Theodoros Papaloukas

Teó Papaloukás
Τεό Παπαλουκάς

Papaloukas with Olympiacos Piraeus.
Personal information
Born May 8, 1977
Athens, Greece
Nationality Greek
Listed height 6 ft 6.75 in (2.00 m)
Listed weight 225 lb (102 kg)
Career information
NBA draft 1999 / Undrafted
Pro career 1995–2013
Position Guard / Forward
Number 4, 44
Career history
1995–1997 Ampelokipoi
1997–1999 AO Dafni Athens
1999–2001 Panionios
2001–2002 Olympiacos
2002–2008 CSKA Moscow
2008–2011 Olympiacos
2011–2012 Maccabi Tel Aviv
2012–2013 CSKA Moscow
Career highlights and awards

Theódoros "Teó" Papaloukás (Greek: Θεόδωρος "Τεό" Παπαλουκάς; born May 8, 1977) is a retired Greek professional basketball player.

Papaloukas started his career in 1995 for his local club of Ampelokipoi, before being transferred two years later to AO Dafni and, in 1999, to Panionios. His performances with the latter earned him a transfer to Euroleague traditional powerhouse Olympiacos, where he won his first title, the Greek Cup, in 2002. His journey for the reds turned out to be a short stint, as he moved to Moscow and the club that he would help regain its past glory, CSKA, thus becoming a perennial All-Euroleague selection and competition icon.[1]

After making a minimal impact during the first two seasons in the Russian capital, he evolved into a major contributor of CSKA's success coming off the bench both in the Euroleague and the Russian League in the 2004–05 season. By his fourth season with CSKA in 2006, he earned his first All-Euroleague selection and led his team to their first Euroleague title in 35 years, being voted the Euroleague Final Four MVP.[1] The following year he was named the Euroleague Season MVP before falling short of a second Euroleague title in a row, losing in the championship's final. In 2008, he won his second Euroleague title with CSKA in what would be his last year in Moscow. In the summer of 2008 Papaloukas returned to Olympiacos and reached another two Euroleague Final Fours, thereby holding a record of eight consecutive, alongside his former teammate J.R. Holden.

Papaloukas helped the Greek national team to a FIBA EuroBasket title in 2005, as well as a FIBA World Cup silver medal in 2006, coming off the bench and being elected to the All-Tournament Team in both competitions.[2] In 2006, he was named the FIBA Europe European Player of the Year, and one of the 50 greatest Euroleague contributors in 2008. A revolutionary figure in basketball,[3] Papaloukas symbolized the rise of European basketball in the new millennium.

Professional career

Greece

A native of Athens, Greece, Papaloukas began his career at the small local Athens junior team Ethnikos Ellinoroson. He then played for another small, but at the time rising club called Ampelokipoi, with whom he began his pro career in 1995. He then transferred to Dafni of the Greek A2 League in 1997, and transferred again two years later to Panionios, a traditional basketball club of the Greek A1 League. In 2001, Papaloukas finally moved to Olympiacos, a long-time Greek League power as well as one of the perennial contenders in the Euroleague.

With Dafni, Papaloukas won the Greek A2 League title and the Player of the Year award in the 1998–99 season. With Olympiacos, he led the Greek A1 League in assists in the 2000–01 season. After the 2001–02 season, he left Olympiacos and moved to another Euroleague powerhouse, the Russian Superleague club CSKA Moscow in 2002.

CSKA Moscow

After three disappointing years, in the team level, Papaloukas was a main factor helping the team win the 2005-06 Euroleague title for the first time in 35 years with a clutch performance in the final four - 19 points in the semifinal against FC Barcelona, and another 18 points at the final against back-to-back European Champion Maccabi Tel Aviv, which awarded him the Final Four MVP award, having also been named the best point guard of the Euroleague for the season.[4] Alongside him on the first team were the best shooting guard Juan Carlos Navarro of Barça, best small forward Anthony Parker of Maccabi (the Euroleague 2005-06 MVP), best power forward Luis Scola of TAU Cerámica, and best center Nikola Vujčić of Maccabi.

In 2007, Papaloukas was voted the Euroleague MVP of 2006-07 Euroleague season.[5] CSKA advanced to the final against Panathinaikos, held on the Greens' home court, the Athens Olympic Indoor Hall (which had been chosen as the site more than a year in advance). Panathinaikos won the game by a score of 93–91 in a very exciting game. Papaloukas scored 23 points and dished out 8 assists, but a number of sportswriters intimated that he did not receive adequate support from his CSKA teammates and thus his team lost the final. Papaloukas was also a key member of CSKA's Euroleague 2007-08 championship team.

Papaloukas has been pursued by the Boston Celtics, Los Angeles Lakers, Milwaukee Bucks, and the Miami Heat to fill their point guard spot. On July 7, 2007, Greek newspapers reported that Papaloukas agreed to a newly-structured 3-year contract with CSKA, worth €10.5 million euros net income.

Olympiacos

On June 20, 2008, one year after his contract extension with CSKA, Papaloukas used an option to leave his contract with no buyout to sign a three-year contract with Olympiacos with an annual salary of €3.5 million net income.

In the first two years of his contract, he helped Olympiacos reach the final four, averaging 8 points and 5.2 assists in 2008–2009, and 7.4 points and 5.1 assists in 2009–2010. In the third, and last, year of his contract, the team failed to advance to the final-four, losing 1–3 to Montepaschi Siena in the quarterfinals, despite having the home court advantage.

Maccabi Tel Aviv

On August 13, 2011, Papaloukas signed a contract with Israeli powerhouse Maccabi Tel Aviv, finalists of the 2011–12 Euroleague.[6] In Macccabi, Papaloukas didn't get much playing-time, averaging only 9.5 minutes per game in the Euroleague, and playing in only 8 Israeli Super League games. The shortage of playing-time led to his release, after only one season with the team.

Back to CSKA Moscow

In December 2012, Papaloukas was invited to participate with CSKA Moscow in a tryout. He returned to the court in a game against Anadolu Efes, on December 28, 2012.[7]After the end of the Euroleague Final Four in London, he announced his retirement from professional basketball at the end of the season.

Greek national team

Papaloukas was part of the core element of the senior men's Greek National Basketball Team. He played at the following FIBA EuroBaskets: FIBA EuroBasket 2001 in Turkey, FIBA EuroBasket 2003 in Sweden, FIBA EuroBasket 2005 in Serbia and Montenegro, and FIBA EuroBasket 2007 in Spain.

Papaloukas, who was already well-established in European basketball as a result of appearances in three consecutive Euroleague Final Fours with CSKA Moscow, achieved an acclaimed position among the elite of European basketball at the FIBA EuroBasket 2005 in Serbia and Montenegro. After a series of mediocre performances in the first round, he led Greece to a victory over the Russian National Basketball Team in the quarterfinals and orchestrated a major comeback against the French National Basketball Team in the semifinal, when Greece was down 7 points with 47 seconds left on the clock.

In the final against the German National Basketball Team, led by the prodigious NBA All-Star Dirk Nowitzki, Papaloukas scored 22 points, leading Greece comfortably to its second European title, eighteen years after its first win at the FIBA EuroBasket 1987. As such, Papaloukas was selected to the All-Tournament Team of the FIBA EuroBasket 2005, along with fellow Greek team player Dimitris Diamantidis, Spanish National Basketball Team shooting guard Juan Carlos Navarro, French National Team swingman and NBA player Boris Diaw, and Nowitzki, who also claimed the MVP title.

Papaloukas also joined the elite club of players who have achieved the European title at both the national and club levels during the same year, as he won the Euroleague title with CSKA at the Final Four in Prague, April 28–30, 2006.

Papaloukas climbed to the second position of global basketball as he, along with his fellow Greek team players, drove Greece to the final of the 2006 FIBA World Championship in Japan, losing there in the final to the Spanish National Basketball Team. In Greece's win over Team USA in the semifinal, by a score of 101–95, Papaloukas had 12 assists, 8 points and 5 rebounds. He also earned a place on the All-Tournament Team, which also included the tournament MVP Pau Gasol of the Spanish team, Gasol's teammate Jorge Garbajosa, Team USA's Carmelo Anthony, and Manu Ginobili of the Argentine National Basketball Team.

His most formidable personal recognition came on January 26, 2007, when he was voted by fans and journalists as the FIBA Europe Player of the Year for 2006, topping the likes of Nowitzki, Gasol, and Tony Parker. In the summer of 2008, Papaloukas became the captain of Greece's national team. It was also the last time he ever played for Greece's national team.

Player profile

Papaloukas was a 2.00 m[8] (6 ft 7 in) tall (102 kg (225 lb.)[9] player who could play as either a point guard, shooting guard, or point forward on both the offensive and defensive ends of the court. He was a pass-first play maker, or "pure point guard" with a distinctive style of play. His play making ability and pass first or "pure" point guard skills at his height, combined with his versatility to play multiple positions on the basketball court on both ends of the floor made him an extraordinary player.

Papaloukas was selected to the Euroleague's 50th anniversary 50 Greatest Euroleague Contributors list in 2008. Papaloukas is widely known by the nicknames of Teó and Thodoris. He has also sometimes been given other much less used nicknames, such as The Computer, due to his ability to analyze the court, The Thread, because of his unique ability to complete passes through opposing defenses, like threading a needle, and other nicknames like Paps, Pappas, and The Tsar.

Euroleague career statistics

Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field-goal percentage  3P%  3-point field-goal percentage  FT%  Free-throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game  PIR  Performance Index Rating
 Bold  Career high

Note: The Euroleague is not the only competition in which the player participated for the team during the season, he also played in domestic competition.

† Denotes seasons in which Papaloukas' team won the Euroleague
Led the league
Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG PIR
2001–02 Olympiacos 19 13 26.9 .468 .333 .671 2.9 4.0 2.0 .2 8.4 10.2
2002–03 CSKA 21 1 16.4 .453 .280 .630 2.0 3.4 1.1 .0 4.7 8.0
2003–04 CSKA 21 0 17.4 .453 .172 .782 1.7 2.7 1.5 .1 6.3 8.5
2004–05 CSKA 23 0 18.5 .611 .412 .679 2.3 3.8 1.3 .1 7.6 11.3
2005–06† CSKA 24 0 22.7 .549 .275 .736 3.1 4.0 1.8 .3 9.3 13.9
2006–07 CSKA 25 3 24.4 .578 .341 .716 3.2 5.4 1.7 .2 9.8 15.3
2007–08† CSKA 23 0 21.8 .500 .242 .690 2.7 4.6 1.2 .0 7.7 11.2
2008–09 Olympiacos 22 2 25.1 .612 .368 .636 2.7 5.2 1.1 .0 8.0 11.5
2009–10 Olympiacos 19 0 24.4 .561 .351 .643 2.1 5.1 1.3 .1 7.4 10.4
2010–11 Olympiacos 18 0 21.4 .470 .214 .609 2.6 3.8 1.6 .0 5.4 8.1
2011–12 Maccabi 20 1 9.6 .435 .333 .720 1.1 1.6 .6 .0 3.0 3.5
2012–13 CSKA 17 0 11.1 .379 .333 .786 1.5 2.3 .5 .1 2.2 3.5
Career 252 20 20.1 .526 .300 .694 2.4 3.9 1.3 .1 6.8 9.9

Awards and accomplishments

Pro clubs

Greek national team


Awards and achievements
Preceded by
Germany Dirk Nowitzki		 FIBA Europe Player of the Year Award
2006 		Succeeded by
Russia Andrei Kirilenko

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "All-Decade Selection article". Euroleague.net. January 11, 2010. Retrieved September 30, 2011.
  2. ↑ FIBA.com profile
  3. ↑ "All-Decade selection article". Euroleague.net. January 11, 2010. Retrieved September 30, 2011.
  4. ↑ http://www.euroleague.net/final-four/prague-2006/main-page/i/22508/1929/all-euroleague-team-mvp-announced-in-prague All-Euroleague team, MVP announced in Prague
  5. ↑ http://www.euroleague.net/news/i/12172/180 All-Euroleague team, MVP announced
  6. ↑ Euroelague.net Maccabi signs former MVP Papaloukas.
  7. ↑ http://www.euroleague.net/euroleaguenews/transactions/2012-13-signings/i/106208/7224 Papaloukas to dress for CSKA again
  8. ↑ "PAPALOUKAS, THEODOROS". Euroleague.net. Retrieved September 30, 2011.
  9. ↑ "Theo Papaloukas—Olympiacos—Greece". Eurojohnbball.com. August 2, 2009. Retrieved September 30, 2011.

External links