Dimitrios Priftis (; born October 27, 1968) is a Greek professional

basketball coach 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 ...

who serves as the

head coach A head coach, senior coach, or manager is a professional responsible for training and developing athletes within a sports team. This role often has a higher public profile and salary than other coaching positions. In some sports, such as associat ...

for

Pallacanestro Reggiana Pallacanestro Reggiana, also simply known as Reggiana or Reggio Emilia, currently known for sponsorship reasons as Unahotels Reggio Emilia, is an Italian professional basketball team based in Reggio Emilia, Emilia-Romagna. It plays in the LBA as ...

of LBA.

Club coaching career

After having previously worked as the

Kavala Kavala (, ''Kavála'' ) is a city in northern Greece, the principal seaport of eastern Macedonia and the capital of Kavala regional unit. It is situated on the Bay of Kavala, across from the island of Thasos and on the A2 motorway, a one-and ...

and Ikaros Kallitheas, Prifitis became the head coach of Kolossos Rodou in 2013. He was hired as an assistant coach at Panathinaikos in 2014. He then became the

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 Konstantinidis, Greek architect * ...

later that same year. He was named the Greek League Best Coach in 2016. He became the head coach of the Russian

VTB United League The VTB United League () is an international professional men's club basketball league that was founded in 2009. It is made up of mostly Russian clubs, along with one each from Belarus and Kazakhstan. Since 2013, it is the first tier of Russian ...

club, UNICS Kazan, in 2017. On June 26, 2021, he became the head coach of Panathinaikos, signing a three-year deal with the "Greens". On April 12, 2022, Priftis was fired from his position, after a series of negative results and a catastrophic season in the

EuroLeague The EuroLeague is a European men's professional basketball club competition. The league is widely recognised as the top-tier and the most prestigious men's basketball league in Europe. The league consists of 20 teams, of which 16 are given lon ...

. On June 16, 2022, he has signed with

Tofaş TOFAŞ Türk Otomobil Fabrikası A.Ş (acronym for ''Türk Otomobil Fabrikası Anonim Şirketi''; ''Turkish Automobile Factory Joint-Stock Company'' pronounced ) is a Turkish automobile manufacturer which was established in 1968 by Vehbi Koç, ...

of the Turkish

Basketbol Süper Ligi The Basketball Super League (; TBSL), also known as the Türkiye Sigorta Basketbol Süper Ligi for sponsorship reasons, is the top men's professional basketball division of the Turkish basketball league system. It replaced the former Turkish Bas ...

. On June 19, 2023, he signed with

of the LBA. He immediately led his team to the semifinals of the Italian cup and the semifinals of the Italian league winning the right his team to participate the next season to the European Champions league and making the club renew his contract until 2026

National team career

Priftis has also worked as an assistant coach of the senior men's Greece national basketball team, Greek national basketball team between 2008 and 2012, and from 2014 to the present. He has worked as an assistant coach with Greece at the following tournaments: the 2008 FIBA World Olympic Qualifying Tournament, the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

, the

EuroBasket 2009 The 2009 FIBA European Championship, commonly called FIBA EuroBasket 2009, was the 36th FIBA EuroBasket regional basketball championship held by FIBA Europe. The tournament, which was hosted by Poland, began on 7 September and concluded with the ...

, the

2010 FIBA World Championship The 2010 FIBA World Championship was the 16th FIBA World Championship, the international basketball world championship contested by the List of men's national basketball teams, men's national teams. The tournament ran from 28 August to 12 Septem ...

, the

EuroBasket 2011 EuroBasket 2011 was the 37th men's European Basketball Championship, held by FIBA Europe. The competition was hosted by Lithuania. This was the second time EuroBasket had been held in Lithuania, the country having also hosted the 1939 champions ...

, the 2012 FIBA World Olympic Qualifying Tournament, the

2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup The 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup was the 17th edition of the FIBA Basketball World Cup, the tournament previously known as the FIBA World Championship. The tournament was held from 30 August to 14 September 2014. Hosted by Spain, it was the la ...

, the

EuroBasket 2015 EuroBasket 2015 was the 39th edition of the EuroBasket championship that was organized by FIBA Europe. It was co-hosted by Croatia, France, Germany, and Latvia, making it the first EuroBasket held in more than one country. It started on 5 Sept ...

, and the 2016 Turin FIBA World Olympic Qualifying Tournament.

Continental coaching record

EuroLeague

, - , align="left" rowspan=1, Panathinaikos , align="left" , 2021–22 , 28, , 9, , 19, , , , align="center", Eliminated in the regular season , -! , align="center" colspan=2, Career, , 28, , 9, , 19, , , ,

References

External links

EuroCup ProfilePanathinaikos B.C. Profile

FCM.com Profile
1968 births Living people AEK B.C. coaches Aris B.C. coaches Basketball players from Athens BC UNICS coaches Greek basketball coaches Ikaros B.C. coaches Kavala B.C. coaches Kolossos Rodou B.C. coaches Pallacanestro Reggiana coaches Panathinaikos B.C. non-playing staff Panathinaikos B.C. coaches Tofaş S.K. coaches {{Greece-basketball-bio-stub