Michail Lountzis has had quite a start to 2015 and now the
16-year-old is being given a chance to play against the best of the world at
the 2015 FIBA U19 World Championship.
The Panathinaikos playmaker was included in head coach Ilias
Papatheodorou's 18-man preliminary squad ahead of training camp for the U19
Worlds, which will take place in Heraklion (Crete), Greece from 27 June-5 July.
Lountzis was captain of Greece's U16 national team last
summer and averaged 8.5 points, 4.3 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 1.3 steals at the
European Championship. Shortly before the tournament, he signed a five-year
deal with Panathinaikos, and he made his Greek league professional debut on
January 15, 2015. He even debuted in the Euroleague in a playoff game on April
14, 2015 against Barcelona.
Papatheodorou invited all 12 members from Greece's U18 team
last year among the 18-man preliminary squad, including the top quartet of
players from the 2014 FIBA U17 World Championship.
The Panathinaikos trio of Vasilis Charalampopoulos, Antonis
Koniaris and Georgios Papagiannis as well as Olympiacos guard Vasileios
Mouratos played at both tournaments last season and will undoubtedly be leaders
for the host team at the U19 Worlds this summer. Charalampopoulos was named to
the U18 European All-Tournament Team.
Dionysis Skoulidas was due to play at last year's U17 Worlds
as well but he broke his hand during the U18 European Championship, where
Greece finished fourth.
Papatheodorou also will have in camp his pair of United
States college based big men in Georgios Tsalmpouris who played at the
University of Iowa, and Wake Forest University center Kostas Mitoglou.
Also in camp will be Dimitrios Stamatis, the tough Panionios
point guard who almost gets overshadowed by the under-aged quintet and the two
big men.
But Coach Papatheodorou has brought in six players to fight
for spots on the team which has been drawn into Group D with Serbia, Dominican
Republic and South Korea.
Three of the players - Giannis Michaloutsos, Iakovos
Milentigievits and Thanasis Ntouzidis - also played at the U17 World
Championship last summer in Dubai, all as role players.
Besides Lountzis, Papatheodorou wants to see if another of
the country's brightest 1998-born players could steal away a spot.
The 2.06m center Vasileos Christidis averaged 13.9 points,
8.4 rebounds and 1.3 blocks at the 2014 U16 European Championship.
The only player invited who does not have previous
international experience is Iraklis big man Alexandros Stamatogiannis.
Greece preliminary roster for 2015 FIBA U19 World
Championship: Sotirios Billis, Vasilis Charalampopoulos, Vasileos Christidis,
Antonios Koniaris, Thomas Kottas, Michalis Lountzis, Giannis Michaloutsos,
Iakovos Milentigievits, Kostas Mitoglou, Vasilis Mouratos, Thanasis Ntouzidis,
Kostas Oikonomopoulos, Georgios Papagiannis, Dionysis Skoulidas, Dimitrios
Stamatis, Alexandros Stamatogiannis, Vasileios Toliopoulos, Georgios
Tsalmpouris.
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