[ad_1]
Olympiakos’ absences resulted in the “red and whites” including 17-year-old Giorgos Bournele in the squad for tomorrow’s (11/17) match against PAOK and SPORT24 presents the young guard.
THE Olympic will line up with important absences in tomorrow’s (17/11) match against PAOK for the 7th round of the Stoiximan GBL (20:15, ERT3 and LIVE from SPORT24) in “Palataki”, which opened the door for the young Giorgos Bournele (17 years old, 1.90 meters).
With the injured Evan Fournier, Tyler Dorsey, Naz Mitrou-Long, Stefanos Spartalis and Shaquille McKissic (out of the Stoiximan GBL list) being out of the team, George Bartzokas turned to the youth section of the team to complete the… 11 of the “red and whites” .
But who is Giorgos Bourneles? The SPORT24 profiles the young guard.
Last year’s championship, this year’s upgraded role and his profile
Giorgos Bourneles is a child of the team’s academies. Last season he was even a member of the team that won the Panhellenic Junior Championship and the EEC Rising Stars Tournament, although he was a year younger (born in 2007) than his teammates.
In last year’s Olympiakos, Bourneles had a smaller role, practically being the back up playmaker, since Thodoros Lykogiannis usually started, while Tasos Rozakeas, Beniamin Abosi and Stefanos Spartalis were still on the roster. In this year’s Olympiacos, however, things have changed.
This year, Burnelles is the team’s main point guard and its top scorer. After three games he has 14.7 points with 45% on 2-pointers, 26.3% on 3-pointers and 78.6% on shots, 2.7 rebounds, 3.7 assists, 1 steal and 4.3 turnovers average in 26.5 minutes of participation. Together with Thodoros Pavlopoulos – who came with a transfer from Milonas (12.3 points, 9 rebounds and 4 assists average) and Stefanos Ghikas (14 points and 7 rebounds average) they are the ones who pull the team in scoring.
As for his profile, Bournelles is a playmaker. In this Olympiakos, he often plays away from the ball, since Kostas Antoniou, Achilleas Vardis and Giorgos Bekas are still playing as playmakers. But he is one of the players who are called upon to make decisions with the ball in hand, in a Pick and Roll situation.
The young guard likes to shoot off the dribble, and has a tendency to lean forward when doing so. He has a relatively good first step and sometimes drives to the basket, but he isn’t athletic enough to finish shots. The positive in his case is that he can already pass well with both hands, since he has also made passes with his left (his “bad”) hand. However, reading the game still needs work.
Burnelles is still a player who has a lot to learn. His improvement compared to the previous season is already evident, something his upgraded role has certainly played a part in. Now it’s up to him what happens next.
[ad_2]