Slovenian NT

[Joško Poljak Fan2]

finally, he is one of the best PF's in Europe, no wonder we could use him

Sani on the other hand said in his blog he'll reconsider if he'll play or not, due to the long schedule.

confirmed, not officially known yet, missing

C: Nesterovič, E. Lorbek, Brezec
PF: Smodiš, Tušek, Slokar, Golemac, Jurak, Zupan?
SF: Maravič, Jagodnik, D. Lorbek, Dončič, Nachbar, Milič
SG:, Bečirovič, Joksimovič, S.Udrih, Ožbolt, Vuja...who?
PG: B. Udrih, Lakovič, Dragič, Čapin

 

[elaj2]

Marko Maravič declined to join the NT because of his left foot injury. SF position looks terrible.

 

[Joško Poljak Fan2]

Marko Maravič declined to join the NT because of his left foot injury. SF position looks terrible.

I hope Preldžič would be willing to play in senior NT after the U20. it's better to give Preldžič and Klobučar some experience than wasting the spot with an average players.

looks like 3 guards on court will be a reality... nevermind we're stuck at C/PF, compared to guard positions, while there is no SF anyway The only thing i'm sure of is that right now Domen Lorbek just got himself a 100% place on the NT roster.

 

[DZK2]

I agree about Preldzic...he is far better option for this team than Maravic and Jagodnik in the first place...nothing against Jagodnik but he is a scorer and we have enough of them.

My ideal 12 players would be:
C: Nesterovic, Slokar
PF: Smodis, E.Lorbek, Tusek/Vidmar (depends on motivation of Tusek...Vidmar might be better as he would want to prove more...like Jankunas in Lithuania few years ago)
SF: D.Lorbek, Preldzic
Guards (better to write it this way): Lakovic, B.Udrih, Becirovic, Dragic, Capin/S.Udrih

This would be nice combination of leaders (Nesterovic, Smodis, Becirovic, Lakovic and B.Udrih), "experienced" youngsters (Slokar, E.Lorbek, D.Lorbek and Dragic) and newcomers wanting to prove and learn (Preldzic and Vidmar)...hierarchy would be pretty clear and that is quite important for team spirit and also in the end...result.

 

[Joško Poljak Fan2]

list of 15 NTers announced

list of 15 NTers announced

C: Radoslav Nesterovič, Erazem Lorbek
PF: Matjaž Smodiš, Uroš Slokar, Gašper Vidmar, Željko Zagorac
SF: Goran Jagodnik, Domen Lorbek, Emir Preldžič
SG: Sani Bečirovič, Samo Udrih, Jaka Klobučar
PG: Jaka Lakovič, Goran Dragič, Aleksandar Čapin

reserves in case of injuries: Sandi Čebular (?), Smiljan Pavič, Hasan Rizvič, Miha Zupan

Beno Udrih won't come... while his brother Samo is waiting for his recovery after the surgery, if it succeds he'll be there (reportedly)


Unlike the previous NT's this one doesn't have half as much depth.
One great lineup, with Erazem Lorbek and Slokar coming off bench along with some youngsters-at least those will be motivated.
Zagorac is undersized, and I don't like Čebular being on the reserves lists either. I'm glad Pipan selected the Slovan's youngsters though I hope they'll be well incorporated into the team, because all 4 (i included Dragič) have the talent to contribute to some extention in a system that would allow them that.

It'll be tough assuming where this team would end up in the end, but even if they won't manage to do something big a refreshment was imho needed and this time I think NT has the chance to come up with a clear hierarchy- something that was badly missing in previous years imho, since now it's clear Rašo, Smodiš, Sani and Lakovič have to carry this team, while in the past I think Pipan had to big of a choice of good (but not great) players and didn't want to favour anyone. That's our chance, I hope they'll manage to use it.

 

[elaj2]

Sani is said no... I guess Klobučar will be given a chance.

 

[Joško Poljak Fan2]

but that also means Čapin will be in the squad... which isn't exactly what I was hoping for.

Maybee Pipan would go with 3 SF's and still let Čapin behind. I prefer both Preldžič and Klobučar getting a chance...

Klobučar knows how to put effort in defense, but considering he didn't yet make a name for himself his game is screaming to get called 5 fouls at halftime.

 

[boki2]

I also hope Klobucar will be our starting SG after Sani declined. Just keep Capin out of the game as much as possible. But I'm really not optimistic at all about eurobasket. I don't think Smodis and Lakovic can carry on the whole team. And these two are only top quality players. Maybe a win against Poland, but no chance against Italy and France. I think Smodis would never accepted the call to NT, if he knew, how poor team will Pipan bring to Spain. I think it's possible Smodis will fake some injury in preparations, so he can escape from this tragicomedy.

 

[elaj2]

Coach Pipan added Sandi Čebular and Hasan Rizvić to the list. I think he should have called Pavič/Begić instead of Rizvić, but doesn't matter those two for sure won't make it to the final roster.

After Gašper Okorn declined to join NT as coach assistent Pipan chose Miro Alilović (coach of U20 NT) as his second assistent.

 

[elaj2]

Samo Udrih (CB Granada) couldn't join Slovenian NT today on preparations because of the serious ankle problems. He won't be in the squad for the European Championship.

 

[elaj2]

Željko Zagorac decided not to join NT because of his new employer Lokomotiv Rostov asked him not to.

 

[boki2]

Another new absentee in slovenian NT. Zeljko Zagorac left the NT, because his new club Lokomotiva Rostov demanded so. Now it's very obvious, that Rizvic and Preldzic won't go to Spain. So our NT will look like:

PG: Lakovic, Dragic
SG: Capin, Klobucar, Cebular
SF: Jagodnik, D. Lorbek
PF: Smodis, Slokar
C: Nesterovic, E. Lorbek, Vidmar

Allthough I will rather take Preldzic and left Capin out. Then D. Lorbek would play on SG and Preldzic on SF.

Elaj/Matiz please post links (Sopcast, TVU,...) to Stankovic's cup games if you find any. Thanks.

 

[elaj2]

Just to let everyone know, Nesterovič, Smodiš, E. Lorbek and Lakovič won't travel to China on Stanković Cup in order to prepare themselfs individually. I guess Pipan could now call Pavič/Zupan into the NT for this Stanković Cup instead of Zagorac.

Elaj/Matiz please post links (Sopcast, TVU,...) to Stankovic's cup games if you find any. Thanks.

I just searched and I discovered here that Chinese CCTV-5 should broadcast the games. You can get this channel on SopCast and also on TVUPlayer.

Games schedule (already in CET):

Saturday, 28. July 2007 (Guangzhou)

Angola : New Zealand (at 10.00)
China : Venezuela (at 13.00)
Slovenia : NBDL All Star (at 15.00)

Sunday, 29. July 2007 (Guangzhou)

Venezuela : Angola (at 10.00)
China : Slovenia (at 13.00)
New Zealand : NBDL All Star (at 15.00)

Tuesday, 31. July 2007 (Macau)

NBDL All Star : Venezuela (at 10.00)
Angola : China (at 13.30)
Slovenia : New Zealand (at 15.30)

Wednesday, 1. August 2007 (Macau)

NBDL All Star : Angola (at 10.00)
New Zealand : China (at 13.30)
Slovenia : Venezuela (at 15.30)

Thursday, 2. August 2007 (Macau)

Venezuela : New Zealand (at 10.00)
China : NBDL All Star (at 13.30)
Slovenia : Angola (at 15.30)

 

[Joško Poljak Fan2]

I'd prefer Preldžič coming instead of Čapin as well...

PG: Lakovič 30 minutes/ Dragič 10 min.
SG: Dragič 10 / Klobučar 10 / Lorbek 20
SF: Jagodnik 20 / Lorbek 5 / Preldžič 15
PF/C: Smodiš, Slokar, Nesterovič, Lorbek, Vidmar

sadly things aren't as simple as I've wrote down above, Pipan selecting only 4 guards just to put Emir in, isn't exactly the optimal solution, but I can't see any significant improvement without him (wih Čapin) either.
having Čebular as the 5th guard is just like having only 4 guards (no diss to Sandi but...) as he isn't likely to play any minutes, so if Čapin joins we get a little better depth at PG/SG, but we loose Preldžič at SF, meaning we still have only 6 perimeter players... a complete mess... not to mention what happens if one guard gets injured (potentially Lakovič )

...even Gorenc and Hafnar would be welcome here... not to mention McDonald... let alone Vujačič, Joksimovič, both Udrih's, Ožbolt, Sani... I was a bit dissapointed when Memi let Čebular out of Olimpija, but he isn't a NT material for sure...

Now it'll all depend on Rašo/Smodiš covering up for guard's mistakes in defense... we'll probably see some yet unseen lineups on that championship

 

[boki2]

I kinda look more into CCTV5 tv schedule and find out that Slovenia: China will be broadcasted live on Sundey (13.00 CET). Slovenia: NBDL (tommorow at 15.00 CET) won't be broadcasted live, but will be delayed on Sunday (9:00am CET). Still don't know about other three games next week.

I hope I didn't make any mistakes, I used google translator on this link:
http://www.tvwu.com/chinatvguide/cctv5-sports.htm

 

[elaj2]

http://sports.sina.com.cn/bscup_en.html

Here you can watch all the games of Stanković Cup.

Slovenia : NBDL Team 94:86 (73:58, 52:36, 29:25)
Slovenia: Ćapin 21, Preldžić 17, Vidmar 13, Jagodnik 13, Lorbek 11, Dragić 9, Čebular 5, Rizvić 3, Klobučar 2.

Uroš Slokar didn't play because of an injury.

 

[Joško Poljak Fan2]

top 5 actions from the game.

that website would be great, if it wasn't for chinese letters

 

[elaj2]

China : Slovenia 76:80 (21:25, 16:21, 18:21, 21:13)
Slovenia: Čebular 9, Preldžić 2, Ćapin 11, Dragić 4, Klobučar 0, Slokar 0, Jagodnik 17, D. Lorbek 10, Rizvić 6, Vidmar 21.

Vidmar and other fellas made fun of poor Yi Jianlian. Yi Jianlian is such a whiner, acts like a star, but plays like an amateur. Slovenia led for already +17 points in this game. The final score really doesn't show the performance of both teams. Slovenia again played without injured Uroš Slokar.

 

[boki2]

I am so angry, that Olimpija let go Vidmar. He would be a superstar in Olimpija in a year or two. And I can't believe that we lost to this team+Yao on WC. And I must say that Rizvic is totally useless and I really can't figure out why he got called before Pavic. I'm quite surprised with Cebular's play. I think Becirovic maybe made a mistake to let him go. Olimpija should loan him not release him IMO.

 

[Joško Poljak Fan2]

That were my thoughts exactly... I like Vidmar more everyime I see him and the way it looked like today, If Yi was a lottery pick Vidmar should've been a no.1 ... and on the contrary he doesn't have a birth date issues either
The dissapointment of Vidmar not being in Olimpija will grow every time we'll see him play...

Agreed on Čebula as well, maybee Memi was relying too much on summer league when most guys were probably out of shape. It's not that Čebular was shineing this game, but he would be usefull in a year or two, eventhough he has some weknesses he'll probably never fix, I don't agree with letting those players go, especially if the team is than not able to bring talents like Preldžič, Klobučar, Dragič and Vidmar...

I have to add that I like the attitude of Jagodnik, he surely doesn't lack motive as Milič, Maravič and Nachbar had an advantage in front of him in NT for the past few years.

But overall it was just a preparation game, i'm surprised our C team (practically ) did so well at this time, but consequently I am even more surprised how in the world we lost to China at the world championship.

Once again Čapin vs. Preldžič will be a tough choice, but Čapin clearly has an advantage nevermind he won't be able to perform like that vs. top euro PG's...