The preliminary Team Greece roster of 17 players has been announced and, despite the notable exclusion of Theo Papaloukas, the 2006 FIBA World Championship silver medalists are bringing quite the squad to the 2010 edition of the competition.
EΣAKE’s two most celebrated franchises are naturally well-represented, with six Panathinaikos players and five from Olympiacos making up the expanded roster (additionally, the Reds’ Linas Kleiza will surely be playing for Team Lithuania). Among these is Sofoklis Schortsanitis, whose participation would seem to indicate the big man won’t be playing Las Vegas summer league ball on the Los Angeles Clippers’ dollar.
Three players from 2009-10 Euroleague squads also made the first cut (and should make the second as well): Nikos Zisis of Montepashi Siena, Kostas Kaimakoglou of Maroussi and Georgios Printezis of Unicaja Malaga. Plus, the team can boast a swell addition in Nikos Pappas, who medaled for Greece in the FIBA U19 Worlds *and* the FIBA U20 European Championship.
The full Team Greece expanded roster includes Nick Calathes, Dimitris Diamantidis, Antonis Fotsis, Stratos Perperoglou, Vassilis Spanoulis, Kostas Tsartsaris (Panathinaikos); Ioannis Bourousis, Loukas Mavrokefalidis, Kostas Papanikolaou, Sofoklis Schortsanitis, Panagiotis Vasilopoulos (Olympiacos); Nikos Zisis (Montepaschi Siena); Kostas Vasiliadis (Xacobeo Blu:Sens); Kostas Kaimakoglou (Maroussi BC); Ian Vougioukas (Panellinios); Nikos Pappas (Kolossos Rhodes); and Giorgos Printezis (Unicaja Malaga).
And o yeah, here’s some more of that 101-95 win from 2006. Look away, Americans, look away!
