By George Adamopoulos / gadamopoulos@eurohoops.net
The head coach of Panathinaikos Aktor, Ergin Ataman, went into several topics in an interview with Eurohoops. From offseason roster adjustments and his philosophy to his view on his connection to incidents marking Greece’s Stoiximan GBL Finals 2025.
“In the first year, everything was fine. When I came here against Olympiacos, everything was also for me was very fair,” the 59-year-old play-caller described his position in the Greek rivalry during the 2023-24 season.
“After that, something changed against me,” he continued, referring to the Reds falling shy of the EuroLeague championship heading to the Greek League Finals.
Furthermore, Ataman recalled coaching Anadolu Efes against Turkish rivals.
“For me, I expected this,” he remembered applying previous experience to the Derby of the Eternal Enemies.
“Even before I joined Panathinaikos, I had a lot of respect for Olympiacos. This is the reality. They played in the Final Four in the last five or six years. They have a great coach. He was one of the best coaches that I liked, [Giorgos] Bartzokas. His coaching is great. Olympiacos also finished the season in first position. But, OK, in the rivalry of the Greek teams, of course, the fans, the atmosphere, creates some high tension,” he told Eurohoops.
“I believe that everything starts from what happened from the approach of the federation, of the referees for the games, and then the tension starts to be higher, and I was in the middle of this tension. I don’t like to be like this, but if you are a coach of Panathinaikos, you must fight with your club, and I fight with my club. I think that Olympiacos didn’t fight for their club, only Panathinaikos, but they started to fight also against me, against my country,” he continued, “These things were strange for me. OK, I also reacted very aggressively to some things I didn’t accept. I didn’t expect this confrontation of the club against me, my country, and I reacted, but now I understand everything. They can make everything. I will be cool to win the Greek League again.”
“We did a great job”
Furthermore, the head coach of the Greens revealed the overall approach in building the squad for the 2025-26 campaign.
“I believe that we did a great job in the transfer season,” he rated summer moves, “We understood some mistakes from last year, in some positions, and we made these transfers, but of course, our main team is the same. The chemistry of the team is the same. All of these new players, I believe they will enjoy joining this winning team.”
With the next EuroLeague Final Four to be played in Athens, at the home of Panathinaikos, Ataman once more rejected any kind of additional stress for his players.
“I believe that this is something interesting for the media,” he said, “For us, it’s the same.”
Other topics included enjoying coaching, strategizing against, and watching superstars as the selector of the senior national team of Turkiye in EuroBasket 2025, the differences between basketball cultures in Greece and Turkiye, the early stage of his son’s, Sarp, coaching career, and recently supporting himself as the best coach of the last decade.