Slovenian Eurobasket team announced

[jolbin]

So, as many of Slovenian players play (Udrih, Sasha, Dragić, Rasho), played (Brezec, Slokar) in NBA, and as some had been drafted (Bečirović, Lorbek) i think it would be interesting for many NBA fans to know, how Slovenia team is doing, and what is it like;

Guards:
Goran Dragić, Phoenix Suns (ZDA), 190 cm, 1986
Jaka Klobučar, U. Olimpija (SLO), 198 cm, 1987
Jaka Lakovič, Barcelona (ŠPA), 186 cm, 1978
Domen Lorbek, Benetton (ITA), 198 cm, 1985
Beno Udrih, Sacramento Kings (ZDA), 191 cm, 1982
Samo Udrih, Estudiantes Madrid (ŠPA), 195 cm, 1979
Sašo Vujačič, LA Lakers (ZDA), 200 cm, 1984

Forwards
Goran Jagodnik, Nymburg (ČEŠ), 201 cm, 1974
Boštjan Nachbar, Dinamo Moskva (RUS), 206 cm, 1980
Emir Preldžić, Fenerbahče Ülker (TUR), 204 cm, 1987

Centers
Primož Brezec, Roma (ITA), 216 cm, 1979
Erazem Lorbek, CSKA Moskva (RUS), 210 cm, 1984
Uroš Slokar, GMAC Bologna (ITA), 210 cm, 1983
Matjaž Smodiš, CSKA Moskva (RUS), 205 cm, 1979
Gašper Vidmar, Fenerbahče Ülker (TUR), 209 cm, 1987

Reserves
Mirza Begić, Union Olimpija (SLO), 218 cm, 1985
Sašo Ožbolt, Union Olimpija (SLO), 188 cm, 1981
Miha Zupan, Union Olimpija (SLO), 206 cm, 1982

Rasho and Bečirovič are missing on the list; Rasho retired from national team, while Sani has knee problems, as always

So, the team looks like that:

Udrih - Dragić - Lakovič - Klobučar
Lakovič - Vujačič - Domen Lorbek - Klobučar
Nachbar - Preldžič - Jagodnik - Udrih Samo
Smodiš - Slokar - Jagodnik
Lorbek - Brezec - Vidmar

Team for a medal!:D

[Apollo64]

They can go all the way to gold.

[jolbin]

They can go all the way to gold.

well, there are two strong opponents;
Spain and themselves..
They were leading for 16 5 minutes to go against Grecce but they choked..

[Fozzy]

As long as they keep giving Lakovic the ball in the last minutes ..... they'll never get past the top 8!

[KWSN-Men]

They can go all the way to gold.

Nope. The bronze is more like it.

[Batu7]

I don't like Vidmar, but I think Preldzic is a good player and I hope he can contribute for you guys.

[Rasho Brezec]

Vidmar probably won't even make the final roster. And yeah, that team is pretty good on paper. I just hope they'll actually come with some balls to this Eurobasket. We got rid off the choking coach and replaced him with someone players will actually listen to. There's no excuse for this team to not win a medal this year. The only team that I'd consider superior is Spain; we've always matched up well with Greece, only Lithuanian style of play doesn't suit us. But this year, defense should be the least of our problems.

[Joana]

Very strong team, but with their record of choking, people will be sceptical. I'm disappointed by Vidmar's lack of development. It seems that him and Semih Erden will never be more than journeymen.

[brassviews]

Haha at gold

I think France would get a medal before Slovenia and they're not even part of Eurobasket....yet.

[jolbin]

Well, maybe you dont remember
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebxS04rz2F8

a team without Brezec, Nachbar, Vujačič, Udrih..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrKZ0r6OTto

Same Europeans, even bigger win


Well, about Lakovič.. He often chokes, but he also makes some great shots;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C77-CX3Mdy8&feature=related

As i said. The biggest opponent are themslefs

[KWSN-Men]

For Spain no Pau Gasol and no Calderon. For Greece no Diamantidis and no Vasilopoulos. For Lithuania no Jasikevicius and no Siskauskas. So conceivably, Slovenia has a chance to win a gold certainly with that roster.

However, looking at it a bit more objectively, Spain would have a more balanced team and a better front court. Greece would have a much tougher and much more physical team, not to mention much better defenders.

As for France, supposedly they are also sending an A team this time. Well if they qualify then they might have a shot at a medal. But compared to teams like Spain, Greece, Slovenia they would have nowhere close to the same depth.

Basically, I think Slovenia might be ahead of teams like Lithuania and Croatia now, but I still have doubts about how they could handle Spain or Greece to be honest. But again with both of those teams losing 2 of their starters it might be possible.

[jolbin]

Yea, lets sa i agree with you on the most of things.. However, i dont agree with your opinion about much stronger Spanish frontcourt.. As yo said, Pau wont be there, so the starters will be Reyes (Garbajosa) and Marc Gasol. Do you think that combo is (much) better than combo Smodiš - Lorbek?
It certainly is thoughter, but overall, i dont think it is better..
Spain has a big advantage at backourt, specially now, when Saniboy is missing..

[KWSN-Men]

Yea, lets sa i agree with you on the most of things.. However, i dont agree with your opinion about much stronger Spanish frontcourt.. As yo said, Pau wont be there, so the starters will be Reyes (Garbajosa) and Marc Gasol. Do you think that combo is (much) better than combo Smodiš - Lorbek?
It certainly is thoughter, but overall, i dont think it is better..
Spain has a big advantage at backourt, specially now, when Saniboy is missing..

I think Marc Gasol, Reyes, Garbajosa, and I assume Vazquez will be Pau's replacement is stronger than Lorbek, Smodis, and company. Lorbek and Smodis is a great combo for sure, but not as much depth as Spain has at top quality players there.

[Rasho Brezec]

^^Agreed. Slovenian frontcourt has too much finesse and not enough blue-collar type of guys.

[jolbin]

Yea, lets sa i agree with you on the most of things.. However, i dont agree with your opinion about much stronger Spanish frontcourt.. As yo said, Pau wont be there, so the starters will be Reyes (Garbajosa) and Marc Gasol. Do you think that combo is (much) better than combo Smodiš - Lorbek?
It certainly is thoughter, but overall, i dont think it is better..
Spain has a big advantage at backourt, specially now, when Saniboy is missing..

I think Marc Gasol, Reyes, Garbajosa, and I assume Vazquez will be Pau's replacement is stronger than Lorbek, Smodis, and company. Lorbek and Smodis is a great combo for sure, but not as much depth as Spain has at top quality players there.

Damn, i forgot Vasquez.. Well, yea, they are deeper, and as already said, mostly toughter.. All our 4 and 5s play mostly some steps from the basket, they are not bangers..

[Apollo64]

I think there is not a clear cut favourite yet for this year's Eurobasket, with Spain, Russia, Lithuania, Greece all missing key players in their rosters, so there may be a suprise for the gold, with teams like Slovenia and Serbia stepping up. Slovenia in particular looks like they will have a pretty talented complete roster, which on paper seems that can go very far. Of course, it's too early to say something with any certainty, we need to see first the friendly games to have a picture about the real strength of the teams.

[Batu7]

Very strong team, but with their record of choking, people will be sceptical. I'm disappointed by Vidmar's lack of development. It seems that him and Semih Erden will never be more than journeymen.

Semih is playing well in Fenerbahçe, what makes you say that?

[KWSN-Men]

I think there is not a clear cut favourite yet for this year's Eurobasket, with Spain, Russia, Lithuania, Greece all missing key players in their rosters, so there may be a suprise for the gold, with teams like Slovenia and Serbia stepping up. Slovenia in particular looks like they will have a pretty talented complete roster, which on paper seems that can go very far. Of course, it's too early to say something with any certainty, we need to see first the friendly games to have a picture about the real strength of the teams.

True. And I think they will be stronger than Russia and Lithuania and probably also Croatia. France has been mentioned and we will see how their A team might do but I like Slovenia over them also. And Greece and Spain will both lose some starters and key players. However those teams should replace them with very good players as well.

Spain has Calderon, Pau Gasol, Jimenez I think leaving. Well they have Rubio, Lopez, Cabezas, Sergio, Lull to man a point guard position, plus Navarro can do it. Actually they don't even need Calderon at all. They can start Rubio at point guard and they can find one other point out of those other guys to handle 10 minutes from the bench to back him up. Besides, Rubio is ready to take over the spot anyway. Losing Calderon's shooting will hurt them, but losing his awful defense will help them.

Then I don't think they need Jimenez either. Fernandez and Mumbru can handle the position entirely and they can add a guy like Claver for depth, and they could always still bring Berni I guess if they wanted for more depth. Also they could bring Vidal to the team. Vidal could handle being the backup 2 or 3 and he's better than guys like Berni and Jimenez anyway. If anything, Jimenez leaving just frees up more playing time for Rudy who is better than Jimenez anyway. They lose Pau but they have Garbajosa, Reyes, Marc Gasol at the 4/5 and on top of that Vazquez can now get a spot in the team. So losing Pau will hurt them a bit but it's really not a big deal at all. They are still 2 deep with good players at both the 4 and 5. They might not have Pau's offense there but they will still be more then strong enough with those 4 big guys.

Greece will lose the starters Diamantidis and Vasilopoulos and they are also 2 of the best defenders in Europe, 2 of the best defenders anywhere. That will hurt them to lose such great defenders. Also I would assume Schortsanitis will be gone as all his chances have to be used up. Tsartsaris is leaving. But it's still similar to Spain where they can all be replaced with more good players.

Greece doesn't need Tsartsaris one bit. They don't need Sofo one bit either. At the 4/5 positions they have Bourousis, Koufos, Glyniadakis, Fotsis, Printezis, and if the coach wants another big man they can bring Mavrokefalidis. In fact, every one of those players is better than Tsartsaris and Sofo.

Losing Vasilopoulos' and Diamantidis' great defense is a problem but it's sort of like Spain losing Pau and Calderon, they can bring different players and adjust the tactics of the team. They can bring Perperoglou to start at small forward and he's a better all around player than Vasilopoulos is. They lose Diamantidis, but still have Papaloukas, Zisis, Spanoulis at the guards. They can add guards like Calathes and Kalampokis. Calathes could be brought as a 3rd point guard/3rd shooting guard for depth and could be used to spread the floor for some stretches if needed. If they need lock down defense at the 2/3 positions that they got from Diamantidis and Vasilopoulos they can just bring Pelekanos and play him this time. He's a super defender and super athletic. He can handle one of those assignments for sure. Then a guy like Kalambokis could get a shot at defending the two because he's very quick, athletic, and a very hard nosed and tough defender.

All in all, I think Spain and Greece would still be deeper and tougher teams than Slovenia, but I am assuming Spain and Greece bring some of those good replacement players. We don't know yet. We would not really know until we know their rosters.

[gofret]

I still got spain as my main fav for this tournament. slovenia = choking master as i ve watched couple of times but you never know.

[Franstyle]

Slovenians players (except Smodis maybe) can't winner spirit. Greats players, but they can't blood in their veins (spanish expression). I remember the semifinal versus Greece in the last Eurobasket in Spain, they had the game won, but at the end the lost with an unbelievable Papaloukas.