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Sep 15, 2010, 7:14 pm
[quote name='ZEUS' timestamp='1284552157' post='24995']
We can't keep thinking of contending for medals in all the big tournaments when we need to rebuild the team. It's how it works with everyone, when you're rebuilding and don't have any stars on your team, the expectation remain somewhat low and anything that surpasses those expectations is always a plus. Serbia is a very good example of this, where their young team should have at least received 2nd place in the world. Why is there this bullshit notion in Greek basketball that you have to be 25 years old to be a solid player for the national team? We've got all these really talented young men where the respective national team has been performing extremely well. We've got all positions covered, it's not only Pappas and Papanikolaou, it's Sloukas and our other young big men who need big international games to mature, the main backbone of the gold men's 2005 Hellas basketball is done and finished with. We need to be looking into the future, and if a young player shows good promise at 20-21 years of age, then by all means he should be thrown into the deep end and get DECENT minutes so that he may be useful at all times, even at clutch moments.
[/quote]
The problem with this theory is that the players being pushed by the A1 league, by the federation, and by the media suck.
Calathes -> sucks and is not national team material. His brother is a better player than he is.
Koufos -> sucks, however he might be national team material in the future, but not now.
Pappas is good. Sloukas is good. Papanikolaou is good. Chrysikopoulos is good. It's true that all if them are good and are national team material. But so what? They are not ready for that level yet. And they are not being pushed to make it like Koufos and Calathes are.
PG Sloukas
SG Pappas
SF Papanikolaou
PF Chrysikopoulos
C Koufos
That is a team for the future, but not now. After the 2012 Olympics that can be the national team, but not now. And yes, that team has huge potential, but this is too early for them.
What Greece needs to do is stop making stupid player selections.
Pelekanos is far better than Perperoglou but he does not get in the team because of PAO politics.
Vasileiadis is far better than Vougioukas but he does not get in the national team due to the same reason.
Charalampidis and Papamakarios are far better than Calathes but don't get selected for the same reason.
Vougioukas was great with Panellinios but he was an epic disaster with the national team. The stupid idiot coach should have seen this problem and taken Glyniadakis again. Glyniadakis has always played well and performed for the national team.
The answer is to get a good coach and select the best players and stop picking the team based on what makes Panathinaikos look good. The young players should not be selected unless they are better than other players at their position.
Sloukas, Chrysikopoulos, Papanikolaou, Pappas all have great potential but they have to EARN their place in the team, not just have it handed to them. Look at Calathes for the perfect example. His spot was handed to him and he has absolutely been horrible the last 2 summers.
On the other hand, Zisis and Spanoulis EARNED their places and they have always been helping the team.
The glaring weakness was the need of a decent third point guard. Diamantidis is a small forward and only delusional PAO fans think he is a "point guard". Calathes just flat out sucks. So, get Papaloukas back and problem solved. Papaloukas has not retired either.
Small forward.....Perperoglou out and Pelekanos in. Problem solved.
Third center.......Vougioukas out and Glyniadakis in. Problem solved.
A shooting guard that can light it up from 3 point range, spread the defense, beat the zone.........select Vasileiadis and problem solved.
A backup combo guard that can defend the one, play off the ball, spread the floor, beat the zone and play next to Papaloukas in the back court..........select Charalampidis and problem solved.
A legit back up power forward........actually use and play Kaimakoglou and problem solved. The idiot Kazlauskas would not even play him, which is total bull shit.
A backup small forward......either Printezis, Papanikolaou, or Vasilopoulos will have to take this spot. If they can't do it, then select Bramos. Bramos is getting no consideration, but if those other guys can't handle the backup SF spot behind Pelekanos (who should be the starting SF) then bring Bramos in.
Fotsis is fine at what he does. Sofo is fine at what he does, but he needs to work on passing out of double and triple teams. I am sure he will have to learn that in Maccabi. His free throw shooting won't be there so that's just something you have to accept.
Zisis just needs to get his 3 point shot back. He is almost totally back to the pre-injury Zisis, he just needs the 3 point shot back and he will be fully back to his old self. Siena is going to work on his outside shot this year. Just one year with them and his improvement was huge. After he was in CSKA he just got worse every year.
Spanoulis is fine. The endless trash and garbage spewed against him is absurd. With Diamantidis out of the team, Spanoulis can play like he did in 2009 and won't see his game suffer because Diamantidis ruins the whole flow of the offense.
As for the defensive contribution of Diamantidis.....it's simple, replace him with Pelekanos and Vasilopoulis (if he is back to normal after the surgery). Pelekanos and Vasilopoulos are 2 of the 4 best perimeter defenders Greece has, along with Diamantidis and Zisis. The two of them can easily replace the defense of Diamantidis.
They are also bigger players and can bother the shots of opposing small forwards better than Diamantidis. They are also better spot up shooters than Diamantidis is, which would help to bust the zone more.
Bourousis is fine. He was playing with a break in his shooting hand for crying out loud. How the hell can you criticize him? When he is healthy he is more than national team material, he is the best center in Europe. The notion that a healthy Bourousis is not good enough for high level competition is pathetic.
When healthy, he is a much better player than Diamantidis is for example.
90% of the team's problem was the idiot coach and the stupid federation dictating so many PAO players to be in the team. Do what I say with the players, and get a good Greek coach like Bartzokas, or even Zouros, and everything will be fine. If they want a bigger name then coach then get Blatt. The team can even win gold next summer.
We can't keep thinking of contending for medals in all the big tournaments when we need to rebuild the team. It's how it works with everyone, when you're rebuilding and don't have any stars on your team, the expectation remain somewhat low and anything that surpasses those expectations is always a plus. Serbia is a very good example of this, where their young team should have at least received 2nd place in the world. Why is there this bullshit notion in Greek basketball that you have to be 25 years old to be a solid player for the national team? We've got all these really talented young men where the respective national team has been performing extremely well. We've got all positions covered, it's not only Pappas and Papanikolaou, it's Sloukas and our other young big men who need big international games to mature, the main backbone of the gold men's 2005 Hellas basketball is done and finished with. We need to be looking into the future, and if a young player shows good promise at 20-21 years of age, then by all means he should be thrown into the deep end and get DECENT minutes so that he may be useful at all times, even at clutch moments.
[/quote]
The problem with this theory is that the players being pushed by the A1 league, by the federation, and by the media suck.
Calathes -> sucks and is not national team material. His brother is a better player than he is.
Koufos -> sucks, however he might be national team material in the future, but not now.
Pappas is good. Sloukas is good. Papanikolaou is good. Chrysikopoulos is good. It's true that all if them are good and are national team material. But so what? They are not ready for that level yet. And they are not being pushed to make it like Koufos and Calathes are.
PG Sloukas
SG Pappas
SF Papanikolaou
PF Chrysikopoulos
C Koufos
That is a team for the future, but not now. After the 2012 Olympics that can be the national team, but not now. And yes, that team has huge potential, but this is too early for them.
What Greece needs to do is stop making stupid player selections.
Pelekanos is far better than Perperoglou but he does not get in the team because of PAO politics.
Vasileiadis is far better than Vougioukas but he does not get in the national team due to the same reason.
Charalampidis and Papamakarios are far better than Calathes but don't get selected for the same reason.
Vougioukas was great with Panellinios but he was an epic disaster with the national team. The stupid idiot coach should have seen this problem and taken Glyniadakis again. Glyniadakis has always played well and performed for the national team.
The answer is to get a good coach and select the best players and stop picking the team based on what makes Panathinaikos look good. The young players should not be selected unless they are better than other players at their position.
Sloukas, Chrysikopoulos, Papanikolaou, Pappas all have great potential but they have to EARN their place in the team, not just have it handed to them. Look at Calathes for the perfect example. His spot was handed to him and he has absolutely been horrible the last 2 summers.
On the other hand, Zisis and Spanoulis EARNED their places and they have always been helping the team.
The glaring weakness was the need of a decent third point guard. Diamantidis is a small forward and only delusional PAO fans think he is a "point guard". Calathes just flat out sucks. So, get Papaloukas back and problem solved. Papaloukas has not retired either.
Small forward.....Perperoglou out and Pelekanos in. Problem solved.
Third center.......Vougioukas out and Glyniadakis in. Problem solved.
A shooting guard that can light it up from 3 point range, spread the defense, beat the zone.........select Vasileiadis and problem solved.
A backup combo guard that can defend the one, play off the ball, spread the floor, beat the zone and play next to Papaloukas in the back court..........select Charalampidis and problem solved.
A legit back up power forward........actually use and play Kaimakoglou and problem solved. The idiot Kazlauskas would not even play him, which is total bull shit.
A backup small forward......either Printezis, Papanikolaou, or Vasilopoulos will have to take this spot. If they can't do it, then select Bramos. Bramos is getting no consideration, but if those other guys can't handle the backup SF spot behind Pelekanos (who should be the starting SF) then bring Bramos in.
Fotsis is fine at what he does. Sofo is fine at what he does, but he needs to work on passing out of double and triple teams. I am sure he will have to learn that in Maccabi. His free throw shooting won't be there so that's just something you have to accept.
Zisis just needs to get his 3 point shot back. He is almost totally back to the pre-injury Zisis, he just needs the 3 point shot back and he will be fully back to his old self. Siena is going to work on his outside shot this year. Just one year with them and his improvement was huge. After he was in CSKA he just got worse every year.
Spanoulis is fine. The endless trash and garbage spewed against him is absurd. With Diamantidis out of the team, Spanoulis can play like he did in 2009 and won't see his game suffer because Diamantidis ruins the whole flow of the offense.
As for the defensive contribution of Diamantidis.....it's simple, replace him with Pelekanos and Vasilopoulis (if he is back to normal after the surgery). Pelekanos and Vasilopoulos are 2 of the 4 best perimeter defenders Greece has, along with Diamantidis and Zisis. The two of them can easily replace the defense of Diamantidis.
They are also bigger players and can bother the shots of opposing small forwards better than Diamantidis. They are also better spot up shooters than Diamantidis is, which would help to bust the zone more.
Bourousis is fine. He was playing with a break in his shooting hand for crying out loud. How the hell can you criticize him? When he is healthy he is more than national team material, he is the best center in Europe. The notion that a healthy Bourousis is not good enough for high level competition is pathetic.
When healthy, he is a much better player than Diamantidis is for example.
90% of the team's problem was the idiot coach and the stupid federation dictating so many PAO players to be in the team. Do what I say with the players, and get a good Greek coach like Bartzokas, or even Zouros, and everything will be fine. If they want a bigger name then coach then get Blatt. The team can even win gold next summer.