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usagre2
Guest
Give me the specifics. I remember Pau Gasol skipping 2010 world championships because he wanted to rest but I don't remember him being benched.
Give me the specifics. I remember Pau Gasol skipping 2010 world championships because he wanted to rest but I don't remember him being benched.
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usagre2
Guest
@Victorious
Did you hold it against Diamantidis when he retired from the National team at age 30 with 6 years of high level club basketball play still in front of him ? Did he not value National team play to your standards ? Wouldn't he have played an enormous role for Greece in qualifying for 2012 Olympics and the 2014 World Cup team ? He represented his country on the senior level for 7 summers. Guys like LeBron James (5 summers) and other Americans who value national team play about 1% the amount that Greek players do have almost put in the same amount of time. Isn't this an outrage ?
Did you hold it against Diamantidis when he retired from the National team at age 30 with 6 years of high level club basketball play still in front of him ? Did he not value National team play to your standards ? Wouldn't he have played an enormous role for Greece in qualifying for 2012 Olympics and the 2014 World Cup team ? He represented his country on the senior level for 7 summers. Guys like LeBron James (5 summers) and other Americans who value national team play about 1% the amount that Greek players do have almost put in the same amount of time. Isn't this an outrage ?
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Victorious2
Guest
Yes, I still do dislike the fact that Diamantidis retired at 30. It is unacceptable and always will be. He will be remembered in Greece as the player who retired at 30.
I can imagine a player deciding to skip one tournament at 30. But not retiring. He did a lot for the Greek team, which is appreciated. But deep inside something is lacking. Still, he was 30 and there was a tournament every summer. Next year there is no tournament and Antetokoumpo is only 22. I know he is becoming a superstar, but that's no excuse. No one is above of the national team. The ones who are saying that Giannis did not loose support in Greece are delusional. Everyone I talked to thinks otherwise.
Also, what the American players do is not relevant. The whole point is that their philosophy of playing for the NT does not infect other NTs.
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usagre2
Guest
Fair enough you are consistent.
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usagre2
Guest
I think moving forward to the next Eurobasket in 2021 and beyond this tournament will take an even greater hit and it will result in even more high profile absences. With the new Fiba format I can easily see players making two year commitments for World Cup and Olympics and with the following summer always resulting in a Eurobasket I think that this is where they will draw the line and not participate in a third consecutive tournament. So basically for the most part you'll see 2 years off followed by World Cup and Olympics. But we'll see if I am right in Eurobasket 2021.
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Oly_fan2
Guest
Of course he lost support. Speaking for myself, I don't think I 'attacked' him but I won't act like I'm naive either. And I certainy won't parrot the narrative pushed by the media that he, an all-star and a franchise player, was pushed around by the Bucks who without him go back to being nothing.
Also, I don't see how getting checked by Bucks staff in China and making it public through instagram isn't the idgaf equivalent of a dad going out for cigarettes and returning 20 years later. At the very least they could hold the exam in Athens so our staff could also see the kind of pain he's been hiding. Wouldn't that resolve the misunderstanding pretty fast?
And we don't have such a player representing us so I guess we are getting what we deserve in the end.
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auris12
Guest
If he is getting that sort of abuse on twitter konjak mentioned (if it's true , i do not know ), maybe you don't deserve him . Why would he ever want to represent Greece again ?
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usagre2
Guest
I agree. Also seems like Jon Konkak post was deleted and I didn't see anything offensive in it whatsoever. Not cool.
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Oly_fan2
Guest
I didn't see the post either so I don't know what you're talking about.
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Jon_Koncak2
Guest
i deleted the post cause i dont want to turn it into politics..but yes there were plenty of abusive racist tweets towards him by greeks.propably golden dawn fans but not only them.
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R1ou2
Guest
He's and will be there because he wants to, otherwise he'd never play for Greece after getting drafted by the Bucks.
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usagre2
Guest
Ok good that's a different story. My apologies to the moderators.
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Victorious2
Guest
Cry me a river. That's the whole point. If he doesn't want to. He shouldn't. If he would be playing for a team in the EL like his teammates in the NT, he would play. Regarding a minor injury. This indicates that he is getting a different kind of treatment. I mean, how could he miss preparation for a publicity stunt in China. This is corrosive for the NT chemistry. The Bucks have totally disrespected the Greek federation. If they wanted to, they could have come to Greece to do the tests.
Perhaps from now on we should call him the Bucks freak instead of the Greek freak.
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R1ou2
Guest
You guys losing your mind because he couldn't take part in the tournament, that's totally insane.
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Oly_fan2
Guest
Why would I be losing my mind over something I predicted more than a week ago? That doesn't make any sense.
If anything, my ability to reason was shown to be quite robust.
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Pero2
Guest
Ante loves Greece and would love to play for the NT if not for the nation itself then for all his friends, neighbours, teammates etc. he grew up with. For every person who abuse him on twitter there are 10 more who love him. Ante knows this very well, he grew up with this shit, he wasn't born on another planet.
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Terrorizer2
Guest
Shit, good news. So, I guess, all the Slavic ethnicities are "essentially Russian" and if we steal some young Czech player in his late teens to play for our NT, then it's not different from NT's participation of the Russian-born and -raised players. Yes, Crimean Tatars are closer to Turks than any Nigerian ethnicity is to Greek people but Giannis was born and raised in Athens while for the noble goal of turkifying one 'real Turk' who is in fact Russian-speaking Crimean Tatar from Tashkent you have to change his name and even retardedly turn his surname into feminine form (there is a great deal of jokes how he went from Mr. Il'yasov to Mrs. Ilyasova).
Either way, it was a dick move from Antetokounmpo. He may or may not feel himself deeply attached to his country of birth but this farce is hurting his repuitation. Yet it didn't prevented envious Teodosic from imitating such a classy move in his own slimey manner. I hope that after all this shit he will fail abysmally in his mediocre Clippers.
Overall, there is a big problem with NBA. It has quite a history of pressuring players not to take part in international competitions and it seems to travelling further down that road. For me, that's an example of extreme chauvinism and close-mindedness as when they are playing for their national teams, these basketballers also make a good PR for NBA on the global markets. But you have to expect such a behaviour from a commercial 'flying circus'.
I think it's time to start 'notable absences' topic. Serbia seem to be a leader so far in this department. The depth of their team, whose extent was passionately debated recently, will be tested hard in this tournament.
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Victorious2
Guest
At least Teodosic decided he would not play for Serbia under the auspices of the Serbian Basketball Federation. Imagine Teodosic going to China, being tested by the Clippers, and then announce he will not participate for Serbia. This is quite emparassing and disrespectful. I wonder how the Americans would react if an American player like Lebron would have done that. Frankly, I don't think any of those players would play for the NT ever again. The Greek Federation should decide to act as if he was the worst player on the team.
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Hepcat2
Guest
Regroup with what? Have you checked how Russian teams have been placing in Youth Tournaments?
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