The concerns had already begun to emerge from the very first official game of the season, against Bayern. Despite Panathinaikos’ victory, Shorts failed to score, and many had already formed an opinion about what was to come. Not that he had a disastrous season, of course, but many reasonably argued: “Let’s wait a little – it’s still early.”
It took time, and things did not really change. To give him his due, however, Shorts produced spectacular performances in the Stoiximan GBL Finals against Olympiacos. Nevertheless, the decision had already been made, even before Ergin Ataman left the Panathinaikos bench. Shorts wanted a change of environment and a team where he could once again be the star. Valencia’s highly attractive project -and quite rightly so-appealed to him. It should be noted, of course, that at that point Pedro Martínez had not yet made the surprise decision to take his talented group to Madrid.
That is the only real shame for Shorts, because under Martínez’s guidance he would once again have found himself in a role similar to Tuomas Isalo’s. In other words: take the ball and put on your show. That was largely the role played by Jean Montero, who will wear the colours of Olympiacos next season. Shorts arrived as something of an “anti-Montero.” He will undoubtedly have the offensive reins in his hands, he will be the one making the decisions, and it remains to be seen whether he can rediscover himself as a basketball player. There is no doubt that this is exactly what he is looking for.
When he said goodbye to Athens, the Panathinaikos fans and the club, he said that “it was a difficult season.” And it truly was, considering that he had taken not just one, but perhaps two or even three steps up -moving from Paris, with its “how far we’ve come” feeling, to Panathinaikos’ enormous investment, whose sole objective was -and still is- to return to the very top of the EuroLeague mountain. Since that goal was not achieved, changes were necessary.
“It was a feeling I experienced and remember very well, especially from that fifth game: a feeling of anxiety. And now, having these supporters and fans by my side is going to be incredible.” Once again, those were Shorts’ words. And it was evident that, in that game, he had indeed been overwhelmed by the emotion. That was the night when Ergin Ataman came out at halftime and made the controversial statement that “Panathinaikos, with Shorts on the court, is like playing with four players” -something he later attributed purely to tactical and strategic reasons.
Some may see the American guard’s comments as nothing more than words he is expected to say in order to hype up the fans ahead of the new season, create expectations and ambitions, and live through them in the hope of repeating the Final Four miracle. Nevertheless, since we got to know Shorts during his time in Greece, we can confidently say that he may have found fresh motivation to once again become a leading figure.
Perhaps the so-called step-back season he had last year was actually two or three steps backwards, allowing him to build momentum for something greater. As one of the key pieces of Valencia’s new project, it will be extremely interesting to see what Timothy Neocartes Shorts II can produce.
All eyes are now on him.
