Panagiotis Giannakis

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Panagiotis Giannakis
Παναγιώτης Γιαννάκης
Giannakis in 2009
Personal information
Born (1959-01-01) January 1, 1959 (age 66)
Nikaia, Attica, Greece
Listed height1.93 m (6 ft 4 in)
Listed weight216 lb (98 kg)
Career information
CollegeHellenic College (1981–1982)
NBA draft1982: 9th round, 205th overall pick
Drafted byBoston Celtics
Playing career1972–1996
PositionPoint guard / shooting guard
Number5, 6, 8, 10
Coaching career1997–2018
Career history
As a player:
1972–1984Ionikos Nikaias
1984–1993Aris
1993–1994Panionios
1994–1996Panathinaikos
As a coach:
2001–2002Panionios
2002–2006Maroussi
2008–2010Olympiacos
2012–2013Limoges
2017–2018Aris
Career highlights and awards
As a player:
  • 1996
    )
  • 4×
    1991 I
    )
  • 50 Greatest EuroLeague Contributors
    (2008)
  • 101 Greats of European Basketball (2018)
  • 1993
    )
  • 7×
    Greek League
    champion (1985–1991)
  • 7× Greek Cup winner (1985, 1987–1990, 1992, 1996)
  • Greek Super Cup winner (1986)
  • Greek League Top Scorer
    (1980)
  • 4×
    Greek All-Star
    (1991, 1994 I, 1994 II, 1996 I)
  • Greek League assist leader
    (1989)
  • 2×
    Greek Cup Finals Top Scorer
    (1985, 1988)
  • Greek 2nd Division champion (1975)
  • Greek League Hall of Fame
    (2022)

As a head coach:

  • Greek Cup winner (2010)
  • FIBA EuroStar
    (2007)
  • 2×
    All-Greek Sports Coach of the Year
    (2005, 2006)
  • 2×
    Greek League Coach of the Year (2004, 2006
    )
Stats at
Basketball Reference Edit this at Wikidata
FIBA Hall of Fame
Medals
Event 1st 2nd 3rd
FIBA EuroBasket
 1 1 0
Mediterranean Games 1 0 0
Balkan Championship 2 1 4
FIBA U-16 European Championship
 0 1 0
Total 4 3 4
Men's basketball
Representing  Greece
FIBA EuroBasket
Gold medal – first place 1987 Greece
Silver medal – second place 1989 Yugoslavia
Mediterranean Games
Gold medal – first place 1979 Yugoslavia
Balkan Championship
Gold medal – first place 1979 Greece
Gold medal – first place 1986 Bulgaria
Silver medal – second place 1983 Yugoslavia
Bronze medal – third place
1976 Bulgaria
Bronze medal – third place
1977 Yugoslavia
Bronze medal – third place 1980 Romania
Bronze medal – third place 1984 Greece
FIBA Europe Under-16 Championship
Silver medal – second place 1975 Greece
Under-16
Head Coach for  Greece
FIBA World Cup
Silver medal – second place 2006 Japan
FIBA Stanković World Cup
Gold medal – first place
2006 China
FIBA EuroBasket
Gold medal – first place 2005 Serbia & Montenegro

Panagiotis "Notis" Giannakis (

coach. He is considered to be one of the greatest sportspeople of Greece. He started his senior career at the age of just 13 at Ionikos Nikaias and after noticeable success, he achieved extraordinary success as a player with Aris Thessaloniki from 1984 to 1993, in partnership with Greek basketball's biggest star Nikos Galis along with the rest of the squad, while achieving victory as the national team captain in EuroBasket 1987 in Athens, Greece's first major tournament win in non-Olympic sport which, along with Aris' extraordinary success, cultivated the sport in the country. At the end of his career, he won the EuroLeague with Panathinaikos in 1996 As head coach, he most prominently led Greece to its second European trophy in EuroBasket 2005 at Serbia and Montenegro, where a team of new and talented stars shone brightest under the nurturship of Giannakis. He would repeat the success the next year, acquiring the silver medal at the 2006 FIBA World Championship in Japan, where the team most notably scored a decisive win against the USA stars of the NBA in the semi-final, which would be USMNBT's last loss in a tournament until 2019. However, Greece's arch rivals Spain would defeat Giannakis' team in the final, as they would do again in the semi-finals of the 2007 EuroBasket. Outside of the Greek national team, he would coach Greek clubs like Aris, where he had the most success as player, Olympiacos, where he achieved renewed success, and the China men's national basketball team. As a player, he was primarily a point guard, but he could also play at the shooting guard position. During his playing career, Giannakis was also widely-known under his nickname of "O Drákos" (Ο Δράκος), or "The Dragon" in English.[1][2][3][4]

On February 3, 2008, Giannakis was chosen as one of the

Greek Basket League Hall of Fame.[8]

A true floor general, Giannakis began his

in 1996
.

Giannakis was, along with

1995, as well as the FIBA World Cup's semifinals in 1994
.

After his playing career ended, Giannakis was the

Team USA, by a score of 101–95. He was also the head coach of the senior Chinese national team
.

Early years

Giannakis was born and raised in a poor neighborhood of

Asia Minor, and was an owner of a motorbike workshop; his mother Kalliope, was a weaver. Giannakis is the youngest of five brothers.[9][10]

Giannakis started playing football around his neighborhood. He showed an early inclination to sports, and also tried the sport of basketball. He began watching the games of a local basketball club, and he was later approached by the head coach of the youth team of Ionikos Nikaias, who asked him to join their team.

Club playing career

Ionikos Nikaias

Giannakis began his

Greek First Division
. Giannakis' exceptional play with Ionikos Nikaias, at such a young age, drew the eyes of pro basketball experts on him.

On January 24, 1981, Ionikos Nikaias, led by a then 22-year-old Giannakis, played against Aris Thessaloniki, which was led by Nikos Galis. Aris won in a tight game, by a score of 114–113. The game is memorable in the history of Greek pro club basketball, because in the game, Giannakis scored 73 points, and Galis scored 62 points,[11] as they achieved the second and fourth most points ever scored in a single game of the Greek League basketball championship.[12]

Boston Celtics

In 1981, the American basketball coach

NBA. At that time, the Boston Celtics used the facilities of the Hellenic College's campus in Brookline, Massachusetts, for their training camp and practices. Dukeshire believed that if Giannakis was training with the school's team at the same time that the Celtics were there, that he had a chance to make the Celtics roster. Giannakis eventually agreed to move to the US, and he joined the Hellenic College Owls team.[13][14]

While at training at Hellenic College, Giannakis was eventually noticed by the Celtics, and they invited him to join the team's 1981 summer league camp. However, during the summer training camp, Giannakis suffered a career-threatening

Greek Basket League
.

Giannakis was ultimately selected by the Boston Celtics, in the 9th round of the 1982 NBA draft, with the 205th overall draft pick.[17][18] Giannakis then took part in the team's 1982–83 preseason training camp. About a week before the start of the regular season, the Celtics traded center Dave Cowens to the Milwaukee Bucks, in exchange for point guard Quinn Buckner, and due to that, they no longer had the need for another point guard. The Celtics then asked Giannakis to join their CBA affiliate team, as a way to test how he could adjust to the American style of basketball, with the chance for him to earn an NBA contract with the main team later on. However, Giannakis declined the offer, and returned to Greece, where he would play for the rest of his career.[19][20]

Aris Thessaloniki

On August 3, 1984, Giannakis transferred to the Greek club

sporting goods store, and an 8 million drachmas signing bonus from Aris. With Aris, Giannakis teamed up with Nikos Galis, to form one half of an historic "tag-team", that took both Greek and European basketball by storm, for the years to come. From the 6th of March 1985, to the 5th of November 1988, the backcourt duo of Galis and Giannakis, led Aris Thessaloniki to an 80-game winning streak in the Greek League.[22][23][24][25][26]

Giannakis' first season with Aris Thessaloniki, the 1984–85 season, was a great success. He won both the

Greek League championship, and the Greek Cup title. In the final of the latter, Giannakis made 8-out-of-12 three-pointers, and led his team to victory over Panathinaikos Athens
. And that was only the beginning, as six more consecutive Greek League championships, and five more Greek Cup titles with Aris were to follow.

With Aris Thessaloniki, Giannakis also took part in three consecutive EuroLeague Final Fours. He played at the 1988 Ghent Final Four, at the 1989 Munich Final Four, and at the 1990 Zaragoza Final Four. Aris Thessloniki joined the elite of European basketball clubs at that time, but a European-wide title did not come for Giannakis and his team until a few years later.

In June 1991, Giannakis was chosen as a member of The Balkans Selection All-Star Team that played against

FIBA Jubilee All-Star Game took place at the Peace and Friendship Stadium, in Piraeus, Athens
, Greece, and it included numerous legends of European basketball. The Balkans' All-Star Selection won the game, by a score of 103–102.

In the

Efes Istanbul, by a score of 50–48 in the final, which was held in Turin. By then, Nikos Galis
had already previously left Aris Thessaloniki, and joined Panathinaikos Athens, and Giannakis had become the de facto leader and franchise player of Aris.

Panionios Athens

In 1993, after spending nine seasons with Aris Thessaloniki, Giannakis moved to the Greek club Panionios Athens. With Panionios Athens, he averaged 14.0 points, 3.6 rebounds, 3.3 assists, and 1.4 steals per game, in the Greek Basket League's 1993–94 season. In that same season, he also competed with the club in the European-wide third-level competition, the FIBA Korać Cup. During the Korać Cup season, he averaged 17.0 points, 3.7 rebounds, 3.4 assists, and 2.0 steals per game.[27]

Panathinaikos Athens

After spending a season with

Greek League championships. Giannakis ended his pro club playing career in 1996. During his club playing career he competed in a total of five EuroLeague Final Fours, as he played in three with Aris Thessaloniki
, and two with Panathinaikos Athens.

Overall, during his pro

Greek Basket League
, for a career scoring average of 18.8 points per game. While in the EuroLeague, he scored a total of 1,514 points, in 119 games played, for a career scoring average of 12.7 points per game.

National team playing career

Giannakis led the

Czechoslovakian national team. With Greece's junior national teams, he also played at the 1976 FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship, and at the 1978 FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship
.

Giannakis' first appearance with Greece at a major

1986 FIBA World Cup. With Greece, he won the gold medal at the 1986 Balkan Championship
.

Giannakis was the

1990 FIBA World Cup
.

Giannakis also represented Greece at the

1991 FIBA Centennial Jubilee, which commemorated the 100th anniversary of the creation of the sport of basketball, by the Canadian James Naismith. The Jubilee tournament took place at the Peace and Friendship Stadium, in Piraeus, Athens
, Greece. In three games played during the tournament, Giannakis averaged 14.3 points per game.

Galis also played with Greece at the following major tournaments: the

1995 EuroBasket. Gianankis retired from the Greece men's national team as a player, on August 2, 1996, after competing with Greece at the 1996 Atlanta Summer Olympics
.

During his playing time with the Greece men's national team, Giannakis participated in 29 official FIBA international competitions, and in 40 official international competitions overall. Giannakis holds the all-time career record for the most

caps with the Greece senior men's national team, with 351. That is also the all-time career record for any European national team
. He also holds the all-time career record for the most total points scored with the Greece senior men's national team, with 5,301 points. That is also the all-time career record for any European national team.

Career as a head coach

National teams

Greece

Unconventionally, the very next year after he retired from playing with the Greece men's national team, Giannakis started his

1998 FIBA World Cup
.

Giannakis returned to the head coach position of the Greece men's national team in 2004, for the

2005
).

In 2006, he coached the Greece men's national team to a second-place finish at the

national team levels, as he decided to focus his full attention on the Greece men's national team only. Giannakis' salary with the Greece men's national team, eventually reached an annual rate of €1.2 million net income
.

At the

2007 EuroBasket, Giannakis led Greece to a fourth-place finish. At the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics, he led Greece to a fifth-place finish. In December 2008, Giannakis ended his tenure as the head coach of Greece's senior national team. He was succeeded in that role by Jonas Kazlauskas.[28]

China

Giannakis was also the head coach of the senior men's Chinese national team. He coached China at the 2013 FIBA Asia Championship. China finished the tournament in fifth place.

Pro clubs

After starting his

Greek League club Panionios Athens, until 2002, when he was then named the head coach of the Greek club Maroussi Athens. He stayed with Maroussi Athens until 2006. During his time with Maroussi Athens, along with the help of his young star point guard, named Vassilis Spanoulis
, whose playing style and player attributes were often compared to Giannakis', he took the club from relative obscurity, and turned it into the third most prominent team in the Greek League, during that era.

On 3 February 2008, Giannakis signed on to be the head coach of the Greek EuroLeague power Olympiacos Piraeus. He signed a two-and-a-half-year contract with the team, at an annual salary of €1.1 million net income. In June 2010, Olympiacos Piraeus announced that Giannakis would not coach their team in the next season.[29]

During the two-and-a-half-year period that he coached Olympiacos Piraeus, Giannakis had led the team to the 2010

EuroLeague Finals
appearance (2010).

After that, Giannakis worked as the head coach of the

French League club Limoges, during the 2012–13 season. He became the head coach of the Greek club Aris Thessaloniki
, in 2017.

Personal life

Giannakis is married to Eugenia, and he has two children, Kalliope and Dimitris. In 2010, he lost his brother (all four of his brothers died during a 10-year span) before an

derby with Panathinaikos Athens.[30]

Awards and accomplishments

(As a player):

Club career

  • Greek 2nd Division Champion: (1975)
  • Greek League Top Scorer
    : (1980)
  • 4×
    1991 I
    )
  • 2×
    Greek Cup Finals Top Scorer
    : (1985, 1988)
  • Greek League Assist leader
    : (1989)
  • His personal best for points scored in a single game was 73 points scored,[31] in 1981, as a player of Ionikos Nikaias (which ironically occurred against Aris, his future team).
  • Selected by the NBA professional club the Boston Celtics, in the 1982 NBA draft.
  • Won 17 first-tier titles in his pro club career:
  • 4×
    Greek League All-Star
    (1991, 1994 I, 1994 II, 1996 I)
  • Along with
    Greek League
    , in the 1980s.
  • When he retired from his club playing career, he held the record for the most games played in the
    Greek Basketball Championship
    (493).
  • He scored 9,291 points in the Greek Basketball Championship (counting all league formats since the 1963–64 season) (3rd all-time).[32]
  • 50 Greatest EuroLeague Contributors
    List: (2008)
  • 101 Greats of European Basketball: (2018)
  • FIBA Hall of Fame
    : (2021)
  • Greek Basket League Hall of Fame
    : (2022)

Greece youth national team

Greece national team

(As a head coach):

Club career

  • 2×
    Greek League Coach of the Year
    : (2004, 2006)
  • FIBA EuroStar
    : (2007)
  • Greek Cup Winner: (2010)

Greek senior national team

  • 2005 EuroBasket
    :  Gold
  • 2×
    All-Greek Sports Coach of the Year
    : (2005, 2006)
  • 2006 Stanković World Cup
    :  Gold
  • 2006 FIBA World Cup:  Silver
  • He is the only person to win the
    2005
    ).

See also

References

  1. ^ Is a Leader Allowed to Fail? The Story of the “Dragon”.
  2. ^ 'We didn't fight:' Coach rues China's lack of commitment on defense.
  3. ^ GIANNAKIS, UN «DRAGON» PRÊT À TOUT CROQUER (in French).
  4. ^ Le Dragon Giannakis n’a pas soufflé le show au Limoges CSP (in French).
  5. ^ EuroLeague official website, Experts decide European Club Basketball's 50 greatest contributors.
  6. ^ PANAGIOTIS GIANNAKIS.
  7. ^ FIBA Hall of Fame Class of 2021 headlined by Daly, Giannakis, Messina.
  8. ^ Greek League Hall of Fame welcomes Ford, Bodiroga, Radja, Wilkins, Tarpley.
  9. ^ Παναγιώτης Γιαννάκης Το ταξίδι του Δράκου
  10. ^ Bekas, Sotiris. Παναγιώτης Γιαννάκης - Αγωνιστής με πελώρια καρδιά (in Greek). .oasisfm.gr. Archived from the original on 12 June 2011. Retrieved 18 June 2010.
  11. ^ Euroleague.net My name is Giannakis. Panayotis Giannakis.
  12. Greek Basket League statistical leaders
  13. ^ HELLENIC COLLEGE OWLS: 1979-81.
  14. ^ Attitude defines Giannis Antetokounmpo more than altitude.
  15. ^ Όταν ο Παναγιώτης Γιαννάκης γκρέμισε τα 'δέντρα' της Σοβιετικής Ένωσης (in Greek).
  16. ^ Παναγιώτης Γιαννάκης: Το μπάσκετ, ο τραυματισμός, ο Γκάλης και τα 38 χρόνια γάμου (in Greek).
  17. ^ 1982 NBA Draft.
  18. ^ TheDraftReview.com Panagiotis Giannakis.
  19. ^ Ο Γιαννάκης και οι… Μπόστον Σέλτικς! (photos) (in Greek).
  20. ^ Π. Γιαννάκης: Το 1981 πήγα σε Boston Celtics – Στεναχωριόμουν που ο Γκάλης δεν ήταν το ίδιο ομαδικός” (videos) (in Greek).
  21. ^ "Σεισμός στην Θεσσαλονίκη, ο Γιαννάκης στον Άρη" (in Greek).
  22. ^ Η επανάληψη στη Ν. Σμύρνη και το αήττητο σερί του Άρη (in Greek).
  23. ^ Οι 80 σερί νίκες του «αυτοκράτορα» (in Greek).
  24. ^ Αυτοκράτορας 80 σερί νικών, αήττητος για 44 μήνες! Σαν σήμερα 31 χρόνια πριν ξεκινούσε το μεγαλύτερο σερί στην ιστορία της Α1! (in Greek).
  25. ^ Το… αιώνιο ρεκόρ του 80-0!!! (in Greek).
  26. ^ Ο Αυτοκράτορας ΑΡΗΣ και το αήττητο σερί των 44 μηνών (in Greek).
  27. ^ PANAGIOTIS GIANNAKIS PANIONIOS BC ATHENS AVERAGE.
  28. ^ Giannakis era is over. Archived 2008-12-06 at the Wayback Machine
  29. ^ "OLYMPIACOS, coach Giannakis part ways". euroleague.net. 2010-06-18. Archived from the original on 2010-07-24. Retrieved 12 February 2023.
  30. ^ Η μοίρα χτύπησε για τέταρτη φορά (in Greek). kathimerini.gr. 2010-03-02. Archived from the original on 25 February 2012. Retrieved 18 June 2010.
  31. ^ Euroleague.net Panagiotis Giannakis - The Greek Dragon.
  32. ^ Τα “κανόνια” του ελληνικού Πρωταθλήματος: Παναγιώτης Γιαννάκης (in Greek).
  33. ^ Σελίδα Αθλητή Ημ.Γεν: (in Greek).
  34. ^ Σελίδα Αθλητή Ημ.Γεν: (in Greek). (in Greek).
  35. ^ Στατιστικά Εθνικής Ανδρών Οι 50 πρώτοι σε συμμετοχές (in Greek).
  36. ^ Στατιστικά Εθνικής Ανδρών Οι 50 πρώτοι σκόρερς (in Greek).
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Panagiotis Giannakis.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Panagiotis_Giannakis&oldid=1270068316"