Agravanis explains why he left Greece's camp, details his argument with Itoudis / News - Basketnews.com

Dimitris Agravanis talked to SPORT24 about the disagreement he had with coach Dimitris Itoudis that led to his decision to exit the Greek NT squad ahead of the World Cup.

Credit: FIBA Credit FIBA

On the day Giannis Antetokounmpo announced he won't be able to helpGreecein the upcoming World Cup because of a knee injury, putting an end to rumors and speculations, another saga is unfolding within the team's realm.

Dimitrios Agravanis

Position:SF, PFAge:28Height:208 cmWeight:116 kgBirth place:Marousi, GreeceProfileNewsStatistics

Its protagonists are coachDimitris Itoudisand forward Dimitris Agravanis. The player was left out of Greece's camp at his own request, the Greek federation mentioned in an announcement Thursday. Following Greece's loss to Italy in the Acropolis tournament that same day, Itoudis was asked about the issue.

"The departure of Agravanis did not change the facts. Athletes come voluntarily here, they don't have a pistol put to their heads," the Greek play-caller said.

"He put himself out of the national team. I will not disclose the details," he added. "I have contacted 22 athletes by phone or in person. Someone says, 'I'm coming,' and someone says, 'I can't.' Simple."

One day later, the athlete took to Instagram with a story in response to his coach's comments. "Stop the lies, tell about your curses in Serbian," Agravanis wrote.

The post was deleted shortly after being shared publicly.

Agravanis, 29, only played 1'45'' in Greece's 64-71 loss to Serbia on Tuesday night, where he scored one point.

When SPORT24 journalist Vassilis Skountis reached out to him, Agravanis recounted a more detailed version of the facts.

"It happened what I thought should happen," he initially said.

"When Dimitris Itoudis called me to inform me that he had included me in the squad, he said to me verbatim, 'Dimitris, I want you to try as much as you can, regardless of whether Giannis and Kostas Antetokounmpo will be on the team'.

'Coach, I will do what I always do. I will give it my best shot, but please don't treat me like last year, when I scored 25 points against Spain in Madrid and in the Acropolis tournament you played me for 4-5 minutes,'" Agravanis said he told Itoudis.

The coach allegedly reassured the player that he would receive fair treatment, so Agravanis felt like he had no reason to decline the invitation.

"I honestly gave my best in training camp. As was the case last year, at the moment I'm a free agent and the national team would give me the opportunity to find my next spot," the former Panathinaikos forward admitted.

"So the friendly games started and I felt something was wrong. He only played me four minutes vs. Slovenia in Ljubljana, 10 minutes in the OAKA game, and one minute vs. Serbia. So, when he announced that [Panagiotis] Kalaitzakis and I wouldn't dress for the game vs. Italy, I stood up and told him that he doesn't respect me and that's why I was leaving," he explained.

Agravanis said he mentioned the word disrespect in English in the presence of his teammates, so that Thomas Walkup could understand what he meant, and underlined that Itoudis didn't give him the chance to fight for a roster spot.

"He reacted and asked me 'What disrespect are you talking about?' and I replied 'You know', pointing the finger at my forehead, in order to remind him of the conversation we had before training camp," Agravanis continued.

"Then he started saying some well-known bad words in Serbian, but I didn't follow up. I turned around, packed my things and left.

Everyone understands that the reasons for my departure are not personal, as it has been reported, but sports-related," the player concluded.

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