Georgios Printezis

Georgios Printezis
Γεώργιος Πρίντεζης
Printezis with Olympiacos, in 2022
Personal information
Born (1985-02-22) 22 February 1985 (age 39)
Syros, Greece
Listed height2.05 m (6 ft 9 in)
Listed weight105 kg (231 lb)
Career information
NBA draft2007: 2nd round, 58th overall pick
Selected by the San Antonio Spurs
Playing career2001–2022
PositionPower forward
Number16, 7, 8, 15
Career history
2001–2009Olympiacos
2006–2007→Olympia Larissa
2009–2011Unicaja Malaga
2011–2022Olympiacos
Career highlights and awards
Medals
Event 1st 2nd 3rd
FIBA EuroBasket 0 0 1
Total 0 0 1
Men's Basketball
Representing  Greece
FIBA EuroBasket
Bronze medal – third place 2009 Poland

Georgios Printezis (alternate spelling: Giorgos) (Greek: Γεώργιος Πρίντεζης; born 22 February 1985) is a Greek former professional basketball player, who spent the majority of his pro club career with Olympiacos Piraeus of the Greek Basket League and the EuroLeague. Printezis won back-to-back EuroLeague titles with Olympiacos in 2012 and 2013. His game-winning shot against the Russian club CSKA Moscow, at the end of the 2012 EuroLeague Final, off an assist from Vassilis Spanoulis, is one of the all-time highlights in the history of the EuroLeague.

Printezis earned an All-EuroLeague First Team selection in 2017. While representing the senior Greek national team, Printezis was instrumental in Greece's bronze medal run at the 2009 EuroBasket.

Professional career

Early years

For the 2006–07 season, Printezis was loaned by Olympiacos to Olympia Larissa, of the Greek League. With Olympia Larissa, he averaged 11.5 points and 3.9 rebounds per game. At the Greek All-Star Game weekend that season, he won the slam dunk competition.[1] At the end of that season, he was also voted the Greek League Best Young Player.[2] Following that success, he returned to Olympiacos.

Málaga

In 2009, Printezis signed a three-year contract with an NBA escape clause after the second year, worth €3.6 million net income, with the Spanish ACB League club Unicaja Málaga.[3][4]

Return to Olympiacos

On April 27, 2011, Printezis returned to his previous club, Olympiacos Piraeus,[5] after being transferred from Málaga.[6] In the EuroLeague's 2011–12 season's Final, Printezis hit a game-winning shot, off an assist from Vassilis Spanoulis, with 0.7 seconds remaining on the game clock, to give Olympiacos the EuroLeague championship, with a victory over the Russian VTB United League club CSKA Moscow.[7]

On 12 July 2012, Printezis signed a new three-year contract with Olympiacos.[8] Prior to signing that contract, he had considered signing a three-year, US$4.5 million net income contract offer from the Turkish Super League club Fenerbahçe Ülker, but he chose to stay with Olympiacos instead.[9] With Olympiacos, he also won the 2012–13 season championship of the EuroLeague. On 8 July 2014, he extended his contract with Olympiacos until 2017.[10]

On 14 June 2017, Printezis signed a three-year contract extension with Olympiacos.[11] He signed a one-year extension with the team on 16 June 2020.[12] On 15 July 2021, Olympiacos announced that Printezis had agreed to another one-year contract extension with the club.[13]

On June 17, 2022, Printezis officially announced his retirement from playing professional club basketball, after winning the Greek Basket League championship of the 2021–22 season with Olympiacos. During his final season with the Reds, he served as the team's captain.

NBA draft rights

Printezis was selected by the San Antonio Spurs, in the second round, with the 58th selection overall of the 2007 NBA draft. The draft rights to Printezis were then acquired by the Toronto Raptors, in exchange for their second-round draft pick in the 2008 NBA draft (the Spurs used that pick to draft Goran Dragić, and immediately traded Dragić to the Phoenix Suns, in order to acquire the draft pick they used in 2009 to draft future NBA All-Rookie Second Team member DeJuan Blair).[14] On 20 January 2011, the Toronto Raptors traded Printezis' draft rights to the Dallas Mavericks, in exchange for Alexis Ajinça, a conditional 2013 second-round draft pick, and cash.[15]

On 10 December 2011, the draft rights to Printezis were traded to the New York Knicks, along with Tyson Chandler, and the draft rights to Ahmad Nivins, in a three-way trade. The Mavericks received Andy Rautins from the Knicks, and a second-round pick from the Washington Wizards. The Wizards received Ronny Turiaf from the Knicks, in addition to a Dallas 2012 second-round draft pick, a 2013 Knicks second-round draft pick, and cash considerations.

In the summer of 2012, Printezis turned down a one-year contract offer from the Knicks, that reportedly was for slightly more than the minimum NBA salary.[9] On 16 July 2012, his and Kostas Papanikolaou's draft rights were traded to the Portland Trail Blazers, in a deal that sent Raymond Felton to New York.[16] On 21 February 2013, the draft rights to Printezis were subsequently traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder, in a deal that sent Eric Maynor to the Portland Trail Blazers.[17] On 15 July 2014, Printezis' draft rights and Thabo Sefolosha, were traded to the Atlanta Hawks, in exchange for the draft rights to Sofoklis Schortsanitis, cash considerations, and a trade exception.[18] On 9 July 2015, the draft rights to Printezis, alongside a 2017 second-round draft pick, were traded to the Spurs, in exchange for Tiago Splitter.[19]

National team career

Greek junior national team

Printezis playing with the senior Greek national team, at the 2009 EuroBasket

With the junior national teams of Greece, Printezis played at the 2001 FIBA Europe Under-16 Championship, the 2004 FIBA Europe Under-20 Championship, and the 2005 FIBA Europe Under-20 Championship.

Greek senior national team

Printezis was selected to the senior Greek national team that played at the 2008 Summer Olympics. With Greece, he won the bronze medal at the 2009 EuroBasket.

In addition to that, Printezis was on Greece's national teams that played at the following major tournaments: the 2008 FIBA World Olympic Qualifying Tournament, the 2010 FIBA World Championship, the 2012 FIBA World Olympic Qualifying Tournament, the 2013 EuroBasket, the 2014 FIBA World Cup, the 2015 EuroBasket, the 2017 EuroBasket, and the 2019 FIBA World Cup.

Club 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

EuroLeague

† Denotes seasons in which Printezis won the EuroLeague
Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG PIR
2002–03 Olympiacos 3 0 2.0 — — — .3 — — — 0.0 0.0
2003–04 3 0 .9 1.000 — — .3 — — — 0.7 0.7
2004–05 1 0 5.2 — — — — — — — 0.0 -1.0
2005–06 8 0 8.9 .611 .500 .500 1.1 .1 .3 — 3.8 2.4
2007–08 21 10 19.0 .513 .238 .609 3.2 .6 .3 .2 6.7 6.2
2008–09 20 15 18.7 .636 .500 .517 3.3 .6 .4 .1 8.8 8.5
2009–10 Málaga 12 6 24.2 .517 .421 .750 4.3 .8 .7 .2 11.7 11.2
2010–11 14 8 15.6 .386 .182 .688 2.7 .3 .2 .1 5.6 3.7
2011–12† Olympiacos 21 4 21.8 .500 .310 .864 4.1 1.2 .3 .3 10.6 11.3
2012–13† 29 27 20.9 .465 .312 .750 4.0 1.0 .2 .1 10.5 10.1
2013–14 21 14 21.2 .443 .273 .659 4.7 1.0 .4 .2 10.2 10.3
2014–15 20 13 25.1 .486 .300 .696 4.8 1.0 .4 .2 12.2 13.2
2015–16 21 20 25.3 .561 .364 .698 5.5 1.3 .2 .1 14.1 15.4
2016–17 32 32 25.4 .468 .403 .700 5.1 1.0 .7 .2 12.8 14.9
2017–18 28 27 25.6 .466 .343 .691 5.5 1.4 .5 .3 12.0 13.7
2018–19 30 26 25.6 .480 .308 .621 5.2 1.3 .4 .2 10.6 12.6
2019–20 25 21 25.0 .526 .371 .690 4.3 1.2 .4 .2 11.8 13.8
2020–21 31 14 18.2 .561 .436 .569 2.7 1.0 .3 .1 8.5 8.9
2021–22 35 0 9.3 .485 .375 .846 1.2 .3 .1 .0 3.6 3.3
Career 375 237 20.3 .543 .340 .685 3.9 .9 .3 .2 9.6 10.2

Domestic leagues

† Denotes season in which Printezis won the Greek Basket League championship
Year Team League GP MPG 2P% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2002-03 Greece Olympiacos HEBA A1 11 6.5 .461 – .562 1.8 .0 .0 .0 1.9
2003-04 Greece Olympiacos HEBA A1 4 5.4 .666 – .666 1.7 .0 .0 .0 3
2004-05 Greece Olympiacos HEBA A1 1 8.4 .750 – – .0 .0 .0 .0 6
2005-06 Greece Olympiacos HEBA A1 23 14.1 .636 .230 .692 3.1 .5 .4 .3 6.2
2006-07 Greece Olympia Larissas HEBA A1 26 21.1 .577 .396 .711 4.0 .8 .4 .3 11.5
2007-08 Greece Olympiacos HEBA A1 36 20.0 .620 269 .743 4.9 1.4 .7 .0 8.6
2008-09 Greece Olympiacos HEBA A1 30 18.4 .632 363 .704 3.9 .8 .5 .0 9.6
2009-10 Spain Unicaja Malaga ACB 28 21.4 .597 .235 .829 3.3 .9 .7 .2 10.2
2010-11 Spain Unicaja Malaga ACB 19 13.5 .534 .233 .826 2.7 1.1 .8 .5 7.5
2010-11 Greece Olympiacos HEBA A1 8 10.0 .692 545 .723 1.6 .0 .0 .0 5.5
2011-12† Greece Olympiacos HEBA A1 34 21.1 .694 .380 .741 3.8 .9 .8 .1 13.0
2012-13 Greece Olympiacos HEBA A1 32 22.5 .655 .313 .766 4.7 1.3 .6 .0 13.7
2013-14 Greece Olympiacos HEBA A1 31 20.2 .592 .291 .736 4.6 1.0 .5 .1 11.3
2014-15† Greece Olympiacos HEBA A1 24 20.5 .597 .381 .627 3.3 1.0 .5 .2 11.0
2015-16† Greece Olympiacos HEBA A1 25 20.6 .557 .317 .584 4.4 1.2 .3 .0 9.7
2016-17 Greece Olympiacos HEBA A1 31 21.0 .440 .327 .569 4.1 1.3 .6 .2 9.1
2017-18 Greece Olympiacos HEBA A1 25 20.0 .465 .295 .766 5.4 1.6 .4 .4 8.8
2018-19 Greece Olympiacos HEBA A1 20 20.0 .570 .193 .553 4.7 1.2 .1 .1 10.4
2021-22† Greece Olympiacos HEBA A1 29 11.5 .671 .324 .730 2.3 0.9 .2 .0 5.3

Greece national team career statistics

National team

Year National Team Tournament GP PPG RPG APG
2008 Greece Men Olympic Qualifying Tournament 4 4.5 1.8 .8
2008 Summer Olympics 4 5.0 0.8 .3
2009 EuroBasket 9 5.4 2.4 .9
2010 World Cup
5
3.8
1.6
.4
2012 World Cup qualification 3 14.0 4.7 2.0
2013 EuroBasket 8 4.4 2.6 .6
2014 World Cup 6 11.7 3.7 1.2
2015 EuroBasket 8 10.6 2.6 1.9
2017 EuroBasket 7 13.9 4.6 1.7
2019 World Cup qualification 1 15.0 4.0 1.0
2019 World Cup 5 12.2 2.2 2.0
2023 World Cup qualification 1 7.0 5.0 —

.

Awards and accomplishments

Club career

Titles won

Other honors

Greek senior national team

Individual awards and accomplishments

European awards

Domestic awards

Club team awards

National team awards

References

  1. ^ FIBA.com Official Player Profile Won Greek Dunk Contest.
  2. ^ FIBA.com Official Player Profile Best Greek Player 22 And Under.
  3. ^ Gazzetta.gr Printezis signs with Unicaja Málaga (in Greek). Archived 2009-07-04 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ Sportando.net Printezis to land in Malaga.
  5. ^ Olympiacos Inks Giorgios Pritenzis. Archived 2011-06-05 at the Wayback Machine
  6. ^ "ACB.com Giorgos Printezis abandona el Unicaja" (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 2014-01-22. Retrieved 2011-04-28.
  7. ^ Euroleague.net Final Four Game 2 - May 13, 2012 - SINAN ERDEM ARENA GAME REPORT CSKA Moscow 61 - 62 Olympiacos.
  8. ^ "OLYMPIACOS extends Euroleague hero Printezis". Euroleague.net. 11 July 2012. Retrieved 8 July 2014.
  9. ^ a b Varlas, Nikos (12 July 2012). "Printezis said "no thanks" to Knicks". Eurohoops.net. Archived from the original on 15 July 2012. Retrieved 12 July 2012.
  10. ^ "Olympiacos, Printezis together until 2017". Euroleague.net. 8 July 2014. Retrieved 8 July 2014.
  11. ^ Varlas, Nikos (14 June 2017). "Printezis stays with Olympiacos for three more years". Eurohoops.net. Retrieved 15 February 2024.
  12. ^ Borghesan, Ennio Terrasi (16 June 2020). "Olympiacos, Georgios Printezis agree to extend contract". Sportando. Retrieved 16 June 2020.
  13. ^ "Πρίντεζης για εικοστή σεζόν". olympiacosbc.gr (in Greek). 15 July 2021. Retrieved 15 July 2021.
  14. ^ "Raptors Acquire Draft Rights To Giorgos Printezis". NBA.com. 29 June 2007. Retrieved 15 February 2024.
  15. ^ Satur, Jay (24 January 2011). "Raptors Acquire Ajinca, Draft Pick And Cash Considerations From Dallas". NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. Retrieved 15 February 2024.
  16. ^ "Trail Blazers Acquire Jared Jeffries From New York". iamatrailblazersfan.com. 2012-07-16. Archived from the original on 2012-07-19. Retrieved 2012-07-16.
  17. ^ Golliver, Ben (2013-02-21). "Reports: Thunder trade Eric Maynor to Trail Blazers". SI.com. Retrieved 2024-02-15.
  18. ^ Wilson, J. (10 July 2014). "Hawks Acquire Thabo Sefolosha in Sign-And-Trade Transaction". NBA.com. Retrieved 15 February 2024.
  19. ^ Chandler, James (9 July 2015). "Spurs Trade Tiago Splitter To Atlanta Hawks". NBA.com. Retrieved 15 February 2024.
  20. ^ "Eurobasket". eurobasket.com. Retrieved 2023-05-17.
  21. ^ "Ολυμπιακός: Με Πρίντεζη, Σπανούλη, Σλούκα και Παπαλουκά η ομάδα της δεκαετίας". Eurohoops.net (in Greek). 2020-08-12. Retrieved 2022-03-19.
  22. ^ Stathakopoulos, Christos. "Οι 7 πρώτοι όλων των εποχών στο ελληνικό πρωτάθλημα". Olympiacos BC (in Greek). Retrieved 2024-03-27.