Sakota: “We couldn’t bring in our first choices – The image of the team has fallen”

With raw realism about the difficulties she faced in building her roster AEK Betsson spoke o Dragan Sakota at the team’s media day at the renewed (some black seats were already installed) Liosia, where a consecration took place.

“All player selections are ours. If you ask me, if they were our first choices, no. We had a lot of difficulty with our first choices. We should not hide, the team’s image has fallen and perhaps the most important thing is for AEK to come back, as a team, as a name. This will be with some changes that management is trying to make and with the games for sure. If we fight and play right, everyone will see us differently. Some guys were in our original picks. What we really wanted was either expensive, or it was somewhere else. Usually everyone is looking for a team in the EuroLeague. Without a lot of money we’re kind of behind as an option for players. Let’s not hide. In the end, something appears. We are waiting for another move. When we start and they say “what are you looking for?”, we reply “good player”. If you bring me a player who can really make a difference, we’ll find a place. At the moment we really lack a tall, but not the classic five, a combo player and we had left that position, to be the best player. We’ve been looking for a month, we’ve had some contacts, but it hasn’t come to us yet“, he said.

As for the progress of the preparation, he emphasized:We usually say we are doing well. We didn’t have the whole team together from day one. The bottom line is that the end counts. If we are the way we want to be in the end, that’s the main thing. It’s a fresh start, with many changes compared to last year’s team. The work is being done from the beginning, but we don’t even know how the other teams are doing. Everyone changes, so you always have to keep the ball low on statements. Our first games will show which way we go. Of course the guards play a big role, but here I had an issue from the start. The doctor says that Flionis is ok. As with Flionis, as I thought he would be one of the main ones. We wanted to bring in 2 Greeks who were on the market at that time, Lountzis and Mitrou Long, we didn’t manage to bring in Greeks of such a level that we had more than foreigners in the frontline. Whenever you think about it, you find that you are missing something. Karabelas also struck. We couldn’t train as we wanted».

Finally, regarding the goals of the new season, the Serbian coach said:I have the impression that when I talk to people, everyone tells me “what do you tell us every year, that we are going for the championship and that we will be high since we know that Panathinaikos or Olympiacos will win it again”. Yes, it’s somewhat unfair because these two teams stand out as things are now. It is in a clearly bigger organization, with different goals, so I would say that we will be a little more realistic in the new goals. I think the BCL is an event where we have some goals, to go as far as we can but of course we want to be competitive, more than last year and reach 4th. For us it would be a big step compared to last year».