Olympiacos roster moves and changes: What to expect this summer? / News - Basketnews.com

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Before concluding his last press conference at the EuroLeague Final Four in Belgrade, Giorgos Bartzokas was asked a question about the possible changes in Olympiacos Piraeus' roster ahead of next season.

2-pointers this season

58%19,4Points made:19,4Accuracy:58,1%Place in standings:9Record max:26Record min:11Most made 2FGs:Aleksandr VezenkovTeamEuroLeagueStatisticsSchedule

"We have a good core of players. Giorgos (Printezis) is 37 years old, but overall we're good. We'll just need to add 2-3 players," the 2022 EuroLeague Coach of the Year said.

Upon leaving the panel, Bartzokas took the time for one last thought.

"Well, why am I saying all this since I don't have a contract for next year?" he briefly soliloquized with a smile.

The truth is that Bartzokas' future seems to be inevitably linked to his favorite team for the foreseeable future. Right now, the main concern of the 2013 EuroLeague champion should be how to bring the Greek League trophy back to Piraeus after a six-year itch.

The only development that could possibly jeopardize the cooperation between the two sides would be if Panathinaikos OPAP Athens left Bartzokas and Olympiacos empty-handed, as in 2013 and 2014. Although the Reds have won all derbies but one this season, the final taste is the one that matters the most.

But with Olympiacos being the absolute favorite for the title, it seems more than certain that Panagiotis and Giorgos Angelopoulos, the club's owners and presidents, will re-affirm their trust and support to the coach who restored part of the team's past glory.

At another point during the season, Bartzokas called the current Olympiacos roster "one of the best" he has ever had on any of his teams.

"That's not only because of the talent but also because of the care that players have shown to each other. We had to be patient as the club was going through a transition period. We needed to bring in some young guys who could fit Olympiacos' mentality, players ready to fight and play for the team and the fans," he explained.

In Belgrade, the Greek powerhouse couldn't reach the final, largely because Vasilije Micic decided against it. The Serbian guard, who was voted back-to-back Final Four MVP, allowed Anadolu Efes to claim their second straight trophy by hitting the game-winning three-pointer in the semifinal game.

It was a shocking finale to an otherwise wonderful EuroLeague campaign for Olympiacos.

However, like all major clubs across the continent, the three-time EuroLeague champs have already started planning their summer moves to increase their chances of reaching another Final Four - even if everyone's initial goal this season was to make playoffs.

As Bartzokas said, the majority of the players making up the 2021-22 roster will return for another run in 2022-23 - and more experienced this time around. The Greek play-caller has repeatedly stated that experience cannot be bought, only acquired.

That's particularly relevant considering that the Reds had only three players (Giorgos Printezis, Kostas Papanikolaou, Kostas Sloukas) with several Final Fours and EuroLeague titles under their belt.

Now, the bar has been set higher compared to previous years. Bringing Bartzokas and the main core of players back is essential for the team to have some continuity, as the next roster is expected to include at least 8 of the 13 currently existing players.

Kostas Sloukas, Kostas Papanikolaou, Sasha Vezenkov, Giannoulis Larentzakis, Michalis Lountzis, Shaquielle McKissic, Thomas Walkup and Mustapha Fall have a contract for next year.

This leaves the roster with three loose ends. Team captain Giorgos Printezis will become a free agent, and although Bartzokas has said that it's totally up to him to decide his future, it seems that this is the last we've seen from him on a basketball court.

Tyler Dorsey chose to sign for one year last summer and will also be a free agent. The Greek-American guard, who's had a campaign with highs and lows, is obviously a player that the Reds would be eager to keep.

However, his Greek (EU) passport makes him very attractive to many teams across the continent. However, Dorsey's main focus was - and still is - the NBA market.

In case both Printezis and Dorsey decide to leave, Olympiacos will have to resolve an important issue - their Greek core of players will get significantly weaker. This means that at least one EuroLeague-level player must be signed to fill in the gap.

For the time being, the only name that partly fits the description and has been rumored as one of the Reds' goals is Naz Mitrou-Long. However, it's not certain that the Canadian-born guard will get his Greek passport in order to be considered a local player in domestic competition.

Had the process taken place two or three years ago, when Olympiacos were competing only in the EuroLeague, the team wouldn't possibly have bothered to scan the market for a Greek player.

In any case, Bartzokas wants Dorsey to stay, but neither he nor the club is willing to wait on him indefinitely. The team's coach was the one who gave the green light after David Lighty's case didn't go any further last summer.

Bartzokas thinks that Dorsey can play even better in his second year because his motivation to win the EuroLeague will be stronger.

Another player that Olympiacos have reportedly taken an interest in is Marius Grigonis. The Reds had tried to get the Lithuanian guard's signature last year before Grigonis decided to move to CSKA Moscow. Hence, no one will be surprised if Olympiacos go after him in case Dorsey leaves.

On the other hand, Grigonis signed a three-year deal with CSKA in 2021, worth four million euros. No matter how obscure the future of the Russian powerhouse may be, and irrespective of the players' intentions, it's still hard for Grigonis to become a free agent- let alone for a team to come along and buy him out of his contract.

The most intriguing of all the puzzles that Bartzokas and the management will have to solve is how to strengthen the frontline. Vezenkov and Fall will be there, but very little is known about the future of Hassan Martin, Livio Jean-Charles, and Quincy Acy.

In February 2021, Martin underwent meniscal surgery and did not play for the remainder of the season. While in the US, he visited his own doctors, who found a different problem but on the same knee. He then underwent another surgery in which the cartilage of the knee was arthroscopically cleaned.

Olympiacos' management was informed of the operation only some weeks after it had taken place. Although everyone in the club acknowledged that the method that Martin had chosen to cure his problem was the appropriate one, by no means did they approve of the player not communicating his intentions to them.

This season, Martin - the team's starting center last year- was reduced to a rather secondary role. However, he improved a lot in the second part of the season, especially when Sloukas was on the court.

The similarity that Martin's case bears to the one of Livio Jean-Charles lies in the fact that both have been playing less this season. When the Frenchman was recently asked about his role on the team, he admitted to feeling disappointed.

"My personal situation is a dilemma - be part of a big team and play less, or have more responsibilities in a less prestigious club? It's always hard to decide. In the end, us making the Final Four has vindicated my decision, but there's also a little bit of disappointment," Jean-Charles told French website BeBasket.

Talking about his future goals, the former ASVEL forward said he hopes to be able to "return to the Final Four" with a team that will assign him "another role."

Judging by that take, it is highly unlikely that Livio will sign another contract with Olympiacos.

Quincy Acy has been one of the squad's most powerful and vocal presences in the local room, regardless of how little he has played throughout the season. As the former Maccabi Tel Aviv forward told BasketNews before the Final Four, he's feeling well and capable of playing more minutes, something that has happened only in the Greek League.

The fact that the player has accepted his role and Bartzokas respects Acy's positive energy doesn't necessarily mean that the two will be working together for another year.

Olympiacos will go for two frontline players to replace Printezis and Jean-Charles. The replacements will be three if Martin is also to leave Piraeus. Vezenkov had a career-best season with good percentages (66% in 2-point shooting, 37.2% in 3-point shooting), but Olympiacos know that they need one more big man who can pose a constant threat from the perimeter.

Even if they do sign Panagiotis Kalaitzakis, he will serve as a reserve guard-forward, complementing Papanikolaou and Vezenkov at the two forward positions. In any case, with Printezis and Dorsey possibly out, Olympiacos will be after at least two Greek players to fill in the vacant roster spots.

Michalis Lountzis will keep getting minutes (mostly) in local games, while the future of guards Alexandros Nikolaidis and Iosif Koloveros, as well as of center Vassilis Christidis, is yet to be determined.

All three were out on loan this season, but only Koloveros had an important contribution to his team. The 19-year-old averaged 9.7 points, 2.6 rebounds, and 2.4 assists with Ionikos in the Greek League.

As the Angelopoulos brothers have said, the budget is expected to increase a bit in view of the 2022-23 campaign. Since none of Olympiacos' small forwards (Shaquielle McKissic, Kostas Papanikolaou) can cover the power forward position, the Reds will probably need to invest a sizeable sum in the player who will complement Vezenkov.

However, one shouldn't expect the club to proceed with signings that could drastically change the team's status or goals.

For instance, Nikola Milutinov's ties with Olympiacos and Greece are strong and well-known. The CSKA Moscow center would not say no to a possible return, but Olympiacos already have Mustapha Fall as their starting center, and moreover, Milutinov's salary is around €2.5 million a year. The Serb would have to lower his demands to a huge extent for such a scenario to work.

It's also important to note that Olympiacos have included a team option in most players' contracts. This means that the club has reserved the right to terminate the agreement prematurely and unilaterally with almost every player currently on the roster- at a predetermined rate.

The exceptions are two - Sasha Vezenkov, who has an NBA out clause valid for this and next (2023) summer, and Moustapha Fall, who signed a contract extension (until 2025) midway through the season. Therefore, Olympiacos can opt out of the deal only in the summer of 2024.

Olympiacos Piraeus

Position Player Status PG Kostas Sloukas Signed until 2023 PG Thomas Walkup Signed until 2024 PG Alexandros Nikolaidis Signed until 2025 PG Iosif Koloveros Signed until 2025 SG Giannoulis Larentzakis Signed until 2024 PG/SG Michalis Lountzis Signed until 2024 SG/SF Shaquille McKissic Signed until 2023 SF Kostas Papanikolaou Signeduntil 2023 PF Sasha Vezenkov Signed until 2024 C Vassilis Christidis Signed until 2025 C Moustapha Fall Signed until 2025 Coach Georgios Bartzokas Expired contract Tyler Dorsey, Georgios Printezis, Livio Jean-Charles, Hassan Martin, Quincy Acy, Georgios Bartzokas Rumored to leave Georgios Printezis (retirement), Tyler Dorsey Interested Georgios Bartzokas, Panagiotis Kalaitzakis (story), Marius Grigonis

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