Bourousis: “I was insulted!”

Long-time servant of the Greek national team, Ioannis Bourousis, admits he felt insulted by remarks made about him shortly after Rick Pitino’s appointment as head coach of the Ethniki.

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After nearly 20 years of service with the Greek national team, Ioannis Bourousis recently announced his retirement from international basketball as he turned the page on his career with the Ethniki.

Having helped Greece capture gold at EuroBasket 2005 and a silver medal at the 2006 FIBA World Championship, Bourousis has been a longstanding member of the Ethniki through the good times and the bad. Even in recent years while plying his trade in China, Bourousis has been a loyal servant to the Ethniki, not only at major tournaments but also during qualifying for events like the most recent FIBA World Cup.

While there is no questioning his loyalty to the national team, it’s no secret that Bourousis is a combative character. The last player to remain with the Ethniki from the golden generation of Greek basketball that was the early 2000s, Bourousis remained a leader within the ranks even with the likes of Giannis Antetokounmpo and Kostas Sloukas arriving on the scene in recent years.

That fiery side of Bourousis was brought to the forefront yet again during a recent appearance on SDNA’s WEBTV show Rebound, as Bourousis was asked to explain his decision to retire from the Ethniki.

“I had taken the decision at the beginning of the summer before the World Cup in China that I would retire from the Ethniki. I was very upset with our performance at the World Cup, and that played a major role in my decision to put my decision on hold for so many months,” Bourousis explained.

Bourousis announced his retirement from the Ethniki nearly one week after he was left off the 15-man squad for last month’s EuroBasket 2021 qualifiers against Bulgaria and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

“During my two years in China, upon my return to China (after international windows), it was very difficult to play,” Bourousis explained about his several excursions to and from Greece once the numerous World Cup qualifying windows wrapped-up.

“Nobody imposed it on me. Nobody told me, ‘you should come.’ I did it because I love the Ethniki. I love the Ethniki because it has given me both positive and negative results over the years. Ever since I started playing for the Ethniki, I made the decision of when to stop. I didn’t announce the decision right away because I was sad,” Bourousis divulged.

“But beyond that, there are reasons why I made this decision. To explain, I lost my father on Friday morning in Karditsa. On Monday afternoon, [Rick] Pitino is announced as head coach of the Ethniki. The funeral was on Sunday, and on Monday, I read about responses given by Pitino – not just about me, but other players – about how he doesn’t know who Ioannis Bourousis is. I’m not nobody. I played basketball with four screws in my knee. But when I hear the head coach of the national team doesn’t know who I am, and not just me but other players, I felt insulted,” Bourousis revealed.

Pitino was brought on to coach Greece at the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in hopes of steering the Ethniki to the Olympics in Tokyo, but his appointment wasn’t met with open arms across the Greek basketball landscape.

Pitino’s appointment was met with plenty of criticism from Olympiacos due to Pitino’s ties with Panathinaikos, which only intensified once Pitino agreed to return to the Panathinaikos bench while awaiting to coach the Ethniki.

 Before wrapping up the interview, Bourousis also suggested that he has more to discuss in the months to come, but explained he didn’t want to discuss matters any further during the coronavirus pandemic. He did mention, however, that there are people that want to do harm to the national team and that he will “publically name and embarrass these people soon.’ To put it in his own words “Θα τους ξεβρακώσω δημοσίως.” 

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