Kostas Papanikolaou played in the game against Red Star with a back problem, Giorgos Bartzokas revealed at the press conference after the final of the game at SEF. The Olympiakos coach admitted that he is paying attention to the players, especially after Nigel Williams-Goss’ injury, but explained his reasons for the red-and-whites’ possible transfer reinforcements.

In detail what Giorgos Bartzokas said:

“Congratulations to the players and the audience, it was a great atmosphere as always. We finished the double week with two wins. Don’t underestimate victory. We lost here against Baskonia and you saw that they beat Barcelona comfortably afterwards. Anyone can beat anyone. Even in the away game against Maccabi we were up by 15 in the first half and lost Williams-Goss and Peters, we won with a little rotation. We were criticized for not playing well. I don’t know exactly what some of us expect.

We’re talking about the EuroLeague. Anyone who understands basketball knows how difficult every game is. Red Star, you’ve seen how powerful it is. We were up by 15, we had some loose decisions, some bad decisions. They gave us 10 points in three attacks. We have to value every win in this competition, especially now when we are missing a lot of players. I would like to congratulate Yannis Sfeiropoulos. I believe they have their best squad yet and are strong playoff contenders.

Thanks to Kostas Papanikolaou, he had a fantastic game despite an injection in the middle. It hurts. He was really in doubt tonight, he gave it his all and played a key role in the result. I don’t usually talk about individual achievements, but this is more than that: he sacrificed himself for the team.

We will not sign a player under the pressure of public opinion because if we have doubts we will not make a move because it will not work for him or for us. Take a look at the “super reinforcements” that exist. It’s all the teams in the market, half of them certainly because they’re struggling. We don’t think a player can give us anything straight away. Yes, we are in the market and looking at players because the Williams-Goss injury is also important. On the other hand, McKissick is coming on Monday, Milutinov is coming on Monday, Sikma is back and we are plus three players. I repeat, we are in the market and will do something if it really helps us.”

It worries me that we are playing in red. I’ll say it again: we started the World Cup with seven players, which is not an easy process. These players will certainly change over the course of the year, it happens to other teams too. Fenerbahce lost three players and lost three in a row. We decided on a smaller squad. You really have to have more players to be successful, as practice shows. We are in the market, but what is slowly happening? Many foreigners are excluded from the league. That is fatal.

They say that we are missing the simple result, that we are missing the leader. I would like you to suggest to me who is the one who brings these scrolls. Every game is like a playoff game. The chemistry of the teams, the locker room, the calm will lead to a result that is important in the long term. We will work professionally and emotionally, if we can, we will get one or two more and do our best. There has to be trust after what has happened in the last 2-3 years. It is the right of the world to believe that we have done something wrong, but it does not affect us.

We can also make two additions if the players match and have elements that the other players don’t have. It is possible that we will rely on a squad with 10 foreign players. We are speaking to players’ representatives. We want to give our players rest, not challenge them. I didn’t think Vezenkov would leave after an MVP year. The market at number four doesn’t have many good players. We insist on a core, every second-year player improves. Peters and Canaan are better this year. They know things better, that’s why it’s difficult for me to sign a player and he plays well. Only at Olympia Larissa did I bring a player with me and he scored 28 points in the first game. And Shaquille McKissick

Every year is different. We lost the best player in Europe, the ones we brought in are very good. If you assume that they will fly from the beginning of the year, that is not possible.”