Dimitris Diamantidis

Dimitris Diamantidis

Dimitris Diamantidis against Apollon Patras in 2013.
No. 13 – Panathinaikos Athens
Position Point guard / Shooting guard
League Greek League
Euroleague
Personal information
Born (1980-05-06) May 6, 1980
Kastoria, Greece
Nationality Greek
Listed height 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)
Listed weight 195 lb (88 kg)
Career information
NBA draft 2002 / Undrafted
Playing career 1999––present
Career history
1999–2004 Iraklis Thessaloniki
2004–present Panathinaikos
Career highlights and awards
Medals
Men's Basketball
Representing  Greece
Mediterranean Games
2001 Tunisia National Team
EuroBasket
2005 Serbia & Montenegro National Team
Stanković Cup
2006 China National Team
FIBA World Cup
2006 Japan National Team

Dimitrios "Dimitris" Diamantidis (Greek: Δημήτρης Διαμαντίδης) (born May 6, 1980) is a Greek professional basketball player for the Greek League and Euroleague team Panathinaikos Athens. Standing at 1.96 m (6'5")[1] and weighing 88 kg (195 lbs.),[2] Diamantidis, nicknamed 3D, mainly plays the point guard position,[3] but also has the ability to play shooting guard, as well as to assume small forward duties, being utilized as a point forward. At the age of fourteen he started his youth career with his home team in Kastoria, and spent five years there before being transferred to Iraklis in 1999. He plays for Panathinaikos since the summer of 2004.

Diamantidis helped lead Panathinaikos to three Euroleague championships in 2007, 2009, and 2011, earning the Final Four MVP Award twice, and being named Euroleague MVP in 2011. He also won nine Greek League and ten Greek Cup titles. A four-time All-Euroleague First Team selection, he is the first recipient of the Euroleague Best Defender Award, which he won five times in a row from 2005 to 2009, and an additional one in 2011. Moreover, Diamantidis was voted to the Euroleague 2001–10 All-Decade Team[4] and is the Euroleague all-time leader in assists[5] and steals [6] since the dawn of the ULEB era in 2000. As a member of the Greek national team, he earned a EuroBasket title in 2005, as well as a FIBA World Championship silver medal in 2006, with Greece stunning the likes of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, Chris Paul, Dwight Howard, and Carmelo Anthony in the tournament's semifinal.[7]

On the basis of his achievements in Greek and European basketball, his pivotal role in the success of the Greek national team at the world stage, and his remarkable all-around skills, Diamantidis was named Mister Europa Player of the Year by Italian sports magazine Superbasket in 2007.[8] Kastoria's main indoor basketball arena was renamed after him. On April 1, 2016, Diamantidis was honored with a Euroleague Basketball Legend Award.[9]

Professional career

Iraklis

In the summer of 1999, at the age of 19, Diamantidis began his professional career when he transferred to Iraklis Thessaloniki and became a starting player there by his second season. Diamantidis helped to bring Iraklis, one of the oldest Greek teams, back into prominence after the club had been struggling. With Iraklis, Diamantidis won the Greek League MVP award in the 2003–04 season.

Panathinaikos

Diamantidis in 2007

Diamantidis moved a big step up in his career with his move to Panathinaikos of Athens in 2004; a basketball powerhouse of the Greek League and also of the Euroleague. With Panathinaikos, he has won the Greek League championship 9 times (2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014), the Greek Cup 10 times (2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016), and the Euroleague Championship 3 times (2007, 2009, 2011). Diamantidis had with Željko Obradović one of the most successful collaboration as coach and player in the history of European basketball.

Diamantidis has won several individual trophies since joining Panathinaikos, such as the Euroleague Best Defender six times (2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011),[10] the Greek League MVP six times (2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2011, 2014), and the Euroleague Final Four MVP twice (2007, 2011). Diamantidis was also named the 2007 Mister Europa, the 2007 Greek Athlete of the Year, and the MVP of the Greek Cup in 2009 and 2016. He was named the Euroleague MVP in 2011.[11]

Due to these great individual and team successes, the president of Panathinaikos, pharmaceutical magnate Pavlos Giannakopoulos, signed Diamantidis in 2008, to a 3-year €5.7 million euros net income contract. In 2010, he renewed his contract with Panathinaikos for another 3 years, at €10.8 million euros gross income (€6 million euros net income).[12]

On 4 July 2013, he renewed his contract with Panathinaikos for another 2 years, at a salary of €1.9 million net income per year. On 2 September 2015, Diamantidis announced his retirement from professional basketball, effective at the end of 2015–16 season.[13]

Greek national team

Diamantidis was a member of the senior Greek national basketball team. With the senior national team of Greece, he won the gold medal at the EuroBasket 2005. During the European Championship that year, he led the tournament in assists, and he was selected to the All-Tournament Team. In the tournament semifinals against the French national basketball team, Diamantidis hit a game-winning 3 point shot, with Greece trailing by a score of 66–64 at the end of the game, to give Greece the 67–66 victory, and send them to the European Championship's final game.

He was also a member of the Greek national team that went on to win the silver medal the next year at the 2006 FIBA World Championship in Japan. He was a key factor in Greece's historic 101–95 victory against Team USA in the semifinals.

Diamantidis was on the Greek team that participated at the EuroBasket 2003 and got the fifth placedafter beating Serbia and Montenegro 64–72. Diamantidis was also member of Greek national team at the EuroBasket 2007, where Greece took the fourth place, after losing from Lithuania 69–78 with Diamantidis having 7 rebounds and 4 assists. With his national team, he also won the silver medal at the 2001 Mediterranean Games, and the gold medal at the 2006 Stanković Continental Champions' Cup. He also won 7 Acropolis Tournaments with his national squad, being the tournament's MVP twice, in 2005 and 2006.

On September 4, 2010, after Greece's elimination in the Eighth-Finals of the 2010 FIBA World Championship, at the hands of Spain (80–72), he announced his immediate retirement from the Greek National Team. Diamantidis finished his career with national team having 124 games and 760 points (ave. 6.13 per game)

Summer Olympic Games

Diamantidis was also a member of Greece's national team that competed at the 2004 Summer Olympic Games, which was held in Athens, Greece. He was also selected to play on Greece's national team for the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing, China. Greece finished fifth in both tournaments, losing twice to Argentina in the quarter-finals.

Player profile

Diamantidis is left-handed, and can play as a point guard, shooting guard, and small forward. In the Greek national team, his primary position was small forward, being utilized as a point forward. He is a pass first play-maker with outstanding vision, and an excellent three point shooter. He also likes to post up smaller point guards. Gifted with a tremendous wingspan and a unique feel for positioning, he is generally considered to be one of the best perimeter defensive players in the Euroleague, having won the Euroleague Best Defender award five consecutive seasons, and once again two years later. He was named the Mister Europa Player of the Year in 2007.

Career statistics

Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field-goal percentage  3P%  3-point field-goal percentage  FT%  Free-throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game  PIR  Performance Index Rating
 Bold  Career high

Note: The Euroleague is not the only competition in which the player participated for the team during the season. He also played in domestic competition, and regional competition if applicable.

† Denotes seasons in which Diamantidis won the Euroleague
Led the league

Euroleague

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG PIR
2004–05 Panathinaikos 25 20 27.4 .544 .467 .709 3.7 3.1 2.0 .6 8.5 12.5
2005–06 Panathinaikos 23 22 30.1 .492 .269 .785 4.5 2.9 2.3 .8 8.7 13.1
2006–07† Panathinaikos 24 24 29.1 .489 .460 .780 3.9 3.9 2.2 .6 8.9 14.3
2007–08 Panathinaikos 19 19 30.9 .484 .435 .769 5.3 3.3 1.8 .7 8.5 15.1
2008–09† Panathinaikos 21 12 27.3 .486 .441 .863 4.4 3.1 1.5 .5 8.5 14.0
2009–10 Panathinaikos 12 9 26.7 .559 .516 .738 2.9 3.3 1.5 .3 9.4 13.7
2010–11† Panathinaikos 22 21 30.5 .433 .370 .872 3.9 6.2 1.6 .1 12.5 18.5
2011–12 Panathinaikos 23 21 30.0 .448 .425 .882 3.7 4.8 1.5 .5 11.5 16.4
2012–13 Panathinaikos 27 25 31.5 .368 .315 .712 3.4 5.8 1.4 .4 8.1 13.1
2013–14 Panathinaikos 29 27 31.2 .324 .283 .763 2.4 6.2 1.4 .1 8.9 12.8
2014–15 Panathinaikos 27 27 27.3 .410 .379 .814 2.3 5.9 .9 .3 8.0 12.1
2015–16 Panathinaikos 26 1 21.2 .459 .376 .827 2.3 4.2 .8 .2 7.2 10.3
Career 278 228 28.7 .442 .375 .795 3.5 4.5 1.6 .4 9.0 13.7

Awards and honors

Club career

Greek national team

Individual

Other

References

  1. ↑ FIBA.com profile.
  2. ↑ Dimitris Diamantidis | Point Guard.
  3. ↑ Euroleague.net article about the 2011 Final Four MVP.
  4. ↑ Euroleague.net profile as All-Decade Team member.
  5. ↑ Euroleague.net official statistics
  6. ↑ Euroleague.net official stastistics
  7. ↑ FIBA.com profile.
  8. ↑ Fibaeurope.com - Mister Europa 2007.
  9. ↑ Euroleague.net, Diamantidis celebrated as Euroleague basketball legend
  10. ↑ Euroleague.net Dimitris Diamantidis wins sixth Best Defender Trophy.
  11. ↑ Euroleague.net MVP Diamantidis heads 2010–11 All-Euroleague First Team.
  12. ↑ Talkbasket.net - Panathinaikos keep their captain Diamantidis.
  13. ↑ Diamantidis announces he'll retire after this upcoming season.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Dimitris Diamantidis.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Thursday, May 05, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.