The Greek National Team thread

[Pachinko_]

All things GNT in one place, strictly in English please.

Any complaints that Giannis should be taking 1m shots a day instead of playing for Greece are welcome here, please let us know. Scary thoughts about injuries etc, keep them to yourselves. We are a superstitious nation.

First day of training camp today, so far showed up:
Giannis, Thanasis, Mantzaris, Larentzakis, Papagiannis, Sloukas, Pappas, Papapetrou, Papanikolaou, Printezis, Agravanis, Mitoglou, Bogris.
Expected to join later: Kalathes, Bourousis.

Not joining: Zach August, Tyler Dorsey ( )

[AussieBuck]

What is the likely makeup of the front court and how many of them can shoot? This is about my level of interest right now. Good thread tho.

[Pachinko_]

What is the likely makeup of the front court and how many of them can shoot? This is about my level of interest right now. Good thread tho.

We have a decent PF (Printezis) and Papagiannis at C (the Kings rookie). Papanikolaou also played some SF for the Rockets once upon a time. I guess those three along with Giannis and Thanassis will take the most minutes. Maybe also the corpse of Bourousis.

We don't really have shooters who can make their own long shots, just a few spot-up guys. That's why I'm pissed off that Dorsey didn't show.

[Fresh_Prince12]

Is Thansis legitimately good enough to earn minutes? I remember a lot of Greek posters saying he is only in because of Giannis

[AussieBuck]

eh I remember Printezis and Papanikolaou. Hoping Giannis is playing C or shooting a lot of jumpers or both.

[emunney]

Put 4 guards around him and let him run point center.

[Nightfall]

...Frontcourt... how many of them can shoot?....

Unless a miracle happens, you should be able to build a house with the brick shots of our frontcourt at each game.

Printezis used to be a 54-55 FG% carreer shooter, had 43% last year with 34% in 3pts. Even his FT dropped from 75-77 to 55% !
Thanassis can only dunk, Bourousis is declining further, Papagiannis has a good hook shot and that's about it so far, but he is still very young. Giannis will be our best shooter

Tyler Dorsey declined because he wanted a guaranteed roster place for the Eurobasket.

[Pachinko_]

Is Thansis legitimately good enough to earn minutes? I remember a lot of Greek posters saying he is only in because of Giannis

Eh it's not like we have much better to be honest
He can't really shoot, pass or dribble, but at least he's a freak athlete and a bulldog in D and he will go for every-single-rebound and put back dunk available. Wait till you see the brothers together though, they get seriously pumped when they play together. Worth watching just for that.

[The Rodzilla]

who did you pay off to get that draw lol

[Nightfall]

Is Thansis legitimately good enough to earn minutes? I remember a lot of Greek posters saying he is only in because of Giannis

He is a defensive beast. He can hit occasionally but very inconsistent. He is very spectacular like Giannis (voted the most spectacular player of the spanish league while playing for a team that barely made top 8). Just for his defense alone I think he earns a spot.

He improved a lot in Spain, and he is transferred to the top Greek club (Panathinaikos) now and I expect him to improve further there under a very good coach.

[emunney]

Not frontcourt, but I guess your best shooter would be Sloukas? He's not really the gunner you need, but he'll at least be able to knock down open shots. Would be able to run a lot of Giannis/Sloukas PnR effectively if the other guys could shoot.

[Pachinko_]

who did you pay off to get that draw lol

Yeah it doesnt matter though, it's like NCAA, it's all about the elimination brackets

[Pachinko_]

Not frontcourt, but I guess your best shooter would be Sloukas? He's not really the gunner you need, but he'll at least be able to knock down open shots. Would be able to run a lot of Giannis/Sloukas PnR effectively if the other guys could shoot.

Sloukas is like a poor man's Rubio, he'll take an open shot but I wouldn't really trust him to create his own. He's all about changing pace and driving to the basket.

[ReginaldDwight]

who did you pay off to get that draw lol

Link? Is this euro Champs?

[Pachinko_]

who did you pay off to get that draw lol

Link? Is this euro Champs?

yep
http://www.fiba.com/eurobasket/2017/groups

[Pachinko_]

Hey look who's coaching Great Britain

[Beorn]

Here's our preliminary squad, by position:
PGs:Kalathes, Sloukas
PG/SGs:Pappas, Mantzaris
SG/SFs: Larentzakis
SF/PFs:Giannis, Thanasis, Papanikolaou,Papapetrou
PFs:Printezis, Mitoglou, Agravanis
Cs:Bourousis, Bogris, Papagiannis

The guys in Bold are the ones I expect to be selected for the final squad, barring injuries and dissension

Our achilles' heel is shooting, in theory Sloukas, Pappas, Mantzaris, Papanikolaou & Papapetrou are decent 3pt shooters, but none is a deadly one and they can't shoot off the dribble tbh.
Our pure Cs are behemoths who can't guard PnRs, and offensively need the ball at the post. Only Bourousis has range but he's not Sabonis either.
Printezis, the best greek player in Europe has been worn down in the last few seasons due to excessive minutes/usage and age, he still is the best post player in Euroleague. He doesn't fit much with Giannis sadly
Kalathes is a very good passer and defender but he is usually sabotaging his own team as everyone plays 5 foot off him at the offensive end, he's maybe the WoaT shooter. He absolutely shouldn't play alongside Giannis.
Mantzaris is a 3+D PG, good fit for Giannis.
Sloukas is a pure PG who shoots fairly well but lacks elite athleticism, Pappas is more of a combo Guard but can pass decently too.
Thanasis competes with Kalathes for the WoaT shooter title, I believe he would work really well as a small ball PF/C( a la Kyle Hines, but he's convinced that he's an SG/SF despite lacking any basketball skills for the position.
Our best bet would be Giannis at C surrounded by 4 shooters or 3 shooters+Printezis, but this would push our Cs out of the rotation or scrambling to get 15'-20' and I don't believe we 'll go this way. We don't have enough 3pt threats, that's where Dorsey could have been handy.

As for the rest:
Mitoglou would fit as a shooter, but he's going to be cut imo due to hierarchy/inexperience. Larentzakis has great heart and is a good defender, but he can't shoot at all. A camp body. Agravanis is somewhat athletic, but totally uncoordinated and has mush for brains. Will make 1 fantastic play for every 5 shaq'ting-a-fool ones. Bogris is somewhat skilled and has steadily improved, but his game overlaps too much with our other bigs'. A well known milf-hunter though

[ReginaldDwight]

A well known milf-hunter though

And one must love the Greek milfs.

[Prince12]

Australia > Greece

[M-C-G]

Australia > Greece

Spanoulis > Planet Earth