2014 Greek Team

[yianis]

Hi All would love to hear your thoughts on coaches and players for this years world championship

[christodoulou76]

Katsikaris is the favorite for the coaching position (EDIT: maybe not; it looks like Giannakis is now the frontrunner). Trincheri appears to be on the way out. As far as the roster is concerned, it might look something like this

Calathes, Sloukas, Mantzaris [Zisis]
Spanoulis, Bramos [Vasiliadis]
Papanikolaou, Perperoglou, Antetokounmpo
Printezis, Kaimakoglou [Fotsis]
Bourousis, Koufos [Schortsanitis]

[KWSN-Men]

Sloukas, Mantzaris, Zissis
Spanoulis, Katsivelis
Papanikolaou, Perperoglou
Printezis
Bourousis

All the others might be left out.

[Toxicity]

Katsikaris is the favorite for the coaching position. Trincheri appears to be on the way out. As far as the roster is concerned, it might look something like this

What about Yannakis?

[christodoulou76]

The latest report I read says that Giannakis is the frontrunner. So Toxicity your question is very apt.

[KWSN-Men]

Giannakis... lel

[Victorious]

Koufos, Bourousis, Sofo
Kaimakoglou, Printezis [Fotsis]
Papanikolaou, Perperoglou
Spanoulis, Bramos, [Zisis]
Calathes, Mantzaris, Sloukas

If Giannakis will be the new coach, don't count out Diamantidis. Antekontoumbo is not ready at all. He just gets some scrap minutes on a very bad NBA team.

[yianis]

The latest report I read says that Giannakis is the frontrunner. So Toxicity your question is very apt.

http://www.gazzetta.gr/basketball/article/585155/oi-21-epiloges-gia-ton-diadoho-toy-trinkieri

This is the most recent article I read.

In summary for my non Greek reading friends: It says that first choice coach is Fotis Kastikaris. There have been three meetings thus far with none of them reaching a resolution. There are expected to be more in the future. The main issues to be resolved are that Katsikaris wants a fulltime role. At present he is not coaching and a part time role with the greek side would not allow him to accept offers from ACB clubs. He also wants to choose his assistants and keep the players totally under his control and away from the Greek federation. Second choice is Yiannis Sfairopoulou. He is a former assistant coach of Petropoulos, Ioannidis, Yiannakis and Kasluaskas. He is a coach that is low profile and is well liked. His past experience could be valuable. The article also says that Itoudis the former coach is a wild card in the pack. He had contact with Vasilopoulos prior to coach T being chosen and has recently patched up his differences with Spanoulis at the most recent Euro Final 4.

Surprisingly the article also says Yiannakis is out of the picture as he had a fall out with Vasilopoulos during his most recent reign as coach of the Greek side as a result no effort has been made to contact him.

I think Yiannakis would of been the safest option. He has had a very successful run with the Greek team and I'm sure would get good results once again. Katsikaris seems quite talented and would be interesting but he would have to be given free reign otherwise there's no point. Itoudis has failed once that said he had very little time to prepare the side prior to qualification for the Olympics, had a fall out with a number of players though, but was able to take an untried under strength team to a top 6 place at eurobasket. I know little about Sfairopoulou to be honest he does though seem to have a lot of experience.

[Victorious]

http://www.gazzetta.gr/basketball/ar...-toy-trinkieri

This is the most recent article I read.

In summary for my non Greek reading friends: It says that first choice coach is Fotis Kastikaris. There have been three meetings thus far with none of them reaching a resolution. There are expected to be more in the future. The main issues to be resolved are that Katsikaris wants a fulltime role. At present he is not coaching and a part time role with the greek side would not allow him to accept offers from ACB clubs. He also wants to choose his assistants and keep the players totally under his control and away from the Greek federation. Second choice is Yiannis Sfairopoulou. He is a former assistant coach of Petropoulos, Ioannidis, Yiannakis and Kasluaskas. He is a coach that is low profile and is well liked. His past experience could be valuable. The article also says that Itoudis the former coach is a wild card in the pack. He had contact with Vasilopoulos prior to coach T being chosen and has recently patched up his differences with Spanoulis at the most recent Euro Final 4.

Surprisingly the article also says Yiannakis is out of the picture as he had a fall out with Vasilopoulos during his most recent reign as coach of the Greek side as a result no effort has been made to contact him.

I think Yiannakis would of been the safest option. He has had a very successful run with the Greek team and I'm sure would get good results once again. Katsikaris seems quite talented and would be interesting but he would have to be given free reign otherwise there's no point. Itoudis has failed once that said he had very little time to prepare the side prior to qualification for the Olympics, had a fall out with a number of players though, but was able to take an untried under strength team to a top 6 place at eurobasket. I know little about Sfairopoulou to be honest he does though seem to have a lot of experience.

I also like Giannakis as an option. The problem is that his style of play always came short against Spain, but also against teams like Lithuania and Argentina because Greece's game didn't show enough firepower to counter balance these teams offensive skills. Still, Greece under Giannakis did have the best results. On the other hand, the more recent Greece NTs could win and loose against anyone at any given moment. Defensively Greece just wasn't what they used to be any more.

I have to say that the federation is a bit clumsy lately. There is no balance in the coaching staff. Coach K once said that Greece was a lot better under coach Giannakis. I take his word for it.

[sime0n]

Hope they take both greek freaks (brother is playing well in the dleague too)

[serbianhoops]

Hope they take both greek freaks (brother is playing well in the dleague too)

I'm not sure Thanasis Antetokounmpo can produce at the national team level yet. But he should be a legit candidate for Greek national team in short/medium term. With both of them‚ Greece will reach another dimension in terms of length‚ athleticism and energy (especially on the defensive end)

I won't be surprised if all 4 Antetokounmpo brothers made Greek senior national team in the long term perspective considering 6'7" Kostas & 5'9" Alexandros' young age and genetic predispositions.

[Victorious]

I'm not sure Thanasis Antetokounmpo can produce at the national team level yet. But he should be a legit candidate for Greek national team in short/medium term. With both of them‚ Greece will reach another dimension in terms of length‚ athleticism and energy (especially on the defensive end)

I won't be surprised if all 4 Antetokounmpo brothers made Greek senior national team in the long term perspective considering 6'7" Kostas & 5'9" Alexandros' young age and genetic predispositions.

You should consider the position the brothers will have to play. The SF position of Greece includes players like Papanikolaou and Perperoglou. I can see Giannis Antekontoumbo play in that position after Perperoglou retires or if he develops his game a great deal. But in order for Thanassis to play as well, that would mean that he would have to compete to Papanikolaou and Giannis Antekontoumpo. Meaning he would at least have to be better than Papanikolaou in order to play with his brother for the Greek NT.

[serbianhoops]

You should consider the position the brothers will have to play. The SF position of Greece includes players like Papanikolaou and Perperoglou. I can see Giannis Antekontoumbo play in that position after Perperoglou retires or if he develops his game a great deal. But in order for Thanassis to play as well, that would mean that he would have to compete to Papanikolaou and Giannis Antekontoumpo. Meaning he would at least have to be better than Papanikolaou in order to play with his brother for the Greek NT.

Thanasis is a swingman who has size and lateral foot speed to contain effectively most of european shootings guards while Giannis has the size to play as face-up power forward and stretch the opponent defense. That's why it's not impossible to imagine a scenario in which Giannis, Papanikolaou & Thanasis can be together at the same time on the court.

To me both brothers will be legit members of Greek national team in the years to come, however this World Cup comes too early for Thanasis. To put it in a nutshell, they will bring a considerable added value to Greek national team after the 2014 World Cup.

[Victorious]

Thanasis is a swingman who has size and lateral foot speed to contain effectively most of european shootings guards while Giannis has the size to play as face-up power forward and stretch the opponent defense. That's why it's not impossible to imagine a scenario in which Giannis, Papanikolaou & Thanasis can be together at the same time on the court.

To me both brothers will be legit members of Greek national team in the years to come, however this World Cup comes too early for Thanasis. To put it in a nutshell, they will bring a considerable added value to Greek national team after the 2014 World Cup.

So your point is that Thanassis, a year from now, will have more to offer the Greek national team than Perperoglou? A solid European clutch player who won EL titles with different teams and could basically play in any top team in Europe. Not to mention that he reached his height just recently at 29.

You have to consider something, Greece has a style of playing which does not rely heavily on foot speed and athleticism. Rather, it relies on defense, physical strength, organisation, tactics, good execution and players who can perform in clutch minutes. It took the highly talented and athletic French team a decade to include some of these attributes to their team and win the European title. Not to mention that they finally managed to beat Spain without Gasol and Navarro. So, as I was making my point, adding inexperienced players like Thanassis (and even Antekontoumbo in this phase) to the Greek team and leave out experienced players like Perperoglou or Kaimakoglou is very risky and can compromise the team chemistry in important games.

Last year playing for the young Greek NT, Giannis Antekontoumbo, performed rather poorly in important games. So I doubt that he'll be ready to play for the senior team this year. That said, I agree that today's basketball is slowly changing and an athletic player like Antekontoumbo in the Greek NT can be a great asset. Just like Ibaka is for Spain. As for Thanassis, he needs to show much more in different levels to be part of the team. Perhaps it is time for one of the Greek EL teams to include him in their roster. See what he can do.

[yianis]

So your point is that Thanassis, a year from now, will have more to offer the Greek national team than Perperoglou? A solid European clutch player who won EL titles with different teams and could basically play in any top team in Europe. Not to mention that he reached his height just recently at 29.

You have to consider something, Greece has a style of playing which does not rely heavily on foot speed and athleticism. Rather, it relies on defense, physical strength, organisation, tactics, good execution and players who can perform in clutch minutes. It took the highly talented and athletic French team a decade to include some of these attributes to their team and win the European title. Not to mention that they finally managed to beat Spain without Gasol and Navarro. So, as I was making my point, adding inexperienced players like Thanassis (and even Antekontoumbo in this phase) to the Greek team and leave out experienced players like Perperoglou or Kaimakoglou is very risky and can compromise the team chemistry in important games.

Last year playing for the young Greek NT, Giannis Antekontoumbo, performed rather poorly in important games. So I doubt that he'll be ready to play for the senior team this year. That said, I agree that today's basketball is slowly changing and an athletic player like Antekontoumbo in the Greek NT can be a great asset. Just like Ibaka is for Spain. As for Thanassis, he needs to show much more in different levels to be part of the team. Perhaps it is time for one of the Greek EL teams to include him in their roster. See what he can do.

I have to agree with Victorious I don't see how either of the the A brothers are ready. Sad thing is nba commentators speak to Giannis like its a given he will be in the Greek National team and when he replies if I am chosen they reply with surely you will be how can they leave you out like he is being chosen to play for Papua New Guinea or something. A little sad really that the American commentators still don't respect other national team's the way they should. Their loss to Greece in 2006 was no fluke. The Greeks were a better team they were well prepared well balanced and had won the European Championship the year before. I suppose one should expect that from commentators for a competition that calls its American club competition the world championship. The Spanish team that year would have also likely beaten the US. I just hope all this talk doesn't go to Giannis' head. He seems a pretty down to earth kid and has enormous potential.

On a side note Panayiotis Yiannakis is a free agent. From what the media has been saying its unlikely that he will be called upon but I think he should be in the mix. One thing people forget about Yiannakis is that throughout both reigns as coach he had pretty much a full roster of players as a result of the respect he had of the players. Whether this will continue with the new generation that was born post Yiannakis' playing days is another question but he does seem to do a good job of getting players on board and uniting a team. The one exception was Sofo but which coach hasn't had problems with him.