By the Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
One of the oldest and most traditional preparation tournaments for FIBA events, the “Acropolis Tournament” begins tomorrow in Athens, and in its 31st edition, all eyes will be on OAKA, the Olympic Stadium. covered with the Greek capital and the basketball arena, named “Nick Galis Hall”.
Greece host Turkey, Georgia and Poland and of course Giannis Antetokounmpo is the star of the show. However, it is an important tournament for all teams involved as Georgia are expected to compete with a full roster and the same goes for Turkey who traveled to Athens with naturalized point guard Shane Larkin.
The matches start on Wednesday and it will be the last test for all the teams before the next official matches for the FIBA Basketball World Cup qualifiers and of course Eurobasket 2022.
However, a day before the players entered center field, a meeting between Greek national team coach Dimitris Itoudis, Turkish national team coach Ergin Ataman and Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer stole the show.
Budenolzer met the Greek national team last week in Madrid and is continuing his tour after Giannis in Greece, while Itoudis has already admitted he will be working with coach Bud in his quest to take full advantage of what Antetokounmpo can supply in the field.
Still, meeting Ataman, since Budenholzer was watching the Greek national team training, made things more interesting. Ataman won back-to-back EuroLeague titles in 2021 and 2022, Itoudis also won the EuroLeague twice with CSKA Moscow, winning his last title in 2019 against Ataman and Anadolu Efes, while Budenholzer won the NBA title with the Bucks in 2021. It was a real meeting of champions.
Meanwhile, the Greek national team have announced that Dimitris Moraitis and Ioannis Kouzeloglou are the last two cuts on the list.
