Tough road ahead as Bartzokas looks to rebuild Olympiacos
Fresh off his appointment Georgios Bartzokas has a big task ahead of him in order to turn things around at a free-falling Olympiacos.
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Georgios Bartzokas made a difficult second debut as Olympiacos head coach on Tuesday night as the Erythrolefki fumbled a lead late against ALBA Berlin to eventually lose 93-86 at the Peace and Friendship Stadium in Piraeus.
It’s a very different club than the one Bartzokas left behind in 2014. Having guided the club to a second straight EuroLeague title in 2013, Bartzokas was dismissed nearly a year later after Olympiacos missed out on a return to the Final Four.
Trips to the Final Four are a distant memory in Piraeus after the club missed out on the playoffs last season, and if things don’t change soon in the port city that trend might repeat itself this campaign. Olympiacos sit five games out of a playoff spot following Tuesday’s loss as the Erythrolefki own a dismal 7-12 record on the continent -- a byproduct of a rocky 12 months in Piraeus.
Bartzokas’ arrival could be seen as a move to stabilize things at the club as a trusted hand returns to steer the club back to success on the European scene. With his proven track record, there is no doubting that Bartzokas is capable of getting the job done -- something Olympiacos desperately need following the short-lived tenures handed out to David Blatt and Kestutis Kemzura in the past 18 months.
The hole Olympiacos find themselves in might already be irreversible, however, meaning that a lot of the work Bartzokas needs to get done might not have the impact on the club’s fortunes until next season.
One of the major targets for Bartzokas will be to keep the club’s best player, Nikola Milutinov, in Piraeus for at least the foreseeable future. Having flirted with the prospect of leaving for the NBA, Milutinov is nearing the end of his contract in Piraeus and with plenty of suitors across Europe, the Serbian big man might not need to cross the Atlantic in order to be plucked away from Olympiacos.
Having already managed to extend Milutinov’s contract twice over the years, Bartzokas will need to be the cog that leads to the Serbian re-signing in Piraeus for a third time in order to leave Olympiacos with any chance of competing in Europe next season. Perhaps the major indicator in the Milutinov sweepstakes will be if the Serbian international believes Olympiacos can be competitive once again based on how Bartzokas stabilizes the team in Europe this season,
While imports from the United States have come and gone in recent seasons, the core of the team remains undoubtedly Greek with veterans Vassilis Spanoulis and Georgios Printezis still playing key roles in the squad. One of Bartzokas’ key plans will be to build around the Greek core, which also features Kostas Papanikolaou, Antonis Koniaris, Vassilis Charalampopoulos, and perhaps soon Giannoulis Larentzakis.
Olympiacos’ reliance on a Greek core has decreased in the past 18 months following Ioannis Papapetrou’s move to archrivals Panathinaikos ahead of last season and the mass exodus of Greek talent like Vangelis Mantzaris, Dimitris Agravanis, and Georgios Bogris last July.
Bartzokas has a tough road ahead as he looks to steer Olympiacos back to the EuroLeague summit, but the 54-year-old has the track record to get the job done -- even if it seems the odds are stacked against him.
