Ilias Papatheodorou spoke about the recent adventure he had as a technician of the Swiss national team, being trapped in a car, via EOK Web Radio.
The Greek coach spoke about this year’s Prometheus of Patras, but also about the presence of Antonis Karagiannidis in the National Team.
In detail what he said:
About the adventure he experienced in the match with Kosovo: “It was really quite an adventure, but it turned out well. The score when I entered was at 10 points. A blizzard fell in Friborg, where the Federation and the National Team are based. We played in Bern, 30 minutes away by car. There was a snowstorm, we were stranded for three hours in Friborg. We arrived in three installments the players and the coaches. Fortunately, the players arrived, the match was postponed by an hour and a half.
The first group of players arrived at 20:20, the second group arrived at 20:50. We had 6 players for the game jam and we arrived at 22:00 with a 21:00 start time. We entered the second half and an adventure ended, a very difficult moment. We were all three coaches trapped in a car. Because we are there for the third year, since it will be 4 years in the summer, there is a good communication, even though it is a special situation to play without coaches. The children were aware and activated to a good degree».
On how Kosovo fared on the field: “They lived in Bern, the venue of the game. The coach that was going to take them was late, it had to leave Friburg. They also entered the stadium late due to the lateness of the coach».
To support the game world: “There was a sell-out in the game, 2500 tickets had been sold because it was the last game of the main point guard of the National team, who is born in Bern, that’s why the game was played in Bern. Of the 2500, 1500 were in the field because the weather was too difficult for people to move».
For the pre-qualifiers of the 2027 World Cup: “For the Swiss national team to qualify for any major tournament is something that has happened for 68 years. There is definitely an excitement and a good mood, because we will go to the next qualifying round. The reality is that we are low on the basketball map, so we have to play enough qualifiers to play the good teams in Europe. The biggest problem we face is the unwillingness of very good Swiss players to take part in the National team. It’s a bit of a strange story. In the Swiss national team we ask them to play.
If all the Swiss players play with their national team, there will be a derby with the Greek national team of the windows. There is Clint Capela in the NBA, Kayson George in the NBA, players who play in American colleges and have the prospect of playing in the NBA, young players who play in Gran Canaria and Barcelona. The level is very good, but they never sync all of them together. 39 different players have competed in the last 3-4 windows.
A serious effort is being made, there is a new administration in the Swiss Confederation with people who have vision and ambitions, it remains to be seen whether it will turn into a good distinction, so that another motivation and another interest will be given to the world”.
About the new player of Heracles, Selim Fofana: “He is a young kid of 24-25 years old, who was actually called up to the National teams when we went in 2020-21 to the Swiss National Team. He has good attributes, he is very athletic, he has good size for his position, he has good handling, he has a lot of things that are needed in modern basketball. It is very important that he has had a European presence for 3 years now, playing outside of Switzerland in various leagues, such as this year’s Elite League. He is a good addition and has motivation and discernment to get things done. He is a good player».
On the path of Prometheus: “We have many problems. From the beginning of the year we lost our main player with a torn anterior cruciate ligament, we had the absence of Antonis Koniaris who decided to leave for personal reasons. Yesterday (25/11), coming here, unfortunately for us we had a serious injury, Minas Papagiannis broke his wrist. He had surgery this (26/11) morning, everything went well, but he is a loss to us. We try through the problems we have to find our balance, our chemistry, our function and reach a good level that we envision.
The addition of the new player, if completed today, will give us an extra quality. From there, we’re in a process of finding the right chemistry and the right players who can execute what we want. We are still open to the market, anything good that can help the team we will try to claim.
We have the luck, or ability, even though we haven’t played at the level we want, to be currently in 3rd place in the standings. It’s a very open league, no one stands out. The process continues and we will try to do something better than what we have done so far. We have not played at the level we want, although our results are relatively good for the Greek league. We need more quality and better functioning in defense and attack».
For the goal in BCL: “It is a big intrigue and a big goal for us to be in the BCL play-ins. We need a win next Wednesday (4/12) against Rasta Vechta to ensure it mathematically and through the process of improving the team to appear ready for the play-ins. Last year when the team was at a better level competitively than now at this time, it entered the play-ins again. The most important thing is at that moment in which state the team is competitively. Our primary goal is to win against Rasta Vehta so that we can get into the play-ins and next month when these matches take place we will be as ready as possible».
For Antonis Karagiannidis: “His presence was important and helped the National team a lot, the first time he played. It is a product of the Prometheus process. Prometheus gave him the opportunity he was looking for, from an Elite League team in the last part of the standings. Such players can 100% emerge as long as they have the required package. It’s not just talent. Antonis is not a very big talent in terms of defense. His first and main characteristic is that he is a child hungry for distinction, hungry and open to learning and improving.
When I say hungry I don’t mean so much in the basketball part, but in the financial part. When you are 17-18 and have 100 thousand in your account, you say that everything is easy. Antonis is not such a case. It is good that a player is not paid a lot of money too early, so that he can have the opportunity to work more. Even now as we speak he is one of the top-3 lowest paid players in A1. However, he is self-consciously underpaid, knows why he is on that salary, and knows where and how he can get there. If the organization you are in sees the impact and improvement you have, they evaluate you differently.
Antonis started with a certain salary and within 5 months he has received a threefold increase. It’s not just a matter of the coach, he does extra training every day with the partners and the trainers. The whole summer he stayed in Patras to work extra and only for 10 days he went to Thessaloniki. There are many small things behind the image seen in Prometheus or Ethniki games.
It is not a setback or a bad start for someone to make an effort like this and prove who they are. You have to start from where they really trust and believe in you and have specific goals and ambitions that can be fulfilled through specific programs. Don’t look at what your contract says, you’ll get the zeros sooner or later if you deserve it. History has shown that the one who gets a lot of zeros early on gets fewer down the road. Proven».
Source: Sport Fm
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