By Lefteris Moutis/ moutis@eurohoops.net
Olympiacos‘ coach Giorgos Bartzokas named Erman Kunter as the best Turkish coach a day before their battle in SEF but the Besiktas’ coach didn’t want to make any comment on that. His focus while talking to Eurohoops.net was his team and his big goal this season: to win his first championship in his coaching career.
“I thank him for saying that but we are playing in the Euroleague and we must play always in high level” said Kunter about Besiktas game in Piraeus against Olympiacos adding that “we have to work every day and there is no time. We try to get better game by game and practice by practice. The new top 16 has more games and the rhythm is crazy. We need (laughing) some pills and a little therapy to get over… It’s too difficult the new system for the coaches because we don’t have the time to work and usually we have only one good practice during the week. But I think it’s very good for the players and the fans”.
Without been asked the Turkish coach revealed that the first thing he has in his mind is the goal of winning his first title in his country as coach: “Honestly, in the top 16 there are high level teams but our goal is to win the championship in Turkey”.
How hard will be the repeat against the powerhouses of Efes and Fenerbahce? “We have 5-6 times less budget than Efes and Fenerbahce but you never know. Nobody expected from Olympiacos to win the Euroleague! We have this as an example”.
However, Kunter doesn’t feel that everything is lost for his team in the Euroleague. There are more twelve games in the competition and he thinks that “we can be competitive. There are in our group a lot of unexpected results, like Siena’s win in Istanbul and I think we still have the chance to qualify. I think that even with six wins will have someone the chance to qualify. Like us there are two more teams without win, Fenerbahce and Maccabi. Our next game against Caja Laboral it’s too important for us”.