Itoudis: “Proud of Yasikevitsius and Spanoulis”

His joy and pride for the coaching success and progress of two of his own … children, his Sarunas Yasikevicius and his Vasilis Spanoulissaid the Dimitris Itoudis. Hapoel Tel Aviv’s coach also talked about the Final 4, the Euroleague format, but also Hapoel Tel Aviv and her plans after winning the Eurocup. In detail, he spoke to the EEC Web Radio:

As to whether he was pleased with the conquest of Fenerbahce: “Obviously it was everyone’s wish that Panathinaikos and Olympiacos go to the final. In a Final-4 everyone has a 25% chance. The peculiarity of the Final-4 is one game and you have to be properly prepared to respond to a game. Fenerbahce has several children that I brought to the team and the Greek partners. Also, there are several players that we “built”. We wanted to “build” something that would be stable and be able to respond to the very difficult and competitive Euroleague. ”

If he talked to Fenerbahce’s people: “Congratulations to Saras and the whole Staff. I talked to all people. They are people I have worked with immediately. Many of them brought them to them and guaranteed for them. Saras did a great job with the whole coaching team and the players, the additions were significant. The Euroleague showed how competitive it was. ”

For Sarounas Yasikevitsius and Vassilis Spanoulis: “It is very beautiful and pride to see people with whom you worked with and have a relationship with them. We have talked very much about basketball with Saras and continue to talk about basketball. The evolution of both is for a big applause. It is a big deal to see at this level people with whom you worked in the light and leadership of Zeljko Obradovic and Panathinaikos for several years. We won together, we lost together, we grew up together, we learned together and all these are things that make you feel very proud. I contacted both and they deserve congratulations. ”

For the Euroleague format with Final-4 as well as next season: “The Final-4 or the series that can be made in the future should be the crown of the season. The teams should not go back to their home championships and play. I still don’t know the new Euroleague format and how many teams will be next year. If we go to 20 groups, we will have to discuss again, in quota, how many teams will qualify for play-offs and play-in. The play-in gave another different dimension to the competitiveness of the Euroleague. If we go to the 20 teams and turn exclusively to play-offs, the teams that will qualify there will be 8 of the 20, which will be well below 50%. It has fallen to the table and the format of the two groups, but to be over 22 teams. If two groups come in, we have to think about the process of this conduct. Obviously the discussions are going on and there are ideas that can be transformed into actions, and we undoubtedly want to make a meeting with the owners of the teams and listening, but also listening to them, as they will give the solution to what they want to do. ”

That Hapoel Tel Aviv is close to agreeing with the Euroleague for a three -year contract: “A team would like to know the duration so he can invest better. I believe that Hapoel Tel Aviv with Effer Yanai and Gili Raanan, the co -owner of 10%, is a team that guarantees financial stability and a plan to invest in basketball in general. We have the guarantees, the dynamic, the dream and the appetite for work. We strive to invest in human resources and players so that we are competitive in all the challenges that will appear. Obviously, we have a big disadvantage with our headquarters, but we also work in it. There are already meetings with Cyprus and I hope it will be one of the solutions offered. We thank them and thank them personally. There are other destinations and we will see how all this can be done. It’s not easy. Hapoel’s team and the owners guarantee stability. It is time for the Euroleague to open and welcome other people who can guarantee a stable situation. ”

For the Euroleague coaches seminar in the summer: “It will take place in early July, July 3-6, this time at the OAKA. We would like to thank the Panathinaikos administration, Mr. Giannakopoulos, for the provision of the OAKA. It’s an upgrade for the seminar, we raise the bar. We also had a stunning collaboration with the Mayor of Glyfada, Mr. George Papanikolaou, and the Vice Mayor, Mr. Pericles Dorkofiki. The help of all this is Nova, all the state and political bodies of our country, who have “embraced” and continue to “embrace” this effort. Last year we had 750 people on the pitch from 57 different countries. Of course, Mr. Giorgos Mavrotas, with the whole staff at the General Secretariat of Sport, helped the most to speed up all the embassies of these states the process to get the guarantees to come. This seminar is invited by both the Euroleague and the union of the players and the union of the referees. We will have a presentation from the referees again to discuss. “