Antonis Fotsis

Antonis Fotsis
Αντώνης Φώτσης
No. 9 – Panathinaikos Athens
Position Power forward
League Greek League
Euroleague
Personal information
Born (1981-04-02) April 2, 1981
Maroussi, Athens
Nationality Greek
Listed height 6 ft 10.25 in (2.09 m)
Listed weight 250 lb (113 kg)
Career information
NBA draft 2001 / Round: 2 / Pick: 47th overall
Selected by the Vancouver Grizzlies
Playing career 1996–present
Career history
1996–1997 Ilysiakos (Greece)
1997–2001 Panathinaikos (Greece)
2001–2002 Memphis Grizzlies
2002–2003 Panathinaikos (Greece)
2003–2005 Real Madrid (Spain)
2005–2008 Dynamo Moscow (Russia)
2008–2011 Panathinaikos (Greece)
2011–2013 Olimpia Milano (Italy)
2013–present Panathinaikos (Greece)
Career highlights and awards
Stats at NBA.com
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com
Medals
Men's Basketball
Competitor for  Greece
FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship
1998 Bulgaria National Team
EuroBasket
2005 Serbia & Montenegro National Team
2009 Poland National Team
FIBA Stanković Cup
2006 China National Team
FIBA World Cup
2006 Japan National Team

Antonis Fotsis (alternate spelling: Antonios, Greek: Αντώνης Φώτσης; born April 2,[1] 1981) is a Greek professional basketball player who plays for Panathinaikos of the Greek League. He was also the captain of the senior men's Greek national basketball team. He is a 2.09 m (6 ft 10 ¼ in) power forward, who can also play as a small ball center, or even as a small forward, if needed. He goes by the nickname of "Batman" since his adolescent years, when his co-players at junior national teams named him after the well-known comic-strip figure, because of his tendency/ability to be an overwhelmingly gliding presence above the basketball rim.[2] He is a good shot blocker, a top offensive rebounder, and an excellent 3-point shooter, especially for a power forward. He is very physical on the defensive end, due to his athleticism.

Professional career

Born in Maroussi, Athens, Fotsis began his career as one of the biggest European prospects. Fotsis began his professional career in 1996 with the Greek League club Ilysiakos. He quickly earned a reputation as a very talented young player when playing in senior national team. He then transferred to the Greek club Panathinaikos (PAO) in 1997 just at the age of sixteen. It is a fact of significant importance that he started his career as a point guard and later moved to the small forward and then power forward positions. Due to his early guard playing status, he was later always recognized as one of the best power forwards in Europe, regarding basketball technique. While being the most dominant-youth aged talent in Greece at the time, he twice participated in the Nike Hoop Summit All-World Team (1998, 1999). He got little playing time in his first 2 seasons with Panathinaikos, but he managed to become one of the team's key players during the 1999-00 season. With Panathinaikos, he won the Euroleague championship that same season while being barely nineteen. One year later, he became a starter on the Panathinaikos team that made it to the FIBA SuproLeague Finals.

NBA

Fotsis was selected by the Vancouver Grizzlies (which were relocated to Memphis right after the draft) in the 2nd round (47th overall) of the 2001 NBA Draft.[3] In his one and only season in the NBA, he appeared in 28 games for the Grizzlies during the 2001–02 NBA season, averaging 3.9 points and 2.2 rebounds per game. He scored a career high 21 points against the Orlando Magic on January 19, 2002.

Return to Europe

After spending the 2001-02 season in the NBA with the Memphis Grizzlies, he returned to Panathinaikos for the 2002-03 season, and became one of the team's leaders while scoring an average of 14.5 points per game in Euroleague. With PAO, he won both the Greek Cup and the Greek League championship that year. In 2003, he moved to the Spanish League club Real Madrid.

With Real Madrid, he was one of the key contributors on the teams that made it to the Eurocup Finals in 2004, and won the Spanish League championship in 2005. In 2005, he then transferred to the Russian Superleague club Dynamo Moscow. With Dynamo Moscow, Fotsis was one of the two leaders of the Russian team, along with fellow Greek player Lazaros Papadopoulos.

Fotsis won the Eurocup championship in 2006 with Dynamo. One year later, he reached the Euroleague quarterfinals with Dynamo, where his team lost to Panathinaikos. On March 21, 2007, in a winner-take-all Euroleague 2006-07 season showdown with Italian League power Benetton Treviso, for second place in their Top 16 group and a place in the quarterfinals, Fotsis scored 22 points and set a single-game Euroleague post year 2000 record with 24 rebounds, helping Dynamo score a 68-65 overtime win.[4]

In 2008, he returned to Panathinaikos. It was his second return to the club and he was in the starting lineup for the team as they won the coveted Triple Crown during the 2008-09 season. Fotsis was a key contributor to the Triple Crown winners with his good defensive play and clutch baskets. He also played more minutes than any other green player in the Euroleague Final Four. In the 2009-10 season, Panathinaikos again won the Greek League championship. That same season, Fotsis was named the Greek League MVP for the month of April. He played more minutes than any other green player in the Euroleague that season, showing his defensive skills as well.[5]

In July 2011, he signed with Olimpia Milano of the Italian League for two seasons.[6] On July 2, 2013, Panathinaikos announced that they had signed Fotsis for three seasons.[7]

Greek national team

Fotsis in action for Greece

With the junior national team of Greece, Fotsis won the bronze medal at the 1998 FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship. He played with the senior men's Greek national basketball team at the EuroBasket 2003 and the 2004 Summer Olympic Games. He was also a member of the Greek national teams that won the gold medal at the EuroBasket 2005 and the silver medal at the 2006 FIBA World Championship.

He also played at the 2008 Summer Olympic Games, and he became the captain of Greece's senior national team before the EuroBasket 2009 tournament, where Greece won the bronze medal. He was also a member of the senior Greek national teams that played at the 2010 FIBA World Championship, the EuroBasket 2011, the 2012 FIBA World Olympic Qualifying Tournament, and the EuroBasket 2013.

He is the 7th all-time leading scorer of the Greek senior men's national team, with 1,734 points scored in his career (9.4 points per game).[8]

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 Fotsis won the Euroleague

Euroleague

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG PIR
2002–03 Panathinaikos 20 15 28.2 .510 .467 .885 5.7 1.1 1.3 .6 14.4 16.1
2004–05 Real Madrid 16 6 19.0 .460 .364 .649 3.6 .5 .6 .5 7.3 6.6
2006–07 Dynamo Moscow 22 22 30.5 .483 .443 .847 7.0 .7 1.0 .6 13.8 17.2
2008–09† Panathinaikos 22 9 23.9 .509 .433 .714 4.7 .7 .8 .6 7.2 9.1
2009–10 Panathinaikos 16 13 23.3 .507 .313 .826 5.5 .6 .4 .7 6.2 10.7
2010–11† Panathinaikos 22 16 24.2 .530 .380 .647 5.1 .8 .8 .7 8.4 11.6
2011–12 Olimpia Milano 16 15 24.4 .471 .362 .737 4.9 .9 .6 .4 8.4 9.9
2012–13 Olimpia Milano 10 10 25.4 .429 .415 1.000 4.2 1.0 .6 .1 7.5 8.1
2013–14 Panathinaikos 29 12 23.4 .413 .358 .793 4.3 .7 .3 .2 6.0 7.4
2014–15 Panathinaikos 27 11 23.5 .563 .506 .733 4.1 .8 .4 .2 7.7 9.6
Career 200 129 24.6 .491 .413 .778 4.9 .8 .7 .5 8.7 10.7

NBA

Regular season

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2001–02 Memphis 28 1 11.4 .404 .304 .850 2.2 .4 .3 .4 3.9
Career 28 1 11.4 .404 .304 .850 2.2 .4 .3 .4 3.9

Awards and accomplishments

Professional career

Greek national team

References

  1. ↑ SPORTSDNA Fotsis' interview in Greek.
  2. ↑ Euroleague.net Spanoulis interview.
  3. ↑ "NBA Draft 2001". nba.com. Retrieved 2011-01-29.
  4. ↑ "Dynamo's Fotsis breaks all-time rebounds record!". Euroleague. March 21, 2007.
  5. ↑ ESAKE.gr - COSMOTE MVP Απριλίου ο Φώτσης (Greek).
  6. ↑ AJ Milano puts Fotsis at forward.
  7. ↑ Euroleague.net PANATHINAIKOS ATHENS brings back Fotsis.
  8. ↑ ΦΩΤΣΗΣ ΑΝΤΩΝΗΣ (Greek).

External links

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