Fotis Katsikaris hailed the signing of the Serb guard Ivan Paunic, who will come as a substitute of Juan Dixon, and also spoke on the forthcoming away match against G.S. Olympia Larissas (Saturday 02/01).
“I have been following Ivan Paunic’s progress for quite some time, even before I came to Aris. He is a young player, who had impressed me. As thing came out, we moved quick and we were lucky to sign him. I believe that he will help us find balance as a team in the perimeter. He is a strong guy, who can defend well in all 3 positions and follows well his team’s tactics. Most of all, he is a young guy and he will definitely be very motivated. His arrival to a team with such history as Aris, will be a very important step forward on his career and I’m sure that he will try hard in order to continue his good performance shown at the Eurobasket 2009”, mr. Katsikaris.
Aris’s head coach added that his assistants, Dimitris Priftis and Stefanos Dedas, had actually seen Paunic play at the Eurobasket, last September. He also admitted that he attended to Serbian national coach, Dusan Ivkovic, who spoke high of his young compatriot: “I know the way mr. Ivkovic works and how he gives big responsibilities and opportunities to young players. So, his opinion on Paunic was really important”.
The 42-year-old coach also spoke about the premature end of the collaboration between the “yellows” and the American guard Juan Dixon. “We don’t regret for having him brought in the team, two months ago. Unfortunately, he couldn’t adapt himself to the European style of play. Tactics is more elaborate in the European basketball than it is in the NBA. We couldn’t fix this and in the end we lost communication. If there isn’t any tactical discipline, then there isn’t much you can do about it. We couldn’t have more patience and we had to act. I spoke with Juan and explained him how things were. He’s a good player, there’s no doubt about it, and he’s a good guy too, but somehow he couldn’t give us what we asked him to.
Mr. Katsikaris added that “Paunic will give us a totally different ‘chemistry’ on court, a more balanced one. He might not be as talented as Dixon in attack, but now things will be clear in perimeter and each player will know better what to do”. Additionally, Aris’s coach made clear that “our bad performances lately wasn’t just Juan Dixon’s fault. The rest of the players have understood that they must react. Our fans deserve to see a better team, which will have attitude and play more attractive basketball”.
Moreover, he spoke about the first game of his team into 2010, which will be in Larisa, on Saturday (02/01): “The only things that we should keep from the last match, against Kolossos Rodou, should be our defensive attitude and the discipline we showed in the 2nd half. I wish that we won’t ever play another game like that, in terms of our poor performance. G.S. Olympia Larisas has got a good ensemble, their Americans are good and in general they are a dangerous opponent. Their coachis an expert in handling situations like this and he is a tactician. We must show readiness, especially in the mental aspect. I hope that now, with the beginning of the New Year, we will enter a higher level and finally play according to the talent and the abilities we have, as well as according to the big name that Aris has got”.
