Panathinaikos
LOCATION Athens, Greece ARENA OAKA [18.500]
BUDGET 33.000.000 [08/09, estimated] ATTENDANCES Euroleague 08/09
.
SITES Official Homepage

EL-WINSEL-LOSSES
74
PACEP/70POSPA/70POSOREB%DREB%EFG%
68,3580,0370,570,2830,6880,562

Overview

Characteristics

Panathinaikos, also known as PAO, is one of Europe’s biggest and most successful ballclubs. The basketball team is owned by brothers Pavlos and Thanassis Giannakopoulos, both pharmaceutical magnates and multimillionaires, who have blessed the club with legendary players over the years. Big names such as Nikos Galis, Dominique Wilkins, Zeljko Rebraca and Dejan Bodiroga – just to name a few – have starred in the green jersey over the last decades, bringing home 29 [including the last 6] Greek championships, 12 [including the last 5] cup titles, 2 European Cup championships, and 3 Euroleague titles, most recently winning it in 08/09. Their supporters are extremely passionate, loud, and considered to be among the most creative in European basketball. Panathinaikos’ fierce rivalry with neighbour Olympiacos is one of the biggest in all of sports.

Headcoach: Zeljko Obradovic [Serbia]
A living legend in European basketball, Obradovic has won seven European Cup championships over the years with four different teams, including three Euroleague titles, as well as a Eurobasket[1997] and a World Championship[1998] in charge as headcoach of the former Yugoslavia. A decent point guard in his playing career, but Obradovic will always be remembered as one of Europe’s best coaches. He joined Panathinaikos in 1999, winning the Greek league in every year but once since, bringing home three European Cup championships and a Euroleague crown. Obradovic puts emphasis on discipline and hard work, but he is not a sovereign as one might think, allowing his assistant Dimitris Itoudis to make decisions on his own as well. Additionally, he has been giving his players a lot of freedom and creativity on the court in the last couple of years.

Depth Chart


POSNAMEM/GGNAMEM/GGNAMEM/GG
PGDIAMANTIDIS22,617 CALATHES16,909 JASIKEVICIUS15,184
SGNICHOLAS27,6010 SPANOULIS24,749 VERGINIS3,401
SFPERPEROGLOU21,4210 TEPIC17,0910
PFFOTSIS24,6910 TSARTSARIS13,096 BOGRIS3,401
CPEKOVIC22,139 BATISTE22,006 SHERMADINI8,079

Contracts/Salaries

Contracts/Salaries*

Name 08/09 09/10 10/11 11/12 12/13
Mike Batiste 1.400.000 1.500.000
Georgios Bogris x x x x
Nick Calathes** 783.000² 783.000 1.281.000³
Dimitris Diamantidis 1.900.000 2.100.000
Antonis Fotsis 1.500.000 1.500.000 1.500.000
Marcus Haislip x x
Sarunas Jasikevicius 3.500.000 x x
Drew Nicholas 1.300.000 1.300.000
Nikola Pekovic*** 1.300.000 1.300.000 1.300.000
Stratos Perperoglou 350.000 450.000 450.000
Giorgi Shermadini*** x x x x
Vassilis Spanoulis 1.800.000
 1.900.000
Milenko Tepic 800.000 800.000 800.000
Kostas Tsartsaris 1.000.000
 1.000.000
Dimitrios Verginis
 425.000
 425.000
 425.000 425.000

option
loaned to another team
loaned from another team

*All salaries in Euros, after taxes. As opposed to the NBA franchises, European ballclubs are not obligated to make contract details official to the public. Most of the clubs give information about contract lengths, but only few make official player salaries. The salaries accumulated here are coming from many different sources. Of course there’s a good chance they are not one hundred percent accurate. However, none of them are our own estimations.

**NBA opt out after every season; NBA buyout: 500.000€

***NBA opt out after every season

²1.100.000$ as of June the 9th 2009

³1.800.000$ as of June the 9th 2009

Statistics


NAMEGM/GP/GR/GA/GPLUS/70MINUS/70DIFF
MIKE BATISTE6 22,016,05,00,5-1,51,7-3,2
GIORGOS BOGRIS1 3,44,01,00,028,526,12,5
NICHOLAS CALATHES9 16,94,32,02,1-0,6-6,86,2
DIMITRIOS DIAMANTIDIS7 22,68,72,63,38,7-10,319,0
ANTONIS FOTSIS10 24,76,75,80,6-1,60,5-2,1
JURICA GOLEMAC5 6,81,80,60,811,04,46,6
SARUNAS JASIKEVICIUS4 15,23,51,32,5-10,96,0-16,8
ANDREW NICHOLAS10 27,610,41,82,1-8,72,4-11,0
NIKOLA PEKOVIC9 22,115,03,90,8-3,01,3-4,3
STRATOS PERPEROGLOU10 21,46,51,71,46,91,45,6
GIORGI SHERMADINI9 8,14,22,10,02,1-6,88,9
VASSILIS SPANOULIS9 24,710,91,74,015,315,4-0,1
MILENKO TEPIC10 17,14,32,61,2-9,2-5,4-3,8
KOSTAS TSARTSARIS6 13,12,72,70,8-13,3-4,0-9,3
DIMITRIOS VERGINIS1 3,43,01,00,028,526,12,5

Playing Style

On-court characteristics

  • four shooters spreading the floor at most times, while centers Nikola Pekovic and Mike Batiste are huge forces inside
  • a team consisting of some very good individual defenders, try to switch on most screens and are not afraid to give up unusual matchups
  • play a rather unstructured game on offense, heavily relying on the high pick and roll, where the star guard-trio of Dimitris Diamantidis, Sarunas Jasikevicius and Vassilis Spanoulis is trusted in to make the right decisions; everything revolves around that play and the opportunities it creates
  • utilise Diamantidis, Pekovic, Batiste and forward Stratos Perperoglou in the lowpost
  • try to make the opposing defense rotate, players are very skilled to make the right passes on the perimeter; they drive and dish sometimes several times on one possession
  • create open looks en masse due to excellent passing, but lack deadly shooters to make the defense pay
  • are always in danger of relying a bit too much on the outside shot

Read more: Panathinaikos Pick and Roll tactics at 2009 Euroleague Final Four in Berlin

Key play

panathinaikos_0809a1
panathinaikos_0809a1

This play contains basically two options: Getting Dimitris Diamantidis into the lowpost position, or playing the high pick and roll with usually Jasikevicius/Spanoulis – Batiste/Pekovic. Everything else is a reaction on how the defense defends that play. PG [Diamantidis] passes entry to SG, then goes around the C’s screen into lowpost position. If the pass is not there, SG and C work the pick and roll, while Diamantidis spreads to the corner. It is almost always a hard roll to the basket by the big man, only rarily a pick and pop. Two shooters SF and PF wait on the weakside.

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