“Hola Greece! For the third year in a row, October finds us is Spain. This time dressed in the colors of Caxasol, a team that I believe can become the new force in league ACB. However, I am sure that the Eurobasket is still a subject that is talked about in Greece and most of you are not interested in what is happening now in Spain, but what happened 15 days ago. Because of the distance, it was impossible to give a normal press conference, but everything can happen through the net. So, I was eager to answer to all the questions by the reporters, concerning the National team and any other subject”.

- Do you believe that because of the absence of Fotsis you should have played more in Spain? (supersport.gr)
ΜΚ: «if I were a coach, I would use myself for 40 minutes and that is what any player would do. I think that the absence of Fotsis changed the plans of the team and that influenced me as well. Honestly, I have no complaints. At this team there are 12 very qualified players and it is not easy for the coach to split the minutes. We have to respect the decisions of the coach”. 

- Nikos Xatzivrettas stopped playing for the National team. Has Mihalis Kakiouzis thought about this subject? (newspaper Sportime)
ΜΚ: "I wont’ be playing until I am 40. I have revealed my dream and you can read about it at the last pages of my book. A success or a failure cannot change my dreams. My opinion about the subject is the same. Even if a player has things to offer there is a time that he must go, in order to give his place to the next generation. Nobody has a contract with the National team. And I will not take advantage of being a captain in order to be in the team forever. I am sure there will be great players to continue in the place of those who will decide to stop. Greek basketball has a present, but the important thing is that it also has a future”.

-After all those prophecies and an important contribution in the last tournaments, didn’t you believe that your participation in the Eurobasket would be a little bigger? (newspaper Vima)
ΜΚ: "You can’t win time in the team with prophecies! Giannakis has helped me very much and I repeat that he did the best for the team. I have no right to judge him”.

- Olympiakos denied that he made an offer to you. Do you insist that they did and did you have offers also form Panathinaikos and Aris? (magazine All star basket)  
ΜΚ: "when I say something, I don’t do it to impress. Of course everybody can say whatever he wants. They know and I know. I am not a kid to tell stories”. 

- Does the… gang remain united? Or have the doors closed for some players in the team/ (superbasket.gr) 
ΜΚ: "For me it was and it remains united. I don’t know what will happen in the future but the atmosphere is hard to change. I believe that we are more united after the 4th place we took this year. Next time we will want even more to win a medal. And I am sure that if we are not unlucky like this year, we will return from China with something… shinny”.

- Why did the team not play well, even at the games that it won? Which is the most important reason in your opinion? (supersport.gr)

- Just one question: Will you play in the pre-olympic tournament? (newspaper Eleftherotipia)
ΜΚ: «Of course I will. I never thought of quitting at this moment”.

- Hi Mihalis. I do not doubt that all you players are crazy about the National team. But the schedule of FIBA and ULEB does not leave you time to rest. So aren’t you tired? Will you play at the pre-olympic tournament, or will you announce that you won’t like Papaloukas and Dikoudis? (www.basketme.com)
ΜΚ: «I have said in the past that the experts of FIBA and ULEB that make the calendar are anything but experts. They know nothing about sports. Every summer there is an important tournament. Next year we will play at the pre-olympic ant then the Olympics. The year after there is Eurobasket and then Mundobasket. Until last year we had July to rest but the experts had other plans. Money above all, instead of the athletes, the real protagonists”.      

-Your first book, “Dreams and truth” is on sale. As we can understand, many things happened during the preparation of the National team and the Eurobasket. Are you tempted to write a second book only with… truth?” (superbasket.gr)  
ΜΚ: «You will turn me into Agatha Cristie! I won’t be writing a book every year! I never made a promise this time and nothing that important happened in the National team, in order to write a book”.
 
- Would you like your kid to play basketball? (TV channel Alter) 
ΜΚ: "I would like my kid to be in sports. If it is basketball it would be even better. The important thing is to become a right person with the help of its parents”.  

- What made the captain of the National team accept the offer of Caxa and refuse his return to Greece and to a big team of A1? Are the things so better outside Greece? (sportime.gr)
ΜΚ: «First of all, the Spanish league is the best in Europe. The economic agreements are followed and the level is very high. There is no game that you win before you enter the court. I don’ t believe that is the right moment to return. Maybe in the future. Who knows”.  


- What would you never change in your career and what wouldn’ t you do if you could turn back time? (newspaper Prasini)
ΜΚ: "I wouldn’t change a thing. Even the mistakes I made helped me mature. The onoly mistake that is irreversible is that I didn’t apply for the NBA draft in 1995”.     

- I would like to know how hard it was for you to keep your relationship with Giannakis and your teammates after what happened in the team before you left for Spain. (newspaper)
ΜΚ: "It is always hard when there is grumble. We have the obligation, as players of the National team, to do what it takes so that the things get better in Greek basketball. We can’t also be behind. We have to lead Greek basketball to the level it is worth of. The problem began there. We felt like we were on the ring fighting against everybody. Why? Was it so bad? And we were not only defending ourselves, but every other athlete. They told us that were not thinking about the games. What were we thinking when we were running at the mountains? But if somebody was not thinking about the team when we were training for the Eurobasket, then he was wrong”.  

- As the captain of the team, how did you face the confusion with the signings and everything that followed? (newspaper Sportday)
ΜΚ: "There are some things that must stay in the team. I can’ t say if I did anything”.   

- Was everything that was written or said about the atmosphere in the team, positive or negative, true?  Were there any mistakes? Which ones and from whom? (newspaper Athliki Echo)
ΜΚ: "Answer to what? I read so many things this summer. I will answer to one thing concerning the atmosphere. In a group of 20-25 people, it is not possible to be… best buddies with everyone. My friends in life are very few. However we are great partners. We are not in the National team for fun, but we hang out, we fight sometimes, we laugh, we cry. But nothing separates us. I have to be clear about this. There were mistakes. The results show it”.   
 
- Who would you state as the next captain of the National team? (Basketblog.gr)
ΜΚ: "The captain is not stated. And because this has happened to me, I do not want to participate in this procedure. The next captain will be the one with the most caps. All 12 guys would deserve to be the captain of the team”.  

- Since you are never afraid to tell the truth, can you accuse any of your teammates of being indifferent or of having the wrong attitude in the Eurobasket? (supersport.gr)
«Not of being indifferent. Everyone gave everything he could. Some made it, some didn’t. It is sure that we all made mistakes. But you cannot accuse somebody for a technical foul, or because he didn’t play well”.

- The previous years everybody talked about the gang and Giannakis always said that you must become more friends. In Spain nobody mentioned that. Was the goal accomplished?    (Newspaper Goal)
ΜΚ: "What do you mean when you say more friends. I repeat: When the result is not successful, you will think about how many times we mentioned the gang and how many times we ate together. Last year and the year before and this year we had disagreements. But this year the separation of the gang is mentioned. Don’ t worry about it. The gang remains united”.     

- Do you believe that this year without European games with Caxa will help you be more fresh next year with the National tea, (TV channel MEGA)
ΜΚ: "I think so. Of course, if we reach the end of the league I will be having a long season, but playing 40 games is not the same 65 games”.  

- Many things have been written about the atmosphere in the National team. What is the opinion of the captain? Is there a difference between this year and the last 2-3 ones? (newspaper Vima)
ΜΚ: "It was exactly the same. Of course, the things that were written could have influenced somebody. But not the team. And I mean the whole team. Before the Eurobasket we felt doubted. I could understand it before the Eurobasket of Belgrad. We succeeded there. Before the Mundobasket there was a doubt if the gold medal was a… bubble. We also succeeded there. So, why the doubt before Spain? We felt more respected abroad than in Greece. And I am not talking about the fans that showed their love everywhere”.    

-ΑΕΚ was the step for your great career. Do you think that you were hard with the team when you left? (newspaper Vradini) 
ΜΚ: "Everything is relative. I believe that I described the truth. Life is tough. I just mentioned the facts. Everyone in the team knows. Why didn’t anybody say that I am lying? I write many things in my book about AEK and said more in interviews and I have seen no reaction”.

- The players play basketball winter and summer. You travel with the team 7-8 months. Then you have the National team. How hard is it for the body and mind to rest? Do you think that the players must react about the schedule? (newspaper Nea)
ΜΚ: "The mind mostly needs rest. When you do the same thing everyday for 12 months you get exhausted. When you are spiritually tired you fill full and maybe get injured. The thing is to be hungry in a tournament, to really want to succeed. Not to think about not getting hurt. The games are the less, they are the easy thing. The trips, the hotels, the hours away from the family are the stuff that drive you crazy. Since the people that make the schedule don’t know anything there are two solutions. The one is to fix the schedule with responsibility and the other is to react. The players should unit and not play at a tournament. The teams would play with their juniors. Is that what they want or to play “burnt” like what happened with football players at the Mundial?”

- Is the National team in crisis? Do you agree and if yes, what should happen in order to overcome it?  (Superbasket.gr)
ΜΚ: "The crisis is not far away from success. Sometimes it is a matter of one shot or one victory. Like what happened in Spain. If we won in the semifinal-we deserved it- the questions would be different. That’s life. With one medal everything would be different. Unfortunately we did not sign a contract with FIBA to win a medal every year and we returned empty-handed. We didn’t perform in the way we wanted, but that doesn’t mean we are in crisis”.

- Mihalis Kakiouzis is… (complete the phrase) (TV channel Alter)
MK: "...Tall! What can I say now… I need a whole book to define myself!”
 
- The last years you play in high level and you fight for titles. Which is your goal playing in Caxa? Which is your biggest motive?  
ΜΚ: "The motive to make Caxa one of the best teams in league ACB. To be competitive wherever the team plays. The important thing is what you manage to accomplish in the end. From what I have seen, the team has potential and it can make it. To reverse the question, when I went to Barcelona I believed that we would win titles. And we only won one cup. There is no guarantee for success. And as you know, I love challenges. The tough things are fun…”.  

The Eurobasket, the performance of the Greek team, whatever happened this summer concerning his transfer and not only, his future at the national team and Caxa, will be some of the subjects that will be brought up at the conversation that Mihalis Kakiouzis will have with the reporters in the next days. At the interview through the net and his personal site, the captain of the Greek team is willing to answer to all the questions and clear up all the matters. The reporters who would like to ask Mihalis about any subject, can send their questions at mixalis@kakiouzis.com, mentioning where they are working, until Sunday night.

The end of the Eurobasket finds the Greek players with no medals but full of emotions. The National team was 4th at the European championship of Spain with many ups and downs. After five victories and four defeats, the Greeks didn’t defend their title, neither qualified for the Olympic Games. At least they managed to qualify for the pre-olympic tournament and fill the Greeks with satisfaction for the way the fought at Spain.

With the leg on the… accelerator, self-confidence and the mood to keep the throne, the Greek national team finished its preparation for the Eurobasket. After an excellent performance in Italy against the azzurri, the players sent a message to everybody concerning the European championship. The captain of the Greek team Mihalis Kakiouzis was the leader, scoring 15 points (4/4 2p., 1/2 2p., 1/2 free throws) with 4 rebounds, 1 assist and one steal. The Greeks amazed the 12.000 spectators of the game and the important thing is that four days before the tournament they showed that they are going on higher level. Form Friday the team will be in Granada in order to get used of the court and the city.

“Without you I wouldn’t have achieved anything”. With seven words and a tear, Mihalis Kakiouzis “created” the best scene at the presentation of his book “Dreams ant truth”. The protagonist was the woman of his life, Anastasia. The woman that holds the key to the next dream of the captain: The birth of their child! Mihalis began by dedicating the book: “It is dedicated to Panayiotis Giannakis and the National team. Giannakis has played an important role in the formation of my character. Without the National team, I don’t know if I could have this career. It is an honor for me that I have been the captain of this team, where players like Galis and Giannakis have been captains. They are not only great players, but also very important personalities. At this team, every one that is selected can be a captain”, were the first words of Kakiouzis, who was obviously moved and didn’t hide his anxiety about the final “look” of the book and its… consequences: “I was very anxious. I didn’t know who it would hurt, what they would say and who would like it or not. Until now they have not disturbed me and those I have condemned as you say have not called me. I haven’t said anything meanly, I have just mentioned the facts. Nobody can tell me that I have lied, but someone might asked me why I wrote some thnigs. I am not a man of politics, I always say what I feel. That is who I am”.

About the timing he chose to write his autobiography: “ If I wrote my autobiography in 30 years, the half of those I write about would be dead and most of the people that would read it would not have lived the things I describe”.

Panayiotis Giannakis was also at the presentation and said the following: “This book contains the dreams of a boy from 1987 until now. Everything that is mentioned in the book is personal moments, difficulties that he has overcome and become better. We thank him because he shows us the way to face the difficulties. I admire him. And I thank his parents for giving the birth to this child”.

Mihalis’s close friend and music writer Filippos Pliatsikas said: “I thought that he would talk more about basketball, but he speaks about sports only between the lines of the court. I don’t know if I have ever managed to be that honest through my songs, like he is through his book. He is a man who knows what he wants and what he asks for”.

The journalist Dimitris Hatzigeorgiou said that the description of the moment that Mihalis lifts the trophy of the Eurobasket is one of the most touching moments of his career.

The man who had the honor and the luck to write the memories, the thoughts and the experiences of Mihalis Kakiouzis, the reporter Vasilis Papatheodorou mentioned: “I remember that when we defeated the Americans at the Mundobasket, we hugged each other and he said: “Start writing, winter will be long this year”. And when he got the book in his hands he called me and said: “I don’t know how you did it, but after reading my story there were tears in my eyes”. That is the greatest honor for me”, he said looking at his good friend”.

Among others, at the presentation were the family of Mihalis Kakiouzis, the president of FIBA Europe Giorgos Vasilakopoulos, his teammates at the National team Thodoris Papaloukas and Giannis Bourousis and the assistant coach Lefteris Kakiousis.