Aris B.C.
Aris Basketball Club known in European competitions as 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.
Aris B.C. is one of the most legendary and successful Greek basketball clubs of all time, tallying ten Greek League championships and eight Greek Cups, making the Double four times. They have also won three European titles: the FIBA European Cup, the FIBA Korać Cup and the FIBA Europe Champions Cup. They are also one of only two non-relegated teams from the Greek League, with participation in every Greek First Division Championship until today. Aris holds the record for the most consecutive wins in the Greek League, with an impressive 80 wins in a row. Before the arrival of Nikos Galis to Aris, and the first European successes of the team, Greek basketball wasn't as competitive as the sport was in other European countries. Consequently, Aris helped to establish basketball in Greece and to increase its popularity across the country greatly.
Under the leadership of the legendary duo of Nikos Galis and Panagiotis Giannakis, Aris was the dominant 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. 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. The historic win of the FIBA Korać Cup in the 1996–97 season in particular, bolstered the notion that Aris has a unique place in the history of Greek basketball, and in the history of Greek sports in general.
Well-known notable players that have played with the club over the years, among others, 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 still new to Greece then, 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 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, with Galis taking the game in Greece to new heights, showing coordination and creativity that was then unprecedented in Greek courts, and almost beating powerhouse rivals like Olympiacos and Panathinaikos single-handed. That year also marked the return of Giannis Ioannidis to the Aris bench as coach.A very successful 1983–1984 season had a bitter ending, 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, under dubious circumstances. A taste of things to come, however, had been offered during Aris' games against Maccabi Tel Aviv in the qualifying round for the first-tier level FIBA European Champions Cup, in the fall of 1983. Aris was narrowly eliminated by the very powerful 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)
Disappointment did not get much in the way of Aris' progress. With the financial support of Akis Michailides, a successful Greek businessman and President of the team, one of the most crucial transfers ever in the Greek League occurred after the 1983–1984 season, when Aris brought Panagiotis Giannakis to the team from Ionikos Nikaias. Nikos Galis now had a first-class partner. The result was total carnage for the opposing teams. The lethal back court blazed through the Greek League for seven consecutive years, with the help of players such as Nikos Filippou, Michalis Romanidis, Lefteris Subotić, Georgios Doxakis, Vassilis Lipiridis, and others, winning 7 Greek League championships, and 5 Greek Cups. 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.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.Aris formed the backbone of the senior Greece men's national basketball team, sending Galis, Giannakis, Filippou, Romanidis, and Lipiridis. 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 qualifying round. Having been unceremoniously eliminated by Limoges CSP of the French League in 1985, Aris was arbitrarily paired against Tracer Milano in the qualifying round. An insurmountable task, considering that Tracer were arguably the best team in Europe, and furthermore had acquired Bob McAdoo, possibly the best American player to ever play in Europe. Aris, sporting Nikos Galis, Panagiotis Giannakis, Lefteris Subotić, and a third rate American player, Jackson, managed an unbelievable 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 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
The most important contribution of Aris to Greek basketball, was the establishment of the sport in Greece as an almost pure viewing spectacle. Aris elevated the measly standards that previously existed among Greek teams, to new heights that demanded the attention of the sports fans. It was a team that mesmerized audiences that were used to boring styles of play, and showed flashes of brilliance night in and night out. The fervent desire to see the team they supported win, quite evident in the Greek people, succumbed to the enjoyment that the fans received from watching a team perform in such an entertaining fashion, even while dismantling their opponents.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.