23 Feb 2009; Notes
Diamantidis won Finals MVP honors in the Greek cup final yesterday, posting 16 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists in a win over arch rivals Olympiacos. The Panathinaikos point guard was the main man in the fourth quarter, draining three three-pointers in 90 seconds midway through the quarter.
24 Nov 2008; Full article
Panathinaikos point guard Dimitris Diamantidis was extremely impressive, filling up the statsheet with 16 points on 5/6 shooting, 5 steals, 4 assists and 3 rebounds, but most importantly guiding his team throughout the whole game on both offense and defense. It seems the 28-year-old has regained the freshness he lacked during last season and is back on top of his game.
Nov 15 2008; Full article
The phenomenal Dimitris Diamantidis
One of the great European players of this decade is Panathinaikos point guard Dimitris Diamantidis. The 28-year-old is a true phenomen, a one-of-a-kind player who has virtually no weakness in his game. He is the face as well as the core of Panathinaikos, immovable, a coaches dream and subsequently the player that averages the most minutes on his team by far: 30:57 in the Euroleague on this packed roster says it all.
Regarding his abilities, we start with defense. Diamantidis won the Defensive Player of the Year award in each of the last four seasons. He is a great on the ball defender, takes advantage of his quickness, size, long and quick arms, excellent footwork and outstanding basketball-IQ. He is a fantastic help defender as well, possessing outstanding instinct for where help is needed, great anticipation, timing and over par athleticism for European standards that helps him block shots when rotating over, even against strong big men. He has a habit of flying out of nowhere to deny the fastbreak layup, as Alex Acker and Chris Paul might want or not want to tell you first hand. Most importantly, he organises Panathinaikos’ whole defense unit like a headcoach.
Rebounding is another area where Diamantidis excels. 5.3RPG is an outstanding number for a point guard on a European powerhouse such as Panathinaikos, where individual numbers are historically rather low. Diamantidis anticipates extremely well on both ends of the court and is not afraid to clean the boards in heavy traffic.
On offense, he is one of the premier playmakers in the Euroleague. Some people get carried away with his defensive skills and fail to give him the credit he deserves for his abilities on the offensive end of the court, but make no mistake, Diamantidis is an excellent playmaker, possessing outstanding court-vision and displaying a pass-first mentality to the degree that he is sometimes accused of being too unselfish. Truth to be told, Diamantidis is a master of the penetration and kickout. He alwasy finds his way inside on either the high pick and roll or the postup and is able to perform the perfect kickout under high pressure, always knowing where the ball has to go. Having said that, it is true that in some cases the aggressive finish is the better choice than the kickout but Diamantidis seems to have found a healthy balance this season. As for his shot-making abilities, those are underrated as well. He can do a lot of damage in the post with spinmove + layup, the turnaround jumber belonging to his arsenal as well as the jumphook with both hands. Three-point-shooting is very solid (7/13 in the Eurolague this season, 43.5% last year), and he seems to have developed an interesting fallaway jumper. Quite appropriately, he would probably get a lot of attention if he used it more, but he only does in situations when it is necessary, as he is constantly looking for better, high-percentage solutions in normal play.
The 1.96m-Diamantidis had been struggling a bit at the end of last season and during the Olympics, when he was visibly tired and not performing to his capabilities. A short regenaration pause in the early pre-season, when he had to sit out due to a minor injury, obviously helped a lot, as he seems to be back at full strength. Against Siena, he displayed nearly all aspects of his polished all around game, blocking shots, helping limit the dangerous Terrell McIntyre to 3 points on 1 of 9 shooting and 4 turnovers, passing the basketball with precision and creativity, and making big shots in the second half to lead his team to victory. When their key player is on the top of his game, it can only be a good sign for Panathinaikos.
Below: Diamantidis vs. Montepaschi on Youtube
Dimitris Diamantidis, called “Octopus Man” because of his impressive wingspan, started playing basketball professionally in 1999 with Iraklis, spending five years at the club before joining European basketball powerhouse Panathinaikos in 2004, right after he won the Greek league MVP award for the first time. He was about to continue winning individual awards like other players score points, most notably: his Euroleague Final Four 2007 MVP award, and four consecutive Euroleague Defensive Player of the Year awards. He can make it to five next year. The thing is that Diamantidis, as great a team player as he is, probably doesn’t care about individual awards. Four Greek league titles, four Greek cup titles and a Euroleague title is what he cares about.
As outstanding as he performs on the defensive end, Diamantidis sometimes doesn’t get the credit he deserves for his offensive game. We go as far as calling that a crime, as he is probably the best pass-first point guard in the European game. A brilliant pacesetter with a great feel for the game. Performs the drive and dish to perfection, even difficult passes under high pressure reach their target. Now that he seems to be back on top of his game, let’s just sit back and enjoy.
