Tsartsaris: “Spanoulis has basketball in his blood, he has humor and ambitions”

Kostas Tsartsaris, who is responsible for the development program of the EEC, was hosted on the federation’s web radio, where he of course mentioned Greece’s hosting of the pre-Olympic tournament for the coach of our representative group, Vassilis, Spanoulis and not only.

We remind you that Greece will host at the Peace and Friendship Stadium one of the four pre-Olympic tournaments that will award the last four tickets to the 2024 Paris Olympics.

What Tsartsaris said in detail on EEC Web Radio:

For Greece to host the pre-Olympic tournament: “Firstly, it is a very difficult tournament. A few days, excellent teams, but also unknown teams from different basketball schools. You don’t have time to think about or prepare for the next game, so the work needs to be done in advance. What we have to look at is ourselves. First of all, it’s about which players will come, what the squad will look like and, based on this, the coaching team and Vassilis Spanoulis should develop a plan on how we deal with the teams. What is happening in Greece is very positive, it is always good to play in your country. That’s an advantage, but it’s not a guarantee that you’ll get the ticket.”

For the national team squad at the Pre-Olympic Games: “The period in which it takes place is not easy. Not only is the NBA coming to an end very slowly and we don’t know how far Giannis will go, but the European Championships are ending somewhere there. A lot can still happen until then. It’s good to just wait and hope that the kids are healthy and willing to participate at first.”

For the coach of the men’s national team, Vassilis Spanoulis: “Vasilis has basketball in his blood. It may sound cliché, but it’s the truth. I haven’t heard him talk about anything other than basketball. He is a man who understands the sport very well, he is in the mood, he has ambitions and he wants to succeed. This quality of Vassilis took him so high that he was very ambitious and desperate to break his limits. And that’s what he will do as a coach.”

On the lost World Cup final in 2006: “To be fair, this generation of Spaniards was one of the best to ever play in European and world stadiums. Of course, the fact that we beat the undisputed favorites USA, that Pau Gasol didn’t play and that we were expecting Argentina in the final instead of Spain also played a role. What I mean by that is that at least we could have been more combative on the field and in the end we wouldn’t have had the difference that we had.”

For this year’s EuroLeague: “It’s very charming what the decision-makers have come up with. Every week we see impressive games that keep our interest intact until the end. This system also gives an “Aloti” and… Sorry, if you lose outside the schedule, you have time to fix the problem. We’re talking more about a “marathon” and not a simple tournament.”

Regarding the fact that Panathinaikos lost decisive games in the final: “The main problem is that it is a new team with a lot of new players and they need to get a little familiar with their role to understand what needs to be done in the final phase. They’ll find that along the way. There are players with personality in this year’s Panathinaikos for whom such phases can end, it just takes a little patience. Like we always say, everything goes in and everything comes out, and that’s the beauty of basketball.”