The Greens now have three left-handed star guards
TJ Shorts gives Panathinaikos a unique lefty approach
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4 Mins read
After a great EuroLeague debut season, TJ Shorts switched teams this summer to join Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens, taking another step in his personal journey.
The 27-year-old had become a king at Paris Basketball, leading the club to the French League crown, the French Leaders' Cup title and, perhaps most importantly, the BKT EuroCup trophy. That EuroCup triumph, a season which saw Shorts crowned as the MVP, gave Paris – and himself – the right to play in the EuroLeague for the first time.
An All-EuroLeague First Team selection and a playoff finish followed for the Shorts-led Paris, but at Panathinaikos he should have a better chance to win one title he is missing: the EuroLeague championship.
By joining the Greens, he has joined a backcourt never seen before in basketball – one featuring three left-handed star guards. Shorts joins four-time EuroLeague champion Kostas Sloukas and last season's MVP Kendrick Nunn in what is an unprecedented situation at almost any level. Left-handed players are rare to see, and having three top-class ones in the same backcourt could generate a lot of advantages.
Panathinaikos fans are used to left-handed star guards. After all, Dimitris Diamantidis is arguably the best left-handed player in EuroLeague history. While Manu Ginobili won the EuroLeague title with Virtus Bologna in 2001, reached the Championship Game in 2002 and went on to become a Hall of Famer, he was only in the EuroLeague for two seasons. Diamantidis became the best two-way player in competition history, suffocating playmakers on defense and using his basketball IQ to dominate the game. He won three EuroLeague titles, was chosen as the competition's best defender six times, was a two-time Final Four MVP, and earned season MVP honors in 2011.
There's more when it comes to the Greens and left-handed stars. Tyrese Rice had a brief stint with Panathinaikos but had time to drop 41 points on archrivals Olympiacos Pireaus in a 99-91 overtime win at OAKA on December 6, 2019. Two-time scoring champion Keith Langford wore the team's jersey in the 2018-19 season, his last in the competition. Jaka Lakovic played for Panathinaikos from 2002 to 2006, averaging 13.3 points and leading the Greens to the 2005 Final Four. KC Rivers also played for Panathinaikos for two seasons. There is a pattern but nothing beats the current situation.
It will be fun to find out how they fit together. It should not be much of a problem, too – Shorts is used to playing with left-handed guards after two seasons alongside Nadir Hifi. We also need to remember that Sloukas comes off the bench to spark his team, coach Ergin Ataman has used a three-guard lineup many times in the past, and Nunn is the competition's reigning MVP. It was not unusual to see Shane Larkin, Vasilije Micic and Rodrigue Beaubois together on the court in Anadolu Efes Istanbul's glory days under Ataman. He also did the same at Galatasaray with Carlos Arroyo, Sinan Guler and either Pietro Aradori or Ender Arslan.
The main question, however, for all potential opponents is the following: how do you stop this three-headed, left-handed basketball dragon?