LKL

The end of the first round of the quarterfinals, or if you prefer, the pause between the court change saw the two Greek teams having mixed feelings. Olympiacos are feeling much much better that they were before the series started, whilst Panathinaikos is having trouble.
Nikos Kousoulis

If Angelopoulos brothers leave Olympiacos and Giannakopoulos brothers leave Panathinaikos, it might mean the end of Greek basketball as we know it. It is highly doubtful that in today’s Greece a new investor will be found (Panathinaikos are looking for one for two years now and haven’t found any takers) so this season might be the swan song of the two Greek giants.
Nikos Kousoulis

Asking around Greek fans and trying to eliminate the differences of personal views, I have to admit that everybody painted a certain picture of what they expect from this year’s Eurobasket. They all expect this tournament to be one of the best ever. And I’m not even talking about the games or the players.

Personally, I am sure Lithuania will be able to hold an excellent tournament. Best fans in Europe, best place for basketball in Europe, what’s not to like about this year’s tournament? Oh, and the greatest players will be there. Dirk Nowitzki has already hopped on board!
 

As you can easily derive from the above, there is only one reason to become a team owner in Greece: love for the game and for a team. Very rich people that love their teams and have the financial status to buy them are the most successful Greek owners. They are doing their… hobby, no matter how expensive this seems to the rest of us. And they are the main reason Greek basketball stays at the foreground.
Nikos Kousoulis

The start of his career was a major setback for him (especially for his reputation within Greece), since he wasn’t ready for Olympiacos at that point. But he bounced back. He is an amazing coach now, matured really well over the years and last year he was named “coach of the year” in Eurocup. Of course, I don’t know whether Zouros will be successful in Zalgiris. But be sure of that: he has all the ability, potential and ambition to be successful. This is a chance he was waiting for, the timing is perfect for him and if Zalgiris is patient and professional in their approach towards their new coach this will be a… win-win situation. It has started to seem that Ioannidis wasn’t wrong at his “prophecy” after all…

Greek League is about to start in one week (16th of October) and things don’t look good here. After a League that never ended (because of the terrible things that happened in the 4th Final between Olympiacos and Panathinaikos), the one about to begin doesn’t leave much room for hope. At least we know the teams that will be participating. If you started laughing thinking I’m exaggerating… don’t. Maroussi was the 14th team to get clearance to play in the league and that happened on Thursday morning. Thursday the 7th of October that is! Just 10 days before the start of the season
Nikos Kousoulis

Lithuania is one of the best teams so far in Turkey. Even though they have more than 10 top-class players out of the team (the reasons for that vary) they are fighting every game, they look like a “team”, with team spirit, they have discernible roles and they look… really good!

Group D looked easy for Spain before the tournament started, but after the preliminary round… Lithuania was the one laughing. What I consider to be most impressive are the comebacks the team did during 3 of its games. 

The World Championship is starting this Saturday and 24 teams are dreaming about gold. Well, not all of them can get to the final, but there is no harm in dreaming. Even though there are way too many stars missing from the tournament (and Lithuania is one of the teams with the most absentees) the tournament in Turkey is still very appealing.Greece goes there with Jonas Kazlauskas as coach for the second straight year. Let’s take a look at the roster the Greek team has this year before we continue further
Nikos Kousoulis

Lithuanians play basketball, learn the basics correctly, but they also have the opportunity to play professional basketball at a high level. If you allow unlimited number of foreign players in each team, then the talents of the next generation will never get a chance. Of course there might be players that are so talented to play nonetheless, but “talent production and development” doesn’t mean 1-2 players. It means a whole generation each time, that starts from an early age and reaches men’s competitions (if the chances of playing professional basketball in Lithuania are limited due to foreign players many talents will give up on basketball and choose to do something else with their lives). 
Nikos Kousoulis

In Euroleague history (the 10 years the competition is running) only 5 players have had more that 18 games in a row (without missing any games and starting from the 1st game of the season) with 10 or more points in each and every one of them. It was Dejan Bodiroga of Panathinaikos in 2001-02 that finished all 22 games of the season with 11 or more points. That same year, it was Dimos Dikoudis of AEK Athens that had the first 19 games of the season with 10 or more points. It was Marcus Brown of CSKA Moscow in 2003-04, that started the season with 10 or more points in the first 19 games (he went on to finish all 21 games of the season with double digits, but missed a game after the first 19). It was Tanoka Beard of your Zalgiris Kaunas in 2004-05 that started and finished the season in double digits, having 20 games in a row with 11 or more points.

Well, I mentioned 4 of them, but I bet that you can easily find which one I left out to mention last. Come on… the trophy is called “Alphonso Ford Trophy” for a reason! The late (and great) Alphonso Ford is by far the best scorer in Euroleague history. He played three seasons in Euroleague, he didn’t miss any games and he had 10 or more points in each and every game of every season! He went 12 of 12 in 2000-01, 20 of 20 in 2001-02 and 22 of 22 in 2001-02, summing up to an unbelievable 54 games in a row (without missing any games in between) with double digits in points! Simply… respect for the greatest of them all!