Panagiotis Giannakis’ confession: ‘Some didn’t want me in the national team, Nick and I are different characters’

Panagiotis Giannakis gave OneMan a delightful interview about his amazing career. The legend of Greek sport looked back on his career, he mentioned Aris, the national team, Nikos Galis, Olympiakos but also Vassilis Spanoulis.

He took charge of the national team for the first time: “It was a difficult time for Greek basketball back then. Very few were key players in their team, Angelos Koronios in Peristeri, Giorgos Sigalas in Olympiakos, Nikos Oikonomou in Panathinaikos. Francis Albertis was Bodiroga’s replacement, Fasoulas had not come to the tournament, only Fanis had come.

A renewal started, I think we did quite well in the end, although there was an unfair criticism of the team, which I think was because I was the manager, which a lot of people didn’t like. There were some who would have wanted that position if they were me and they took the opportunity to beat me. That seems normal to me, but 4th place in Europe and in the world a year later is not a failure.”

For Nikos Galis: “With Nick we were different characters, that’s true. But there was a mutual respect. When we entered the field, we forgot everything that bothered us before or after the game. It’s normal when you play with intensity, with competition and try to do your best that there are things that you don’t see the same way as the others. But the main thing for both of us was to end up beating the opponent. We don’t have to agree on everything to make it work together. The The main thing is to appreciate the value of everyone and that everyone does their best to make the impossible possible.”

On the decision to join Olympiakos as a coach: “I regret nothing. It was made the way anyone who loves basketball would do. I informed Giorgos Kolokythas, I first asked if I could speak to Olympiakos and we found her. That’s how this transition happened, no one told me it wasn’t supposed to happen. It was natural to go to a team that can perform at the highest level and do things on a European level.

It’s not nice when behaviors are extreme. Because I’ve been all over the world, I dream of the time when the attitudes in our country will not be so extreme for things like sports. I hope that one day we will be able to play the games with packed stadiums where everyone supports their team in the way that sports fans do.

Olympiacos makes great progress every year and it shows. He’s supported and the team is getting better every year, it’s very nice to see and they all deserve congratulations.”

Read the full OneMan interview here