Zisis: “It is a great joy and honor to be involved with the National Team”

Sure that the National team has the material to do something big, appeared Nikos Zisiswho stressed that it is an honor for the one who works as a general manager in the representative band.

Details of what Nikos Zisis said at the EEC WebRadio:

For the transition from… shorts to the suit: «Basketball is the thing I know how to do best in my life, until recently playing a new role. It is something completely different, but there is always something in common, the great love above all for the National. We all know that the National is something different, it is not a club and every player who plays or every person who is a member, feels a huge honor and responsibility».

For the feelings before Papanikolaou’s shots in the match with Turkey: «Now I experience what I have heard many times that it is much more stressful and difficult when you are not fighting. When you fight, at that moment you do not stress, you have your routine and your anxieties in preparation, and as the time of jambol approaches, but then everything was over and you came in to give what you have and do not have. From the outside they are a little different, however to tell you the truth I was sure for Kostas that he will put them and especially when he put the first one which is the most difficult I did not have the slightest doubt. So in terms of stress, it’s a lot easier to play. To put it descriptively and I think it is the best example, it is like when you drive and you have a co-driver and you see him make some movements, reactions and you say oh well, calm down, because you have the situation in his hands. However, the stress I have experienced in the 4 matches of the National with my new role is another thing».

For his new role in the National and the upcoming competitive challenges: «It is a great joy and honor to be involved with Ethniki and the main reason I accepted the invitation. Entering the final stage of the season, the main issue is that all athletes have their health. From there on it does not make sense to hide behind our finger, it’s full the roster will be a very strong team, although always in the National above any talent of players is to have chemistry in the whole. All the kids have experiences with each other, it is an extra motivation for 13 years without much success and in summary I will say again that we should not hide and say that we are only going to qualify, obviously the team has the potential to achieve something great. Of course, the psychology is built step by step and day by day, so that everything goes well from the first training session and that the team can claim something big in the knockouts where I take it for granted.».

For the presence of Giannis Antetokounbo: «It is a fact that Giannis has expressed and shown many times his love for Ethniki and his desire to help it, I consider it his great dream to lead it high. But I want to say something and it is not a cliché, that it is not only John. We saw in the last window that the players of Olympiacos and Panathinaikos did something great by strengthening the team, while their teams were playing and in general I see a good daily life being created for the National and everyone wants the same, its good».

On whether he has managed to kill the player inside him: «The truth is that my decision to quit was 100% conscious. Maybe at the beginning of last year I had some questions whether it was not the last, but with a pandemic, empty stadiums, everything became clear. Of course in the last fight when you realize that the end has come there is a lot of emotional charge, my family was there and many friends. But I was completely calm, it was a decision that had been made for a long time».

For his many years in basketball and the National: «It is no exaggeration to say that I am blessed, I lived everything in basketball. Since 1998 in the National Children, at the age of 15, a friendship tournament, one year before the ’99 Children’s Eurobasket in Slovenia. A child from Thessaloniki who started in the basketball we loved because of the great success of 1987 and I came to play professionally, in first division courts, abroad, in the National teams. Certainly when you take stock and have experienced all this, there is a lot of emotion and pride and I am not one of those athletes who, at the end, had second thoughts, or regretted something he did not have or that could have taken advantage of him. his time better. I knew I was always trying to give my best, even if a career went through various fluctuations.».

For his presence as a player in the Men’s National: «Certainly Panagiotis Giannakis played a very big role. In 2004 before the Athens Olympics there was a process of change, I will always remember a long period of preparation in Metsovo, with a very hard fight for the 12th team and finally the coach giving the opportunity to some new kids, the names are now known how had been done then. Then, you definitely played a huge role and the fact that a very big success came for us and made us believe even more in ourselves, in fact the two consecutive successes and finally to create a bunch that was a joy for any Greek basketball player to represents him».

For the last unforgettable phase with France in Belgrade in 2005: «It has definitely marked the whole of Greek basketball, our team and Dimitris, I would say more. Although I have analyzed it many times, I will be happy to do it again. Thodoris, who was the main spokesman for our attacks for the last 2-3 minutes, was sent off in the previous phase and the coach told me, Nikos, take the ball. I was marked by Diao, a very smart defender and very athletic, then 23-24 years old at my best. The weak sent me in the left hand and I instinctively instead of making one of you in a two-pointer move and with very low chances of success, did the pivot and a phase that teams often do, a split out, the rift and take the ball out. Dimitris moved right behind me, there was also a mistake Tony Parker who gave a help he did not need me and… all is well. I insist that Dimitris is above everyone in this phase, what he puts in the shot counts, a very big shot that has greatly changed our history and our team, which has remained, will remain and makes us all proud».

For the 2006 World Cup final in Japan: «Yes, it’s the only match of my career that I would like to play again, but to be present I mean. Luckily I was lucky, I did not have any serious injuries other than him and I did not lose significant matches, but I would like to. Maybe we felt a deja vu of Belgrade, something like saying that after we beat the Americans it is not possible to lose the final, like a year earlier after we won the match with the French we could not lose the final. It was also that Gasol, who I consider probably the most successful player at FIBA ​​level, had hit, in Belgrade, let’s not forget that he was missing. Only without your star you gather, maybe we had in mind how much they could endure without him. In the end, the Spaniards played the perfect game, we did it with the USA. Maybe more than the result we were bothered by the way, it was like we did not play in the final, we did not give ourselves the opportunity».

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