Image credit: Mark Filpo (@codexdesignstudio)
When Ioannis Dimakopoulos was weighing up where to continue his NBL1 West career, the Greek-Australian big man wanted somewhere on the verge of winning and chose East Perth Eagles, and has been instrumental in their big 2025 wins.
Dimakopoulos is now in his third season in the NBL1 West having first come into the competition in 2023 at the Joondalup Wolves where he had a huge say in their run to the grand final including a game winning shot for the ages to win the preliminary final in Rockingham.
He then returned albeit at the Perth Redbacks last year and that experience of being on the wooden spoon team meant that the only thing he was thinking about in 2025 was joining a team that he could see as being a genuine contender.
From the moment he spoke with Eagles coach Carl Filpo he was optimistic of what the team was going to be capable of.
Now he's warming to the task nicely fresh off hitting two huge fourth quarter three-point bombs in Saturday night's win over the league-leading Warwick Senators.
Championships the ultimate motivator
Dimakopoulos is now a 30-year-old veteran and while early on in his professional career coming out of the University of California – Irvine he might have been trying to prove what he could do on a personal level, now it's all about wanting team success.
He has played as a local in both Greece and Australia along with having stints throughout Europe in Serbia, Spain, Cyprus, Netherlands, Slovakia and Austria, and especially early days he wanted to show just what a wide-ranging game he had.
There was a point to prove about how well he could shoot for a big man and everything else, but right now what Dimakopoulos wants is more championships.
"I wanted to come back to Western Australia and after losing in the final of that first year with the Wolves, then last year we finished last, and no matter what the role was going to be, I wanted to be on a team that had a chance to make the playoffs and advance," Dimakopoulos said.
"I'm 30 now and will turn 31 in a couple of months, and I don’t want to be here proving to people I can score or shoot or pass or whatever, I just want to win.
"I know what I do as a player now and what I want is to win a championship because that's what you are going to remember in 10, 15 or 20 years' time.
"I have a ring from university in a tournament we won and I have won three regular season championships, but I just want to keep stacking up those rings and I thought East Perth would give me that best chance this year."
Joining the Eagles
The initial seeds for Dimakopoulos to join East Perth actually planned by his now teammate Nick Filpo who recommended he have a chat with his father who just happens to be the Eagles coach.
It didn't take Dimakopoulos long from talking with Carl that he liked what he was building at the Eagles and knew that he would be happy filling any role asked of him to be part of the team.
"I actually had a talk to Nick and he didn’t want to give too much away about how the Eagles were looking because he knew I could play somewhere else, but he gave me Carl's number so I could talk to his dad," Dimakopoulos said.
"I got on Facetime with Carl when I was still in Greece and playing in Athens at the time, and we had a chat and he was honest with me that he did already have a couple of bigs signed and couldn’t make any guarantees about minutes or my role on the team or anything.
"He said he was an equal opportunity guy and I liked the sound of it, and said that whenever he needs someone like me, put me in, and when you don't, then I'll be cool and will not complain about playing time or anything like this.
"I guess the conversation went well from his point of view, I got the contract and after I finished playing Athens, I flew straight in and now, here we are."
Having the faith of teammates
While the Eagles are currently in ninth position in the NBL1 West standings, they have recently beaten the 2023 champion Geraldton Buccaneers, a Goldfield Giants who were knocking on the door of the top four and then the Warwick Senators who had been in top spot all season long.
What Dimakopoulos is doing is hitting big shots in key moments.
He hit the game winner earlier in the season to beat the Eastern Suns and then on Saturday night, hit two massive fourth quarter three-pointers as the Eagles withstood the charge of the Senators at Warwick Stadium.
"That's why we play, to make shots like that, and it feels amazing. But to be honest, I have to thank my teammates for having that opportunity," Dimakopoulos said.
"In that Suns game, I had arguably one of the best shooters in the whole NBL1, Max Rice, come up to me and say he was going to play pick-and-roll, and he wanted me to pop and not roll so I can hit the three and give us the win.
"It was in the timeout and I was amazed by that because as an import who holds the record at Boise State University, he had every right to take that shot. But he came to me and was willing to hit me with the pass and he said he knew I'd give us the win.
"Having people like him say that to me no matter how many years I've played professionally already, it gives me the confidence to not even think about the shot and just let it go."
Comeback win over the Giants
Going back two weeks ago and the Eagles suffered a disappointing loss to the struggling Perth Redbacks at Belmont Oasis which had the potential to be a cruel blow to their season.
They had to back up to host the Giants on Sunday and then found themselves down double-figures in the third quarter, but they were playing the right way.
It was as simple as East Perth's shot not falling and Goldfields making some miraculous shots so Dimakopoulos always remained confident it could turn.
That's what happened with a dominant 29-14 fourth quarter for that crucial win.
"I would say the last two games have been spectacular. We were down for three quarters against the Giants, but anyone watching that game would have seen that we missed a lot of our open shots, we wanted some more free throws that we didn't get and Giants made lots of step back threes and all sorts of shots," Dimakopoulos said.
"We couldn’t have guarded better and they hit some massive shots but we still weren’t losing by that much at half-time.
"We felt like there was no way they could keep hitting those NBA style contested shots, and we wouldn’t keep missing open layups. So our basketball didn’t change going into the second half, it's just normal basketball that our shots started falling and they started missing some of theirs.
"That's what made the huge difference on the scoreboard and that did give us a bit of a confidence because Giants are one of the best teams in the league before playing the No. 1 team on their home court."
Inspired win over the Senators
The challenge then was for East Perth to back that up last Saturday night against the league-leading Senators at Warwick Stadium.
What the Eagles produced was a blistering performance for the 122-106 win and while Max Rice and Jonah Antonio were scintillating combining for 61 points and 12 three-pointers, Dimakopoulos credits captain Lee Roberts as much as anyone.
"We went into the game with a good plan and we executed 100 per cent of what coach asked, and we did make some tough shots as well in the beginning," Dimakopoulos said.
"It was Jonah hitting some very big shots but for most players they are big shots, but for Jonah Antonio that is just like a normal Saturday for him.
"Then when they really tried to press Jonah, we have the pleasure to have Max Rice who scored all these crazy shots. The thing is, we played with so much poise in that game and they had to give us something, and every time they did we took advantage of it.
"We played as a team and we were happy for each other, we helped each other and I cannot go without saying what a performance it was from our captain, Lee Roberts.
"You can talk about the guys you were making the tough shots, but one of the best players in the whole NBL1 and also an NBL player, Todd Withers, only had two points at half-time and that was all because of Lee Roberts," he added.
"He was guarding him full court, denying him everything and he's doing that when he's 38 so it was incredible and it's such a privilege for us having someone that can do that. So we executed our plan, it worked, and we got the victory."
Giving credit to makeshift point guard
The other teammate that Dimakopoulos wants to give enormous credit to for his adaptability is import guard Matthew Lang.
Initially he was recruited to the Eagles to be more of a shooting guard with Taylor Young earmarked to have the point guard duties backed up by Nick Filpo and Fabian Johnson.
However, Young's hamstring injury and then the subsequent arrival of Antonio changed everything with Lang having to step into that point guard role, and his big man teammate loves the way he's handling it.
"Someone that I think who is not talked about much and his job isn’t always recognised is our other import Matthew Lang," Dimakopoulos said.
"He didn’t score too much in that game, but he had a +/- of +29 which was the biggest on our whole squad so to me, this is massive.
"The job that he did all around the court might go unrecognised from people that only look at the scoreboard, but when you play on a team with so much talent like ours, having a point guard like that is so important and he is doing such an important job for us and doing what the team needs him to do."
Having the game of a four man
It does sound funny to say about someone who stands well over seven-feet tall, but Dimakopoulos is perhaps more of a power forward than a centre just in terms of his skill set and with the way he plays.
It doesn’t always work out on teams that he's on that he can be a power forward and he's more than happy to be the centre in those instances, but on this Eagles team he loves the front court partnership he's building with 2017 grand final MVP Lee Roberts.
"It depends on the league. When I was playing in college and then most places I've been in Europe, I've played the five but the year before I played for the Wolves, I was actually playing the power forward position for about six months in Spain," Dimakopoulos said.
"Then when I came to the Wolves, we had Quinton Dove so obviously I would not play the four because that's his position so I played the five spot.
"But now on this team, we have Lee Roberts who can not only play the five, he's one of the best five men in the history of this league with everything he has achieved.
"So with the experience that we have between us, we can play so well together and switch between the four and five, and it doesn’t really matter who is in what spot as long we communicate well and work off each other. And it seems to be working well between us."
Learning how to manage schedule/body
When Dimaokopoulso finished his first NBL1 West season back in 2023 with the Wolves, he had been playing non-stop for 23 months between stints in Spain, NBL1 Central at the Eastern Mavericks, Slovakia, Austria, Spain and then Joondalup.
Since that 2023 season, he did take some time to recharge before playing at the Redbacks last NBL1 West and then a stint in Greece with AM Ikaroi Trikalon but he's learning all the time how he best manage his body to perform at an optimal level.
"It's a bit different with the tiredness now. Back then I had gone 23 months of non-stop playing and training, and you can't do much about that, it's a lot to deal with," Dimakopoulos said.
"But now I've taken better care of having at least a month in between changing teams and am making sure I'm getting the proper recovery, and getting check ups. If something is not working very well, I work with my personal trainer to work out what's happening and how to make it better.
"It's something that you have to do and now I spent a lot of time while I was playing with Athens with my personal trainer getting a lot of foot stability and other things like this to figure out what a big guy like me needs at my weight.
"I feel like I'm in a good position now and I have very good communication with Carl about what he wants to be my playing weight, my minutes and what he needs from me so it gives me a better understanding of what I should do on my own, in the weight room and on the track just to be able to perform to his liking."