Panathinaikos BC announced the signing of Sofoklis Schortsanitis. Both parties agreed on a three year contract.
Schortsanitis was born on June 22, 1985. He is 2m06 and competes in center position. As a teenager he committed his first basketball steps playing for Iraklis, where he remained until 2003, year in which he was picked at No34 of the NBA drafts for the L.A. Clippers. He continued his career in the Italian team Cantu only to return to Greece for Aris (2003-05) and Olympiakos (2005-2010). The last two years he wore the Maccabi Tel Aviv jersey (2010-2012), while in 2011 he was named to the All-Euroleague Team.
With the Greek Men’s National Team he conquered silver medal at the 2006 World Championship and bronze at the 2009 Eurobasket, having also participated in the 2008 Olympic Games and the 2010 World Championship. Adding to his merits are his U-18 2002 Eurobasket and U-18 2003 World Championship bronze medals. He was crowned Israel Championship and Cup winner in 2011 and 2012, Greek Cup winner in 2010 and Adriatic League champion 2012.
Sofoklis Schortsanitis after signing on for the clover, stated: “Panathinaikos is attempting something new. It is moving on to a new era; it has a new administration, with very strong bonds nevertheless with the pre-existing situation, an important fact, it has a new coach. A brand new team is being created and I am genuinely happy and proud to be part of this effort. All this situation is a challenge, the whole attempt is huge. I know that difficulties exist as will there be quite some criticism from a lot of people. But “it’s all in a day’s work” and we will deal with everything as a team. No fear. On the contrary great eagerness to work hard and succeed exists, in order to continue on the path that Panathinaikos has been striding on all these years”.
