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Dimitris Diamantidis


Giourkas

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thats one of the main problems I have with basketball, players prioritise club basketball over their national team. Look at the world cup last summer and how many good players didn't turn up: USA basically put out their B team after guys like James and Durant said no, France didn't have Parker, Greece didn't have Spanoulis and I know they weren't in the WC but Luol Deng and Joel Freeland haven't even bothered showing up for GB since the Olympics.

 

But yeah I think Diamantidis was wrong to retire for Greece while he was the best player in Europe, I mean look at guys like Navarro are still playing for Spain. I get that he may have wanted to focus on PAO and you can't argue with that because he has had so much success at club level, but I think he was easily capable of committing to the NT as well. Greece has gotten more mediocre since he (and Papaloukas) retired and it may get ugly when guys like Bourousis, Spanoulis and Zisis retire.

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Yes but it was harder for Zisis to prioritise his club over NT when he was playing for teams like Bilbao and Unics, with little chance of major success and he basically moved teams every other year. At Fener now Zisis probably has a real chance of winning the Euroleague for the first time in a few years, but he is still not one of the star players on their roster and may not be around for long. Playing for the NT was one of the few highlights of his year.

 

Contrast that to Diamantidis who was relatively settled at his club and indispensable to a PAO team that was competing for 3 trophies every season, you could say he had more to loose. I'm not saying he made the right decision by retiring at what 29/30 years, but you have to see there is a big difference in the context of these two players careers, its probably more than just whether one of them is a top class guy or not.

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Gallis was more influential in an era that Greece was struggling with basketball and was vastly unknown. He changed the map of Greek basketball and is responsible for the ascendance of the game in Greece. High octane offensive player in an era that very little defense was played.

You can't make assumptions as to how his career would look in the NBA had he decided to make it a career. It's difficult to predict what a Great European player can or can't do in the NBA or vice versa. Look at Antekoutombo...will most probably surpass or has already done so every Greek player abroad. BUT can he do what he does in the NBA in europe; dropping triple doubles? Highly doubted. Spanoulis and Papanikolaou another similar examples.

Galis was GREAT but one dimensional and the entire team was playing for 1 player offensively (who wouldn't want to take advantage of his unique offensive abilities) and defensively everyone would cover for his lack of effort.

Look, Galis always played along side for many years with what many consider the 2nd best player of all time, before Diamantidis, Panagiotis Gianakis. Also alongside of him were also Subotic and Filipou and some others i can't remember. Also with PAO from the 1992 season on he played along side Stojan, Komazets, Paspalie, Volkof and a bunch of other great Greek player of all time -Albertis, Giannakis, Patavoukas- or during that time - Miriounis- in a time when Paulos Gianakopoulos was purring money in the team. Galis was never able to lift the European trophy during his time in PAO, but also Aris of course. Also he was coached by the best Greek coack of that time, the Obradovits (well maybe not that Great) of that Era, Ioanidis.

Diamantidis came in a different time (a very defensive oriented game) and influenced the game in different and UNIQUE ways. Won both domestic and European titles in different styles and fashions and always put his team above himself sacrificing his own game (could have averaged another 10 points a game should he taken the shots he could take). The exact opposite of Galis.

I can write about Diamantidis a book. But  will leave it at that. The legacy he left behind would be very difficult to match for many many years to come, at least at my lifetime perhaps.

Edited by Accor6
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Excellent except from that! I missed that , sorry!!!:angry-662871:

 

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but the way I see it, Diamantidis on a team of nobodies wouldn't do as well as Galis with a team of nobodies.

You know why? because Diamandidis made everyone around him better whether everyone who surrounded Gallis made him better. An d i am talking about both offense and defense

 

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