Team profile: Greece still a respectable challenger

MANILA (Philippines) - It would have been extremely frustrating to learn that one of the biggest stars in modern day basketball is missing the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 because of an injury, but Greece remain a contender.

The Roster

Giannis Antetokounmpo tried his all to make the World Cup, but the need to fully recover from a back injury that limited him during the NBA playoffs with Milwaukee, and a reported procedure on his knee, were too big of obstacles to jump over this summer.

Without him, Greece need to adjust their basketball a little bit, and luckily, they have one of the best basketball brains to create something new in their head coach Dimitris Itoudis.

Nikos Rogkavopoulos

A proven winner, Itoudis will seek to have more defensive intensity with Thanasis Antetokounmpo and Thomas Walkup leading the way, and the frontcourt looks loaded with Dinos Mitoglou, Ioannis Papapetrou, Georgios Papagiannis and the youngster Nikos Rogkavopoulos trying to take bit of the scoring load. Experience is certainly their strength.

The Question

Is there life without Giannis? Of course there is. Greece may no longer be a top five team, but let's have a quick, show of hands - who would be surprised if they made the Quarter-Finals? Exactly. But then, they need a bit of luck to become a medal contender, as they were in the early 2000s.

Greece won FIBA EuroBasket in 2005 in Belgrade and followed it up with a silver medal at the 2006 World Cup in Japan, and climbed the third step of the podium at FIBA EuroBasket 2009 in Poland. They keep on making the elimination rounds at major events, but that bronze from 14 years ago remains their last medal.

Could the drought end in 2023? Without Giannis? That's the big question, for sure. But the reality is that even when Giannis has played, Greece have not reached the podium, not at the 2014 World Cup, EuroBasket 2015, the 2019 World Cup and EuroBasket 2022. Nor did they win the 2016 Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Turin. That's not a knock on Giannis because he brings so much talent and effort to the table. It's just fact. 

The Hope

Dimitris Itoudis is one of the best in the business, and you bet he's feeling motivated to add a national team medal to his long list of accolades. He's won many European titles as the head coach of CSKA Moscow and claimed Coach of the Year awards. He is a six-time VTB United League champion, a four-time VTB United League Coach of the Year, and if you add his trophies as an assistant coach, you get 23 more!

In other words, he's the man you want on your side when it comes to close games, innovations, Xs and Os, and winning major trophies.

The Fear

What did we learn so far from the preparation games?

Back-to-back wins over Slovenia showed a lot of positives, but back-to-back defeats to Serbia and Italy showed Greece could struggle offensively, scoring 64 and 70 in those two tuneup games, respectively.

Offense will be tricky. You don't need to be a brain surgeon to figure out Greece won't look as tough offensively as they did at FIBA EuroBasket 2022 now that they are without Giannis' 29.3 points per game on 57 percent shooting.

IN THE LAST 10 FIBA EVENTS

YEAR	EVENT	LOCATION	ACHIEVEMENT
2022	FIBA EuroBasket	CZE - GEO - ITA - GER	5th
2021	Olympics	Tokyo (JPN)	Did not qualify
2019	FIBA Basketball World Cup	Beijing (CHN)	11th
2017	FIBA EuroBasket	FIN - ISR - ROU - TUR	8th
2016	Olympics	Rio de Janeiro (BRA)	Did not qualify
2015	FIBA EuroBasket	FRA - CRO - GER - LAT	5th
2014	FIBA Basketball World Cup	Madrid (ESP)	9th
2013	FIBA EuroBasket	Ljubljana (SLO)	11th
2012	Olympics	London (GBR)	Did not qualify
2011	FIBA EuroBasket	Kaunas (LTU)	6th

The Poll

 

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For a deeper look on Greece's journey to the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023, click here.

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