Last spot in WBC'10: Lebanon or Dominican Republic?

[PRSURF2]

WOW you don't know anything about our player, out of that group Sosa would be the last Option

Sammy Mejia is obviously a 6'6'' combo guard so he probably wouldn't start as point guard (though he's a must in the NT), but Olivero and Soliver are in another level compared to Sosa

Ok, you, play with a C team in the Torunament of the Americas.....

 

[Lietuvis2]

This isn't the Red Army, you know...

We're living in a free world, every player has a right to choose.

I guess my point in a way misinterpreted as I was a little sarcastic. What I want to say is that players all playing at top level should be wanting to play like Kirilenko has just announced. We have too many being restricted by clubs, insurance and bullshit reasons. These need to be overcome and the condition made that these reasons "somehow?" be overcome.

http://www.fiba.com/pages/eng/fc/news/lateNews/p/newsid/34331/arti.html

 

[Dtown2]

While I would love for every team stocked with their best talent I can't really fault clubs sometimes. Sometimes they overreact, Garcia in the tournament of the Americas is a fine example. Other times it's completely justified like with Ilgauskas whose career has been severely injury plagued, it's understandable someone paying him millions in guaranteed money doesn't want him playing and risking yet another injury when it's not for their team.

 

[Mojado2]

While I would love for every team stocked with their best talent I can't really fault clubs sometimes. Sometimes they overreact, Garcia in the tournament of the Americas is a fine example. Other times it's completely justified like with Ilgauskas whose career has been severely injury plagued, it's understandable someone paying him millions in guaranteed money doesn't want him playing and risking yet another injury when it's not for their team.

Acie Law gets an elbow to the head and spends the night in a hospital...but hey,since its an US-based streetball-tournament (he had no insurance for it)...no big rah rah. double standards as always.

 

[Lewis3]

Acie Law gets an elbow to the head and spends the night in a hospital...but hey,since its an US-based streetball-tournament (he had no insurance for it)...no big rah rah. double standards as always.

what double standards
Acie Law is nobody, now if we were talking about Joe Johnson getting an elbow to the head, that'd be Realllllllll different

 

[jimstam2]

yes D town but asia also had 4 teams as we stand now asia has only 3 teams......

Isn't most of Russia and Turkey geographically in Asia -> much larger sq.km in Asia than Lebanon or Jordan, for example.

So then Asia would have 5 teams, including the host country.

 

[karim2]

is that a joke or r u not smart i mean 4 teams from the asian zone(as in asia tournament with the teams competing there) like kuwait,india,taiwan,china,KSA,iran,philippines etc..i put u a diversity of countries maybe u will understand this way

 

[Lewis3]

is that a joke or r u not smart i mean 4 teams from the asian zone(as in asia tournament with the teams competing there) like kuwait,india,taiwan,china,KSA,iran,philippines etc..i put u a diversity of countries maybe u will understand this way

why would FIBA want 4 teams from the weakest zone in the most important basketball competition in the World

 

[karim2]

it happened in 2006 !! and excluding 3 euro teams ...do u think DR or nigeria is a much better choice than leb ? and may i remind u asia is not the weakest continent anymore they are definitely better than africa and i would like to think they are better than oceania which has 2 countries , 1 of them being very bad and overrated ....iran blew out china by 20 in the final and leb and jordan came 1 basket close too beating china ...and even if they are withut YAO ...i,ve seen china without YAO beat angola(the best and most dominant team in africa who have their tallest player gomez at 203) i dont get why people say asia is the weakest continent ...back in 2005 yes now theres no way they are ...iran,china,leb and jordan are very good even worldwide ...taiwan and korea are also very good ...korea which is 7th in asia this year with this same team played a very competitive game against slovenia(4th in europe) and lost at the buzzer against canada(4th in americas) who also had dalembert at the time in the pre olympics last year and qatar who finished 3rd in asia in 2005 and beat jordan by 27 and iran by 18 back than ended up 7th of asia in 2007 and 6th in 2009 including losing to jordan by 16 and to iran by 10 qatars roster stayed the same but every team in asia got better so if any1 can explain to me how asia , who is also the biggest continent in the world is the weakest zone ! i think right now its the 3rd best and soon it will be better than the americas who barely have 10 teams and only 5 or 6 of them r respectable .....

 

[Franz2]

Russia and Lithuania are locks in my opinion. The last two spots will be given to either Lebanon, Dominican Republic, Germany, or Great Britain. However, I don't think it's going to be an easy decision even with the wildcard criteria.

If you look at all four teams, they all have major pros and major cons.

Lebanon (Pros)
- played in last two WCs
- considered a basketball nation with the sport being its #1
- close to Turkey which could benefit the tournament fan wise

Lebanon (Cons)
- play in a weak zone compared to the Americas and European zones
- couldn't qualify via 2009 Asia Championship (I understand ref fiasco but China was without key players and Lebanon still had trouble)
- even though they've competed in the last two WCs, they still didn't make it out of group play in either tournament

Dominican Republic (Pros)
- played competitive in 2009 Americas Championship in their first year back
- play in a more competitive zone.
- adding DR would make the 2010 WC more competitive with the likes of Villanueva and Horford on the team.

Dominican Republic (Cons)
- not a basketball nation by any means
- have not accomplished anything worthwhile in the past 30 years.
- some of their big stars may not play again if DR does not qualify for 2010 WC (a quitting mentality which shouldn't be allowed in FIBA)

Germany (Pros)
- have been consistent in participating in WC, Olympics, and Eurobasket
- play in the best zone in international basketball
- finished 3rd in 2002 WC; finished 8th in 2006 WC

Germany (Cons)
- not a basketball nation
- without Nowitki and possibly Kaman, they may not be as competitive as previous appearances
- lost to Latvia and Macedonia in Eurobasket 2009 and finished 11th behind Macedonia

Great Britain (Pros)
- even though they didn't make it out of group play in Eurobasket 2009, they managed to play competitive in their three games
- a bid in 2010 would help raise basketball popularity in that region, while opening a new front in international basketball.
- with a full and healthy team, they would make 2010 WC more competitive.

Great Britain (Cons)
- not a basketball nation
- recently became a basketball team with no achievements or accomplishments to show for it.
- not a given that they would continue to support basketball beyond 2010

Overall, I think all these teams will have make strong presentations in order to get a wildcard.

 

[Lewis3]

Russia and Lithuania are locks in my opinion. The last two spots will be given to either Lebanon, Dominican Republic, Germany, or Great Britain. However, I don't think it's going to be an easy decision even with the wildcard criteria.

If you look at all four teams, they all have major pros and major cons.

Lebanon (Pros)
- played in last two WCs
- considered a basketball nation with the sport being its #1
- close to Turkey which could benefit the tournament fan wise

Lebanon (Cons)
- play in a weak zone compared to the Americas and European zones
- couldn't qualify via 2009 Asia Championship (I understand ref fiasco but China was without key players and Lebanon still had trouble)
- even though they've competed in the last two WCs, they still didn't make it out of group play in either tournament

Dominican Republic (Pros)
- played competitive in 2009 Americas Championship in their first year back
- play in a more competitive zone.
- adding DR would make the 2010 WC more competitive with the likes of Villanueva and Horford on the team.

Dominican Republic (Cons)
- not a basketball nation by any means
- have not accomplished anything worthwhile in the past 30 years.
- some of their big stars may not play again if DR does not qualify for 2010 WC (a quitting mentality which shouldn't be allowed in FIBA)

Germany (Pros)
- have been consistent in participating in WC, Olympics, and Eurobasket
- play in the best zone in international basketball
- finished 3rd in 2002 WC; finished 8th in 2006 WC

Germany (Cons)
- not a basketball nation
- without Nowitki and possibly Kaman, they may not be as competitive as previous appearances
- lost to Latvia and Macedonia in Eurobasket 2009 and finished 11th behind Macedonia

Great Britain (Pros)
- even though they didn't make it out of group play in Eurobasket 2009, they managed to play competitive in their three games
- a bid in 2010 would help raise basketball popularity in that region, while opening a new front in international basketball.
- with a full and healthy team, they would make 2010 WC more competitive.

Great Britain (Cons)
- not a basketball nation
- recently became a basketball team with no achievements or accomplishments to show for it.
- not a given that they would continue to support basketball beyond 2010

Overall, I think all these teams will have make strong presentations in order to get a wildcard.

Too much talk in here, let's wait till Centrobasket to see what happens

 

[khaledlebanon2]

Too much talk in here, let's wait till Centrobasket to see what happens

lithuania-russia-Lebanon-nigeria

 

[eliooo932]

lithuania-russia-Lebanon-nigeria

1.Lihuania
2.Russia
3.Germany
4. DR(50%)/Lebanon(35%)/Nigeria(15%).

 

[khaledlebanon2]

1.Lihuania
2.Russia
3.Germany
4. DR(50%)/Lebanon(35%)/Nigeria(15%).

DR 50 % ??? hahah

Lebanon 60%, Nigeria 20 % , Germany 19 %, DR 1 %.....

 

[eliooo932]

DR 1 %

.. i got nothing to say

 

[khaledlebanon2]

.. i got nothing to say

your talking about a country that didn't qualify to Wc since 1978... shou no comment 2inno enta l fahmen wala keef...

 

[eliooo932]

your talking about a country that didn't qualify to Wc since 1978... shou no comment 2inno enta l fahmen wala keef...

even if they didn't qualify since 1978, the truth is that this team is better then Lebanon and nigeria and they deserve to get a wildcard.....not saying that lebanon dont deserve it.

 

[PRSURF2]

What is the problem of you guys???, stay calm and what is the problem if a NT don qualified since 1978???, thats the same if Lebanese NT play in the Tournament of the Americas.....

 

[cardenales2]

PRSURF, I still think that Lebano deserve the wild card more than DR.

 

[bobo812]

Dear FIBA,

If you are reading this please let these teams come together to battle it out for wildcards. We want another tournament. Oh, and don't forget to broadcast it on TV.