[2014 Summer] Papanikolaou and the Greek National Team

First Tomic, now Scola. Always from behind of course. Even if Pap doesn't have good shooting games for Rockets, he will give his 100% like Bev.

 

This Spain game getting intense!

 

Greece vs. Serbia in the round of 16. Buckle up!!!

 

Kostas must be a very popular name in Greece
they have 4 Kostas on their national team

 

Confirmed.

source: I'm a Kostas.

 

Kostas
1) Origin: Constantine, Costas
From the latin word ''constant'' which means steadfast. But another meaning of constant is ''obedient, loyal'', so Kostas could mean ''loyal friend'', an awesome, good friend.

2) A name used a lot by Greeks. It's also a Christianic name.
1) ''You have to meet Kostas, he's such a loyal friend, I'm telling you; he's as close as his name!''

2) Kostas is so popular in Greece, especially because it's a Christianic name, because of the GrecoRoman King Constantine, who happens to be a saint.


indeed

 

Kostas Papanikolaou Fast break dunk

Spoiler

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/fSo3mBnE-WA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

Just another bit here --- In the states, when you run across a Greek named Gus, his actual given name is almost always Costas. Just like Yiannis is "John."

 

This will be the most entertaining FIBA tournament ever. Sure we remember the days when the US lost to Argentina or Spain, but people attributed that more to the US sucking hard than other countries being good.

Now, the top five countries consistently have multiple (3-5) players as fixtures in the NBA. Even if they aren't filled with all-stars like the US National Team, we can still at least run off names in each country and hype up potential matchups. The #1 is still #1, but now the 2-6 teams are a lot stronger, with more name recognition to boot. I'm excited to see Spain/Greece/Lithuania/Slovenia duke it out for the chance to run up against the US. We'll definitely have to beat at least 2-3 of them to win the championship.

 

How about 2006, when the USA fielded Lebron, Wade, CP3, Bosh, Dwight, Melo etc and lost to Greece?

 

To me the international playing style is better than US style, and that's why they beat or come close with US team with superior talent.

That's also why Spurs won the ring with so many international players and their 'international system' - multiple screens/cutting/moving/passing and tight rotation on defense/rebounding.

 

They are called steroids and they cost lots of money but if you think they are dieticians, go ahead and stick your head in the sand.

 

You're saying the only reason players on other teams have muscle definition is because they take steroids?

 

You mean, out of position against 7-footers? Great.

 

lol

That chair looked like it hurt. Lol.

 

Every professional athlete takes PEDs, but testing is much more rigid in international play (meaning they actually test). The amount of leanness and definition that a lot of NBA players display throughout the season is not sustainable, especially at that mass, even more so on the diet of an athlete who actually seeks to be well-fed in order to perform.

If you honestly think that the hand-picked best international players that play professionally for rich organizations are not in good shape and lack muscle, your view has been skewed by magazines and the NBA's superhumans. That is what a tall human being that trains for endurance and sustained performance (and not bodybuilding competitions once a year) looks like.