Panagiotis Giannakis
From Hoopedia
| Point guard | ||
| Personal information | ||
| Date of birth | January 1, 1959 | |
| Place of birth | Athens, Greece | |
| Nationality |  Greek
| |
| Listed height | 6 ft 3 in | |
| Listed weight | 216 lbs | |
| Career information | ||
| NBA Draft | 1982; Round: 9 / Pick: 207th | |
| Selected by the Boston Celtics | ||
| Pro career | 1972-1996 | |
| Career history | ||
| 1972-1984 | Ionikos Nikaias | |
| 1984-1993 | Aris Thessaloniki | |
| 1993-1994 | Panionios | |
| 1994-1996 | Panathinaikos | |
| Career highlights and awards | ||
| ||
Panagiotis Giannakis (Greek: Παναγιώτης Γιαννάκης) (born January 1, 1959) is a retired Greek professional basketball player and coach. Giannakis is an important figure in European basketball, with a brilliant career as both player and coach under his belt. He is also known as Panayiotis Yiannakis and is nicknamed "The Dragon". Currently, he coaches the Greek National Basketball Team. Under Giannakis' guidance, the Greek National team won the 2005 European Championship 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.
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Playing Career
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.
Club Competition
His playing position was point guard and he was also the playmaker for the national team and for Aris Thessaloniki. He began his career in Ionikos Nikaeas, then moved to Aris, Panionios BC and finally to Panathinaikos Athens, with which he was European Champion in 1996.
Giannakis began his career with Ionikos Nikeas. 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.
On August 3, 1984, he was transferred to Aris Thessaloniki, for a huge amount of money (at that 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 of 12 3-pointers, leading his team to victory over Panathinaikos BC. And this was only the beginning, as five more consecutive championships were to follow.
After nine years with Aris, Giannakis moved to Panionios for the 1993-94 season. He stayed there for a year, and then moved again to Panathinaikos, where he finished his career as a player.
With Aris, he took part in 3 consecutive final fours of the European Champions Cup: Gent (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.
International Competition
In 1975, he lead 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 August 2, 1996, after taking part in the Olympic Games at Atlanta.
Coaching
Unconventionally, the very next year he started his coaching career as coach of the Greek National team in 1997. He stayed for two years, leading the team to the fourth place in Eurobasket 1997 and in the 1998 FIBA World Championship.
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 third most prominent team in Greece.
He returned to coach the national team in 2004, for the Athens Olympics, where he lead the team to fifth 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 FIBA World Championship. In the semi-final game, held on September 1, 2006, his team beat the heavily favored USA for the first time, 101-95.
Accomplishments
- Titles (as player): 1 1987 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 9,291 points in Greek competitions (3rd all-time) and 5,309 with the national team (record holder).
- His personal best is 73 points scored, in 1984 as a player of Ionikos (ironically against Aris BC, his future team).
- He holds the records for most games in the Greek Championship (493) and in Euroleague (163).
- He is the only person to win the Eurobasket Championship both as player (1987) and as coach (2005).
- He was selected 207th overall by the Boston Celtics in the 1982 NBA Draft.
