2013 Greek NT

[fasoulaki]

And Zouros was a big name? What was his experience on NTs?

No Zouros literaly was not a big name and he proved that completely. But even Zouros had some experience with the NT as assistant coach of Petropoloulos in 1999.

[Victorious]

No Zouros literaly was not a big name and he proved that completely. But even Zouros had some experience with the NT as assistant coach of Petropoloulos in 1999.

And how succesful he was. Petropoulos.

[fasoulaki]

And how succesful he was. Petropoulos.

I would say, that Zouros worked hard to keep the same level of success like his mentor Petropoulos

Actually Petropoulos got a second chance and returned one year later with Sfairopolous as assistant coach, to fail in the same miserable way.
Initially I was fearing that the federation will follow the same path again, first Zouros, then Sfairopoulos. This time as head coach of course
But now we got Coach K...

[Shawshank]

Ok after some time had passed i want to ask Greece fans.Which coaches work Kazlauskas or Zourus job you like more?

[christodoulou76]

Team Composition: Predictions

So as we approach the summer, it is time to speculate on the composition of the Greek NT. Here are the positional rankings at the moment, as I see them. Thoughts?

PG: Calathes, Mantzaris, Zisis, Katsivelis
SG: Spanoulis, Vasiliadis, Pappas, Sloukas
SF: Papanikolaou, Bramos, Perperoglou, Giankovits
PF: Printezis, Kaimakoglou, Fotsis, Kavvadas
C: Bourousis, Koufos, Schortsanitis, Vougioukas, Mavroidis

[Efesdxb]

So as we approach the summer, it is time to speculate on the composition of the Greek NT. Here are the positional rankings at the moment, as I see them. Thoughts?

PG: Calathes, Mantzaris, Zisis, Katsivelis
SG: Spanoulis, Vasiliadis, Pappas, Sloukas
SF: Papanikolaou, Bramos, Perperoglou, Giankovits
PF: Printezis, Kaimakoglou, Fotsis, Kavvadas
C: Bourousis, Koufos, Schortsanitis, Vougioukas, Mavroidis

I think the ones I highlighted will be Greek NT as long as no injury and player refusal...
Very good and promising team. Medal contender for sure.
I picked Bramos over Perperoglou because he is a better shooter.

[Victorious]

PG: Calathes, Mantzaris, Zisis, Katsivelis
SG: Spanoulis, Vasiliadis, Pappas, Sloukas
SF: Papanikolaou, Bramos, Perperoglou, Giankovits
PF: Printezis, Kaimakoglou, Fotsis, Kavvadas, Mavrokefalidis
C: Bourousis, Koufos, Schortsanitis, Vougioukas, Mavroidis

According to a recent interview of Trincieri, Fotsis is the leader of the team so my guess is he will be on the final roster. I can see 8 player locks, while 4 spots are still free.


Zisis, Vassiliadis, Sloukas and Mantzaris will play for two guard spots, and Bramos, Perperoglou and Kaimakoglou will play for two forward spots. Some very good players will not be part of the final roster.

Pappas, Jankovic and Kavvadas, Katsivelis will be part of future rosters, because they don't have any experience on EL level. However, looking four years ahead, after the Olympics in Brazil, I can already see a promising roster based on players who already look promising on EL level.

PG: Calathes, Mantzaris, Katsivelis
SG: Pappas, Sloukas
SF: Papanikolaou, Bramos, Giankovits, Perperoglou
PF: Printezis, Adetokoubo, Kavvadas
C: Koufos

Greece needs to develop two high level players at the center position.

[sixama23]

According to a recent interview of Trincieri, Fotsis is the leader of the team so my guess is he will be on the final roster. I can see 8 player locks, while 4 spots are still free.

Don't be so sure about none of our top centers. Koufos still hasn't confirmed his participation in the EB. Also I wouldn't consider either Bourousis or Sofo as a lock. Sofo hasn't played for the NT since 2010 and he's having a mediocre season. As for Bourousis, I wouldn't be surprised even if Trinchieri won't call him at all.

We need Koufos desperately, he is the best Greek center at the moment. He should be our starter at the C position. IMO Vougioukas deserves a spot. Kavvadas might be a backup center as well. Trinchieri has already said that Kavvadas, Katsivelis, Pappas and Giankovits will be part of the preliminary squad. He also wants Mavrokefalides in the team. Not sure what the federation thinks about that though.

Fotsis might be the leader but the idea of 3 PFs (Fotsis, Printezis, Kaimakoglou) in the squad didn't work last year. I think there is no room for all these 3 players. Trinchieri has to cut at least one of them.

It's tough to predict this year's roster but my preferences are:

Calathes, Zisis
Spanoulis, Vasileiadis, Sloukas
Papanikolaou, Bramos
Printezis, Kaimakoglou
Koufos, Vougioukas, Maurokefalides or Kavvadas

PS: I would have picked Mantzaris over Zisis, if he had been eligible. Unfortunately due to his injury he won't be able to play.

[fasoulaki]

Fotsis might be the leader but the idea of 3 PFs (Fotsis, Printezis, Kaimakoglou) in the squad didn't work last year. I think there is no room for all these 3 players. Trinchieri has to cut at least one of them.

It's tough to predict this year's roster but my preferences are:

Calathes, Zisis
Spanoulis, Vasileiadis, Sloukas
Papanikolaou, Bramos
Printezis, Kaimakoglou
Koufos, Vougioukas, Maurokefalides or Kavvadas

Noway that Fotsis stays out of the roster! Fotsis will not be cut by a puppet-coach like Mr. T.

So my guess is the following:

PG: Calathes, Sloukas
SG: Spanoulis, Zisis, Vasileiadis
SF: Papanikolaou, Bramos
PF: Fotsis, Printezis
C: Bouroussis, Koufos, Schortsianitis

Vasiliiadis might be exchanged by Perperoglou if coach T likes defense more than offense.
I think that coach T will have three center in the final roster, because Zouros was heavily criticized for cutting the third center Vougioukas last year.

Kaimakoglou, Vougiukas, Mavroidis have already played on NT-level but will only get a chance this year if the main players get injured.
Mavrokefalidis will stay out for political reasons. He will get a chance only if both Fotsis and Printezis are injured or do not want to play for the NT this year.
Pappas, Katsivelis, Kavvadas may get an invitation for the preperation but will be the first to be cut.

[sixama23]

Noway that Fotsis stays out of the roster! Fotsis will not be cut by a puppet-coach like Mr. T.

Kaimakoglou, Vougiukas, Mavroidis have already played on NT-level but will only get a chance this year if the main players get injured.
Mavrokefalidis will stay out for political reasons. He will get a chance only if both Fotsis and Printezis are injured or do not want to play for the NT this year.
Pappas, Katsivelis, Kavvadas may get an invitation for the preperation but will be the first to be cut.

How can you call Trinchieri a puppet-coach? He hasn't yet made his calls or even coached for a single match. Why do you call him like that?

He has done a very good job with Cantu, mainly working with mediocre players. His style fits well with the way Greek players have learnt to play. I think he was a good choice for our NT.

Regarding Koufos, unfortunately the news are bad. He will skip Eurobasket because he wants to work on his individual skills under the Nuggets coaching staff. This a huge lose for us. He is our fittest big guy and our best defender inside the paint. I can't think of any other Greek big guy who can protect the rim as good as he can. Spanoulis and Calathes will surely miss him since he can set very good screens as well.

As for Fotsis, my idea is that there is no room for 3 PFs, just like it happened last year. If I was Trinchieri, I would pick Kaimakoglou-Printezis instead of him. Kaimakoglou is younger, he can play both F positions and he can create space on the floor as well. He is a main player of the NT, since he has been a member of it for 4 consecutive years. Also I don't get why Sofo should be called instead of Vougioukas. Comparing what they both have done in the past 2 years, this shouldn't even be a debate.

Finally, I have got tired with our federation's "political reasons". We need to bring in the best, regarding they want to play for our NT of course. Mavrokefalides wants to play and Trinchieri wants him as well. The player has already made a public statement about this...

http://www.superbasket.gr/permalink/178487.html

[fasoulaki]

How can you call Trinchieri a puppet-coach? He hasn't yet made his calls or even coached for a single match. Why do you call him like that?

I call him like that because all coaches after P.Giannakis have been the federation's puppets and were not really respected by the players . But you are right. it is to early to start this discussion. Let's postpone it to after the tournament.

Regarding the Koufos-incident, I think there is big pressure on "foreign" NBA players to not participate at the continental FIBA tournaments with their national teams. For sure it is no coincidence that some big names from Spain are also missing eurobasket this year.

Maybe Koufos has improved the abilities which are needed to be a good NBA defender but he still has to prove that he is a good FIBA defender. From what I have seen in the past FIBA tournaments apart from block shots he is a black hole in defense. So yes it is a pitty that he is not part of the team but it is not like Spanoulis is missing eurobasket.

Mavrokefalidis is a problematic case. He refused to play for the national team more than once. It started allready under Giannakis. I do not think that it is a good idea to not have a clear policy how to treat players who refuse to play for the national team. This applies also to Koufos.

Just to make it clear. I think it is a very very very bad idea to leave Fotsis at home if he wants to play. He has so much experience and he is the captain and one of the national team's corner stones. But here is where the puppet-coach-aspect comes into play. Lets assume that Trinchieri wants to leave Fotsis at home because he likes Mavrokefalidis more than Fotsis. Trinchieri will not be able to enforce his strategy because a noname like him will not manage to handle the pressure from the public. If the team fails all people will blame him because of the bad decision to leave Fotsis out. So at the end he will follow the guidelines the federation will give him.

If you want Kaimakoglou in the national team you can put him also on the 3. This already worked fine during the 2009 eurobasket.

[Straight forward]

OMG, what a lack of ambition! It's not like with such attitude he will achive much in NBA as well. For me it's very strange - if you are naturally born sportsman, you go there and fight. No respect whatsover. It's should be a honour to play for the NT!

[Jon_Koncak]

Koufos is american.He cares about greek NT just as much as the guy in my avater cares about German NT.He wants to make a career in the NBA,that's his priority.

[airfire]

Koufos is american.He cares about greek NT just as much as the guy in my avater cares about German NT.He wants to make a career in the NBA,that's his priority.

Do you know any Greek-Americans or Koufos?
Or is it just a preposterous assumption that he really doesnt care on the NT?

Cause, as far as I know, many Greek-Americans have a love for Greece, much larger than many (or most) of the Greeks living in Greece.

[fasoulaki]

Koufos is american.He cares about greek NT just as much as the guy in my avater cares about German NT.He wants to make a career in the NBA,that's his priority.

I would phrase it differently. Koufos top priority is his NBA career. He cares about the NT but he cares more about the NBA and he will join the NT only if it does not interfere with his NBA career.

At the end of the day this means that Greece can not count on Koufos any more and has to find an other prospect to fill the center position in future.