The Cradle of Basketball In Greece | NBA Hoop Cities Thessaloniki

[@dimitrijesvilarkovic2542]

Greece is such a great nation. Your culture, pride, passion, food, places are all exceptional. Since I was young I visited Greece with my family a lot and now I can honestly say that I feel at home whenever I step onto Greek soil. Moreover, the basketball culture is on another level there. So many great legends and players come from your country. You should be proud and never stop chasing your dreams! Respect from Serbia! Orthodox brothers. 🇷🇸🤝🇬🇷

[@innosanto]

We respect you alot from Greece bros. You have good values, good open personalities and great focused work ethic. Hello from Greece guys.

[@xeniosaias]

❤

[@oguzunderwood9596]

amazing country greetings from turkey to greece

[@Progressive90]

Well, this is unexpected!! My home town on the main NBA channel!

[@antimimoniakos]

Yes it is amazing.

[@giorgosg3900]

RIP Giannis Ioannidis, the greatest coach and one of the pioneers of the basketball legacy of this city and this country.

[@vitez-istocni]

Excellent documentary, I really liked it and was happy to see Stojakovic and Galis, two of my favorite players. I love you brothers and sisters, Thessaloniki, Athens, Corfu and all of Greece, especially Athos. We will never forget your support in 1999. and Marinos Ricudis, as well as the WW1 graves of Serbian troops in Corfu and Thessaloniki. Believe me just like at home when I'm in Greece. Respect and love from Serbia, Serbs and Greeks are Orthodox brothers forever 🇷🇸 ☦🇬🇷 ♥

[@СлаваССС-м4с]

Poz od Larissa ,Grčka

[@ΓρηγόρηςΤέντζερης]

BPATE, Greetings from Greece! Allies in all wars and Orthodox brothers!

[@linosgreco777]

☦️

[@akis23gr]

Very emotional video for all Greeks, because we love basketball.

[@oskso8093]

Respect Thessaloniki from Sparta!!!🏀🇬🇷

[@chrisbassmann]

Thank you NBA channel!❤

[@zachv7567]

I am Greek and a basketball fan ! I feel honored that the official ''Nba youtube channel'' has created this 45 minute documentary ! Thank you NBA !

[@ΚωνσταντινοςΓ-ω6φ]

That put a tear in my eye 🥲. I was born in thessaloniki and grew up playing basketball all day(90s). When we couldn t find free court, very common thing back then, we used to play to trash bins 😂. I was paok fan so i feel very happy seeing Rentzias, my idol player was stojakovic before NBA took it from us! Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

[@ΓρηγόρηςΤέντζερης]

Ελλαδάρα! Greetings from the south and the town of Nafplio, the first capital of Greece!

[@o_kyrios_kekw]

45:59 don't skip the post credit scene

[@kyrios-y4j]

YOU HAVE TO SAY MORE ABOUT IRAKLIS BC. Iraklis bc is the second team that played basketball in Greece, after YMCA. Many great players played for iraklis in the begining of their career, such as Diamantidis, Schortsanitis, Lazaros Papadopoulos, Chatzivrettas and many more. They all played for national team at its prime. DAVID ANCRUM also played for iraklis. The stadium of iraklis, Ivanofeio, has still that crazy 90s atmosphere in 2023

[@minardi028]

είναι αλήθεια πως ο Ηρακλής αδικήθηκε στο αφιέρωμα. Το όνομα της ομάδας αναφέρθηκε μόνο μια φορά και αυτό δεν είναι καθόλου αντιπροσωπευτικό της αξίας της.

[@innosanto]

Schortsianitis yes played but mostly came from Mantoulides school team as did Nikos Zisis, and I think Kostas Sloukas as well). Actually a full documentary would have Zisis, schortsianitis, Sloukas, Diamantidis etc.

[@nikostheofanidis9970]

Hahahahahaha γριές

[@miqueasvalentinhernandez3998]

With that athmosphere, why isn’t that team playing in Europe, as In 1995?

[@SP-nx8qx]

I'm from Athens but I would also pick Thessaloniki as the "purest" basketball city in Greece, even though they're much smaller. I think they just love the game more, and they've probably benefitted from being closer to former Yugoslavia. And of course, they had Galis.

[@FearTheNorth]

Respect my friend

[@georgemacpherson1992]

Athens > Thessaloniki. Athens does it better.

[@innosanto]

We didnt benefit because closer to Yugoslavia, distance athens is also near. It is the greater love of Thessaloniki people for basketball (maybe because of YMCA or other reasons) who had people visit Yugoslavia to hire Serbian coaches or generally bisit many places, and hire even with less money than Athens ( also Paok or even Iraklis would try in order to find way to beat Aris and Galis - Thessaloniki is competitive).

[@SP-nx8qx]

@@innosanto Eh you can drive 6 hours to Belgrade, maybe that's important to some people, maybe not. Like I said I'm not questioning the love, it's definitely there, and thats the most important thing. Now you need some money :)

[@stavrospechlivanidis7339]

@@georgemacpherson1992 that's because the people that own Olympiakos and Panathinaikos can spend a lot more money nowadays compared to basketball clubs from Thessaloniki. But a lot of great players started their careers here in clubs from Thessaloniki. Galis, Diamantidis (a lot of people forget he started from Iraklis BC), Rentzias, Stojakovic and a lot more playes that I can't remember right now and that's a fact. Basketball clubs from Athens are not very well known for producing a lot of talented players, without that taking something away from their great success from the 90s and untill today.

[@SauROnmiKE]

Feels like a dream watching my hometown on the NBA channel, thank you for the incredible video!

[@91Omerde]

I love these episodes. Basketball has such a rich history in Europe ♥️

[@Turricani]

Basketball is the second nature for most people in Greece.. very nice documentary, thanks NBA!

[@BlackEagle1926]

My city my home!!! Thessaloniki the capital of Macedonia Greece!!!

[@samjacobson4844]

Travelled two Thessaloniki two years ago. Beautiful city. Wish my damn tour guide coulda let me in on some of this info, glad i got to learn it now

[@TheUnknownNumber9]

Next time you should watch the Aris vs Paok rivalry match in basketball,big mess!

[@biggestbird123-ti7sk]

It’s nice to see more diverse countries in the NBA 👌

[@hyperquantum3020]

what do you mean by ''diverse countries'' ?

[@filipposclub]

@@hyperquantum3020 means different

[@polystsamp7798]

The most beautiful city in the world !!!!

[@markomeker7789]

Such a great docu "Basketball cities ". I just been to Thesaloniki 2 months ago and this docu even enhanced my experience there. ❤ Thesaloniki

[@elenasakis]

Great documentary of Thessaloniki's basketball history. Proud of my son being an U18 player of the best basketball academy in Greece DEKA!

[@pesto801]

A re Hatzivretta ti ekanes

[@TechItSerious]

Excellent Documentary! 👏👏

[@stbsabs4370]

Peja Stojakovic was also playing for years in Thesssaloniki before going to the NBA

[@innosanto]

Stojakovis is actually still connected to the city. He had a bar in the city , and then he moved to thessaloniki after NBA but then went back for somemanagement position to US

[@alx_gr1]

His wife is from Thessaloniki too!

[@B0uff0s]

I do not think there is a more beloved athlete in Greece than Galis.

[@ThePitogyro]

Beautiful documentary, but I believe we should also mention the huge contibution of Iraklis to the gowth of basketball in Thessaloniki. If you think of it, many of the stars of Greek Basketball that have contributed to the great success of the National Team were given the chance to shine wearing the colours of Iraklis. Among them , Diamantidis is the most famous of course, but also Chatzivretas (who appears a lot in this video) , Schortsianitis, Lazaros Papadopoulos and many other great athletes and great coaches. It is sad to see how Iraklis gets overlooked because of the state the team is in right now, even though the 90s and 00s were greatly influenced by this team, who always gave the chance to young Greek players to compete on the highest level in the country.

[@iraklisantifa]

Iraklis also is one of the teams that established FIBA

[@innosanto]

Schortsianitis , Zisis, Kostas sloukas cane from Mantoulides school that is where they were developed and Mantoulidis almost got world medal.

[@innosanto]

@@iraklisantifaGreece established FIBA with another 8 countries not Iralkis

[@ThePitogyro]

@@innosanto You are a bit confused, that was their school and not their club. Only Sloukas played for Mantoulidis out of school. The club of Nikos Zisis was YMCA and Schortsianitis Iraklis.

[@iraklisantifa]

@@innosanto one guy from Greece was from Iraklis Giannis Ampatzoglou

[@cantonatheking]

Wow now i get emotional...... Greetings to the whole world from Thessaloniki

[@cbarbas]

This was EPIC, greetings from Thessaloniki.

[@BoomCyber_]

I'm Greek let's go!!!🇬🇷

[@innosanto]

People dont realize how good Galis was but thats life. He could do things noone in the NBA could do. But what he understood correctly is that what he did to Thessaloniki and Greece was even greater, he changed Greek cultural history and became engraved in the collective subconscious as much more than sport, as a political and social event. He understoof that it was karma, a karmic meeting related even to Greek political crises that Greeks wanted to refresh from. In US it would just be a sport and a game. Galis also made Thessaloniki outshine money-hungry Athens which collected taxes to invest in Athens with citizens thoughtful on something

[@akichisel2538]

Amazing Doco 👏

[@ThESlAcKeR-r5r]

THANK YOU @NBA ...........really made to live my childhood again...touched my heart this documentary...thanks to all the people that made this video

[@majamaja3660]

Nothing but the love for Greece from Serbia

[@Fokas-n8t]

Basket was the ideal sport for Greek cities which were (unfortunately) densely built, cemented to the last cm²: It was easier to put basketball courts than football ones or of any other sport. As kids growing up in the city we were mainly playing basketball. We were watching football as much as basketball but we were playing more basketball than football. The arrival of Nick Gallis in the early 80s put this game on the forefront, the guy did magic, easily the best European (sure, born in the US) player ever.

[@MrThessalonikiman1]

Thessaloniki was the first place in Greece where basketball was introduced in the 1910's and became part of its DNA and culture. Many top players have their origins from this place, either by competing in the local teams either they were born or received their basketball education in this city. This video barely displays some basic reasons why this happened. The most important is that people love and play basketball no matter if the local teams are protagonists in the sport or not.

[@enes9155]

Great film, really liked all the city movies, excellent work. Istanbul, Belgrade, Thessaloniki awesome work guys

[@PeterdS3]

Νίκος Γκάλης ο μεγαλύτερος Έλληνας αθλητής όλων των εποχών

[@stevekesedakisstormchasing7031]

Amazing ... thank you for this beautiful documentary

[@geosu]

Watching this, one might get the false impression that Aris and PAOK have had an equal impact on Greek basketball. However, Aris has historically been a much more successful club in the sport, significantly contributing to the Greek national team with great players. Even today’s national team includes players who either began their careers at Aris or first shone there, such as Sloukas, Papanikolaou, Toliopoulos, Mitoglou, Kalaitzakis, and Larentzakis. Let’s also not forget Vezenkov, who, although not playing for the Greek national team, is now considered one of the best basketball players in Europe. It's also disappointing that Iraklis was not even mentioned, despite having developed many notable players like Diamantidis, Hatzivretas, Papadopoulos, and Big Sofo.

[@pesto801]

Goosebumps

[@keybraker]

10+ for cinematography

[@Basketball-Academy]

Θεσσαλονίκη💪♥️

[@steliosioannou2800]

Nikos Gallis, number 13th of Greek Gods

[@methematics.]

now im waiting for ATH

[@tsili]

1. NBA you are the best, thank you! 2. I think a lot of kids and future players won't appreciate it, that they don't mention IRAKLIS as a major team of the city. The only reference is 29:38 - "ή με τον Ηρακλή". Otherwise, the video is awesome!

[@MrApostolis78]

As a Salonica native I am sad to say that with regards to basketball, since it tends to follow the money, it has now moved exclusively to Athens. Much like everything else in this country.

[@innosanto]

Thessaloniki is a blessed place.

[@kapokia]

Excellent documentary, thank you for this. Great to learn things about places in the world that are basketball hotbeds.

[@papertoyss]

AEK B.C. in *1968* won the European Cup (a tier 2 title back then - considered important) and took it to Greece. This was the 1st international title for a Greek team; the *second came* in 1991, 24 years later with PAOK, and the very first major international title (EuroLeague) came came in 1996 with this epic team Panathinaicos BC started building. Thessalonike is a major basketball city, ARIS BC being a phenomenon back in the day with N.Galis and the others, but the city's teams unfortunatelly never enjoyed major international titles. *Disclaimer:* Im not an AEK or PAO or OLY fan. Im just a fan of basketball

[@nikiforosspyropoulos2756]

The most insane thing is hearing someone leaving America cause Greece was a better financial choice

[@lamproskostopoulos365]

Not anymore 😂😅😢

[@innosanto]

It is the 80s, Greece had great financial situation, 1) years 1955-75 Greece had second highest development rate in the world, a low debt, and good finances and then entered european trade agreement and 2)the serious governmwnr lost elections and the fake liar PASOK used that good financial situation to get unsustainable loans so Greece got filled with borrowed money and so there was alot money around. Greece pays those loans of that fake party and the ones that followed the same formula, now.

[@antonk4397]

Thanks, I watched about 50 adds and a few minutes of hoop cities documentary in between..

[@Yoshimitros]

45:59 that's what great athletes do!

[@NukeOnBike]

Such a nice documentary, well done to everyone that helped for this!

[@agonastiskritis7418]

Where is Diamantidis, Giannakis, Fasoulas, Prejevic just to name a few historical pkayers from Thessaloniki

[@ΜάξιμοςΕυθύμιοςΤσατσαρής]

I am from Greece 🇬🇷 Nice and excited video Lov y basketball 🏀 Stay working friends 🏀💪🏻💪🏻

[@ΛάζαροςΚαρα]

Basketball 🏀 NBA Thessaloniki Galis ... Impact...Social..🎉

[@Giorgos1914-b7b]

Basketball in Thessaloniki= ARIS

[@oceaniclab]

Damn Greece is on the main NBA channel that's crazy😅

[@ΑγγελοςΚαβας]

So thrilled to see my hometown and it's culture (not only the basketball one) in NBA's channel. Huge disrespect from Aris's fans in the comments, what a disappointment....

[@promy563]

Greek Basketball = Nick Galis = ARIS

[@nicoles756]

Το οτι θα εβλεπα το Στρεμπενιωτη στο επισημπ καναλι του nba δεν το περιμενα ποτε

[@johncane2304]

Greece also holds the record on Eurocup I guess ,80 thousand people watching basketball .

[@JOG2777]

Dude it's fact. Greece, Spain, Serbia ,Turkey and Lithuania fans holding up the basket in Europe.

[@Nikonpaok]

Ευχαριστούμε για τις ωραίες στιγμές που μας χαρησες να σαι καλά εσύ και η οικογένεια σου.

[@nikolastsitlakidis714]

Excellent work!

[@_dagas_4568]

❤❤❤

[@nikosl.4478]

Is this a documentary about Paok bc ? Nothing about Iraklis BC the club that came after YMCA and ofc Aris Bc which is the biggest club in town. So sad really …..

[@anastasiskanidis1925]

great documentary, but you had to talk about bane prelevic, the greatest basketball player to play for paok

[@christsoug8533]

Εδώ δεν μίλησαν για τον Γκάλη θα μιλούσαν για τον Μπάνε;

[@panagiotisfoukas7853]

Great past, but we should invest in the future. PAOK, Aris and Iraklis need to return to their former glory.

[@elquemanda91]

Thessaloniki is the city which became famous for one basketball team, the team who is responsible for all that Greeks achieve all those years. Aris Thessaloniki is that team and the fact that this documentary not mention these golden years of Nick Galis and his team, is a little bit embarrassing... 😢

[@JimHara]

home sweet home

[@Xarilaou]

ARIS is the biggest team in Thessaloniki the team that taught basket to all Greeks... everyone knows that...

[@id3a_design]

Just amazing!

[@linoskostas]

Amazing video!

[@eko211]

ARIS = GALIS = BASKETBALL

[@chrisgroo]

The voice of Nick in the beginning.

[@MikC]

❤🏀

[@Alexandros_Alpha]

Εξαιρετικο!

[@cankik9414]

🇹🇷🤝🇬🇷

[@itsprometheus8938]

Well this struck me different 😮

[@aurimasransys2944]

That dunk at 17:09 was kinda sweet tho

[@Ariddim]

Basketball in Thessaloniki is mostly Aris B.C. Iraklis & PAOK follows.

[@innosanto]

Thessaloniki was the cradle of basketball till early nineties, then it moved to Athens and Pireus. At some point Thessaloniki basketball will revive.

[@giannispenesis5750]

Greek basketball 🏀🏀🏀❤️❤️❤️🔥🔥🔥

[@arionasp]

Μιλάμε για την ίδια Θεσσαλονίκη ;

[@acceptpapara]

25:05 ενδιαφέρον μέρος για τους 76ers

[@FoulX-r5b]

The way it shows the whole thing is completely different than it actually is.. The gap between Aris and Paok was just huge. Aris built the Greek basketball. Aris' players got the titles with the national team. Aris has around twice the titles paok does. The video isn't realistic.

[@BesimTepihi]

Kosovo ❤ from heart. Dream to vizit one day Greece islands

[@assimakisiliades4906]

Nice try...but its not giving the reality of basketball in Thessaloniki...sorry guys but the producers, propably "bullied" from ARIS, the biggest team in basketball of Thessaloniki, the team who was undefeated for 80 consecutive matches in the league and went in Final 4 of euroleague for 4 times in a row...its a pitty that the producers had the privilege to produce something representative for Thessaloniki but they decide to put their personal, but not representative reality

[@jpegmitsos]

SKG HOLDEM✊

[@geola9110]

Ελλαδαρα ρε

[@hanswurst5426]

Has the NBA ever heard of Iraklis?😡

[@billalphonso79]

02:24 παιζει να ειναι το μοναδικο καλαθι που εβαλε ο ρετζιας στο nba

[@skullpierceres4878]

ειχε βάλει 9 πόντους & 4 ριμπάουντ σε 8 λεπτά κοντρα στου Nets.Το καλύτερο παιχνίδι της ζωης του ηταν αυτο

[@GinLimeSoda]

Ναι, και;

[@Greek_Oak]

Χαλαρά!!!

[@ryanrowe1975]

Efthimios Rentzias decided to returning back to Greece since there wasn't a NBA team to keeping him on the roster and playing his last season for the 76ers before retiring in 2004?!

[@iovo1979]

Hell yeah!!!

[@Macintosh-ddh210]

Πολύ ενδιαφέρον βίντεο, ωραία γυρισμένο δείχνοντας μόνο τις όμορφες στιγμές αυτής της πόλης γιατί μόνο αυτό έχει, όμορφες στιγμές. Εγώ σαν ΠΑΟΚτσης πρέπει να πω ότι δεν έδειξαν καθόλου τον Ηρακλή γιατί και αυτός σύλλογος προσέφερε στο μπάσκετ της πόλης. Και κάτι ακόμα, το ότι μίλησε ο μεγαλύτερος παπατζης αυτής της πόλης με ξεπέρασε για ακόμα μία φορά. Ο άνθρωπος που έκανε ότι μπορούσε για να σταματήσει την εξέλιξη της πόλης και δυστυχώς αυτό προσπαθεί ακόμα. Η πόλη "ήταν" μπασκετομανα τώρα δεν είναι, θέλει πίστη όνειρο όραμα και χρήματα για να ξαναγίνει.

[@virdesire]

Did i cry watching because im Greek? lol

[@volvakias3]

Πρεπει να ζορίστηκε πολύ ο μπασκετικός παόκτσης(υπάρχετε ακόμα?), που επιμελήθηκε την παραγωγή να φαίνεται πρώτα και παντού ο Παοκ. Δεύτερο όνομα ήσουν πάντα στο μπάσκετ φίλε. Basketball = ARIS. Υ.Γ Σεβασμό σε όλους αυτούς τους παιχταράδες που μας μάθαν μπάσκετ ανεξαρτήτου ομάδος

[@Mezmerizer4]

Μια φορά να μην βγάλετε κόμπλεξ και να μην βάλετε τον ΠΑΟΚ δίπλα στο όνομα της ομάδας σας δεν γίνεται. Μικρούληδες.

[@bobsgougarakis]

Φέτος το καλοκαίρι στις διακοπές μου στην Άνδρο γνωρίζω μια παρέα Φιλανδών εκ των οποίων ο ένας έπαιξε Μπάσκετ στην πρώτη κατηγορία της Γερμανίας. Όταν πιάσαμε μπασκετική κουβέντα φυσικά το πρώτο όνομα Έλληνα μπασκετμπολίστα που ανέφεραν ήταν Αντετοκούμπο μέτα Σπανούλης μετά Παπαλουκάς κτλπ. Όταν η κουβέντα πήγε στους παλιούς μου είπαν Γκάλης. Και ακολουθεί η κορυφαία ερώτηση σε πια ομάδα έπαιζε ο Γκάλης; Τους λέω Άρης. Μου λένε what is Aris ? Συμπέρασμα; ο Άρης είναι παγκοσμίως άγνωστος και όλοι θυμούνται τον Γκάλη μόνο από την εθνική ομάδα. Φυσικά εάν δεν υπήρχε Γκάλης ο σύλλογος Άρης θα ήταν τώρα κάτι σαν τον Ηρακλή κ τον Απόλλωνα Καλαμαριάς.

[@arisnt3po]

​@@bobsgougarakisγια τους άσχετους...ο Άρης ήταν ήδη ΠΡΩΤΑΘΛΗΤΗΣ πριν έρθει ο Γκάλης... σίγουρα με την παρουσία του Θεού του ελληνικού μπάσκετ εκτοξεύτηκε αλλά και αφότου έφυγε από την ομάδα ,ο Άρης συνέχισε να σηκώνει τρόπαια 3 εκ των οποίων και ευρωπαϊκά ...και όσο και να πονά κάποιους ο μπασκετικός Άρης θα έχει τα διπλάσια πρωταθλήματα αποσα έχουν όλοι οι υπόλοιποι στην πόλη μαζί...

[@koursaros]

Ειναι λιγο ασεβεια να εμφανιζεται το παοκ και μπασκετ Θεσσαλονικης πρώτα στο βίντεο... Ολοι ξέρουν ότι Θεσσσαλονικη και Μπασκετ ειναι ΑΡΗΣ. Τις Πεμπτες δεν υπηρχε ανθρωπος στον δρόμο. Άκουγες το ματς απο ολα τα σπίτια. Αυτά μόνο ο Άρης μας. ΤΙμή και σεβασμός σε αυτούς που σας έδωσαν να φάτε ψωμάκι τόσα χρόνια μετά.

[@volvakias3]

φίλε η επιχειρηματολογία σου σπάει κόκκαλα. αλλά αφού το είπαν οι Φιλανδοί που επαιξε και στη μπασκετομάνα Γερμανία πάω πάσο.@@bobsgougarakis

[@paokg4362]

ΜΙΑ ΖΩΗ ΟΛΟ ΠΑΟΚ🖤🤍

[@christsoug8533]

ΑΡΗΣ ΡΕ

[@paokg4362]

@@christsoug8533 λεγκενι