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Turn every stone: this is how Nikos Papas rolled into Hapoel Jerusalem - Walla! sport

2020-09-24T06:17:55.527Z


The quarrels with the coaches. The hug from the big boss. The moment he bought the hearts of the fans. And the injury that dragged him down to the handicapped group: the Reds are joining the Greek guard for a week, thanks to the familiarity with the rings in Ouaka, and mainly to feel they have done everything to win the Champions League. profile


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Wickside: A weekly column by Ahrela Weisberg

To turn every stone: this is how Nikos Papas rolled into Hapoel Jerusalem

The quarrels with the coaches.

The hug from the big boss.

The moment he bought the hearts of the fans.

And the injury that dragged him down to the handicapped group: the Reds are joining the Greek guard for a week, thanks to the familiarity with the rings in Ouaka, and mainly to feel they have done everything to win the Champions League.

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Ahrela Weisberg

Thursday, September 24, 2020, 9:00 p.m.

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In the summer of 2013 Nikos Papas was about to fulfill all his dreams.

He was after a breakout season in the Panionios uniform, where he was the king of the baskets in the Eurocup home stage with 19.8 points per game;

Panathinaikos, who finished the toughest season in its history, the first after the end of the Zeljko Oberdovic era, signed him to a long-term contract and signed him as its future Greek player.



Papas showed up for the Greek national team training, but already in the first days he wanted to talk to coach Andrea Trinkieri.

"I will only stay if you can assure me that I will be in the final squad," the guard, then only 23, told the Italian.

"I do not want to be here a month, and then you will cut me off. If you are not building on me, I would rather join Pau's pre-season training."



Trinkieri did not like, to say the least, the attitude presented by the actor - and informed him that he was free.

Later that summer the team lost Nick Clatis, and during the European Championships Vasilis Spanoulis was also injured.

Papas missed an irreplaceable opportunity to poke a stake in the national uniform;

For the only time in 18 years, Greece was relegated before Eurobasket, and the Guard itself returned to its ranks only once more, in 2017.

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First published in Walla!

Sports: Nikos Papas signed for Hapoel Jerusalem

To the full article

Came to a farewell meeting, and left with a two-year contract.

Papas in Pau, opposite Curtis Geralds (Photo: GettyImages)

Papas' signing last night (Wednesday) at Hapoel Jerusalem is so surprising and unconventional that it is impossible to use the common term that the Reds "landed" the player.

In fact, he is the one who will land them, and connect with them this coming Sunday in his hometown, Athens.

He seems to be the first foreigner in the history of Israeli basketball to not even get a plane ticket.

In fact, his contract will last a week (at best), and was signed for one purpose only - the Final Eight of the Champions League, which will open on Wednesday and close next Sunday.



Jerusalem is well aware that Jacoben Brown's injury significantly reduced their chances of winning the European Final.

Trying to reach the peak of the season even before it started is pretentious as well (for all teams, and not just for them), but without the MVP from last year, and without James Paladin leaving, the task is even more difficult.



They acted at lightning speed to land Chris Kramer, an actor of a defensive nature completely different in his qualities from Brown;

And when we landed on Monday, and it turned out that he was overweight, they realized that this would not really help them either.

Only then did they have 36 hours to land someone else, before the registration deadline for the players for the games in Greece expired.

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Papas is also in no way similar to the American captain.

He is not a coordinator, but on the day Tamir Blatt encounters his instability from the negative side, and the opposing defense manages to narrow the steps of Malcolm Hill and Tariq Phillip, another option will be required to score points on offense.

The Greek guard, a freshman of seven seasons at Pao, is well acquainted with the rings at Ouaka, and in the state of affairs created for the team - that's enough.



No one expects him to fit into the team fabric, or Oded Katash's philosophy of play;

No one is building on him as a foreign player who will stay in Jerusalem for a long time (ie: for more than a week).

Papas came to save the state cup holder in moments when everything would go wrong for her.

And he, for his part, gets on stage to prove he can still issue something of himself.

And in the state of affairs created for him - it is more than enough.



Upon arriving at Panathinaikos, Papas became the favorite of owner Dimitris Inacopoulos.

He protected him from all guard, and came to his aid quite a few cases.

The guard is not the most comfortable and pleasant type of person, and if a survey is conducted among the players who have been at the club since 2013 regarding the identity of the best member of the team, it is doubtful if his name will be mentioned even once.



He got into a media quarrel with Argyris Pedulakis in 2014, and after his dismissal said in an interview that "I do not want to see him anymore", but about a year later he was forced to play for him again, when the coach returned to the role.

In 2018, another coach, Xavi Pascual, decided to part ways with him, having already signed Petri Coupon as his replacement;

Papas was called for a farewell call by Inacopoulos, and left with a two-year contract, much to the Catalan's chagrin;

And he started the corona break a few weeks before everyone else, because Rick Pitino took him out of the squad.

"Why? Because that's how I decided," the American replied when asked about it.

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The first foreigner who did not even board a plane ticket.

Nikos Papas in Yad Eliyahu in 2018 (Photo: Berni Ardov)

The erupting talent and ability to produce points from any situation are what have saved Papas time and time again, in addition to the warm embrace Minacopoulos, and left him relevant.

Its peak reached his second season in Pau, under Dusko Ivanovic, scoring 10.8 points per game in the Euroleague (16.3 playoff series against CSKA Moscow), but towards the end tore the ligament and meniscus, and was disabled for more than half a year.



He captured the hearts of fans Oak October 2017 He scored a huge three-pointer over the head of Kostas Slokas, giving the team a 68:70 lead over Oberdovic and Fenerbahce.



Papas got another chance from Pitino, but on the morning of the flight to the game against Maccabi Tel Aviv in Israel in 2019, he tore the cross again and was sidelined for another six months. He had difficulty returning to a competitive level, and did not find himself in the green uniform last season. , Coach Yorgos Vobras decided to build his team up without him, and nobody was there to resist.

Papas is a complex figure even outside of sports life. He is very involved in politics, supports the Communist Party of Greece, and is often seen in demonstrations; He is a human rights activist, who has donated funds for the construction of basketball courts in the largest prison in Athens, and has often spoken out in favor of the absorption of immigrants who have arrived in the country in recent years.



Since the summer he tried to recalculate a route, and at the age of 30 he was looking for a home after the long years at Panathinaikos. But he did not find. He himself rejected a number of offers, and according to Yaakov Meir from "Israel Today", he refused to contact Hapoel Tel Aviv coach Yannis Castritis because he still hoped to get a contract in the Euroleague.



In recent weeks he has started playing alongside Pau's wheelchair team, which is allowed to bring up two players without disabilities, and will now hope for a rejuvenation that will put him back on the map. And Jerusalem? She will land in Athens with a potential full squad, but perhaps not deep enough for the intense final tournament. At least she would know that she had turned every stone in an attempt to get as far as possible.

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Source: walla

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