It was rumoured even before the season start of the Greek A1 and it is now official. Olympiacos’ coach Panagiotis Giannakis made the big decision to replace Von Wafer for the team’s domestic games in Greek League and Cup with Patrick Beverley who has been nothing less than impressive so far, contrary to Von Wafer.
Last night Von Wafer again was not used by his coach while Beverley got plenty of playing time, even after coming off an injury. We should remind you that there is a six foreign players limit eligible to play for a Greek club in their domestic games and Olympiacos has seven so one of them has to sit out.
Before the season start Giannakis wanted to leave Nikola Vujcic out but due to Schrotsianitis’ injury he could not afford to let a big guy out and he left Israeli guard Yotam Halperin instead. About two weeks ago due to Patrick Beverley’s injury Giannakis brought back Halperin to replace the former Dnipro player.
But since Beverley has fully recovered and has been impressive so far, again someone had to be left out and since Halperin has helped his team significally since his return while Von Wafer not only has yet to adapt but had also had a conflict with Olympiacos’ coaching staff, the choice was obvious. Especially since one of the most important games of the season is on Sunday and Giannakis needs twelve players who will all be ready 100%.
Von Wafer will now have to work hard and take advantage of any chances to bounce back. He will continue to play in the Euroleague as usual as there are not foreigners limits there.
