Panionios B.C.

Main article: Panionios

Panionios B.C.
2013–14 Panionios B.C. season
Panionios B.C. logo
Nickname	Historic Cyan-Reds Panthers
Leagues	Greek B Basketball League
Founded	1919
History	Panionios G.S.S. (1919–1992) Chipita Panionios B.C. (1992-1995) Panionios B.C. Afisorama (1995-1997) Panionios B.C. (1997–2005) Panionios B.C. Forthnet (2005-2009) Panionios B.C. (2009-present)
Arena	Nea Smyrni Indoor Hall
Arena Capacity	2,000
Location	Nea Smyrni, Athens, Greece
Team colors
President	Charis Stamoulis
Head coach	Vaggelis Ziagos
2014–15 position	Greek Basket League, 14th (Relegation)
Championships	1 Greek Cup
Website	panioniosbc.gr
Uniforms
Home Away

Departments of Panionios G.S.S.
Football	Basketball	Basketball Women's
Volleyball	Waterpolo	Handball
Athletics	Gymnastics	Swimming
Cycling	Judo	Chess

Panionios B.C. (Greek: Πανιώνιος KAE) is the Greek professional basketball club that plays its home games in Nea Smyrni, Athens, Greece. The club is also widely known as Πανιώνιος Γυμναστικός Σύλλογος Σμύρνης, or Panionios Gymnastikos Syllogos Smyrnis, which is the Pan-Ionian Gymnastic Association of Smyrna. This is usually abbreviated to the club name of Πανιώνιος Γ.Σ.Σ. Panionios B.C. is the basketball department of the Panionios Gymnastic Club that is based in Nea Smyrni, Athens.

Panionios B.C. has been a long-time club of the Greek Basket League, which is considered one of the best domestic basketball leagues in Europe. Panionios B.C. has also competed in the Euroleague. For sponsorship reasons, the club has also been known as Panionios On Telecoms, and Panionios Forthnet. The club is currently owned by Antonis Margetis, and was previously owned for several years by Elias Lianos, the founder of Proton Bank.

Some of the well-known players that have played with the club over the years have included: Faidon Matthaiou, Takis Koroneos, Fanis Christodoulou, Boban Janković, P. J. Brown, Panagiotis Giannakis, Henry Turner, Thurl Bailey, Travis Mays, Žarko Paspalj, Byron Dinkins, Mitchell Wiggins, Theo Papaloukas, Jure Zdovc, Nikos Chatzis, Giorgos Sigalas, Angelos Koronios, Dimos Dikoudis, Nikos Oikonomou, Stratos Perperoglou and Tyrese Rice, among others.

History

Panionios G.S.S. logo

The basketball clubs' parent athletic union, the Panionios Gymnastic Club, was founded in 1890, in İzmir, Ottoman Empire (located today in the modern country of Turkey), making it one of the oldest sporting clubs in Europe. The sporting clubs' basketball department was founded in 1919. After the Greek military suffered defeat in the Greco-Turkish War in 1922, the club was transferred to the Athenian suburb of Nea Smyrni, in Greece.

The basketball department, Panionios B.C., began participation in the Greek Basket League starting in the 1928-29 season, and finished in second place in the league that year. Panionios B.C. finished in third place in the league the next year.

Panionios B.C. has competed in the top Greek basketball league, in consecutive years, since the 1981-82 season. In the 1986-87 season, Panionios played in the championship finals series of the Greek League, losing out to Aris, and their two Greek basketball legends Nick Galis and Panagiotis Giannakis (Giannakis would later go on to play for Panionios). In 1991, led by Fanis Christodoulou, the team won the Greek Cup championship, by defeating PAOK by a score of 73-70. Panionios also played in the championship game of the Greek Cup in both 1977 and 1995. Ιn 1993-94 after an exciting march at the FIBA Korać Cup and scoring a couple of wins opposite Maccabi Elite in the quarter-finals, Panionios reached the semifinals and exclusive of PAOK Bravo in the first civil conflict between Greek basketball clubs in European competitions, ever.

The club finished in 3rd place in the Greek League in the 1995-96 season, under head coach Dušan Ivković, and thus qualified to the Euroleague for the 1996-97 season. In the Euroleague 1996-97 season, the team was coached by Efthimis Kioumourtzoglou. Two years later in 1999 Panionios reached again in semi-finals of the FIBA Korać Cup but exclusive again, this time from the super tournament favorites, FC Barcelona of Aleksandar Đorđević.

In the Greek League 2007-08 season, Panionios, led by Ivan Zoroski, Ioannis Kalampokis, and charismatic head coach Nenad Marković, finished in 3rd place. They came back from an 0-2 deficit in the deciding best-of-five series against Maroussi, and won the series 3-2, which secured the team a place in the Euroleague competition for the Euroleague 2008-09 season. This marked the club's first Euroleague appearance in more than a decade.

The season 2014-15, Panionios relegated to A2 Ethniki after 33 years with consecutive presence in A1 Ethniki. For the season 2015-16, Panionios preferred to play in amateur Beta Ethniki due to financial difficulties.

Arenas

Hellinicon Olympic Arena

Panionios plays its domestic Greek League home games at Nea Smyrni Indoor Hall, a small arena owned by the Nea Smyrni municipality, with a capacity of 2,000. They have also used Glyfada Indoor Hall, which has a capacity of 3,232. They have also often played home games at the Hellinicon Olympic Arena, which has a capacity of 15,000. The municipality of Nea Smyrni has also promised to build the club a new modern-style arena, on top of the old Nea Smyrni Indoor Hall.

Roster

Note: Flags indicate national team eligibility at FIBA sanctioned events. Players may hold other non-FIBA nationality not displayed.

Panionios Nea Smyrni B.C. roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Nat. Name Ht. Wt. Age	Head coach vacant Assistant coach(es) Legend (C) Team captain Injured Roster Updated: 2014-11-04

Honours

Total titles: 1

Domestic competitions

• Greek Cup
  • Winners (1): 1991

International record

Main article: Panionios B.C. in Europe

Season	Achievement	Notes
Saporta Cup
2001–02	Quarter-finals	eliminated by Anwil Włocławek, 83-74 (W) in Athens and 59-75 (L) in Włocławek
Korać Cup
1989–90	Quarter-finals	eliminated by CSKA Moscow, 107-85 (W) in Athens and 53-106 (L) in Moscow
1992–93	Quarter-finals	eliminated by Philips Milano, 78-79 (L) in Athens and 74-81 (L) in Milan
1993–94	Semi-finals	eliminated by PAOK Bravo, 83-85 (L) in Athens and 64-82 (L) in Thessaloniki
1994–95	Quarter-finals	eliminated by Stefanel Milano, 59-73 (L) in Milan and 82-73 (L) in Athens
1998–99	Semi-finals	eliminated by FC Barcelona, 71-80 (L) in Athens and 61-91 (L) in Barcelona
EuroChallenge
2006–07	Quarter-finals	eliminated 2-1 by Akasvayu Girona, 68-76 (L) in Girona, 82-73 (W) in Athens and 49-83 (L) in Girona

Season by season

Season	Tier	League	Pos.	Postseason	Greek Cup	European competitions
2011–12	1	Greek League	5	Semifinalist	–	–
2012–13	1	Greek League	3	Semifinalist	–	2 Eurocup – Regular season
2013–14	1	Greek League	4	Semifinalist	–	2 Eurocup – Last 32
2014–15	1	Greek League	14	Relegated	Last 8	–

Notable players

Dimitrios Stamatis Nikos Barlos Dimitrios Verginis Theo Papaloukas Panagiotis Giannakis Fanis Christodoulou Christos Christodoulou Takis Koroneos Giorgos Gasparis Giorgos Bosganas Giorgos Karagoutis Panagiotis Kafkis Nikos Chatzis Stratos Perperoglou Vassilis Kikilias Angelos Koronios Christos Tapoutos Nikos Oikonomou Faidon Matthaiou Nikos Linardos Giorgos Sigalas Giannis Sioutis Giorgos Kalaitzis Tzanis Stavrakopoulos Vangelis Angelou Ioannis Giannoulis Georgios Diamantopoulos Savas Iliadis Dimitris Marmarinos Makis Dreliozis Makis Dendrinos Dimitris Mavroeidis Dimos Dikoudis Ioannis Kalampokis Alexandros Sigounas Vassilis Xanthopoulos Ioannis Georgallis Andreas Kanonidis Dimitris Papanikolaou Theodoros Karamanolis Marios Batis Charis Giannopoulos Vangelis Sklavos Kostas Missas

Vasileios Kavvadas Nikos Pappas Gaios Skordilis Christos Saloustros Alexis Kyritsis Ioannis Athanasoulas Vasileios Symtsak Ioannis Athinaiou Georgios Bogris Dimitrios Agravanis Miroslav Marinos-Raitsevits Dušan Šakota Vlantimir Giankovits Dušan Jelic Koutsopoulos Miroslav Pecarski Alexi Giannoulias Thurl Bailey Luke Hancock Gabe Pruitt P.J. Brown John Hudson Kennedy Winston Byron Dinkins Ed Stokes William Avery Toby Bailey Henry Turner Andre Hutson Rashad Wright Gerry McNamara Chris Owens Randolph Keys Chris Jent Donnell Harvey John Wallace Antonio Harvey Jeff McInnis Travis Watson Mark Landsberger Mateen Cleaves Ruben Douglas Mitchell Wiggins Lonny Baxter

Amal McCaskill Rod Sellers Paul Shirley Travis Mays Aaron Miles Travon Bryant Jon Diebler Billy Keys Errick McCollum Landon Milbourne T.J. Carter Kevin Langford Chris Booker Mark Payne Tyrese Rice Levon Kendall Boban Janković Žarko Paspalj Dragan Lukovski Branko Cvetković Vladimir Micov Zoran Erceg Dejan Borovnjak Uroš Duvnjak Stephen Arigbabu Ender Arslan Jure Zdovc Brad Newley Antanas Kavaliauskas Nenad Marković Joao Santos Laurent Sciarra Guy-Marc Michel Goran Nikolić Kristaps Valters Vassil Evtimov Nikoloz Tskitishvili Chinemelu Elonu

Notable coaches

• Panagiotis Giannakis
• Kostas Missas
• Nikos Linardos
• Michalis Kyritsis
• Makis Dendrinos
• Memos Ioannou
• Efthimis Kioumourtzoglou
• Georgios Bartzokas
• Thanasis Skourtopoulos
• Minas Gekos
• Ioannis Sfairopoulos
• Vangelis Alexandris
• Lefteris Soumpotits
• Dušan Ivković
• Vlade Đurović
• Alex Trifunović
• Nenad Marković

See also

• Panionios
• Panionios G.S.S.

External links

• Panionios B.C. Official Website (Greek)
• Eurobasket.com Team Page
• Greek Basket League Team Page
• Eurocup Official Team Page
• Euroleague.net Panionios B.C. Team Profile
• Panionios Panthers Club (Greek)
• Women Panionios B.C. at Eurobasket.com
• Πανιώνιος - Κολοσσός Ρόδου, Στιγμιότυπα και Συνεντεύξεις στο Κλειστό της Νέας Σμύρνης (Greek)
• http://www.nstv.gr/Panionios-Kolossos-Rodou-stigmiotypa-kai-synedefksis-sto-kleisto-tis-nea-smyrnis (Greek)