Pitino: “I want Spanoulis to be our captain”
Rick Pitino, who is still eager to coach Greece during the Olympic qualification tournament in 2021, has revealed his desire for Vassilis Spanoulis to be the captain of the team.
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Following the suspension of the EuroLeague regular season, Pitino moved back to the US and penned a contract with Iona of the NCAA, consequently putting an end to his second stint as Panathinaikos head coach. As a result of the Olympic Games being postponed to 2021, many expected Pitino to step away from his promise of coaching Greece at the qualification tournament, but he confirmed that he still wants to be at the helm next year when speaking to Gazzetta.
“If I’m going to be the national team coach, I will come over in July for a two-day training camp, bringing the guys together and making it a social event,” stated Pitino. “In order for Greece to make the Olympics, especially given that the qualifying tournament is going to be played in Canada, we have to rely on intelligence and our basketball acumen. Guys with experience like Giorgos Printezis, Kostas Papanikolaou, Ioannis Papapetrou, Nick Calathes and our captain, Vassilis Spanoulis, must be relied on. Outside of Thanasis, we won’t have seven or eight NBA players like possibly Turkey and Canada. We don’t have young players, though, and that needs to be developed.”
Pitino subsequently revealed more concerning his desire for Spanoulis to be a part of his team: “I love basketball junkies, guys who eat, drink and sleep the game, those who are willing to put in the work to be great. And that’s Spanoulis. He loves the game, loves working for the game, has great passion and heart for the game. I’m a big fan and I want him to be the captain of the team, even if he’s not 100%. I want him to play, but I want him to lead the team. If we’re lucky enough to qualify for the Olympics, what an unbelievable way for him to go out. His career is already tremendous, but what a great way to go out as captain of the team at the Olympics.”
Spanoulis, 37, did not feature at the 2019 FIBA World Cup. The legendary Olympiacos guard has won the EuroLeague a grand total of three times during his hugely successful career.
Furthermore, the 67-year-old touched upon the current situation at Panathinaikos, with the club rumoured to be in the process of cancelling Calathes’ contract as a result of a lack of funds: “Nick and I text regularly, along with the other players. It’s a very difficult situation for Dimitris Giannakopoulos, as do the Olympiacos guys. In the NBA, you can play without fans as the broadcasting contract is so large, but that isn’t the case in the EuroLeague. Owners in the EuroLeague lose millions of dollars, and there’s no business alive which wants to do that. It’s tough to have a great organisation if you can’t have fans at the stadium. The situation different for Real Madrid, Barcelona, CSKA Moscow and Bayern Munich, because their football clubs earn so much money. It is difficult for Dimitris to keep Panathinaikos afloat without fans. I don’t know what he will do, but I do not think that he will leave. He will probably give more focus to the other managers while he focuses on his companies which make money. He will always be a part of Panathinaikos, I don’t think that he ever wants to let that go. Nick? I only hear the rumours like you do.”
