2015 Eurobasket

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UcanUwill
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2015 Eurobasket 

Post#1 » by UcanUwill » Mon Dec 8, 2014 4:33 pm

http://www.eurobasket2015.org/en/default.asp

Image

Group A

Image France
Image Russia
Image Finland
Image Israel
Image Poland
Image Bosnia & Herzegovina






Group B

Image Spain
Image Serbia
Image Italy
Image Turkey
Image Germany
Image Iceland






Group C

Image Croatia
Image Greece
Image Slovenia
Image Macedonia
Image Georgia
Image Netherlands






Group D

Image Lithuania
Image Ukraine
Image Latvia
Image Czech Republic
Image Belgium
Image Estonia




Image

Group A rosters

Image
Spoiler:
PGs

Tony Parker -- (Spurs NBA)
Léo Westermann -- (Limoges CSP Image)

SGs

Nando De Colo -- (CSKA Moscow Image)
Evan Fournier -- (Magic NBA)

SFs

Nicolas Batum -- (Bobcats NBA)
Mickaël Gelabale -- (Le Mans Image)
Charles Lombahe-Kahudi -- (ASVEL Image)

PFs

Boris Diaw -- (Spurs NBA)
Joffrey Lauvergne -- (Nuggets NBA)
Florent Piétrus -- (Nancy Image)

Cs

Rudy Gobert -- (Jazz NBA)
Mouhammadou Jaiteh -- (JSF Nanterre Image)

Image
Spoiler:
PGs

Anton Ponkrashov -- (Unics Image)
Dmitry Khvostov -- (Nizhny Novgorod Image)


SGs

Vitaly Fridzon -- (CSKA Moscow Image)
Evgeny Baburin -- (Nizhny Novgorod Image)
Egor Vyaltsev -- (Khimki Image)

SFs

Sergei Monia -- (Khimki Image)
Nikita Kurbanov -- (CSKA Moscow Image)
Semen Antonov -- (Nizhny Novgorod Image)


PFs

Andrey Vorontsevich -- (CSKA Moscow Image)
Andrey Zubkov -- (Lokomotiv Image)

Cs

Ruslan Pateev -- (Khimki Image)
Andrey Desyatnikov -- (Zenit Image)

Image
Spoiler:
PGs

Jamar Wilson -- (Rouen Métropole Image)
Sasu Salin -- (Gran Canaria Image)
Roope Ahonen -- (Kolossos Rodou Image)

SGs

Petteri Koponen -- (Khimki Image)
Mikko Koivisto -- (Bisons Loimaa Image)

SFs

Shawn Huff -- (MHP Riesen Image)

PFs

Erik Murphy -- (Beşiktaş Image)
Matti Nuutinen -- (Kataja B.C. Image)
Ville Kaunisto -- (Kouvot Image)
Joonas Cavén -- (87ers D-League)

Cs

Gerald Lee -- (Murcia Image)
Tuukka Kotti -- (Bisons Loimaa Image)

Image
Spoiler:
PGs

Gal Mekel -- (Crvena zvezda Image)
Yogev Ohayon -- (Maccabi Tel Aviv Image)

SGs

Raviv Limonad -- (Hapoel Tel Aviv Image)
Dagan Yivzori -- (Maccabi Tel Aviv Image)
Bar Timor -- (Hapoel Jerusalem Image)
Shawn Dawson -- (Maccabi Rishon Image)

SFs

Omri Casspi -- (Kings NBA)

PFs

Lior Eliyahu -- (Hapoel Jerusalem Image)
Elishay Kadir -- (Hapoel Eliat Image)

Cs

D'or Fischer -- (Hapoel Jerusalem Image)
Yaniv Green -- (Hapoel Jerusalem Image)
Boris Rothbart -- (Hapoel Tel Aviv Image)


Group B rosters

Image
Spoiler:
PGs

Sergio Rodríguez -- (Real Madrid Image)
Sergio Llull -- (Real Madrid Image)
Guillem Vives -- (Valencia Image)

SGs

Pau Ribas -- (Barcelona Image)
Fernando San Emeterio -- (Laboral Kutxa Image)

SFs

Rudy Fernández -- (Real Madrid Image)
Víctor Claver -- (Khimki Image)


PFs

Nikola Mirotić -- (Bulls NBA)
Felipe Reyes -- (Real Madrid Image)
Pablo Aguilar -- (Gran Canaria Image)

Cs

Pau Gasol -- (Bulls NBA)
Willy Hernangómez -- (Real Madrid Image)

Image
Spoiler:
PGs

Miloš Teodosić -- (CSKA Moscow Image)
Nemanja Nedović -- (Unicaja Image)
Stefan Marković -- (Unicaja Image)

SGs

Bogdan Bogdanović -- (Fenerbahçe Image)
Dragan Milosavljević -- (Alba Berlin Image)

SFs

Nikola Kalinić -- (Fenerbahçe Image)
Marko Simonović -- (Élan Béarnais Image)

PFs

Nemanja Bjelica -- (Timberwolves NBA)
Zoran Erceg -- (Galatasaray Image)

Cs

Miroslav Raduljica -- (Panathinaikos Image)
Ognjen Kuzmić -- (Panathinaikos Image)
Nikola Milutinov -- (Olympiakos Image)

Image
Spoiler:
PGs

Daniel Hackett -- (Olympiakos Image)
Andrea Cinciarini -- (Emporio Armani Milano Image)
Amedeo Della Valle -- (Pallacanestro Reggiana Image)

SGs

Marco Belinelli -- (Kings NBA)
Alessandro Gentile -- (Emporio Armani Milano Image)
Pietro Aradori -- (Pallacanestro Reggiana Image)

SFs

Danilo Gallinari -- (Nuggets NBA)
Luigi Datome -- (Fenerbahçe Image)

PFs

Andrea Bargnani -- (Nets NBA)
Nicolò Melli -- (Brose Baskets Image)
Achille Polonara -- (Pallacanestro Reggiana Image)

Cs

Marco Cusin -- (Guerino Vanoli Basket Image)


Group C rosters

Image
Spoiler:
PGs

Dontaye Draper -- (Lokomotiv Image)
Roko Leni Ukić -- (Cedevita Image)
Rok Stipčević -- (Dinamo Sassari Image)

SGs

Mario Hezonja -- (Magic NBA)
Krunoslav Simon -- (Emporio Armani Milano Image)

SFs

Bojan Bogdanović -- (Nets NBA)
Marko Tomas -- (TED Ankara Image)

PFs

Dario Šarić -- (Anadolu Efes Image)
Damjan Rudež -- (Timberwolves NBA)

Cs

Ante Tomić -- (Barcelona Image)
Luka Žorić -- (Cedevita Image)
Miro Bilan -- (Cedevita Image)

Image
Spoiler:
PGs

Nick Calathes -- (Panathinaikos Image)
Kostas Sloukas -- (Fenerbahçe Image)
Nikolaos Zisis -- (Brose Baskets Image)

SGs

Vassilis Spanoulis -- (Olympiakos Image)
Vangelis Mantzaris -- (Olympiakos Image)

SFs

Kostas Papanikolaou -- (Nuggets NBA)
Stratos Perperoglou -- (Barcelona Image)

PFs

Giannis Antetokounmpo -- (Bucks NBA)
Georgios Printezis -- (Olympiakos Image)
Kostas Kaimakoglou -- (UNICS Image)

Cs

Kosta Koufos -- (Kings NBA)
Yannis Bourousis -- (Olympiakos Image)

Image

Spoiler:
PGs

Luka Rupnik -- (Union Olimpija Image)

SGs

Zoran Dragić -- (Khimki Image)
Jaka Blažič -- (Crvena zvezda Image)
Nebojša Joksimović -- (Krka Image)
Klemen Prepelič -- (Union Olimpija Image )

SFs

Jaka Klobučar -- (ratiopharm Ulm Image)
Mitja Nikolić -- (Union Olimpija Image )

PFs

Uroš Slokar -- (Sevilla Image)
Miha Zupan -- (Uşak Sportif Image)
Jure Balažič -- (Gaziantep Image)
Saša Zagorac -- (Union Olimpija Image )

Cs

Alen Omić -- (Gran Canaria Image)


Group D rosters

Image

Spoiler:
PGs

Mantas Kalnietis -- (Žalgiris Image)
Lukas Lekavičius -- (Žalgiris Image)

SGs

Renaldas Seibutis -- (Žalgiris Image)
Artūras Milaknis -- (UNICS Image)

SFs

Jonas Mačiulis -- (Real Madrid Image)
Mindaugas Kuzminskas -- (Unicaja Image)
Deividas Gailius -- (Lietuvos Rytas Image)

PFs

Paulius Jankūnas -- (Žalgiris Image)
Domantas Sabonis -- (Gonzaga NCAA)

Cs

Jonas Valančiūnas -- (Raptors NBA)
Antanas Kavaliauskas -- (Lietuvos rytas Image)
Robertas Javtokas -- (Žalgiris Image)

Image
Spoiler:
PGs

Sam Van Rossom -- (Valencia Image)
Lionel Bosco -- (Mons-Hainaut Image)

SGs

Matt Lojeski -- (Olympiacos Image)
Jonathan Tabu -- (Fuenlabrada Image)
Quentin Serron -- (Oostende Image)

SFs

Wen Mukubu -- (Charleroi Image)
Jean-Marc Mwema -- (Antwerp Giants Image)
Jean Salumu -- (Oostende Image)

PFs

Axel Hervelle -- (Bilbao Image)
Maxime de Zeeuw -- (ČEZ Nymburk Image)
Pierre-Antoine Gillet -- (Oostende Image)

Cs

Kevin Tumba -- (Leuven Bears Image)


(Will add more rosters later)
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Re: 2015 Eurobasket draw 

Post#2 » by Muizha » Mon Dec 8, 2014 8:43 pm

Love the draw for Latvia - if they beat Lithuania (and they certainly can at home), they can go out this group in the first place
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Re: 2015 Eurobasket draw 

Post#3 » by UcanUwill » Tue Dec 9, 2014 12:45 pm

Muizha wrote:Love the draw for Latvia - if they beat Lithuania (and they certainly can at home), they can go out this group in the first place


Will Porzingis play? Latvia desperately needs to upgrade their frontcourt if they want to beat Lithuania. Mārtiņš Meiers and other Latvian bigs were just terrible. I remember they played Lithuania last year, and Lithuania's Arturas Gudaitis of all people just demolished Latvian bigs that time.
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Re: 2015 Eurobasket draw 

Post#4 » by Muizha » Tue Dec 9, 2014 8:07 pm

UcanUwill wrote:
Muizha wrote:Love the draw for Latvia - if they beat Lithuania (and they certainly can at home), they can go out this group in the first place


Will Porzingis play? Latvia desperately needs to upgrade their frontcourt if they want to beat Lithuania. Mārtiņš Meiers and other Latvian bigs were just terrible. I remember they played Lithuania last year, and Lithuania's Arturas Gudaitis of all people just demolished Latvian bigs that time.


If his new NBA team doesn't restrict him to do so, I think he will definitely be on the squad. The game against Lithuania was at the beginning of training camp phase for the Eurobasket qualification so Latvia's roster was pretty experimental, for example, they didn't have their best big man by far in Kaspars Berzins, who offers a great deal of rim protection. Also Davis Bertans (who missed last year's tournament) will probably play some 4 also, so their front-court should be a bit better this time.

Btw, the last time when both teams played in a competitive game was in Eurobasket 2013, when Lithuania had a hard fought win 67-59
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Re: 2015 Eurobasket 

Post#5 » by UcanUwill » Tue May 5, 2015 10:53 am

Image Lithuania's head coach Jonas Kazlauskas announced preliminary 25 player list today :

PGs

Mantas Kalnietis -- (Lokomotiv Kuban Image)
Adas Juškevičius -- (Lietuvos rytas Image)
Lukas Lekavičius -- (Žalgiris Image)
Žygimantas Janavičius -- (Lietuvos rytas Image)
Mindaugas Girdžiūnas -- (Neptūnas Image)
Vaidas Kariniauskas -- (Žalgiris Image)

SGs

Renaldas Seibutis -- (Darussafaka Image)
Artūras Milaknis -- (Žalgiris Image)
Martynas Pocius -- (Galatasaray Image)
Martynas Gecevičius -- (Lietuvos rytas Image)
Edgaras Ulanovas -- (Žalgiris Image)

SFs

Jonas Mačiulis -- (Real Madrid Image)
Mindaugas Kuzminskas -- (Unicaja Image)
Gediminas Orelik -- (Lietuvos rytas Image)
Deividas Gailius -- (Neptūnas Image)
Rokas Giedraitis -- (Šiauliai Image)

PFs

Donatas Motiejūnas -- (Rockets NBA)
Paulius Jankūnas -- (Žalgiris Image)
Linas Kleiza -- (Emporio Armani Image)
Domantas Sabonis -- (Gonzaga NCAA)

Cs

Jonas Valančiūnas -- (Raptors NBA)
Antanas Kavaliauskas -- (Lietuvos rytas Image)
Darjuš Lavrinovič -- (Grissin Bon Image)
Artūras Gudaitis -- (Žalgiris Image)
Robertas Javtokas -- (Žalgiris Image)
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Re: 2015 Eurobasket 

Post#6 » by jolbin » Tue May 5, 2015 12:34 pm

Nice roster from Lithuania..

From Slovenija, the biggest question mark i see is whether Goran Dragić will play, and subsequently, if he doesnt, will Beno replace him? Will Begić play?
If everything goes as planned i hope to see the following roster

Dragić/Udrih - Klobučar (Rebec, Nikolić, Rupnik)
Z.Dragić - Blažič - Luka Dončič (Prepelić, Lapornik,Hrovat, Mesicek, Kastrati)
D.Lorbek - E.Murić (Nikolic, Mahkovic)
Balažič - Zupan (D.Murić,E.Lorbek???)
Vidmar - Begić/Omić/Rizvić - Slokar (Krusic, Bolcina?)

I suspect Doncic will play on ECH, despite his 16 years of age, as the federation sees him as the next golden boy of Slovenian basketball.
The PF position seems weak, as always in last years.Next guy in line is undersized bad knees Dino Murić with no skill but really nice hustle and heart.. Boki Nachbar is really missing there..
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Re: 2015 Eurobasket 

Post#7 » by donkki » Sun May 17, 2015 10:20 am

Finland will most likely have an almost identical roster to the one they had in 2014 FIBA World Cup.
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Re: 2015 Eurobasket 

Post#8 » by UcanUwill » Thu May 21, 2015 1:14 pm

Image France's 24 men preliminary squad. Scary good.

PGs

Tony Parker -- (Spurs NBA)
Thomas Heurtel -- (Anadolu Efes Image)
Léo Westermann -- (Limoges CSP Image)
Antoine Diot -- (Strasbourg IG Image)

SGs

Nando De Colo -- (CSKA Moscow Image)
Evan Fournier -- (Magic NBA)
Fabien Causeur -- (Laboral Kutxa Image)
Edwin Jackson -- (Barcelona Image)

SFs

Nicolas Batum -- (TrailBlazers NBA)
Mickaël Gelabale -- (Limoges CSP Image)
Charles Lombahe-Kahudi -- (Le Mans Image)
Jérémy Leloup -- (Strasbourg IG Image)

PF
s

Boris Diaw -- (Spurs NBA)
Joffrey Lauvergne -- (Nuggets NBA)
Adrien Moerman -- (Limoges CSP Image)
Kim Tillie -- (Laboral Kutxa Image)
Nobel Boungou-Colo -- (Limoges CSP Image)
Florent Piétrus -- (Nancy Image)

Cs

Rudy Gobert -- (Jazz NBA)
Alexis Ajinça -- (Pelicans NBA)
Ian Mahinmi -- (Pacers NBA)
Kevin Séraphin -- (Wizards NBA)
Ali Traoré -- (Strasbourg IG Image)
Mouhammadou Jaiteh -- (JSF Nanterre Image)
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Re: 2015 Eurobasket 

Post#9 » by Mirotic12 » Thu May 21, 2015 10:17 pm

I don't think these are actual preliminary rosters. These are the 24 player FIBA register lists. Every federation each year has to register 24 players for their national team. In other words, each year every national team has to submit 24 players to be registered as eligible to play for their national team.

At the earliest possible time, there is I believe an alternate place (a 25th place) that lasts for a short period of time, and is then removed.

That is all these lists are. They are not actual preliminary rosters, which implies the coaches actually contacted the players about who will play, and who they want to play.
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Re: 2015 Eurobasket 

Post#10 » by UcanUwill » Tue May 26, 2015 4:27 pm

Image Serbia announced their 24 men preliminary squad :

PGs

Miloš Teodosić -- (CSKA Moscow Image)
Nemanja Nedović -- (Valencia Image)
Stefan Marković -- (Unicaja Image)
Vasilije Micić -- (Bayern Munich Image)

SGs

Bogdan Bogdanović -- (Fenerbahçe Image)
Stefan Jović -- (Crvena zvezda Image)
Dragan Milosavljević -- (Partizan Image)

SFs

Nikola Kalinić -- (Crvena zvezda Image)
Marko Kešelj -- (KK Mega Basket Image)
Nemanja Dangubić -- (Crvena zvezda Image)
Marko Simonović -- (Élan Béarnais Image)
Rade Zagorac -- (KK Mega Basket Image)

PFs

Nemanja Bjelica -- (Fenerbahçe Image)
Zoran Erceg -- (Galatasaray Image)
Milan Mačvan -- (Partizan Image)
Luka Mitrović -- (Crvena zvezda Image)
Stefan Birčević -- (Estudiantes Image)
Đorđe Majstorović -- (Metalac Valjevo Image)

Cs

Boban Marjanović -- (Crvena zvezda Image)
Miroslav Raduljica -- (Timberwolves NBA)
Vladimir Štimac -- (Bayern Munich Image)
Ognjen Kuzmić -- (Warriors NBA)
Nikola Milutinov -- (Partizan Image)
Nikola Jokić -- (KK Mega Basket Image)
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Re: 2015 Eurobasket 

Post#11 » by UcanUwill » Mon Jun 1, 2015 4:00 pm

Emir Preldzic will not play this year. Anyway, what happened to him anyway, he had a very underwhelming season.
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Re: 2015 Eurobasket 

Post#12 » by UcanUwill » Mon Jun 1, 2015 6:14 pm

Image Belgium announced 27 men preliminary squad

PGs

Sam Van Rossom -- (Valencia Image)
Thomas Akyazili -- (Antwerp Giants Image)
Lionel Bosco -- (Mons-Hainaut Image)
Manu Lecomte -- (Miami NCAA)
Niels Marnegrave -- (Oostende Image)

SGs

Matt Lojeski -- (Olympiacos Image)
Jonathan Tabu -- (Emporio Armani Image)
Guy Muya -- (Oostende Image)
Alexandre Libert -- (Pepinster Wolves Image)
Senne Geukens -- (Kangoeroes Image)
Idris Lasisi -- (Mons-Hainaut Image)
Quentin Serron -- (Oostende Image)
Olivier Troisfontaines -- (Leuven Bears Image)

SFs

Vincent Kesteloot -- (Okapi Aalstar Image)
Loic Schwartz -- (Charleroi Image)
Wen Mukubu -- (Charleroi Image)
Jean-Marc Mwema -- (Antwerp Giants Image)
Jean Salumu -- (Oostende Image)

PFs

Axel Hervelle -- (Bilbao Image)
Maxime de Zeeuw -- (Virtus Roma Image)
Pierre-Antoine Gillet -- (Oostende Image)
Yannick Desiron -- (Leuven Bears Image)
Sacha Massot -- (Charleroi Image)


Cs

Ioann Iarochevitch -- (San Sebastian Image)
Khalid Boukicho -- (Oostende Image)
Amaury Gorgemans -- (Mons-Hainaut Image)
Kevin Tumba -- (Leuven Bears Image)
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Re: 2015 Eurobasket 

Post#13 » by UcanUwill » Tue Jun 2, 2015 4:39 pm

Posted Belgium's preliminary yesterday. Lets go to something better.

Image Russian 22 men preliminary squad

PGs

Aleksey Shved -- (Knicks NBA)
Dmitry Khvostov -- (Nizhny Novgorod Image)
Mikhail Kulagin -- (Rossiya Novogorsk Image)


SGs

Anton Ponkrashov -- (Unics Image)
Vitaly Fridzon -- (CSKA Moscow Image)
Evgeny Voronov -- (Lokomotiv Image)
Dmitry Kulagin -- (Zenit Image)
Artem Vikhrov -- (Zenit Image)
Egor Vyaltsev -- (Khimki Image)

SFs

Sergei Monia -- (Khimki Image)
Nikita Kurbanov -- (Lokomotiv Image)
Semen Antonov -- (Nizhny Novgorod Image)
Pavel Antipov -- (Unics Image)

PFs

Andrey Vorontsevich -- (CSKA Moscow Image)
Andrey Zubkov -- (Lokomotiv Image)
Evgeny Valiev -- (Zenit Image)
Pavel Korobkov -- (CSKA Moscow Image)

Cs

Timofey Mozgov -- (Cavaliers NBA)
Sasha Kaun -- (CSKA Moscow Image)
Ruslan Pateev -- (Khimki Image)
Artem Klimenko -- (Avtodor Saratov Image)
Andrey Desyatnikov -- (Zenit Image)
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Re: 2015 Eurobasket 

Post#14 » by Mirotic12 » Tue Jun 2, 2015 8:18 pm

So Belgium has a main lineup like this,

PG Sam Van Rossum
SG Jonathan Tabu
SF Matt Lojeski
PF Axelle Hervelle
C Maxime de Zeeuw

That is pretty good. And they have a pretty good coach also. Only thing is that Tabu had a bad knee injury early in the year and missed almost the whole season after he had surgery, and so far since he came back he has played really bad. But if he was able to play to his normal level, that is a pretty strong team. No one would want to play them. Definite dark horse for sure if he can come back healthy. I cannot remember them ever having such a strong team as this.
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Re: 2015 Eurobasket 

Post#15 » by Von Bismarck » Wed Jun 3, 2015 12:29 am

My take on Eurobasket;

1.tier Spain & France

Still top of Euro basketball even though they will be weakened due to many players that won't play this summer. For Spain that list includes Gasol brothers and most likely Mirotic/Ibaka as well. Calderon and Rubio won't play either. Spain will easily compensate Rubio absence cause they have Llull and Sergio Rodriguez there. However, Spain will be notably weakened at 4/5. Noah and most likely Parker won't play for France. Which leaves France with Heurtel as their starting playmaker, jekyll and hyde type of a player. On other positions, France is covered fine. Also, Batum has been overrun by injuries. I don't know if he will even play, but if he does, I don't think he will be 100% ready.

2.tier Serbia and Greece

Serbia comes with the world silver in her backpocket. Krstic won't be playing this year, so now they have Raduljica with no club in god knows which shape and Marjanovic from Zvezda, we'll see how Marjanovic translates his game to the national team where they play much faster than in Zvezda. Serbia is strong at 1-2 with many good player, especially Teodosic and Bogdan Bogdanovic. At 3 they have solid Euro guy Kalinic. 4 is covered pretty well with Bjelica as Euro MVP and Erceg I presume as his backup. What can you say about Greece? I think names like Spanoulis, Antetokumpo, Koufos, Papanikolau, Printezis, Perperoglou, Borousis, Mantzaris, Calathes and the rest say enough. We'll however see, how many of them will play, I presume almost all of those mentioned.

3.tier Croatia and Lithuania

Croatia comes after 4th place in Slovenia 2013 and 1/8 finals loss in 2014 against France. Croatia has very interesting generation with both established players and young starts. For Croatia we have TOP 3 Euroleague center for 3-4 years, Ante Tomic. Compared to the NBA centers he's a bit weak but has incredible handles and passing skills for a center that size. We have Bogdanovic from the NETS who has his rookie season this year, averaging 9p 3r 1a, prior to that he was one of the Euroleague top scorers for few years. Rudez, 3PT guy from the Pacers. He's able to get into hot streaks. And of course Dario Saric and Mario Hezonja, nothing needs to be said about these young fellas. Lithuania will be weakened due to Motiejunas canceling yesterday. However, Lithuania is always dangerous. Valenciunas will be their top player, I hope he can make that step-up and lead now when it's expected of him.

Others who can surprise - Italy, Germany (if Dirk and/or Schroeder plays), Turkey and Slovenia (though heavily weakened due to Goran Dragic canceling) and Russia. Bosnia would be in this group too but since Nurkic and Djedovic won't play, Teletovic most likely won't play as well - that leaves them to almost nothing.

There are some other interesting countries with good individuals such as Latvia, Belgium and Georgia
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Re: 2015 Eurobasket 

Post#16 » by UcanUwill » Wed Jun 3, 2015 2:12 pm

Von Bismarck wrote:My take on Eurobasket;

Spoiler:
1.tier Spain & France

Still top of Euro basketball even though they will be weakened due to many players that won't play this summer. For Spain that list includes Gasol brothers and most likely Mirotic/Ibaka as well. Calderon and Rubio won't play either. Spain will easily compensate Rubio absence cause they have Llull and Sergio Rodriguez there. However, Spain will be notably weakened at 4/5. Noah and most likely Parker won't play for France. Which leaves France with Heurtel as their starting playmaker, jekyll and hyde type of a player. On other positions, France is covered fine. Also, Batum has been overrun by injuries. I don't know if he will even play, but if he does, I don't think he will be 100% ready.

2.tier Serbia and Greece

Serbia comes with the world silver in her backpocket. Krstic won't be playing this year, so now they have Raduljica with no club in god knows which shape and Marjanovic from Zvezda, we'll see how Marjanovic translates his game to the national team where they play much faster than in Zvezda. Serbia is strong at 1-2 with many good player, especially Teodosic and Bogdan Bogdanovic. At 3 they have solid Euro guy Kalinic. 4 is covered pretty well with Bjelica as Euro MVP and Erceg I presume as his backup. What can you say about Greece? I think names like Spanoulis, Antetokumpo, Koufos, Papanikolau, Printezis, Perperoglou, Borousis, Mantzaris, Calathes and the rest say enough. We'll however see, how many of them will play, I presume almost all of those mentioned.

3.tier Croatia and Lithuania

Croatia comes after 4th place in Slovenia 2013 and 1/8 finals loss in 2014 against France. Croatia has very interesting generation with both established players and young starts. For Croatia we have TOP 3 Euroleague center for 3-4 years, Ante Tomic. Compared to the NBA centers he's a bit weak but has incredible handles and passing skills for a center that size. We have Bogdanovic from the NETS who has his rookie season this year, averaging 9p 3r 1a, prior to that he was one of the Euroleague top scorers for few years. Rudez, 3PT guy from the Pacers. He's able to get into hot streaks. And of course Dario Saric and Mario Hezonja, nothing needs to be said about these young fellas. Lithuania will be weakened due to Motiejunas canceling yesterday. However, Lithuania is always dangerous. Valenciunas will be their top player, I hope he can make that step-up and lead now when it's expected of him.

Others who can surprise - Italy, Germany (if Dirk and/or Schroeder plays), Turkey and Slovenia (though heavily weakened due to Goran Dragic canceling) and Russia. Bosnia would be in this group too but since Nurkic and Djedovic won't play, Teletovic most likely won't play as well - that leaves them to almost nothing.

There are some other interesting countries with good individuals such as Latvia, Belgium and Georgia


Have to agree with those tiers. What about Macedonia, will Bo play or they'll go with other naturalized player? Bo is one of my favs, I know he laid an egg in the Euroleague this year, but he was still good in German league.
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Von Bismarck
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Re: 2015 Eurobasket 

Post#17 » by Von Bismarck » Wed Jun 3, 2015 4:31 pm

UcanUwill wrote:Have to agree with those tiers. What about Macedonia, will Bo play or they'll go with other naturalized player? Bo is one of my favs, I know he laid an egg in the Euroleague this year, but he was still good in German league.


Nope. Bo won't play, neither will Antic. FYROM is very weak. Maybe they take their other naturalized player this time (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Hendrix). But who knows. Anyways, Jeff Teague wouldn't help them :D

In FYROM's group in Zagreb, I see Croatia and Greece dominating and taking first two places. It would be a huge surprise if it wouldn't end that way. I think Croatia can overcome Greece in electric atmosphere in Zagreb. Slovenia and Georgia will fight for the 3rd place, usually I'd say Slovenia would win without a problem, but since Dragic is absent and Georgia has some decent NBA & Euro players, it will be interesting.
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Re: 2015 Eurobasket 

Post#18 » by UcanUwill » Wed Jun 3, 2015 6:07 pm

Interested to see what Boban Marjanovic can do on a different team than Zvezda.
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Re: 2015 Eurobasket 

Post#19 » by Mirotic12 » Wed Jun 3, 2015 9:16 pm

Von Bismarck, just out of curiosity, where are you getting all of these player absences from? As far as I know, Tony Parker already said he is playing this summer, as did Nicolas Batum.

Also, as far as I know, the Gasol brothers never said anything about not playing this summer. Marc Gasol merely said he would not be dealing with the national team until he was done with free agency, which is standard procedure. And I don't think Ibaka or Mirotic ever said they were not playing this summer. The only thing I am aware of is that Mirotic has said over and over he is not going to play for Spain again unless they choose him instead of Ibaka as their naturalized player, since you can only have one naturalized player on your team at a time. Otherwise, he will play for Montenegro. Maybe that is what you meant?

I also don't recall Goran Dragic ever saying he was not playing this summer either. Only thing I heard was Udrih not playing because of an injury, supposedly, but he never plays for Slovenia so no surprise really.

As for the tiers, I honestly think people are these days either greatly overrating Spain and France, or greatly underrating teams like Greece and Serbia, and maybe even Croatia, although I hesitate on Croatia a bit because they are so inconsistent. But they have all the talent for sure.

If you want to say which teams you think are favorites, or will win, or finish at top or whatever, that is not the same thing as putting teams into a tier. A tier implies the level of the teams based on nothing but their talent and ability if they bring all their players.

And France and Spain are no better than those other teams in that way at all to be put in another tier above them, unless you are just doing the usual lazy "counting how many NBA players they have" thing.

For example, the only difference between a team like Spain and teams like Serbia, Croatia, and Greece in the last 10 years was that Spain always had all their best players play for them, while the other three almost never once had it. But if they have such, Spain isn't better than them, and never was.

But here it is discussed like, well if we have all of the players in the teams, or even was further said, well take away 1/3 of Spain's best players and they are still for sure better. Makes no sense at all. No way could Spain be in a higher tier under that scenario.

And France was same way. They went for years never having a good tournament, and only started doing well recently, because they started playing together as a team. Talent was always there, but they never would play proper basketball. But it did not mean they were necessarily tiers lower than Spain. They always had same team they had when they did bad in every tournament, and same team when they started doing good. They just played team basketball finally.

The point is, putting teams by tiers should be on what material they have, not how you think they might play or finish. Two different things.

UcanUwill wrote:Emir Preldzic will not play this year. Anyway, what happened to him anyway, he had a very underwhelming season.


Preldzic counts as Turkey's naturalized player (he is Bosnian Slovene). Turkey has wanted a naturalized (for example paid) American guard in their team for a long time now. They have made offers to players like Keith Langford, Andrew Goudelock, Jordan Farmar, etc. Finally, they made a deal with Bobby Dixon. So to get Dixon, then Preldzic can't play in the team, since you can only have one naturalized player at a time.

This is of course quite ironic, since Turkey is almost always the team using the most naturalized players in every tournament anyway, but they just get around it because they changed the names of all the players and well, the whole issue is very well known. It's just ironic, because in case of Preldzic he is the one one player they legally naturalized, and so he can't play.
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Re: 2015 Eurobasket 

Post#20 » by wilt » Thu Jun 4, 2015 10:05 am

Dirk announced he will play on a press conference just now :)
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