Thanasis Skourtopoulos

Athanasios "Thanasis" Skourtopoulos (alternate spelling: Thanassis) (Greek: Αθανάσιος "Θανάσης" Σκουρτόπουλος; born May 23, 1965 in Athens, Greece) is a Greek professional basketball coach and a former professional basketball player.

Thanasis Skourtopoulos
Θανάσης Σκουρτόπουλος
Personal information
Born (1965-05-23) May 23, 1965
Athens, Greece
NationalityGreek
PositionHead coach
Coaching career1996–present
Career history
As player:
0Dafni Dafniou
0Pagrati
1982–1991AEK Athens
As coach:
1996–1998Aigaleo
1998–1999Dafni Dafniou
1999–2000OFI Crete
2000–2005AEK Athens (Assistant)
2005–2006Panellinios (Assistant)
2006–2008Aigaleo
2009–2010Peristeri
2010–2011Panellinios
2011–2012Ikaros Kallitheas
2012Panionios
2013–2014Keravnos
2014–2016Rethymno
2014–2017Greece (Assistant)
2016–2017Apollon Patras
2017–2018Faros Larissas
2017–2021Greece
Career highlights and awards
As assistant coach:

Club playing career

Skourtopoulos played professional basketball with the Greek clubs Dafni Dafniou, Pagrati, and AEK Athens. He was a member of the AEK Athens team that made it to the Greek Cup Finals, in 1988.

Club coaching career

Some of the clubs Skourtopoulos has been the head coach of include: Aigaleo, Peristeri, Panellinios,[1] Ikaros Kallitheas, Panionios, and Keravnos.[2] In 2014, he became the head coach of Rethymno.[3] In 2016, he became the head coach of Apollon Patras. In 2017, he became the head coach of GSL Faros.

On July 1, 2018, Skourtopoulis returned to Panionios.[4] However, he later quit without coaching the team in any games.

National team coaching career

Skourtopoulos worked as an assistant coach of the senior men's Greek national basketball team at the following tournaments: the 2014 FIBA World Cup, the EuroBasket 2015, the 2016 Turin FIBA World Olympic Qualifying Tournament, and the EuroBasket 2017.

He became the head coach of Greece's senior men's national team in October 2017. He first coached Greece at the 2019 FIBA World Cup qualifiers. He also coached Greece at the actual 2019 FIBA World Cup. After the 2019 FIBA World Cup, the Hellenic Basketball Federation announced that Rick Pitino would be Greece's head coach at the 2020 FIBA Victoria Olympic Qualifying Tournament and the 2020 Summer Olympics, should Greece qualify, while Skourtopoulos would remain as Greece's head coach for the 2021 EuroBasket qualification tournament.

Personal life

Skourtopoulos failed to lead the senior Greek national basketball team to the results at the 2019 FIBA World Cup, in China, that many analysts, and sports media had predicted. Some major US sports media criticized his use of the MVP of the 2018–19 NBA season, Giannis Antetokounmpo at the tournament.[5]

Awards and accomplishments

Assistant coach
gollark: Chess but there's a free market for pieces.
gollark: Atomic chess, but with chemical bonding.
gollark: Idea: laser chess, but with ORBITAL lasers.
gollark: That's entirely unrelated. I just like the idea.
gollark: Well, remember how I said that none were safe?

References
  1. Sport.gr Panellinios Announces Skourtopoulos (in Greek) Archived September 7, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  2. Eurocupbasketball.com SKOURTOPOULOS, ATHANASIOS.
  3. A1Basket.gr Thanasis Skourtopoulos is Rethymno Aegean's new coach.
  4. Thanasis Skourtopoulos is the new head coach of Panionios.
  5. Greece’s coach, Skourtopoulos responds to US media criticism.
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