FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament

[Kill_Bill_Pana]

Greece probable have team look maybe I take guess like so Big Sofo should be ready by actual tournament after qualify tournament.

PG Dimitrios Diamantidis/Nikos Zizis
SG Vassilis Spanoulis/Dimitrios Tsaldaris
SF Antonis Fotsis/Panayiotis Vasilopoulos
PF Kostas Tsartsaris/Ioannis Bouroussis/Giorgos Printezis
C Sofoklis Schortsanitis/Jake Tsakalidis/Loukas Mavrokefalidis

This mean very experience players of past like Kakiouzis, Chatzivrettas, Dikoudis and even Theo Papaloukas be replace by very inexperience ones like Tsaldaris, Printezis, Mavrokefalidis. Good young players but no experience on such level. Also no such player close to Papaloukas in replace group of players.

Tsakalidis probable replace Papadopoulos because Papa have make Greek team President mad. Tsakalidis is good for defense of paint area but is not as good C as Papa is. Sofo should have weight down good enough be ready but he will have maybe year and a half with no play time. He will be not used to play game at all.

With this team Spanoulis must look for try score 25 point every game for team to medal. But even though many new player with no experience on such level this is still strong team I think.

[FlAVaK]

I´m from Germany, and the german media says, Kaman is tryin to get a german passport! That´s possible, because his grand-grandparents were german.

Kaman: "I can help Germany!"
http://www.sport1.de/de/sport/artikel_2199703.html

I don´t know about this "naturalizing"-thing, but I think he would be more german than J.R. Holden is russian, if u know what I mean...

Never heard about Diener playin for us over here!

For the Tournament, I think Germay has to face Brazil (they obviously try to avoid playin Greece). That would be cool, so I can get a look at Splitter in the Quarterfinals

[BgT]

That roster is pretty good for FIBA standards. They have speed, height, 3 point shooters, inside scoring, boards and defense in the paint. Problem is, their chemistry is ed up, there's no team work and the whole management is a mess.

If those "little" issues are worked out, with the right draw and a bit of luck they could be contenders for a medal. If they qualify

I think Slovenian team is stronger any time of the day.

[angel_luv]

This is Slovenia's year. I really believe so.

[endrity]

Slovenia has had a strong team for years now, yet somehow they fail to do anything in the tournaments. Are Udrih, Boki and Rasho playing this year?

I really think Greece, Germany, and Slovenia get in.
Greece, for obvious reasons. They have one of the strongest teams in the world.
Germany, for obvious reasons aka Dirk. He single handedly has taken them to medals in Euro and World Championships, he can do that in a qualifier. And with this year's version of Kamman, Germany suddenly looks like a medal candidate.
Slovenia has a great roster, and I think they are more compact as a team than Brazil is. Maybe if Splitter shows something, they can change that.

[Texas_Ranger]

Hey guys, does someone know what will be the Slovenian roster??

[BgT]

Salary value of players on Slovenian roster is third highest amongst all teams, that's a pretty impressive stat.
1. USA
2. Spain
3. Slovenia

Smodis is being payed 2.5M per season in Europe, Lakovic also almost 2M. Smodis is one of the top European power forwards, he was schooling Dirk last year. I think Dirk himself said, that Smodis is just phenomenal and could be one of the top PF's in NBA. I think that players playing in Europe are just underrated a bit compared to NBA players.

Slovenian roster will have these players for sure: Rasho, Nachbar, Udrih, Smodis, Becirovic, Lakovic, Slokar, Erazem Lorbek. I'm not sure about other players, it's going to be very hard to make the team.

[Kill_Bill_Pana]

Salary value of players on Slovenian roster is third highest amongst all teams, that's a pretty impressive stat.
1. USA
2. Spain
3. Slovenia

Smodis is being payed 2.5M per season in Europe, Lakovic also almost 2M. Smodis is one of the top European power forwards, he was schooling Dirk last year. I think Dirk himself said, that Smodis is just phenomenal and could be one of the top PF's in NBA. I think that players playing in Europe are just underrated a bit compared to NBA players.

Slovenian roster will have these players for sure: Rasho, Nachbar, Udrih, Smodis, Becirovic, Lakovic, Slokar, Erazem Lorbek. I'm not sure about other players, it's going to be very hard to make the team.

This is good team but these are just good players at Euroleague level not great players at this level.

[JK2]

Smodis is one of the top European power forwards, he was schooling Dirk last year. I think Dirk himself said, that Smodis is just phenomenal and could be one of the top PF's in NBA.

wtf are you talking about? Smodis is a decent player but he did not school Dirk last year. Get the facts straight.

[BgT]

wtf are you talking about? Smodis is a decent player but he did not school Dirk last year. Get the facts straight.

I'm not arguing with you. He was the winner of the duel. Be a nice kid and swallow it.

This is good team but these are just good players at Euroleague level not great players at this level.

What's your point? What's the "but" about?

[JK2]

I'm not arguing with you. He was the winner of the duel. Be a nice kid and swallow it.

you're not arguing because you know you're a liar.

[BgT]

you're not arguing because you know you're a liar.

Relieve yourself in front of your Dirk megajumbo poster, kid.

[Kobayagi]

What's your point? What's the "but" about?

Maybe he's trying to say that "Euroleague level" is way below WC level.

[Kill_Bill_Pana]

I mean at this level is Olympics Slovenia will not medal with such players. Not with teams like US, Argentina, Lithuania, Spain, Greece maybe even Russia.

[Kobayagi]

Who said we are medal contenders???

Do we have good players? Yes. Are we gonna win the medal? No way.

I'll be happy if we qualify and do our best in Beijing, that's all. I'm well aware of our limits.

[endrity]

Their quality is right there with any team other than the US. But talent alone isn;t enough in international ball. Becirovic, Lakovic are pretty good players too.

A Kamman - Dirk frontline though would be pretty tough to handle for any team. They really complement each other well.

[urunobili]

Argentina should nationalize a starting PG for the olympic tournament... who would u like? my take... Andre Miller

[endrity]

^ Deron wiliams

[urunobili]

^ Deron wiliams

he is not applicable as he already dressed the US jersey in official matches.. otherwise Duncan would play for the US Virgin islands with Raja Bell... choose one that could make it.... CP3, Arenas, Kidd, AI, D-Will can't make it... so Andre Miller is the best option out there...

[endrity]

Didn't Miller play in the 02 WCH for US? Plus when did williams play for the US? I know CP3 did, but when did Williams?

Just go for TJ Ford then, same team with Deflino so might convince him.

[urunobili]

Didn't Miller play in the 02 WCH for US? Plus when did williams play for the US? I know CP3 did, but when did Williams?

Just go for TJ Ford then, same team with Deflino so might convince him.

where were you last summer in the Olympic qualifying tournament? Williams was there... didn't know that about Andre Miller... TJ ford is a ball hog that the golden generation doesn't need... as porta is injured i think Matias Nocedal should be given the opportunity... otherwise... i dunno Jacque Vaughn maybe?

[Kobayagi]

What about chauncey, Bibby, Skip to my Lou?

[Kobayagi]

Smodis is just phenomenal and could be one of the top PF's in NBA.

No offense, I love Smodis but you can't say that about a guy whose rebounding ability is almost non-existent. If you wanna be PF, this should be one of your strong points.

[Manu'sMagicalLeftHand]

where were you last summer in the Olympic qualifying tournament? Williams was there... didn't know that about Andre Miller... TJ ford is a ball hog that the golden generation doesn't need... as porta is injured i think Matias Nocedal should be given the opportunity... otherwise... i dunno Jacque Vaughn maybe?

Shut up. What we don't need is damn bandwagoner naturalized fans

For the point guard, there are several options. Obviously Prigioni is a lock for Pepe's place. Porta would be the first one for the back up spot, because of his performance in last year's Americas Tournament, but currently he is struggling with injuries.

Gianella may have a chance too if Porta isn't fit when the Olympics come. Nocedal is the future, but I'm not too keen on taking him to Beijing, because he would be the 3rd point guard, and that would be a wasted spot in a roster with Delfino, Manu and Quinteros being able to play the point. There are other young options like Figueroa, Treise, López Tamborini and Cequeira, but I doubt that Hernandez will give them such a burden in their first tournament. They'll probably be called for the next South American Tournament or the Panamerican games.

Pepe is harder to replace, but there are more players too choose from. It's hard to find a player that could bring what Walter did. A long, athletic 3, who can shoot from the outside, rebound and play as PF? Good luck with that one, Hernandez. The only one I can think with those attributes is already there, Nocioni.

[urunobili]

Shut up. What we don't need is damn bandwagoner naturalized fans

challenge my knowledge about the golden generation and bandwagon my ass i have always rooted for Argentina not like the rest of the Uruguayans that suck Brazil balls just for the fun of pissing you off...

For the point guard, there are several options. Obviously Prigioni is a lock for Pepe's place. Porta would be the first one for the back up spot, because of his performance in last year's Americas Tournament, but currently he is struggling with injuries.

Gianella may have a chance too if Porta isn't fit when the Olympics come. Nocedal is the future, but I'm not too keen on taking him to Beijing, because he would be the 3rd point guard, and that would be a wasted spot in a roster with Delfino, Manu and Quinteros being able to play the point. There are other young options like Figueroa, Treise, López Tamborini and Cequeira, but I doubt that Hernandez will give them such a burden in their first tournament. They'll probably be called for the next South American Tournament or the Panamerican games.

Gianella sucks and as you said Manu Quinteros and Delfino playing some point i would take Nocedal just for the sake of start getting more big time tournaments compe ion experience...

Pepe is harder to replace, but there are more players too choose from. It's hard to find a player that could bring what Walter did. A long, athletic 3, who can shoot from the outside, rebound and play as PF? Good luck with that one, Hernandez. The only one I can think with those attributes is already there, Nocioni.

i think a long 3 could be naturalized... BUT i think Kammerichs will get the notch on top on anyone...