ATHENS (FIBA U18 European Championship 2016) - Michail Lountzis has spent the past two years working alongside one of the legends of European basketball. The Greek point guard has truly valued his time with the great Dimitris Diamantidis and that experience will help him at the FIBA U18 European Championship 2016. 

"Diamantidis is a legend," Lountzis said of his team-mate at Panathinaikos. "Every minute in practice is a blessing for me. I like to watch him and learn from him. He talks to me and talks to all the young guys and gives us instructions."

Lountzis admitted the past two years with Diamantidis have been like a dream.

"It's a dream come true seeing the guy that you watched on TV and cheered for him and now he's there with you. It's a very good feeling," said the 17-year-old guard. 

And every day Lountzis picks up new tips from the 36-year-old veteran: "He reads the game so well. He's one of a kind at that. He’s incredible. He has a great personality, [he is] a great person."

Armed with the lessons of a legend, Lountzis hopes he can lead Greece to a strong performance in Samsun, though he is aware it will be difficult to match last summer's success when he helped Vasilis Charalampopoulos and Georgios Papagiannis to win the U18 European crown.

"It was a great feeling," Lountzis said about winning Greece's first U18 European title since 2008. "But for those guys who went though all those close tournaments it meant a little bit more and I think they deserved it."

Michail Lountzis (obscured) was part of the U18 title last summer for Greece.

Volos was the coronation for a fantastic 1997 generation which reached the Semi-Finals of the FIBA U16 European Championship 2013, the FIBA U18 European Championship 2014 and the FIBA U19 World Championship 2015. However, despite that run, only a bronze medal was forthcoming at the U16 European Championship. 

"For three years, they couldn't make the Final just because of small things," Lountzis said. "Finally they made it, we made it. But for them it was something great. They deserve it. They finally achieved the goal."

While Lountzis likes looking back, it’s the future and a new competition which drives him.

"We're a new team. Teams change all the time because of the generations. We are not last year’s team, but we are a good team and we’re going to try our best and we hope for a good result," the 1.95m playmaker said.

Greece have been drawn into Group B in Samsun along with title contenders Germany, hosts Turkey and Finland.

"I think the favourites are Germany and Turkey are a good team and will have the comfort of playing in their home country. It will be very difficult. Still, everything is possible," Lountzis said. "The first goal is to get to the first eight teams and then we will see."

The top five teams in the final standings will qualify for the FIBA U19 World Championship 2017 in Cairo. Lountzis acknowledges that achieving a top-five spot will require a lot of heart and grit. 

"It will really be a team effort and everybody is equally important," he said. "We play with passion. We can play hard on defence with intensity. Those are the most important things for us."

FIBA