GRE - Yannakis takes center stage again

ATHENS (Euroleague) - Panagiotis Yannakis spoke of his great optimism for Olympiacos after being unveiled as the Reds' new coach on Tuesday.

The Greek legend, who helped fire the country to the gold medal at the 1987 European Championship and has been a huge success leading the national side since the 2004 Olympics, was appointed on Sunday after the club presidents Panagiotis and Yorgos Aggelopoulos decided to part with Pini Gershon.

"I feel honored to be in such a big team with high ambitions," Yannakis said.

"With patience and hard work, we can make the presidents' and the fans' dreams come true.

"With patience, we can live great moments in the future. We have the best chemistry with the Aggelopoulos brothers because they love basketball, have passion and they want to lead their team to the top.

"We must get the players to show their talent."

Olympiacos have been playing second fiddle to Panathinaikos for the past decade but with Gershon, a long-time success story at Maccabi Tel Aviv, there were hopes the good times would return.

He arrived on the back of three appearances in Euroleague finals.

Gershon struggled to build on the foundation that had been laid by his predecessor, Jonas Kazlauskas, however.

So what can Olympiacos fans expect of Yannakis?

Perhaps more importantly, what do the club presidents expect?

Panagiotis Aggelopoulos said: "More fouls, team spirit, passion over a lost ball, everyone to "kill" for a ball and not to look at their personal statistics!"

"It's not easy to establish my philosophy in the team in one day," Yannakis said.

"We'll have to get to know each other. (But) We want to be a big team, which achieves high goals.

"There is no reason for panic or nervousness. The players must play their part to be effective. And the "I" must go under the "we". The team is above every single one of us."

Olympiacos lost their last three Euroleague games but that didn't keep them from reaching the Top 16.

Now that they are there, it's going to be very difficult. But Yannakis always thinks positive and he believes Olympiacos can advance from a group that includes Real Madrid, Maccabi Tel Aviv and Zalgiris Kaunas.

"In the Top 16, we are going to face strong teams," he said.

"When you play against the best, you are becoming better.
 
"Real targets the final four and have shown so far that it is a very strong team. The same goes for Maccabi, a team that doesn't have the steadiness of other years, but has people who adore basketball.

"So has Zalgiris. Lithuania lives and breathes for basketball and its is a team that can really cause us trouble. (But) We want as many wins as we can get in Top 16. Why not six of them?"

There are questions being asked about Yannakis and his role as Greece coach.

Can a man, even of his stature, handle two big jobs?

Greece, afterall, are hosting the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in July.

"The national team is a big part in my career and remains the highest point for anybody that loves basketball," he said.

"We'll all help so the team can be stronger and I'll do it everytime I am asked to."

FIBA