Katsivelis: “Great PAOK team – huge anticipation for the FIBA ​​Europe Cup finals”

THE Dimitris Katsivelis spoke on the ESAKE website about the great European challenge of PAOK and the double finals of the FIBA ​​Europe Cup with Bilbao.

In detail what he said:

For the FIBA ​​Europe Cup finals against Bilbao: “The anticipation is huge, PAOK is a very big team, returning to finals after so many years is very important for everyone. We look forward to playing these games. ”

Whether the prospect of the FIBA ​​Europe Cup looked like a “chore” at the beginning of the season: “We did not underestimate the event. When a team is new, like us, it can improve better through games than through training. We used this institution to build the team. The process of two games a week made a team that he learned to win. The coach also helped, because he wanted to have two matches a week. He wanted the European perspective since the beginning of the year in the plan he had created. ”

For childhood in Thessaloniki and basketball: “It was very beautiful, carefree years. My father was a player and coach, I got involved with all the sports from a young age, but I won the basketball. I did almost everything in elementary school, I started track, I went to football, but without pressure I chose basketball. The years were different. Life was more carefree. I spent more time outside the house than inside it. ”

If Olympiacos came to his career early: “When I went I was 18 in 19. I was coming from Mandoulides, where we were playing in the Second National. Getting into a team of teammates such as Spanoulis, Papaloukas, Teodosic and seeing how they work, your whole mind changes. Everything you knew about basketball is completely different. It’s not easy to understand if you don’t live it. They helped me a lot to understand what it is to be a professional athlete at the highest level. ”

For the similarities that coach Kanchelieri has with Ivkovic: “The coach is a man who grew up training with the older school. But it has evolved, through discussions we had in the year, he has told me that he is trying to modernize and improve some things from this training school that the older ones had. ”

About how coach Kanelieri is and for the … title of Atakador: “The coach is a clever man, he has nice and fresh basketball ideas. It is not easy to cooperate because it has learned to push everyone to get 100%. And I not only mean the players, but also the ramp and the assistants. He finds a way to push everyone to get the maximum. However, he is a right person, a good man, does not go beyond limits. He is a terrible stupor. There are many of his things, but no one can be said. ”

For the PAOK season and the title of the underdog he had in the first jumper: “The coach also used it from the beginning to motivate us. The team has reached here through work. We started a hard preparation on August 7th. It’s no coincidence that we got here, we’ve all worked so hard that we can drive the sign of the underdog and the lower budget team and all that has been following us since the beginning of the year. ”

For the presence of the team owner, Thanassis Hatzopoulos: “It is very important that they are with us. He loves PAOK very much. He is expressive, emotional. It is important for a player to see the president so close to the team, leaving his personal jobs to follow the team. PAOK is lucky to have him. “