FIBA 2010 World Championships Preview: Group B
By Anonymous
Mon, 08/23/2010 - 12:39am
With less of a week away from the 2010 FIBA World Championships the staff from HoopsDaily will provide you a group by group preview of the various teams participating in this event. We start with Group B but we will be previewing all groups before the tournament begins on Saturday, August 28.
By Mike Misek
United States
FIBA World Rank: 2
Top Players: Kevin Durant, Derrick Rose, Lamar Odom, and Chauncey Billups
NBA Players: Everyone
NBA Draft Prospects: None
Kevin Durant
The burden of playing for USA Basketball comes with one of the most unique set of expectations in all of sport. Losing brings wretched criticism on the individual players, NBA as a whole, and entire style of play and player development in the country. Winning brings with it only relief, brief contentment among the fanbase, and inevitable grumbling about the performance not being up to Dream Team standards. The bar will forever be the ghosts of Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, and Charles Barkley winning every game by more than 30, and then having their opponents ask for autographs and pictures. Brazilian soccer comes with the burden of the “beautiful game” but USA basketball has “dominance or bust.” Frankly, the 2010 World Championship team cannot possibly live up to those standards. While the talent on the US squad mandates them being the favorite, it is difficult to believe a team with so little international experience on the senior level can go through unscathed. Six of the thirteen men on the roster was in high school the last time the US played in the World Championships. Four team members have never played in an NBA playoff game, and only four players have played beyond the first round of the playoffs. The green nature of this team is quite scary, and could end up being the storyline of the tournament. The difference between the 2006 US team that lost in the semifinals to Greece and the 2008 team praised as the Redeem Team was the alpha presence of Kobe Bryant. When Rudy Fernandez hit a three in the gold medal game to reduce the US lead to 91-89 in the 4th quarter, Kobe Bryant went on a two minute sequence where he scored five points and assisted five more to push the lead back up to nine. As talented as the 2006 team was, nobody took the alpha dog role of stopping the bleeding when the Greeks were amassing their lead in the second and third quarters. The question of the 2010 USA team will be whether or not there is a player on this roster who can make sure they weather any and all storms that come their way.
While most previews issue bemoan the lack of size and believe that issue to be a hindrance to winning the tournament, the reality is the size of the team is a complete non-issue. The perceived lack of big men on the US side is mostly a result of a paper depth chart. While Kevin Durant and Danny Granger are labeled as NBA “3s” they are entirely capable of playing the power forward spot in international competition. Lamar Odom and Kevin Love are NBA 4s, but are as big as just about any international 5 in the tournament. The game with Brazil should serve the purpose showing that Tyson Chandler, Lamar Odom, and Kevin Love are plenty big for the center position by international standards. Fans have gotten caught in the misconception that the US team might be weak inside or on the glass despite the fact that the blueprint for beating the US mandates Krzyzewski to go with a small lineup. Greece beat the US in 2006 despite having all of four offensive rebounds in the game and giving up fourteen to the Americans. In an effort to keep the US from getting out and running, most international teams game plan against having the traditional “four men to the glass on a shot.” Teams concede the rebound to make sure they have their men get back and make sure the US earns their points in the half court. Also, challenging opponents to throw the ball into the post and go at Tyson Chandler or Lamar Odom is a healthy proposition for the Americans, because the likes of Luis Scola and Marc Gasol are not exactly Arvydas Sabonis and big brother Pau. The smaller lineups should also better be equipped the strengths of the international competition, which is almost universally point guards and wings.
It is unlikely that the US faces severe adversity before the quarterfinals where one can peg them for a date with either Greece or host Turkey as the 2nd place team in Group C. If the brackets play out as projected and they reach the semi-finals, the US will meet Spain. Whereas no players are returning from 2008 for the US, the Spanish returns five of their top six minute men from their silver medal team and has former Orlando Magic lottery pick Fran Vazquez filling the spot vacated by Pau. Talent and matchups are not going to be an issue for the US, the real issue at hand is how the young team responds when they inevitably face adversity. It is an incredible burden and opportunity for many of the NBA’s top young talents.
Brazil
FIBA World Rank: 14
Top Players: Leandro Barbosa, Tiago Splitter, Anderson Varejao, Nene, and Marcelinho Machado
NBA Players: Leandro Barbosa, Tiago Splitter, Anderson Varejao, and Nene
NBA Draft Prospects: Raul Neto
The bi-continental FIBA Americas Championship 2009 was not won by the US (they won an exemption for winning the gold in Beijing), FIBA’s top ranked team in the world Argentina, or even perennial pest Puerto Rico, but the talented and oft-disappointing Brazilians. Despite a roster of players that have long lined the NBA and elite clubs of Europe, the Brazilians have not medaled in the Olympics or World Championships since 1978. This year’s squad has the talent from top to bottom to compete for a medal, but the injury big has taken a bite of those chances.
Leandro Barbosa
On paper, the big men of Brazil appear to be formidable for anyone and everyone in the tournament. Tiago Splitter is an All-Euroleague performer who just signed a three year contract with San Antonio. Anderson Varejao offers the kind of inside presence lacking on many teams in this tournament. The paper does not tell the story as the Brazilians are all banged up. Anderson Varejao went down with a sprained ankle in tuneup game against Spain. Splitter has recently suffered a thigh contusion, and has missed multiple pre-tournament games. This does not even include the news that Nene has been removed from the roster after the team found out his muscle strain in the soleus muscle will sideline him for much of the tournament. While Splitter and Varejao should be healthy enough to play in the World Championships, neither will be at 100 percent. The banged up front court means that the key for Brazil going deep in the tournament will be the shooting of Barbosa and Machado. Barbosa’s reduced role with the Phoenix Suns has diminished his reputation stateside, but "The Brazilian Blur" has remained an incredible scoring weapon in international play. In leading Brazil to last summer’s US-less FIBA Tournament of the Americas title, Barbosa averaged better than 20 points per game on better than 55 percent shooting from the field. His quickness still poses incredible matchup problems for almost every team in the tournament. Lesser known to American audiences, Marcelinho Machado is an important deep threat. Machado has long been their primary threat from behind the arc, and he has often been their leading scorer in pre-tournament matches. It will be the job of Barbosa and Marcelo Huertas to engineer the offense.
Raul Neto, or Raulzinho, will be the youngest player on the Brazilian roster. The 17-year old had a strong performance at the 2010 FIBA Americas U18 Championship averaging 15 points, 6 rebounds, and 5 assists per game, which earned him an invitation to the senior team. It is unlikely that he sees many meaningful minutes in the tournament, but could get on the floor in group play blowouts.
Despite the banged up frontcourt, Brazil has performed strongly in games heading into the World Championships. They swept the Super Four tournament in Brasilia with wins over Angola and Venezuela. They followed those games up in Logrono with matches against Argentina, Spain, and France. While they lost a pair of those, they took the Argentine squad to the end before losing 77-73. In their match with Spain, the match was 51-49 before the Spanish went on a run to open it up late. The Brazilians figure to start group play strong with their first two matches against Iran and Tunisia. The relatively easy start should allow them not to press their banged up bigs before their August 30th tilt with the US. While Brazil are unlikely to have the ability to match baskets with the US team even if Barbosa and Machado are hitting from deep, the Brazilians should use that game to their ability to score consistently over 40 minutes and avoid long scoring droughts. The team will need to show more consistency offensively should they want to battle Croatia and Slovenia for the second seed and favorable knockout draw from Group B.
Croatia
FIBA World Rank: 15th (tied with France)
Top Players: Marko Tomas, Marko Popovic, Roko Ukic, and Marko Banic
NBA Players: None
NBA Draft Prospects: Bojan Bogdanovic
The nation of Drazen Petrovic, Toni Kukoc, and Dino Radja might finally have the team to bring its squad into alignment with its reputation. The fame of Croatian basketball greats often clouds the fact that the nation has not participated in a FIBA World Championship since their Bronze medal performance in 1994. Such a drought combined with very pedestrian sixth place efforts in the 2008 Olympics and both the 2007 and 2009 European championships raises the question as to whether they have simply found their new equilibrium as a second tier team on the international scene. While they enter the FIBA World Championships ranked 15th, the 2010 team does not lack for size or young talent. If their young talent comes together, they could battle for the valuable second place draw from Group B that could position them to get into the medal rounds in this year’s tournament.
The team will be led by Marko Tomas, who recently netted a two-year deal with Fenerbahce Ulker. Tomas missed the European Championships last summer, but still may be one of the most dangerous shooters in the tournament. The point guard position will be shared by Tomas’ Fenerbahce teammate and former Milwaukee Buck Roko Ukic as well as long-time staple of the Croatian national team Marko Popovic. The latter began his career with Croatia’s senior national team in 2003. With former New Jersey Net Zoran Planinic slow to return from knee surgery and possibly missing the tournament, Ukic might also see a bit of time off the ball at the shooting guard spot. Up front, the Croatians will be big and skilled even with Mario Kasun’s retirement from international play. Marko Banic, Kresimir Loncar, Stanko Barac, and Ante Tomic give them as much size as anyone in the tournament. Marko Banic is coming off a strong club season with Bilbao Basket in the ACB, and has the most experience with the senior national team. He was second on the 2008 Olympic team in scoring and will need to be just as gritty around the hoop an on the offensive glass as he was in Beijing. Ante Tomic, the 2008 2nd round pick of the Utah Jazz and rising talent for Real Madrid, missed a pair of early tune up games with injury but has recovered well enough to put in 14 points in a pre-tournament victory over Germany. Barac was a 2007 second round pick whose NBA rights are controlled by the Indiana Pacers. Loncar is the least skilled of the group and has been remarkably poor shooter from the field the past two summers, but is a strong rebounder who also battles opponents well in the post.
Bojan Bogdanovic will likely be the youngest player to see minutes in Turkey. Bogdanovic applied for early admittance to the 2010 NBA Draft before withdrawing, and was one of the best talents at the U20 Europeans Championships last summer where he averaged 17.3 points and 5.6 rebounds. The skilled and versatile 6’8” forward can certainly improve his stock with NBA teams with a good showing. Draft-eligible players Mario Delas and Leon Radosevic were on the 16-man provisional roster, but will not be in Turkey.
The Croatian team has had a promising build up to the World Championships winning a pair of exhibitions over Italy, beating Germany and Turkey in the BEKO-Supercup tournament in Bamberg, handling Russia in one of their games in the Love Cyprus Basketball Tournament, and then taking out New Zealand in a tourney in Zadar. Any momentum might end quickly as they play Team USA to open group play. Not having the quickness to match up with the US squad, they figure to be the first of many teams to try to zone the Americans and hope they have a bad shooting day. Even in a loss, it could be a great showcase for Ante Tomic as the US team will not have the length to match the 7’2” center. After the opener, Croatia should be able to win their next three matches setting up a battle for second place with Brazil.
Slovenia
FIBA World Rank: 20
Top Players: Goran Dragic, Bostjan Nachbar, Sani Becirovic, and Uros Slokar
NBA Players: Goran Dragic, Primoz Brezec
NBA Prospects: Zoran Dragic, Dino Muric
No national team has bucked convention for assembling their roster quite like Slovenia. Over the past two summers, the team has let go Sasha Vujacic and Beno Udrih. While Vujacic was plainly told that his services were not wanted, Beno and the national team agreed to part ways in July after Udrih was told he would not start for the squad. While it is incredibly rare for such a small country to let go of their two highest paid professionals, the Slovenians are not going to lack for backcourt talent. Goran Dragic, Jaka Lakovic, and Sani Becirovic give them a formidable trio. While Udrih was not too pleased with the news that he would need to backup Jaka Lakovic, the Barca point has had a better international body of work. Udrih has not played in a major tournament for Slovenia since 2006 while Lakovic has been one of their leaders during that time. Dragic has taken a starring role on the team, and highlighted an MVP performance in the pre-Worlds Stankovic Cup with a triple-double effort with 15 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists semifinal victory against China. Becirovic was the 2nd round pick of the Nuggets in the 2003 Carmelo Anthony draft. He has never played in the NBA, but has been a very good scorer in the Euroleague and during international play. Those three will be joined by a collection of familiar names. Former first round pick Bostjan Nachbar will start at small forward so long as he remains healthy. Former Raptors second rounder Uros Slokar mans the power forward spot, and Primoz Brezec , who played for the Bucks last year, will be their starting center. Gasper Vidmar and Jaka Klobucar have been getting significant time off the bench, and could have their first meaningful performance on the senior level.
Goran’s younger brother Zoran has been getting some minimal playing time in pre-tournament action with the senior team. The younger 6’5“ Dragic just turned 21 and will be automatically eligible for the 2011 NBA Draft. Last summer he averaged 16 points per game in the U20 European Championships. Slovenia’s other draft eligible player is Dino Muric. The 6’6” wing averaged 12 points and 6 rebounds in the U20 European Championships in early July. He was with the team in China for the Stankovic Cup and is on the provisional roster, but is not likely to make the final twelve.
The Slovenians have been an erratic bunch. After being edged for the Bronze medal by Greece last summer in the European championships, they have gotten off to a less than impressive start in pre-tournament competition. They swept their way through a weak Stankovic Cup field, and beat Russia and Belgium at the Addeco Cup while narrowly lost to New Zealand and Spain in overtime. They then went to the now infamous Acropolis Cup losing a squeaker to Serbia and getting blown out by Greece that scored 92 points on them before saving face and beating Canada in the finale. Most recently, Slovenia lost to Lithuania. The regular theme has been whether Slovenia is able to stop the elite teams in the world. Barring complacency or multiple injuries, they should advance to the knockout round at which point they become a difficult team to forecast. Dragic is capable of putting up a huge scoring effort and winning a game in a single-elimination format, but they aren’t going to be able to win many games if they cannot get a stop.
Iran
FIBA World Rank: 21
Top Players: Hamed Haddadi and Samad Nikkhah
NBA Players: Hamed Haddadi
NBA Draft Prospects: Arsalan Kazemi
While Hamed Haddadi has had a less than spectacular run with the Memphis Grizzlies, it would be wise not to confuse him not being as good as Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph with him not being good at basketball. The 7’2” center has been a load in the post the past two summers. Haddadi won the 2009 Asian Championships MVP as Iran won the tournament for the second time. He also had four games in the 2008 Olympics where he had at least 15 points, and had an impressive 17 point, 15 rebound, and 3 block effort against group mate Croatia. Samad Nikkhah has also been a strong international performer in the past couple years whose perimeter scoring complements Haddadi’s inside game. Arsalan Kazemi of Rice University was the first Iranian to play in major NCAA basketball last year, and was one of the few bright spots averaging 10 points and 9 rebounds per game on a rebuilding Owls team. While Iran has improved by leaps and bounds over the past few years, it would take a huge upset if they win more than one game in Turkey. They had the misfortune of falling into a draw with four teams who have the big men capable of handling Haddadi on the block.
Tunisia
FIBA World Rank: 43
Top Players: Amine Rzig, Marouan Kechrid, Atef Maoua, Mokhtar Ghyaza, and Salah Mejri
NBA Players: None
NBA Draft Prospects: None
As the lowest ranked team by FIBA in the World Championships, Tunisia seems destined to receive a humble pummeling in group play. Only four players on their roster are paid professionals, and most play for semi-pro club teams in Tunisia. The underdog’s tuneups for the tournament have included a 92-68 thrashing at the hands of non-qualifier Finland and a 77-44 loss to France. The team will be led by 30-year old shooting guard Amine Rzig whose minute-heavy workload is a big reason they qualified as the bronza medalists at last summer’s African championships. He along with Marouan Kechrid, Atef Maoua, and Naim Dhifallah will be a part of this 3-point heavy lineup. Mokhtar Ghyaza will start at center for them and provide their inside muscle. His fellow big man, however, the rail thin 7’1” 210 lbs. center Salah Mejri might also be worth watching. While the 24-year old is still learning the game, Mejri offers them a defensive presence having averaging better than a block per game in less than 15 minutes last summer. Tunisia will need for Rzig and Kechrid to catch fire against Iran and for Mejri to stay out of foul trouble long enough to bother Haddadi defensively in order for them to have any chance of winning a game.
Pool Play Prediction:
US-1
Brazil-2
Croatia-3
Slovenia-4
Iran-5
Tunisia-6
By Mike Misek
United States
FIBA World Rank: 2
Top Players: Kevin Durant, Derrick Rose, Lamar Odom, and Chauncey Billups
NBA Players: Everyone
NBA Draft Prospects: None
Kevin DurantThe burden of playing for USA Basketball comes with one of the most unique set of expectations in all of sport. Losing brings wretched criticism on the individual players, NBA as a whole, and entire style of play and player development in the country. Winning brings with it only relief, brief contentment among the fanbase, and inevitable grumbling about the performance not being up to Dream Team standards. The bar will forever be the ghosts of Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, and Charles Barkley winning every game by more than 30, and then having their opponents ask for autographs and pictures. Brazilian soccer comes with the burden of the “beautiful game” but USA basketball has “dominance or bust.” Frankly, the 2010 World Championship team cannot possibly live up to those standards. While the talent on the US squad mandates them being the favorite, it is difficult to believe a team with so little international experience on the senior level can go through unscathed. Six of the thirteen men on the roster was in high school the last time the US played in the World Championships. Four team members have never played in an NBA playoff game, and only four players have played beyond the first round of the playoffs. The green nature of this team is quite scary, and could end up being the storyline of the tournament. The difference between the 2006 US team that lost in the semifinals to Greece and the 2008 team praised as the Redeem Team was the alpha presence of Kobe Bryant. When Rudy Fernandez hit a three in the gold medal game to reduce the US lead to 91-89 in the 4th quarter, Kobe Bryant went on a two minute sequence where he scored five points and assisted five more to push the lead back up to nine. As talented as the 2006 team was, nobody took the alpha dog role of stopping the bleeding when the Greeks were amassing their lead in the second and third quarters. The question of the 2010 USA team will be whether or not there is a player on this roster who can make sure they weather any and all storms that come their way.
While most previews issue bemoan the lack of size and believe that issue to be a hindrance to winning the tournament, the reality is the size of the team is a complete non-issue. The perceived lack of big men on the US side is mostly a result of a paper depth chart. While Kevin Durant and Danny Granger are labeled as NBA “3s” they are entirely capable of playing the power forward spot in international competition. Lamar Odom and Kevin Love are NBA 4s, but are as big as just about any international 5 in the tournament. The game with Brazil should serve the purpose showing that Tyson Chandler, Lamar Odom, and Kevin Love are plenty big for the center position by international standards. Fans have gotten caught in the misconception that the US team might be weak inside or on the glass despite the fact that the blueprint for beating the US mandates Krzyzewski to go with a small lineup. Greece beat the US in 2006 despite having all of four offensive rebounds in the game and giving up fourteen to the Americans. In an effort to keep the US from getting out and running, most international teams game plan against having the traditional “four men to the glass on a shot.” Teams concede the rebound to make sure they have their men get back and make sure the US earns their points in the half court. Also, challenging opponents to throw the ball into the post and go at Tyson Chandler or Lamar Odom is a healthy proposition for the Americans, because the likes of Luis Scola and Marc Gasol are not exactly Arvydas Sabonis and big brother Pau. The smaller lineups should also better be equipped the strengths of the international competition, which is almost universally point guards and wings.
It is unlikely that the US faces severe adversity before the quarterfinals where one can peg them for a date with either Greece or host Turkey as the 2nd place team in Group C. If the brackets play out as projected and they reach the semi-finals, the US will meet Spain. Whereas no players are returning from 2008 for the US, the Spanish returns five of their top six minute men from their silver medal team and has former Orlando Magic lottery pick Fran Vazquez filling the spot vacated by Pau. Talent and matchups are not going to be an issue for the US, the real issue at hand is how the young team responds when they inevitably face adversity. It is an incredible burden and opportunity for many of the NBA’s top young talents.
Brazil
FIBA World Rank: 14
Top Players: Leandro Barbosa, Tiago Splitter, Anderson Varejao, Nene, and Marcelinho Machado
NBA Players: Leandro Barbosa, Tiago Splitter, Anderson Varejao, and Nene
NBA Draft Prospects: Raul Neto
The bi-continental FIBA Americas Championship 2009 was not won by the US (they won an exemption for winning the gold in Beijing), FIBA’s top ranked team in the world Argentina, or even perennial pest Puerto Rico, but the talented and oft-disappointing Brazilians. Despite a roster of players that have long lined the NBA and elite clubs of Europe, the Brazilians have not medaled in the Olympics or World Championships since 1978. This year’s squad has the talent from top to bottom to compete for a medal, but the injury big has taken a bite of those chances.
Leandro BarbosaOn paper, the big men of Brazil appear to be formidable for anyone and everyone in the tournament. Tiago Splitter is an All-Euroleague performer who just signed a three year contract with San Antonio. Anderson Varejao offers the kind of inside presence lacking on many teams in this tournament. The paper does not tell the story as the Brazilians are all banged up. Anderson Varejao went down with a sprained ankle in tuneup game against Spain. Splitter has recently suffered a thigh contusion, and has missed multiple pre-tournament games. This does not even include the news that Nene has been removed from the roster after the team found out his muscle strain in the soleus muscle will sideline him for much of the tournament. While Splitter and Varejao should be healthy enough to play in the World Championships, neither will be at 100 percent. The banged up front court means that the key for Brazil going deep in the tournament will be the shooting of Barbosa and Machado. Barbosa’s reduced role with the Phoenix Suns has diminished his reputation stateside, but "The Brazilian Blur" has remained an incredible scoring weapon in international play. In leading Brazil to last summer’s US-less FIBA Tournament of the Americas title, Barbosa averaged better than 20 points per game on better than 55 percent shooting from the field. His quickness still poses incredible matchup problems for almost every team in the tournament. Lesser known to American audiences, Marcelinho Machado is an important deep threat. Machado has long been their primary threat from behind the arc, and he has often been their leading scorer in pre-tournament matches. It will be the job of Barbosa and Marcelo Huertas to engineer the offense.
Raul Neto, or Raulzinho, will be the youngest player on the Brazilian roster. The 17-year old had a strong performance at the 2010 FIBA Americas U18 Championship averaging 15 points, 6 rebounds, and 5 assists per game, which earned him an invitation to the senior team. It is unlikely that he sees many meaningful minutes in the tournament, but could get on the floor in group play blowouts.
Despite the banged up frontcourt, Brazil has performed strongly in games heading into the World Championships. They swept the Super Four tournament in Brasilia with wins over Angola and Venezuela. They followed those games up in Logrono with matches against Argentina, Spain, and France. While they lost a pair of those, they took the Argentine squad to the end before losing 77-73. In their match with Spain, the match was 51-49 before the Spanish went on a run to open it up late. The Brazilians figure to start group play strong with their first two matches against Iran and Tunisia. The relatively easy start should allow them not to press their banged up bigs before their August 30th tilt with the US. While Brazil are unlikely to have the ability to match baskets with the US team even if Barbosa and Machado are hitting from deep, the Brazilians should use that game to their ability to score consistently over 40 minutes and avoid long scoring droughts. The team will need to show more consistency offensively should they want to battle Croatia and Slovenia for the second seed and favorable knockout draw from Group B.
Croatia
FIBA World Rank: 15th (tied with France)
Top Players: Marko Tomas, Marko Popovic, Roko Ukic, and Marko Banic
NBA Players: None
NBA Draft Prospects: Bojan Bogdanovic
The nation of Drazen Petrovic, Toni Kukoc, and Dino Radja might finally have the team to bring its squad into alignment with its reputation. The fame of Croatian basketball greats often clouds the fact that the nation has not participated in a FIBA World Championship since their Bronze medal performance in 1994. Such a drought combined with very pedestrian sixth place efforts in the 2008 Olympics and both the 2007 and 2009 European championships raises the question as to whether they have simply found their new equilibrium as a second tier team on the international scene. While they enter the FIBA World Championships ranked 15th, the 2010 team does not lack for size or young talent. If their young talent comes together, they could battle for the valuable second place draw from Group B that could position them to get into the medal rounds in this year’s tournament.
The team will be led by Marko Tomas, who recently netted a two-year deal with Fenerbahce Ulker. Tomas missed the European Championships last summer, but still may be one of the most dangerous shooters in the tournament. The point guard position will be shared by Tomas’ Fenerbahce teammate and former Milwaukee Buck Roko Ukic as well as long-time staple of the Croatian national team Marko Popovic. The latter began his career with Croatia’s senior national team in 2003. With former New Jersey Net Zoran Planinic slow to return from knee surgery and possibly missing the tournament, Ukic might also see a bit of time off the ball at the shooting guard spot. Up front, the Croatians will be big and skilled even with Mario Kasun’s retirement from international play. Marko Banic, Kresimir Loncar, Stanko Barac, and Ante Tomic give them as much size as anyone in the tournament. Marko Banic is coming off a strong club season with Bilbao Basket in the ACB, and has the most experience with the senior national team. He was second on the 2008 Olympic team in scoring and will need to be just as gritty around the hoop an on the offensive glass as he was in Beijing. Ante Tomic, the 2008 2nd round pick of the Utah Jazz and rising talent for Real Madrid, missed a pair of early tune up games with injury but has recovered well enough to put in 14 points in a pre-tournament victory over Germany. Barac was a 2007 second round pick whose NBA rights are controlled by the Indiana Pacers. Loncar is the least skilled of the group and has been remarkably poor shooter from the field the past two summers, but is a strong rebounder who also battles opponents well in the post.
Bojan Bogdanovic will likely be the youngest player to see minutes in Turkey. Bogdanovic applied for early admittance to the 2010 NBA Draft before withdrawing, and was one of the best talents at the U20 Europeans Championships last summer where he averaged 17.3 points and 5.6 rebounds. The skilled and versatile 6’8” forward can certainly improve his stock with NBA teams with a good showing. Draft-eligible players Mario Delas and Leon Radosevic were on the 16-man provisional roster, but will not be in Turkey.
The Croatian team has had a promising build up to the World Championships winning a pair of exhibitions over Italy, beating Germany and Turkey in the BEKO-Supercup tournament in Bamberg, handling Russia in one of their games in the Love Cyprus Basketball Tournament, and then taking out New Zealand in a tourney in Zadar. Any momentum might end quickly as they play Team USA to open group play. Not having the quickness to match up with the US squad, they figure to be the first of many teams to try to zone the Americans and hope they have a bad shooting day. Even in a loss, it could be a great showcase for Ante Tomic as the US team will not have the length to match the 7’2” center. After the opener, Croatia should be able to win their next three matches setting up a battle for second place with Brazil.
Slovenia
FIBA World Rank: 20
Top Players: Goran Dragic, Bostjan Nachbar, Sani Becirovic, and Uros Slokar
NBA Players: Goran Dragic, Primoz Brezec
NBA Prospects: Zoran Dragic, Dino Muric
No national team has bucked convention for assembling their roster quite like Slovenia. Over the past two summers, the team has let go Sasha Vujacic and Beno Udrih. While Vujacic was plainly told that his services were not wanted, Beno and the national team agreed to part ways in July after Udrih was told he would not start for the squad. While it is incredibly rare for such a small country to let go of their two highest paid professionals, the Slovenians are not going to lack for backcourt talent. Goran Dragic, Jaka Lakovic, and Sani Becirovic give them a formidable trio. While Udrih was not too pleased with the news that he would need to backup Jaka Lakovic, the Barca point has had a better international body of work. Udrih has not played in a major tournament for Slovenia since 2006 while Lakovic has been one of their leaders during that time. Dragic has taken a starring role on the team, and highlighted an MVP performance in the pre-Worlds Stankovic Cup with a triple-double effort with 15 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists semifinal victory against China. Becirovic was the 2nd round pick of the Nuggets in the 2003 Carmelo Anthony draft. He has never played in the NBA, but has been a very good scorer in the Euroleague and during international play. Those three will be joined by a collection of familiar names. Former first round pick Bostjan Nachbar will start at small forward so long as he remains healthy. Former Raptors second rounder Uros Slokar mans the power forward spot, and Primoz Brezec , who played for the Bucks last year, will be their starting center. Gasper Vidmar and Jaka Klobucar have been getting significant time off the bench, and could have their first meaningful performance on the senior level.
Goran’s younger brother Zoran has been getting some minimal playing time in pre-tournament action with the senior team. The younger 6’5“ Dragic just turned 21 and will be automatically eligible for the 2011 NBA Draft. Last summer he averaged 16 points per game in the U20 European Championships. Slovenia’s other draft eligible player is Dino Muric. The 6’6” wing averaged 12 points and 6 rebounds in the U20 European Championships in early July. He was with the team in China for the Stankovic Cup and is on the provisional roster, but is not likely to make the final twelve.
The Slovenians have been an erratic bunch. After being edged for the Bronze medal by Greece last summer in the European championships, they have gotten off to a less than impressive start in pre-tournament competition. They swept their way through a weak Stankovic Cup field, and beat Russia and Belgium at the Addeco Cup while narrowly lost to New Zealand and Spain in overtime. They then went to the now infamous Acropolis Cup losing a squeaker to Serbia and getting blown out by Greece that scored 92 points on them before saving face and beating Canada in the finale. Most recently, Slovenia lost to Lithuania. The regular theme has been whether Slovenia is able to stop the elite teams in the world. Barring complacency or multiple injuries, they should advance to the knockout round at which point they become a difficult team to forecast. Dragic is capable of putting up a huge scoring effort and winning a game in a single-elimination format, but they aren’t going to be able to win many games if they cannot get a stop.
Iran
FIBA World Rank: 21
Top Players: Hamed Haddadi and Samad Nikkhah
NBA Players: Hamed Haddadi
NBA Draft Prospects: Arsalan Kazemi
While Hamed Haddadi has had a less than spectacular run with the Memphis Grizzlies, it would be wise not to confuse him not being as good as Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph with him not being good at basketball. The 7’2” center has been a load in the post the past two summers. Haddadi won the 2009 Asian Championships MVP as Iran won the tournament for the second time. He also had four games in the 2008 Olympics where he had at least 15 points, and had an impressive 17 point, 15 rebound, and 3 block effort against group mate Croatia. Samad Nikkhah has also been a strong international performer in the past couple years whose perimeter scoring complements Haddadi’s inside game. Arsalan Kazemi of Rice University was the first Iranian to play in major NCAA basketball last year, and was one of the few bright spots averaging 10 points and 9 rebounds per game on a rebuilding Owls team. While Iran has improved by leaps and bounds over the past few years, it would take a huge upset if they win more than one game in Turkey. They had the misfortune of falling into a draw with four teams who have the big men capable of handling Haddadi on the block.
Tunisia
FIBA World Rank: 43
Top Players: Amine Rzig, Marouan Kechrid, Atef Maoua, Mokhtar Ghyaza, and Salah Mejri
NBA Players: None
NBA Draft Prospects: None
As the lowest ranked team by FIBA in the World Championships, Tunisia seems destined to receive a humble pummeling in group play. Only four players on their roster are paid professionals, and most play for semi-pro club teams in Tunisia. The underdog’s tuneups for the tournament have included a 92-68 thrashing at the hands of non-qualifier Finland and a 77-44 loss to France. The team will be led by 30-year old shooting guard Amine Rzig whose minute-heavy workload is a big reason they qualified as the bronza medalists at last summer’s African championships. He along with Marouan Kechrid, Atef Maoua, and Naim Dhifallah will be a part of this 3-point heavy lineup. Mokhtar Ghyaza will start at center for them and provide their inside muscle. His fellow big man, however, the rail thin 7’1” 210 lbs. center Salah Mejri might also be worth watching. While the 24-year old is still learning the game, Mejri offers them a defensive presence having averaging better than a block per game in less than 15 minutes last summer. Tunisia will need for Rzig and Kechrid to catch fire against Iran and for Mejri to stay out of foul trouble long enough to bother Haddadi defensively in order for them to have any chance of winning a game.
Pool Play Prediction:
US-1
Brazil-2
Croatia-3
Slovenia-4
Iran-5
Tunisia-6
RSS: 