Saturday, August 28, 2010

Update

Sorry I haven't updated in a little bit...I haven't had as much time as anticipated...if you want the preview I had, I can email it in a couple of weeks since it is all on paper and I need to type it. Also, I plan to have rosters, boxscores, all statistics and leaders in an excel format for this tournament.

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Future...pre-WC

Hopefully, I can do some individual team capsules before the start to give a look into each team.

2010 FIBA WC Preview -Group C

Teams:
China (FIBA-Asia 2nd place)
Turkey (host)
Russia (Wild card)
Puerto Rico (FIBA-Americas 2nd place)
Cote d'Ivoire (FIBA-Africa 2nd place)
Greece (FIBA-Europe 3rd place)

Group C is the hardest group to predict in my opinion. Greece is an experienced and tough team. They play a suffocating defense and run a solid pick and roll (as the US found out the hard way in 2006). Without former Euroleage MVP and experienced vet Theodoros Paploukas at the point, they don't have a pure point guard and that could pase a problem in the latter stages of the tournament. Puerto Rico has one of the most talented guard tandems in flashy point guard Carlos Arroyo and Juan Jose Barea, but all the guards are under 6'3. Peter John Ramos is a physical presence in the middle and the 7'3 center will be one of the best centers in the tournament. The team's problem is its' inconsistency, making it hard to predict. Turkey, being the host, will have a homecourt advantage throughout, but don't overlook the talent they have. Milwaukee Buck F Ersan Ilyasova has been developing quite nicely not only down low, but as a 3 pt threat. Engin Atsur is also a good 3 pt threat. At Eurobasket 09, he averaged only 16 minutes in 6 games but 6 or his 7 made field goal attempts were threes. The teams weakness is at the guard position, where they don't have a ture playmaker. Russia is super hard to predict. They won Eurobasket in '07 but in the '08 Olympics, they didn't even make it to the quaterfinals (record 1-4). It'll be a hard road again because they will not have superstar Andrei Kirilenko, leading scorer from last year Kelly McCarty or naturalized PG JR Holden. 6'9 F Victor Khryapa is coming off a 2010 Russia Cup MVP, but the team cannot rely solely on him. Timofey Mozgov was a good find at last years Eurobasket and will definately be near the top of the teams scoring and rebounding averages. Their best guards are Vitaly Fridzon, Sergei Bykov and Anton Ponkrashov, but they are not good enough to make Russia a serious contender. China is definately in a rebuilding stage and some newer faces will emerge. They will be led by 7-footer Yi Jianlian, who has a nice baseline jumper and was the third leading scorer at FIBA-Asia last year (averaged 18.3 ppg, 10.4 rebounds). As in the past, the team's strength will be its bigs down low. Grizzled vet Liu Wei still hold the PG position, but he will have trouble keeping up with the likes of Carlos Arroyo and other quick athletic guards. At MSG in New York City, China did not impress and were blown out by the US and by Puerto Rico. Cote d'Ivoire was one of the pleasant suprises at the 2009 FIBA-Africa championship by almost not making and then upsetting Senegal and Cameroon, losing in the gold medal match to perennial champion Angola. They had the fifth best offense and had the second most steals behind Congo. Pape-Philippe Amagou will be their best scorer and player (he made the FIBA-Africa Championship First team). He averaged 11 points per game and had a very good 2:1 assist-turnover ratio. 6'11 PF Mohamed Kone will be their leading rebounder (8.3 average last year at FIBA-Africa, good for 6th along with 10.2 points). Despite that, they will have trouble scoring (5th in Africa is not good enough at the world level) and stopping the scoring (73.1 ppg, outside of top 5). If Angola has trouble scoring and playing defense at times on the world level, then the Cote d'Ivoire has some work to do.
Predictions:
Greece 5-0
Puerto Rico 4-1
Turkey 3-2
Russia 2-3
China 1-4
Cote d'Ivoire 0-5

more to come...

Saturday, August 21, 2010

2010 FIBA WC Preview -Group B

Teams:
Croatia (FIBA-Europe 6th place)
Brazil (FIBA-Americas 1st place)
Tunisia (FIBA-Africa 3rd place)
Slovenia (FIBA-Europe 4th place)
Iran (FIBA-Asia 1st place)
USA (2008 Olympic Champion)

This group I feel will have some great games to watch with some unknown teams. The USA is the most talented, athletic squad but also one of the most inexperienced. Though the US will blow out most squads in this group and finish first, their inexperience might affect them in the knockout stages. Brazil, defending FIBA-Americas champions, has the potential to be one of the best Brazilian teams since the Oscar Schmidt led teams of the 1980s-early 1990s. With NBA vets Leandro Barbosa ,Anderson Varejao, and Nene, they have the potential to be one of the most explosive teams here. But they have been inconsistent in recent years. They haven't made an Olympic Tournament since 1996, came 17th in the 2006 FIBA WC, and losing to a German team in the Olympic qualifying (though Brazil had no NBA players that year), it's hard to predict them. Slovenia played well last year in the Euro qualifying, finishing 4th, and in this years Stankovic Cup, winning it all. They might have one of the best guards in the tournament in Goran Dragic (who I believe posted a triple double in the final of the Stankovic Cup). Croatia has plenty of talent and played decently at the '08 Olympics with a great defense and shooting well. But a disappointing 6th place in qualifying? Iran could be the sleeper in the group with NBAer Hamed Haddadi (led '08 Olympics in rebounding, only player to average a double-double) and perhaps the best player left in Asia, Mohammed Samad Nikkah Bahrami. Tunisia is the weakest team in the group and could see some blowouts. Amine Rzig averaged 16 points last year in the FIBA-Africa qualifying. They weren't in the top 5 in PPG socring or top 5 defensivive points allowed, but they found ways to win all tournament long like Cameroon twice, Mali, and Morocco. So don't count out this squad keeping a game or two close.
Predictions:
USA 5-0
Brazil 4-1
Slovenia 3-2
Croatia 2-3
Iran 1-4
Tunisia 0-5

I am really on the fence about Croatia and Iran.

more to come...

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

2010 FIBA WC Preview -Group A

Teams:
Serbia (FIBA-Europe 2nd place)
Argentina (FIBA-Americas 3rd place)
Australia (FIBA-Oceania 2nd place)
Jordan (FIBA-Asia 3rd place)
Germany (Wild Card)
Angola (FIBA-Africa Champion)

This has the potential to have some great group games. 1st place will be decided on the last day when Serbia square off against Argentina. Right now, its hard to tell who will win but right now, I say Argentina based on the potential play of Fabricio Oberto at C, Luis Scola and Andres Nocioni at F, Carlos Delfino and Pablo Prigioni at G. That 5 is a tough squad and in 2008, Argentina beat Lithuania in the bronze medal match without Manu Ginoblili. Australia is clearly the 3rd best in the group and will make no suprises in the group satge. Angola and Germany wil battle for 4th and the right to play in the elimination stage. I pick Angola right now due to Germany being Nowitzki-less. Angola has had a reputation ever since 1992 of jacking up 3s when the attempted over 30 against the Dream Team in the opening match. Germany has really declined ever since their 2006 appearance at Saitama. Jordan have had poor preperations and disppointed at the recent 2010 FIBA-Asia Stankovic Cup, finishing a disppointing a disppointing 5th (3-4, losing to Lebanon, Qatar, Philippines, and Japan, the latter 3 not advancing to the WC).
Prediction:
Argentina 5-0
Serbia 4-1
Australia 3-2
Angola 2-3
Germany 1-4
Jordan 0-5

more to come...

FIBA World Championship Preview

In the coming days, I will try to give my own preview and predictions on the groups, teams, and games in the 2010 FIBA World Championship. I will go group by group and analyze the teams, give the rosters, predict the finishes.

Welcome!

Hello everyone!

My name is Martin. Some of you may know me from the Interbasket forums as usausa. I have started this blog so I could post about the tournaments of international basketball by giving my own opinions, analysis, previews, ect. My hope is that this attracts tons of readers and can give some new breath and voice on international basketball. In the upcoming months, I will blog about the FIBA World Championship (though I am not going :( ), continental championships, tournaments, friendlies...as much as I can. I am a college student so at times posts may be way after some matches occur, so I do not reccomend using this to track live scores.

Hope you enjoy!