By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
The 20 games ban of Nick Calathes was a shock for the Greek basketball federation, still there’s full support towards the Greek-American guard. On Saturday Kostas Missas, a member of the Greek federation coaching stuff, contacted the player, who gave his side of the story and once more clarified the fact that he never used synthetic testosterone or performance-enhancing drugs.
However, Tamoxifen which was detected in Calathes’ samples is banned also from the International Olympic Committee, so the player should have been much more careful. The point is that the ban of Calathes is imposed by the NBA and has to do only with NBA games. There’s no cooperation between the NBA and WADA and until further notice the player is eligible for the upcoming FIBA World Cup.
Despite the fact that there’s still a question about who will be the coach of the Greek national team, Calathes is one of the best Greek players available and he is still among the names who are expected to be included in the team.