[ad_1]
Antonis Karagiannidis sees his boss in the national team squad and Vassilis Skoundis paints the portrait of a fighter who last year was paid the minimum basic salary!
“Eat a big bite, don’t talk a lot” says an old proverb with the spirit of which Antonis Karagiannidis does not agree…
The forward of Prometheus Patras uttered these big words in an unsuspected time, as unsuspected a month can be considered…
So, on October 15, after the completion of the second matchday of the Stoiximan Greek Basketball League and while he showed off his afentomoutsounara at No. 1 on the list of players with the most rebounds, he testified to his innermost desire and without… wood!
“I really want to wear the shirt with the national emblem”!
The… corner player
Being unknown to the general public, unknown among celebrities and basically… cornered, Karagiannidis was honest in that first report of his, admitting that “I don’t have in my mind that this will happen soon, because I’m still young and I have time ahead of me, but I really want it”.
He really wanted it and Vassilis Spanoulis did him the favor!
Sorry, did I write?
Wrong and I correct it immediately, because the invitation that came to him earlier than he expected was not given to him, but it is a reward for his progress and development.
As for the other thing again: the so-called good news fell to him, because on Saturday, in addition to his invitation to the National Team (in view of the two games against Great Britain), he achieved a double-double (19 points, 10 rebounds) and led the Prometheus in the victory over AEK and was also named MVP of the match.
The thousandth and Voutsa’s saying
You don’t say all this, not a little, not insignificant for a player of the thousand!
I mean this because last year, when he joined Prometheus, coming from Ayantas Evosmou, Karagiannidis signed a 2+1 year contract with a monthly salary of 1,000 euros in the first year, 1,200 in the second and 1,500 in the third!
That is to say, he received something slightly more than the minimum basic salary set by the contracts, but in his case it was valid as a reasoning and he saw the saying of Kostas Voutsas in the comedy “A smart smart face” come to life…
“I was the one to screw up. So I screwed up… I screwed up“!
Karagiannidis messed up for good on the main stage of Greek basketball and let someone unmask him now!
The crucial match with Le Mans
For an inexperienced and unknown player, who had been drafted in the G-League anyway (but I’ll get to that story later), cheating was no easy task, as the so-called had to constantly prove that he was not an elephant!
Last season he played a useful and sometimes very important role in several matches and especially in the second match against Le Mans in the context of the Basketball Champions League play-ins, when the injured (eye) Jaime Etzenike was absent.
In the summer, the management of Prometheus appreciated his effort and offer and offered him an extension of the contract and an increase in his monthly salary which would now be 1,500, 1,800 and 2,300 euros.
The surprise of Papatheodoros
It would be, because out of the blue, one day during the preparation and while the whole team was gathered in the video screening room, Ilias Papatheodorou, at the hearing of the (unknown) general manager Thanasis Souflia, announced that his salary was increasing by 5,000 euros!
Given this, the player of one thousand became a player of five thousand and he gets little!
I am not pretending to be his uninvited agent, it’s just that his panthomologized launch into the basketball world is such that it brought not only a cut in his… salaries, but also his invitation to the National Team.
The more you work, the more you die!
Born on April 13, 2002 and 2.06m tall. power forward is the epitome of the dedicated and hard-working player: in the summer he went alone for ten days to Thessaloniki and spent the rest of the time in Patras, where he melted into individual training!
Gymnast Kostas Lapsanis and Papatheodorou’s colleagues, Dimitris Menoudakos, Kostas Douvas and Nikos Arvanitis know this well, who saw him day and night on the field and received the message early on.
Literally hungry
Last year Karagiannidis was serious and useful, but this season he is biting carotids!
First of all, he is a hungry player: hungry without quotes and literally, because he comes from a very poor family and learned the hard way that he had to constantly fight even for the most basic and self-evident things.
The Patrinos realized from the first moment they welcomed him that they were dealing with a guy who highly valued anything that was offered to him and fought to prove himself worthy in this process of reciprocity.
He certainly doesn’t leave you alone with his rich talent, besides, he can’t respond to the back game, he doesn’t finish phases with a hook shot and he has flaws, but…
The feel of the game
But, heck, on the other hand he has elements that coaches and teammates love: great sense of the game, early phase reading, phase perception, determination on all contested balls, ability to defend with screen changes, humility and self-awareness, in the sense that he knows what he can do and how to camouflage his weaknesses.
This ohustler, therefore, is developing into a great achiever and at the same time is an example of an overachiever, since he far exceeded expectations and constantly punches his ceiling!
Numbers don’t always tell the truth, but here’s the thing: Karagiannidis, either as a four or as a stretch 5, is the first rebounder in the Championship (8.3) and averages 7.1 points.
At the same time in the Basketball Champions League he “writes” 7.3 points and 4.3 rebounds and is now much more than just useful.
From Kalochori to PAOK
So who is… Karagiannidis?
I am falsifying Sir Alex Ferguson’s infamous remark at the sight of Jurkas Setaridis, because indeed the case of the so-called…
Karagiannidis is in his second season with Prometheus, which he signed on October 7, 2023, just seven hours before the premiere of the Championship with PAOK, which is his basketball cradle.
In fact, in that match in Pylaia, he played for 17 minutes with a tally of six points, two rebounds and a block.
He started his career at Megas Alexandros Kalochoriou and then went through the entire range of PAOK (with whom he played in the matches against Kolossos and Peristeri in the Basket League of the 2020-21 season), Doxa Lefkada and Ayandas Evosmou, with whom in last year’s A2 Championship he had 9.7 points and 7.0 rebounds with shooting percentages of 54% on two-pointers and 43% on three-pointers.
Ther draft G-League, Dorsey and Prometheus
Suddenly on June 28, 2023, Karagiannidis saw his name flashing on the global marquee!
On that day, he was selected at No. 7 in the first G-League international draft by the Mavericks’ affiliate team, the Texas Legends, on whose bench Greek-born Giorgos Galanopoulos was sitting, while Tyler Dorsey had worn their jersey the previous season.
He didn’t compete there, but from the moment he was released by PAOK and fell on the radar of Ilias Papatheodorou, he shot towards Patras and none of the contracting parties regretted it…
Three years ago, Karagiannidis was invited to the National Youth Team, but without “writing” an official participation and now he sees his dream come true.
Just kidding, for a player of the thousandth, he hasn’t done badly at all!
[ad_2]