Fragiskos Alvertis

Fragiskos Alvertis
Player information
Full name	Fragiskos Alvertis
Nickname	Frankie
birthday	July 11, 1974
place of birth	Athens , Greece
size	206 cm
position	Small forward , power forward
Clubs as active
1986–1990 Glyfada Athens 1990–2009 Panathinaikos Athens
National team
1990-2004 1992 1992 1990-1991	Greece Greece U 20 Greece U 18 Greece U 16	155 013 016 020
Clubs as coaches
2014– Panathinaikos Athens0000

Fragiskos Alvertis ( Greek Φραγκίσκος Αλβέρτης , born July 11, 1974 in Athens ) is a former Greek basketball player who played with a height of 2.06 m in the positions of small forward and power forward . With 25 titles won, Alvertis is the most successful basketball player in Greece and one of the most successful in the history of European basketball. In 2008, Alvertis was named one of the 50 most important players in the history of the Europa League.

Career

1986–1990: The first steps and the change to Panathinaikos

Fragiskos Alvertis began his career at Glyfada Athens, an amateur club from the suburb of the same name in southern Athens. Despite his height of 2.06 m, which is unusually tall for this position, Alvertis played at Glyfada in the position of shooting guard . After his outstanding performance at the U-16 European Championship, where he and his teammate Panagiotis Liadelis led the Greek selection to second place and the silver medal, the top clubs in Greece noticed him. Alvertis switched to the professional squad of record champions Panathinaikos Athens in 1990 at the age of 16 . In order to realize this transfer, Panathinaikos' club management had to hand over a high transfer fee as well as the best player in their water polo department at the time , Dimitrios Seletopoulos, to Glyfada. If the incumbent club president Pavlos Giannakopoulos was still exposed to great criticism in view of this exchange deal at that time, the later successes should prove him right.

1991–1995: The rise to star

When Alvertis moved to Panathinaikos, the successful club just went through a long dry spell without a title. In 1993 Alvertis won the first professional title of his career with the Greek Cup . Led by Nikos Galis , Panathinaikos reached the cup final and defeated Aris Saloniki with 96:89. Alvertis, who received little playing time at this time, had to wait until the 1993/1994 season, when he came to a higher operating time. President Giannakopoulos had recently started to invest large sums in the club, and in addition to Alvertis, basketball players such as. B. Nikos Galis, Stojko Vranković or Alexander Wolkow for the club. Surrounded by these players, Alvertis and Panathinaikos made it into the finals for the European Cup twice in a row in 1994 and 1995 . Both times, however, the club had to admit defeat to arch-rivals Olympiacos Piraeus in the semifinals and thus only reached third place. Although the disappointment in the club's board and the fans in view of these defeats was deep, these years should be the final breakthrough for Alertis. From then on , Alvertis , who was now playing in the position of small forward , was a regular on his team.

1996: Alvertis at the top of Europe

After the attack on Europe's most important club title in basketball failed in 1994 and 1995, Giannakopoulos signed the NBA All-Star Dominique Wilkins at the beginning of the 1995/1996 season . In addition to Wilkins, Panagiotis Giannakis also moved to Panathinaikos. For Alvertis and Panathinaikos, the time now seemed to have come to claim their first European title. Under the star coach Božidar Maljković , Panathinaikos made it into the final four for the third time in a row, which was held in Paris . After defeating CSKA Moscow in the semifinals , they faced FC Barcelona in the final and beat them 67-66. With 17 points scored, the 22-year-old Alvertis was Athens' most successful shooter in the final. After winning the Cup, this was the second title for Alvertis that he won in 1996. In the same year Panathinaikos played against "Olimpia Venado Tuerto" from Argentina for the Intercontinental Cup . After losing the first game on September 4, 1996 in Rosario with 83-89, two victories followed in Athens on September 10 and 12 (83-78, 101-76), the Alvertis and Panathinaikos the third title within just few months.

1997–2004: titles, awards and successes

Alvertis on a jump shot

In 1998, eight years after Alverti's move to Panathinaikos, the club ended the long dry spell without a national championship. After 3-2 victories in the final series against PAOK Thessaloniki , Alvertis secured his first championship which was the basis for Panathinaiko's dominance for the next few years. From then on, not a year should go by in which Alvertis would not win at least one title. By that time he had developed into one of the best long-range shooters in European basketball history. He was able to prove this impressively in the years 1996 to 1998 when he was able to leave the place as the winner three times in a row at the three-point shootout competition on the fringes of the Greek All-Star Games. After his last success in 1998, Alvertis declared that he no longer wanted to take part in the competition in order, as he said, "to give others the chance to win again".
In 2000, four years after the first success in the European Cup, Panathinaikos under coach Željko Obradović clearly qualified for the Final Four in Thessaloniki with a total of 17-4 wins . In the final, Athens defeated Maccabi Tel Aviv and Alvertis, who has since become captain of his team, celebrated his second European Cup victory. In 2002 Alvertis traveled with Panathinaikos as an outsider to the final four tournament of the ULEB Euroleague in Bologna . After beating Maccabi Tel Aviv in the semifinals, as expected, with 83-75, in the final on May 5th they faced the favored hosts of Buckler Bologna, players like Antoine Rigaudeau or the later NBA stars Manu Ginóbili and Marko Jarić are under contract had. Athens won the final 89-83 and Alvertis scored eleven points.
Between 1997 and 2004 Alvertis won six championships, a trophy and two European cups. He was also in the semi-finals of the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1998 and in the final of the Suproleague in 2001 . He was also a regular guest at the Greek All-Star Game and received several MVP awards .

2004–2009: A new role for Alvertis

Alvertis with a lay-up

With advancing age, Alvertis was increasingly placed in the position of power forward . With the beginning of the 2004/2005 season he was also used less and less in the Starting Five Athens. The working time of the now 30-year-old captain got shorter from season to season, but without losing efficiency or division. Alvertis came off the bench and his job was mostly to relieve his teammates in the front line or to ensure the safe shot from beyond the three-point line.
Alvertis won his fourth European Cup in 2007 in front of a home crowd in the Athens Olympic Hall . After he had already won the cup and a few weeks later the championship, this was equivalent to the first triple of his career.
On November 18, 2007, Alvertis, in an encounter against Marousi Athens , was only the second player to make 500 appearances in the top Greek league. In an encounter against Panellinios Athens on January 20, 2008, Alvertis scored his 600th successful three-point throw in a championship game of the Greek A1 Ethniki . Before him, only the players Angelos Koronios and John Korfas had succeeded. In 2008, Alvertis was named one of the 50 most important players in the history of the Europa League. With his ninth qualification for the final for the Greek club cup, Alvertis set a new record in 2009. In 2009 Alvertis won the ULEB Euroleague again.
Between 2004 and 2009, Alvertis won five championships, five cups and twice the ULEB Euroleague .
In 2009 Alvertis ended his playing career after 19 years at Panathinaikos, 25 titles and 525 first division games.

National team

Alvertis made his debut with the Greek national team on June 22, 1990 when he was only 16 years old in a game against the German national basketball team in Kalamata . In the game that Greece won 103-58, Alvertis scored 22 points. In the following 14 years Alvertis was one of the regular players in Greece and took part in five European championships, one world championship and the Olympic Games in Atlanta and Athens . In 2004, after an encounter against Puerto Rico , which Greece won 85-75, Alvertis resigned from the national team after 155 appearances and 1587 points (10.24 on average). Although he was denied the big hit with the national team, he has, among other things, fourth places in world and European championships and two fifth places in the Olympic Games . With the youth teams of the U-16 and U-18 selection of Greece, Alvertis was able to win the silver medal at European Championships.

Play style

Alvertis has long been considered one of the best long-range shooters in Europe. His throwing technique combined with his size made it difficult for his opponents to defend him, especially at the beginning of his career when he was still playing in the position of shooting guard . Although his strengths were clearly on the offensive, he was considered an above-average defender. His trademark was the so-called "turnaround fade away jump shot".

Coaching career

In March 2014, Alvertis took over the coaching position at Panathinaikos after the contract with his predecessor Argiris Pedoulakis was prematurely terminated . In the final series, the team led by Alvertis met Olympiacos and won the Greek championship. For Alvertis this was the first coaching title of his career. His work as an interim coach ended on June 10, 2014 when the Montenegrin Duško Ivanović was introduced as the new coach by Panathinaikos.

successes

As a player

Alvertis banner in the Olympic Hall

With Panathinaikos, Alvertis won the same number of championships as Panagiotis Koroneos with eleven championships , making him second among the most successful players behind Dimitrios Kokolakis (12 titles). He was also able to win the Greek club cup eight times. Together with his long-time teammate Konstantinos Tsartsaris , this is the best record. In addition, he led his team to five European Cup victories and one Intercontinental Cup . These six international club titles also represent a Greek record.

• Greek champion : 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009
• Greek Cup Winner : 1993, 1996, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009
• European Champion Clubs' Cup : 1996, 2000
• ULEB Euroleague : 2002 , 2007 , 2009
• Intercontinental Cup : 1996
• U-16 Vice European Champion: 1991
• U-20 Vice European Champion: 1992

As a trainer

• Greek champion: 2014

Awards

• MVP of the Acropolis tournament : 2000
• MVP of the Greek All Star Game: 2001
• Greek Cup Final MVP: 2003
• MVP of A1 Ethniki : 2003
• " 50 Greatest Euroleague Contributors ": 2008
• Participation in the Greek All Star Game: 1997, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2007
• Winner in the three-point shootout competition of the Greek All-Star Game: 1996, 1997, 1998
• Participation in European championships: 1995, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2003
• Participation in world championships: 1998
• Participation in the Olympic Games: 1996, 2004
• Participation in the U-16 European Championship: 1991
• Participation in the U-20 European Championship: 1992

Familiar

Alvertis is married to his wife Anta, who is a former water polo player. Both know each other from their school days together and have two sons.

Trivia

• With nine finals in the competition for the Greek Cup, Alvertis is the record holder.
• Alvertis is the best man of Dimitris Papanikolaou .

Quotes

• “I will leave the club first and then Alvertis! I destroyed an entire water polo team for him, but it was worth it. ” (Pavlos Giannakopoulos, President of the Basketball Department of Panathinaikos Athens)
• "Franky is the greatest captain I have ever had in one of my teams." (Željko Obradović)

Web links

• Report on www.euroleague.net from May 22, 2007
• Player profile on www.euroleague.net

swell

1. ↑ Alvertis takes over as coach at Panathinaikos (Greek)
2. ↑ Report on the championship won in 2013/2014 (Greek) ( Memento of the original from June 3, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
3. ↑ Ivanović new coach at Panathinaikos (Greek)
4. ↑ Report on www.euroleague.net