Triantafyllos: “Mitoglou is a profit, Walkap is brilliant”

A team that is gradually forming its identity but needs several more improvements, Dimitris Itoudis’ partner considers the National Team, Stefanos Triantafyllos, which was “hosted” on EEC WebRadio. At the same time, he referred to his readiness Dino Mitoglouits adaptation Thomas Walkupbut also his absence Giannis Antetokounmpo. In detail, he spoke:

For the image of the national team so far in friendlies: “The friendlies were very useful, I think more useful than any other time. Last year the preparation format was quite different, because we had the official “windows” quite early, so it was a different situation. The situation we experienced this year was different and I would say smoother, because we had fewer injury issues than the players who competed. We only had Papapetrou and for two days Papanikolaou, so it was more passable in terms of our own planning. Although the results were not positive, we kept a lot of elements, things we do well, things we need to improve and others we don’t do well. The most important thing is that we managed to achieve the goals that you set individually in each game.”

For the things that need improvement: “It seemed that offensively in the two matches of “Acropolis” we did not have high productivity, which is also related to the low shooting percentages we had, although we had open shots at the level of creation. If someone looks at the score, they will say that the National team does not score much, but this is relative, because the final score has a lot to do with the level of possession and the pace of the game. Offensively I can say there are some things we need to improve on. We worked them from one game to the next through the video, but it’s different. Now we have three days of training before we go to Abu Dhabi and I think we will work much better on things that we showed weaknesses.”

For the team’s high number of assists, despite the low scoring: “This is the positive and the coach also stood by it. I remember that in the 1st game we had 18 assists for 23 shots on goal and correspondingly the number was very high in the 2nd as well. This means that we try to play as a team and we have succeeded. In the things that we have asked for as the “identity” of this team, that is, teamwork in attack and toughness in defense, homogeneity, fighting spirit, these are things that we have achieved. These are the goals, we don’t have the superstar like Giannis was last year, we have to do it through teamwork”.

For the two matches of “Acropolis”: “In the game against Italy where we didn’t score much, we moved the ball around, we weren’t static, we tried to pass the ball from one side to the other and to ‘hit’ in successive phases and we succeeded even if it’s not easy to do from one day to the next and to have efficiency. I think we’re on a pretty good track on that. In terms of combativeness, we could have been tougher in the 1st half, however as the game went on we did. Defensively, I can say that we achieved the goal in both matches.”

On whether defense is our point of reference: “It should be, because offensively at the moment we don’t have the players who can “pull” on the score on their own. We will have to rely on our defense, hard work and teamwork in this part, in which we are on a very good path”.

For the friendly against the USA in Abu Dhabi (18/08): “It will be a very difficult test for us, the capacity difference is a given. However, we too can’t wait to see the goals we will set, how we will succeed and what our level really is against such an athletic team. They are the first such athletic team we will face and we will have to see where we are in this part. Obviously, this game will play a role in our preparation for the official one as well. We’ll see what we did well, what we didn’t do well, what we can improve, what new we can try and so on.”

For the goals they had set in the friendlies: “The first goal in all our friendlies was the reintegration of Dinos Mitoglou. The fact that Dinos, after 1.5 years of abstinence, is at this level of competitive readiness is something that pleases us very much. He went straight into the deep end, possibly fighting more than we wanted because of the way the games and his own performance were. And these two games that follow will be used for this goal as well. Dinos Mitoglou getting minutes of participation is vital for our team. From there, we want to see different shapes as well. We want to see a little more than the triplets and duos who play well in their teams and we know them, that is the players of Olympiakos or Panathinaikos, and other twins who suit us and are comfortable in our way of playing”.

On the presence of Thomas Walkup on the roster: “I saw her completely normal, because I had also experienced him at Olympiakos and I was sure that he is a very intelligent person, with a great attitude primarily and secondarily the ability to adapt. Tomas Walkap was an example of Sarunas Jasikevicius’ way of playing in Zalgiris, he expressed all his philosophy, and he managed in one summer to completely express the philosophy of Giorgos Bartzokas, which is diametrically opposed. He is doing the same now with the philosophy of coach Itoudis. He has this ability, because he is a man who wants to understand and has the ability to understand.”

For the ambitions of the National Team in the World Cup: “We are starting in a very different way. Coach Itoudis keeps mentioning Jordan, every two hours we talk he mentions her. We are only looking at this game and then the next ones will follow. The format of the World Championship is very different from EuroBasket, we basically start with knockouts from the beginning. We’re constantly playing finals, so we’re going step by step.”

Regarding Giannis Antetokounmpo’s absence from training: “Having the best player in the world automatically leads to an increase in expectations. In any country on the planet where he plays, Giannis will make his team the favorite to win a medal. Unfortunately he is not with us in preparation, however, there is a continuity from last year’s team and that is very important. We also saw it in Italy. We have this element, even if a very large part of the preparation is missing, Giannis, like all the others, but those of us who are together now know each other well. This “building” creates an optimism for us in parallel with the way we work, plus the effort made extra-competitively by the administration. All these little things add up to make it a success.”