cupcakesnake wrote:I get that Giannis, Calathes, Sloukas, Dorsey and others aren't playing and that Greece has missing talent, but I miss the Diamantidis, Papaloukas era. Greece hasn't quite found an identity in the Giannis era.
Greece always plays better when there are no Antetokounmpo brothers on the floor. They always play better without Giannis. They always play better without Thanasis. They always play their best without either of them.
As far as Sloukas and Calathes go, they are both cancers and they need to move away from both of them.
Without Sloukas, without Calathes, without the Antetokounmpo brothers, they play the classic style of Greek basketball. The same style that was so successful when they had Zisis, Spanoulis, Papaloukas, Diamantidis. We saw it today in the second half of the game, as soon as Thanasis was pulled from the game.
Hard defense, team defense, passing the ball, movement on offense, and playing as a team. All of that stuff that they did with the era of great guards of Zisis, Spanoulis, Diamantidis, Papaloukas. All of the things that they absolutely do not ever do as soon as Sloukas, or Calathes, or either of the Antetokounmpo brothers step on the court, when the whole style of play becomes ball hogging, stagnant, boring, and predictable on offense, and one to one on defense.
It can't be a coincidence. It's going on for years and years now, that they automatically play so much better without those 4 players (Calathes, Sloukas, Antetokounmpo brothers).
And that's with still missing key players like Agravanis, Mitoglou, and so forth. And I mean let's be honest here, Thomas Walkup is just very barely passable as a lead guard on offense, even for this level. He's not even an actual point guard, as his offensive skills are very limited. Very limited handles, very shaky shooter, no moves on offense, other than a little floater or push shot, and very limited play making skills.
He's nowhere near as talented or skilled as someone like Sloukas is. But he plays team basketball on offense, and he tries on defense. Just to compare him to Sloukas, who is a massive ball hog and a horrendous defender. So that makes an obvious difference. And it's not like Walkup is some great floor general. His organization skills are limited, and he's got bad shot selection, and he' thinks he's way, way better than he actually is. But even then, it's 100 times the basketball IQ of Sloukas.
This is all Greece needs, just to get back to playing defense and team basketball on offense. What they did in the second half after Thanasis was benched. The problem is the coaches are obsessed with all of these players that won't play team basketball.
Of course, even if Greece plays proper team basketball, there is no one on the team that is even like 1/10 as good as Spanoulis, or even Papaloukas, or hell, not even 1/10 as good as even Zisis was. So they have certain limits. But if they play properly as a team, then they will demolish teams like New Zealand, like in the second half. If they play this NBA style nonsense crap, like they did in the first half, then even teams like New Zealand can beat them.
But ever since players like Calathes, Sloukas, and especially the Antetokounmpo brothers, joined the team, all the coaches do is play this NBA style nonsense. It doesn't work for Greece's NT. It's never worked, and it's never going to work. And it's just amazing that the coaches can't grasp it after years and years of the same results. After years and years of the team even playing better without Giannis.
Coach Itoudis saw how the team played much better without Thanasis, who in the first place, has zero business even being on Greece's NT, because he's in no way at all actually good enough to make the roster, and what will Itoudis probably do in the next game? Probably play Thanasis 30 minutes or whatever.
