Bucks asst. Josh Oppenheimer joining Greek coaching staff for EuroBasket

Bucks assistant coach Josh Oppenheimer was called to the Greek national team and was named assistant to head coach Dimitris Itoudis for the EuroBasket tournament, according to Euro Hoops' Johnny Askounis. Oppenheimer was leading the Bucks training staff, which accompanied Giannis and Thanasis to Greece so that they could help train along with their brothers Alex and Kostas.

According to Askounis, Oppenheimer — an expert on training “bigs” — was the one who suggested the Bucks bring starting center of the Greek National team Georgios Papagiannis back to the NBA earlier this month. This possibility isn’t off the table if there is a roster spot available.

In his time in Greece, Oppenheimer had the opportunity to watch extensively the Greek national team training and having pre-tournament games (without any of the Antetokounmpo brothers playing) and additionally had the opportunity to have extended discussions with Dimitris Itoudis beforehe agreed to join the team so that he can help with the tactics in using Giannis correctly. This has been a problem with previous coaching leaderships of Greece’s national team, which were misusing Giannis. 

Thanasis and Kostas are also included next to Giannis on the Greek roster, but not younger brother Alex. The Greeks are targeting to have particular success in the upcoming tournament, which will take place mid-September. After the tournament, Giannis, Thanasis and Oppenheimer will return to Milwaukee and join the rest of the Bucks in the training camp with hardly any time in between for them to rest.