Tomorrow night, Panathinaikos and Olympiacos will tip off the Greek League Finals, a best-of-five series that will determine the fate of Georgios Bartzokas.
Olympiacos suffered a shocking loss to Monaco in the EuroLeague semifinals last week, and immediately questions arose regarding the future of the Greek coach who led the club to a EuroLeague title back in 2013.
Last summer’s acquisitions of Evan Fournier and Sasha Vezenkov were supposed to guarantee a serious title run, but Olympiacos couldn’t withstand the pressure. They had a strong regular season, finishing in first place. They also looked sharp against Real Madrid in the quarterfinals, but the collapse against Monaco wiped all of that away in an instant.
Claim Now According to Basketball Sphere sources, Georgios Bartzokas will part ways with Olympiacos if Panathinaikos wins the Greek League. That would mean failure in the three most important competitions, a line the club’s management is unlikely to cross. Olympiacos also lost the Greek Cup final to Panathinaikos, even though their archrival was dealing with major injury issues at the time. Not to mention last year’s Greek League Finals collapse, when Olympiacos blew a 2-0 series lead.
Taking all of this into account, Bartzokas would be coming off two underwhelming seasons, and a change would be inevitable. While many Olympiacos players hold their coach in high regard, there are others who are not pleased with how he has managed the team. One of them is Tyler Dorsey, who spent the second half of the season out of the rotation. After the EuroLeague Final Four, he had this to say:
“I haven’t played the entire season. The question you asked me, I would ask him (Bartzokas). I don’t know what went wrong with his trust in me or with me as a part of this team. I have a lot of questions myself, honestly.”
Following the Monaco loss, Shaq McKissic also hinted at possible retirement, something that caught Bartzokas by surprise, clearly showing that no detailed talks were held between the two about the future.
If a split does happen between Bartzokas and Olympiacos, one name stands out as a potential successor and that is Xavi Pascual. He has been coaching Zenit for five years and is waiting for the right opportunity to return to the EuroLeague. Several clubs have been linked with the Spanish coach in the past, including Barcelona, but Pascual has always chosen to stay in Russia. This time, things could be different.
Another name to watch is Andrea Trinchieri. The Italian coach was a top candidate for the Olympiacos bench back in 2018, but the job then went to David Blatt. If a call from Piraeus comes this time, it’s something Trinchieri likely wouldn’t refuse, even with an active contract in Zalgiris.
Still, the Greek League Finals are a chance for Bartzokas to save his job and turn things around. If he manages to overcome the odds and beat Panathinaikos despite not having home-court advantage, the season would at least be partially salvaged. Especially considering that their biggest rival also fell short in the EuroLeague semifinals, and when looking strictly at domestic competitions, Olympiacos would actually come out with a stronger campaign, having won the Greek Super Cup at the start of the season.
That could be enough for the Angelopoulos brothers to justify keeping Bartzokas, giving him another summer to make minor roster adjustments and another shot at chasing the EuroLeague crown, one he already captured with the club in 2013.
Along with Zeljko Obradovic, Georgios Bartzokas is the only coach to be named EuroLeague Coach of the Year three times.
