The Redemption of Nick Calathes: From Tumultuous Departure to Success at Fenerbahçe

Nick Calathes played two seasons for Barcelona (2020-22) and then signed for Fenerbahçe. The veteran Greek point guard ended his career as a Barça player badly after having been a highly desired signing only two summers before. Among other things, he was one of the heavyweights in the Barcelona locker room whose relationship with Sarunas Jasikevicius deteriorated drastically during the second part of the 2021-22 season, disastrous for the Blaugrana after their defeat against Real Madrid in the Euroleague Final Four. “I’m not 20 years old, I know how to play. As a point guard, you want to have a little more freedom,” he said as soon as he left Barça.

Jasikevicius continued, had a talk with the club about his way of training and expressing himself on the bench and before the media, and won the 2023 League, although he failed again in the Euroleague semi-finals against Real Madrid, before leaving, permanently, after not reaching an economic agreement with Barça, already involved in budget cuts and with Roger Grimau, a much cheaper option, on the bench. Calathes played a season in Turkey and this summer he had one foot outside Fenerbahçe when the serious injury to Raulzinho Neto, who was going to be one of the big signings of the summer in the Euroleague, meant that he ended up staying. Later, the change on the bench, with the departure of Itoudis and the arrival of Jasikevicius, caused a morbid meeting in Istanbul. Saras and Calathes, together again. And with two others who had passed through Barça during the Lithuanian’s time as coach, Sertac Sanli and Nigel Hayes-Davis.

Jasikevicius has had a perfect start in his new stage as coach: six wins in six games between the Domestic League and the EuroLeague. In the continental competition, Calathes was key in the Turkish rivalry victory against Efes: 17 points, 8 assists, 24 PIR and a decisive triple. Hayes-Davis later surrendered to the talent of the veteran point guard (34 years old): “he is the best point guard in the history of the Euroleague. How many assists does he have? Come on, man, he’s the best. We call him a bald eagle but we would have to call him a bald goat (GOAT).”

Jasikevicius wanted to definitively bury the hatchet and normalize the situation, and he did so in an interview for S-Sport, in Turkey: “Calathes expressed his opinion. And to be honest, what he did was honest. Was he going against me? I don’t mind. What matters to me is that now we are together and we have to do what is best for Fenerbahçe and not start saying ‘oh, he said this or that in the past’. I understand what he said, I don’t think it was wrong. He just said that every coach is different. It’s always like this: one coach is more controlling with what the players do, another wants you to do one thing more, another wants you to do less of the other… Those types of comments don’t affect me.”

Furthermore, he assured that having three who had also been his pupils at Barça was a blessing and in no way a problem: “One of the reasons why I accepted this position is because there were players like them on the squad. That allows for a bit of continuity. The three of them are now talking all the time with the rest of their colleagues, explaining how we want to do things. I encourage you to do it, they are being of great help. Nigel is always talking on the court, helping the players to move the ball, to get in the right place on defense… of course, they are going to be a great help to me.”

And, finally, he made it clear that he does not seek to settle personal accounts with the players, not even when he is criticized by them: “When you work in situations of so much pressure, everything is not always going to turn out perfect. I had great moments with Nick, with Sertac and with Nigel, whom I also had at Zalgiris. Good times, bad… this is a new beginning, and they have been incredibly professional. I have to do what I think is best for the team. Some like it, some don’t. When you work with many players over the years, some like you and others don’t. Usually, it has to do with how things are going for them. If they do well, they like you. If the team wins, they like you. If it is the other way around, the coach becomes the problem. What matters to me is training, the rest is often taken out of context. I have to play how it is good for the players. One of the wrong things that is said about me is that I am a very controlling coach. I like my teams to run, but he couldn’t achieve it with consistency in Barcelona. We tried for three years, and sometimes we succeeded, but it didn’t seem like enough. “It’s not my thing, in the end it depends on the players I have and their qualities.”

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2024-01-01 14:00:19
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