time in their history, which was a big surprise given that the team was built last summer.

Some “behind the scenes” from this building were made known by Sani BecirovicGeneral Manager of the “greens” and pivotal in the many quality transfers made by the team, in an interview he gave to “meridiansport”.

The Slovenian veteran guard addressed his transfer Kostas Sloukasto the great difficulties of its acquisition Matias Lessorthe deal with which he was almost abandoned, but also in the hitherto unknown role of Goran Dragic in his approach Kendrick Nunn.

In detail what he said:

On building the team that reached the top of Europe: “I’d be lying if I said I thought we’d get to the top in the first year. This is the most honest answer. I confess that I did not think that we would succeed in the first year, but in two or three years. Initially, it was important to create a budget that was competitive with other teams. The first move-agreement with Ergin Ataman followed and I slowly got to know Ergin as a person and as a coach.

Next was to bring in Matias Lessor, who showed crazy energy at Partizan. This was extremely important to me. Everything showed that we have good data to get a result. Of course in sports there are external factors, injuries, a ball can change everything… But when the ingredients are there, and certainly there are the signings of Kostas Slukas and Kendrick Nunn, then the shortcomings are also covered. We worked systematically and got better.”

About the agreement with Ataman and Lessor: “It was even easier with Ataman, because there was mutual sympathy. We had two other candidates with whom the negotiations did not go well at all. No chemistry was felt. Unlike them, when President Giannakopoulos and I met in Belgrade on the one hand and Ergin and Raznatovic’s agent on the other, it was love at first sight. After the meeting, as soon as we got into the car, the president said: “That’s it”! At the same time, Misko called me and said: ‘This is going to be an atomic bomb. So how does it explode? And he told me that I would have the most work.

It was much more difficult to reach an agreement with Lessor. It took a lot of time. At one point we were on the verge of walking away from the deal. But in the end, president Giannakopoulos broke the bank, extending Matias’ contract. His love for Partizan made negotiations difficult. But when we presented him with the project, along with the whole situation with the unfortunate elimination of Partizan by Real in the play offs, he understood that here he would have a faster opportunity to play in the Final Four of the Euroleague and attack the title. Matias was convinced that it was the right move.”

For the Ataman-Obrandovic comparison: “What comparison? There is no comparison, they are completely different coaches. Both have a different vision. One is a chess master and the other is a players coach. At first I was shocked at the way it works. He is a coach who won two Euroleagues and if it wasn’t for covid-19 he would have won three. We chose him and followed him… blindly. Everything the coach says is sacred. Ergin works with emotion. He is the most suitable coach for modern basketball because he gives the right… to the title. Ergin is, as I said, the most suitable person for modern basketball, while Zeliko is the most… complete expert of the sport. For Zelikos everything has to be perfect. His game resembles perfection, everything is perfect.”

To obtain the Sluka: “Kostas was extremely fair. He didn’t want to talk until he cleared everything up with Olympiakos. It was a big risk for us, so we had to make verbal agreements with two alternative players. Realistically, no one believed that Olympiacos would give up Slukas. But when that relationship broke down, we reacted quickly and started negotiations. When he called me and told me it was really happening, everything happened very quickly after that. The president asked: Is it really so? Ok, I’ll wrap up the story. Everything happened so quickly.”

For Nan’s transcript: “Goran Dragic helped me a lot there. Kendrick was then training with Zoran Dragic in Miami, so Goran allowed me to explain everything to Nan. He told him that we grew up together in the national team, that he will be fine in Panathinaikos and then I approached him and told him that adapting to Europe is not easy, but that with the coach we have, we should be his first choice. It still wasn’t easy for an important NBA player to leave. This was the hardest. There were four teams in that match, but the president’s excitement was broken. Kendrick came and it was only a matter of time before all the qualifications came out, because the player is really dominant. There were training sessions where we thought ‘this is him’.