00:00a great basketball reporter from atletico and that is cristo saltas joining us what's going on
00:06cristo it's good to talk to you again buddy hello how are you good we're good man we're good it's
00:11great to have you uh back thanks for making time for us today buddy uh first off listen we talked
00:17to you back years about the idea of yannis joining the miami heat so boots on the ground over there
00:23like what was the reaction to this uh finally happening yeah there's a lot of excitement
00:29because first of first and foremost it was really important for yannis to make a fresh start
00:34and i think and everybody in greece thinks that the miami heat and the whole organization of the heat
00:42is the perfect fit for yannis and for and his ambitious his ambition to win another one title
00:50this is the place that everybody in greece thinks that uh yannis can make it but can make it again
00:57win another one championship next to bam and uh adrio and under coach poe who's probably one of the best
01:04basketball minds in the world right now and for us in greece it's really big uh showing uh yannis
01:12next season in uh one of the best organized one of the well-organized uh programs in nba like the
01:19miami heat and uh also since the trade became official broke down uh the miami heat had have
01:28a lot of fans in greece the fans who supported the milwaukee bucks now supported miami heat because of
01:35the trade i love that so like does that i wanted to ask you about that christmas like does that
01:40happen
01:40where you have a guy who obviously means so much over there do the fans get frustrated with an
01:46organization if he doesn't perform to the level like yannis has had years where like it hasn't
01:52gone as far as he's probably wanted to go do people over in greece get frustrated with the bucks and
01:57wanted a new chapter for him well i don't think it's frustration but it was like uh everybody knew
02:05when this every season started that uh the the bucks had hadn't uh not hadn't the tools to to win
02:14the championship everybody knew that everybody uh believed that even when they signed uh miles
02:20sterner after his great season with the pacers um everybody knew that the yannis uh yannis touched
02:29his uh his limit touched his ceiling with the bucks back in 2021 when when he won the championship with
02:36the bucks uh and now it's a great uh fresh start for him and the fresh start for the for
02:43the miami
02:43heat as well because uh yannis has a lot of is so motivated to win and uh he has the
02:52right environment
02:52next to him to to make it do they ever like we we had this conversation about yannis and luca
03:00not
03:01playing for the national team for the world cup qualifier do do the people in greece ever have an
03:08issue with those guys choosing to take that time off or do they just know we'll qualify with them we
03:14just want we want them when the world cup comes along well yannis uh except the pre-olympic qualifiers
03:22didn't play in the qualifiers in uh world cup he didn't play in the previous window he's under a
03:29tough season for him because he played or he didn't play over uh half of the games and he's in
03:36a
03:37completely new situation for him so he needs some time even more to adjust into a new uh system into
03:44a new uh a new situation overall for him so uh everybody understands what does it mean for yannis
03:52and for for his legacy to play to prove to prove the best out of it out of him and
03:59to prove uh to show
04:01actually that he's the in the best shape for for the miami heat so everybody understood uh the situation
04:08also the the vice president of the federation said that yannis wanted to play but uh he had a tough
04:16season
04:16last season with the backs and it was uh more important for him to to take some time off and
04:23get ready for the next season being the best in the best version on and off the court for him
04:29chrisos can you get uh like what's the reaction over there's a story that went pretty uh viral over
04:35here the last couple days that one of the owners of one of the greek teams over there tried to
04:40lure joker
04:41uh and buy him out of his contract and then maybe he's going to go back to the well can
04:46you give us
04:47what's the what's the story over there like does this guy have the money to do that is he just
04:51making
04:51splashy headlines just because he wants to like what what do you what what do you make of that whole
04:56story well panathinaikos that kendrick nann played there plays there actually is one of the richest
05:02clubs in europe they have probably the best venue in europe with the glass floor and they have the money
05:10the ability and the flexibility uh money-wise to to sign players like him yogic is the favorite player
05:18of uh owner of panathinaikos and he mentioned numerous of times that he wanted to sign him
05:25to to make the same thing as his father pavlos yanakopoulos did with dominic wilkins back in 90s when
05:32dominic wilkins signed with panathinaikos he want he his dream panathinaikos owner's dream is to
05:40sign nikola yogic and uh he will try to do it uh to make it happen next season with uh
05:46when yogic
05:47has a player's option he will he will try to sign him uh really bad because he is his favorite
05:54player
05:55and he wants him so bad to to hear the green jersey is that possible because like yogic is
06:00gonna make like 60 million over here like does he he has that kind of money that he can throw
06:04at him
06:05as i saw it's 62 the player's option and i don't think it's it's a huge possibility it's a big
06:12possibility but uh he tried to sign valanciunas like last summer when he was under contract with the
06:19nuggets valanciunas signed with the zaliger's kaunas in lithuania but he has big dreams and
06:26he wants to sign a big time player from the nba also there are some speculations about dennis
06:31schruder bogdan bogdanovich there are speculations about european players especially who plays in in
06:38the nba right now i'm curious about this because you know adam silver has been talking about he wants
06:44to put a league over there do you feel like that would be successful or do you guys like are
06:50the
06:50leagues already established over there are they into that idea do they like no we're we're good with just
06:56our leagues like what's the reaction all that sort because it's obviously a very big deal to him that he
07:00wants to make an nba europe well first of all i'm a huge fan of the nba europe project because
07:06i talked several times with some uh some uh members of the front office who uh who are in in
07:13london and
07:14in spain as well in europe overall and they said they said that they told us that uh there's a
07:20big
07:20project there's a big project and the nba has a will to to put serious money on the table because
07:27they said from uh from day one the nba here is ready to invest for uh four billion uh euros
07:35about this
07:36new project and that shows how how important for them actually is the whole project and also some big
07:44time clubs like real madrid bayern munich when their bats have shown interest already to to join the brand
07:51new league which is really big because it's a profitable league for uh for the teams they gave
07:58a lot of money that euro league hasn't uh right now because the the profitable uh uh the whole action
08:06actually about the this league is way more profitable for the teams compared to the euro league
08:13that's that's crazy that's absolutely crazy that like i just always thought european european
08:19basketball had their own thing um maybe it wasn't as lucrative as the nba but there were players who
08:27they could lure to come over there and play and make good money if the nba goes in there and
08:32they
08:32say they're doing a four billion dollar you know project how does that necessarily affect do they would
08:38would those teams then join the nba league or would the nba just kind of poached all poach all of
08:45their
08:45their star players and say this is your gateway to possibly get into the nba that's that's one plan to
08:52to sign uh some of the free agents now from the nba signed to the teams in the nba european
09:00league uh
09:01also there there is a conversation already here in europe about franchises because the
09:08plan is to have eight to have 16 teams in the brand new league of nba europe 12 of them
09:1712 of them
09:18will have a permanent contract as franchises and they will have 14 to qualify from bcl it's fiba's
09:27competition and one and four from bcl there's three that will join the the the new league and there is
09:38one from the qualification round at the end of the season so uh there is a lot of interest because
09:44a
09:44lot of teams who played in fiba competitions like unica hamalaga for example or uh alba berlin who
09:52participate and try to find a franchise spot for next season they want to invest and they made
09:59um every action to to take a franchise spot for about this summer and in the next couple of weeks
10:07or
10:08three weeks from now we will have an update because we expect to to to hear the first uh the
10:14first
10:15teams five six teams that will will join the nba europe as the franchise teams they're doing it like
10:21champions league something like that yes man what they want to make the best competition in europe
10:30right got you christos you've always been a big bam guy what do you uh what do you think of
10:35the bam
10:36yana's pairing how much do you like that one from a basketball uh perspective first of first of all i
10:41would like to share something with you if you don't mind and this is my wallpaper on my mobile phone
10:47uh about a bio photo there for yeah 83 point guy well i think it's uh really dangerous for every
10:57for
10:57every team but uh we need some rain we need some reinforcement the heat needs a shooter as soon as
11:05possible i think clay thompson would be a perfect fit for them it would be the ideal piece in this
11:11roster
11:12because then he will take a lot of pressure off of bam and yanis but the whole do is so
11:19uh it's it's great
11:22to see they have great chemistry which is really important and they will the race they will raise the
11:29level of the whole team with two those two guys on the floor together i think it's uh like yin
11:37and yang
11:38one uh they complete every sentence and i think the possibility uh the heat has a have a great
11:45possibility to win the championship despite the how strong the sixers have become because of the
11:52chemistry between guys and bam you know uh you're gonna follow the the world cup qualifiers will you
11:58be covering it for atletico uh and are you going to the games are you going to cover it from
12:02where from
12:03home where where are you going to catch those games because obviously we got jovic on those you got
12:07fantecchio we got pella we're excited for those or at least i'm excited leroy makes fun of me for
12:11watching all these games at crazy hours but i love it i'm a huge fan of bella larson too i
12:17met him last
12:17last summer during the euro basket and he was he's probably he's one of the biggest fans of eric
12:26he's like a sponge and it was impressive how his body transformation and how he he evolved his
12:34game into the next level it's really great to see this guy and uh i think he will be even
12:40better
12:40next season i hope so he uh he's a fun he's a fun one to watch for sure like he's
12:46a quintessential
12:46heat player well man listen it was great catching up with you christos uh go follow his work uh he's
12:52covering basketball fantastic for atletico and uh we'll chime in with you again sometime during the
12:57season when janice gets going down here man thanks for making time for us anytime thank you very much
13:01thanks appreciate you buddy you guys can go follow christos uh his handle is saltas 46 that's t-s-a
13:08-l-t-a-s
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