Sani Becirovic provided an in-depth discussion for Meridian Sport, shedding light on Panathinaikos’ journey from despair to the pinnacle of European basketball.
The sports director of the Athens giants revealed his initial doubts about the “Greens” lifting the EuroLeague trophy in their first season.
“To say that I believed we would reach the top in the first year would be a lie. This is the most honest answer from this distance. I admit that I didn’t think we would succeed in the first year, but in two to three years – absolutely. Initially, it was important to create a budget that could compete with other teams. The first step was the agreement with Ergin Ataman and slowly getting to know Ergin, both as a person and as a coach,” said Sani Becirovic, before adding:
“Next, it was crucial to bring in Mathias Lessort, who displayed incredible energy at Partizan. This was extremely important to me. Everything indicated that we had good components to achieve results. Of course, in sports, there are external factors, injuries, one ball can change everything… But when you have the ingredients, and the signings of Kostas Sloukas and Kendrick Nunn certainly were, then the shortcomings are covered. We worked systematically and became better.”
According to Sani Becirovic, signing Ergin Ataman wasn’t as much of a problem.
“With Ataman, it was actually the easiest because there was mutual sympathy. We had two other candidates with whom negotiations didn’t go well. There was no chemistry. In contrast, when we met in Belgrade with President Giannakopoulos and me on one side, and Ergin and his agent Misko Raznatovic on the other, it was love at first sight.
After the meeting, as soon as we got into the car, the president said, ‘He’s the one!’ At the same time, Misko called me and said, ‘This will be an atomic bomb. How it explodes.’ And he told me that I would have the most work.”
However, reaching an agreement with Mathias Lessort was much more challenging.
“It took a long time. At one point, we were on the verge of giving up the deal. But in the end, President Giannakopoulos broke the deadlock by increasing Mathias’s contract. Partizan. His love for the black and white jersey complicated the negotiations.
But when we presented the project to him, along with the whole situation regarding Partizan’s unfortunate elimination by Real in the playoffs, he realized that he would have a quicker chance to play in the EuroLeague Final Four and compete for the title here. Mathias became convinced that it was the right move.”