Aris Basketball Club (, transliterated into English Aris B.S.A.)euroleaguebasketball.net Aris BSA 2009–10, team profile known in European competitions as Aris Thessaloniki,euroleaguebasketball.net Aris Thessaloniki is the professional basketball team of the major Thessaloniki-based Greek multi-sport club A.C. Aris Thessaloniki. Aris BC was founded in 1914. Their traditional home arena is Alexandreio Melathron (Nick Galis Hall).
Aris B.C. is one of the most successful Greek basketball clubs of all time, tallying ten Greek League championships and eight Greek Cups, making the Double four times (1986–87, 1987–88, 1988–89, 1989–90). They have also won three European titles: the FIBA European Cup (1992–93), the FIBA Korać Cup (1996–97), and the FIBA Europe Champions Cup (2002–03). They are one of only two non-relegated teams from the Greek League, with participation in every Greek First Division Championship until today (the other team is Panathinaikos). Aris holds the record for the most consecutive wins in the Greek League, with 80 wins in a row. Before the arrival of Nikos Galis to Aris, and the first European successes of the team. Aris helped to establish basketball in Greece and to increase its popularity in the country.
Under the leadership of Nikos Galis and Panagiotis Giannakis, Aris was a significant force in Greek basketball during the 1980s and early 1990s. It is for this period of dominance that Aris BC has been nicknamed "The Emperor", and was voted the most successful Greek sporting club of the 20th century.Arisbc.gr Club Records. Aris is also one of the most renowned Greek clubs in European basketball, participating in three consecutive FIBA European Champions Cup Final Fours, and later on winning three lower-tier level European titles. This period also included winning the FIBA Korać Cup in the 1996–97 season.
Notable players that have played with the club over the years include: Nikos Galis, Panagiotis Giannakis, Nikos Filippou, Lefteris Subotić, Miroslav Pecarski, Stojko Vranković, Mike Jones, Walter Berry, Edgar Jones, Roy Tarpley, Reggie Theus, Panagiotis Liadelis, Harold Ellis, José "Piculín" Ortiz, Mario Boni, Žarko Paspalj, Martin Müürsepp, Tiit Sokk, Mikhail Mikhailov, Joe Arlauckas, Giorgos Sigalas, Andrew Betts, Nikos Chatzivrettas, Nestoras Kommatos, Will Solomon, Michalis Kakiouzis, Dimos Dikoudis, Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf, Jeremiah Massey, Kostas Papanikolaou, Kostas Sloukas, Dinos Mitoglou, Aleksandar Vezenkov, Bryant Dunston, and Vasileios Toliopoulos.
History
Early history
Aris B.C., the basketball branch of Aris Thessaloniki AC, was founded in 1922, 8 years after the founding of Aris AC. The sport of basketball was new to Greece, having been introduced in the country in 1919. In those days, the teams shared a single open-air court, and Aris competed in the local Thessaloniki regional championship, which it won 5 times, in the years 1926–30. During these first steps of the sport, it was significant also the contribution of the Armenian community of the city, with players like Exoutzian, Daneilian, Benlian, Marasian, Kontaxian, Karabetian, Isujian and Jamjian.
The first nationwide Greek Championship was held in 1927–28, and Aris BC won its first Greek championship title on 23 April 1930, after beating ΧΑΝΘ with a score of 32–22. Aris quickly created a remarkable tradition in basketball, with notable figures, like Faidon Matthaiou (considered the Patriarch of Greek basketball) and Anestis Petalidis, who was coach of the team for almost two decades.
The first appearance by Aris in an official international European-wide competition was during the 1966–67 season, when they participated in the 2nd-tier level European Cup Winner's Cup, as the Greek League runners-up. From that season onward, Aris acquired the Alexandreio Melathron as its home court, which it still is to this day.
Legendary years: Galis, Giannakis and Ioannidis era (1978–1993)
1978–79 Greek Champions
The post-World War II Greek League period was marked by the dominance of basketball teams from Athens, but this all began to change in 1979. In that year, Aris won their first Greek League championship in the modern era, largely through the inspired play of Charis Papageorgiou, and the coaching of Giannis Ioannidis, an ex-player of the team. It helped provide the spark for the complete domination of Greek basketball by Aris, during the second half of the 1980s and the early 1990s.
Nikos Galis arrives (1979)
If that first Greek championship was the spark, then the fuel for Aris' brilliant stint at the top of the sport was undoubtedly Nikos Galis, thought by many Greek basketball fans to be the best Greek basketball player of all time, and one of the best ever in Europe. Galis, the son of Rhodian immigrants from New Jersey, signed on to the team in October 1979, and played his first game against Iraklis in December of that year, scoring 30 points. Fred Develey, the former coach of Maccabi Tel Aviv, who later became coach of Aris, was instrumental in convincing the management that Galis would not only change Greek basketball, but that he would change also Greek basketball in Europe. The management was more concerned about his lack of height than his ability, until they saw him play.
1982–83 Greek Champions It would take another four years for Aris to rise to the top of the Greek League again, winning the national championship in 1983. That year also marked the return of Giannis Ioannidis to the Aris bench as coach.
A successful 1983–1984 season ended as Aris battled for both the Greek League championship and the Greek Cup, but lost the national cup final to crosstown rivals PAOK, and the league championship game to Panathinaikos. During Aris' games against Maccabi Tel Aviv in the qualifying round for the first-tier level FIBA European Champions Cup (EuroLeague), in the fall of 1983. Aris was narrowly eliminated by an Israeli League team, but not before posting an away win at Tel Aviv, something that no other European team had managed to do for many years.
The coming of Giannakis and the domination in Greece
1985–1991: 7 consecutive Greek Championships (5 Doubles) With the financial support of Akis Michailides, a successful Greek businessman and President of the team, Aris brought Panagiotis Giannakis to the team from Ionikos Nikaias, to play alongside players such as Nikos Filippou, Michalis Romanidis, Lefteris Subotić, Georgios Doxakis, Vassilis Lipiridis, and others, winning 7 Greek League championships, and 5 Greek Cups (with one Greek Cup being lost to Panathinaikos in 1986, as Galis performed poorly in a single-elimination game in Athens). Especially between 1985 and 1988, the question was not who the Greek League champion would be, but if Aris would go undefeated or not, as the club won an unparalleled 80 games in a row at one point.Eurocup Aris article.
European distinction
In the 1984–1985 season came Aris' first significant European success: Aris reached the semifinals of the 3rd-tier level FIBA Korać Cup, eventually losing to Ciaocrem Varese of the Italian League, and without the services of Galis for the first game in Thessaloniki (he was injured in practice 3 days before the game).
Aris formed the backbone of the senior Greece men's national basketball team, sending Galis, Giannakis, Filippou, Romanidis, and Lipiridis (to help Greece win the gold medal at the EuroBasket 1987, and the silver medal at the EuroBasket 1989). The back court combination of Galis-Giannakis first came to European prominence at the 1986 FIBA World Championship in Spain, where upstarts Greece performed surprisingly well, while Galis won the top-scorer of the tournament award.
It was during that year, 1986, that Aris made headlines in Europe in the FIBA European Champions Cup (EuroLeague) qualifying round. Having been eliminated by Limoges CSP of the French League in 1985 (1985–86 season), Aris was paired against Tracer Milano in the qualifying round. Tracer were arguably the best team in Europe, and had acquired Bob McAdoo, possibly the best American player to play in Europe. Aris, sporting Nikos Galis, Panagiotis Giannakis, Lefteris Subotić, and another American player, Jackson, managed a win in Thessaloniki, by 31 points, almost assuring the elimination of Tracer, and an advancement into the final group of the 6 best European teams. However, the return leg game saw Olimpia win by 34 points, thus eliminating Aris. Galis was absent due to an injury problem.
Aris had to wait for another year to compete in Europe again, but their strength had been established. In 1987, Aris was not paired against an established FIBA European Champions' Cup (now called EuroLeague) team, and thus advanced to the final round of the 8 best European champions. The same was achieved in the next four years, and while Aris did not win the FIBA European Champions' Cup, they were very successful in the tournaments, reaching the Final Four of the tournament in 1988, 1989, and 1990. By then, Aris had become a household name in basketball in Europe.
Favourite team in Greece Aris is often attributed with increasing engagement in Greek basketball. Primarily through the play of Nikos Galis, the team drew a much larger fanbase than before by popularizing a more flashy, entertainment-oriented style of play. This approach differed from the more conventional styles used by many other teams at the time, and shifted spectators’ expectations toward basketball as a form of entertainment as well as competition.
Greek League arenas were completely sold out wherever Aris was playing, the opponents' fans were applauding Aris for their performance, and many of the streets in towns and cities were empty when Aris played European games. As Greeks throughout the country were glued to their TV sets, to watch the inspired play of Galis and company. Such was the impact that basketball briefly overtook football as the most popular sport in Greece. For example, Aris was playing basketball with other European teams every Thursday night. From that time, and even up until 2003, every Thursday night, cinemas in Greece offered tickets at reduced prices.
The Aris–PAOK rivalry
A special reference must be made to the rivalry between Aris and PAOK. The two clubs are fierce rivals in all sports, but the Aris and PAOK basketball face-offs had a distinct flavor between 1985 and 1992, as they were the top two basketball teams in Greece at that time.
The most memorable game between Aris and PAOK was the third playoff game between the two teams in 1991. Aris had a two-game lead, after winning the first two games of the series, but PAOK managed to even the score with two victories in the first two playoff games, so, naturally, they had the momentum going into the fifth game of the best-of-seven series. PAOK was up by four points, almost 10 seconds before the end of that fifth game. Aris's Panagiotis Giannakis scored a quick two-point basket, reducing the deficit to two points. A sloppy in-bounds pass from PAOK was then stolen by Aris' Dinos Angelidis, who then passed the ball to Nikos Galis, who (while being guarded by a frenzied John Korfas) started to penetrate, but then Galis passed the ball to Giannakis, who drilled a three-pointer at the buzzer. Aris went on to win the next playoff game, and thus win the 1991 Greek League championship.
1992–93 FIBA European Cup Winners
In 1992, Aris won the Greek Cup, versus AEK. That Greek Cup Final marked Galis' last game with Aris. The player who almost by himself, had made basketball hugely popular in Greece, had won 8 Greek League championships and 6 Greek Cups with Aris, in 13 years.