Herbert: “We fought but could not hold against Panathinaikos – Taxation in Germany is a big obstacle”

Last Thursday (10/10), Panathinaikos AKTOR inaugurated the new OAKA and defeated 94-79 the Bayern Munich of Gordon Herbert.

The Canadian/Finnish former coach of the German national team spoke to Serbian Media about the specific match at the Olympic Facilities, about its obstacle high taxation in the country, his work in national team but also him Nikola Jokic.

Excerpt from what he said to “Mozart Sport”:

For the match against Partizan: “A famous team, in a basketball country, with a legendary coach. It is exciting for us to be here and to have the opportunity to play with Partizan.

First of all they have Isaac Bonga, who I have been working with for a long time. I haven’t talked to Isaac in a while. I’ll see him at the game. He left before I arrived. We have a great relationship. I coached him in Frankfurt and in the National team. It would have been nice to have kept him, but I’m also happy for him to move to a great club under a great manager.”

For the match against Panathinaikos: “We also fought against Panathinaikos. There were too many ups and downs and finally we couldn’t take it. We came close but in the end we buckled. It’s part of the sport, though. We have the desire to improve game by game.”

For Germany: “We have a big obstacle in Germany with taxation. It is 48%, while in many countries they pay 12-14%. It’s an obstacle. It is what it is, we’re moving on.”

For the German National Team and Bayern Munich: “We have a great group of German players at the moment, some good foreigners. No one thought we could do what we did with the German National Team. We have a vision of where we want to go and we will continue to work in that direction.

I asked for a 3-year commitment from these players, and they did. It was an honor for me to coach this young team. I think at Bayern we have some good people. I think when you make a team of really good people, it can become even stronger. For me, it’s the biggest challenge I have in front of me.”

For the match against Serbia and Jokic: “It was very difficult. You hope the alarm doesn’t go off in the morning and you forget to wake up. In my opinion, Jokic is the best player in the world. I talked to him a bit once and from what I’ve heard from other people, he’s a great person. They are a rare breed, so to speak. He’s kind of like Dirk Nowitzki in Germany. An incredible player, but an even better person.”