Vasilios Spanoulis

Vasilis Spanoulis
Player information
Nickname	V-Span, Kill Bill
birthday	August 7, 1982
place of birth	Larissa , Greece
size	193 cm
position	Point Guard / Shooting Guard
NBA draft	2004 , 50th Pick, Houston Rockets
Club information
society	Olympiacos Piraeus
league	EuroLeague
Jersey number	7th
Clubs as active
1999–2001 GS Larisa 2001–2005 Marousi Athens 2005–2006 Panathinaikos Athens 2006–2007 Houston Rockets 2007–2010 Panathinaikos Athens Since 2010 Olympiakos Piraeus 0
National team 1
2001–2015 2001–2002 1999–2000	Greece Greece U 20 Greece U 18	144 025 031
1 As of September 18, 2015

Vasilios "Billy" Spanoulis ( Greek Βασίλης Σπανούλης , born August 7, 1982 in Larisa , Greece ) is a Greek basketball player . The Combo Guard is currently part of the Olympiacos squad . He is the most successful passer and the player with the most points in the Greek Basket League .

Career

Vasilios Spanoulis began his career in 1994 in the basketball club of his hometown Larisa where he played for seven years for the resident GS Larisa . Only in the season 1998 - 1999 he played for city rivals Keravnos Larisas. In 2001 the point guard moved to the Greek professional league at Marousi Athens. In the summer of 2005 , the Greek international moved to the Greek record champions Panathinaikos Athens , where he won the national championship and the cup in his first season. With Panathinaikos Spanoulis debuted for the first time in the ULEB Euroleague and attracted the attention of the Houston Rockets , who in 2006 claimed their rights to the player and signed him. Spanoulis, who was drafted 50th by Houston in 2004 , was awarded a three-year contract for a total of six million euros.

After his rookie season ( 2006/07 ) was disappointing, Spanoulis only played 31 games and recorded only 2.7 points and 0.9 assists per game, he asked his club to terminate his contract early. Spanoulis gave family reasons for his wish to no longer play for the Rockets and in the NBA. On July 12, 2007 Spanoulis was released by the Rockets (along with a second-round draft pick for 2009) to the San Antonio Spurs . In return, Houston received Jackie Butler and the draft rights to Luis Scola . On August 19, 2007, Spanoulis announced that he was moving back to the Greek league at Panathinaikos Athens, where he was awarded a three-year contract for a total of five million euros.

In the summer of 2010, Spanoulis announced his move to arch-rivals Olympiacos Piraeus. There he was in his first season for his new club, Greek Cup winner and runner-up. After Thodoris Papaloukas had left the club, Spanoulis became its new leader and led Olympiakos to the Greek championship and the Euroleague in the 2011/12 season under the direction of Dušan Ivković . Spanoulis himself was elected to the Final MVP and the All Euroleague First Team . Olympiakos thus ended an era at Panathinaikos who had previously won the Greek champions nine times in a row. Although they failed to defend the Greek championship in the 2012/13 season, with the renewed win of the Euroleague , Olympiakos confirmed their claim to be one of the best teams in Europe.

National team

Spanoulis in the dress of the Houston Rockets

Spanoulis has played for almost all of the Greek junior national teams in the past and has won a number of awards with them. His debut with the men's national team gave Spanoulis on September 3, 2001 in a game against the national team of Serbia. In the game that Greece won 79-67, Spanoulis scored 10 points. One of his greatest successes was winning the European Championship in 2005. Spanoulis reached the final of the 2006 World Basketball Championship with Greece, where he won the silver medal. At the European Championship in 2009 he was able to win the third medal of his career with third place.

Records

When Olympiakos defeated Anadolu Efes with 90:66 points on October 20, 2016, the second day of the regular season in the Euroleague , Spanoulis was only the second player in the history of the Euroleague to break the 3,000 point mark. He reached another milestone on October 27, 2016, with a 95:90 away win over Baskonia Vitoria Gasteiz . With a double-double consisting of 15 points and 15 assists, Spanoulis had a total of 980 assists in the Euroleague in his career. He pushed past his compatriot Thodoris Papaloukas , who now ranks third with 977 assists. In the domestic basket league, the guard broke the 4900 point mark on the tenth match day of the 2016/17 season . Spanoulis earned his 4902nd point in the 83:58 points win over the Rethymno CRETAN KINGS . He was in third place in the Alltime Scorer list of the Basket League, which takes statistical values ​​from 1992 into account. In front of him at this point were only the players Angelos Koronios and Nikos Chatzis . The latter led this category with 5200 points. Spanoulis set this record on the 23rd match day of the 2017/18 season when he added thirteen points to his total of 5205 in a 79:73 away win by Olympiakos against Panionios . Spanoulis has the most points in the Basket League. Spanoulis broke the record for the most frequently given assists on January 6, 2019, the twelfth matchday of the 2018/19 season . To the 101: 75 success against AEK Athens , Spanoulis contributed 14 points and 4 assists, so he achieved 2145 assists and replaced Dimitris Diamantidis as the most successful passer to date, who came to 2144 in his career.

successes

• Greek champion : 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2015 , 2016
• Greek Cup Winner : 2006, 2008, 2009, 2011
• ULEB Euroleague : 2009 , 2012, 2013
• Intercontinental Cup : 2013
• European Champion : 2005
• Bronze medal at the European Championship: 2009
• Stanković Cup : 2006
• Vice World Champion: 2006
• U20 European Champion: 2002
• Bronze medal at the U18 European Championship: 2000
• Silver medal at the Mediterranean Championships: 2001

Awards

Spanoulis on a free throw

• European Championship All-Tournament Team: 2009
• MVP of the ULEB Euroleague Final Four: 2009, 2012, 2013
• Greek Basketball League MVP: 2009, 2012, 2016
• Final MVP of the Greek Basketball League: 2012, 2015, 2016
• Acropolis Tournament MVP : 2007, 2009
• MVP of the ULEB Euroleague season 2012/2013
• All Euroleague First Team: 2012, 2013, 2015
• All-Euroleague Second Team: 2006, 2009, 2011, 2014
• ESAKE : First Team of the Championship (Greece): 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017
• Balkan Sportsman of the Year: 2009
• Participation in the Greek All-Star Game: 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2018
• Participation in European championships : 2005, 2007, 2009, 2013, 2015
• Participation in world championships : 2006, 2010
• Participation in the Olympic Games: 2004, 2008
• Participation in the U20 European Championships: 2002
• Participation in the U18 European Championships: 2000

swell

1. ↑ Report on espn.com
2. ↑ Spanoulis says he won't return to Rockets
3. ↑ Report on basketblog.gr ( Memento of the original from October 8, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
4. ↑ The leaders of Olympiacos defeat Efes (Greek)
5. ↑ Major success for Spanoulis (Greek)
6. ↑ Spanoulis breaks the 4,900 point mark (Greek)
7. ↑ Spanoulis first scorer in the basket league (Greek)
8. ^ First scorer in the history of ESAKE, Spanoulis (Greek)
9. ↑ Spanoulis at the top of the most successful passers (Greek)

Web links

• Vasilis Spanoulis - player profile ESAKE (Greek)
• Vasilis Spanoulis - player profile on Euroleague.net
• Vasilios Spanoulis - player profile on NBA.com