Nikos finished his glorious career this summer after playing 21 years professionally. He started off at AEK as a young, up & coming prospect playing for “Duda” Ivkovic before moving abroad early on. Nikos played in 5 different countries outside of Greece…First one being Italy before moving to Russia to play for CSKA, his university as he called it. He also played for the top clubs like Siena, Bilbao, Unics, Fenerbahce, Bamberg & Joventut before returning to AEK to finish where he started it all.

During his career he managed to win the Euroleague with CSKA (2008), countless domestic titles in Greece, Italy, Russia & Germany as well as numerous National Team achievements while playing for his home-country. He grew up with one of the best generations that came out of Greece with whom he managed to become European Champion in 2005, Runner-Up in the World Cup 2006 and Bronze Medal winner in the Euros of 2009.

Today we talked mostly about his professional journey, how he built his career abroad rather than staying at AEK. Nikos opened up about HOW & WHY it happened. He also opened up about what “Duda” Ivkovic meant to him as a young player, how important he actually was as a mentor and coach for young players. Nikos left to play in Treviso, Italy at a young age and told me about the cultural adjustments he had to make, the homesickness as well as the importance of learning the language. He later talked about the role adjustment he had to go through when he joined CSKA and what it means to play for a big team in the Euroleague…the pressures that come with it and how not to lose the joy along the way. We touched on his game-day routine as well as how he decompresses afterwards. I also asked Nikos about scouting reports and what he thinks is necessary these days. Enjoy this episode with “A Pro’s Pro”!

Topics:

- A day without Social Media
- Mentoring Young Players
- Maturity/AEK/Coach Duda
- Building Career Abroad
- Cultural Experiences
- New Role / “CSKA University”
- Complex Team Dynamics
- Game-Day Routines
- Dealing with Highs & Lows
- Pressure of Playing for Top Teams
- Scouting Reports
- Retirement + Being ordinary
- No Identity Shift
- Quick Hitters
- Honesty

Finding Nikos:

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/nikos.zisis6/
Twitter - https://twitter.com/nik683

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