Ioannis Bourousis

Ioannis Bourousis, commonly known as Giannis Bourousis (alternate spelling: Yannis, Greek: Ιωάννης "Γιάννης" Μπουρούσης; born November 17, 1983) is a Greek former professional basketball player and basketball executive. He is the general manager of the Greek basketball club ASK Karditsa. During his playing career, at a height of 7 ft 3⁄4 in (2.15 m) tall[1][2][3] and a weight of 270 lb. (122 kg), Bourousis played at the center position. Bourousis, who was a two-time All-EuroLeague First Team selection, was compared to FIBA Hall of Fame / Basketball Hall of Fame center Vlade Divac, by San Antonio Spurs' head coach Gregg Popovich.[4]

Giannis Bourousis
Bourousis, playing with Greece, in 2017.
ASK Karditsa
PositionGeneral Manager
LeagueGreek Basket League
Personal information
Born (1983-11-17) November 17, 1983
Karditsa, Greece
NationalityGreek
Listed height7 ft 0 in (2.13 m)
Listed weight270 lb (122 kg)
Career information
NBA draft2005: undrafted
Playing career2001–2022
PositionCenter
Career history
2001–2006AEK Athens
2006FC Barcelona
2006–2011Olympiacos
2011–2013Olimpia Milano
2013–2015Real Madrid
2015–2016Saski Baskonia
2016–2017Panathinaikos
2017–2019Zhejiang Lions
2019–2020Gran Canaria
2020–2021Peristeri
2021–2022ASK Karditsa
Career highlights and awards
As a player:
Medals
Event 1st 2nd 3rd
FIBA EuroBasket 1 0 1
FIBA U-20 European Championship 1 0 0
Total 2 0 1
Men's Basketball
Representing  Greece
FIBA EuroBasket
Gold medal – first place2005 Serbia & Montenegro
Bronze medal – third place2009 Poland
European U-20 Championship
Gold medal – first place2002 LithuaniaUnder-20

Bourousis was on the senior Greek national team that won the gold medal at 2005 EuroBasket in Serbia, and he also played an instrumental role as Greece won the bronze medal at the 2009 EuroBasket. He was also a member of the Greek national teams that finished in fourth place at the 2007 EuroBasket, and in fifth place at the 2008 Summer Olympics. The indoor basketball arena Giannis Bourousis Karditsa New Indoor Arena, which is located in Karditsa, Greece, is named after him, in his honor.

Early years and youth career

Bourousis originally began his athletic career training to be a professional swimmer, but he grew too tall for the sport, and so he took up playing basketball, at the age of 18. He began playing basketball as a member of the youth clubs of the Greek club G.S. Karditsas.

Professional career

Bourousis began his professional career in the year 2001, with AEK Athens of the Greek Basket League. In 2006, he transferred to FC Barcelona of the Spanish ACB League. Later that same year, he joined the Greek EuroLeague club Olympiacos Piraeus.

In 2009, he was offered a 3-year $12 million contract[5] by the NBA club the San Antonio Spurs.[6] However, he turned down San Antonio's offer, and instead signed a 3-year contract extension with Olympiacos worth €5.1 million euros net income.[7][8] The contract contained a €1 million buyout amount, which could only be used to sign with an NBA team.[9] After 5 years with Olympiacos, the club decided to terminate his contract.

In the summer of 2011, just weeks before signing with Olimpia Milano, Bourousis was involved in a doping-related media controversy in Greece, after an unrelated football match-fixing probe of his (then future) father-in-law, Makis Psomiadis.[10][11] However, Bourousis was quickly cleared of any suspected wrongdoing, after he submitted to drug testing for FIBA protocols, which are overseen by the World Anti-Doping Agency, in order to be cleared to play with the Greek national team at the 2011 EuroBasket.[12][13]

On July 6, 2011, Bourousis agreed to a two-year contract with the Italian A League club Olimpia Milano.[14] In July 2013, Bourousis signed a contract with the Spanish League club Real Madrid.[15][16] With Real Madrid, Bourousis won the Spanish Supercup title in 2013, and the Spanish King's Cup title in 2014. In the summer of 2014, Real Madrid picked up their team option to keep him in the club for one more season.[17]

In the 2014–15 season, Bourousis won the EuroLeague 2014–15 season championship, after his team, Real Madrid, defeated his former team, Olympiacos, by a score of 78–59 at the 2015 EuroLeague Final Four.[18] Real Madrid also eventually finished the season winning the 2014–15 Spanish League championship, after a 3–0 series score in the ACB Finals against Barcelona. With that trophy, Bourousis' club won the Triple Crown.[19]

In September 2015, Bourousis signed a contract with the Spanish ACB team Saski Baskonia.[20] On December 30, 2015, he was named Spanish League Player of the Month, after being MVP of the week three times in the first half of the 2015–16 ACB season.[21] He repeated his win again as the Spanish League's Player of the Month in January 2016, after averaging 18.5 points and 7 rebounds per game, including 24 points scored in his team's win against Real Madrid.[22] On May 23, 2016, he was named the Spanish League's MVP of the 2015–16 season, after averaging 12.9 points, 7.1 rebounds, 2.2 assists, and 0.9 steals per game.[23]

On July 12, 2016, Bourousis signed a two-year contract with the Greek club Panathinaikos Athens.[24] On July 4, 2017, Panathinaikos announced the termination of Bourousis' contract.[25] On July 10, 2017, Bourousis signed with the Zhejiang Lions of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA).[26]

Bourousis spent the 2020–21 season with the Greek Basket League club Peristeri Athens. He averaged 6.6 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 1.9 assists per game. On September 28, 2021, Bourousis signed with ASK Karditsa of the Greek 2nd Division, where he played during the 2021–22 season.[27] After that season, he retired from playing pro club basketball.

National team career

Greek junior national team

Bourousis was a member of the Greek Under-20 junior national team that won the gold medal at the 2002 FIBA Europe Under-20 Championship, in Lithuania.

Greek senior national team
Bourousis shooting a free throw, during the 2015 EuroBasket

Bourousis was on the senior Greek national team that won the gold medal at the 2005 EuroBasket in Serbia, and he also played an instrumental role as Greece won the bronze medal at the 2009 EuroBasket. He was also a member of the Greek national teams that finished in fourth place at the 2007 EuroBasket, and in fifth place at the 2008 Summer Olympics.

During an international friendly game between the national teams of Greece and Serbia, during the 2010 Acropolis Tournament, the Serbian player, Nenad Krstić, hit Bourousis on the head with a chair. "I thought he was a fan attacking me", Krstić declared the next day. Bourousis first pressed charges against Krstić and decided to sue, but he quickly changed his mind and dropped the charges and the lawsuit.

Bourousis was also a member of the Greek men's national teams that competed at the: 2010 FIBA World Championship, the 2011 EuroBasket, the 2012 FIBA World Olympic Qualifying Tournament, the 2013 EuroBasket, the 2014 FIBA World Cup, the 2015 EuroBasket, the 2016 Turin FIBA World Olympic Qualifying Tournament, the 2017 EuroBasket, and the 2019 FIBA World Cup qualifiers.

Executive career

After he retired from playing professional club basketball, Bourousis began working as a basketball executive. In 2021, he became the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Greek basketball club ASK Karditsa.

Career statistics
Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field-goal percentage  3P%  3-point field-goal percentage  FT%  Free-throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game  PIR  Performance Index Rating
 Bold  Career high
† Denotes seasons in which Bourousis won the EuroLeague

EuroLeague
Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG PIR
2002–03 AEK Athens 306.0.429.0001.0002.0.0.0.02.7.0
2003–04 1207.9.500.000.4292.2.3.3.31.82.2
2004–05 18011.0.510.167.5003.7.3.4.43.44.6
2005–06 11823.3.438.333.8337.2.3.5.58.59.5
2006–07 Olympiacos 191316.0.678.409.7275.7.81.1.78.612.7
2007–08 211019.4.500.432.7695.2.5.51.25.89.0
2008–09 22721.3.591.259.6257.4.7.7.512.516.1
2009–10 17216.4.531.471.7654.8.7.9.68.810.9
2010–11 181117.5.530.367.6786.6.7.61.310.714.2
2011–12 Milano 151422.4.466.176.6886.4.5.7.79.010.6
2012–13 9824.1.573.385.7458.31.1.7.714.018.9
2013–14 Real Madrid 292921.0.524.353.8175.9.9.4.88.312.1
2014–15† 281011.8.505.200.7273.3.9.5.45.06.8
2015–16 Baskonia 29025.1.502.383.8118.72.2.8.814.521.1
2016–17 Panathinaikos 33718.2.399.291.7884.81.0.5.57.810.1
Career 28411918.2.513.345.7445.6.9.6.78.511.5

Domestic leagues
Season Team League GP MPG 2P% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2001–02AEK AthensGBL31.7.667--.6671.3.0.0.02.0
2002–0384.3.429----1.1.1.0.0.8
2003–042012.1.714--.6824.2.2.5.15.3
2004–052411.3.580.333.6493.9.4.2.34.7
2005–062525.5.558.321.7658.4.61.31.010.5
FC BarcelonaACB33.7.333----1.0.3.3.0.7
2006–07OlympiacosGBL2418.3.610.357.7757.2.8.71.19.8
2007–082519.9.660.405.7457.51.2.61.29.0
2008–093220.9.617.439.7427.5.9.7.911.9
2009–102617.9.560.200.7435.31.1.8.79.7
2010–113020.6.636.333.8176.61.21.01.111.7
2011–12MilanoLBA4319.0.622.347.7555.81.0.5.711.6
2012–133420.5.631.322.7696.81.1.7.611.5
2013–14Real MadridACB4018.7.591.236.8314.6.7.7.56.9
2014–153114.6.544.313.7333.7.9.4.45.2
2015–16BaskoniaACB3222.8.572.370.8817.12.2.9.212.9
2016–17PanathinaikosGBL3519.3.592.173.7415.61.6.6.610.7

Awards and accomplishments

Under-20

Senior

Club career
AEK Athens
Olympiacos
Real Madrid
Panathinaikos
ASK Karditsas

Individual

References
  1. ΜΠΟΥΡΟΥΣΗΣ Γιάννης | HEIGHT 2.15 (in Greek).
  2. Official Player Profile 2.15 m in height. archive.fiba.com. Retrieved on 2011-06-01.
  3. ΜΠΟΥΡΟΥΣΗΣ ΙΩΑΝΝΗΣ Ημερ.Γέννησης: 17-11-1983 Θέση/'Υψος: C / 2,15 (in Greek).
  4. MySanAntonio.com Greek center envisions future with the Spurs.
  5. RedPlanet.gr Πρόταση των Σπερς σε Μπουρούση (in Greek). Archived 2014-04-13 at the Wayback Machine
  6. MySanAntonio.com Greek center envisions future with the Spurs.
  7. Ioannis Bourousis re-signs with Olympiacos (in Lithuanian) Archived 2009-06-23 at the Wayback Machine. Krepsinis.net. Retrieved on 2011-06-01.
  8. Euroleague.net OLYMPIACOS: Three more years for Bourousis Archived 2009-06-25 at the Wayback Machine. Admin.euroleague.net. Retrieved on 2011-06-01.
  9. (in Greek) – Στο στόχαστρο της Οκλαχόμα ο Μπουρούσης (in Greek) Archived 2011-05-09 at the Wayback Machine. Redplanet.gr. Retrieved on 2011-06-01.
  10. Ekathimerini.com Bourousis caught up in doping scandal.
  11. Interbasket.net Greece: Ioannis Bourousis caught in Doping Scandal.
  12. RedPlanet.gr "Καθαρός" ο Μπουρούσης (in Greek). Archived 2012-04-22 at the Wayback Machine
  13. Pianetabasket.com Ioannis Bourousis è "pulito", firma un biennale con Milano! (in Italian).
  14. Milano inks Bourousis for two years.
  15. Euroleague.net REAL MADRID inks experienced big man Bourousis.
  16. "Real Madrid announced Ioannis Bourousis". Sportando. Retrieved 17 July 2013.
  17. "Ioannis Bourousis to stay with Real Madrid one more season". sportando.com. 24 June 2014. Retrieved 27 June 2015.
  18. "Real Madrid is Euroleague champion for record ninth time!". euroleague.net. 17 May 2015. Retrieved 18 July 2015.
  19. "Real Madrid make it 4 out of 4". marca.com (in Spanish). 24 June 2015. Retrieved 24 June 2015.
  20. "Ioannis Bourousis, new Laboral Kutxa Baskonia Player". baskonia.com. September 27, 2015.
  21. "MVP Movistar+ del mes de Diciembre" (in Spanish). ACB.com. 29 December 2015. Archived from the original on 29 December 2015. Retrieved 29 December 2015.
  22. "Ioannis Bourousis, MVP Movistar+ de Enero" (in Spanish). ACB.com. 2 February 2016. Archived from the original on 6 February 2016. Retrieved 2 February 2016.
  23. "Ioannis Bourousis, MVP Movistar+ de la Liga Endesa 2015-16" (in Spanish). ACB.com. 23 May 2016. Archived from the original on 6 June 2016. Retrieved 23 May 2016.
  24. Στα πράσινα ο Μπουρούσης (in Greek). Panathinaikos BC. 12 July 2016. Retrieved 12 July 2016.
  25. Panathinaikos parted ways with Bourousis.
  26. Ioannis Bourousis inks with Zhejiang Guangsha Lions.
  27. Mammides, Chris (September 28, 2021). "Karditsas ink Ioannis Bourousis". Eurobasket. Retrieved September 28, 2021.
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