Last night's shareholder board meeting didn't really produce any results for Aris BC. The board meeting was going to establish the players' budget for Aris for next season and also that would mean that David Blatt would stay as the head coach.
But things didn't really play out this way. A very simple announcement by the official site of Aris BC said that they haven't decided yet who will be the next president, let alone the team's budget for the new season. Supporters of the current administration expressed their dismay live on Aris FM radio this morning that president Yannis Damianidis is being pushed out of the club. This outburst produced more questions that it answered.
But there might an explanation. According to allstarkourouna.blogspot.com, there is a rumor in Thessaloniki that an old "friend" of Aris is returning to the team. It refers to Yannis Ioannidis, former player and head coach of Aris, fomer head coach of Olympiakos and also former member of parliament in Greece. It is said that he is bringing with him, head coach Yannis Sferopoulos (editor: lots of Yannis.. I know) of Kolossos Rhodes, who is also the right hand of Jonas Kazlauskas in the Greek National Team. Ioannidis would assume the role of a technical director, supporting Sferopoulos as the head coach.. not bad..
It seems that the players' budget for next season might be lower than initially anticipated for Aris. This will make things very difficult to retain David Blatt. He spoke to championat.ru in Russia and this is what he said when he asked if he has already extended his contract:
"That's not true - I have not extended the contract. Journalists should still be calling me next time before writing something like this. They actually proposed two-year contract with a "1+1 " clause allowing me to decided about extending it. I am considering this option, but I have not made my decision yet. As I said, I like to work in Aris. The club treated me well, and above all, they show the desire to return to the path of victories and I am interested to tag along. Besides the Greek championship is quite strong, but the administration's ambitions are very high. There are still things to be decided though, as in what kind of team will they build next season.
Even if I was offered a job by Russian clubs, I would not tell you - I do not like to discuss such things publicly. When a contract has been signed that's a different matter. At the moment I am inclined to stay in Aris but everything will be decided in about a month"
Although the article of allstarkourouna denies it, it is plausible to assume that if the head coach of Olympiakos remains vacant after the end of the play-offs, David Blatt would be a very strong candidate for it..
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