By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
Panagiotis Giannakis’ refusal to shake the hand of federation vice president Hu Jiashi and of course the mediocre results of the Chinese NT during the last Asian games will result to the termination of the Greek coach collaboration with China.
According to reports from China, former national team coach Gong Luming is already selected as his replacement, a decision supported by the general sports administration of the country, the overseeing authority of the Chinese basketball federation. Giannakis still has a contract until 2016 with the team, so the two sides should reach a settlement or else the dispute will be a matter of FIBA’s arbitration court.
Despite some reports about Giannakis staying in China as an advisor of the team, this is not something the Greek coach wishes. His future at this point is a question mark, but there are already rumors in Greece about him returning to the bench of the Greek national team, which he led to the European championship in 2005 and the silver medal of the world championship in 2006. At this point the Greek federation’s priority is to get a wildcard for the upcoming FIBA World Cup and depending on this, it will decided what to do with the coach, since there is already a contract with Italian Andrea Trinchieri. If Giannakis is fired by China, then he will be interested in listening a proposal from the Greek federation.
Meanwhile, Poland which also applied for a wildcard announced the hiring of American Mike Taylor, who is also the coach of NBADL Maine Red Claws, as the country’s national team coach after deciding to replace German coach Dirk Bauermann.