Written by: Antoine, Reporter in ISFM
In this article, we’ll be talking about Giannis Antetokounmpo.
In 1991, a young couple named Veronica and Charles Antetokounmpo moved from Nigeria to Greece. They were looking for a better life in Europe, as they were unemployed in their home country. They left their oldest son in Nigeria to be raised by his grandparents. In Greece, Veronica and Charles had four more boys, all of whom grew up to be big and strong. They gave them all Greek names, because they loved the country and wanted their boys to be proud Greeks. When Antetokounmpo was 12 years old, he played a game of tag that would change his life. The brothers were chasing each other on one of the basketball courts near their home when a man named Spiros Velliniatis passed by. Velliniatis worked as a basketball coach and scout and immediately noticed these tall, competitive boys. Velliniatis met the boys’ parents and had to convince the family to choose basketball over soccer, emphasizing that the possibilities were greater in a sport where height was such a great asset. The local club Filathlitikos was also ready to help Charles and Veronica find work if their two sons, Thanasis and Giannis, agreed to train with the club;s junior team. Once the decision had been made, there was no turning back. The brothers devoted themselves to basketball. Sometimes they slept on mattresses in the gym because they were too tired to go home after a hard workout. The competition between them helped the brothers push even further. They often played one on one, watched videos of players like Allen Iverson on YouTube together, and practiced technical aspects of the game. Antetokounmpo was lucky when he was assigned a coach, because at Filathlitikos he got to handle the ball and was made point guard in the junior divisions. He was an amazing player, scoring 50 points in one of his last games in the juniors. However, since he was not a Greek citizen, he was not allowed to play for the Greek junior national team, and it was difficult for him to sign with bigger clubs without the right papers. So instead of shifting to the junior division of a bigger club, Giannis started playing with his club’s senior team in the Greek second division. Soon enough, videos of Antetokounmpo playing reached the United States. Out of the 30 NBA franchises, 29 sent their scouts to Greece to watch this raw young player compete against full-grown men in a tiny gym in the semi-professional league. ( The New York Knicks were the lone holdout). His statistics were not particularly impressive; This almost 18-years-old boy averaged only 9.5 points per game. Many doubted whether he had what it took to succeed against the best. Still, the board of the Milwaukee Bucks, which had enjoyed limited success for many years, decided to take a chance. They used the 15th pick of the first round in the 2013 draft to get Giannis, which some thought was too optimistic for a virtually unknown player. And yet, the decision proved to be an inspired one. Giannis led the Bucks to the 2021 NBA championship, playing at a historic level in the finals. His fantastic play in the series reached its apex in the deciding Game 6, where he scored 50 points and helped his franchise to its first championship in 50 years.
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Written by: Antoine, Reporter in ISFM
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