Our ‘Print’ at the top

It’s been 15 years and four months since the evening of November 2, 2002 and the Olympiacos’ game against Iraklis in the Korydallos gym. A few months before that game, the ‘reds’ had decided to make a lot of changes in the team’s roster and give space to young players.

One of these kids is Giorgos Printezis, who although not still an adult, found a place in the ‘reds’ rotation. In the game against Iraklis, ‘Print” played 4’47’’ and made one of two twos plus one foul. That was his first ‘red’ basket in the A1 category. Not his first with the Olympiacos’ jersey though, since two years earlier and at the age of 15 he had scored during the Greek Cup Final Four and coincidentally, once again against Iraklis.

March 5, 2018 is a date the 33year old forward will always remember and will always mean something special for the Olympiacos’ basketball team. At 23’15’’ of the game against Aris, Printezis scored a two with a long left lay up and this bucket made him the top scorer for the ‘reds’ in the history of the Greek League with 2913 points (2nd place 2911).

 “I had never imagined about this moment, because you always look at one day at a time and you make new goals. You don’t think about what is going to happen 20 or 15 years down the stretch. In my case, it’s been 18 years since I joined Olympiacos”, ‘Print’ said to www.olympiacosbc.gr and continued: “It may be something great at an individual level that I would be dreaming about when I was very young, but when it happens in combination to team goals, it becomes greater. While all these years were passing and watching what our team’s goals were, my personal goals have become different. I want to win as many trophies as I can. Of course an individual achievement is flattering, but I may be able to enjoy it more after I have retired. Then I will be able to contemplate about it”.

We asked him if he remembers his first basket in the ‘reds’ jersey and gave us his signature broad smile: “My first basket? I don’t recall it all”.

And when we reminded him of the game: “I still don’t remember it. I remember having played in that game, because Iraklis also had many young kids on the team like Diamantidis and Schortsanitis. I remember though that I had scored my first ever basket for Olympiacos during the Cup game against Iraklis”.

Olympiacos BC would like to congratulate Giorgos for his great achievement. He will soon be the first player in our team’s history to break the 3000 points barrier and his accomplishments will be guiding and inspiring young kids all over. Good job ‘Print”!