By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
Vasilopoulos – “Panos” for his friends – is one of the good guys. Always humble, always more than conscious about his role in any team, not the most talented player ever, but for sure one of the most hardworking in the game of basketball.
A regular member of the Greek national team, during the Eurobasket 2005 and World Cup 2006, a starter at Olympiacos, being the “glue guy” of his teams, doing all the little things. He was beloved by everyone. And he was more than unlucky.
A series of back and knee injuries, that led to a series of surgeries, almost cut his career short when he was about to enter his prime. He suffered his first major injury in 2009, he played sparingly for Olympiacos since then and he managed to finally really return to action in 2015, after a short try at Valladolid in 2013.
This season he is 33 years old and after a long journey, he seems to be back for good. As a member of Aris BC, under coach Panagiotis Giannakis, Vasilopoulos is proving in the Basketball Champions League that he still got it.
The icing on the cake? He was called back to the Greek national team and he couldn’t be happier! “What I was missing more than anything else all these years, aside from basketball itself, was to play for the national team, like I used to”, said Vasilopoulos to Eurohoops.
Vasilopoulos was a regular member of the junior Greek national teams and the Eurobasket 2005 was his first major tournament with the senior team. And he feels ready for the challenge: “I’m aware of the situation and how we got to this call-up, with everything that is happening with FIBA and the EuroLeague. Believe me, I don’t mind at all! After everything I’ve been through, it’s enough that I’m once again able to draw pleasure from basketball. It will be very difficult because we will have very few days to prepare, no one knows the others very well and results are important. The only thing I care about is to be healthy and be able to once again step on the court as a player for the national team of Greece. After 9 years, I’ve saved up a lot of energy to use!”
So how much does he want to play for this team? Even though it will probably look like a B version of the national team and we’re talking about qualifiers and not a big competition. “If I want to play? I’m dying to play for the national team again! I made so many efforts that failed, so many times that I felt there is no point in all of this… I’ve taken so much crap… Now, it’s time to feel joy!”