Panagiotis Giannakis
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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| Nickname | The Dragon |
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| Position | Manager (former Point guard) |
| Height | 6 ft 3.75 in (1.92 m) |
| Weight | 195 lb (88 kg) |
| League | Greek League/Euroleague |
| Team | Olympiacos |
| Number | 5 (player) |
| Born | January 1, 1959 Athens, Greece |
| Nationality |  Greece |
| Draft | 9th round, 207thth overall, 1982 Boston Celtics |
| Pro career | 1972–1996 |
| Former teams | Ionikos Nikaias (1972–1984) Aris BC (1984–1993) Panionios BC (1993–1994) Panathinaikos BC (1994–1996) |
| Awards | Greek League MVP 1987 Greek Basketball Hall of Fame 50 Greatest Euroleague Contributors 2008 |
| Olympic medal record | |||
| Competitor for Greece |
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| Men's Basketball | |||
| European Championships | |||
| Gold | 1987 Greece | Greece | |
| Silver | 1989 Yugoslavia | Greece | |
Panagiotis Giannakis (IPA: [ˌpanaˈʝo̞tis ʝaˈnacis], Greek: Παναγιώτης Γιαννάκης) also known as Panayiotis Yiannakis (born 1 January 1959 in Athens), nicknamed "The Dragon", is an important figure in European basketball, with a brilliant career as both player and coach under his belt. Currently, he coaches Olympiacos BC and the Greek National Basketball Team. Under Giannakis' guidance, the Greek National team won the European Championship of 2005 and the silver medal in the 2006 FIBA World Championship in Japan.
Giannakis also coached an Athenian team (Maroussi BC) which he led to the forefront of Greek basketball.
Giannakis, along with Nikos Galis, was one of the stars of the legendary 1987 Greek National Team. Giannakis was the captain of the team that won the 1987 European Championship, and were the silver-medalists at the same championship two years later at Eurobasket 1989.
His playing position was point guard and he was also the play maker for the national team and for Aris. He began his career in Ionikos Nikaias, then moved to Aris, Panionios BC and finally to Panathinaikos, with which he was European Champion in 1996.
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[edit] First steps
Giannakis began his career with Ionikos Nikeas (Greek: Ιωνικός Νικαίας). His first coach, Giorgos Vasilakopoulos (currently FIBA Europe President), moved him up to the first team from the youth squad at the age of 13. His exceptional play at such a young age began to draw the eyes of basketball experts on him.
[edit] Aris
On 3 August 1984, he transferred to Aris Thessaloniki, for a huge amount of money (for the time). There, he teamed up with Nick Galis, the other half of an historic "tag-team", that took Greek and European basketball by storm for years to come.
His first season with Aris was a great success. He won the Greek Championship, and in the Greek Basketball Cup final he made 8 out of 12 3-pointers, leading his team to victory over Panathinaikos BC. And this was only the beginning, as 5 more consecutive championships were to follow.
After 9 years with Aris, Giannakis moved to Panionios BC for the 1993-94 season. He stayed there for a year, and then moved again to Panathinaikos BC, where he finished his career as a player.
[edit] Europe
With Aris, he took part in 3 consecutive final fours of the European Champions Cup: Ghent (1988), Munich (1989), Saragosa (1990). Aris joined the elite of European basketball clubs, but a European title did not come for Giannakis until much later, in 1993 (Cup Winners Cup, in Torino). By then, Galis had left for Panathinaikos, and Giannakis was the de facto leader of Aris.
After his move to Panathinaikos, he finally won the European Champions Cup in 1996, in Paris.
[edit] National team
In 1975, he led the youth national team to the second place in the European championship. A year later he debuted (vs. Czechoslovakia) with the men's team as a 16 year old.
He was captain of the squad that won Eurobasket 1987. During his time, the national team participated in 27 international competitions. He retired from the team on 2 August 1996, after taking part in the Olympic Games at Atlanta.
[edit] Career as coach
Unconventionally, the very next year he started his coaching career as coach of the Greek National team in 1997. He stayed for 2 years, leading the team to the 4th place in Eurobasket 1997 and in the 1998 FIBA World Championships.
He then moved to the club level, and coached Panionios BC, until 2002 when he was then named the coach of Maroussi BC. He stayed with Maroussi until 2006, having taken over the team in relative obscurity and making it the 3rd most prominent team in Greece.
He returned to coach the national team in 2004, for the Athens Olympics, where he led the team to 5th place. In 2005, Greece won the Eurobasket competition for the second time in its history, and he was the coach of the team. After 2006, he no longer simultaneously coached on the club level and national team level, focusing his full attention on the national team only. In 2006, he coached the national team to second place at the World Championship. In the semi-final game, held on September 1, 2006, his team beat the heavily favored United States National Team for the first time by a score of 101-95.
On the 3rd of February 2008, he signed to Olympiacos BC with a 2-and-a-half year contract at an annual salary of €1.1 million Euros.
[edit] Trivia
- Titles (as player): 1 Eurobasket, 1 European Champions Cup, 1 Cup Winners Cup, 7 Greek Championships, 7 Greek Cups.
- He holds the record for national team caps with 351 with the Greek National Basketball Team, which is also a record for any European player.
- He has scored 9291 points in Greek competitions (3rd all-time) and 5282 with the national team (record holder).
- His personal best is 73 points scored, in 1981 as a player of Ionikos (ironically against Aris BC, his future team).
- He holds the records for most games played in the Euroleague (163).
- He is the only person to win the Eurobasket Championship both as player (Eurobasket 1987) and as coach (Eurobasket 2005).
- Greek League MVP 1987
- He was selected 207th overall by the Boston Celtics in the 1982 NBA Draft.
- Member of the Greek Basketball Hall of Fame
- Selected to the Euroleague 50th anniversary 50 Greatest Euroleague Contributors list 2008.
[edit] External links
- Basketaris.com - an unofficial fan site dedicated to Aris BC
- Giannakis.co.nr - a fan site dedicated to Panagiotis Giannakis
- Basketpedya.com player profile
- Basketpedya.com coach profile
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