Weekside: A weekly section by Ehrle Weisberg

Stefanos Dedas: "Scotty Wilbkin will become a more complete player for us"

"At Fenerbahce he receives more support from the players than at Maccabi Tel Aviv."

"I was not jealous of Hapoel Holon's championship."

"I received four offers from Israel in the last year."

"I hope Guy Panini will be my assistant in the future."

The Greek assistant coach in an interview before the game at 21:00

Ehrle Weisberg

14/10/2022

Friday, October 14, 2022, 12:00

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Maccabi Tel Aviv fans knew in advance how strange the expected meetings this season with Fenerbahce were going to be.

Tonight (Friday, 21:00) they will watch as usual Scotty Wilbkin wearing yellow-blue - except this time he will be playing against them.

Since arriving in Istanbul, the guard has not put up the numbers that characterized him in his previous four years;

He is averaging 10.7 points in 25.5 minutes in all formats, but those who know him well from the two terms are not worried.

vice versa.

"Scotty has and will have a decisive role for us as well," explains Fenerbahçe's assistant coach, Stephanos Dedas, in an interview with Walla!

sport.

"He will become a more complete player here, because the players who are now around him give him better and more significant support than he had at Maccabi. He will continue to be a leading scorer, and now you can see other skills from him as well. He shows great commitment in defense."

"I told him that in Holon we marked him as a target and attacked him."

Please meet: Scotty Wilbkin, defense (photo: official website, Fenerbahce)

- It sounds like you are surprised by his defense.

"The truth is, I'm surprised. When I coached at Hapoel Holon, we had big, close games against Maccabi, and we always marked Scotty's defense as a target. We attacked him with Tyrus Magee and C.J. Harris, and in one of the recent training sessions I also told him about it. But the effort And the concentration he's showing now in defense is something else. He's an excellent keeper, and he did a good job last week on Kassius Winston and Evgeny Yermaz from Bayern Munich. You can see his improvement in the little things."

"Nick's presence instills confidence in all of us, from the coach to the players. His quality as a center back gives Scotty the freedom to play without the ball, so he doesn't have to manage the attacks as he did at Maccabi. Together with Carsen Edwards and Marko Godorić, we have an excellent back line. Each does other things and brings its advantages to light."

"Our significant advantage - the coach."

Stephanos Dedas and Dimitris Itoudis in the victory in Munich (photo: official website, Fenerbahce)

Dedas (40) disappeared a little from the spotlight in the last six months.

After leaving Holon in favor of AAK Athens, he resigned and did not complete the season in Greece.

Precisely with the outbreak of the war in Ukraine and the removal of the Russian teams from the international establishments, he received an offer to be appointed assistant coach of CSKA Moscow, in the place of Andreas Pistoulis, who moved to coach Galatasaray. After a difficult playoff in the VTB league, which ended with Zenit St. Petersburg winning the championship, Dedas continued To follow Dimitris Itoudis also to his next station - Fenerbahçe.

"Unfortunately, European basketball works in such a way that even if I had brought a championship to Holon, it would not have brought me to the Euroleague. I was lucky enough to coach in strong leagues like Turkey and Israel, but the path to the top teams must go through the Euroleague team. That's where the ticket is. Therefore, when the opportunity came Teaming up with Dimitris at CSKA, despite the ban, and now here - I felt it was the right thing for me."

"I agreed with Dimitris that we would work together for two years at Fenerbahce, and then we would see how the situation was.

I hope we succeed, and then I can go back to teaching myself, but in our profession you can't make too many plans for the future.

You can't know how things will develop."

"Very difficult," Dadas admits.

"I was already an assistant to David Blatt in Aris Thessaloniki and to Jora Zadovec in Russia, Turkey and the Slovenian national team, so I didn't forget the job, but yes, Dimitris knows this position very well. I have much more responsibility, and I am still learning and adapting. He is a very demanding coach , and at the beginning he gave me many examples from his work at Pau. I try to make life easier for him."

"He's the smartest player I've coached, and I've had Euroleague champions and NBA players."

Guy Panini (Photo: Liron Moldovan)

- How was your life at the end of last season in Russia, during the war?

"Daily life in Moscow was not affected at all by the war, and continued as usual. We did not feel anything unusual. The salaries were paid without any glitches and problems, through a bank in Europe. I was happy to work in a magnificent club like CSKA, but we were not able to win the championship because six foreigners left us, while Zenit stayed with a full lineup and beat us in the final series.

I learned quite a bit, and it was a very good preparation for me for the challenge in the new season."

"Politics should stay off the field.

Sports should bring people together, not separate them, so I don't want to comment on that.

I'm just saying that you shouldn't mix things up."

"Maccabi is also a new team. It is athletic and dangerous, and one of its main advantages will be at home. I think I know what to expect in tonight's game. This is a typical Oded Ketch team, which will play in a different way than most teams in the Euroleague, with two big men and not four players outside ".

"The coach. This is a club that has already gotten used to being a part of the top echelon, since Overdovic arrived, and the presence of Itodis gives the system a lot of confidence. The fans understand that they have one of the best coaches in Europe, and they are calm and know that the team will arrive prepared and know how to conduct themselves properly."

"He will continue to be a scorer, but now you can see other skills in him."

Dedas in training with Wilvkin (photo: courtesy of those photographed)

Although it has been a year and a half since he left Israel, Dadas remains in close contact with his bosses and friends from the days of Holon.

"This is my house, we had a great time together," he says.

"Even though we didn't win the championship together and didn't make it to the Final Four in the Champions League, I feel that our team was even better than last season's. If it weren't for the situation with the Palestinians (in Operation Guard of the Walls) we could have won more titles."

"I wasn't jealous or pinched, because I know that the club understands what I did and appreciates my work. Every time the team reaches an achievement, Eitan Lenziano (Chairman of the Club) calls me and says: 'Steph, you started, you started this car.'

He gives me the credit for my part in the success.

They won last season with a method similar to mine.

I worked hard to convince the management to go this way.

I am proud that I assimilated my philosophy in a short time, and that the system is also successful after me."

Tonight in Istanbul, the Greek will meet a familiar face, Guy Panini, who played under him in Israel. "When I arrived in Holon, he called me a rascal and I called him a genius.

He is the smartest player I have coached, and I have had Euroleague champions and NBA players.

I think I managed to make him fall in love with the game again at the age of 37. I implemented his ideas on the field, and we had a great partnership.

He was like my coordinator.

I hope he will be my assistant one day."

"I don't know where and when, but in a few years I hope to have a training team with Panini and Sharpi. During the time I lived in Israel I learned many good and less good things about myself. During last season, when there were financial problems in AK, I received offers From four different clubs in Israel. I hope I'll be back again."

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• Fenerbahce

• Scotty Wilbkin

• Stefanos Dedas

• Maccabi Tel Aviv in basketball