Dimitrios Tsaldaris (alternate spelling: Dimitris) ( el, Δημήτρης Τσαλδάρης; born 7 March 1980) is a retired Greek professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player and

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

. During his playing career, at a height of 1.96 m (6'5") tall, he played at both the

shooting guard The shooting guard (SG), also known as the two, two guard or off guard,Shooting guards are 6'3"–6'7"BBC Sports academy URL last accessed 2006-09-09. is one of the five traditional positions in a regulation basketball game. A shooting guard's m ...

and

small forward The small forward (SF), also known as the three or swingman, is one of the five positions in a regulation basketball game. Small forwards are typically shorter, quicker, and leaner than power forwards and centers but taller, larger, and stronger t ...

positions.

Professional playing career

Tsaldaris began his professional career in 2001, with Alimos, in the Greek 2nd Division. He then played with the Greek 1st Division club

Peristeri Peristeri (Greek: Περιστέρι, meaning "pigeon/dove" in Greek) is a suburban municipality in the western part of the Athens agglomeration, Greece. With 139,981 inhabitants (2011 census), it is the seventh-largest municipality of Greece by ...

, during the 2004–05 season, and then with

Panellinios Panellinios G.S. (Greek (language), Greek: Πανελλήνιος Γ.Σ.), full name, Panellinios Gymnastikos Syllogos (Greek (language), Greek: Πανελλήνιος Γυμναστικός Σύλλογος), is a Greece, Greek sports club, mult ...

, during the 2005–06 season. He was voted the Greek League Best Young Player in 2006. He then transferred to

Aris Aris or ARIS may refer to: People * Aris (surname) Given name * Aris Alexandrou, Greek writer * Aris Brimanis, ice hockey player * Aris Christofellis, Greek male soprano * Aris Gavelas, Greek sprinter * Aris Howard, Former President of the Jama ...

, with which he played in the EuroLeague. In 2009, he moved to the top-tier level

Italian League The Italic League or Most Holy League was an international agreement concluded in Venice on 30 August 1454, between the Papal States, the Republic of Venice, the Duchy of Milan, the Republic of Florence, and the Kingdom of Naples, following the Tr ...

club

Napoli Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

. He then moved to the Italian clubs Sutor Montegranaro and

Dinamo Sassari Polisportiva Dinamo, commonly known as Dinamo Sassari and currently known as Dinamo Banco di Sardegna Sassari for sponsorship reasons, is an Italian professional basketball club that is based in Sassari, Sardinia. They are the current European Cu ...

. He returned to

for the 2011–12 season. He moved to the Greek club Kolossos, in 2012. In 2013, he joined the Italian side

Biella Biella (; pms, Biela; la, Bugella) is a city and ''comune'' in the northern Italian region of Piedmont, the capital of the province of the same name, with a population of 44,324 as of 31 December 2017. It is located about northeast of Turin an ...

, and the next club he moved to was Greek side AENK. On 6 January 2015, he signed with Greek team KAOD. He then played with the Greek club Doxa Lefkadas, in both the first and second Greek divisions.

National team playing career

Tsaldaris also played with the senior men's

Greek national basketball team The Greece men's national basketball team ( el, Eθνική Oμάδα Καλαθοσφαίρισης Ελλάδος) represents Greece in international basketball. They are controlled by the Hellenic Basketball Federation, the governing body for ...

Player profile

During his basketball playing career, Tsaldaris was a left-handed, crafty offensive player and pesky defender. He was a good ball handler and passer, and he could play at the

and

positions.

Coaching career

After he retired from playing professional basketball, Tsaldaris began his

basketball coaching Basketball coaching is the act of directing and strategizing the behavior of a basketball team or individual basketball player. Basketball coaching typically encompasses the improvement of individual and team offensive and defensive skills, as wel ...

career in 2018, as he became a

head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in assoc ...

of the youth academies of

Olympiacos Olympiacós Sýndesmos Filáthlon Peiraiós ( el, Ολυμπιακός Σύνδεσμος Φιλάθλων Πειραιώς, Olympic Club of Fans of Piraeus) is a major multi-sport club based in Piraeus, Greece. Olympiacos is parent to a number ...

. In 2019, he became the head coach of the Olympiacos

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players under contract to a club but who do not normally play in matches for the first team. Reserve teams often include back-up players from the first team, young players who need playing time to i ...

Olympiacos B Olympiacos Football Club B, or simply Olympiacos B ( gr, Ολυμπιακός Β), is the reserve team of Greek club Olympiacos F.C., Olympiacos and plays in Super League Greece 2. Stadium The stadium that hosts in Olympiacos is the Rentis T ...

, of the Greek 2nd Division.

Personal life

Tsaldaris was born in

Piraeus Piraeus ( ; el, Πειραιάς ; grc, Πειραιεύς ) is a port city within the Athens urban area ("Greater Athens"), in the Attica region of Greece. It is located southwest of Athens' city centre, along the east coast of the Saronic ...

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

. He is married to Polina, and has a daughter named Despina, and a son named Stelios. In his spare time, he enjoys reading and traveling. His sports idols are

Michael Jordan Michael Jeffrey Jordan (born February 17, 1963), also known by his initials MJ, is an American businessman and former professional basketball player. His biography on the official NBA website states: "By acclamation, Michael Jordan is the g ...

and

Dražen Petrović Dražen Petrović (; 22 October 1964 – 7 June 1993) was a Yugoslav and Croatian professional basketball player. A shooting guard, he initially achieved success playing professional basketball in Europe in the 1980s, before joining the Nati ...

. His favorite movie is

Apocalypse Now ''Apocalypse Now'' is a 1979 American epic war film produced and directed by Francis Ford Coppola. The screenplay, co-written by Coppola, John Milius and Michael Herr, is loosely based on the 1899 novella ''Heart of Darkness'' by Joseph Conr ...

, and his favorite car is the

Nissan GT-R The Nissan GT-R (Japanese: 日産・GT-R, ''Nissan GT-R''), is a high-performance sports car and grand tourer produced by Nissan, unveiled in 2007. It is the successor to the Skyline GT-R, a high performance variant of the Nissan Skyline. Alth ...

. He thinks of himself as a very quiet and reserved person, who likes to be in a group of friends. His jokes were famous among the players and coaches in the practice sessions of Sutor Montegranaro. With the usual victim of his pranks being his co-player

Dejan Ivanov Dejan Ivanov (born March 18, 1986) is a Bulgarian professional basketball player who plays for BC Levski Sofia, Levski Sofia of the Bulgarian National Basketball League (Bulgaria), NBL. He is also a longtime member of the Bulgaria national basketb ...

. He considers

Željko Obradović Želimir "Željko" Obradović ( sr-cyr, Желимир "Жељко" Обрадовић, ; born 9 March 1960) is a Serbian professional basketball coach and former player who is currently the head coach for Partizan of the ABA League, the Basketba ...

as the ideal

team

, while he considers Juan Carlos Navarro the most difficult opponent he ever faced as a player. He likes any kind of music, and his nickname is "Mitsos". He thinks of the

Greek islands Greece has many islands, with estimates ranging from somewhere around 1,200 to 6,000, depending on the minimum size to take into account. The number of inhabited islands is variously cited as between 166 and 227. The largest Greek island by a ...

as the ideal destination for holidays, and he prefers brunettes to blondes.Italian League Profile DATI PERSONALI: .
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Awards and accomplishments

Playing career

* Greek League Best Young Player: (2006) *2× Greek League All-Star: (2008, 2009)

References and notes

External links

Euroleague.net ProfileEurobasket.com ProfileItalian League Profile

Greek Basket League Profile

Hellenic Basketball Federation Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tsaldaris, Dimitrios 1980 births Living people Aris B.C. players Dinamo Sassari players Doxa Lefkadas B.C. players Greek Basket League players Greek basketball coaches Greek men's basketball players K.A.O.D. B.C. players Kolossos Rodou B.C. players Nea Kifissia B.C. players Nuova AMG Sebastiani Basket Rieti players Olympiacos B.C. B coaches Pallacanestro Biella players Panellinios B.C. players Peristeri B.C. players Reyer Venezia players Shooting guards Small forwards Sutor Basket Montegranaro players Basketball players from Piraeus