Mike Ulmer has worked for seven news organizations including the National Post and, most recently, the Toronto Sun. Mike has written about the Toronto sports scene for more than 10 years and has penned several books on sports and culture.

June 29, 2007

(TORONTO) -- Giorgos Printezis was a fan of the Toronto Raptors even before he came one.

“Always when I traveled across the U.S.A.,” he said, “they were one of my favourite teams. I know it’s a good organization and it’s a team that likes European players,”

Giorgos Printezis was happy to hear that he is the latest Raptor. (NBAE/Getty Images)

No arguing that. By trading for Printezis, a 22-year-old who played last season for Olympiakos Pireus, the Raptors have added yet another European based player to supplement Americans Chris Bosh and T.J. Ford.

The Raptors now have a player from Italy (Andrea Bargnani), Argentina (Carlos Delfino), Spain (Jose Calderon and Jorge Garbajosa) and Slovenia (Rasho Nesterovic and Uros Slokar)

The Raptors acquired Printezis from the San Antonio Spurs on draft night for next year’s second round choice.

The NBA champion Spurs chose Printezis 58th or three choices from the end of the draft.

He is under contract for one more year with Olympiakos and didn’t want to put a timetable on when he would be ready for the league.

“It’s day-by-day, step-by-step,” he said. “When I’m ready I want to come, maybe now, maybe one year, maybe two years.”

Printezis lept on to the radar screens of coaches with a good performance at the Rbk Eurocamp in mid-June in Treviso, home of Raptors assistant GM Mauricio Gherardini. He had averaged 11.5 points and four rebounds in 24 games with Olimpia GE Larisa in the Greek A1 League. He also delivered a terrific .590 shooting percentage.

Scouting reports peg Printezis as a small forward or power forward who can defend and get to the basket. He is powerfully built and has both small forward and power forward.

Printezis knew he had turned heads at the camp and journeyed to New York for the draft. He said he remained confident he would not be passed over “until 50. I wasn’t nervous. But when the draft got past 54, I was a little more nervous.”