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Wickside: A weekly column by Ahrela Weisberg
Oded Katash: "I heard screams and woke up. I went out on the balcony, and the fans sang in my honor."
"I would be happy to add Jacoben Brown or Tamir Blatt to one evening."
"Since I arrived, I have not spoken to Inacopoulos."
"We gained confidence, and the corona stopped us. Yes, I'm afraid."
"I understand that I will not be able to work for the team and Panathinaikos at the same time."
Special: Coach Pau in an interview ahead of the meeting with Maccabi Tel Aviv
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Oded Katash
Panathinaikos
Ahrela Weisberg
Wednesday, March 10, 2021, 1:30 p.m.
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The moment when Oded Katash finally felt his return to Panathinaikos, and realized that the magic from 2000 did not expire in 2021, took place on Saturday morning, away from the field and the eyes of the cameras.
"It was a month ago," he says in an interview with Walla!
Sports from his apartment in Athens.
"We beat Olympiacos outside in a derby, and the excitement was great. The next day I woke up to a strange noise of shouts. I went out on the porch, and saw down ten Pau fans, who came, called my name and sang me songs. I don't even know how they found out where I live."
Two months ago the bomb was dropped here.
Katsch, the only Israeli to win the European Cup with a foreign team, returned to it.
He left the country as the local coach who defeated Maccabi Tel Aviv more than anyone else, and tomorrow (Thursday, 21:00) will face her for the first time on the lines in the Euroleague.
But the main event around the game, he admits, will not touch basketball at all: his wife Meital and their daughters flew with the Yellows today and will finally join him in the Greek capital.
"It's very beautiful on the part of Maccabi," says Katsch.
"I understand the picantry, but I have to admit that I do not experience this game as something else, and do not feel anything special," claims Panathinaikos coach.
"I do not have any personalities around this matter. It could be that I have become a robot ... The crazy schedule and the intensity dull your senses".
- You have often defeated Maccabi with Hapoel Jerusalem in recent years. Who would you add to your team for this game, Lou Could you just?
"We lack a coordinator, so you're Jacoben Brown.
Or maybe Tamir Blatt.
Can I have both? "
More on Walla!
"Oded Katash is the connecting thread between Panathinaikos and Maccabi Tel Aviv"
To the full article
"Only someone who has experienced a real derby can get so excited."
Diamantidis and Katsch after the victory in Piraeus (Photo: Official website, Panathinaikos)
Katsch (46) testifies that Athens has changed.
"Because of the Corona, and also because now I'm a coach and not an actor. I do not walk the streets, because there is not so much time. I prepare the training, work on game plans, and in the evening cook dinner for me, Liorgos Klaitsis and Lior Lubin," he smiles.
"That's pretty much what I do."
The Israeli coach is the only one on the team who has been vaccinated against Corona.
"I managed to get the first dose in Israel, before I left, and the second dose was given to me here, in Athens. I went through a committee, and I had to get a special permit from the Greek Minister of Health. Our Minister of Sports, Hili Trooper, helped me a lot in this matter."
- And what about the others?
"Greece is still not so much in the vaccine segment. They say they will start vaccinating the general population towards the summer. I got the best example when I was in a bubble in Poland with the team last month. 95 percent of our delegation was vaccinated, and all the other teams looked at us in shock."
More on Walla!
"Oded Katash is the connecting thread between Panathinaikos and Maccabi Tel Aviv"
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He will also miss the big star against Maccabi Tel Aviv.
Katsch with Nadovich (Photo: Official Website, Panathinaikos)
Katsch came to Pao in the midst of the worst crisis the luxury club has experienced in the last three decades.
For the first time since 1990, the team will not go through a stage in a European factory, and its meager budget ("After all the changes the teams have made, I estimate it is the lowest in the Euroleague," says the coach) does not leave it too much room for maneuver.
But optimistic winds are currently blowing in Ouaka.
It all came down to that evening when the Greens won the Hall of Peace and Brotherhood.
For Panathinaikos, beyond the obvious prestige in the Greek derby, there was a significant statement here: even in such a weak season, it managed to subdue its sworn rival, and it was a victory that established Katsch's status: given the absence of Nemanja Nadovic (who has not returned since, and will not play) Also tomorrow against Maccabi Tel Aviv), he placed the team tall and unconventional, with forward Ioannis Papatro in the guard position, leaving Yorgos Bratzokas unanswered.
Greek commentators and basketball officials have hailed the move as "Israeli" chess.
- As a Panathinaikos player, you failed to beat Olympiacos in a derby.
"Only someone who has ever experienced a real Greek derby with an audience, can really get as excited as I did, and understand how special it is and what it does to the fans at home. The players internalized a bit, because unlike me they go around on social media and see what goes on, but even they did not experience "That to the end. If I had coached Pau now, without experiencing what I experienced as a player, I would not be excited like that either."
- Do you feel that this victory arranged for you to be quiet and helped your status?
After all, you came to Pao when the Euroleague season was already lost, and the fate of the trophy and the championship in Greece has not yet been decided, so it was the only game of any significance.
"This game was important to me because I understand its meaning, but I do not deal with its effects. I prefer to be judged on the way I work and the process the team goes through. We got a boost of energy and confidence, and then the corona came again ... eight players We became infected, the whole group was shut down for two weeks and we took three steps back. "
- The Cup and Euroleague games have been postponed, and you have not yet recovered.
You have been counting since three consecutive losses in the Euroleague.
"After what I went through with Jerusalem and the plague, everything is already small for me, but it was really particularly frustrating. When you return to the team, you actually find it in the state of early summer. It's not just two weeks not playing, because everyone was completely disabled. Even the few did not get infected. , Did not really manage to train, but only alone, one on zero, on half a court with a coach.
"You seem to start the preparation for the season again, only without having time to train, because you immediately return to play.
We close here for two months, and regardless of Corona, we had four real basketball practices.
All the time you are in concluding practice, the day before a game, or shooting practice on a game day, or recovery the day after. "
- Bottom line, it's clear that money time for you as a Pau coach will be next season. But to get to it, you have to prove yourself now. Are you afraid that the current situation, and the losses that are piling up, will affect your future?
"Yes, I am afraid, but I want to believe that whoever is around me looks and sees the way and the work.
We are in the middle of a process, I see an improvement in the way we stand on the field and play.
We need to finish this season well.
There is a trophy and a championship to play on, and that is what we are concentrating on.
The Euroleague has escaped us a bit, but we have to stand up and perform properly, as we did even when we lost.
"Obviously the situation is not optimal. There is a lot of frustration in preparing for the games. Last week I had to prepare for Sharas and Trinkiri, and now for Sapropoulos, and I have to build a game plan. Sometimes I think I wish I had a month or two to be with the team from the first moment, like theirs, "And prepare my tools, assimilate habits and work on things. But that's the situation, so tackle. I have to find other ways, be more creative in preparing for the game, and in many cases also have to give up ideas, because there is no time to teach them properly."
"There is a question mark around his involvement."
Dimitris Inacopoulos (Photo: Official Website, Action Images)
The question of the future of Panathinaikos in general, and the chances of Katsch's success in particular, pertains to the budget that will be available to it next season.
Since announcing the sale of the club in the summer, Dimitris Inacopoulos has not returned any money to the team - but late last month, about two hours before the announcement of Mario Zonia's surprise signing, the owner is the one who hinted at the move with a post on his Instagram account.
- How deep are you already in thoughts, plans and actions for next season?
"It's the foundation, and it's always there. A good organization needs to look ahead, to preserve assets and see how it can be strengthened. It becomes much more challenging when you have one of the lowest budgets in the Euroleague. You have to be more vigilant and find thefts. We need to do The signings are very smart and effective. "
- Still, you managed to land the prostitute in a noisy move.
"We didn't really have the budget to bring in a player of his size, but some parallel conditions worked out to make it possible, mainly because of his connection to Pao and the fans, and the people around the club."
- 1,000 fans came to greet him at the airport in the middle of the closure, and he pledged to pay the fine for anyone who would absorb it.
"His connection to the crowd is pretty crazy. He did not play here, he is not Greek. I have not seen anything like that."
- And it gives you optimism to keep him for another season?
"I do not know, because these are high sums and his rights belong to Barcelona. My goal is to get the best out of him this season. Normal players take time to re-adapt to European basketball, and I hope we can shorten the process."
- The crowd that came in honor of the prostitute, the fans who sang you serenades, the torches that greeted you this week in Rhodes.
Are you already waiting for this fan hunger to explode in Ouaka?
"Sure. I find myself standing in the empty hall and imagining what everything will look and sound like when it can be filled."
"I go to practice, work on a game plan and make him dinner."
Katsch with Lior Lubin (Photo: Official Website, Panathinaikos)
- What kind of Pau will be seen next season?
Thin as the season, or are there indications that the budget will increase by the return of Inacopoulos or the entry of a new buyer?
"There is a question mark over Inacopoulos' involvement. Currently, we are working on the assumption that our budget will remain at the bottom of the Euroleague."
- Since you came to the group, have you met Yanakopoulos?
Did you talk?
"No. I did not get it, and at this point he is not involved in the team."
- While working in PAO, you completed the Eurobasket qualifying campaign.
Have you already completed the departure of the Israeli team?
"I did not close that door. We have to wait and see. My contract expires in October, and by then a lot of things could happen."
- What needs to happen for you to hold both positions?
"I understand it's unrealistic."
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