Serelis: “Extremely professional treatment of Tomas, it was a difficult decision to remove him from the Basket League”

Panathinaikos has completed its preparations for tomorrow’s (23.3.) game against Barcelona (8.30 p.m., Novasports 4 and LIVE by Sportish) for the 30th matchday of the EuroLeague, where without Bacon and Ponitka with Christos Serelis they will play the game, the decision , favoring Grigonis over Tomas for the Basket League, and the performance of Lefteris Mandzoukas.

The Greek technician explained in detail:

For the spirit… of the sacrifice for Panathinaikos and the Barcelona game:”That was the first thing we asked for. We came in February and I don’t think we can convince in attack. We had to… make sacrifices and risk our bodies to achieve victories. Each player also had to produce data they hadn’t shown since the beginning of the year, and often over a long period of time. Barcelona are a team with a lot of strength and we have to do our best with a defensive effort.”.

For absences: “We won’t have Ponitka and Bacon in this match.”.
On the selection of Grigonis over Thomas for the Basket League and the American’s reaction: “He is 100% professional. Although he’s only been with Panathinaikos for a short time, it’s like he’s been with the team since the beginning of the year. After my own arrival, he went to great lengths to change the coaching staff.

Unfortunately I was only able to make one change. It was a tough decision and whatever I chose would be unfair! We thought about who is closer to the Greek reality and would help us build the team. I guess I couldn’t help but choose Grigonis. Tomas’ treatment is highly professional and how much he thinks of the team despite his disappointment.”

On the Derrick Williams situation: “He has a very minor injury that he could rest for a few games if we were different. We tried it with PAOK, but it’s not easy as we’ve seen.

We want to win, but the fact that we have no hope of making the playoffs doesn’t leave us indifferent. We played all the games. Resting Williams isn’t easy, nor is Lee, who also has a problem. We want to recharge our batteries and win. So we try to manage it. He’s not comfortable in all games and has played many with self-sacrifice.”

On Manjuka’s performance: “The magic word is consistency. What we expect from every player is that they never feel safe, never feel comfortable in the sense that they have to keep working and claiming things.

We expect him to stabilize his performance and become a constant for the team. We expect the same from other children. I have no complaints from them. They all try. It’s not very easy to win and they take time. We have minimal training and are trying to accommodate them all.”