By Nikos Varlas/ varlas@eurohoops.net
He was destined for greatness since a very young age, he was nicknamed “Baby Shaq” and he dazzled the world basketball scene in 2006, when he spearheaded the win of the Greek national team against the USA in the semifinal of the FIBA World Championship.
However, his explosion to a superstar didn’t came. Sofoklis Shortsanitis still has the potential to be the most dominant center, at least in Europe, but every time he made a step of progress, something happened and he almost returned to square one.
This time, his story for this season will have a different ending, one which includes from Sunday night a Euroleague title. And Big Sofo is just happy as for the first time everything seems to be in the right order: “This feeling is a great success. It’s a title that I always wanted. I am on top of Europe with a team that I have loved. The only thing in my mind right now is the joy of achieving such a feet and also having my family together and my teammates. They support me and I love them like brothers”.
Sofo feels complete for the first time: “It’s a great feeling. I have a team, I have my teammates who are my brothers, I have my family, a very happy family outside the court. Everything is perfect. And this title just adds to this level of happiness even more”.
That was not the case when the season started: “We started really bad. We wanted to play hard in every game, to give our best and get as far as we could. Our goal in every Euroleague round was to do something more and when you finally get to the final four, you can only think about winning the title. Nothing else”.
Sofoklis, a father of two, has matured tremendously as a person but he still believes that he can be better as a player: “I can be even better. And also this team can do much more. Now we have the confidence of being Euroleague champions and I believe that we can do even better”.
However, his family is what keeps him balanced and his first though after the game was the following: “I will go to my family, to the team’s hotel. I want to see my family, my wife and kids”.