Spanoulis reflects on the fast passage of time, Greek national team / News - Basketnews.com

Vassilis Spanoulis, a former legendary player by all standards, currently has a new career as a coach and, most recently, as the head coach of the Greek national team.

Credit: FIBA Credit FIBA

A legendary player by every measure, Vassilis Spanoulis made the transition to a coaching career after concluding his years as a player. While continuing to serve Peristeri bwin since 2022, he also became the head coach of Greece last year.

Greece / Schedule

Greece Czech Republic72-64 Netherlands Greece72-74

In an interview with Harris Stavrou of SPORT24, the legendary basketball man talked about how fast time passes and the importance that he gives to the Greek national team.

"It goes by very quickly," said Spanoulis of the fast passage of time. "When I stopped playing basketball, when I became a coach, when my wife gave birth, when my child was 14 years old, when I became the coach of the national team... It goes by very quickly," he stated.

"For that, we must be grateful for every moment. And right now, I feel very proud to be the coach of my country's national team," Spanoulis said with pride. He became Greece's head coach in 2023 after Dimitris Itoudis's departure.

For the legendary player, the importance of the national team cannot be understated.

"They [national team games] are very special. The children must understand what the national team means. I felt it very well in my skin for more than 15 years, from the underage tournaments to the men's. I lived historical moments but also bad moments," he reminisced, having first served the Greek national team as a U18 player in 2000.

"The most important is for them to understand what it means to wear this jersey and how much pride you should feel inside," he continued. "To understand the honor and why we fight for [it]. Not only for ourselves but for the generations to come, who we must inspire and nurture in the right way."

Spanoulis led his first national team games in the recently-past FIBA EuroBasket 2025 Qualifiers first window, where they picked up two wins against Czechia in Greece and the Netherlands in The Hague.

3-pointers this season

27%6,5Points made:6,5Accuracy:26,5%Place in standings:6Record max:9Record min:4Most made 3FGs:Vassilis ToliopoulosTeamEuroBasket QStatisticsSchedule

Considering that they had little time to prepare and were playing without some of their usual weapons like Kostas Sloukas, Greece was able to beat both teams, even coming from behind to prevent an upset by the Netherlands.

"It's very difficult," the former player began. "You rely more on the quality and character of the players to get the message. We tried to put some fundamentals in place to play team basketball on defense and offense. The guys showed tremendous receptivity in understanding what we wanted. Some things we achieved, others not," he explained.

"We certainly achieved one thing, that the guys automatically understood what is the way we should play, what is our philosophy, and what is the mentality that we should follow," he said, lauding his players for their adaptation.

Ultimately, the newly-appointed head coach of the national team was asked what could be improved in the future for Hellas.

"We have to understand that, in the national team, there is no sadness about whether one plays well or not. There is no sadness about whether a player is on the 12-man roster or not. There is no sadness about whether someone plays 1 minute or 30 minutes. There is only pride, only encouragement, only optimism, and honor," Spanoulis concluded on a high note.

Greece currently sits atop the standings in group F of the EuroBasket 2025 Qualifiers with two wins and zero losses.

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