VASSILIS SPANOULIS

VASSILIS SPANOULIS

Vassilis Spanoulis ( Βασίλης Σπανούλης) (born August 7, 1982) is a Greek professional basketball player . A 1.93 m tall combo guard , he is nicknamed Kill Bill, V-Span, and MVP ("Most Vassilis Player"). Spanoulis was named the Balkan Athlete of the Year in 2009, the All-Europe Player of the Year in 2012, and the Euroleague MVP in 2013. He has earned five All-Euroleague Team selections.

Spanoulis first played for Gymnastikos S. Larissa, and enjoyed a highly successful career start, winning theGreek Basket League's Best Young Player  award in 2002. His skill-set earned him a transfer to  Athens and Maroussi and then to Panathinaikos. 

In the 2005-6 Euroleague season , Spanoulis made his debut in an impressive fashion, earning his first All-Eurolegue Team  selection as a rookie in the competition. After a stint in the NBA with the Houston Rockets during the 2006-7 season , he returned to Panathinaikos and helped to lead them to a Euroleague title in 2009, being voted as the Euroleague Final Four MVP . Spanoulis' transfer to Olympiakos in 2010, marked a new step in his career. Within a young and rebuilding team, Spanoulis not only led a Euroleague title run in 2012, but went on to achieve a historical repeat in 2013 . In the process he gained another two Euroleague Final Four MVP awards.

Spanoulis played an instrumental role on the Greek National Team's FIBA Eurobasket 2005  gold medal team. Most importantly, he was one of the main stars of Greece's 2006 Fiba World Championship  silver medal team. It was however, Greece's bronze medal at the FIBA Eurobasket 2009, that emphasized Spanoulis' leadership within an injury-plagued Greek national team, consequently earning an All-Eurobasket Team honor. 

 Spanoulis was a key member of the Greek national junior team at the FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship  in the year 2000 where Greece won the bronze  medal. Spanoulis was on the Greek national junior team that finished in first place, and thus won the gold medal, at the 2002 FIBA Europe Under 20 Championship . During the 2002 FIBA Europe Under-20 championship final game, Spanoulis sank two clutch free throws, with just 13 seconds remaining on the game clock, to clinch a win over the Spanish national junior team, and win the gold.

Spanoulis also played with Greece's national team at the 2001 Mediterranean Games where Greece won the silver medal.  He was a part of Greece's team when Greece  beat both Australia and Germany, whose team included NBA star Dirk Nowitziki , to win the tournament. Spanoulis led Greece in scoring during the tournament.

Spanoulis was named the MVP, of both the 2007 and 2009 Acropolis Tournaments, in Athens, and he also won the same tournament 8 times with the Greek national team, in the years 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2013.

Fans have dubbed him V-Span and Kill Bill. He is the first and only Greek-born player to play for the Houston Rockets, and only the third Greek-born player to play in the NBA. His basketball idol, and favorite player as a kid, was Michael Jordan .

1. Vassilis Spanoulis is a
a. footballer
b. basketball player
c. tennis player
d. soccer player

2. Spanoulis has played for ......... team
a. Panathinaikos
b. Olymbiakos
c. Maroussi
d. All the above

3. Spanoulis has the nickname:
a. Kill John
b. Kill Bill
c. Kill Tom
d. Kill Tim