Dimitris Diamantidis

Dimitris Diamantidis
Δημήτρης Διαμαντίδης

Diamantidis in a PAO warm up.
Nickname(s)	Octapus Man[1] 3-D (Dimitris Diamantidis Defence)[2] The Diamond Man
Position	Point Guard Shooting Guard Point Forward
Height	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)
Weight	220 lb (100 kg)
League	Greek League Euroleague
Team	Panathinaikos
Number	13
Born	May 6, 1981 (1981-05-06) (age 30) Kastoria, Greece
Nationality	Greek
Pro career	1999–present
Career history	Iraklis Thessaloniki (1999–04) Panathinaikos BC (2004-)
Awards	Euroleague Most Valuable Player 2011 2x Euroleague Final Four MVP 2007, 2011 2x All-Euroleague First Team 2007, 2011 6x Euroleague Defensive Player of the Year 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011 Euroleague 2001-10 All-Decade Team European Player of the Year: Mr. Europa 2007 5x Greek League MVP 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2011 Greek Cup MVP 2009 2x Acropolis Tournament MVP 2005, 2006 Greek Athlete of the Year 2007

Dimitris Diamantidis (alternate spelling: Dimitrios Diamantidis) (Greek: Δημήτρης Διαμαντίδης) (born May 6, 1980 in Kastoria, Greece) is a Greek professional basketball player. Standing at 1.98 m (6'6"),^[3] Diamantidis mainly plays at the point guard position^[4], but he also has the ability to play as a shooting guard, as well as to assume the small forward position, being utilized as a point forward. At the age of fourteen, he started his youth career with his home team in Kastoria, and he stayed there for five years, before being transferred to Iraklis in 1999. Since the summer of 2004, he plays for the Greek League and Euroleague team Panathinaikos Athens (PAO).

Diamantidis led Panathinaikos to three Euroleague championships in 2007, 2009 and 2011, thus earning the Final Four MVP Award twice and being named Euroleague MVP in 2011. He also won seven consecutive Greek League (2005 to 2011) and five consecutive Greek Cup titles (2005 to 2009). He is the first recipient of the Euroleague Best Defender Award, which he won five times in a row from 2005 to 2009, and an additional one in 2011. Moreover, Diamantidis was voted to the Euroleague 2001-10 All-Decade Team.^[5] As a member of the Greek national team, he earned a EuroBasket title in 2005, as well as a FIBA World Championship silver medal in 2006, with Greece stunning the likes of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, Chris Paul, Dwight Howard, and Carmelo Anthony in the tournament's semifinal.^[6]

On the basis of his achievements in Greek and European basketball, his pivotal role in the success of the Greek national team at the world stage, and his remarkable all-around skills, Diamantidis was named the Mister Europa European Player of the Year by the Italian sports magazine Superbasket in 2007^[7] and is widely considered to be one of the most charismatic point guards the FIBA game has ever known^[8], as well as one of its best defensive players. Kastoria's main indoor basketball arena was renamed "Dimitris Diamantidis" in his honor.

Pro career

Iraklis

In the summer of 1999, at the age of 19, he began his professional career when he transferred to Iraklis Thessaloniki and became a starting player there by his second season. Diamantidis helped to bring Iraklis, one of the oldest Greek teams back into prominence after the club had been struggling. With Iraklis, Diamantidis won the Greek League MVP award in the 2003-04 season.

Panathinaikos

Diamantidis moved a big step up in his career with his move to Panathinaikos of Athens in 2004; a basketball powerhouse of the Greek League and also of the Euroleague. With Panathinaikos, he has won the Greek Championship 7 times (2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011), the Greek Cup 5 times (2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009) and the Euroleague Championship 3 times (2007, 2009, 2011).

Diamantidis has won several individual trophies since joining Panathinaikos, such as the Euroleague Defensive Player of The Year 6 times (2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011),^[9] the Greek League MVP five times (2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2011) and the Euroleague Final Four MVP twice (2007, 2011). Dimitris was also named the 2007 European Player of the Year Mister Europa, the 2007 Greek Athlete of the Year, and the MVP of the Greek Cup in 2009. He was named the Euroleague MVP in 2011.^[10]

Due to these great individual and team successes, the president of Panathinaikos, pharmaceutical magnate Pavlos Hobbit Giannakopoulos, signed Diamantidis in 2008, to a 3 year €5.7 million euros net income contract. In 2010, he renewed his contract with Panathinaikos for another 3 years, at €10.8 million euros gross income (€6 million euros net income).^[11]

Euroleague statistics

Euroleague official website, Dimitris Diamantidis' page.^[12]

SEASON	LEAGUE	TEAM	GP	MPG	PPG	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG
2004-05	Euroleague	Panathinaikos BC	25	27.4	8.5	3.7	3.1	2.0	0.6
2005-06	Euroleague	Panathinaikos	23	30.1	8.7	4.5	2.9	2.3	0.8
2006-07	Euroleague	Panathinaikos	24	29.1	8.9	3.9	3.9	2.2	0.6
2007-08	Euroleague	Panathinaikos	19	31.0	8.5	5.3	3.3	1.8	0.7
2008-09	Euroleague	Panathinaikos	21	27.3	8.5	4.4	3.1	1.5	0.5
2009-10	Euroleague	Panathinaikos	12	26.4	9.4	2.9	3.3	1.5	0.3
2010-11	Euroleague	Panathinaikos	22	30.5	12.5	3.9	6.2	1.6	0.1

Greek national team

Medal record
Men's Basketball
Competitor for  Greece
Mediterranean Games
Silver	2001 Pescara	Nat. Team
FIBA European Championship
Gold	2005 Serbia & Montenegro	Nat. Team
FIBA World Championship
Silver	2006 Japan	Nat. Team

Diamantidis was a member of the senior Greek national basketball team. With the senior national team of Greece he won the gold medal at the EuroBasket 2005. During the European Championship that year, he led the tournament in assists and he was selected to the all-tournament team. In the tournament semifinals against the French national basketball team, Diamantidis hit a game-winning 3 point shot with Greece trailing by a score of 66-64 at the end of the game to give Greece the 67-66 victory and send them to the European Championship's final game.

He was also a member of the Greek national team that went on to win the silver medal the next year at the 2006 FIBA World Championship in Japan. He was a key factor in Greece's historic 101-95 victory against Team USA in the semifinals.

Diamantidis was also a member of Greece's national team that competed at the 2004 Olympic Basketball Tournament, which was held in Athens, Greece. He was also been selected to play on Greece's national team for the 2008 Olympic Basketball Tournament in Beijing, China.

Diamantidis was also on the Greek teams that participated at the EuroBasket 2003 and the EuroBasket 2007. With his national team he has also won the silver medal at the 2001 Mediterranean Games and the gold medal at the 2006 Stanković Continental Champions’ Cup. He has also won 7 Acropolis Tournaments with his national squad, being the tournament's MVP twice, in 2005 and 2006.

On September 4, 2010, after Greece's elimination in the Eight-Finals of the 2010 FIBA World Championship at the hands of Spain, he announced his immediate retirement from the National Team.

Player profile

Diamantidis is left-handed and he can play as a point guard, shooting guard and small forward. In the Greek national team his primary position was playing at the small forward spot, being utilized as a point forward. He has a big wingspan for his height, which has led to him being given the nickname of Octopus Man or The Octopus. He is generally a pass first play-maker and a good catch-and-shoot 3 point shooter. He likes to post up smaller point guards. He is generally considered to be one of the best perimeter defensive players in the Euroleague; having won the Euroleague Best Defender award for 5 consecutive seasons, and once again two years later. He was named the European Player of the Year: Mister Europa in 2007.

Awards and honors

Pro career

• 9x Greek All Star Game: 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011
• 6x Euroleague Defensive Player of the Year: 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011
• 7x Greek League Champion: 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011
• 5x Greek Cup Champion: 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009
• 5x Greek League MVP: 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2011
• 3x Euroleague Champion: 2007, 2009, 2011
• 2x Euroleague Final Four MVP: 2007, 2011
• 2x Greek League Assist Leader: 2007, 2010
• 2x Triple Crown Champion: 2007, 2009
• 2x All-Euroleague First Team: 2007, 2011
• European Player of the Year: Mr. Europa: 2007
• Greek Athlete of the Year: 2007
• Greek Cup MVP: 2009
• Euroleague 2001-10 All-Decade Team
• Greek A1 Division: Career Assists Leader
• Greek A1 Division: Career Steals Leader
• Euroleague MVP: 2011
• Euroleague 2010-11: Assists Leader
• Greek League Best Defender: 2011

Greek national team

• 2001 Mediterranean Games: Silver Medal
• 7x Acropolis Tournament Champion: (2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010)
• 2x Acropolis Tournament MVP: (2005, 2006)
• EuroBasket 2005: Gold Medal
• EuroBasket assist leader: (2005)
• All-EuroBasket Team: (2005)
• 2006 Stanković Continental Champions’ Cup: Gold Medal
• 2006 FIBA World Championship: Silver Medal

References

1. ^ Interbasket.net player profile story on his nickname and how he got it.
2. ^ FIBA.com 2010 World Championship - Under Career Profile.
3. ^ FIBA.com profile.
4. ^ Euroleague.net article about the 2011 Final Four MVP
5. ^ Euroleague.net profile as All-Decade Team member.
6. ^ FIBA.com profile.
7. ^ Fibaeurope.com - Mister Europa 2007.
8. ^ Euroleague.net article about the 2011 Final Four MVP
9. ^ Euroleague.net Dimitris Diamantidis wins sixth Best Defender Trophy.
10. ^ Euroleague.net MVP Diamantidis heads 2010-11 All-Euroleague First Team.
11. ^ Talkbasket.net - Panathinaikos keep their captain Diamantidis.
12. ^ Euroleague stats.

External links

• Euroleague.net Profile
• Eurobasket.com Profile
• FIBA World Championship Profile
• FIBA EuroBasket Profile
• Interbasket.net Profile
• Draftexpress.com Profile
• Greek League Profile (Greek)
• Eurobasket2005.com Diamantidis All First Team 2005 European Championship
• Panathinaikos Profile

Awards and achievements
Preceded by Jorge Garbajosa	Mr. Europa 2007	Succeeded by Ricky Rubio
Preceded by Miloš Teodosić	Euroleague MVP 2011	Succeeded by incumbent

Persondata
Name	Diamantidis, Dimitris
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	May 6, 1980
Place of birth	Kastoria, Greece
Date of death
Place of death