Βy George Adamopoulos/ info@eurohoops.net

Panathinaikos Athens coach Ergin Ataman expects an even tougher competition against his team in the upcoming EuroLeague season, now that the Greens enter the campaign as the reigning champions.

“Everybody will be more aggressive against us,” Ataman told Eurohoops. “Especially on the road. They will try to beat us. This happened in the past but now it’s different. Of course, we will be more tough. In every game, people will want us not only to just win but give a show Win by 20. It’s not easy. Sometimes you may win games that seem easy in the last minute or second. It won’t be easy.”

Another reason that makes the upcoming season more difficult for Panathinaikos compared to last season, is the fact that the team set the highest of standards to now follow.

“Honestly, mentally, last season was easier,” Ataman admitted. “Whatever we did, even we made the Play-In it would be good for everybody. It’s a big step to finish 8th or 9th after finishing 17th. After winning the EuroLeague and the Greek League titles everybody talks about Panathinaikos being the favorite. But other teams made big transfers and built good teams. Every game is like a Final in the EuroLeague.”

“Sometimes when I sleep, I think about this,” Ataman added. “Last year I was more relaxed. This year will be filled with big adrenaline for all of us, starting from the first game.”

Panathinaikos didn’t need to make many additions compared to last season. The club made few quality additions such as Lorenzo Brown, Cedi Osman and Omer Yurtseven.

Ataman explained why his team signed Osman and the reasons it wasn’t just a “luxury move.”

“If it was another player that didn’t have any European experience with his career, we wouldn’t make this transfer,” Ataman said. “But Cedi has a great career in the NBA and he’s almost 29 years old. He’s not 32, 33 or 34 years old who came to Europe to finish his career. Cedi came to Europe because he didn’t find what he wanted in the NBA. He decided to play in the EuroLeague because he saw and understood – like many NBA players finally understand now – that EuroLeague is a competition of NBA level. Sometimes higher than the level of the regular season in the NBA.”