Amateur Career 1994-1999

Spanoulis, a 6'4"/1.93m play maker guard began his basketball career with the Keravnos Larissa youth teams in Greece. He was a member of the Greek bronze medal team at the 2000 European Junior Championship, and won a gold medal at the 2002 European Under 20 Championship with the Greek team. During the 2002 European Under 20 gold championship game he sank two clutch free throws with just 13 seconds remaining in the game to clinch a win over Spain in the gold medal game.

Pro Career 1999-Current

His professional debut was with Gymnastikos S. Larissas in the Greek A2 League during the 1999-00 season. Two years later he signed with Maroussi Athens of the Greek A1 League and played there until 2005. He signed with Panathinaikos Athens of the Greek A1 League in 2005 and played there for one year. In 2006 he signed a 3 year contract with the Houston Rockets of the NBA.

Vasileios Spanoulis

Position	Point guard
Nickname	Kill Bill, V-Span
League	NBA
Height	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
Weight	195 lb (89 kg)
Team	Houston Rockets
Nationality	Greece
Born	August 7, 1982 (age 24) Larissa, Greece
Draft	2nd round, 50th overall, 2004 Dallas Mavericks
Pro career	1999–present
Former teams	Keravnos Larissa (1999–2001) Maroussi BC (2001–2005) Panathinaikos (2005–2006)

2005-2006 Season

In 2005 he signed with Panathinaikos Athens and won the Greek A1 League championship and cup. He played in the 2005 Greek All Star Game, and was also selected to the 2005-06 All-Euroleague 2nd Team [1].

It was a very unusual accomplishment for a guard to make the All-Euroleague team in his rookie Euroleague season. Spanoulis also finished 10th in the MVP voting for the Euroleague, a great accomplishment for a rookie. This combined with his having already been acquired by the Houston Rockets led to him being called, "The Rocket Man" by his Panathinaikos teammates. He was also dubbed, "The Chosen One" by Panathinaikos head basketball coach Željko Obradović.

Obradović claimed that Spanoulis had the best rookie season of any guard in the history of the Euroleague. This is likely true as in his rookie season Spanoulis was the team's leading scorer even though he often came off of the bench and didn't play major minutes on a stacked team at the guard spots. His team won the Greek championship and Greek cup, and made the quarter finals of the Euroleague championship, with Spanoulis often leading the team in scoring throughout game competition. He won the Euroleague MVP of the week twice during the season [2]. Spanoulis was also voted as the 7th best professional basketball player internationally for the year [3] FIBA. The list included NBA players, among them 2006-2007 National Basketball Association Most Valuable Player Award winner Dirk Nowitzki, who finished 3rd on the list of FIBA's best international players for the year 2005-2006 and Tony Parker the 2007 NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Award winner, who finished 8th. NBA players Pau Gasol and Boris Diaw finished 2nd and 6th respectively. Spanoulis' first Euroleague season was statistically better than Manu Ginobili's last Euroleague season.

Spanoulis averaged 15.5 points and 3.1 assists in 23 games of Euroleague play with Panathinaikos AO Athens for the season. He also shot 61.8% from the field and 36.8% from 3-point range [4]. In Europe assists are counted differently than they are in the NBA and it is widely accepted that assist totals from Europe can be doubled for an NBA statistical comparison. Therefore his assist average would be the equivalent of 6.2 assists per game using NBA score keeping methods.

The European 3 point line is about 20 feet 6 inches from the basket, while the NBA 3 point line is about 23 feet 9 inches from the basket. The NCAA college 3 point line is about 19 feet 9 inches from the basket. This means that statistically Spanoulis' 3 point shooting percentage of 36.8% in the Euroleague would translate roughly to about 38.2% in the NCAA and to about 31.8% in the NBA (both figures without adjusting for the differences in the levels of competition). Meaning Spanoulis is not an efficient 3 point shooter by NBA standards, but is by European or college standards.

International Career

Spanoulis was a member of the Greece national basketball team during the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. He was a part of the Gold Medal team Panathinaikos at the Eurobasket 2005, the European Championship. Spanoulis helped to lead the Greek national team to the Silver Medal at the 2006 FIBA World Championship World basketball championship.

NBA Career 2006-Current

In July 2006, Spanoulis signed a three-year deal (2 years guaranteed) with the Houston Rockets who bought out his contract from Panathinaikos. The contract was worth $5,832,000[5], in addition to his $400,000 buyout. The Rockets had acquired the rights to Spanoulis on draft night 2004, when Houston swapped draft pick #55 Luis Flores and cash considerations of $300,000 for #50 (Spanoulis).

Using advanced saber metrics stats data and properly adjusting them for the differences in the levels of competition between the Euroleague and the NBA Spanoulis' 2005-2006 Euroleague stats translate to the NBA as follows per 36 minutes played (or 3 full quarters of game playing time):

36.0 Minutes Per Game 45.2% Field Goal% 32.2% 3 Point Field Goal% 80.1% Free Throw% 14.6 Points Per Game 6.2 Assists Per Game 3.2 Rebounds Per Game 1.4 Steals Per Game 3.5 Turnovers Per Game

Those would be Spanoulis' NBA rookie season stats based on 36 minutes of consistent playing time using the advanced saber metrics data systems. This was one of the main reasons why Spanoulis was signed by Houston because their then Assistant General Manager (now General Manager) Daryl Morey is a stats guru who greatly emphasizes these sorts of barometers for gaging the abilities of players.

2006-2007 NBA season

Spanoulis' NBA rookie season in 2006-07 season saw limited playing time in his rookie season with Houston averaging 8.7 minutes per game, scoring 2.7 points per game on 31.9% field goal shooting, in 31 games played off the bench. [6]

During Spanoulis' first NBA season there was a dispute between him and the team's head coach Jeff Van Gundy over playing time. Much of this stemmed from the team's General Manager Carroll Dawson having promised Spanoulis about 20 minutes of playing time each game off the bench, playing at both of the guard spots. There was an issue between the team's management, Spanoulis, and the coach as well over the contract that Spanoulis had signed. In order to sign with the Rockets and fulfill his dreams of playing in the NBA, Spanoulis took a considerably smaller contract than the one that was being offered to him by his Greek team Panathinaikos. He still had one year under his contract with Panathinaikos, but his buyout was small and could be paid by the Rockets. Panathinkaikos countered the Rockets contract offer of $5,832,000 US dollars (equivalent to 4,665,600 Euros at the time) over 3 years with an offer of 13,200,000 Euros over 5 years, a contract that at the time (July 18th, 2006) was worth the equivalent of $16,500,000.

This meant that Spanoulis essentially agreed to play for Houston at a price of $1,944,000 per season for 3 years, passing up on Panathinaikos' offer of $3,300,000 per season over 5 years, just for a chance of playing in the NBA. Since Spanoulis gave up a total of $10,668,000 in order to play for the Rockets and was promised playing time in return as one of the contract negotiations, it led to a falling out between Spanoulis and the team's coach Van Gundy, after Van Gundy benched Spanoulis, citing that rookie players are dangerous for coaches that are in contract years and that Spanoulis was too foul prone and lacking in outside shooting touch to be a good fit in Van Gundy's offensive system. Van Gundy was in fact in a contract year, as he had just an option year left on his coaching contract with Houston.

Trivia

• Because of his long name, fans have dubbed him V-Span and Kill Bill.
  
• The correct pronunciation of his name is Va-SILL-is spa-NOO-lis.
  
• He is the first Greek player to play for the Houston Rockets.
  
• The premature death of his father (in 1996 or 1997??), pressured his brother Dimitris, who is 3 years older than him, to take up the role of protector. For this reason the two brothers share a special bond with each other, although they both agree that their biggest weakness is their mother who has never stood in the way of their choices in life.
  
• His brother Dimitrios is also a basketball player and has a tattoo of his father's likeness on his arm. He is also responsible for bringing the basketball "bug" into the Spanoulis family.
  
• Vassilis speaks Greek, English and Italian.
  
• His hobbies are watching television, listening to music, playing pool and social relations.
  
• Best friends with Nikos Zisis (fellow national Greek team player, formerly with AEK BC Athens and now plays with Benetton Treviso) and Rodrick Blackney, with whom he played at Maroussi BC.
  
• Dubbed "The Greek Steve Nash" in many FIBA basketball circles.
  
  

Player profile

“He’s a very versatile ball handler,” Rockets general manager Carroll Dawson said. “He’s a good finisher and a very good prospect. He wants to be a great player. Everybody is going to like this young man because he is a very hard-nosed player. We have watched his progress very closely,” Dawson said. “It’s a big adjustment to come to the NBA from Europe, but he is a hard worker.”[7]

Teams

• Gymnastikos S. Larisas [[8]] (A2 Ethniki): 1994-1998-1999-2001.
  
• Keraunvos Larissa [[9]] (GRE-B): 1998-1999
  
• Maroussi Athens (A1 Ethniki): 2001-2005.
  
• Panathinaikos (A1 Ethniki): 2005-2006.
  
• Houston Rockets (NBA): 2006-2007.
  

Links

Professional Statistics 1999-2007

Season	Team	League	Games	FG%	3PT%	FT%	Points Per Game
1999-00	Gymnastikos S. Larisas	A2 Ethniki	13	47.8	23.5	66.7	6.9
2000-01	Gymnastikos S. Larisas	A2 Ethniki	26	43.9	25.8	65.3	8.2
2001-02	Maroussi BC	A1 Ethniki	12	48.9	16.7	65.0	4.9
2002-03	Maroussi BC	A1 Ethniki	29	42.2	27.8	75.0	10.3
2003-04	Maroussi BC	A1 Ethniki	33	45.6	36.1	82.7	11.1
2004-05	Maroussi BC	A1 Ethniki	35	42.1	37.8	82.5	15.9
2004-05	Maroussi BC	ULEB Cup	12	47.2	40.0	81.6	15.2
2004-05	Maroussi BC Totals	FIBA	47	43.3	38.3	82.3	15.7
2005-06	Panathinaikos BC	A1 Ethniki	34	44.6	36.7	77.9	11.0
2005-06	Panathinaikos BC	Euroleague	23	53.4	36.8	78.0	14.6
2005-06	Panathinaikos BC Totals	FIBA	57	48.6	36.7	78.0	12.4
1999-2006	European Career Totals	FIBA	217	45.2	34.3	77.8	11.4
2006-07	Houston Rockets	NBA	31	31.9	17.2	80.9	2.7