Zeljko Obradovic, 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?
“Like every year we have changed some players. This year we have six new players. Two of them have played for us in previous seasons. One is Sakota and another is Fotsis, so they know everything about our philosophy, winning and what it means to play for Panathinaikos. We have a very young kid from PAOK, Verginis, who we believe has a future and one day will be an important player in Panathinaikos. At shooting guard there is Drew Nicholas, who has experience playing in Europe first with Benetton and last season with Efes Pilsen. I must say that I am very satisfied with the way we work together. He is a very serious person. He likes basketball and he wants to learn more about how we play and his role. Finally we have two players that were with Partizan Belgrade last season. One is Dusan Kecman, a player with great experience, a calm player who always knows his role. And then there is Pekovic who last year was the surprise of the Euroleague. A player that we believe will improve and could be one of the best in his position in the Euroleague. I am very satisfied with all my players and now the only problem is to work and to put everything together.”
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?
“You know how it is. You start to work and everything looks like it is perfect. Then you start some friendly games you understand that you must work more and more. Friendly games exist I believe for this reason. We are maybe now at 40 or 50% or our potential. So we have until our first official game several more friendly games and many practices to be ready for the start of the season.”
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 believe that every year it’s a strong competition, a very good competition with many teams that want to be in the Final Four. Of the 24 teams, there are at least 16 teams that want to reach the Final Four. That means it’s a very good competition at a high level.”
What are your goals going into the new Euroleague season?
“Our target will be the same as last season. First of all to play good basketball and to bring many fans to our gym because last season we led the Euroleague in attendance.”