As Panathinaikos and Olympiacos are suiting up for the first derby of the season in the Greek SuperCup final, Ergin Ataman and Giorgos Bartzokas have several issues to look after. BasketNews explains why the outcome might work as a distorting mirror for both sides.
For the third year in a row, Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens and Olympiacos Piraeus will stage their first showdown of the season in Rhodes.
Both clubs have made huge investments in the off-season, and expect them to pay off when titles will be at stake.
For the first time since 2011, Panathinaikos enter the 2024-25 campaign as the dominant force on the Greek and European front. Olympiacos, on the other hand, have recorded three straight EuroLeague Final Four appearances and last season, they deprived their main rivals of two domestic accolades (the SuperCup and the Cup).
In the recent BasketNews Power Rankings list, the two Greek powerhouses were projected as the top candidates to win the EuroLeague. However, even the most optimistic predictions have little to do with the reality that the Reds and the Greens are experiencing a few days before their opener.
Ergin Ataman succinctly put things in perspective.
"There is one reality at the moment -- that
