Tournament Debriefing: GREECE

[Posidonio]

man i hate the greek media, we won a medal and it seems like nothing happened. oh actually sth did happen, zagorakis threatens to resign and oly prepares for the game against aek. yes these news are more important...

I totally agree on that. For the same reason it is impossible for me to understand why most people in one of the greatest basketball nations in the world considers after 22 years of great basketball success, still football as Nr.1 sport...

[Posidonio]

well i respect your opinion, but sorry i did not like the coaching of the team.

very bad rotation of the team to the all tournament.

it took klaza 15min to see that vs spain we had problem with spanoulis as PG!!!
he did not use kalampokis, and kaimakoglou to try to change and control the rhythm of the game. i am not a coach, i am a fan (surely klaza knows much much more than me) but i was not satisfied.

also i believe that greek team has good opportunities for 2010 even for a medal, but they have to focus a little more for possible games against spaniards. it is embarrassing for players like papaloukas, and zisis, and diamadidis and many others good players to lose from spanish for 6 times! nobody likes to lose especially when you are a top player. so they must be prepared as much as possible for them.

You are absolutely right, as most people who know the game's basic's cannot understand why the hell Spanoulis continued to play pg when from the first games he averaged 5-6 to's.
We could compensate that with teams of lower talent and quality players but never with exceptional teams like Spain who punished for every stupid TO.

One explanation was that he needed space at the top of the arc for his penetrations but even that did not count after the game with Russia and the endless blocks he got. After this game we lost the most effective offensive weapon, i.e. Spanoulis' penetrations...

As far as loosing to Spain, one can only admire the passion and intensity of the Spanish defense, which for me is the true reason of their victory. No other team played with such intensity and this is why the destroyed everybody from the qf to the final by 20-point margins. Respect and shamefull for the Greek NT.

[FIBA Europe Basket]

Pelekanos is better on defence, but doesn't have the shoot Greece needs. If you look at the stats I posted, you will understand we need some good shooters.

Pelekanos though, is very good and I am not saying ignore him.

As for Spanoulis, I think he was our best man. Without him, we wouldn't have been here. No other player had to do so many things in the court, as V-Span had, and from no other player had we so many expectations... His only weakness is his passing in my opinion.

As for Sofo, he was our second best player. Well done on him for fixing his FTs! He is almost our best man now. I am not saying the best, because he lacks some stamina. He can't play long and that's his main weak point now.

Greece lacks freak athletes, big time finishers, and big time play makers. That is what Pelekanos brings. Freakish athletic ability, incredible dunking, and he makes huge plays on the defensive end. He is a dynamic player and that's what Greece is sorely lacking. Spanoulis is dynamic, Sofo is dynamic but none of their other players are. Printezis is more like guy that does dirty work. Diamantidis and Papaloukas and Vasilopoulos are great players but none of them are even in the slightest dynamic. Zisis is run of the mill, Bourousis and Fotsis are good but not dynamic either, etc.

Pelekanos is dynamic. He makes big plays and things happen on the court just like Spanoulis and Sofo. There is no reason why he should not be utilized.

[g.g]

Greece lacks freak athletes, big time finishers, and big time play makers. That is what Pelekanos brings. Freakish athletic ability, incredible dunking, and he makes huge plays on the defensive end. He is a dynamic player and that's what Greece is sorely lacking. Spanoulis is dynamic, Sofo is dynamic but none of their other players are. Printezis is more like guy that does dirty work. Diamantidis and Papaloukas and Vasilopoulos are great players but none of them are even in the slightest dynamic. Zisis is run of the mill, Bourousis and Fotsis are good but not dynamic either, etc.

Pelekanos is dynamic. He makes big plays and things happen on the court just like Spanoulis and Sofo. There is no reason why he should not be utilized.

Are you talking about the Greek Pelekano? I mean he is good player but nothing extraordinary to date...he is very athletic but nothing more.
I hope you may seeing the future on him but that is another story. Today Pelekanos is not NT material.

[FIBA Europe Basket]

Are you talking about the Greek Pelekano? I mean he is good player but nothing extraordinary to date...he is very athletic but nothing more.
I hope you may seeing the future on him but that is another story. Today Pelekanos is not NT material.

Pelekanos is an athletic freak, a lock down defensive player, a great finisher at the rim with powerful dunks and he has perfect technical skills and techniques in offense. If he was let's say Lithuanian, Serbian, Spanish, American where they develop players better he would have been a very good NBA player years ago.

Actually, from a pure basketball scouting standpoint he is an elite level talent. I believe Kazlauskas will use him, unlike how previous coaches don't. Kazlauskas does not know him. I predict a huge year for him at Maroussi though. Just wait.

[fasoulaki]

Pelekanos was playing for the national team in 2007 & 2008. He got his chance to prove himself.

I remember him stealing the ball in defense and then failing to finish the dunk properly. I remember quite well that this happened a lot of times in the tournament.

[Big Lebowski]

Pelekanos is an athletic freak, a lock down defensive player, a great finisher at the rim with powerful dunks and he has perfect technical skills and techniques in offense.

I've read something similar some years ago.
Ah, ok, now I can remember: it was the profile of Michael Jordan when a was a college player.

[Kalashnikov]

when/why is suddenly Pelekanos a world-class player?

So far, in all top-level teams he's played, he hasn't really starred.... For 2nd level teams, perhaps he is perfect but certainly not at top level.

If Greece is looking for some quality players...just take a look at our Under-21 team.

Papanikolaou, Pappas, Kaselakis (my personal favorite) as well as Sloukas and Bogris will be the next generation of Greek basketball and I hope we can see 2-3 of them already performing in Turkey next year.

I also hope that we'll finally issue a Greek passport to Mike Batiste!

[Mysh]

They stas is the best way to lie... In this case I think it's an inderesting tool.

Stats chart of the Greek NT.





Green = Very Good, Yellow = Good, Orange = Average, Red = Poor

OR = Offensive Rebounds, DR = Defensive Rebounds, TR = Total Rebounds, AS = Assists, PF = Personal Fouls, TO = Turnovers, ST = Steals, BS = Blocked Shoots, Pts = Points

Now I understand pretty much everything Kazlauskas did, other than why Koufos didn't play. He is only prone to turnovers, which is expectable for his age.

As for Perperoglou he is clearly one of our best shooters in all 1pt, 2pt and 3pt shoots! Why doesn't he trust himself? He needs to be more confident and shoot more.

Hope that helps!

[softice]

De Colo and Sofo.
We have to give credits at those 2 players for this medal