Greece NT 2011

[Black Urum]

This is the first time since 2004 that future of this team looks less bright than its past.



Papaloukas and Diamantides, the only active two true Greek superstars recognised world widely, and symbol of Greek basketball of 00s have quit NT.



So has Tsartsaris who had been a versatile big and useful guy for Greece for almost a decade.



Papadopoulos retired from NT two years ago.



Spanoulis will now emerge as the undisputed leader of the team. Sometimes he does good, sometimes not so good, but in international level he tends to be more than good. But this time he won't have Diamantides ripping himself a new asshole trying to cover everything in defence, he won't have Papaloukas coming in to calm the team and take clutch plays upon himself.



He will only have Fotsis on his side from the veterans, who is not the brightest and most stable guy in the world. And his boyfriend Zisis with whom he shares a bedroom, if not more.



Bourousis has proven once more that he can not handle the pressure of a star for Greece NT.



At point or comebo guard we got Calathes who will have more minutes this season. I liked him in WC. He actually had the best assist/turnover ratio (3.5) out of Diamantides and Spanoulis (who had a miserable below 1).



On two we got Vassileiades who will probably get his chance next summer. Pelekanos who can also cover the SF position, but is a limited player offensive wise. Then we got Pappas who will get an even bigger role in Kolossos this year.



Then we go to small forward position which is the worst I think. Perperoglou is not progressing and he will see his playing time limited by Sato in PAO. Papanikolaou isn't even getting chances. Hope Ivkovic looks into this.



Then we got some really nice tweeners. Printezis, who needs to toughen up his defence and Kaimakoglou who is a hard worker and will definitely improve his game under Obradovic. I wouldn't be surprised if he will be a starter in Lithuania. I stopped consider Vasilopoulos as an active player...



Mavrokefalides is talented, but too lazy and soft.



Then we got a bunch of mediocre big bodies like Glyniadakis, Vouyoukas and Mavroeides. I hope the latter one learns a thing or two in ACB and can help NT more than the first two, who were both tested in major tournaments and failed. Unless Koufos makes a huge improvement over the season in NBA.



Last but most important we got the coach issue.



I didn't like Kazlauskas work this year, but the federation should look upon this with more maturity.



First of all he got 1 medal in 2 competitions in 2 years. This is a 50% percentage for a team that plays in a major competition every year.



Also the tournament is taking place in his native Lithuania. This could go a long way for the entire team. From influencing FIBA, refs and even becoming the fans pet team, 2nd favourite behind Lithuania.



Anyway... now that he is past we need to find a better solution. According to most polls in websites most fans want Obradovic, but it's an unlikely scenario and it looks like they will go for a mediocre old Greek coach who will be a transitional coach.



I just hope that the team doesn't see euribasket2011 as a lost cause I want to attend this tournament...