The new Panathinaikos will have a better chance this season
The new Panathinaikos will have a better chance this season
At the beginning of the last Euroleague season, I wrote some articles criticizing the trades made by Panathinaikos. They had at that moment a lot of old players (Gist, Langford, Lasme, Lojeski) and the roster seems a pathetic one, full with a lot of mediocre players. Like every year, the Greek club was battling to reach a spot in the Final 4, but with those players it was impossible.
Now the good old days can come for the Greens since they changed completely the face of their roster. Instead of all those useless old guys, they just signed some Americans who have the level to bring back the hope for the Greek powerhouse. Tyrese Rice, former Basketball Champions League MVP, Eurocup and Euroleague Finals MVP together with Jimmer Fredette, the Chinese league’s main scorer will give Panathinaikos experience and boost. These guards and Nick Calathes will be one of the scariest backcourts in Europe, pushing hard the PAO’s offense.
NBA veteran Wesley Johnson can be a source of inspiration the youngsters signed by the Greens: Jacob Willey, Ben Bentil and Rion Brown, who have played in different continental competitions in Europe.
The only American kept from the last season is the multitask scoring machine, DeShaun Thomas. The Greek core of the team (Papagiannis, Papapetrou, Pappas, Vougioukas, Mitoglou) will stay with Panathinaikos for the next season too and I think this will help a lot because the chemistry can reach a higher level.
The team looks fresher than last year with many weapons on both sides of the court. In Euroleague, they will practice for sure a “run and gun” philosophy, temperate only in some key moments of the game. In this formula, maybe adding one more powerful center, PAO can reach easily the Euroleague playoffs and why not to try entering the Final 4.
Photo credit: championsleague.basketball
Gratian Cormos
The new Panathinaikos will have a better chance this season
