Young greek basketball talent

[yianis]

Hi All
This is my first post. (Well second if you count my mistakenly putting this it in the international basketball section)

A big congradulations first to the Greek national team and their silver.

My questions for those of you that have access to greek basketball games. (They dont show much in Australia unfortunately)
Who are the future stars of greek basketball?

Is the future of greek basketball as bright as the present?
Presently we have great depth with atleast ten players of exceptional talent.
Young players coming thru that i know of are Sofo, Sakota, Mavrokefalidis, Vasilopoulos and Zisis. Is there much more tallent coming thru than these five.
No doubt after the success of the national team Eurobasket 2005 and Mundobasket 2006 kids watching these games will start playing the sport.
Also im sure many of the present team are the result of the success of 1987.

But will there be a great lull in between this team and the next great team or is their alot of talent i dont know about coming thru?
Also any coments on the talent of the above five or any other players mentioned would be appreciated.
Thanks Yianis

[KokkinosVasilias]

Hi All
This is my first post. (Well second if you count my mistakenly putting this it in the international basketball section)

A big congradulations first to the Greek national team and their silver.

My questions for those of you that have access to greek basketball games. (They dont show much in Australia unfortunately)
Who are the future stars of greek basketball?

Is the future of greek basketball as bright as the present?
Presently we have great depth with atleast ten players of exceptional talent.
Young players coming thru that i know of are Sofo, Sakota, Mavrokefalidis, Vasilopoulos and Zisis. Is there much more tallent coming thru than these five.
No doubt after the success of the national team Eurobasket 2005 and Mundobasket 2006 kids watching these games will start playing the sport.
Also im sure many of the present team are the result of the success of 1987.

But will there be a great lull in between this team and the next great team or is their alot of talent i dont know about coming thru?
Also any coments on the talent of the above five or any other players mentioned would be appreciated.
Thanks Yianis

I really believe in Vasilopoulos' abilities and i think he will be a great player in a few years, he is very athletic, he is very fast and can play defence in the perimeter and with his high vertical jump he can take rebounds
we all know what Sofo can do,
Zisis is already a very good player
Mavrokefalidis will soon be good enough for the NT
Sakota will be the shooter of the NT that is needed

and we shouldnt forget Bourousis (Olympiakos), Kiritsis (Marousi), Printezis (Olympiakos), Vasiliadis (Malaga), Pelekanos (Panellinios)

[Nemesis 11 (aka Sabas 11)]

What ever happended to Tapoutos?

[KokkinosVasilias]

What ever happended to Tapoutos?

he never improved his skills... i guess he is one of those players talented young players that dont do much later on...

[GR8BBALL]

I copy my post from the other thread:

Some good prospects are also playng in the US right now like:

Ian Vouyoukas-Plays for St Louis University, born and raised in Greece, he's a senior and will have good chances in next year's draft if he continues to improve, power forward at 6-10...
http://slubillikens.cstv.com/sports/...kas_ian00.html

Kostas Koufos-He is big (7-1) and talented according to many reports he's just 18 years old and will play college ball for Ohio State U. He's very promising talent his parents are both Greek but I don't know if he'll choose to play for Greece or the US nt (U21 teams).


As for Tapoutos, he was one of my favorite players, hope he will evolve sometime, I think he should play abroad... Where is he playing now??

[EverGreen]

He's very promising talent his parents are both Greek but I don't know if he'll choose to play for Greece or the US nt (U21 teams).

Why would he want to do that?

[mktackabery]

you hooked me at young, greek, basketball, talent . . .

[GR8BBALL]

Why would he want to do that?

He would play for USA because he was born and raised in the US.
Probably he's done that already--though I hope not
Then again, he could play for Greece--he is eligible because of his parents.

[EverGreen]

He would play for USA because he was born and raised in the US.
Probably he's done that already--though I hope not
Then again, he could play for Greece--he is eligible because of his parents.

Well if he want's an international career, playing for Greece is the only way for him to do it.

[Big Lebowski]

Koufos will be a lottery-pick. About him, I've found this interview:

http://michigan.scout.com/2/396186.html

What's your family background?

"I'm not from Greece. Everybody is messing that up. Everybody in my family was born in Greece besides my siblings and me. My parents were born in Greece. My mom was probably around twelve when she went to Australia, and then from Australia she came here. And my dad, I don't know…I think age ten or eleven. I've got one older brother and one older sister that were born in Ohio."

I don't think the guy is going to play for the Greek NT.

-----------

About Tapoutos: amazing talent, he had to many problems in his career (injuries). He also had problems because he grew too much in the last years. It's really a pity: I remember him during a friendly game with the Mediterranean Games NT, against Italy. He played few minutes, showing to be a basketball born talent, but he had to pray his coach to be replaced, with a lot of sadness in his eyes. He has really been unlucky, this boy was really going to become the number one of Hellenic basketball of the decade.

[EverGreen]

Koufos will be a lottery-pick. About him, I've found this interview:

http://michigan.scout.com/2/396186.html



I don't think the guy is going to play for the Greek NT.

Well, he's a same case as Nikos Galis then. Hopefully he will care enough to come play when invited.

[J.J.Riddick]

Tapoutos used to be one of my fave players when he was playing in AEK. Its a shame he had all these injuries since then. What about Yannakis junior??? Has anyone see him in action?

[EverGreen]

I don't even know where Yannakis Jr. plays but I dont hear anything about him about being very talented.

on the other hand Vlado Jankovic is very talented and plays for the Greek Youth NT.

[rchos7]

i think yannakis junior is playing at doukas.i don't really know how good is he or even how old is he but i guess that if he was a great talent we would know about him.

[J.J.Riddick]

Another talented greek seems to be Pappas of Panellinios. (16 y.o 1.83cm, Guard)

Check out his stats in the matches of junior NT.

Against Letonia 22(1)
http://www.otenet.gr/portal/portal/m...sketleagues_gr

Against Iceland 29(1)
http://www.otenet.gr/portal/portal/m...sketleagues_gr

Against Croatia 18(2)
http://www.otenet.gr/portal/portal/m...sketleagues_gr

Against Serbia 20 (1)
http://www.otenet.gr/portal/portal/m...sketleagues_gr

Another player that i must mention is Zisis Sarikopoulos of Olympiakos. (16 y.o, 2.11cm, Center)

Wow if in his 16, he is 2.11 i can imagine what height he will have in 1-2 years.

[T.W.Is.M.]

i think the next young player who will b in the nt will b vasileiadis after 1-2 seasons with malaga.he may b the shooter our team needs.what about giannakidis who played 4 the under 19 team in this year's EC?he seemed a good prospect also

[sprewell]

i think the next young player who will b in the nt will b vasileiadis after 1-2 seasons with malaga.he may b the shooter our team needs.

Totally agree for Vasileiadis. Very good shooting, very good defence, great energy and imho better than Chatzivrettas. Vasileiadis the next best thing.

[hagakure]

Unless Hazivretas has a great season (which is very doubtful IMO), I don't think he will be a member of the NT next summer.

[KokkinosVasilias]

Unless Hazivretas has a great season (which is very doubtful IMO), I don't think he will be a member of the NT next summer.

he is a PAO player, thats good enough for Yiannakis to invite him in the NT,
paizei me meso...

[Big Lebowski]

Well, he's a same case as Nikos Galis then. Hopefully he will care enough to come play when invited.

Gkalis raised in the US, Greek parents...
Koufos raised in the US, Greek parents...

But there are three decades of difference. At that time NBA and the rest of the world were really two different planets. Gkalis, smart person, understood that he could have a career in Europe. Or maybe he though he could not have a career in the USA. He arrived in Greece and he changed everything. He arrived in a place where basketball wasn't practically existing. A strange country in which the final game of the Greek Cup could have 50.000 spectators at the Kalimarmaro, but the European high-level was pretty far.

Actually the situation is pretty different. Koufos can have a NBA career (if Cabarkapa plays in the NBA everyone can do that), in the 3rd Millennium there have been three international drafted with the 1st pick. And Greece is a developed basketball country. It would be pretty interesting to see how the team mates could accept someone who maybe doesn't even speak Greek so well (maybe he does, who knows...), who has never played in Europe, who can arrive as a "supposed star". It would pretty interesting to see the motivations of Koufos. Of course no-one can imagine how he will behave, which decisions he will take. Maybe he'll prefer to play for some U-21 USA NT, for example. Maybe he will just think to his NBA career. If some "autoctonous players" like Stojakovic don't play with their NTs, what about someone who has raised abroad? Anyway, that's pretty interesting issue. I'm very curious to see how the guy will develop his career. Personally, I hope he will have a European career, the same thing I hope for each European basketballer...