Sloukas: «Let’s make the impossible possible once again!»
Kostas Sloukas returned to heart’s safe port and declares to be ready to … anchor in Piraeus after five years in a foreign land. He was never one to talk big and this not going to change. However, he promises that both he and his team mates are going to try to make the impossible possible for yet another time!
He was at first asked by olympiacosbc.gr to compare the 2015 Kostas with that of 2020. How are they different and what changed after five years with Fenerbahce. “I think that the change in my body is obvious, as well as in my way of thinking and in my game. I think that after five years with Fener, although I had a hard time at first, toughened me up. I learned a lot from coach Obradovic and from the Fenerbahce organization, that was a dominant force all these years. Nevertheless, this cycle has closed and a new one, a bigger one, is opening with Olympiacos”. Now, wearing the ‘red’ uniform, the left handed guard explains that his goal is “to do what’s best for the team”.
Taking time back to 2015, Kostas Sloukas was clear about what happened that summer and the ones that followed. “The decision I made in 2015 was a completely conscious one. Because, like I have said many times before, I’m very ambition and not greedy in terms of money. I think that I have proven to be able to succeed and I have achieved a lot. Now I’m back and I want to succeed with Olympiacos, just like I wrote on Instagram the day my transfer was announced, I want to make the impossible, possible. I believe in the team’s DNA, the Greek core and in coach Bartzokas a lot. When I left in 2015, I had said ‘see you again later’ and since I’m one to keep my promises, I’m here once again and everything turned out the way I had thought and imagined they would. I’m very happy and I wish to sincerely thank the Presidents for the special honor they bestowed on me having me return to this family. I’m coming back to Olympiacos at a very good age to give the best I can to the organization I have so much faith in”.
At the SEF, the 30-year old guard will be once again teaming up with Vassilis Spanoulis, Kostas Papanikolaou and Giorgos Printezis, while he will again be under the guidance of Giorgos Bartzokas. “For me, Olympiacos was and is family. I’m happy to be here again with the guys I have played so many years with. We are talking about three players that have given too much to the team, they really feel for the team, they love the team. I’m looking forward to join them on the floor again. As for the coach, he knows what I can do on the court. I’m simply a team player, I will be following his directives and I will be giving my best to do what I need to do on the floor. I have complete trust in him, I think the best of him and our co-operation in the past had been impeccable. I believe he’s the right person, at the right moment for all we have in mind and dream of”.
Although a player for Fenerbahce, Sloukas was closely following all that transpired in Greece and the Greek League in specific. When asked to comment on Olympiacos decision in February of 2019 to not complete playing the Cup game in OAKA against Panathinaikos, the international guard replied that “what’s been happening with Greek basketball is very upsetting. Having such a big club leaving the floor while the game is being played is sad, but that decision proves to be the right one even today, the Presidents’ decision has been vindicated and it was the right thing for them to do. It’s upsetting that a team with the magnitude of Olympiacos, with so many Final Four under his belt, with two Euroleague trophies in the last ten years, had to leave the floor, it’s strangte and it’s bad for basketball itself. However, from there on, the situation in Greek basketball is not good at all and we need to do something to help the sport in Greece advance forward. We need to act right away to bring basketball where it needs to be”.