In his great influence he had in his career but also in his rationale for the sport from Zeljko Obradovic reported the Andreas Pistolis In an interview with Mozzart Sport website.
“When Zeljko and Dimitris promoted me to the first Panathinaikos team, I understood the whole situation so just – like an opportunity not everyone has. I felt the confidence they had in me as a great reward for all the work and effort, as something great in my life after working in the small categories of Panathinaikos. Things I learned I would have not learned from them, not even in 20 years. “he says.
In detail his statements to “Mozzart Sport”:
For his tenure on the side of Zeljko Obradovic:
“When I was an assistant, there were up to a year of success for our club because of the Euroleague and other things. Now the experience is completely different because I am the first coach of such a big organization. It is even greater because I won two trophies in less than one and a half years.
A coach can be great, and the titles are what you remember, and it is huge for me to lead the organization regardless of players, to become a champion, to win two trophies, three with the supercup, which we also won. We have shown a lot in a short period of time. I always thought I could become a coach and do this job, it’s different when you prove that you can do it in the right way. ”
Regarding when he realized that it was time to get into the training waters alone:
“It came slowly, over time. The more I worked, I started to feel that I was better equipped for the job, that I could give more. My role, which was excellent and I am grateful to be an assistant at this level of basketball, began to slowly limit me. In fact, I started with the fact that I didn’t even think about working independently, to the point where the idea came to me, I began to ask for more. People’s desire to be independent in my work was one of the most important things, the players started asking me when I would become the first coach … I was becoming more and more realized that I wanted to do this job to see the results. The longer the time went by and the more players asked, the clearer to me that people had confidence in me, and then I realized that this is something I would like to do and that I had to take the next step. ”
If it is a great blessing to start as a coach assistant:
“Absolutely! When Zeljko and Dimitris promoted me to Panathinaikos’ first team, I understood the whole situation so just – like an opportunity not everyone has. I felt the confidence they had in me as a great reward for all the work and effort, as something great in my life after working in the small categories of Panathinaikos. Things I learned I would have not learned from them, not even in 20 years. It’s not just the coaches I have worked with, the people with whom I have been with me. I had a real wealth of knowledge and a situation that no money in this world could pay. It helped me a lot and took me to the next level. As I said, when I was promoted, I thought I was a good coach. I realized that I am not a coach at all, but yes, I can be done if I continue. Working. My appearance in the beginning and then, everything is two different worlds. I was not even intellectual close to understanding basketball and how they saw the game. Experience with them changed my life, I learned a lot of them.
What are the most common traps in the course of a coach’s development?
“When you gain your first experiences and start applying them, you go a little and then you think you know everything. This is the most dangerous moment and there is many stumbling, which stops their further development. When I worked with Zeljko, I quickly realized that I knew nothing about basketball, and this awareness helped me learn even more. It helped me a lot, because if I thought I knew everything, I would probably have been wrong. Throughout my career, the more I was watching basketball, the more I realized that I have more new things to learn. You never know the end of basketball, there is always something new that you can understand and apply to your work. At the same time, I like to say that some people are well -equipped to do this job, but they disappear quickly because they follow shortcuts, they do not show enough patience to become coaches and there are no shortcuts that can accelerate your growth course, to do you good. You have to “bleed” a lot, work and suffer, to reach point A to point B and progress. People who don’t have enough patience just disappear. It is always important to have a mentor, someone who has done this job much more than you and can guide you.
About Milos Teodosic and Vasilis Spanoulis:
“They are completely different characters, but the effect they had on basketball was huge. Different types of players, different characters, but both great. I am happy to have worked with both of them, but also with other players such as Saras or Diamantides … They were different people. Here, I will give you an example … When I saw “The Last Dance”, the story of Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls, the things I heard and saw in this documentary reminded me of Spanoulis. He is him. An incredible competitor, full of confidence and work ethics. He still has a huge ceiling in his training career. It will be his first full season in Euroleague. We will see his full potential there. ”
About European champion Sarounas Yasikevicius:
“Look, Saras could easily have won the title before. But, you know, our job is sometimes unfair and very difficult. There is only one champion and no one can guarantee that you will become one. Returning to the beginning of the interview, many coaches never have the opportunity to work in the Euroleague, be competitive and play for titles. Saras did his job well, he was always “present”, he just needed this extra step to confirm that it was this kind of coach, though I personally knew it was still a different story when winning. I believe that the title won by Sarah puts you in a special team of coaches, transforms you. He has already proven himself through basketball played by his teams, so people believe in him. ” He got what he deserved and that definitely puts him in the elite. “
Source: Sport Fm
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