theFireBlanket wrote:Where's this coming from? I didn't get that in the 24.gr NBA article, so I'm guessing this is insider stuff(?). Are the non-basketball reasons known, can they be shared?
Just let "John" Antetokounmpo lead Greece to the Olympics, Bucks' decision makers. He can still work on his game & keep a 11,317 shot a day regimen while training with the national team. Send some of the staff with him.
Don't sow any bitter feelings moving forward. He's proven himself a diligent worker & able to make strides, trust his instinct.
Work with, not against him. Create a positive culture. No need to be paranoid.
If Jabari was invited to play for USA, there'd probably be no chance the owners tell him he can't do it.*
The Greek media hounds the living hell out of Greece's national team. They have very, very little time to practice because of it. Usually, the most well known player of the team has to mainly deal with the media. Example, Spanoulis had endless hours upon hours of time last year he had to dedicate to talking to the media, and struggled to even get in an hour of free time for basketball a day while with the team. Now I would assume Antetokounmpo would have to take that role.
Greece's federation thinks having the media endlessly hound the national team is a good thing, because they think it "motivates the players". But all it does is cause an enormous distraction to the team. Like Team USA has complete control over the media access, the media has complete control over Team Greece.
So don't expect Antetokounmpo to be having all day to work on his game if he is on the national team. Especially not when they are training in Athens, or at an official tournament.
H2tObes wrote:He is the best player on the team by a long shot and probably will be until he is close to retirement. Give him the leadership role now and let the team grow with him year by year, no reason to delay.
H2tObes wrote:Giannis is much better than anybody else on the team and already shows signs of being a leader. Just give him the leadership role early and watch him blossom into the best captain the team has ever had, just put 100% of your trust in Giannis and reap the rewards.
The coach does not give the captain position. It's not even his decision to make. This is an elite European national team, not some fly by night amateur rec team. You don't just get handed the captain position. I seriously doubt that any big European national team would make him their captain.
That's just a reality. There is no point in even arguing about that. And again, being the best player of the team is not even a consideration. The two have nothing to do with each other.
Spanoulis was not even the captain of the team ever, even a guy like Fotsis was chosen as captain over him. Even after that, Zisis (Spanoulis' Robin) was the captain. Being the best player on the team isn't even a part of the equation.
Like I said, Diamantidis, Papaloukas, and Spanoulis - not a one of them was ever the team's captain. Being the team captain has literally zero to do with who is the best player on the team. 2005, 2006, 2007 era, Greece had players like,
Spanoulis
Zisis
Diamantidis
Papaloukas
Dikoudis
Schortsanitis
Fotsis
Tsartsaris
Bourousis
and Kakiouzis was the captain of the team. Kakiouzis was a very good player, but he was never more than like the 7-8 best player on the national team. So then why in the world was he the team's captain, if it is based on who is the best player, gets to be the team captain?
turbostef wrote:If Giannis is the team leader and future of the Greek NT AND the Bucks, and the development of Giannis is
crucial for both the Bucks and the Greek NT why wouldn't Kidd just take over the coaching of the Greek NT?
I am sure most of the Bucks Fans would not recommend this but most of them don't know Coach Katsikaris
)
The first and foremost job of the Greek national team coach is to be the puppet of Vassilakopoulos (Greek basketball federation President), and to do whatever he tells you to do. There is literally zero chance in hell that as long as Vassilakopoulos is running the Greek federation, that any American coach would even be considered.
Just like as long as he is running the federation, no actually competent Greek coach (Giannakis, Bartzokas, Priftis, Itoudis, Sfairopoulos) will ever be allowed near Greece's national team. I mean let's get real here, even someone like Pedoulakis is a better coach than Katsikaris by light years.
Greece NT will never have a competent coach as long as Vassilakopoulos is in charge, because he won't allow anyone near the team that won't just be a pure puppet coach for him.
