EDITORIAL
I
t took us a little longer to finish the second issue of our magazine, however, this delay was beneficial and you will be able to attest to it browsing through the pages of this second issue of “We are Olympiacos”. Before we decided on its context, we knew it was going to be an issue dedicated to Giorgos Printezis and that’s because his records were imminent. The kid has grown up indeed and has been writing history. He’s been wearing and honoring the Olympiacos’ jersey since 2000 with only some small intervals and fate has it so that this kid who has shown up during the Olympiacos pre-season camp in 2000 is now the top scorer in our team’s history in the Greek League and the players with the most Euroleague games, surpassing his childhood hero and Olympiacos icon, Milan Tomic. We took a walk back in time with ‘Print’. He got photographed for you at the same spot and with almost the same clothes and the same posture like he had done then as the new kid for the “OLYMPIACOS” magazine. It was a special moment for every one of us who participated this photo shoot. Bring Giorgos to tears wasn’t that hard either, since, like he discloses in his big exclusive interview, he doesn’t hold them back. So, an issue dedicated to the young kid that grew up, but not just that. The “We Are Olympiacos” hosts Bobby Brown’s first interview as an Olympiacos player and exclusive statements by James Harden on his close friend. There are many more for you to see in the 96 pages of our magazine. Our goal is to surpass 260,000 impressions the first issue has had hosting the interview of captain Vassilis Spanoulis. Wish you a good reading… Christos G. Bafes
TITLES
ADMINISTRATION
EuroLeague 1997, 2012, 2013
Owners: Panagiotis & Giorgos Angelopoulos
Intercontinental Cup 2013 OLYMPIACOS B.C. S.A. Address: Peace and Friendship Stadium Ethnarchou Makariou 1 Ave. Neo Faliro, Piraeus 18 547 Tel :210 4527600 Fax: 210 45 27 601 Email: info@olympiacosbc.gr Website: www.olympiacosbc.gr
Greek Champion 1949, 1960, 1976, 1978, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 2012, 2015, 2016 Greek Cup Winner 1976, 1977, 1978, 1989, 1994, 1997, 2002, 2010, 2011
Board Members Georgios Skindilias Christos Stavropoulos Dimitris Prassos General Director Christos Stavropoulos Financial Director Nearchos Riganas
We Are Olympiacos (Official Magazine) Published by: PRESS OFFICE of OLYMPIACOS B.C. Editor in Chief Christos Bafes Editors Jenny Gravia, Antonis Katsikis Designer Andreas Saisanas Photographic agency Eurokinissi
Marketing & Commercial development Director Nikos Lepeniotis
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CONTEXT
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GIORGOS PRINTEZIS INTERVIEW The kid has grown up and talks to the official team magazine
SPECIAL: HIS COACHES Sfairopoulos, Tomic, Ivkovic, Bartzokas, Giannakis, Subotic, Ketselidis talk about ‘Print’.
COLUMNS
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NUMBERS & SOCIAL 4 OLYMPIACOSBC.GR
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INSIDE THE DRESSING ROOM
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TODAY IN…
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WHEN I WAS TEN
ISSUE 2 / MARCH 2018
42 BOBBY BROWN The first interview of the American guard in Greece.
48 JAMES HARDEN The American super start talks about his friend.
50 OLYMPIACOS IN ITALY The ‘reds’ boutique in Varese.
52 OLBC CENTER STORE The opening of the new store in Athens.
62 BULLS vs. OLYMPIACOS When Olympiacos got to meet Michael Jordan.
72 ALEKSEJ POKUSEVSKI The Olympiacos’ generation X.
82 DAVID CLANCY A shout out for the Olympiacos program by the Spurs.
86 COOL EUROLEAGUE Backstage from the Euroleague show with the ‘Paps’.
88 BRIAN ROBERTS The American guard reveals himself. OLYMPIACOSBC.GR
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PHOTOGRAPHERS’ CHOICE THE OUTBURST! The game in Madrid was nerve racking from the beginning to the end. The Sfairopoulos’ players played an amazing game against Real and had control of the match up. ΤHowever, basketball is a game that keeps you on your feet till the last second and that was what happened in the Wizink Center as well. The ‘reds’ had exceeded themselves throughout the game but mainly with the last defensive play. The refs call a foul on Giorgos Printezis after the clock had run out and the Greek forward, just like all of his team mates, nervously wait for the final decision after the game officials study the instant replay. The final call is that the clock had indeed run out and Printezis screaming in relief in the arms of his team mates is the best epilogue of a great evening.
NUMBERS & SOCIAL
GATE 7: EVERYBODY WAS THERE We all have the sacred obligation to be at that rendezvous. On February 3, 2018, outside Gate 7 of the “G. Karaiskakis” stadium, the whole of the basketball team stood by the side of the football team and the teams of the Amateurs Club of Olympiacos to honor the memory of the 21 victims of GATE 7. All together to keep the memory of our tragically lost brothers alive for yet another year.
SFAIROPOULOS WRITES HISTORY The game against Real Madrid was special not only for Olympiacos, but also for coach Sfairopoulos. The victory in Spain was the 71st European one for the Greek coach in the ‘reds’ bench and hence surpassed Dusan Ivkovic that has a record of 70. Giannis Sfairopoulos has now 73 victories and he’s the coach with the most European games in the team’s history having 112 against 103 for Ivkovic.
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MOST POPULAR YOUTUBE VIDEO The video with the wrong calls the refs made during the Panathinaikos - Olympiacos games for the Greek League. 80.983 views
OUR FIRST ISSUE The idea to create the official magazine for Olympiacos’ basketball team, to launch “We are Olympiacos” as a continuation of the official Club magazine that has stopped being published for some years no, had been in our minds for a long time. Your embrace and the way you welcomed our first endeavor made us really proud. 262,769 impressions for our first issue that hosted an exclusive interview by Vasilis Spanoulis as well as many more interesting topics.
RED TWEETS
IT’S BETTER TO TALK… “I played 2 - 3 parody of games in January. It was an important victory and it would not be fair to lose a game that would be boosting our psychology in view of what comes next as well as our chances for home court advantage. We were gaining an advantage and were losing it right away and it was bad the way we were losing. We won a great game against Fenerbahce. That’s Euroleague. There are going to be ups and downs. We all work and everyone needs to look inside and make their personal assessment”. What Giorgos Printezis stated following the victory in Madrid.
MOST POPULAR TWEET O L D M A T E B I R T H D AY SCOONIE PENN
34.984 IMPRESSIONS 3125 INTERACTIONS HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO OUR OLYMPIACOS! An ‘Eternal’ Teen age 93. On March 10, Olympiacos got to blew 93 birthday candles. The greatest Club in Greece marches to his first century of life and at the same time collects titles and writes unique pages in the history book of Greek sports. It is only certain that the Navy officer Notis Kamperos and the businessmen and other Piraeus citizens, like the Adrianopoulos family (all 5 brothers members of the football team), that owns a trading company, the manufacturer Michail Manouskos, the Post Office Manager, Stavros Marangkoudakis, the trader Nikos Andronikos, the Army Officer Dimitris Sklias, the attorney at law Nikolaos Zacharias, the notary Athanasios Mermigkas, the stock brocker Ioannis Kekkes, could not had imagined the greatness of this Club when founding it on March 10, 1925. Happy Birthday Olympiacos. The best is yet to come…
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REDWHITE SOCIAL MEDIA
MOST POPULAR FACEBOOK POST The photo with the final score form the victory at the OAKA over Panathinaikos.
260.935 impressions 19.120 comments and interactions Facebook.com/olympiacosbc 405.580 Likes
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THRILL What took place at the court of the Peace and Friendship Stadium on Friday night, March 9, 2018, will always remain in the memories of those at the stadium’s tribunes that day or that were watching the game on TV. Before the jump ball of the Olympiacos game against Bamberg for the 25th day of the Euroleague, the Piraeus team honored Daniel Hackett, who had worn the ‘reds’ jersey for two seasons, for his contribution to the team. The Italian responded to the honor with a move that means too much. He bent and kissed the Olympiacos logo showing that he’s never going to forget his time at Piraeus.
MOST POPULAR INSTAGRAM POST When Jamel McLean was a kid. Throw Back Thursday through our official Instagram account with the American center. #WeAreOlympiacos #TBT
131.201 impressions - 10.109 Likes - 816 Comments
OUR VOLUNTEERS CELEBRATE THE NEW YEAR On January 16, about two hours before the jump ball of the Olympiacos - Maccabi game, all the Olympiacos volunteering team attended a small but nevertheless very pleasant event, that’s becoming a tradition! Among others, they got to exchange gifts and cut the traditional Greek New Years pie. The lucky one that won the New Year’s token was Ada Flevari, who joined the program this season and got to receive a team jersey signed by the players. It’s worth noting that the Olympiacos B.C. volunteers program is running strong for its 9th consecutive season.
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RED MOMENTS
03
Tillie, Strelnieks, Bogris and Toliopoulos offer presents and smiles to the young patients of the Athens Medical Center.
01.2018
01.2018
01
02.2018
13
02.2018
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02.2018
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The ‘Paps’ embrace. Papanikolaou leaves the game following a great performance against Fenerbahce and runs to hug his best friend Ioannis Papapetrou who had not played due to injury.
On Tuesday, february 13, was the burial service for Angelos Grigoriadis, a historic member of the Gate 7 Fan Club. “Grandpa” was not forgotten by the Olympiacos fans during the game against Trikala that took place a few hours later.
Being in Barcelona to shoot the “Cool Euroleague”, Papanikolaou and Papapetrou went to watch the Barcelona - Real Madrid game. The ex ‘blaugrana’, Kostas Papanikolaou, got numerous photos with the Catalan fans.
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Kostas Papanikolaou cannot stop teasing even during games. Trying to save a ball, he found himself at court seats, found an empty chair and decided to rest…
During the game against Kymi for the Greek League, the two teams laid flowers in the memory of the 21 victims of Gate 7.
02.2018
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Not letting go? The game against Valencia was anything but easy for the ‘reds’ following the losing game for the Greek Cup Final. Nikola Milutinov stood by Vasilis Spanoulis in this very important victory for Olympiacos.
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Bobby Brown landed at the “Eleftherios Venizelos” in the evening of February 24. Waiting for his luggage, he got to get his first ‘red’ selfie.
02.2018
02.2018
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One game, three records
T
he game against Trikala for the 16th day of the Basket League was of historic significance because a record of 24 years got to break while two more important achievements, one individual and a team on got on record. The fact that the opposing team had only seven players in its roster is definitely a fact to consider, but when a record is set, it cannot have an actual impact, given that we record numbers and not the circumstances entailing them. Which is that record? The 22 offensive rebounds the Sfairopoulos team got to grab is their best A1 performance, however, not the best in the team’s history, since on March 17, 2017, in the game against Galatasaray, the ‘reds’ had 23 offensive rebounds, losing nevertheless to the Turkish team 71-80. Olympiacos beat Trikala with relative ease (73-98) and the total rebounding for the Piraeus team was certainly a factor. The ‘reds’ got a total of 54 boards; only two shy of their best performance that was recorded in the distant 1994 (see relevant indexes). As for the individual record? The 46 ranking points for Nikola Milutinov accumulated by the statistical index numbers is the third best performance in the category in the team’s history for domestic competitions, behind Alexander Volkov and Roy Tarpley. Milutinov accumulated 46 points, having 20 points (9/10 2p., 2/2 1p.), 18 rebounds, 2 assists, 5 steals and 1 block.
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EFFICIENCY 1. Alexander VOLKOV
Olympiacos - Ampelokipoi ΑFISORAM
19.11.94
129:69
54
2. Roy TARPLEY
Olympiacos - SATO Aris
29.01.94
95:72
52
3. Νikola MILUTINOV
Trikala BC Aries - Olympiacos
13.02.18
73:98
46
4. Dino RADJA
Olympiacos - AEK
17.03.01
92:94
45
5. Roy TARPLEY
Olympiacos - DUR Apollon Patras
23.10.93
84:50
43
6. Roy TARPLEY
Olympiacos - PAGRATI Robbe di Kappa
27.11.93
88:49
43
TOTAL REBOUNDS 1
OLYMPIACOS - SOULIS SPORTING
21.12.94
116:55
56
2
DUR APOLLON PATRON - OLYMPIACOS
05.02.94
60:72
56
3
TRIKALA BC ARIES - OLYMPIACOS
13.02.18
73:98
54
4
OLYMPIACOS - LAVRIO DHI
05.03.17
84:52
53
5
OLYMPIACOS - TRIKALA BC ARIES
19.03.17
79:61
52
6
MILON AONS - OLYMPIACOS
22.12.93
67:82
52
7
OLYMPIACOS - PANELEFSINIAKOS
09.05.15
104:55
52
OFFENSIVE REBOUNDS 1
TRIKALA BC ARIES - OLYMPIACOS
13.02.18
73:98
22
2
OLYMPIACOS - Chipita PANIONIOS
05.05.94
71:67
21
3
OLYMPIACOS - MAKEDONIKOS
05.11.00
105:89
21
4
OLYMPIACOS - RETHYMNO CRETAN KINGS
13.04.16
95:59
21
5
OLYMPIACOS - KOROIVOS
22.11.15
83:64
21
6
MILON AONS - OLYMPIACOS
22.12.93
67:82
21
7
PERISTERI R..ΚΟRΑSΙDI - OLYMPIACOS
11.01.97
72:70
21
OLYMPIACOSBC.GR
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G ι ο r g o s
prι nτe zΙ S «OLYMPIACOS IS MY FAMILY»
S
eptember 2000: : A 15-year old boy finds himself suddenly from the street hoops of his neighborhood - where while playing one on one with his friends he pretends to be Milan Tomic (!) - with the Olympiacos’ men team having the great captain as his team mate, as well as other stars of the era that he used to only admire on TV. “How do you imagine your life to be ten years from now?” is one of the questions he’s asked in his first mini interview for the official Olympiacos magazine in 2000. The shocked - as he himself admits - kid that tries to grasp what has really happened, replies: “Having worked hard, I’ll try to cope with my duties with my team, that I hope will still be Olympiacos, and also to have established a good standing with the National Selection”. Since then, and with 18 years in between, Giorgos Printezis has materialized that statement and some.To be precise,
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his name is a synonym to that of the Olympiacos basketball team! He’s the player with the longest ever tenure in the team’s history, the one with the most European games and lately he became the top scorer in the ‘reds’ history in the Greek League. An important detail… All previous records belonged to Milan Tomic! “Print” was interviewed by the official Olympiacos BC magazine in depth, talking not so much about the titles that everyone knows he has won with the team he has loved since childhood, but mainly about the obstacles he had to overcome to reach the standpoint he’s at today.
2000
2018
“I WOULDN’T CHANGE A THING” How do you feel that your latest two records were held by your former team mate and current coach? “If I were 15 and I was told that this would be happening, I’d think it was going to be a dream. Especially since we are talking about Milan, who I had been watching when I was a kid and tried to imitate his moves when playing with my friends. I pretended to be him... It’s certainly something great. It makes me feel happy to be a part of a historic team and hold this records, but it’s also great to be able and surround all these with titles”.
In what sense ‘kid Giorgos’ is different to today’s Giorgos? Have you accomplished all that you had imagined you would? “It’s been many years since I was 15 and many things have changed with my life. Many athletes join a professional team when they are 18 or 19, which is very different to joining at 15, like I did. I didn’t know
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where I was at that age, both as a player and a person. The most serious practice session I had ever had before is when we were about to play football with my former team! In general, if you take out school, I had never been in an environment with so many rules. It was uncharted territory for me and many things have changed up to now. I have been through a lot of changes and whatever I have accomplished has not come easy… In terms of goals and dreams, I was never looking too far ahead… I preferred to set small daily goals, and I tried very hard at practice every day. When things would not go well, I practiced even more to feel better. I wanted to know that each time I was leaving the gym; I had done the best I could. Maybe when I was younger I was a little more immature and undisciplined, but every time I was coming to the gym I would try to be as serious as possible and work as hard as I could”.
If ‘kid Giorgos’ was to meet you today, what do you think he would be saying to you? What would you tell him? “We would say nothing to one another! Each age group is different. You are a different person at 15, a different one at 18, a whole other one at 33. The sure thing is though, I wouldn’t change a thing”.
the physical attributes it requires. I only had the height».
Do you remember what ignited your love for the ‘reds’? “Everyone in my family roots for Panathinaikos! My father was a Panathinaikos fan, my cousins also. All my family, my grandparents, my uncles… But the team you choose to love has usually to do with your neighborhood and which team makes that ‘click’ for you when you are young. I used to be watching lots of basketball and it happened to be at a time when Olympiacos has so many good players on his roster, they were such a beautiful team… I was watching Sigalas, Tomic, Tarlac, all those players that I used to look up to. I remember trying to do whatever they were doing playing at the street hoops”.
How did you end up from St. Demetrius to Olympiacos? Did you feel any extra pressure given your very young age at the time?
OLYMPIACOS BECAUSE IT… CLICKED! What made you get involved with basketball? “I was a hyperactive kid and unfortunately, my daughter has gotten this from me. She’s hyperactive herself! This is the reason my parents were looking for something that I would like and would help me spend some of all that energy. I began playing tennis, then I became a goalie and when I was eight I took up basketball and realized that this was that I liked better than anything else, although I did not have a lot of
“I was with the National Cadet team and it happened that Giorgos Ketselidis, who was the assistant for Ilias Zouros, to be with Dafni St. Demetrius. I was with Asteras St. Demetrius and he had spotted me. So he chose me to come and practice with the men’s team in 2000. I was so young; I wasn’t really getting a lot of things. I didn’t know what pressure was. I didn’t know how to manage all that. When you are 18-19 years old, you have seen some things. I couldn’t grasp what was happening to me and the only thing I had in mind was that I really should be practicing a lot. I remember because I was thin and weak, I couldn’t really stand my place on the court and the first thing Ilias Zouros had told me was: “You see that you need a lot of work to get to a high level”. That I kept. I kept it in my mind. I knew I had to work a lot to be able to play”.
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2000
“NOTHING CAME EASY” Did you ever think about giving up either at a younger or older age?
2004
2008
“Give it up, period, no, it never occurred to me. But it was many times I came very close to saying that I couldn’t do it anymore. That’s because nothing came easy. I had gone a through a lot of discrediting. If you take a cold look at it, the times that I was discredited were much more than the ones I was accepted. Everything came at a very slow pace. I had a very tough time in Malaga as well, but also with Olympiacos, it was very tough at a younger age, when I was doubted a lot and I would always try through practice to build on my psychology and improve as much as possible. There’s one thing that I’ve been thinking since that time at fifteen up to now and I have always kept in my mind… When I finish with my career, either it has been a great one, or not, regardless of having made it or not, I want to know that I had done the best I could in terms of work put into it. Because I know that I would be feeling terrible to be in my thirties and not be playing up to my potential only because I never had invested in working at fullest”.
You said that your first years with the team had been difficult. How does a player feel sitting at the edge of the bench?
2012
2016
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“Sometimes everything balances on a very thin rope. The distance between making it or not is very close. I remember there were times that seven players would be off due to injuries and I would still not play. I would go to the weight’s room and practice by myself. This is very tough, because sometimes you don’t get the chance to prove yourself. At the same time, it’s as if you are wasting three hours of your life not being able to work. I would be coming, watch practice since no one thought you mattered, while you could be working at that time and improving. It’s not easy, just like it’s not easy to play for Olympiacos, even if you get signed. It’s a great team and you realize that it’s only a few lucky enough to get to play. I don’t know… I was lucky? I worked more than others? I don’t know, but thankfully we moved on together”.
“FINE, WE’RE GONNA HAVE HIM FOR NEXT YEAR” Do you think that going to Olympia Larissa on loan was the chance you had been waiting for to prove yourself? Where you happy when you learned about it? “I was given to Larissa on loan after a season that I had actually gotten to play. I had had a role that season, since towards its end coach Kazlauskas had put some faith in me. The truth is though; I hadn’t expected to be leaving. However, Pini Gerson had joined the team at the time and had said that he only wanted 10 to 12 experienced players. Only the experienced ones, no young guys at all. When they told me, I was fine with it. I wanted to go somewhere to play, but also to be able to work and individually improve the most possible. I was happy in general terms for that, because I went there, I got minutes and felt really important to a team”.
You finished your ‘residency’ with Larissa in 2007 and returned to Olympiacos with Pini Gerson at the wheel. “He had great trust in me. I remember one incident… While with Larissa, Gerson had said about me ‘I like this player’. And the guys on the team told him ‘but you were the one that sent him away on loan!”. He hadn’t even known. He simply had wanted to work with the veterans at the time and it’s only understandable. He had said: “How old is he? 21? Better give him on loan”.
And Barlos had gotten to stay with the team, having had a very good season. So, when he saw me with Larissa and said that he liked me, he was explained what the situation was and he said: “Fine, we’re gonna have him for next year’. Coming back and working with Gerson was great. He helped me a lot and he also helped me a lot in terms of psychology. I remember that I was getting more than 25 minutes in friendly games. I only have good things to say about him. He had a deep knowledge of basketball and I think that the pressure he was getting and the things that were being told about him were not fair. They were saying that he wasn’t working, but it wasn’t true. He was working and actually working a lot. He knew tons of basketball; he’s one of the best coaches I’ve seen during a game. He simply needed you to be a professional. That means he would come and practice with you for an hour and he wanted you to stay by yourself for another half hour and work on the things you need working on. I have only good memories. Maybe because he didn’t have any complex syndromes whatsoever, on and off the court, he was misunderstood”.
“I THINK THAT WHEN I’M DONE, NO MATTER HOW MY CAREER HAS EVOLVED, EITHER GOOD OR ‘BAD’, EITHER I HAVE MADE IT OR NOT, I WANT TO KNOW THAT I HAVE DONE THE BEST I COULD IN TERMS OF WORK PUT IN” OLYMPIACOSBC.GR
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THE SEPARATION, THE RECONNECTION AND THANKING THE PRESIDENTS What made you decide to leave Olympiacos in 2009? “It was a very difficult decision to make. It’s not easy for a player that starts with a team at 15 years of age to be leaving at 23. Of course I wanted to kind of get rid of being labeled as the “Olympiacos’ kid” and be seen a little different. It also played a role that a team that was aiming at the final four wanted me that much and offered me a very good contract. I had gotten a very lesser offer from Olympiacos to what I had expected at the time, due to the financial crisis in Greece. It was a time that the club decided on a policy not to be offering any more money and maybe I didn’t even deserve to get more money. But as I said before, I had a very good offer from a team with a lot of potential and with Aito Reneses in the bench, a coach that theoretically helps young players improve a lot so I made that decision”.
What went well in Spain? “Actually, the seasons weren’t that bad. The first season was good and I think that I got better. The second one was rather good too. But I suffered a very bad injury that kept me behind. Also, the team had certain policies that allowed them to change players very easy, especially the non Spanish, since the team was not run by a President that provided funds of his own. So, I was one of those decisions. I don’t think that I got to show what I could do on my part. On the other hand, the team was of a ‘lesser’ standard than what I had expected, in the sense that there was no plan, no tactics, no schedule… It wasn’t a team that wanted to win. It was a team that was playing simply to play… It was very different to what I had expected. I was disappointed, the chemistry wasn’t there, but everything happens for a reason”.
After all these, the decision to come back was probably easy… “Yes, it was easy enough. There had been a period of two or three months that I was removed from the team in Malaga. I wasn’t even allowed to watch practices.
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I remember that I had been so agitated that I would be practicing for 6 - 7 hours a day on my own. Track and field, weight lifting, anything… I wanted to prove to both myself and them that this was not the real picture. I wanted to prove them wrong. I was really upset at the time. In situations like that, you either collapse or you decide to fight and work more. Since that February till August that the season finished with Olympiacos I had put in a lot of work”.
HE CAN’T BE … JINXED THANKS TO HIS MOM!
And what were your feelings having returned?
“If you talk about any one, you may be not doing justice by someone else. Nevertheless, although it may sound selfish, I think that the one that always breaks things down, thinks them through, tries, perseveres and is determined is yourself. When things don’t go well, when you don’t make the final cut, when you are punished or your coach doesn’t believe in you, no matter anyone tells you, may them be your mother, father, best friend or your wife, what the athlete feels is something he can only understand. And only he knows how to react. And this is not easy at all”.
“The decision was easy; however, my return wasn’t… They wouldn’t let me go. They initially told me to find a team and go there on loan, when they heard that team was Olympiacos they told me they would release me. There was a delay with the contracts; however, when everything was over I was really happy. I came back to a familiar environment and I knew that coach Ivkovic had personally asked for my return, so I could immediately join in and help the team I loved. However, it wasn’t just Mr. Ivkovic and his immediate associate at the time, Mr. Angelou that played an important role in my returning. It was also the Presidents and I thank them for that a lot. We got to celebrate two Euroleague titles, three Greek Championships, one Greek Cup and one Intercontinental Cup together and I hope we win more titles in the future”.
THE NBA, THE WHITE JACKET AND THE CHINESE! Had you ever dreamt of crossing the Atlantic to play? “Yes. I had a dream of playing in the NBA and twice I had had the chance of going there. I didn’t go through though, because I felt that the circumstances weren’t right. I wanted to go to a team that would fit me and I could be making a contribution, not just go there and run up and down. I had it in my head. I was training a lot at 21, on a personal program and I wanted to go and see where I stand. It was right after Olympia Larissa. However, I don’t regret not going. Maybe I could have tried. Many tell me that I made a mistake not giving it a chance. But you never know. Maybe I could have gone, played and wondered “what was I doing all that time in Europe?”, But maybe I wouldn’t get to play at all. You can never know how things would have turned out. I’m very happy though for what has actually happened and the decisions I’ve made in my life”.
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Was there anyone that you think has played a major role in your career?
You have a signature shot (i.e ‘petahtari’), just like gymnasts have signature exercises. How do you feel about that, as well as about the various nick names, like St. George Printezis? “It’s OK. When a move has your name, it’s nice, but that’s it. I don’t get hype about it. We are only playing basketball… I remember when I was young I was trying to adopt certain players’ moves. It’s nice, for sure. As for the rest, I don’t read what’s been written about me. I avoid it”.
What was your toughest time on court and what was the happiest one? “The toughest time was definitely two years ago when I lost my father in the morning and in the evening I got to play against Panathinaikos (following winning the League title at the OAKA, Giorgos Printezis tearing up, dedicated him the title). The happiest ones where in 2012 and 2013, in the finals”.
Tell us about your mother, Mrs. Chryssa, that is often the ‘victim’ of your pranks… “My mother and I have grown up together. All the more, I’m an only child. We have a special bond. She had a very, very hard time raising me, because I was a kid with too much energy and it wasn’t easy on her. My dad was away a lot due to his job; he was a sailor, so all the burden was hers bear. I have a very good relationship with her. We talk a lot. We are not friends to talk about our personal staff, but we have mutual feelings”.
Does she watch your games? “She doesn’t come to the gym. I don’t want her to be coming. I don’t like it… But she get’s to watch the games on TV and she classically wishes the jinx away!”.
time with your family and activities that others your age get to engage with. But I don’t see it this way… On the contrary, when you really love what you do, you don’t feel that are deprived of anything special”.
What has basketball offer you and what has it taken away from you? “I have been offered a lot of good things. The opportunity to get incorporated in a social norm and to be able to know how and when to challenge for certain things in life. I think that basketball is a micro-image of the world. Thanks to basketball, I can appreciate everything that comes my way. Appreciate time, hard work, cooperation, discipline… In general I know how to manage things… A win, a loss, a great success, a failure. A lot of things. It takes away personal OLYMPIACOSBC.GR
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“I’M NOT ON A HIGH HORSE” Do you sometimes feel ‘restrained’ by your image? “Yes, too much. I’m actually very spontaneous and sometimes I get carried away. I try to be cautious. There have been times when I wanted to be more relaxed and easy going, but I can’t do it, because kids maybe watching and I wouldn’t want them seeing something… weird”.
Have you ever felt you’re losing it? Riding a high horse? “No, never. It has never happened. Probably the contrary. If you asked me what my greatest drawbacks are, I would tell you my confidence levels. I would have liked to be a little fuller of… myself, maybe because I could have achieved a little bit more that way”.
You are often quick at criticizing yourself. Have you always been like that? “I always look at myself and that’s why I rarely talk about the refs. No matter how many times I have lost, I have never used that excuse. Since I were a kid, I remember that whenever I wasn’t playing well, I was thinking about what I had to be doing to become better and get on a higher level. I knew as a child that I wasn’t shooting well and I needed to improve on that. I was weak, I needed to gain weight. I was a bit slow, I needed to become a bit faster. I would always be trying to figure out what was holding me back, to be able to work on it and get better”.
How do you feel when with only a few days apart, even hours, people that berate you are now cheering for you? “It’s something that you need to be able to manage especially with Olympiacos that is a very difficult team to be with. It’s not easy. We all know that you can theoretically be a “king” one day and next week everyone is useless and should be leaving the team… It’s there and you need to be able to cope. I have caught myself saying the same things during a game… Reality is apparent in the stretch of time. Only then one can see what a team and any one player can offer. However, neither the players should be forgetting that are part of an entertaining show. Both the players and fans should be having a better perspective on things. Enjoy the game, pass a nice couple of hours and then realize that there are things far more important in life”.
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‘PRINT’S’ … PASSIONS The LG Aegean Ball Festival is something that you seem to be very passionate about. What’s your goal through this 3on3 tournament? “A very good friend of mine had become Deputy Mayor and was looking for ideas as to what we could be doing to promote the island of Syros with something positive. So as we were sitting having coffee, I got this idea. I had formed the image in my head… The Mayor House, the palm trees, the 3on3, with the projector lights and the people enjoying themselves. We wanted to help the touristic influx in the island and help a few institutions with financial contributions. We were able to combine all that and we had a great event. We have had offers to organize the tournament in other places, mainly in Cyprus. But for the time being, I would like to leave it just in Syros for a little while longer. Many people like it. It got big and I even wasn’t expecting that, so there is always the chance that at some point we get to do it in other places as well and evolve it a little more. However, Syros will always be its birthplace and what actually characterizes it”.
How your love for the sea was born? “I come from a family of sea people. My father had been working on ships for many years. He would always be involved with the sea and the water. I come from Syros. If I stay far from the sea for long, I get agitated. I can go to the mountains but for only a couple of days, not longer…”.
“AFTER 18 YEARS, OLYMPIACOS IS MY FAMILY. I HAVE SPENT MORE HOURS HERE THAN AT HOME. SO IF HAVE TO SAY WHAT THE TEAM MEANS TO ME IN ONE WORD, THAT WORD IS: FAMILY.”
There is a lot of talk about your tattoos. Have you got a new one? Do they mean anything? “I have one for my daughter, her birthday plus her zodiac sign. I have them because I like them and I do them for me. Not to look a certain way. Even if I was the only person on earth to like them, I would still be having them. Most mean something”.
If you were a car, what brand would you be and why… “Should you had asked me the same till last year, I would tell you a Nissan GT-R because, its majestic, fast and not as provocative as others of its category. Now, I would be choosing something safer for my daughter!”.
How do you spend your free time? “Mainly at home with friends and the little one”.
Do you follow politics? Are you informed on what’s going on in the world in genera? “I am. It bothers me that many times people think that certain things that seem bad are the worse they can be, although the same things are even worse in other part of the world. We don’t pay the same attention to all countries and cultures”.
What can make you cry? “I tear up easily, even for the smallest things”.
Do you ever think about time after basketball? How do you think it’s going to be? “Yes, often enough… I think it’s going to be far away from everyone, away from basketball, at Syros with my wife and my kids if God allows it. Very calmly, in the company of friends, passing our time with the simplest things possible”.
What’s Olympiacos for you? “After 18 years, it’s my family. I have spent more hours here than at home. So, if I need to say what the team means to me in one word that word is: family.”
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THIS SEASON AND THE IDEAL FINALE What do you think went wrong in the Greek Cup Final against AEK? “We don’t play by ourselves. AEK played a very good game. They were on a very good day. They won a fair victory. Sometimes it’s details that lose you a game. AEK played very well that night, they were shooting very well. We weren’t as good as needed to be defensive wise and they deserved to win”.
What was the thing that kept the team together? “If you want to be a great team and you want to be a great player, you need to be able to manage losses when you least expect them. You need to move on. To manage defeats and bad results, just like some great victories as well. You need to remain on the ground and continue working even harder”.
What the ideal finale to this season would be? “To finish with one of the two titles we are after, if not with both”. PRINTEZIS’ ‘RED’ INDIVIDUAL RECORDS IN THE EUROLEAGUE
PRINTEZIS’ TOTAL EUROLEAGUE STATS
Index rating
37
Olympiacos - Khimki
2/5/16
Points
30
Olympiacos - Khimki
2/5/16
Games
223 2318
Offensive rebounds
7
Valencia - Olympiacos
11/30/17
Points
Defensive rebounds
9
Anadolu Efes - Olympiacos
3/30/17
Off. Rebounds
252
Total rebounds
14
Valencia - Olympiacos
11/30/17
Def. Rebounds
693
Assists
4
Unics Kazan - Olympiacos
2/2/17
Rebounds
945
Steals
3
Olympiacos - Virtus Bologna
11/8/07
Assists
216
Blocks
2
Olympiacos - Nancy
11/16/11
Steals
80
Blocks
36
Minutes
35
Galatasaray - Olympiacos
11/11/16
PRINTEZIS’ ‘RED’ INDIVIDUAL RECORDS IN THE BASKETLEAGUE
PRINTEZIS’ TOTAL BASKETLEAGUE STATS
Index rating
31
Olympiacos - Aigaleo
16/3/08
Points
24
Olympiacos - Ilysiakos
16/12/12
Games
304
Offensive rebounds
5
Trikala - Olympiacos
13/2/18
Points
2919
Defensive rebounds
10
Olympiacos - Apollon Patras
18/5/13
Off. Rebounds
344
Total rebounds
14
Olympiacos - Apollon Patras
18/5/13
Def. Rebounds
869
Assists
5
Kymi - Olympiacos
15/10/18
Rebounds
1213
15/4/09
Assists
317
Steals
3
Panellinios - Olympiacos
Blocks
2
Olympiacos - Kymi
4/2/18
Steals
162
Minutes
34
Aris - Olympiacos
28/10/07
Blocks
51
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A SHOUT OUT BY THE COACHES! Mostly, the relationship between coaches and players is that of love and hate. However, with Giorgos Printezis, the majority of these relationships have been loving and what they have to say about the veteran forward to official Olympiacos BC magazine proves it.
GIORGOS KETSELIDIS
“I consider him my child” Just like he has said already, the coach that practically ‘dressed’ him in the ‘red’ jersey was Giorgos Ketselidis. “It wasn’t only my suggestion; Ilias Zouros had actually suggested the same”, the current Aris coach comments. “I saw a very talented kid at that time that had a tremendous connection with the basket and was built in a way that would allow him to play any position. Combined to his character and the way he was talking and thinking despite his very young age, were the facts that made me think something good would come up, should Olympiacos decided to invest in him. I should say though that when I saw him, I had already heard very good things about him from other coaches as well”. They maintain a very close relationship. “We have lived through very intense moments together, however, they are very personal and I wouldn’t want to talk about them. What I need to say is that whenever I get to remember them, I tear up and feel proud to be doing this job thanks to Giorgos, Xanthopoulos and some other guys. Nevertheless, I would like to share this one thing… At the time he began his professional career, the players’ goals were the following three: cell phone, a house and a car. Giorgos though, with the first money we earned, got 30 OLYMPIACOSBC.GR
to build a superb gym at home, so he could be training there! This shows a whole lot for a 16 year old child… Also, what made him stand out in my eyes was his will to self sacrifice. At the I and Ilias Zouros chose him to be a part of the men’s team, the final round of the cadet’s National tournament was taking place in Sparta and Giorgos was suffering from an injury that proved not to be serious. However, I was scared that he might suffer a relapse and since I always put the health of my athletes above anything else, I told him: “You play and win the championship or you don’t play because you are joining the men’s team in a couple of days so it would be wiser that you don’t take the risk”. He told me: “I want to play and help my team mates. I’ll be playing, and I’m going to be just fine to join the men’s team!” I’ll never forget about it… It went down exactly this way… I’ll never also forget that when I resigned, Giorgos had a basketball signed by all the players and they all came that night at my place to give it to me. I sincerely keep this vividly in my mind. I’m not very objective when talking about Giorgos, because I consider him my child and I only have good things to say about him”.
LEFTERIS SUBOTIC
“Everyone loves him” Lefteris Subotic got to work with Giorgos Printezis when he was 17 and is not shy to admit that he had not foreseen such a great career for the young player. “It was my first year with the men’s team when I got to work with him. I remember him being talented; however, I will not hide asking that we give him on loan to Panellinios. I thought that should he be playing in the lower category and getting minutes and a role, he would be able to evolve. Someone within the Board had disagreed at the time and he got to stay on the team, but anyway, he went to Larissa on loan later on and was able to prove himself. I will not be lying. I hadn’t anticipated what a great player he would become. He was always really focused, loved to work and obeyed his coach. That’s very important. He was a small kid that would be fighting at practice every day, would be giving 100% and was not afraid of anyone”. Asked on which attribute Printezis possessed had intrigued him the most, he replied: “He could shoot equally well with both hands. That was really rare, especially at that time. He also had an incredible jump. I remember that he only dunked during warm up! He wasn’t talking much, but he would put in a great effort and everyone on the team loved him”.
“When Giorgos joined Olympiacos, he was a big kid at 15. Everyone was telling us that he was a great talent and he would be playing great basketball. Of course it took him some time to prove those people right, but he did and he became a great player. He was working very hard from the beginning. He was working hard and despite being with the team, he made extra practices to cover for the time he was missing not participating the games. He’s more mature now. But I wouldn’t say he’s more serious! I don’t mean he’s foolish. He just has a great sense of humor. He had a great sense of humor since he was a kid. He’s a kid that keeps making jokes and this is a very positive thing for the team. Everyone is going to be laughing with what he has to say, with what he will be doing… Basketball wise, he has matured and that’s the big difference. There is no other player in Europe right now with this floater, with either the right or the left hand. I haven’t seen anyone… He also has speed and he has certainly worked a lot, a lot on his body and this helps him play even better basketball”. Asked on whether he’s mad at him for breaking his records, he replied: “Records are there to be broken. Of course you can’t hold on to them for a lifetime. I was very happy that it was Giorgos that broke them!” Finally, he recalled a very funny event… “Dino Radja was with the team at the time and there was the traditional hazing for the young guys. At some point, Giorgos got really mad and shouted that he was going to sue every one of us!”.
MILAN TOMIC
“He threatened to sue us!” Milan Tomic is a special case. Not only because Giorgos Printezis broke his seemingly very hard to break ‘red’ records, but because he had been his team mate and is now his coach. OLYMPIACOSBC.GR
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PANAGIOTIS GIANNAKIS
“They should be taking care of him for me!” Panagiotis Giannakis had only good things to say about the veteran center as well: “He has worked a lot. He’s a special kind of guy”, he commented and went on to say: “He came to Olympiacos as a big talent. He wasn’t able to show what he was capable of from the start, despite that he was patient and he was persistent in the way he was working. He never stopped trying to become better. He should be an example for every talented kid. It’s important he has this kind of attitude. Being patient and never giving up. As a player… he’s a really special for basketball. He has already left his mark”. Asked if there is any particular incident he would like to talk about, he said: “I don’t have anything specific to say… What I remember is that he would always give his best for the team and his team mates. Despite the young of his age, he always cared about everyone and supported them. The same goes for the team. He was always ready to get on the floor and give it all, even if he only got to play for a minute”. As to whether it’s easy for a coach to have Printezis on the team, he pointed out: “He’s very easy to work with… He’s one of the guys that try to get as much as he can from practice. What also characterizes him is that he’s always consistent. He’s amazing… I wish that we get to see him many more years in the courts. They should be taking care of him for me! That’s what I want you to write…!”.
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DUSAN IVKOVIC
“The best pair in Europe” Printezis got established within the European basketball community consciousness with Ivkovic’ golden ‘babies’ during the 2011/12 season. Giorgos had returned from Malaga at the end of the previous season and that was a great gift for Olympiacos. “I believe he’s one of the players that reside in the category with the best guys in the sport. One of the players that play with all their heart for the team. I and Olympiacos have been very lucky that he did not find success in Spain and we immediately decided to bring him back”, Dusan Ivkovic said and added: “I believe that this return together with Spanoulis’ presence on the team were the ingredients to build the Olympiacos core that has given and still gives a lot. For me, this pair is the best one in Europe”. We asked from ‘Duda’ to remember a story with Printezis in it and he remembered the first talk they had upon his return: “When he came back to the team, he said ‘coach, players used to be coming to Olympiacos for the money. I’m coming now to become a player’ and he became a great player”. The Serbian coach has always a special place for Giorgos: “Each time I get to watch the Supersport channel here in Belgrade, I watch the basket he made in Istanbul (laughing). I cannot leave it behind me, even for a little, even if I wanted to. Giorgos is in my heart and that’s why I really enjoyed going to the island he comes from in the summer for the tournament he organizes. He deserves the praise for everything he has accomplished”.
GIORGOS BARTZOKAS
OLYMPIACOS’ Ryan GIGGS… Giorgos Bartzokas worked with Giorgos Printezis in two different teams. He was his coach in Olympia Larissa, when he was still trying to find his way and found him again at the SEF, at that time though, being a successful player. “However we get to examine Giorgos Printezis’ case, it’s a unique and rare one. Not only because his a person with personal ethos and rich talent, which he has combined with hard work joining the European elite, but also because in these days, of pure professionalism and the rest signs of the time, it’s a rare thing to witness such a long and shining tenure with a club”, the Greek coach commented before allowing a touch of football in his words. “I personally have a special appreciation for athletes, like my beloved Ryan Giggs, who have spent an entire career in the same locker rooms, wearing the same jersey. It’s a rate and special occasion for an athlete to “grow” not only in age but also as a sizeable quantity in a team and at the same time for the team to be “growing” thanks to that athlete”.
GIANNIS SFAIROPOULOS
“We believed in him from the start” ‘Print’s’ talent was obvious to Giannis Sfairopoulos many years before their paths crossed in Piraeus. “I used to watch him before I came to Olympiacos and I was impressed by his body. I remember that he wasn’t getting minutes; however, I used to think that he could play and do something good. My first encounter with Giorgos was when in 2005 I joined Olympiacos with the capacity of the assistant coach. Coach Kazlauskas was with the National team of China at the time and
I was ‘running’ pre-season training. Giorgos was 20 then. I sat him down and told him: “Look, now that I’m running pre-season, show what you can do at practice because I think you will be playing”. Kazlauskas had told me that he believed in him. Actually, only two players were left from the team that Kazlauskas had gotten to coach the season before, Agadakos and Printezis. So, I would tell him to practice well and he would be playing and he would reply: “everyone tells me the same and then I don’t play”. I was telling him to work and his moment would be coming, because he was really talented. I used him to guard the perimeter during pre-season, although he was a power forward. That was because I wanted him to play defense, to become tougher and get established from his defensive game. Indeed, Giorgos played some very good games that season and vindicated all of use who believed in him, but above all, he did right by himself. Simply all of us that had faith in him since then, are happy now to see him having evolved that much”. The secret for Printezis’ success was according to the Olympiacos’ coach, his character and hard work ethic. “From the players I coach now, he’s the one I’ve known the longest. I know what kind of person he is, I know his personality, just like he knows me. I’m glad he has reached such a high level. He’s an athlete that has helped Olympiacos a lot, and of course has been helped by Olympiacos, just like all of us on the team. I’m happy he’s doing well. I think he still has a lot to accomplish. He needs to continue working, because work has nothing to do with age. No matter what your age is, if you stop putting it in, you will miss on your future. If you keep working, you remain fresh and relevant and Giorgos loves to work. He wouldn’t have been able to be where he is right now if he hadn’t worked so hard. He has worked a lot, he continues to work and he will continue to do so… He has a lot more to give with his personality, his experience and his skill”.
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WHAT’S TRENDING? Let’s meet the Olympiacos’ players, off court. What they eat, what music they like to listen to, where do when going out?
IOANNIS PAPAPETROU WHAT KIND OF SHOES WOULD YOU LIKE TO ALWAYS WEAR? WHICH ONES MAKE YOU FEEL COMFORTABLE? “The shoes that make me feel comfortable and are really versatile are NIKE. When I walk, run, with everything I’m doing”. WHAT DO YOU USUALLY MATCH THEM WITH? “Jeans and t-shirts” DO YOU WEAR ANY OTHER ACCESSORIES? “I don’t like wearing gloves, scarves or any other accessories of the kind. What I always have with me is a pendant crucifix. I always have it on me”.
WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE TV SHOW AT THE TIME? “My favorite show is Stranger Things. Most of my team mates have seen it and we all agree that it’s a great series”. NETFLIX OR AMAZON? “Νetflix” WHICH MOVIE DID YOU GET TO SEE RECENTLY AND YOU LIKED? “Red Sparrow” DO YOU FOLLOW FASHION TRENDS? WHAT DO YOU LIKE FROM WHAT’S BEEN TRENDING NOW? “I don’t know what’s in fashion and what isn’t. I have my own dressing style, I like nice clothes, but that’s it. I don’t really pay attention to what is fashionable”. WHAT DO YOU LOVE TO WEAR? “I love shoes, sneakers, or casual, that I wear to go out or go for a walk, but also the shoes I wear to play”.
WHICH ONE OF YOUR TEAM MATES HAS THE BEST DRESS STYLE? “Giorgos Bogris” WHICH SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS DO YOU USE? “I’m on Facebook and on Instagram, but I mostly use Instagram”. WHAT KIND OF MUSIC DO YOU LISTEN? “Mostly Greek music”. WHAT KIND OF MUSIC DO MOST OF YOUR TEAM MATES LISTEN TO? “Most Greeks listen to the same kind of music. When we go out, we go to the same places, we listen to Greek music. We prefer lives whenever the schedule allows it”.
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WHEN YOU GO OUT, WHERE DO YOU LIKE TO GO? “I usually go downtown or to Glyfada”. WHEN YOU ALL GET TO GO OUT, WHERE DO YOU FREQUENT? “Either for dinner, or for coffee, or for drinks, however, I cannot tell you any one place, because we are many and we usually change venues”.
FIFA OR PRO EVOLUTION SOCCER? “Both” WHO IS THE BEST AT FIFA/PES AND WHO’S THE WORST? “I’m definitely the best at FIFA and Vangelis Mantzaris at PRO. As for the worst, I can’t say, I don’t know”. WHO PLAYS VIDEO GAMES THE MOST ON THE TEAM? “All of us, I can say I play a lot, so is Hollis Thompson”. IS THERE AN EXPRESSION YOU USE A LOT? “Now that I think about it, I don’t use any particular word or expression that often”.
WHICH ONE OF YOUR TEAM MATES HAS THE BEST MOVES? “Kostas Papanikolaou, my ‘bro’ has the best dancing moves in the team”. WHICH VIDEO GAME YOU PLAY THE MOST? “ΝΒΑ 2Κ18”.
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WHO USES THE SAME EXPRESSIONS? “Hollis Thompson” WHAT FOOD DO YOU EAT NOW THAT YOU WOULDN’T EVEN LOOK AT A FEW YEARS AGO? “Sushi. The first time I tried it, I was 15. I threw up then and now that I tasted it again, about a year ago, I loved it…”. ARE YOU SATISFIED WITH YOUR HAIRSTYLE? “Yes, I think my hairstylist is doing an amazing job”.
DOES HE GIVE YOU ADVICE ON HOW TO WEAR YOUR HAIR? “He’s the only one I talk my hair with. With no one else, he makes suggestions about what I could be changing or not, but I’m the one to make the final decision”.
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Olympiacos B.C. World Mastercard
Οι πιο δυνατές εµπειρίες µε την οµάδα σου. Μόνο µε την πιστωτική κάρτα Olympiacos B.C. World Mastercard. Χρησιµοποίησέ τη σε κάθε σου αγορά, συγκέντρωσε πόντους και εξαργύρωσέ τους µε πλούσια δώρα και µοναδικές εµπειρίες, όπως: Ταξίδι στο εξωτερικό µε την οµάδα, για 2 άτοµα · Παρακολούθηση του αγώνα από θέση Court Seat · Κάρτα διαρκείας για όλη τη χρονιά · Υπογεγραµµένη εµφάνιση · αγαπηµένου σου παίκτη. της οµάδας και µπάλα µε την υπογραφή του
Το προϊόν παρέχεται υπό τις ισχύουσες περιοριστικές διατάξεις στην κίνηση κεφαλαίων. Πληροφορίες στο 38 OLYMPIACOSBC.GR
In the sanctuary of the ‘reds’ locker rooms… Giorgos Bogris gives us a tour “in the sanctuary of the ‘reds’ locker rooms” and reveals how the image of St. Nectarios is present in the seat of every Olympiacos’ player, even those of the Americans! “We had gone to Aigina on a daily excursion, six of us. We paid a visit to a monastery to get a blessing for a good season and we brought the icons of St. Nectarios to give to all the players for good luck and prosperity”, the 29-year old center explains. However, the reveals don’t stop there!
Are you quiet or noisy in the locker rooms before the game? “I’m always quiet and listen to my music”. Do you have any routine that you follow in the locker rooms before the games? “I have a coffee drink upon arriving at the gym, cold espresso without sugar). Also, I shower before every game, I wear my lucky shocks and I always tie the laces of my right shoe first”. How do you feel when you are in the locker rooms before the game? “Excited”. What was the most inspiring speech you remember anyone delivering in the locker rooms? “It was the speech Vasilis Spanoulis gave when the team was going through a rough patch. He had told us, among others that we need to stay together, because the season is a long one and everything is decided in May and June and not earlier”.
Who gets to choose the music before the games? Do you like it? Do you all listen to the same music or each one listens to their own staff? “No music is allowed in the locker rooms before the games. Each one of us listens to something they like. I listen to Metallica, “Enter Sandman””. OLYMPIACOSBC.GR
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How much time do you spend in the locker rooms after a game and what do you do? “It depends… Usually about an hour… I get to use my icepacks, maybe I need to be talking to the Press, I talk with my team mates, I take a shower…”. Except from the Olympiacos’ locker rooms, do you have good memories from other ones? “I have good memories from the locker rooms of every team I have played for. I’m a positive person by nature. If you ask about the most pleasant moments, I’d say during when I was with Tenerife, with Bilbao and with PAOK”. Do you remember the first locker rooms you got to dress into? How was it? “I remember! They were so small, extremely tight. It was in Thiva and I was 12. It’s a very happy memory because I hadn’t known any better at the time, and to me they were magnificent!”. Which are the most unusual locker rooms you have ever been to? “I’d day those of Larissa and Patra, and any gyms that have to send one team in two locker rooms because they are small you can’t fit the team in one”.
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Which locker room celebration do you remember more vividly ? “We don’t get to celebrate that much this season, because we try to keep a low profile, regardless of how big a victory is. I would like to have to answer this question again at the end of the season and be able to talk about the celebrations I’m going to be remembering for ever. I have lived great moments with Tenerife, Ilysiakos when we had won the bigger category as well as with the junior national selections”. Apart from the players, are there any other special characters in the locker rooms? “There are some great figrues in the team... I’ll start with the assistant team manager, Antonis Dais, the assistant equipment manager, Giannis Tampakos and Nikos Gonatas, who is our physiotherapist and masseur. They are three people, that should anyone tell me they existed before I knew them, I just would’t believe it. They are three cult figures, each one in their own way”. Who’s the greatest prankster in the locker rooms? “Pritnezis, by far…!”. Who’s the most quiet one?» “Janis Strelnieks! We barely get him to say goodmorning!”.
Has anyone famous visited your locker rooms recently? “Argyris Kampouris comes in regularly and gives us pep-talks”. When was the last time you visited the locker rooms of the opposing team? “It was in Valencia and I wanted to see my friend Aaron Doornekamp and my former coach, Tzus Vidoreta”. Who is the last one to usually come out from the locker rooms before the game? “It’s always Vangelis Mantzaris”. Who is the first one to usually talk in the locker rooms after a loss? “Our captain, Vassilis Spanoulis, before coach Sfairopoulos comes in”. Describe the atmosphere in the Olympiacos’ locker rooms with three words. “Focus, discipline, humor”. Have you ever lost your temper in the locker rooms? “Nothing extreme has ever happened. Usual staff, like with everyone else”. What do you like in the Olympiacos’ locker rooms? “My comfortable seat. The Jacuzzi and the time I spend in it after practice”. How had you imagined the locker rooms to be before you joined the team and how are they actually? “I had seen how the locker rooms are long before I came to the team. The atmosphere in them is better than I had anticipated. We are a very good company together”.
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“THE STORY OF MY LIFE” “Being in the same team with Spanoulis is a blessing for me. It’s amazing. He’s a legend for the sport. I still remember when I got to receive an award in London, before the 2013 Final Four. I was photographed with the best quintet of the competition together with Spanoulis and Papanikolaou (i.e. he was then season’s ‘rising star’) and finally, five years later, we are on the same team. Incredible!”.
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obert Douglas Brown the third (or Bobby Brown, as everyone knows him) was born and raised in one of the most infamous districts of the US. Inglewood California, in LA. And the paths he had to choose from were two, as he explained to “We Are Olympiacos”. “I indeed was born and raised in very dangerous area, criminal rate is still very high today and it was a very difficult place for a kid to grow up in”. Since he was a child nevertheless, Bobby Brown seemed to be a strong personality dealing with any kind of fear or danger. “In the neighborhood I grew up in, kids had only two paths to choose from. They would either join a gang or get involved with sports. I chose basketball to avoid gangs”. His parents were never married and decided from the moment his mom got pregnant with him to not live together since they weren’t a good fit for one another. So Brown got never to live under the same roof with both his parents since the day he was born. “It did not have a negative impact on me at all. I always had an excellent relationship with both my parents till today. I also have a sister, we share the same mother, but we really love one another. I used to spend weekends with my dad and we have developed a very close relationship, as if we are friends, brothers and father and son at the same time. The same exactly goes for my mom; she’s my mom, friend and sister. All of that did not have a negative impact on me; the situation was that since the moment I was born”. His first encounter with basketball was when he was five. Love was nevertheless anything but at first sight… “I originally got to play basketball at the age of five, but I did not get how much I liked it an a few months later I took up football. I continued playing both and at times I would be abandoning one sport and getting actively involved with the other. Up until when at the age of 10 or 11 we began winning championships with my team, and the coach encouraged me to focus on basketball. I got to decide on basketball then and I have never played football again after I was 11». It was the prime time for the player that is according to many, if not everyone, the best player to have ever played basketball in the whole world. Michael Jordan. “Of course I was influenced by MJ, who hadn’t? Even today, Jordan motivates, inspires and makes thousands of kids to take up basketball. I couldn’t have been any different”. He went to high school at Westcherster, there he got to be friends with Trevor Ariza, who he found many years later in the Houston Rockets, but also with many other players, that had not yet made a name for them selves at the time, but got to play in the NBA later on. “We were all sharing the same dream with all those guys, with Trevor Ariza we had become best friends since our first days there, but many more also. Our big dream was that we would get to play for the League one day (i.e. the NBA)”. Bobby Brown did not get drafted, there were always more paths he could take towards his goal and that’s what he did. “I wasn’t drafted, but this made me all the more determined. I went to the summer league and then I had a real shot at landing the NBA. I got to play 44 OLYMPIACOSBC.GR
against guys that I would only be watching on ESPN a few months before and I wanted to prove first to myself and then to everyone else that I could make it in the League. I truly enjoyed the experience, it was very important to me”. After his final year at Cal State Fullerton, he had to choose. He would either have to wait for an NBA team or decide to cross the ocean and play in Europe. He chose the latter and it proved to be the right choice for him. “I signed with Alba Berlin in 2007 and following an amazing season, we won the championship. I returned to the US for the NBA, at first for Sacramento and through trading I landed in Minnesota, the Hornets and Clippers. I realized then that getting traded all the time wasn’t helping me towards my goal and in 2010 I returned to Europe for Prokom”.
After the Polish team, it was his first time in our country, with Aris. His then team mates were P.J. Tucker, with whom he had an excellent relationship since they were both were members of the Houston Rockets two weeks prior to coming to Aris and Bryan Dunston, who also got to wear the Olympiacos jersey. “They are indeed great guys. Both Bryan and P.J. What I remember that I was stunned with is that during my first days in Greece, I would be talking with them and they would be telling me that our main goal was to make the third ranking seed. And when I asked how it is we were playing in some place to be … third and not first, they explained to me that due to the ‘eternal’ rivals (i.e. Olympiacos and Panathinaikos), there was no way to get any higher. From that moment on, I got to watch these derbies and wishing I was a part of them”. As for his time off the court, Bobby Brown has our country in his heart from day one. “Everything was
amazing, the weather, the food, the sea, the people, everything. I really adored Greece”. The 12.5 points, 2.3 rebounds and 3 assists per game in the Greek League, were the passport for Brown to go back to the German League, this time for Oldenburg. That season was the one preceding his amazing season with Siena. “I could see it coming. Each passing season, I was seeing I was becoming better, that I was making one more step in my career. I was excited to see I was improving. Finally, the season in Siena helped me build my brand even more and proved to anyone that I could be playing at the highest level. I finished the season as the competition’s top scorer with 18.8 points per game. I still remember getting the award in London, before the 2013 Final Four. I was photographed with the competition’s best quintet, together with Spanoulis and Papanikolaou (i.e. he was that season’s ‘rising star’) and finally, five years OLYMPIACOSBC.GR
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later, we are on the same team. Incredible!”. After Siena, at the time he was playing in China, Bobby Brown was close to wearing the ‘red’ since as he reveals, talks were at a very advanced stage. “About three years ago, we were very close to having a deal, but finally, from what I can remember, some details did not allow this to happen”. Bobby Brown’s wife (they’ve been together for 11 years), has a great influence on the 34 year old guard, which he admits to. “When you are with someone for so many years and you love one another, you obviously influence one another. That’s the case with us, many things I do, even what my hobbies are, or how I dress, are influenced by my wife. She likes modern art, to dress up, she likes traveling and books and she taught me to read books and not spend all my time on Instagram (laughing). I love the movies; I go the cinema very often, even by myself. I also like to sleep in. As for food, I like Chinese, Mexican and Italian and of course Greek cuisine, it’s amazing”. “Being on the same team with Spanoulis is a blessing for me. It’s amazing. He’s a legend for the sport. A few hours before I flew out from the US, friends and former team mates were telling me ‘you can be like Harden and Paul’, which made me very happy. It’s actually this way. When two players are winners, leaders and love their team, they can certainly do something great. The same with us, I think we can make it, make one another better and achieve our goals. We want and can make it till the end of the road both in Euroleague and in Greece. I’m sure about that”.
“I missed the EuroLeague”
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obby Brown was away from the Euroleague these past few years, a competition he’d be missing a lot, as he admits. “I used to talk and am still talking with friends like Daniel Hackett and Matt Jannning. We were talking and talk for hours about Euroleague games, for the match ups, the results and the rankings. There are many times I get to talk with David Moss, with whom I have an excellent relationship since our time in Siena and he’s now playing for Brescia. I had really missed big games. Euroleague is the best League in the world after the NBA and being a part of this League once again is something wonderful for me”. We asked the new Olympiacos’ guard on whether he would be watching Euroleague games when at Houston and what the NBA stars, like his former team mates, James Harden and Chris Paul, think of it and the 34 year old guard was clear on that: “Of course they get to watch. For instance, Chris Paul knows a lot about the Euroleague, players, rankings, standings, everything. Harden watches too. I remember once there was a Real Madrid game on NBA TV, I don’t remember against which team and we would be watching in the locker rooms. We were talking about Luca (i.e. Doncic) a player everyone knows in the US. Just like everyone knows Spanoulis. I was telling my then team mates about the atmosphere in the European games and how fans are completely different to those in the NBA”.
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James for Bobby
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he ‘hottest’ name on planet basketball right now, James Harden, spoke to We Are Olympiacos about his former team mate with the Houston Rockets, Bobby Brown and sees that a pairing he’s used to having in Texas with Chris Paul can happen in Piraeus as well. James Harden counts 31.1 p.p.g. and leads the Rockets to the top ranking seed in the League. He’s the top scorer in total points made in the top League of the planet and the top scorer in p.p.g. Therefore, he’s the most qualified to talk about his former team mate and now player for Olympiacos, Bobby Brown. “Bobby Brown is a valuable player, a winner. He has played in many different parts of the world, at all levels of the competition and he has come through. He’s so competitive it gets scary, he loves the sport so much, I believe he’s a born winner””. Asked on the first impressions the 34 year old guard has had from Greece, the ‘Beard’ was quick to answer: “He’s happy in Greece. We talk often, he’s like a big brother to me and we talk about a lot of things, about
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basketball as well as for a lot of other issues. What he has told me, is that he’s quite content in Greece, he enjoys his time and has joined a great organization”. There are a lot of people that think Bobby Brown and Vassilis Spanoulis can make a ‘hot’ pair for the Sfairopoulos’ team perimeter. The left handed super star for the Houston Rockets totally buys into the idea. “Yes, I think that Bobby and Spanoulis can be the Harden and Paul of Olympiacos and lead their team to the top in Greece and with the Euroleague. They both love to play basketball, work together and win. And of course score countless buckets. I believe this is the combination that leads to the top”.
Olymp i a c o s con q u ers V ar e s e Olympiacos course during the last decade and its great success that have ranked the team as the top one in Europe during that period, has led many foreign fans to love the ‘reds’, in such a degree that it stands higher in preference to teams of their own countries.
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he example of the Italian Luca Sandacatti, who has been traveling to Greece nearly for every Euroleague game of the team, is a very distinctive one. The ‘reds’ get sign hundreds of autographs and get photographed with younger and older basketball fans where ever they get to play. Despite we are well aware of the love the basketball fans in Europe have for Olympiacos, our surprise was huge when we received an email from our team’s fan, Dr. Stylianos Kefalopoulos, with photographs from Varese. Right opposite the gym of Inis Varese, one of the most important teams in the history of European basketball, there is the TRIPLE basketball store. In the central part of the store, there is a stand with Olympiacos products. Sweat suits, t-shirts and basketballs with the team’s logo. Of course there are products from other European teams as well; however, the love for Olympiacos in Varese is huge, as Dr. Kefalopoulos explains, and the team products are on display in the most prominent position, due to the great demand. Like you can see in the photos from the store’s windows, there are a lot of basketball jerseys, among them Papaloukas’ jersey from when he was playing for CSKA. Soon enough Spanoulis’ jersey is going to be hanging there too, signed by the team’s captain, according to the store owners’ wish.
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The birthday, the opening and the ‘reds’ bearing gifts!
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lympiacos is … expanding! It is a few months since the Official Olympiacos BC CenterStore has been operating in downtown Athens - more specific, at the Ermou 18 & Diomeias str, at Syntagma. This is the official Olympiacos BC Boutique that held its opening ceremony on the same day of the Club’s 93rd birthday. And of course, everyone was there! The team’s President, Panagiotis Angelopoulos, all the players, as well as the coaching staff were present Saturday noon (10/03) at the Ermou street Store and as expected, they didn’t show up empty handed “We dedicate our victory against Bamberg to the Club for its birthday”, coach Sfairopoulos commented, an especially significant victory, since thanks to it, the ‘reds’ got to ‘embrace’ the home court advantage in view of the Euroleague play-offs. Panagiotis Angelopoulos nevertheless, went one step further… “The team should be gifting the Club with a Championship and the Euroleague title. Now, that’s a gift for me!” Although our team’s President kept a low profile in front of the camera, he got to express his belief that Olympiacos will make yet another Final Four on the Store’s wall (where all the players got to sign on) “Let’s go to Belgrade !!!”, was what he wrote, practically setting the tone! OLYMPIACOSBC.GR
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he ‘reds’ brought gifts and made a promise they would be bringing more in the future. However, some did not leave empty handed! Vassilis Spanoulis, who has his own… locker room in the store (see relevant photo), expressed his wish to buy kid size sleepers for his children. Printezis’ new born daughter was also lucky, since she got a lot of baby Olympiacos’ apparel from her dad! The party was a huge success, with the fans crowding the place and Ioannis Papapetrou having the chance to feel as if he were a rock star upon the team’s departure! The 23 year old forward barely made it to the team bus, finding it hard to cross the street, thanks to his fans that were adamant about getting his autograph and being photographed with him!
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Mathaiou, Goulandris, the Greek Americans and … God
he history of the Olympiacos basketball department can be classified in four successful eras. That of the team that won two championships with Alekos Spanoudakis, his brother Giannis and Thodoros Vamvakousis being the absolute protagonists, that one of the Giatzoglou company that succeeded in being among the top six teams in Europe, the Olympiacos of the ‘90s, with the five back to back championships and the European one and the Angelopoulos’ brothers Olympiacos of the last decade, with two European titles, one intercontinental and three championships. Each era has its own secrets. In the first issue of our magazine, we devoted enough space to the winning of the first championship and the man that brought the jump shot for the first time in Europe, Alekos Spanoudakis. In this issue, we get to talk about the renaissance of Olympiacos, during the ‘70s, when the team had relegated to the lower category and Faidon Mathaiou had taken over. The ‘reds’ returned to the big category, but transfers were not allowed at the time and it was tough to build a core so as the team to challenge winning titles. The legendary Mathaiou, during an interview he
had given to the team’s Press Office a few years before his passing, had described how that team had been build. “We returned to the big category and were fighting to be competitive, until the team was acquired by Nikos Goulandris”. He had told me then: “Faidon, I want to build a good team” and I had replied: “Mr. President, how do you plan on doing that? Transfers are not allowed. Internal transfers are not allowed. Where are we going to get players from?” We finally found the solution getting Kastrinakis who had come for Sportig, Diakoulas, Giatzoglou and Melini” the great athlete and coach told us and went on… “However, there was one more problem. The law allowed for each team to have up to two Greek Americans on its roster. We had four. So, they needed to have Greek citizenship. That’s what happened. I started the search, and the three first ones acquired the Greek citizenship legally. They have served in the Greek Army. Melini was the only one who refused to serve, but it was OK, because we had the option of having two Greek Americans. So, while everyone thought that Olympiacos would be never able to build a contending team, they were actually surprised. I made all necessary inquiries with the State Department, the Immigration Services. I would be visiting all these offices, without having any contacts in any of these places. Upon entering, I would shout “Are there any Olympiacos’ fans here?” Whoever I would see look up, I would go to them. I would be explaining the problem and they would all help out for the three to acquire citizenship. Especially at the Greek State department, the chief of staff at the time was an avid Olympiacos’ fan. He would be coming to all our games. We did nothing illegal. We just did not get stuck with red tape”.
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“God has his job to do and we have ours”
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he four players joining the team was one of the steps needed for Olympiacos to once again win a championship. However, proper circumstances had to be also created. “We were training at an open court outside the club and we would be wearing gloves in winter. One time, we were sitting in a small room with minimum weight lifting equipment and were getting ready to go out to run. But it was pouring. There is a small road round the marina. So, I tell them we are going out to run. I’m getting in my car and the windscreen wipers would be frantically trying to keep the water away. Diakoulas says “Coach, the weather is terrible, where do you think we are going?” and I reply “God has his job to do and we have ours”, the man that his personal history has placed among the most important personas of the team reveals laughing. How the situation got actually reversed? How did Olympiacos move to the Papastrateio and success got to follow along? “We were expecting to move to the Papastrateio. The gym had been ready for two years and it was only missing lighting, and we kept having a hard time practicing properly. We then found out that the money for the lighting was available but they wouldn’t pay them so that they would earn interest in the bank. There is was nothing luxurious about the structure; it was a … tin box. It was extremely cold in winder and extremely hot in the summer. But it was somewhere we could go and not practice wearing gloves! A new era had begun for basketball…”
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Who is who
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he “Patriarch” of Greek basketball is the creator of the great Olympiacos team in the ‘70s. Faidon Mathaiou was born on July 12, 1924 in Thessaloniki and is considered to be the most multifaceted Greek Champion of all times. He was a protagonist in volleyball, water polo, track and field with Aris Thessaloniki, pink pong, tennis, fencing and of course, basketball. As an athlete, he participated the 1948 London Olympic Games in rowing; the 1952 Helsinki Olympic Games as a member of the National basketball team and in 1960 in the Rome Games as the coach of the National Basketball team. He established his basketball career with Aris Thessaloniki, while he also played for Panathinaikos, Panionios, Sportig, Varese and Benelli Pesaro. Fathon Mathaiou became the head coach for Olympiacos in 1966, during the two year tenure of the team in B’ division. He was responsible for the return of the team to big category and set the foundations for the creation of the great team of the ‘reds’ that had a leading role in the years to come. During his time in the Olympiacos’ bench, the ‘reds’ jersey was worn by Giatzoglou, Kastrinakis, Diakoulas and Melini and with him in the bench, the ‘reds’ won the first double of their history in 1976 without losing one game! He passed on September 17, 2011 at the age of 87.
I MADE ALL NECESSARY INQUIRIES WITH THE STATE DEPARTMENT, THE IMMIGRATION SERVICES. I WOULD BE VISITING ALL THESE OFFICES, WITHOUT HAVING ANY CONTACTS IN ANY OF THESE PLACES. UPON ENTERING, I WOULD SHOUT “ARE THERE ANY OLYMPIACOS’ FANS HERE?” WHOEVER I WOULD LOOK UP, I WOULD GO TO THEM. I WOULD BE EXPLAINING THE PROBLEM AND THEY ALL WOULD HELP FOR THE THREE TO ACQUIRE GREEK CITIZENSHIP” OLYMPIACOSBC.GR
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LEGENDARY CALENDAR
27/2/2015 With the game against Unicaja, Olympiacos completes 500 European games and honors great team legends. The Legends of the ‘Legend’ (i.e. Olympiacos’ nickname) that had participated the first European game of the team on November 27, 1960 against Galatasaray.
10/3/1925 On March 10, 1926 the OLYMPIACOS ASSOCIATON OF THE PIRAEUS FANS was founded. The greatest club in Greece is also among the greatest ones in Europe. FOUNDED: OLYMPIACOS
OLYMPIACOS – UNICAJA MALAGA 77-72
22/3/2011
Giannis Ioannidis’ and Zarko Paspalj’ Olympiacos has joined the Club of the European Greats and comes one step before making the Final Four that was going to be held at the SEF. In Limoges, the Serbian forward steps the boundary line at the last play and the dream fades away. But the message was loud and clear.
A magical night that was not followed upon though. During the first quarter final before the Barcelona Final Four, Olympiacos hosts Siena and plays an amazing game. The 89-41 score is the second largest European victory for our team, the best defensive score, and the best rebounding performance in total numbers and defensive rebounds in particular. However, what comes next is not good. Olympiacos loses two days later in Italy and is left out of the Final Four.
LIMOGES - OLYMPIACOS 60-58
OLYMPIACOS - SIENA 89-41
17/3/1993
2/4/2009 29/3/1997 Olympiacos had to go through a lot of obstacles before conquering … Rome, given the not so good course of the team during that season. The ‘reds’ had to make two breaks to make the Final Four and first one was in the OAKA. They did it with an impressive 49-69 and sent the message that the trophy would be coming to the Piraeus. PANATHINAIKOS - OLYMPIACOS 49-69
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The presence of the Angelopoulos brothers in the Olympiacos’ leadership has reversed the status quo of European basketball. The ‘reds’ went through a rough couple of years, but they gradually set the foundations and their 78-75 victory in Madrid in the fourth quarter final that also sealed the team’s qualification to the Berlin Final Four after 10 years, was the beginning of a golden decade that’s still evolving. REAL MADRID - OLYMPIACOS 75-78
MARCH APRIL
13/4/1995
4/4/2013 There had been a lot of important moments on the road to the London Final Four. One of those was the game against Khimki at the SEF and the amazing performance by Kostas Papanikolaou. 21 points, 10 defensive rebounds and a total of 12 boards, 37 efficiency points and a magical night for ‘Pap”, his best ever in the EuroLeague.
Eddie Johnson’s Olympiacos had played a great game against Panathinaikos for the Final Four semis. The ‘reds’ has played against the Real Madrid of Arvydas Sabonis on the road and although almost touching the valuable trophy for a second time, lack of energy due to fatigue did not allow them to win it. REAL MADRID - OLYMPIACOS 73-61
OLYMPIACOS - KHIMKI 79-70
23/4/2015
21/4/1994 The missed free throws by Zarko Paspalj and the three by Cornelius Thompson that deprived Olympiacos the European throne will always be a nightmare in the ‘reds’ memories. OLYMPIACOS - BADALONA 57-59
24/4/1997
The third European final for Olympiacos. The third attempt to the valuable trophy. The third and lucky one. Rivers and his team mates swept everything in their presence and following Olympiacos’ victory against Olimpija Ljubljana in the semis, Barcelona did not resist strong enough. Olympiacos, led by Dusan Ivkovic, won that season the first Triple Crown in the history of Greek basketball.
OLYMPIACOS - BARCELONA 73-58
Three years earlier, it was his floater that sent the Olympiacos’ fans to the sky. That night, it was his three. In a thrilling game, for the fourth Euroleague quarterfinal between Olympiacos and Barcelona, the Catalans were controlling the game but the ‘reds’ just never give up and that’s what happened that night as well. The huge victory that sent the team to the Madrid Final Four was sealed by that three. OLYMPIACOS - BARCELONA 71-68
A few if not any one remember Olympiacos’ victory against Apollon Patras 20 years ago. Not even Arturas Karnisovas himself, who that night made 19 free throws, which is the record for free-throws made for Olympiacos in the Greek League. 28/4/1998 APOLLON PATRAS - OLYMPIACOS 66-77
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THE LEGEND
AND THE ‘GOD’ OF BASKETBALL It’s been 21 years and four months since when Olympiacos played against the best player in the history of the sport and the best team that has ever hit the floors. It was October 18, 1997 when the European Champion played against the NBA champions, Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls in the final of the McDONALD’S CHAMPIONSHIP that was held in Paris.
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lympiacos lost 104-78 to the “Bulls” but no one was upset for losing. On the contrary. There was only smiling and contentment on the performance the two teams got to give at the “Bercy” and the fact that the global basketball community had its eyes focused on Dusan Ivkovic’ team. We run through our archives and found the 16th issue of the “OLYMPIACOS” magazine that was published in November 1997. The game commentary, historical photos, statements made by the protagonists and exclusive interviews by Phil Jackson and Michael Jordan on about Olympiacos. Words of high importance for the Olympiacos’ organization that need to be preserved in history. Games and statements that will always occupy a special place in the golden book of Olympiacos’ history. We republish the statements made by the two huge personas of world basketball for the “OLYMPIACOS” magazine unedited, as well as some of the statements made by the ‘reds’, just like they were recorded for the magazine by the team’s Press Officer at the time, Mr. Giannis Fileris.
IVKOVIC: “JORDAN IS EVERYTHING TO BASKETBALL” “We got to experience something huge. For me, the important thing is that no one was injured. I did not want to put a lot of stress on my key players, that’s why I gave minutes to all the team. We played at fast pace and man to
man. We controlled the tempo in the three quarters but the game got away from our hands in the fourth. We did good though, considering who the opponent was. Michael Jordan is more than a great athlete. He’s everything to basketball”.
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WHAT TOMIC AND VUKCEVIC GOT TO EXPERIENCE
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hey both were fortunate (or unfortunate, depends on the view) to guard Michael Jordan. Milan was Dusan Ivkovic’ first choice, although what he said before the jump ball was:”I’m going to tell Tomic to guard him but we’ll need to rent him a … helot so that he can follow him”. Jordan never allowed Tomic any spare moment. While faking a play, he witnessed Tomic losing his footing and burst out laughing: “I thought that the kid with number 11 on his jersey had lost his shoes at that moment”, his “Airiness” would be saying after the game. Of course Milan did not let Jordan laugh at him. He started laughing himself, got close to him and told him “You will not be scoring in the next play”. And that was what happened… But the one to receive back to back buckets by Jordan was Dusan Vuksevic: “If I’m not mistaken, he attacked six times when I was guarding him and he scored in all of them. What was I supposed to do? I tried to follow him, but it’s not that easy to stop him or even simply guard him…” Vuksevic confessed, who nevertheless, immensely enjoyed the game,
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just like everyone else with Olympiacos. However, the historic catch phrase from the game was Franko Nakic’ advice to Thymios Bakatsias: “Don’t look him in the eye because he looks back and you get dizzy!”
MICHAEL JORDAN AND PHIL JACKSON TALK ABOUT OLYMPIACOS
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rom Chicago, if not with love, then certainly with appreciation, the two leaders of the best team to ever play on the planet, talked exclusive to the “OLYMPIACOS” magazine about Olympiacos. About the Olympiacos they met in Paris and played against for the McDonald’s tournament final. So, from Chicago, the head coach of the Bulls, Phil Jackson and His Royalty, Michael Jordan, talk about the European Champion. “The game against Olympiacos was pleasant because the opponent was a team with a lot of interesting characteristics”, Phil Jackson said at first and continued analyzing his impressions from the ‘reds’: “For us, this was our best game in the pre-season and this is part due to the fact that we faced a very serious team whose playing style has a lot of similarities to ours. Olympiacos’ game philosophy is very obvious from the way its players move on the floor during the game and it’s obvious that they seek physicality in their game. There was a lot of physicality, just like we see during the NBA games and enough intensity to make it an exciting game. I liked Olympiacos in general, because they proved to be a team that has worked a lot and they have players on their roster worth watching. Of course our attention was mainly focused on Tarlac, who we played very hard on, just like I said in Paris, because we wanted to show him what he should be expecting, when he decides to join us. He’s a player with good inside movement, capable blocker and very strong, who can offer a lot of solutions to the Bulls. He just needs to work on his speed and then he will be ready for a great NBA career. “Olympiacos is a team that I will not be forgetting and the reason is that I played against them the last international game of my career”, was what the twice golden Olympic medalist - among so many others accolades - Michael Jordan said initially and continued: “The differences between the NBA and European basketball are still too many. I don’t want to
make comparisons, neither talk on whether they have come closer, what I know is that compared to the past, the distance has certainly shrank. What impressed me the most is that Olympiacos played without any fear, they did not try to mess with our game playing zone defense and showed great personality as a team. That way, they allowed for a nice and pleasant game to be played. The most crucial differences between our team and Olympiacos are the same ones between the NBA and European basketball. At first, it’s speed and the ability to set traps, exactly because we have quick guards, but it’s also defense. For me, defense is a matter of will and players that come to the NBA, having spent four years at college, have realized its importance, so most of them play defense because they want to. Nevertheless, Olympiacos has many good elements in that area as well, since from what I saw there is a team effort in terms of defense tactics. In Europe though, where zone defense is allowed, it is many times that individual defense is very vulnerable. There were a lot of players that I liked on the team, mainly Tarlac, who gave Luc (Longley) a hard time and I’m certain will be able to help us”.
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T HE A CADEMY /olympiacosbc.theacademy
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lot of Euroleague stars - with the most recent case that of Luca Doncic’ - before the got to shine in the top European competition, had played the “Adidas Next Generation Tournament”! It’s a tournament organized every year since 2002 by the Euroleague, aiming to shine a light on its future protagonists. Games are held in the format of the actual competition, while it draws interest from many scouts, not only from the Old World, but also from the US, who seek to find a great … catch for their teams! The ‘U18” Olympiacos’ team participated this year’s tournament in Munich from February 9 to February 11! The ‘red’ youngsters missed the chance to qualify to the final for… half a point (in case of victory they would automatically secure a place in the Belgrade Final Four), nevertheless, they had the experience of a lifetime! A very special moment was that of Nikos Arsenopoulos being included in the best starting 5 of the tournament, as well as his exceptional performance in Bamberg, that put him on the list with the tournament’s historic records!
ΤHE RESULTS Α’ ROUND BAYERΝ Μ. - ΟLYMPIACOS 74-66 BAMBERG - ΟLYMPIACOS 74-89 ΟLYMPIACOS - REAL BETIS 80-77
Let’s take a look at the series of events…
THIRD POSITION FINAL ΟLYMPIACOS - ΑLBA Β. 57-83
THE ROSTER NAME
HEIGHT
POSITION
DATE OF BIRTH
ARSENOPOULOS NIKOLAOS 1.97 G 19/05/00 ZEVGARAS THOMAS 2.05 F 16/01/01 KATSIMPAS DIMITRIOS 2.05 C 05/03/01 KOLOVEROS IOSIF 1.82 G 28/08/02 MERISIOTIS ΚONSTANTINOS 1.94 F-C 24/04/00 MPALIS GEORGIOS 1.90 G 09/03/00 EKONOMOU PANAGIOTIS 1.96 G 09/03/01 POKUSEVSKI ALEKSEJ 2.09 G 26/12/01 ROUMELIOTIS ANDREAS 1.95 G 22/09/00 TSOUMANIS ANDREAS 2.02 F 15/07/01 CHALIOS ΝΙΚΟLAOS 2.01 C 09/03/01 PERRIS ANDREAS 1.85 G 23/01/02 COACHES: ΙOANNIS CHRISANTHOPOULOS - ΝΙKOS KERAMEVS ASSISTANT: IOSIF NIKOLAIDIS
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Day 1 ΤThe schedule included double games! In the morning, the players of coach Chrysanthopoulos played against the host, Bayern and despite the game being a derby up to 30’, the Germans exploited on the many mistakes and the defensive passiveness of Olympiacos, imposed the tempo and won the game 74-66. Despite the team’s bad start, they had the necessary energy reserves to beat Bamberg on the evening of the same day (89-74).
Day 2 Olympiacos continued with another win… The ‘reds’ beat Real Betis 80-77; however they lost qualification to the final of the Euroleague “ADIDAS NEXT GENERATION” tournament. This was because the ‘reds’ shared top seed of the group with Bayern and Bamberg. However, the Greek team had a +7 at goal average, resulting in everything coming down to the game between them. Bayern had bested Olympiacos in the first day and hence they were the ones to get the ticket for the tournament final, sending the ‘reds’ to the Third Place Final.
Day 3 With a low moral (due to the way the team lost qualification to the final) and without Aleksej Pokusevski, who had the flu, the Olympiacos’ U18 team lost to Alba Berlin 57-83 and ranked 4th. Nevertheless, the Greeks that attended the tournament from day one supported the ‘reds’ all the way, as well as the Greek DJ of the tournament who played a totally Greek (!) playlist and did all they could to cheer up the team! Anyway, what counts the most in tournaments like that is the experience gained…
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NIKOS ARSENOPOULOS “It belongs to the whole team!” However, Olympiacos did not leave the tournament empty handed! Nikos Arsenopoulos, who is also a member of the men’s team (he debuted this season in the road game against Kymi), was included in the best quintet of the tournament. “It’s an honorary distinction for my, however, I wish to dedicate it to my team mates and the team work we have been doing up to now. I wouldn’t be able to have made this without my team mates. I’m not just saying that. This award does not belong to me solely, but rather to the whole team. I repeat, that this is a team effort, not an individual one”, the 17 year old guard commented. Asked on how he got to experience his participation in this great tournament, he pointed out: “It has been a great experience for all of us. We saw how the top level for our age group is and it’s only a given that the experience gained in this tournament is going to help us in the future. On our part, we need to continue working hard, improve and become even more competitive”. Apart from being included in the best starting five, Arsenopoulos succeeded yet one more thing… Writing his name on the list of the historic records of the tournament! In the game against Bamberg, in 29:15 minutes, he scored 41 points, with 4/4 free throws, 8/12 2p. and 7/11 3p.! This performance brought him among the top four players that have scored the most points in the history of the competition.
THE REVIEW “The results make us hopeful…” Before Munich, the last time the ‘reds’ had participated such a tournament was in 2007 in Athens. The review showed very poor results at the time, since the team had not won any of its games… On the contrary, the team was very close to making the Final in Munich. “After many years, Olympiacos got to participate once again a Euroleague tournament, wishing to showcase that we give a lot of attention to the young athletes, both in terms of team work as well as that of individual talent”, the Head of Academies, Nikos Keramevs commented, who was asked to make an assessment of the team’s performance in the tournament. “During the three days we were in Munich, we had a descent presence. We won two games and lost another two. The results, as well as the team’s performance make us hopeful that Olympiacos is a measurable size in the young age groups and that we are going to see some talented players step up and join the men’s team. We had some good moments and we had some difficult ones. I’m happy for the effort the kids made during those three days and these three days are going to help us prepare for the championships final stage that will be taking place in Piraeus, so that we can substantially challenge
our participation to the National Championship games. I would like to thank the kids for the effort they made, the healthy and the injured ones, as well as those that were not with us, since some of them were left behind. I think we need some more time to be bringing better results”.
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ALEKSEJ Pokusevski Dream, faith, hope, inspiration, launch!
“OLYMPIACOS IS MY SECOND HOME”
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e’s one of the greatest European projects and certainly, the largest one for Olympiacos in the last decade. We’re talking Aleksej Pokusevski, the 16-year old play-maker that stands 2.11 cm tall and gets introduced to the Olympiacos fans through “We are Olympiacos”. Giorgos and Panagiotis Angelopoulos have created a… global school bringing new players on the basketball court each passing year and introducing them to a wide basketball audience. At the same time, they acquire players that are cheap in terms of the basketball stock market and win through countless limit ups. The ‘reds’ project has become a topic for discussion and admiration throughout Europe during recent years and at the same time it’s the reason so that huge new talent accepts the Piraeus team offer. We expect a new Limit Up with the Belgrade born on December 26, 2001, Aleksej. The starting point guard for Olympiacos’ U18 team grew up in Novi Sad, the capitol of the northern Serbian province of Vojvodina. His father, Sasa and his mother, Nada, did their best so that that Aleksej and his older brother Onjegin would not be missing anything and they now see that their
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efforts are vindicated. Above all else, they see their dream come true, that is their kids to be happy. “We are a family, first of all and what we want for Aleksej is to see him happy. What really makes him happy and where he’s his best self is when playing basketball. Since he was a kid, Aleksej was very tall. He would be growing 3 to 8 centimeters each year so he took up basketball” his father Sasa says and then his mother picks up smiling… “that’s what makes the kid happy. He always wants to be playing basketball; he always wants to be in a gym, with a ball in his hands”. At the same time, Aleksej, who was sitting among his parents at the time of the interview, wasn’t holding a ball, but rather his cell phone… When we pointed that out, he gave an immediate reply. He turned the phones screen to us showing what he was watching. “You see, even when someone is talking about him, he’s watching video’s from last night’s NBA games (laughs)”.
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n his part, Aleksej talked about his basketball fairy tale, simply saying: “I love playing basketball, being on the floor and doing the thing I love doing the most in life”, when his father interrupts him saying that “he loves learning to speak Greek. He feels Greece and Olympiacos to be his second home, the same goes for us. Greece and Olympiacos is our second home, the people on the team, Mr. Keramevs, Mr. Lialios embraced us from the moment one. Mr. Stavropoulos did everything in his power for Aleksej to join the team, then Mr. Stavropoulos sent him to the men’s team, Mr. Tomic gives advises him on a regular basis, the same for Nikola Milutinov, everyone on the U18 team love Aleksej and he loves them as well. So, what can we do as a family? Only give back the same great love and trust”. Olympiacos succeeded in getting the young player to sign with the team in 2016 at the same moment he had entered the radar of the big clubs not only in his country, but in Europe. ‘Mega Leks, Partizan and other Serbian clubs wanted Aleksej. Also Real Madrid had inquired to learning about Aleksej, while we came close to signing with Baskonia”.
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here was also interest from Cajasol, but finally the Olympiacos people convinced us. I saw in their eyes how much they wanted to have Aleksej and how they saw him evolving in a few years time. And this for me as a father, was the most important factor”, Sasa said with his face glowing with pride. As for Aleksej’s daily routine, it includes basketball, basketball and a little more of basketball... “I wake up every morning and got to school, do my homework and then it’s basketball, practicing, going to the gym for training with Mr. Gatzoulis and then it’s homework again”, Aleksej says, who now reads and speaks fluently in Greek. If there is anything he misses, that’s his brother, whom his parents also miss a lot. “We expect him finishing school this year so he can finally come to live with us. He’s now living with his grand parents and we are counting down the days till we are all together again”, Aleksej’s parents say in unison sending their own message to Onjegin, at the same time showing how strongly the family is bonded together. A family that has gone through a lot, was tested more than enough, but as Sasa points out “I hope that hard times are behind for all four of us. But even if there is more to come, we will stay together, love one another and we’ll make it. What we want is for our kids to be happy and in harmony with one another. Everything else is of lesser importance”.
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1
WHAT SEASON (5 points) 1. Olympiacos made the Final Four 2. Our team’s coach was Dusan Ivkovic 3. Was the last one for Panagiotis Fassoulas
2 TO WHOM IT BELONGS? (10 points) On whose player arm is this tattoo on?
TO WHOM IT BELONGS? (10 points) Name the two players that hide in this face.
THE HISTORIAN (2 points for each correct answer)
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1. What was Acie Law’s team before he joined Olympiacos? 2. What number did he have on his ‘reds’ jersey? 3. He was drafted by the Atlanta Hawks. Right or wrong? 4. With how many players from the current Olympiacos roster did he get to play with? 5. Law was born in New York. Right or wrong? 78 OLYMPIACOSBC.GR
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5 SNEAKERS CORNER (10 points) Who wears these shoes?
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FIND THE DIFFERENCES (2 points for each one) The right photo has five differences compared to the left one. Can you find them?
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FAMOUS OLYMPIACOS FANS (10 points)
WHO GAVE THE ASSIST? (5 points for each correct answer)
1. I’m a singer 2. I used to play basketball when I was young 3. I was in Istanbul and in London
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1. For Printezis’ basket in the final of the Istanbul Final Four in 2012? 2. For Printezis’ three in the fourth EuroLeague quarter final against Barcelona in 2015?
THE ‘REDS’ ARCHIVES (3 points for each correct answer) 1. Who is the top Olympiacos scorer in the Euroleague?
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2. Who was the first team Olympiacos played against in its history with European competitions? 3. Who was the captain of the team that won the first championship in 1949? 4. How many championships has Olympiacos won? 5. Who is the player with the most games for the team in the Greek League?
WHO AM I? (10 points) 1. I was born in 1972 2. I played for Olympiacos for six years 3. My next team was Alba Berlin 4. I used to play the small forward 5. I now live in the USA
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ANSWERS 1. 1998-99 2. Vassilis Toliopoulos 3. Ioannis Papapetrou - Nikos Arsenopoulos 4. Partizan - 5 - Correct - 4 - Worng, in Dallas 5. SKRATS is missing from Papapetrou’s jersey - the net is missing - Carroll is missing number 20 - the word exit is missing from the back sign - Number 67 is missing from the board in the background 6. Ioannis Papapetrou 7. Christos Cholidis 8. Vassilis Spanoulis - Kostas Sloukas 9. Vassilis Spanoulis - Galatasaray - Alekos Spanoudakis - 12 - Milan 10. Franko Nakic
WHEN I WAS Janis Strelnieks I used to live… In a small Latvian town called Talsi.
10 My favorite TV show was… LNT. Latvian National Television. Whatever kind of cartoon show was on, I would be watching. I used to eat for breakfast… Sausage omelet.
I lived with… My parents and my two older siblings. Our pets at the time… Two dogs, Delvis and Tsita and a cat called Muris. These are all Latvian names. I went to school to… The elementary school of Talsi. My best friend’s name was… Also Janis. People used to call me… ‘Jantsuks’, something similar to how you call someone here when he’s young, like little Janis… Something like that. I didn’t like it, but I was built small so I had gotten used to it. The team I was playing for at the time was… Talsi. I played for them until I was 14 and then I moved to Ventspils. The team I rooted for was… Ventspils of course. Bigger city, more people, better team. We also did not have a professional team in Talsi to support. My favorite player was… I’ll give you two, Michael Jordan and Robert Stelmahers.
I used to go on vacation… In a small town called Roja, it was by the sea, about 40-45 minutes from where we used to live. In my wallet I used to have… Nothing! I would go to bed at… 21:30 every night. What I used to love doing was… Riding a bicycle and I had gotten my first bicycle at that time so I was thrilled. The ‘stupidest’ thing I had ever done was… I never did stupid things; I was smart (laughing).
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The person I used to imitate was… My older brothers.
Olympiacos used to men to me… One of the best teams in Europe.
My favorite place on earth was… Talsi. My worst habit was… I would be talking all the time. And I would always get reprimanded for it, even at school. My favorite toy was… A basketball.
Other sports I used to like… Football and hockey.
I would be expecting that dinner was… Sis Kebab … Or anything with meat. Outside of sports, I used to love… Spending time with my friends. If I had 100 euro, I would be spending them on… Buy as many miniature cars I could.
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DAVID CLANCY There are hidden heroes behind each and every successful team that contribute a lot so that the Club can reach the top and stay there. The same goes for Olympiacos, with the ‘reds’ medical and training staff playing a major role into placing the team among the sports elite. Proof enough? The comments made by David Clancy, the head physiotherapist of the San Antonio Spurs or the players they have playing in Europe and whose rights they attain for the NBA, who places the ‘reds’ team as one of the best in the Old World!
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D
uring one of his many visits to Athens due to Nikola Milutinov, David Clancy got to talk to our magazine. He originally introduces himself and explains what his responsibilities are… “I’m trained in sports physiotherapy. I work in London for a clinic that mainly deals with professional athletes. I have an associate to the San Antonio Spurs for about two and a half seasons. I have been to Texas quite a few times and have been assigned with watching their European players like Nikola, but also Livio Jean-Charles (France) and Nemanja Dangubic (Serbia, Red Star). I’m actually the niche with European team, so that San Antonio knows how the player is doing with their respective team and whether they need any help. I check on the players on a regular basis, in what shape they are in and if they need any strengthening program. I also work with the medical staff and try to keep San Antonio appraised on what the status is at any time. This is because there are often a lot of injuries and the Spurs don’t know what has exactly happened. So I take it upon myself to let them know of the exact situation”.
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something. I have an exercise program that I want to oversee every time I get to visit with a player, but it changes from time to time and it depends on whether the player has been injured or not. Nikola was troubled by his ankle injury. So I focused on that and tried to understand what his schedule was for the next three weeks. I try to talk with the player every day. I would be texting him from London asking how he is, how he had played, how he feels… And each week I send a detailed email to the Spurs that includes all the news and updates on the players’ health, as well as their teams. I communicate directly with the player and his team. I try to build a relationship with the teams, because I think it’s important. But I need to communicate with the player a lot. The Spurs are very busy during the season, so it’s easier for me to keep daily communication”.
“I never worry about Nikola!” Specifically about the Serbian center, who is the player the Spurs are interested in more than anybody else, his comments were: “I’ve been watching him for a year and a half now. I have been watching the Olympiacos games’ and of course Nikola’s. He has physically improved a lot and this has to do with the fact that Olympiacos is a first class professional club. From my experience, having worked with other European teams as well and not only basketball, but also football ones Olympiacos is very well organized and properly structured. Everyone working here, on
every level, they do a very good job”. According to David Clancy, Olympiacos is miles ahead in this area compared to other European teams. “The greatest difference between Olympiacos and other teams doesn’t only have to do with the equipment. It’s the way the Club operates and the fact that they have very good communication with their players. Whenever I come to Greece to see the player, the whole medical team is here. The physiotherapist, the doctor, the trainer… Everyone. Hence I can immediately see the full support offered to the player, which is good, very good. On the other hand, I have seen teams where the player is completely by themselves. In this case, if there is a medical issue he’s dealing with, there is no one I can talk to! That’s why I believe Nikola is in an extremely advantageous position, because his team is very well organized. And that goes for my side also. For instance, if I’m not in Greece and I ask the medical team something, they get back with me at once. Olympiacos is a first class professional team and that’s why they are so successful. What we also need to address is that compared to other European teams, Olympiacos has very good medical equipment and a high level staff. So the factors are many… Some players feel isolated after they are injured, but this is not the case with Nikola, he always has team people around ready to help him. I’m never worried when Nikola is injured, because I know he’s going to be receiving the best care available in the best possible manner. There are cases in other teams, that when a player is injured, I need to go to him, because his case is not treated properly. But I’m impressed on how Olympiacos handles these cases”.
Andreas Gatzoulis David Clancy is the niche between Europe and the San Antonio Spurs. However, one more connecting ring and a very important one on both directions, is our team’s trainer, Andres Gatzoulis, who has undertaken the task - in co-operation to the Olympiacos’ medical team - to keep everyone updated on Nikola Milutinov’s health. “We have been co-operating with the Spurs for about three years now. We have been exchanging information and analytical reports on how many practices he has made with the team, how many individual ones, how many for strength training, how much aerobic, how many games he has played. An analysis on everything… Of course they have their own man, David Clancy, who has been watching Nikola. Some times he can be suggesting a few things or turn us toward a certain direction if there is a problem. But they don’t interfere with our work. We make the final decisions because Nikola is an Olympiacos’ player. However, the Spurs are the only team to be doing that… They are a very difficult team, they ask for a lot of info and a lot of details, however, that’s the reason they are at a top level for so many years. It’s not luck. And the people they work with are also top level. Clancy is heading one of the biggest rehabilitation centers for sports in Europe and he also works with FIFA”.
“The Spurs are really interested” Just like every one else, players have strong and weak spots… According to the San Antonio Spurs physiotherapist, Nikola Milutinov’s weak spots are: “He’s very tall, he’s young, he’s thin, so there are causes for injury. He looks like someone that can easily get injured due to his physical build, as well as due to a very heavy schedule. So, he’s a player that need to be following a special program in order to ‘structure’ his body, and thus not only be in optimal shape but also remain strong and versatile. All these because he has a history of knee and ankle injuries, so there are many reasons he need to work on his body to avoid future ones”. Compared to previous seasons, his visits to the SEF are much more frequent and there is an explanation for them: “I now come more often because the San Antonio team is getting ‘old’. Big players are older; there are injuries, so they have asked me to watch Nikola even more closely. They are really much more interested in him than any one of the other players. And this has of course to do with his body, his position and his good performances. They want to make sure that he’s going to remain being in shape”.
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Cool EuroLeague with sirtaki and piata!
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few weeks ago, EuroLeague shot and a very different basketball show that is now on air. Cool Euroleague is not a usual show for the sport. It’s something different. With humor being the main axis and without pre-arranged content aims to revealing the athletes’ different personas. After Datome and Voroncevic, the show’s execs asked for the presence of Olympiacos’ two “Paps” in their studio. Bob and Django hosted the two Greek forwards for Olympiacos and apart from interesting questioning, the show offered special sirtaki lessons but also the basketball way of breaking plates when in the mood is right. “We Are Olympiacos” traveled with “The Paps” in Barcelona and recorded exclusive photos and unique moments from the third episode of “Cool EuroLeague”.
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THE OTHER
BRIAN ROBERTS...
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Calvin Harris, Tiësto, The Chainsmokers, Skrillex, Steve Aoki, David Guetta… Maybe unders certain circumstances Brian Roberts’ name could be included in the same list with the best paid DJs in the world! The Olympiacos’ guard reveals to the Olympiacos BC magazine, that shouldn’t he had become a professional basketball player; maybe he could be making a living behind the decks!
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1
If you were a cartoon, which one would you be and why? “I like Spiderman! I like that he can ‘strike’ with his net and climb anywhere”.
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If you were an animal, what would be and why? “I’d love to be a cougar, because it’s a very fast animal”.
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If you hadn’t become a basketball player, what would you be doing? “I would be probably be running my own business or maybe I would be a DJ. I really love music”.
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What kind of music do you like? “R&B, hip hop, gospel… That’s the kinds of music I listen mostly to”.
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City or village? “Something in between. I like living in a city’s outskirts but not in the country. I prefer the suburbs, so that I’m not really far from downtown”.
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A bike or a car and what make? “Definitely a car. I’m not into bikes at all. I like Audis. They are good cars”.
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Mountain or the sea? “The sea without a second thought. When you are close to the sea you feel as if you are on vacation, which is great”.
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Do you believe in ghosts? “I didn’t use to, but I have come to believe that they may be true. I used to believe that the people that would be talking of ghosts had started losing their minds. Nothing has really happened to make me change my take on that. I’ve just grown older and maybe wiser…”
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Are you a momma’s boy? “Yeah, a little bit…”
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If you could change something on you, what would that be? “First of all, I’d like to make it clear that I like the way I am. Maybe I would gain me some weight, maybe a few inches and maybe I would be slightly change the way I think”.
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If you could take back time, is there anything you would be changing? “Nothing at all. I feel that I am where I’m now for a reason and I don’t regret anything”.
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When other people talk about you, what would you like them to be saying? “I’d like them saying I’m a nice guy and that I work hard”.
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Do you feel uncomfortable when people stop you to talk to you on the street? “No, I don’t mind… I like people coming up to talk to me”.
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A three, a dunk, a block or an assist? “A three by far…”
How do you picture yourself in ten years from now? “I will be definitely not playing basketball. I’ll be too old. I hope to have my own business and be a good father and husband”.
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Night club or a movie at home? “I’m a home type. I have grown up and I prefer to be at home”.
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Tell us your craziest basketball dream. “I don’t know if it’s crazy, however, my dream right now is to win the Euroleague and the Greek League”.
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Tell us your craziest dream period. “I always want to be the best Brian Roberts there is. I want to be the best I can be”.
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Blondes, brunettes, or red heads? “Definitely brunettes, like my wife”.
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If you could only choose one song that would be playing each time you entered your room for the rest of your life, what would that be? “I can’t say which one song, but I can choose the artist. A band called For Real. I could be listening to their songs all the time for the rest of my life”.
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Are you interested in what people think about you? “I try not to. I don’t always make it, but I do the best I can not to be influenced”.
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Do you believe in aliens? “No”.
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Do you check you zodiac sign? “No I don’t”.
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If you were a painter, what colors would you paint your life canvas with? “I like brown. It’s my favorite color. I also like blue a lot, so these two colors would definitely be dominating it”.
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What do you love to hate in your profession? “When you have a family and kids you miss on a lot of little things. You miss on time and energy to be to gether and at the same time little things of their life, like school, proms, birthday parties. That’s the hard part. I don’t complain though… This is because I’m doing what I love and wanted to be doing since I can remember. It’s a blessing to be playing at such a high level and earn my family’s keep from that. It’s a dream that I had since I were a kid and it has become a reality”.
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Tell us the weirdest incident with a fan… “Nothing really weird has ever happened… the weirdest thing is that they usually think I’m somebody else…”
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If you could choose between flying and being invisible, what would you choose? “I’d like to be invisible so I can see how people really are. Sometimes, when they see you, they present a different persona to who they truly are”.
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When you are facing a problem, do you ask for help or you opt to solving it by yourself? “That’s the problem. I always try to solve it by myself, because I don’t like asking for help. I try to find the solution alone and that’s a con”.
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What are you afraid of? “I’m scared of not fulfilling the purpose of my existence. That is being someplace and not serving the reason I’m there for… That’s something that occupies my thoughts a often”.
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What do you think the meaning of life is? “For me the meaning is to live your life around God and treat people the way you want to be treated. With respect”.
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THE SNAPSHOT! Olympiacos beat Panathinaikos at the OAKA for the Euroleague following five consecutive losses to the ‘Greens’ (two during last season) and broke the negative streak. The MVP for the Sfairopoulos’ team was Brian Roberts, who got to answer with that performance those doubting him. Two hours after the end of the game, the ‘reds’ came to the SEF, where they were welcomed by 100 team fans. Among them, the two most passionate ones… Our Presidents, Panagiotis and Giorgos Angelopoulos, who congratulated everyone and got photographed with the man of the game.
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