World Basketball Championships for Men 2006

[angel_luv]

Rasho Nesterovic & Beno Udrih for Slovenia

Manu Ginobili & Fabricio Oberto for Argentine

Tony Parker for France

Bowen had said he would be honored to play for USA NT.


So Spurs have 6 potential candidates for recieving a NBA le and World Championship le in tha same year...

My money is on Slovenia.

The only downside is that most of the guys will be playing against each other at the W.C.

I am rooting for Slovenia and Argentina .

[zeleni]

The only downside is that most of the guys will be playing against each other at the W.C.

I am rooting for Slovenia and Argentina .

And I'll cheer for USofA and France.

Let them all come to semifinals...

[spurschick]

FIBA: ARG - Nocioni rates Argentina's chances in Japan

/noticias.info/ Any team headed to the FIBA World Championship believing Argentina may have lost some of their hunger for glory after their Olympic triumph are not thinking clearly.

Andres Nocioni, who plays for the Chicago Bulls, says he and his Argentinian compatriots are determined to snatch the gold medal they should have won four years ago in Indianapolis when the team lost in an overtime final to Serbia & Montenegro.

"Argentina has a talented a group, with four NBA players, the first time we have that," said Nocioni in Houston where he is taking part in the NBA All-Star festivities.

Emanuel Ginobli and Fabricio Oberto play for San Antonio and Carlos Delfino is with the Detroit Pistons.

"So we’ll be very hard to get past and we will be out to win a medal," he said. "We want any medal, but will be focused on the gold. We must work very hard because this team is not a surprise anymore. This is a strong squad with international prestige, so we must do things well."

The 26-year-old Nocioni played 23 minutes in the Sop res’ 106-96 win over the NBA Rookies on Friday night, contributing 13 points from the bench.

"It’s very nice to be here in Houston and make history, not only as a Chicago player but also as a representative of Argentina and Latin American players."

http://www.noticias.info/asp/aspComu...d=148004&src=0

[T-Pain]

I know this is early, but Tony Parker has already mentioned playing in it this summer. This will likely impact several Spurs players and serve as a preview to the readiness of some of the Spurs previous draft picks and international pool of FAs.

World Basketball Championships for Men 2006
Date: 08/19/2006 - 09/03/2006
Locations: Hamamatsu; Hiroshima; Sapporo; Sendai and Saitama - JAPAN

Teams

Schedule

What Spurs players have already committed to play or expressed interest?

Hiroshima??? wow, if the US plays in that venue, the japanese fans are gonna allover us. especially with our own fans in the stands. hopefully all that radiation is gone by now

[spurschick]

Hiroshima??? wow, if the US plays in that venue, the japanese fans are gonna allover us. especially with our own fans in the stands. hopefully all that radiation is gone by now

You've got to be kidding.

[T-Pain]

You've got to be kidding.

you think hiroshima residents have forgiven the US for bombing their city????? no, i wouldnt

[Sportman]

Beno is not better than Pepe Sanchez at playmaking and much less at defense. The fact that Pepe couldn't make it in the NBA is because his inconsistency at scoring. I still take Pepe over Beno every day of the week.

Well I would say NOW, that PRIGIONI is better than them (sanchez and beno). He just won a tournament in spain called "la copa del rey" which is very important in spain and he was named MVP of the tournament.

[spurschick]

you think hiroshima residents have forgiven the US for bombing their city????? no, i wouldnt

Pearl Harbor

[T-Pain]

Pearl Harbor

it dont matter. if my grandmother was deformed because of a country bombing her neighborhood and that same country came back, i wouldnt be very forgiving. like i said, the WBC should schedule US games away from Hiroshima to avoid any protests and riots goin on outside.

[spurschick]

Or perhaps it will be a time of forgiveness and understanding.

[diego]

i went to japan recentl (02) and visited hiroshima. Its a weird place, in the sense that it is a very modern city in a beautiful natural landscape, very lush and green hill country. The museum is quite critical of the US, but also of all countries that have developed and tested nuclear weapons, ie france, russia, pakistan, etc. It is also surprisingly hard on japanese militarism.

Personally i think the US team would get more protests in the Okinawa area because of the bases and rapes they have had there. I was pretty surprised how over it most people are. Japanese people are pretty much obsessed with American culture, i think you'll have less anti-us incidents there than if you played in China, Europe, or Latin America.

and beyond the fact that pearl harbor was the first attack vs hiroshima being a retaliation, i dont think you can compare them in terms of impact: Pearl Harbor was a military attack with fairly low casualties, while Hiroshima was one of the deadliest bombings in the history of mankind with a high degree of civilian casualties, some even unborn innocent children up to 20-25 years after the bombing.

[spurschick]

and beyond the fact that pearl harbor was the first attack vs hiroshima being a retaliation, i dont think you can compare them in terms of impact

I wasn't comparing.

[T-Pain]

i went to japan recentl (02) and visited hiroshima. Its a weird place, in the sense that it is a very modern city in a beautiful natural landscape, very lush and green hill country. The museum is quite critical of the US, but also of all countries that have developed and tested nuclear weapons, ie france, russia, pakistan, etc. It is also surprisingly hard on japanese militarism.

Personally i think the US team would get more protests in the Okinawa area because of the bases and rapes they have had there. I was pretty surprised how over it most people are. Japanese people are pretty much obsessed with American culture, i think you'll have less anti-us incidents there than if you played in China, Europe, or Latin America.

and beyond the fact that pearl harbor was the first attack vs hiroshima being a retaliation, i dont think you can compare them in terms of impact: Pearl Harbor was a military attack with fairly low casualties, while Hiroshima was one of the deadliest bombings in the history of mankind with a high degree of civilian casualties, some even unborn innocent children up to 20-25 years after the bombing.

told you there was gonna be anti-us sentiment, wherever you go in japan

[Dario]

There is anti-us sentiment just about everywhere you go in the world, so whats your point?

[Ariel]

...Ladies and gentlemen, I present you 'How to derail a thread', by T-Pain.

[vanvannen]

The thread was going nowhere anyway, thanks to Hendrix.

[WalterBenitez]

It wouldn't be polite to send USA Natl Team to play in Hiroshima, not sure even if it scheduled, btw ... Is this thread out of NBA?

[Kori Ellis]

The arguments in this thread are all for not. Click on Schedule in the original post. All the United States games are in Sapporo. None are in Hiroshima.

[Mixability]

so much for rest in the off-season.

[spurschick]

so much for rest in the off-season.

Well, as we've seen, Manu is better off not resting.

[ALVAREZ6]

Well, as we've seen, Manu is better off not resting.

Same w/ TP.

[Manu'sMagicalLeftHand]

Shall we move back to basketball?

Group A
Nigeria
Lebanon
Argentina
France
Venezuela
Serbia & Montenegro

Group B
Panama
New Zealand
Germany
Japan
Spain
Angola

Group C
Qatar
Australia
Turkey
Lithuania
Brazil
Greece

Group D
Senegal
USA
China
Italy
Puerto Rico
Slovenia

On paper, it seems pretty clear who'll go through the first group stage for Groups A & B (4 out of 6 qualify for the next round), while Groups C & D will certainly leave one or two good teams out in the first round.

I don't like making predicitions with so much time left for the start of the tournament, anything can happen (injuries, players withdrawals, etc), but my early favourites are:

- Argentina
- USA
- Spain
- Germany
- Serbia & Montenegro
- Lithuania

Underdog bet:
- Brazil
- Greece

Here are some current NBA players or players that their rights are held by an NBA team, that could be playing in Japan; some of them will be there for sure, others depend on different factors (coach picks, fitness, withdrawals, etc).

Argentina
Manu Ginobili (Spurs)
Fabricio Oberto (Spurs)
Carlos Delfino (Pistons)
Andres Nocioni (Bulls)
Luis Scola (Spurs)
Federico Kammerichs (Blazers)
Former NBA players: Pepe Sanchez, Ruben Wolkowisky

Australia
Andrew Bogut (Bucks)
David Andersen (Hawks)
Ben Pepper (Celtics)
Former NBA: Shane Heal

Brazil
Rafael Araujo (Raptors)
Leandro Barbosa (Suns)
Lucas Tischer (Suns)
Anderson Varejao (Cavs)
Nene (Nuggets)

China
Yao Ming (Rockets)
Xue Yuyang (Nuggets)
Former NBA: Mengke Bateer

France
Tony Parker (Spurs)
Boris Diaw (Suns)
Johan Petro (Sonics)
Mickael Pietrus (Warriors)
Alain Digbeu (Hawks)
Mickael Gelabale (Sonics)
Ian Mahinimi (Spurs)
Paccelis Morlende (Sonics)
Frederic Weiss (Knicks)

Germany
Dirk Nowitzki (Mavs)
Peter Fehse (Sonics)

Greece
Jake Tsakalidis (Suns)
Sofoklis Schortsanitis (Clippers)
Vassilis Spanoulis (Rockets)

Lithuania
Martynas Andriuskevicius (Cavs)
Linas Kleiza (Nuggets)
Zydrunas Ilgauskas (Cavs)
Sarunas Jasikevicius (Pacers)
Arvydas Macijauskas (Hornets)
Darius Songaila (Bulls)
Robertas Javtokas (Spurs)
Aurelijius Zukauskas (Bucks)

New Zealand
Sean Marks (Spurs)
Former NBA: Kirk Penney

Puerto Rico
Carlos Arroyo (Pistons)
Peter John Ramos (Wizards)
Ricky Sanchez (Nuggets)
Former NBA: Daniel Santiago

Senegal
DeSagana Diop (Mavs)
Pape Sow (Raptors)
Boniface Ndong (Clippers)
Malick Badiane (Rockets)

Serbia and Montenegro
Zarko Cabarkapa (Warriors)
Marko Jaric (Timberwolves)
Nenad Krstic (Nets)
Darko Milicic (Magic)
Aleksandar Pavlovic (Cavs)
Vladimir Radmanovic (Clippers)
Zeljko Rebraca (Clippers)
Predrag Stojakovic (Pacers)
Dejan Bodiroga (Kings)
Mile Ilic (Nets)
Mladen Sekularac (Warriors)
Milos Vujanic (Suns)
Former NBA: Igor Rakocevic, Predrag Drobnjak

Slovenia
Primoz Brezec (Bobcats)
Bostjan Nachbar (Hornets)
Rasho Nesterovic (Spurs)
Beno Udrih (Spurs)
Sasha Vujacic (Lakers)
Sani Becirovic (Nuggets)
Erazem Lorbek (Pacers)
Uros Slokar (Raptors)

Spain
Jose Calderon (Raptors)
Pau Gasol (Grizzlies)
Roberto Dueñas (Heat)
Albert Miralles (Celtics)
Juan Carlos Navarro (Wizards)
Fran Vasquez (Magic)
Former NBA: Raul Lopez

Turkey
Ersan Ilyasova (Bucks)
Mehmet Okur (Jazz)
Hedo Turkoglu (Magic)
Cenk Akyol (Hawks)

Am I missing someone (obviously Team USA, but all their players are from the NBA)? Who should be there for your country? Who shouldn't? Who are your favourites?

[smeagol]

Did Vlade Divac retire?

[Manu'sMagicalLeftHand]

Did Vlade Divac retire?

Yes, finally

At the end of last season.

[Pero]

We also have one former NBA player, Marko Milic.

From group A, I think Lebanon and Nigeria (or Venezuela) won`t make it.
From B Panama and Japan.
From C Qatar for sure and probably Turkey, but it˙s hard to say.

From D It`s very hard to say. Senegal, and I think China won`t make it either.
I just hope Slovenia doesn`t srew up something. Having 9 players related to NBA in some way and not coming through would be a bit embarassing. The only thing that could make up for that is a victory against the US.

My favourites for winning are USA, Argentina, Spain, Lithuania and France.