May 25, 2012
50 Years interview, Johnny Rogers: "Panathinaikos leaves a mark"
Johnny RogersHaving played on 10 different teams in three countries in Europe, reaching Final Fours a total of four times and having played with or against almost every great Euroleague player of his generation has made Johnny Rogers, currently the general manager at Pamesa Valencia in Spain, an expert on European basketball. One of 100 player nominees as Half-Century Heroes in the ongoing 50 Years of European Club Basketball Competitions celebration this season, Rogers knows quite well about the first event being commemorated on Thursday in Athens, Greece: the 2000 and 2002 titles he and Panathinaikos won together. Before his former coach Zeljko Obradovic and former teammates Fragiskos Alvertis and Dejan Bodiroga were honored in Athens, Euroleague.net talked to Rogers about those title teams and more of his experiences with historical figures in European basketball.

What do you remember most about 2000 and the Panathinaikos title-game win over Maccabi in Thessaloniki?

"In 2000, we started the year with lot of new guys to add to a core group, and we all came in knowing from the first day that our number one goal was the Euroleague title. Apart from Frankie Alvertis, I don't think that any of us had won before, even though many of us had been to Final Fours and even final games: Dejan Bodiroga, Pat Burke, Zeljko Rebraca, Nando Gentile, myself. We really wanted it and we had a great group of guys who got along on and off the court. We'd be meeting after games, having dinners with our wife and girlfriends, always talking about winning the Euroleague, even months before the time came. So when it did, we were wired and ready. We played Efes Pilsen, a dangerous team, and got by them in the semis. Then we had Maccabi left to beat. One thing remember is that we were overwhelming favorites for most people, because they considered us the home team, which is not exactly the case for Panathinaikos in Thessaloniki. There were people there in the stands who weren't exactly our friends. For me, I just remember the experience was not just with the guys on the team, but also the club employees and families. It was so important for everybody from day one. Even though that was the big priority, I remember after winning, in the locker room maybe half hour an hour later, our trainer said 'Enjoy this trophy tonight, but now the most important thing is the Greek League'. We were laughing at him. I didn't understand it then, but later I saw why Panathinaikos has the success it has: the people there are so driven to succeed. They are always hungry. The would say, 'We have to live here all summer, and if we don't win the Greek League, we have to spend a year hearing about it from Olympiacos or AEK or whoever.' That team had guys show up an hour before pracitce to play one-on-one, shooting games. That 2000 team was a lot of fun and very international. We had players from everywhere: German, Israeli, Serbian, Irish, I was playing on a Spanish passport."

Next came the 2002 Euroleague Final Four, which you won on the other finalist's court in Bologna. This time you were underdogs. Did that help?

"Yeah, for us, 2002 was 2000 turned around. Nobody thought of us winning. Just making the Final Four was considered a success. We played the big favorite, Kinder, on their court in the final, and they started the game by dominating, up by 16 points or so, and we could do nothing right. But we slowly chipped away and when we got close, our experience paid off and we kept our compsure down the stretch. What helped us most was our mentality as a winning team. We had guys that just refused to lose. And it did bother us a little not to be considered favorites, even if it was a realistic reading of the situation. I mean, who is going to tell Dejan Bodiroga and Ibrahim Kutluay they are not favorites? Or tell Zeljko Obradovic his team can't win? We had guys like that who heard those things, and without doubt it gave us inspiration."

When Panathinaikos won in 2007, for instance, did it make you proud as a former team member that what you helped start is still going strong?

"Without a doubt. With the Final Four in Athens, I went back and everyone who works there is still there, you can talk to people from five or seven years before. That's not true in a lot of places. Stojan Vrankovic from their first team was there, hanging out like part of the family. A lot of teams talk about family, but the situation in Panathinaikos is really that way, with their fans. When you play there, the experience is so intense, it leaves a permanent mark. Just the passion people there have for our sport does that. Even the ex-players feel part of that team's success."
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Euroleague.net
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