Panathinaikos are on the verge of another rebuild, will it be the right one? / News - Basketnews.com

After firing coach Dejan Radonjic and degrading GM Pedoulakis, Panathinaikos is expected to go through another massive rebuild, which has been quite common in the past few years. But if the Greens want to return to the elite of European basketball, their culture has to improve drastically.

Credit: Vangelis Stolis Credit Vangelis Stolis

When you have been at the top for so long, getting used to a less glittering reality can be extremely difficult. This is something that Panathinaikos Athens, one of the most titled teams in European basketball, has learned very well in recent seasons.

Panathinaikos Athens / Schedule

LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne Panathinaikos Athens82-86 Panathinaikos Athens FC BarcelonaThu18:30

This European season for Panathinaikos has been extremely difficult. The Greek club remains a long way from being a playoff team, and yet another attempt to revolutionize the roster has not brought the desired effects.

Panathinaikos' last appearance in the EuroLeague playoffs was in the 2018-19 season when coach Rick Pitino took over the team as the season progressed after Xavi Pascual was fired.

But the post-Covid seasons have been a disaster for the Greek club, which seems to have entered a negative tunnel of questionable choices and lack of vision. Given the recent turn of events, it is not surprising that there has been yet another running change in the Panathinaikos household.

In January, President Dimitris Giannakopoulos decided to remove Argyris Pedoulakis from the general manager role, transferring him to the youth sector. The volcanic president then decided to give full responsibility to coach Dejan Radonjic on the technical side as well.

But as the results continued to stall and the relationship between Radonjic and the rest of the environment did not take off, a little over a month later, Giannakopoulos decided to release the Montenegrin coach and entrust the bench, at least until the end of the season, to former Lavrio BC coach Christos Serelis.

This was only the latest chapter in a series of upheavals affecting the management of the Greek club since 2020.

Indeed, as some will recall, in the summer of 2020, Giannakopoulos decided to step aside and no longer be personally involved in the club's management, even saying he was willing to sell the club if a proposal of at least 25 million euros came along.

2-pointers this season

50%18,2Points made:18,2Accuracy:49,9%Place in standings:16Record max:28Record min:11Most made 2FGs:Dwayne BaconTeamEuroLeagueStatisticsSchedule

This decision came after a series of tensions with both the Panathinaikos fans and the EuroLeague board. The Greek businessman had sought to leave EuroLeague to join FIBA's Basketball Champions League, given his dissatisfaction with Jordi Bertomeu's management of the EuroLeague.

Since that time, many things have changed. Several key players, including Nick Calathes, left the team. The management lost an extremely important element, such as Manos Papadopoulos, who had worked closely with the Giannakopoulos family for years.

The sports side of the club was left in the hands of former Panathinaikos legends Dimitris Diamantidis and Frangiskos Alvertis. However, the club's new leadership began to show significant problems almost immediately.

Vovoras, the coach chosen to lead the team after Rick Pitino's departure, was fired mid-season because of poor results and was replaced by Oded Kattash. The Israeli coach managed, at least partially, to straighten out the season, and helped Panathinaikos win both the Greek Cup and the championship.

However, despite promising results at home, in the summer of 2021, Kattash did not continue on the bench. The Panathinaikos management chose to focus on Dimitris Priftis, signing him to a three-year contract.

What on paper was supposed to be a multi-year project under Priftis' leadership lasted less than a season. In April 2022, Giannakopoulos, tired of the poor results and ineffective management, decided on another radical change.

Coach Priftis, club legends Diamantidis and Alvertis, and technical director Nikos Pappas were all fired. Within hours, the entire technical side of the club was literally wiped out.

Giannakopoulos decided to give the role of technical director to former coach Pedoulakis. The Panathinaikos owner had become increasingly dissatisfied with the technical management carried on by Diamantidis and Alvertis and had decided to intervene by shaking up the environment and putting himself back at the center of the project.

But as mentioned earlier, Pedoulakis' management was also deemed not up to the mark. The former coach paid the price for a disappointing season by being diverted to the role of youth director.

Therefore, Panathinaikos is in essentially the same position they've experienced over the past two seasons. Coach Serelis is called upon to end the season on a decent note, and then this summer, it will be time for revolution again.

The club's new technical director will be Sani Becirovic, who has been the sports director of Cedevita Olimpija for the past few years. Becirovic knows the Panathinaikos environment well.

During his playing career, the Slovenian won a EuroLeague, two Greek championships, and two Greek Cups with the Greens.

He will be the man called to start the new project of Panathinaikos, which wants to return to the top of European basketball after some very difficult seasons. Becirovic, with Giannakopoulos'acknowledgment, will choose the new coach who will lead the Greens.

Before deciding to go with coach Serelis until the end of the season, Panathinaikos had made an official offer to Gianmarco Pozzecco, the current head coach of the Italian national team.

However, the timing of the offer wasn't the best. Pozzecco didn't want to leave Italy because his wife just gave birth to a daughter, and he wanted to remain close to his family.

The original agreement between Pozzecco and the Italian federation was exclusive, blocking Pozzecco from accepting club offers so that he could fully focus on the national team.

But when Panathinaikos came knocking at Pozzecco's door, Gianni Petrucci, the president of the Italian federation, gave the coach the freedom to decide without creating interferences in the process.

Pozzecco, in the end, decided not to accept Panathinaikos' offer. After this summer's FIBA World Cup, though, it is widely expected that the Italian federation will give the coach the freedom to have a double role, and if Panathinaikos' interest is still there, this time finding an agreement could be much easier.

The expectation is that Panathinaikos wants to recruit a big name this time to return to be competitive in EuroLeague.

There already have been reports about an agreement in place between Panathinaikos and former Real Madrid head coach Pablo Laso. Still, multiple sources have told BasketNews that the Spanish coach hasn't decided on his future yet and wants to take all the time necessary before committing to a new project.

Panathinaikos remains a household name, and to this day, they're still the club with the most EuroLeague titles in the Final Four era. Still, after the events of the past few years, it's almost natural that some coaches could be a little intimated by the idea of taking over that job.

Regardless of who will be the head coach, the roster is going to change, once again, quite substantially. Panathinaikos already made multiple in-season additions this year with the arrival of players like Dwayne Bacon, Matt Thomas, and Dimitris Agravanis.

After a good start, Bacon is showing signs of dissatisfaction, and his continuation isn't so obvious despite having a contract for next season.

With the exception of Paris Lee, few seem to have a guaranteed place for next season as well, and the future of most of the roster will also depend a lot on who will sit on the bench.

Recently, SDNA reported about the interest of Panathinaikos in Crvena Zvezda's guard Luca Vildoza. The player denied that he made any decision about his future, but sources have confirmed to BasketNews that the Greek club is looking with interest at his situation.

Vildoza is also under contract with Crvena Zvezda for next season, but the deal includes an opt-out, another source told BasketNews. In order to return to success, Panathinaikos has to avoid recent mistakes.

There's been way too much turmoil in the last few years, both with the roster and the front office. Too many changes and a lack of continuity and vision have severely limited the team's possibilities.

The case of Andrew Andrews is emblematic. The American player had been one of the main reinforcements last summer and had been signed to a rich two-year contract.

However, from the beginning, it seemed clear that Andrews was not the type of player required by coach Radonjic. The Montenegrin coach soon excluded him from the rotations, especially after the arrival of Bacon.

Only the intervention of ELPA made it possible to resolve the situation between the American player and the Greek club, reaching an economic compromise and allowing Andrews to return to Turkey.

Another example of the disconnection between management and coaching staff relates to Alpha Diallo. In the summer of 2021, Panathinaikos was able to move ahead of the competition and secured the performances of Diallo with a multi-year deal.

The American player was coming from a really good season with Lavrio and was considered a very intriguing prospect. Diallo, though, ended up leaving Panathinaikos less than a month after his arrival, also due to a lack of clarity on his role on coach Priftis' roster.

The player then joined Monaco and quickly became one of the most intriguing two-way players in the EuroLeague. A huge wasted opportunity for Panathinaikos.

If the Greek club wants to return to being one of the strongest teams in Europe, episodes like this must be a warning for the future.

The only way back to success is careful and precise planning. First of all, Panathinaikos will have to be completely on the same page as their next head coach.

Only by finding a coach who fully shares the company's program will the Greens be able to start a new cycle. Ownership will need to be able to protect the coach and give him time to build the chemistry needed to get to the next level.

In recent years, the Panathinaikos management has often not had enough patience and has only made things worse rather than improving them.

This type of culture has to stop now, it's the only way to make things better for the Greens.

The upcoming offseason could become one of the most important in the recent history of this club. The ownership wants to bring back the team amongst the best, but how much are they willing to change in order to do so? That remains the main question.

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