Lazaros Voreadis (born July 18, 1960 in Thessaloniki). [1] is a Greek basketball referee. Voreadis was born in Thessaloniki, Greece, and he speaks both Greek and English.
Residing in Athens, Greece,Lazaros Voreadis began his career as a basketball referee in 1978 and became an international referee in 1992, officiating at various prominent international events, including the Olympics. [2] The 85 kg professional referee officiated at the 7th World Championship for Junior Men at Thessaloniki in the year 2003. He officiated the finals of the Saporta Cup and the Korać Cup in 2002, within 15 days of each other. Voreadis officiated at the 2004 Olympic Basketball Tournament and he took the Judge's Oath at the opening ceremony to the Games. He was also a referee at the 2003 European Championship for Men. [3] He stepped down from refereeing in 2010, marking the end of his career in active officiating. [2]
During a Olympiakos-Panathinaikos Greek Basketball League game in 2002, he was struck by a projectile thrown by an Olympiakos fan and was comforted by colleague Nikos Papadimitriou. [4]
Predrag Stojaković, known by his nickname Peja, is a Serbian professional basketball executive and former player who was most recently the assistant general manager and director of player personnel and development of the Sacramento Kings of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was inducted into the Greek Basket League Hall of Fame in 2022. Stojaković made 1,760 three-point field goals in his career which ranked 4th all-time at the point of his retirement. He currently ranks 27th in this category.
Efthimios "Efthimis" Rentzias is a retired Greek professional basketball player. During his pro club career, he was most notably a member of the Spanish League's FC Barcelona, and the NBA's Philadelphia 76ers. At a height of 2.12 m tall, he played at the center position. He was inducted into the Greek Basket League Hall of Fame in 2022.
Nikolaos Georgalis, commonly known as either Nikos Galis, or Nick Galis, is a Greek former professional basketball player. Galis, who during his playing days was nicknamed, "Nick The Greek", "The Gangster", and "The Iron Man", is widely regarded as Europe's greatest scorer to ever play the game, and as one of the all-time greatest players in FIBA international basketball history. In 1991, Galis was named one of FIBA's 50 Greatest Players. In 2007, he became an inaugural member of the FIBA Hall of Fame. In 2008, he was chosen as one of the 50 Greatest EuroLeague Contributors. In 2017, he was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. In 2018, he was named one of the 101 Greats of European Basketball. In 2022, he was inducted in to the Greek Basket League Hall of Fame.
Panagiotis "Notis" Giannakis, alternatively spelled Panayiotis Yiannakis or Yannakis, is a former Greek professional basketball player and coach. He is considered to be one of the greatest sportspeople of Greece. He started his senior career at the age of just 13 at Ionikos Nikaias and after noticeable success, he achieved extraordinary success as a player with Aris Thessaloniki from 1984 to 1993, in partnership with Greek basketball's biggest star Nikos Galis along with the rest of the squad, while achieving victory as the national team captain in EuroBasket 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 the EuroLeague with Panathinaikos in 1996 As head coach, he most prominently led Greece to its second European trophy in EuroBasket 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 the 2006 FIBA World Championship in Japan, where the team most notably scored a decisive win against the USA stars of the NBA 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 the 2007 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 the China men's national basketball team. As a player, he was primarily a point guard, but he could also play at the shooting guard position. During his playing career, Giannakis was also widely-known under his nickname of "O Drákos", or "The Dragon" in English.
Panagiotis "Panos" Fasoulas is a Greek politician, and former professional basketball player. He was selected in the second round, with the 37th overall pick, by the Portland Trail Blazers, in the 1986 NBA draft. However, he never decided to play in the NBA. During his pro club career, Fasoulas won multiple team titles and individual awards.
Andreas Glyniadakis is a former Greek professional basketball player, at a height of 7 ft 1 in (2.16 m) tall. During his professional club career that started in 1997 and ended in 2020, Glyniadakis played at a center position.
Antonis Fotsis is a Greek professional basketball player for Ilysiakos. His height is of 2.09-metre tall. During his professional career he was also the captain of the senior Greek national team. In most of his playing career, he played primarily as a power forward, but he could also sometimes be used as a small ball center, or even as a small forward, if needed. Fotsis was inducted into the Greek Basket League Hall of Fame in 2022.
Nikolaos "Nikos" Zisis is a Greek basketball executive and former professional basketball player. During his pro club playing career, at a height of 1.97 m tall, he played at both the point guard and shooting guard positions. He was inducted into the Greek Basket League Hall of Fame in 2022. He is currently the general manager of the senior Greek men's national basketball team.
Lazaros Papadopoulos is a Greek former professional basketball player. He was listed at 7 ft 265 lbs (120 kg), and he played the center position. During his playing career, he was best known for his signature skyhook move.
Graham P. Barber is an English former football referee. He was based in Tring in Hertfordshire during his career, but now lives in Spain.
Dimitrios Papanikolaou is a retired Greek professional basketball player and a professional basketball coach. He is 2.02 m tall. He spent most of his career playing at the shooting guard and small forward positions, although he also played at the power forward position late in his career.
Iraklis B.C. is a Greek professional basketball club based in the city of Thessaloniki, Macedonia, Greece. Created in 1921, it serves as the professional men's basketball department of the multi–sport club of G.S. Iraklis Thessalonikis. The club's colors are blue and white, inspired by the flag of Greece. They play their home matches at Ivanofeio Sports Arena. As of 2022, the club competes in the second–tier level Greek Elite League.
Giorgos Sigalas, is a retired Greek professional basketball player and basketball coach who last served as the head coach for Kolossos Rodou of the Greek Basketball League (GBL) and the Basketball Champions League (BCL). During the decade of the 1990s, the 2.01 m (6'7") tall swingman was the regular team captain of the pro club Olympiacos Piraeus, of the Greek League and the EuroLeague, and also of the Greece men's national basketball team. Nicknamed Rambo, during his playing career, Sigalas was one of the best European defensive players of his generation.
Greece has risen to prominence in a number of sporting areas in recent decades. Football in particular has seen a rapid transformation, with the Greece national football team winning the UEFA Euro 2004. Many Greek athletes have also achieved significant success and have won world and olympic titles in numerous sports during the years, such as basketball, wrestling, water polo, athletics, weightlifting, with many of them becoming international stars inside their sports. The successful organisation of the Athens 2004 Olympic and Paralympic Games led also to the further development of many sports and has led to the creation of many world class sport venues all over Greece and especially in Athens. Greek athletes have won a total 169 medals for Greece in 17 different Olympic sports at the Summer Olympic Games, including the Intercalated Games, an achievement which makes Greece one of the top nations globally, in the world's rankings of medals per capital
Evangelos "Vangelis" Alexandris is a Greek professional basketball coach and a former professional player. During his playing career, his nickname was "The Tiger". During his head coaching career, Alexandris won two European-wide club league championships. He won the FIBA Saporta Cup championship in the 2000–01 season, and the FIBA Europe Champions Cup championship in the 2002–03 season.
Faidon Matthaiou, was a Greek professional basketball player and coach. He was a center at the start of his career, and at the end of his career, he also played as a point guard. He wore the number 1 jersey throughout his career. He represented Greece twice at the Summer Olympic Games. As a rower at the 1948 Summer Olympics, and as a basketball player at the 1952 Summer Olympics.
Basketballin Greece erupted with the win of the Greece men's national basketball team at the 1987 EuroBasket in Athens, which caused a general basketball euphoria in the country. Since then, the Greece men's national teams have achieved consistent international success, leading Greece to join Russia, Serbia, Croatia, Italy, Spain, France, and Lithuania in the circle of European basketball powers. In addition to the Greece national team's triumph in 1987, they won the gold medal at the 2005 EuroBasket, silver medals at the 1989 EuroBasket, and the 2006 FIBA World Cup, and the bronze medal at the 2009 EuroBasket.
Oļegs Latiševs, occasionally referred to by his native Russian name Oleg Latyshev, is a Latvian FIBA basketball referee. His cooperation with FIBA started in 2003 and with Euroleague in 2007.
Valentin Lazarov was a basketball referee and expert, who was enshrined as a technical official in the FIBA Hall of Fame on 19 June 2013.
Manos Manouselis is a Greek basketball coach. He is currently the director of Proteas Voulas academies.. He has been actively involved in professional basketball for more than three decades.