ALEKSANDAR TRIFUNOVIC,
Head Coach

Coach, tell us about your team's roster for the next Euroleague season, what changes you made and what improvements you expect to gain from those decisions?
"I think that Panionios for the first time in the recent years kept 5 or 6 guys from the previous season. Those guys are the ones who earned the Euroleague ticket and now they are willing to give a bigger effort for the season in front of us. We are following what our tight budget dictates to us, and we could not add new players like other Euroleague teams did this summer. Those changes are something we needed anyway. We are still in the process of building a team, maybe with one more change in the roster. Now we are doing as good as we hoped at this moment, and the games in front of us are gonna show us. Now our big goal is to play the Euroleague as we finished third in Greece after the, let's say, untouchable Panathinaikos and Olympiacos, and we will be challenged to play against all the good teams and see what we can do."
How much can you learn from the preseason about your team? What signs do you look for now that will help when the Euroleague starts?
"We can get a lot from the preseason, generally. The problematic thing for us is that we don't have such a huge roster, with 13 or 14 names. I know that a lot of teams can say that, but the national obligations are hurting us and our rhythm of practice. I am not the kind of guy who will cry for that, but we will try to find a solution so we can practice as well as we can and give space to those guys when they come back."
Now that all the other teams have mostly completed their rosters, how does the competition in the Euroleague this season look like to you?
"I think it will be a really impressive competition this year. I think that at least there will be 14 teams with Final Four aspirations. That fact says it all."
What are your goals going into the new Euroleague season?
"It's gonna be great if we make it to the Top 16. But for now it's what I am saying: our goal is to play, to see how much we can play and compete. I have experience from Lietuvos Rytas last season and I am trying to guide myself through that experience. From the hard work and a good atmosphere we might arrive where nobody expects us."