Sixteen-year-old Euroleague debutant Lountzis given shot to make Greek U19 team

Michail Lountzis has had quite a start to 2015 and now the 16-year-old is being given a chance to play against the best of the world at the 2015 FIBA U19 World Championship.

The Panathinaikos playmaker was included in head coach Ilias Papatheodorou's 18-man preliminary squad ahead of training camp for the U19 Worlds, which will take place in Heraklion (Crete), Greece from 27 June-5 July.

Lountzis was captain of Greece's U16 national team last summer and averaged 8.5 points, 4.3 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 1.3 steals at the European Championship. Shortly before the tournament, he signed a five-year deal with Panathinaikos, and he made his Greek league professional debut on January 15, 2015. He even debuted in the Euroleague in a playoff game on April 14, 2015 against Barcelona.

Papatheodorou invited all 12 members from Greece's U18 team last year among the 18-man preliminary squad, including the top quartet of players from the 2014 FIBA U17 World Championship.

The Panathinaikos trio of Vasilis Charalampopoulos, Antonis Koniaris and Georgios Papagiannis as well as Olympiacos guard Vasileios Mouratos played at both tournaments last season and will undoubtedly be leaders for the host team at the U19 Worlds this summer. Charalampopoulos was named to the U18 European All-Tournament Team.

Dionysis Skoulidas was due to play at last year's U17 Worlds as well but he broke his hand during the U18 European Championship, where Greece finished fourth.

Papatheodorou also will have in camp his pair of United States college based big men in Georgios Tsalmpouris who played at the University of Iowa, and Wake Forest University center Kostas Mitoglou.

Also in camp will be Dimitrios Stamatis, the tough Panionios point guard who almost gets overshadowed by the under-aged quintet and the two big men.

But Coach Papatheodorou has brought in six players to fight for spots on the team which has been drawn into Group D with Serbia, Dominican Republic and South Korea.

Three of the players - Giannis Michaloutsos, Iakovos Milentigievits and Thanasis Ntouzidis - also played at the U17 World Championship last summer in Dubai, all as role players.

Besides Lountzis, Papatheodorou wants to see if another of the country's brightest 1998-born players could steal away a spot.

The 2.06m center Vasileos Christidis averaged 13.9 points, 8.4 rebounds and 1.3 blocks at the 2014 U16 European Championship.

The only player invited who does not have previous international experience is Iraklis big man Alexandros Stamatogiannis.

Greece preliminary roster for 2015 FIBA U19 World Championship: Sotirios Billis, Vasilis Charalampopoulos, Vasileos Christidis, Antonios Koniaris, Thomas Kottas, Michalis Lountzis, Giannis Michaloutsos, Iakovos Milentigievits, Kostas Mitoglou, Vasilis Mouratos, Thanasis Ntouzidis, Kostas Oikonomopoulos, Georgios Papagiannis, Dionysis Skoulidas, Dimitrios Stamatis, Alexandros Stamatogiannis, Vasileios Toliopoulos, Georgios Tsalmpouris.