Obradovic's 10 Practices: Panathinaikos Enters EuroLeague Barefoot

In the second minute of a friendly, Zelimir Obradovic raised his hand and called a timeout. Not because the opponent hit three straight three-pointers, but because his team lost the most basic defensive principle — something that, at 70 years old with nine EuroLeague titles in his career, he never tolerates. The final of the "Pavlos Giannakopoulos" tournament between Panathinaikos and PAOK ended in a thrilling win for the hosts, but the number that made me stop wasn't in the scoreline. It was in the press room: Panathinaikos had only seven practices with exactly ten players before the start of the EuroLeague season. Seven. Ten. Two numbers that read like a typo.

I have followed European basketball preseason tournaments for 48 years, and I have learned one thing: numbers don't score, but numbers are quietly rewriting history. When a legendary head coach says out loud "we are not ready," the basketball world usually nods and praises the humility. I look at the practice schedule, at the number of available players, and at the upcoming opponent. What I see is a team walking a tightrope without a safety net.

The context behind the win

The "Pavlos Giannakopoulos" tournament is named after the late father of club president Dimitris Giannakopoulos — a Panathinaikos preseason tradition. This year's final pitted "Pha" — the club's nickname — against PAOK, a team Obradovic described bluntly: "Next season they will be in the EuroLeague, I hope." That is not a courtesy compliment. That is a milestone.

PAOK has long been seen as the little brother of Greek basketball, living in the shadow of Panathinaikos and Olympiacos. But when a coach who has won Europe multiple times speaks about them in that tone, it means the competitive bar of Greek basketball is shifting. And that gives Panathinaikos' "thrilling" win a different meaning: they beat a European-caliber opponent while missing so many bodies that only ten players were healthy.

Obradovic recalled after the game that he saw several players dive onto the floor to win the ball. That detail matters. A short-handed team usually chooses to conserve energy, slow the pace, and play safe. But Panathinaikos chose the opposite — they threw themselves into physical battles, diving to the floor. Is that the culture Obradovic wants to build, or a sign of a team compensating for missing technique with blood?

I lean toward the second reading. And this is where the numbers come in.

Seven practices with ten players — the math the media ignored

Let's compare. A mid-tier EuroLeague team usually has 12-15 players training fully for 3-4 weeks before the season, equivalent to 20-30 practices. Panathinaikos has seven. Before their first game of the season, they will get three more — ten total. That is the number of a youth academy, not of a quarterfinal contender.

Why does this matter more than the win over PAOK? Because ten practices with ten players produces three overlapping consequences.

First, no substitutes in practice. Players don't rotate out for rest; there is no second unit to push the first unit's intensity. That means the core players carry both the physical load and the injury risk during practice itself.

Second, the tactical system cannot be installed. Modern basketball depends on collective reflexes — defensive rotations, no-look passes. Those only form through hundreds of repetitions. With ten practices, Panathinaikos can only install raw rules. Obradovic himself admitted: "The game is completely different from training." He repeated it several times — that is a signal.

Third, injuries have denied players a physical foundation. A player returning from injury needs 2-3 weeks to regain game feel. Panathinaikos does not have 2-3 weeks. They have three practices.

Recall last season. A team reaching the EuroLeague quarterfinals typically has at least 6-8 weeks of base conditioning before tactical work begins. Panathinaikos is merging both phases into ten practices. That is not logically wrong — it is physically wrong. The human body needs time to adapt to elite competition intensity, and no practice session can shorten that process.

Effort metrics — when pretty numbers hide the truth

This is where I must say plainly what I have said for nearly half a century: distance covered and sprint counts do not measure real basketball. Ball control is an illusion, points are the naked truth. A team that runs a lot is not necessarily a good team. A team that runs without purpose also produces pretty numbers — that is the trap of every effort metric.

With Panathinaikos, I worry about the opposite. They may run less than opponents, not because they are lazy, but because they are tired. In a packed EuroLeague season — 38 regular-season games plus domestic cup — a team entering with a thin physical base will collapse at the decisive stage. That is why I call this a structural problem, not a form problem.

Look at the win over PAOK itself. A thrilling friendly win proves nothing about a team's ability to withstand pressure. It only proves they have enough character not to fold. Character is a foundation, but character cannot replace a system. Pep is brilliant, but even he cannot teach the ball to roll into the basket if the players have not practiced enough together.

The contrarian view: this could be a move

I could be wrong. And if I am wrong, the likeliest reason is that Obradovic did this deliberately.

Think about it. A 70-year-old coach with nine EuroLeague titles doesn't need to fake humility. When he says "we are not ready" in a crowded press room, he is planting a different seed: the seed of low expectations. Obradovic understands better than anyone that an underprepared team will be crushed by the media if it loses early. He is betting that saying it first hurts less than saying it later.

This is a familiar psychological move by veteran coaches. He is not lying — he is choosing the moment to reveal the truth. If Panathinaikos wins 4 of their first 5 games, "we are not ready" becomes one of the great mantras of the season: a self-negating prophecy.

I also must admit a blind spot in my own analysis. I am evaluating a European team through the lens I use for the NBA, where physical preparation is life or death. But European basketball has a variable the NBA does not: injuries are handled according to each club's own logic, and medical information is deliberately withheld. We do not know how many players are truly injured, how many are recovering, or when they return. All we have is the number ten — a number that is not enough to draw conclusions.

A testable prediction

Finally, I am not predicting where Panathinaikos finish the season. I am making a prediction testable by eye within the first five games: watch how they finish the third and fourth quarters.

If Panathinaikos' point margin shrinks in the third quarter in 4 of their first 5 games, that is a sign of a thin physical base — not of talent. If they hold or grow their margin, then the story of seven practices with ten players is just a preseason detail, not a verdict.

Basketball without fans is only commerce — and preseason basketball, with ten players in the gym, is also just a number. But the number saint never judges a team by what they say in October. They judge by what the team does in April, when every promise has expired.