Spanoulis: “When the team is doing so well, it is difficult to keep the players. The new ones shouldn’t be rushed.”

Shortly before the announcement that he would take over the technical management of the Greek national team, Vassilis Spanoulis was made available to the media on the sidelines of the Peristeri bwin Media Day for the 2023/24 season.

The 41-year-old Greek coach spoke about the goals of the team from the western suburbs, the various changes in the squad due to the increased demand for the athletes who competed in Peristeri last year and also referred to individuals Vassilis Xanthopoulos, Nikos Hougaz and Jaylen Hands. .

What Vassilis Spanoulis said in detail:

“First of all, we want health. It’s a new team. No coach wants to change ten players every year, it’s about having a body and building on it so there is continuity. That’s a bit difficult when the team is doing well. And after that.” In a successful year, it is difficult to retain the players who really want to go to the EuroLeague or somewhere where they have greater financial benefit. This fills us with joy and pride because it means that the team has worked well to achieve this. And this honors us and the children who worked to achieve this goal and us as an organization.

From there we built a new team, with slightly different elements than last year. The children internalized our philosophy and our style of play pretty quickly. So far I’m very happy with the effort and reciprocity in the information we give them. We want to play attractive basketball with very good defense and enough surprises. We want a five-on-five job, which is appropriate until we find our partnerships. Every day we learn more and more about each other.

Like last year, we want to fill the stadium, this is very important for the city of Peristeri, not just for the team. It’s very nice to play in a full stadium, it gives us a huge boost. Last year we may not have started with too many people, but in the end we managed to fill the stadium.

Our goal this year is to go one step further in Europe. Last year we were in a difficult group and didn’t manage to qualify from the playoffs to the round of 16. Malaga is certainly one of the favorites of the competition, this year not only in our group. We have built a team that is ready to fight against all teams. In every game our goal is to play good basketball to achieve victory. We work every day to be ready for every game.

I hope it will be a competitive league. First of all, there should be culture, a good atmosphere, the stadiums should be full and there should be good and competitive games that people enjoy.

Xanthopoulos is a very experienced boy and we all know that having him in the team is a luxury. Above all, he is a great character and a family man. He is an excellent professional. Vassilis works very hard even at this age, he is the first to leave the field and the last to leave the field. His love for basketball is really great. I told him that he would eventually become a coach, he thinks coaching.

I said it not only for Hugaz but for many people that we should not be in a hurry to quickly move to big teams. Nikos is a very big chapter both for Panathinaikos and for us who have him now, but also for Greek basketball. I remember when I started basketball, I stayed in Marousi for four years, Diamantidis was in Heraklis for many years, Lazaros the same, Nikos (Zisis) the same, Hatzivrettas started in Heraklis, Dikoudis started in Olympia and to AEK. There is no need to rush to take the next step. The children have to be patient, work, stay in the teams, show work, improve and then go on to the next teams better and better prepared.

Like all children, Nikos (Hugaz) and I work a lot. We believe in him very much. Our goal is, through organizing Peristeri, like all children, to improve his dreams and get where he dreams. The main thing is that he is very hungry for work and spends many hours in the field. This is the most basic thing. No matter what we say: If the child himself doesn’t feel like working, nothing will ever happen.

Jaylen (Hunts) is a super talented kid. His talent is very great, the way he can score is at a very high level. What James needs to learn, as I’ve told him privately, is that he needs to improve his defense, improve his creation, be more consistent, spend more hours on the court and focus on the basketball. These are things you have to work on and commit to in order to get to the next level.”