NBA scout for Linos Chrysikopoulos

He has been named "the next best thing" of Greek basketball and he has the potential to fulfill that.


Linos Chrysikopoulos(2.03-SF/PF) could potentially play all 5 positions in the court and he is still not 18. He will become 18 on the 1st of December and he will be called by his team to sign his first pro contract with them. Rumors say that he will be signing a 5 season contract with Aris although there is great interest by the likes of teams of Olympiakos and Panathinaikos.

But it doesn't stop there. According to athlitikanea.gr, the international scout of the Portland Blazers, Jason Fillippi, has come to Thessaloniki in order to inspect the player up close. He was unfortunate though because the player was injured lightly and had to stay out of the game against PAOK last Saturday. Filippi asked permission to see the team's practice session on Monday evening. He said : "I've been watching Linos ever since he started playing for the young National Teams of Greece. We're very much interested in his development and I wanted to see him play in a strong game but I'll ask permission to see the team's practice session on Monday. Let's hope that he will be healthy and that he will be able to take part in it."

Linos Chrysikopoulos is not very known to the public and although he has clearly NBA potential his name has stayed out of the international limelight for quite some time. He did make his presence felt last summer at
the Treviso Eurocamp being one of the youngest athletes there. Chrysikopoulos has been seeing some minutes lately as a player of Aris and at the moment he posesses mostly a defensive role in the team. That's something he can do quite well being aided by his 7'' wingspan and his knowledge of the game which puts in the right place and at the right time. In the U-16 National team he was playing point guard in offense and center in defense. Clearly he needs to improve many aspects of his game, including his shooting touch but with hard work he could be seeing a decent position in a future NBA Draft selection. On the other hand Olympiakos  and Panathinaikos will be certain to try and sign him in one way or another as part of their "cold war" of sorts. Signing players just for the sake of signing..

As time goes by he is sure to get even more playing time and even more attention from teams in Europe and the NBA. We'll be coming back to his case in the not so distant future. The 1st of December is not very far..


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