Eurobasket 2003: Ioanidis Helps Tsakalidis Return To Greece Gianni Ioanidis has revealed how he intervened on star centre Iakovos "Jake" Tsakalidis's behalf earlier this year to get him out of hot water with the Greek army. The Greek coach, who several years ago turned Tsakalidis from a boy who had no basketball skills into one of the most coveted big men in the game, went to the Ministry of Defence to make sure the 7ft 2in giant would not be arrested upon his return to Greece this summer. Military service is compulsory in the country but the Georgian-born star of the NBA's Phoenix Suns has not done his army duty since becoming a naturalised Greek. "Tsakalidis wanted to come to Greece all these years but he couldn't," Ioanidis said. "I hope he'll be able to help at Eurobasket and at Olympic Games." Tsakalidis's towering presence gives the Greeks quite a lift. The Suns centre has three years of NBA experience under his belt, although he is coming off his most difficult campaign during which he missed much of the season after back surgery. He had his operation on January 2 and missed 34 games from December 29 through March 11. Before that he was unable to play for five games from December 6 with a bulging disk. Any doubts about his fitness were erased with his superlative performances for Greece in games against Australia, Bulgaria and Serbia & Montenegro. If Greece are looking for causes to be optimistic at the Olympics, Tsakalidis may be the biggest reason to hope in basketball. Upon his arrival as a boy in Greece, Tsakalidis was a swimmer who had never dribbled a basketball. Ioanidis saw his potential and took him under his wing at AEK Athens where he taught him how to use his size and strength to rebound and block shots. His game has evolved since going to America. Now he is much more competent offensively with the low post moves big players need to be effective in the NBA. Ioanidis, meanwhile, will be considering his options closely in the coming days in terms of his squad. So far, the players who have been cut are Sofoklis "Baby Shaq" Schortsianitis of Iraklis, Nestoras Kommatos of Aris and Peristeri's Michalis Pelekanos (Peristeri), Ioanidis will watch his players take on Italy on Wednesday in Varese, and then travel with them to Cadiz to take on Spain before returning to Belgrade to face Serbia & Montenegro in a couple of games. It is thought that Manolis Papamakarios of Peristeri, Giorgos Diamantopoulos of Olympiakos and Panathinaikos's Kostas Tsartsaris are in a battle to keep their places in the squad.
