Is Greece beatable?

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippines plays Greece in Group B action in Seville tomorrow. They are in the same bracket as Croatia, Argentina, Puerto Rico and Senegal. Since the Philippines is ranked No. 34, an upset over Greece is unlikely. Gilas head coach Chot Reyes, however, isn’t the type to be swayed by the odds. Anything is possible in basketball and if the Philippines brings its A-game to the floor and Greece takes the day off, fans could be in for a shocker at the Palacio Municipal de Deportes.

Greece’s roster lists five NBA draft picks – 6-8 Georgios Printezis (San Antonio, second round 2007), 6-9 Kostas Papanikolaou (New York, second round 2012), 6-6 Nick Calathes (Minnesota, second round 2009), 6-9 Giannis Antetokounmpo (Milwaukee, first round 2013) and 7-1 Andreas Glyniadakis (Detroit, second round 2003). Of the five draftees, three are signed with NBA teams this coming season – Papanikolaou with Houston, Calathes with Memphis and Antetokounmpo with the Bucks.

Three players are dual citizens. Florida-born Calathes has US and Greek passports while 6-8 Vladimir Jankovic was born in Serbia and is classified as Greek-Serbian. Antetokounmpo’s parents are Nigerian but he was born in Greece. The team has an average height of 6-8 and age of 27. Three Greeks are stratospheric – 7-0 Ioannis Bouroussis, 7-0 Ian Vougioukas and 7-1 Glyniadakis. Five players are at least 6-9.

The leader of the pack is 19-year-old Antetokounmpo who averaged 6.8 points, 4.4 rebounds and 1.9 assists in 77 games as a Bucks rookie earning $1.8 Million last season. He was on the Greek U20 national squad before making the jump to the senior division. “Giannis is a very special kind of player so he needs to be handled in a special way because he is young, extremely talented and everyone associated with Greek basketball expects a lot from him,” said Greek coach Fotis Katsikaris, quoted by Noah Murray of USA Today. “The most important of all is that we give him a specific role so that he won’t get confused which is being used as a three. That doesn’t mean we won’t let him show his talent as far as ballhandling or in 1-on-1 situations.”    

Katsikaris said Antetokounmpo’s wingspan allows more coverage on defense to offset a lack of footspeed. “Every day, we insist on that in training because that can be one of our defensive keys which could automatically lead to fast transition basketball,” said the 47-year old Katsikaris who is making his debut as the national coach.

In a recent pre-tournament poll, Antetokounmpo was named one of the World Cup’s top 25 players alongside stars like the Gasol brothers, Ricky Rubio, Nene, Boris Diaw, Tiago Splitter, Anderson Varejao, Luis Scola, Jose Calderon and 10 from the US squad.

Another key player is Calathes who just finished a four-month FIBA suspension last Aug. 18. Calathes was suspended for 20 games by the NBA after testing positive in an anti-doping examination last April. That led to the FIBA sanction. Calathes, who played two years with the University of Florida varsity, was thrown the book after tests showed Tamoxifen in his system. Tamoxifen is considered a performance-enhancing drug and often used in hormone therapy against breast cancer. It was discovered that Calathes was taking a food supplement that contained Tamoxifen as an ingredient.

Calathes saw action in Greece and Russia before he was signed by the Grizzlies last season. He averaged 4.9 points, 1.9 rebounds and 2.9 assists in 71 games as a back-up point guard with a salary of $490,000. This coming season, Calathes is guaranteed to earn $816,482. Known as a nifty passer, Calathes averaged over six assists and 16 points in two years with the Florida varsity. His drawback is a lack of commitment on defense. Joshua Motenko, writing for NBADraft.net, called Calathes “an exceptional passer, always putting the ball in the right place for easy baskets and often sending passes to where his teammates should be on the floor, in a sense, coaching them with each pass.” Motenko said Calathes is a shifty guard and three-point threat.

Calathes joined Greece in its final two tune-ups against Turkey, scoring 11 points in both wins, 70-56 and 76-72. Since his return from suspension, Calathes has joined Katsikaris’ starting five with 6-7 Kostas Vasileiadis, Antetokounmpo, Printezis and Bouroussis. Absent in this year’s cast are Denver Nuggets center Kostas Koufos, Vassilis Spanoulis, Antonis Fotsis and Sofoklis Schortsanitis.

Greece is out to prove its failure to qualify for the FIBA Eurobasket quarterfinals last year was an accident. In that tournament, Greece started out on fire with three straight wins then lost to Italy and Finland but bounced back to stun Spain, 79-75, before bowing out with defeats to Slovenia, 73-65 and Croatia, 92-88 in double overtime. Kostas Sloukas, a 6-6 forward, said Greece will reestablish its position as one of the world’s top five in Spain. “We are really troubled by the failure of Eurobasket,” he said. “It was a big slap. But the national team doesn’t give excuses. The bar is always set high and will be again. We need to go step by step, looking at each game and trying to overcome each obstacle as it comes. There are many good players with a lot of experience in big events so I think everyone who goes to Spain will strive for the best.”