Panagiotis "Notis"Giannakis (Greek:Παναγιώτης "Νότης" Γιαννάκης,pronounced[panaˈʝotisʝaˈnacis]; born January 1, 1959), alternatively spelledPanayiotis Yiannakis orYannakis, is a former Greek professionalbasketball player andcoach. He is considered to be one of the greatest sportspeople of Greece. He started his senior career at the age of just 13 atIonikos Nikaias and after noticeable success, he achieved extraordinary success as a player withAris Thessaloniki from 1984 to 1993, in partnership with Greek basketball's biggest starNikos Galis, while achieving victory as the national team captain inEuroBasket 1987 in Athens, Greece's first major tournament win in non-Olympic sport which, along with Aris' extraordinary success, cultivated the sport in the country. At the end of his career, he won theEuroLeague withPanathinaikos in1996. As head coach, he most prominently led Greece to its second European trophy inEuroBasket 2005 at Serbia and Montenegro, where a team of new and talented stars shone brightest under the nurturship of Giannakis. He would repeat the success the next year, acquiring the silver medal at the2006 FIBA World Championship in Japan, where the team most notably scored a decisive win against theUSA stars of theNBA in the semi-final, which would be USMNBT's last loss in a tournament until 2019. However, Greece's arch rivals Spain would defeat Giannakis' team in the final, as they would do again in the semi-finals of the2007 EuroBasket. Outside of the Greek national team, he would coach Greek clubs like Aris, where he had the most success as player,Olympiacos, where he achieved renewed success, and theChina men's national basketball team. As a player, he was primarily apoint guard, but he could also play at theshooting guard position. During his playing career, Giannakis was also widely-known under his nickname of "O Drákos" (Ο Δράκος), or "The Dragon" inEnglish.[1][2][3][4]
On February 3, 2008, Giannakis was chosen as one of the50 Greatest EuroLeague Contributors, over the previous half-century, byEuroLeague Basketball's Experts Committee.[5] In 2018, he was named one of the 101 Greats of European Basketball.[6] In 2021, he was inducted into theFIBA Hall of Fame.[7] In 2022, he was inducted into theGreek Basket League Hall of Fame.[8]
A true floor general, Giannakis began hisclub basketball playing career in Greece, withIonikos Nikaias. After that, he before moved to the Greek clubAris Thessaloniki, where he spent the most important part of his pro playing career. InThessaloniki, he helped to lead "The Yellows" (Aris) to three consecutiveEuroLeague Final Four appearances between 1988 and 1990, as well as to aFIBA European Cup (later renamed to Saporta Cup) titlein 1993. In the summer of 1993, he was transferred to the Greek clubPanionios Athens, and finally a year later, to the Greek clubPanathinaikos Athens, with whom he won aEuroLeague championshipin 1996.
Giannakis was, along withNikos Galis,Panagiotis Fasoulas, andFanis Christodoulou, one of the four main stars of the legendary late 1980sGreece men's national basketball team that put Greece on the world basketball map. He was Greece'steam captain, when they won the gold medal at theEuroBasket of1987, and were the silver-medalists at the same championshiptwo years later. Furthermore, Giannakis was also an important member of the Greece men's national team, when they reached the EuroBasket's semifinals in1993 and1995, as well as theFIBA World Cup's semifinals in1994.
After his playing career ended, Giannakis was thehead coach of the Athenian professional club team,Maroussi Athens, which he led to the forefront of theGreek League. Giannakis was also the head coach of the GreekEuroLeague powerhouseOlympiacos Piraeus, which he led to the2010 EuroLeague Final, and of theGreece men's national basketball team. Under Giannakis' guidance, the Greece men's national team won the gold medal at the2005 EuroBasket, and the silver medal at the2006 FIBA World Cup in Japan, where Greece upsetTeam USA, by a score of 101–95. He was also the head coach of the seniorChinese national team.
Giannakis was born and raised in a poor neighborhood ofNikaia,Athens. Ηis father Dimitris, hailed fromAsia Minor, and was an owner of a motorbike workshop; his mother Kalliope, was aweaver. Giannakis is the youngest of five brothers.[9][10]
Giannakis started playingfootball around his neighborhood. He showed an early inclination to sports, and also tried the sport ofbasketball. He began watching the games of a local basketball club, and he was later approached by the head coach of the youth team ofIonikos Nikaias, who asked him to join their team.
Giannakis began hisclub career with the youth teams ofIonikos Nikaias, in 1971. His first head coach,George Vassilakopoulos, moved Giannakis up to the club's senior men's first team, from the youth squad, in 1972, when he was at the age of just 13. The club was playing in theGreek 2nd Division at the time. In 1975, the club waspromoted up to the top-tier levelGreek First Division. Giannakis' exceptional play with Ionikos Nikaias, at such a young age, drew the eyes of pro basketball experts on him.
On January 24, 1981, Ionikos Nikaias, led by a then 22-year-old Giannakis, played againstAris Thessaloniki, which was led byNikos Galis. Aris won in a tight game, by a score of 114–113. The game is memorable in the history of Greek pro club basketball, because in the game, Giannakis scored 73 points, and Galis scored 62 points,[11] as they achieved the second and fourth most points ever scored in a single game of the Greek League basketball championship.[12]
In 1981, the American basketball coachDick Dukeshire, who had coached Giannakis with the seniorGreek men's national team, asked Giannakis to move to the United States, to playcollege basketball at theHellenic College. Dukeshire believed that Giannakis was good enough to play in theNBA. At that time, theBoston Celtics used the facilities of the Hellenic College's campus inBrookline, Massachusetts, for their training camp and practices. Dukeshire believed that if Giannakis was training with the school's team at the same time that the Celtics were there, that he had a chance to make the Celtics roster. Giannakis eventually agreed to move to the US, and he joined the Hellenic College Owls team.[13][14]
While at training at Hellenic College, Giannakis was eventually noticed by the Celtics, and they invited him to join the team's 1981 summer league camp. However, during the summer training camp, Giannakis suffered a career-threateningknee injury that required multipleknee surgeries,[15] and a lot of rehab time. During the knee surgery operation, it was also decided by the surgeon performing the procedure, that Giannakis'ACL would have to be removed from his knee. Giannakis was told by the doctor that performed the surgery that he didn't think it was possible for him to play professional basketball again.[16] However, after ultimately recovering from his knee surgery, Giannakis went on to average 25 points per game with the Hellenic College Owls, during the 1981–82 season. After that, Giannakis then went back to Greece, where he finished the '81–'82 season with his previous club team,Ionikos Nikaias, in order to help them avoid aleague relegation fromGreece's top-tier level competition, theGreek Basket League.
Giannakis was ultimately selected by the Boston Celtics, in the 9th round of the1982 NBA draft, with the 205th overall draft pick.[17][18] Giannakis then took part in the team's1982–83 preseason training camp. About a week before the start of the regular season, the Celtics traded centerDave Cowens to theMilwaukee Bucks, in exchange for point guardQuinn Buckner, and due to that, they no longer had the need for another point guard. The Celtics then asked Giannakis to join theirCBA affiliate team, as a way to test how he could adjust to the American style of basketball, with the chance for him to earn an NBA contract with the main team later on. However, Giannakis declined the offer, and returned to Greece, where he would play for the rest of his career.[19][20]
On August 3, 1984, Giannakis transferred to the Greek clubAris Thessaloniki, after the club paid a transfer fee contract buyout toIonikos Nikaias for his player rights, in the amount of 42 millionGreek Drachmas,[21] which was considered a huge amount of money for a transfer buyout at that time. Giannakis also personally received aBMW car, asporting goods store, and an 8 million drachmas signing bonus from Aris. With Aris, Giannakis teamed up withNikos Galis, to form one half of an historic "tag-team", that took both Greek and European basketball by storm, for the years to come. From the 6th of March 1985, to the 5th of November 1988, the backcourt duo of Galis and Giannakis, led Aris Thessaloniki to an 80-game winning streak in the Greek League.[22][23][24][25][26]
Giannakis' first season with Aris Thessaloniki, the 1984–85 season, was a great success. He won both theGreek League championship, and theGreek Cup title. In the final of the latter, Giannakis made 8-out-of-12 three-pointers, and led his team to victory overPanathinaikos Athens. And that was only the beginning, as six more consecutive Greek League championships, and five more Greek Cup titles with Aris were to follow.
With Aris Thessaloniki, Giannakis also took part in three consecutiveEuroLeague Final Fours. He played at the1988 Ghent Final Four, at the1989 Munich Final Four, and at the1990 Zaragoza Final Four. Aris Thessloniki joined the elite of European basketball clubs at that time, but a European-wide title did not come for Giannakis and his team until a few years later.
In June 1991, Giannakis was chosen as a member of The Balkans Selection All-Star Team that played againstThe European Selection All-Star Team, at the1991 FIBA Centennial Jubilee. The 1991 FIBA Jubilee event was held in order to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the creation of the sport of basketball in 1891, by the CanadianJames Naismith. TheFIBA Jubilee All-Star Game took place at thePeace and Friendship Stadium, inPiraeus,Athens, Greece, and it included numerous legends of European basketball. The Balkans' All-Star Selection won the game, by a score of 103–102.
In the1992–93 season, Aris and Giannakis won the championship of the European-wide secondary-levelFIBA European Cup competition, which later became known as the FIBA Saporta Cup. Aris beat theTurkish Super League clubEfes Istanbul, by a score of 50–48 in the final, which was held inTurin. By then,Nikos Galis had already previously left Aris Thessaloniki, and joined Panathinaikos Athens, and Giannakis had become the de facto leader and franchise player of Aris.
In 1993, after spending nine seasons withAris Thessaloniki, Giannakis moved to the Greek clubPanionios Athens. With Panionios Athens, he averaged 14.0 points, 3.6 rebounds, 3.3 assists, and 1.4 steals per game, in the Greek Basket League's 1993–94 season. In that same season, he also competed with the club in the European-wide third-level competition, theFIBA Korać Cup. During theKorać Cup season, he averaged 17.0 points, 3.7 rebounds, 3.4 assists, and 2.0 steals per game.[27]
After spending a season withPanionios Athens, Giannakis then moved to the Greek clubPanathinaikos Athens, where he played from 1994 to 1996. It was with Panathinaikos Athens that he finished his club playing career. With Panathinaikos Athens, Giannakis finally won the championship of the top-level European-wide club competition, theFIBA EuroLeague. Panathinaikos and Giannakis won the title at the1996 Paris Final Four. He also won theGreek Cup title with Panathinaikos Athens that same year. It was the seventh Greek Cup title that he had won in his playing career, to go along with his sevenGreek League championships. Giannakis ended his pro club playing career in 1996. During his club playing career he competed in a total of fiveEuroLeague Final Fours, as he played in three withAris Thessaloniki, and two with Panathinaikos Athens.
Overall, during his proclub career, Giannakis scored a total of 9,291 points, in 493 games played in theGreek Basket League, for a career scoring average of 18.8 points per game. While in the EuroLeague, he scored a total of 1,514 points, in 119 games played, for a career scoring average of 12.7 points per game.
Giannakis led theGreek under-16 junior national team to the silver medal at theFIBA Europe Under-16 Championship of1975. A year later, he debuted with theGreece men's national basketball team, as a 17-year-old, versus theCzechoslovak national team. With Greece's junior national teams, he also played at the1976 FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship, and at the1978 FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship.
Giannakis' first appearance with Greece at a majorFIBA international tournament, was at the1979 EuroBasket. He won gold medals at the1979 Balkan Championship, and at the1979 Mediterranean Games. Giannakis also represented Greece at the1980 FIBA European Olympic Qualifying Tournament, the1981 EuroBasket, the1983 EuroBasket, the1984 FIBA European Olympic Qualifying Tournament, and at the1986 FIBA World Cup. With Greece, he won the gold medal at the1986 Balkan Championship.
Giannakis was theteam captain of the Greece men's national team that won the gold medal at the1987 EuroBasket. He also played with Greece at the1988 FIBA European Olympic Qualifying Tournament. He won the silver medal at the1989 EuroBasket, and he also represented Greece at the1990 FIBA World Cup.
Giannakis also represented Greece at the1991 FIBA Centennial Jubilee, which commemorated the 100th anniversary of the creation of the sport of basketball, by the CanadianJames Naismith. The Jubilee tournament took place at thePeace and Friendship Stadium, inPiraeus,Athens, Greece. In three games played during the tournament, Giannakis averaged 14.3 points per game.
Galis also played with Greece at the following major tournaments: the1991 EuroBasket, the1992 FIBA European Olympic Qualifying Tournament, the1993 EuroBasket, the1994 FIBA World Cup, and the1995 EuroBasket. Gianankis retired from the Greece men's national team as a player, on August 2, 1996, after competing with Greece at the1996 Atlanta Summer Olympics.
During his playing time with the Greece men's national team, Giannakis participated in 29 official FIBA international competitions, and in 40 official international competitions overall. Giannakis holds the all-time career record for the mostcaps with the Greece senior men's national team, with 351. That is also the all-time career record for any Europeannational team. He also holds the all-time career record for the most total points scored with the Greece senior men's national team, with 5,301 points. That is also the all-time career record for any European national team.
Unconventionally, the very next year after he retired from playing with the Greece men's national team, Giannakis started hiscoaching career as thehead coach of theGreece men's national basketball team, in 1997. He stayed the head coach of the Greece national team for two years. He led the team to a fourth-place finish at the1997 EuroBasket, and to a fourth-place finish at the1998 FIBA World Cup.
Giannakis returned to the head coach position of the Greece men's national team in 2004, for the2004 Athens Summer Olympics, where he led the Greek team to a fifth-place finish. In the next year, under his coaching guidance, Greece won the2005 EuroBasket gold medal, which marked the second time that Greece had won theEuroBasket title, and the first time they had won it since1987. Giannakis became the first person to win the EuroBasket, both as a player (1987), and as a head coach (2005).
In 2006, he coached the Greece men's national team to a second-place finish at the2006 FIBA World Cup. In theWorld Cup's semifinals, which were held on September 1, 2006, Giannakis' Greek team, beat the heavily favoredTeam USA, for the first time, by a score of 101–95. After 2006, Giannakis no longer simultaneously coached on both the professionalclub andnational team levels, as he decided to focus his full attention on the Greece men's national team only. Giannakis' salary with the Greece men's national team, eventually reached an annual rate of €1.2 millionnet income.
At the2007 EuroBasket, Giannakis led Greece to a fourth-place finish. At the2008 Beijing Summer Olympics, he led Greece to a fifth-place finish. In December 2008, Giannakis ended his tenure as the head coach of Greece's senior national team. He was succeeded in that role byJonas Kazlauskas.[28]
Giannakis was also the head coach of the senior men'sChinese national team. He coached China at the2013 FIBA Asia Championship. China finished the tournament in fifth place.
After starting hiscoaching career as thehead coach of theGreek, Giannakis also moved into coaching in the professionalclub level. He coached theGreek League clubPanionios Athens, until 2002, when he was then named the head coach of the Greek clubMaroussi Athens. He stayed with Maroussi Athens until 2006. During his time with Maroussi Athens, along with the help of his young starpoint guard, namedVassilis Spanoulis, whose playing style and player attributes were often compared to Giannakis', he took the club from relative obscurity, and turned it into the third most prominent team in the Greek League, during that era.
On 3 February 2008, Giannakis signed on to be the head coach of the GreekEuroLeague powerOlympiacos Piraeus. He signed a two-and-a-half-year contract with the team, at an annual salary of€1.1 millionnet income. In June 2010, Olympiacos Piraeus announced that Giannakis would not coach their team in the next season.[29]
During the two-and-a-half-year period that he coached Olympiacos Piraeus, Giannakis had led the team to the 2010Greek Cup title, which was the team's first title won in eight years, and to three consecutiveGreek League Finals appearances (2008, 2009, 2010). He also led the team to two consecutiveEuroLeague Final Four appearances (2009 and2010), which were the club's first EuroLeague Final Four appearances since the1999 Final Four. Those two Final Four appearances also included aEuroLeague Finals appearance (2010).
After that, Giannakis worked as the head coach of theFrench League clubLimoges, during the2012–13 season. He became the head coach of the Greek clubAris Thessaloniki, in 2017.
Giannakis is married to Eugenia, and he has two children, Kalliope and Dimitris. In 2010, he lost his brother (all four of his brothers died during a 10-year span) before anOlympiacos Piraeus rivalryderby withPanathinaikos Athens.[30]
(As a player):
Bronze Bronze
Gold Gold Bronze
Silver Bronze Gold Gold Silver(As a head coach):
Gold Gold Silver
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