Italian NT 2020 and Olympic dream: the last call for our trio

[Italian Pride]

Next time most probably will ne the last chance to play an Olympic game for our trio:Gallinari,Belinelli and Datome

After the retirement of Hackett,we need to call young player in PG,Luke the next lottery call Nico Mannion

I d like to see a roster like this next summer:

PG: Nico Mannion,Riccardo Moraschini
SG: Marco Belinelli,Donte "big ragù" Di Vincenzo,Amedeo Della Valle
SF: Alessandro Gentile,Luigi Datome,Awudu Abass
PF: Danilo Gallinari,Achille Polonara
C: Nicolò Melli,Paul Biligha

I think with this full roster se could have a chance,what do you think about it?

[Shawshank]

Do not invite Gentile at all.
Talk seriuosly with belinelli about his ridiculous stupid jumpers in game endings.
Make Gallinari leader of this team
Bring more defensive minded guys.

maybe Italy will have a shot making Olympics in such case.

But if in 4 querters again Belinelli and Gentile gonna be allowed to shoot those ridiculous jumpers we already seen how this picture ends .It could work for one or two games,but those sexy looking jumpers is not sustainable in long run.

[soulis79]

I can't recall a run of decent performances from Gentile with national team, but maybe Italy needs him at this moment. If San Antonio and Oklahoma fail to advance to NBA play-offs then Gallinari and Belinelli will join the team. I think Italy's main issue all these years was the absence of a big man. They never got help from Bargniani. Melli and Gallinari can't defend the post against good teams.

I agree with Shawshank that this summer Gallinari should lead this team. I also believe that draft players won't join pre-Olympic tournamnets(Mannion).

P.S. Di Vincenzo is available? Does he counts as a domestic player?

[Italian Pride]

I can't recall a run of decent performances from Gentile with national team, but maybe Italy needs him at this moment. If San Antonio and Oklahoma fail to advance to NBA play-offs then Gallinari and Belinelli will join the team. I think Italy's main issue all these years was the absence of a big man. They never got help from Bargniani. Melli and Gallinari can't defend the post against good teams.

I agree with Shawshank that this summer Gallinari should lead this team. I also believe that draft players won't join pre-Olympic tournamnets(Mannion).

P.S. Di Vincenzo is available? Does he counts as a domestic player?

Di Vincenzo said in an interview 5-6 months ago ,that is close to taking it,he will count like passport player not domestic

about defensive question i agree,but Melli,Biligha,Abass,Moraschini and also Di Vincenzo are defensive minded or are good defenders in my opinion

I think we need Gentile,his talent this moment is unreplaceable,without hackett he is our best slasher in the guard position

[Serbian_Layup]

Amici Italiani, what's the status of your team? Is Di Vincenzo going to be available to play for your team (did he get passport)? What about Polonara, he seems to be a good player. Are there new names who could contribute in OQT in Belgrade? Gallinari, Bellineli, Datome, Hackett, Melli with Di Vincenzo, Polonara and a couple of other decent role players seem to be very dangerous IMO. A little bit too dangerous

[Toruko]

Italy solid offensive team but horrible defense. Not sure if the Italians have the defensive minded player to beat a team like Serbia. Serbs are normally not the athletic freaks but the ball flows. Dont know if Hacket retired but I would persuade him for one last time. Gallo, Datome and Belinelli not together on the court. Melli is a must. Polonara is a good guy. Gentile can stay at home and cheer for Italy.

Too bad if one of your best defenders are Cusin and Morascini. The real problem is the center position. I think there is a chance but a small one.

[Katastroika]

Italy has a lot of very good defenders on their roster. Spissu, Di Vincenzo, Della Vale, Polonara, Fontecchio, Melli (I think Hackett retired, but he is also a good defender). Additionally physical disadvantages seem to be not so big as in the last decade when we usually wipped the floor with them under the boards. I think this will be a very interesting game where Italy has to rely on outside shooting and has to hope that some of those shots fall. They have a good team without any doubt. They have to control rebounds if they want a chance against Serbia. This is usually a huge problem of them against us. Players like Teo, Bogdan cause them incredible problems and like already mentioned they have huge problems with Serbian centers the last years. But all this was so pretty obvious that I am sure they will be well prepared and then everything sticks in 40min. We need a good game against them and they surely a perfect one against us. Btw I am huge fan of Fontecchio as already written in this forum. Really good kid upcoming. Totally underrated.

[Serbian_Layup]

Oh yes, I forgot about Fontecchio...The way I see it, Italy we are going to face in Belgrade will be much more competitive than in some previous years. But the recipe remains the same - come out aggressive at the three point line and don't let them have easy looks for three. Melli and Polonara will give Italy better stability down low, they are undersized at 5, but both are fighters, good defenders and skilled enough to do damage on the other end. Throw in Di Vincenzo and Fonteccchio along with other stars, and you have a very good team. Offensively for Serbia approach is probably the same as in previous years, rebounding and feeding big men in the paint. The problem is it's very uncertain if Jokic will play, as well as Milutinov. It's going to be a tough game. And there is also one advantage on Italian side, they will play with much less pressure than Serbia, they can let their shots go freely, that mental aspect will be very important.

[Katastroika]

Yeah, I agree. We have to face them aggressively and dictate the tempo. Running up and down with them is not just nerve-robbing but surely an area where they feel more comfortable. We've made this quite good the last years in that direction. I am looking forward to this game and pretty sure that it will be a very good game. By the way Kokoskov mentioned last week that he hopes that Milu will make the team. He would be a great asset for this game. But I am going far too much in Serbian direction and want to apologize to Italian friends and also would like to hear their opinion about their team.

[Toruko]

Like I said Melli is a must. I think Italians real problem is similar to our problem. There are too many players who play just one side of the game either defense or offense. Another problem is ball sharing. Italy has surely exceptional guys in terms of creating for themselves. It would even say its the best national team in Europe. Datome, Gallo, Belinelli even Dela Valle but who is gonna share the ball? Except Datome nobody of this guys can create anything for others, they never passed the ball to others let alone playing defense. You get stuck somewhere with so few guys who can play on both ends.

[Katastroika]

Melli is a good player for stretching the 5 but against players like Marjanovic, Jokic or Milutinov he is quite useless as he is just badgering their rebounding problem. Additionally he isn't playing professional basketball the last 1 1/2 years.

In 2017 was a good example, we had the situation that Italians packed the paint vs. Bobi and were boxing him out with 3 players and still got problems on the boards. Ironically they have to give up their strongest weapon, a mobile and shooting orientated 5, if they want to battle with Serbia inside. Most of their players play good roles in their teams and are very good schooled, they are well coached and I expect them to gamble at least in the beginning of the game with Serbia's shot. But, of course, we are speaking now 3 1/2 months before the tournament. Teams will adapt at each other during the tournament and watch opponents to see some weak spots. A five that could be interesting for them is in my eyes Spissu - Della Vale - Fontecchio - Gallinari- Tessitori (good mix of intelligence, defense and wing shooting with at least theoretically three players that have length to fight under the basket) - it's a gamble, I know, but physicality is their main problem vs Serbia. We simply fit them worst from all teams due to length of players in all positions and they experienced this a lot in the last decade. They will work on that issue for sure.

[Serbian_Layup]

It looks like Messina is taking over as a head coach of Italy after OQT in Belgrade. I wonder how is this decision going to affect Italian players or Sacchetti himself prior to OQT.
Also, DiVincezno will not play for Italy because he didn't get a passport. A bit strange how Italian federation couldn't get this done.

[Katastroika]

Nontheless they will have a very good team. Best Italy for years. Maybe better even than 2015.

A lot of very versitile players, good shooters, young generation with great attitude. Looking forward to a great game in Belgrade. As Mannion confirmed they will have at least one young NBA talent in their rows.

[Italian Pride]

The dream became reality,i'm so sorry for the absences of Gigi and Marco, they would have deserved to be in tokyo this year after many years and many battles with national jersey



These are our 12 players

Melli is a good player for stretching the 5 but against players like Marjanovic, Jokic or Milutinov he is quite useless as he is just badgering their rebounding problem. Additionally he isn't playing professional basketball the last 1 1/2 years.

In 2017 was a good example, we had the situation that Italians packed the paint vs. Bobi and were boxing him out with 3 players and still got problems on the boards. Ironically they have to give up their strongest weapon, a mobile and shooting orientated 5, if they want to battle with Serbia inside. Most of their players play good roles in their teams and are very good schooled, they are well coached and I expect them to gamble at least in the beginning of the game with Serbia's shot. But, of course, we are speaking now 3 1/2 months before the tournament. Teams will adapt at each other during the tournament and watch opponents to see some weak spots. A five that could be interesting for them is in my eyes Spissu - Della Vale - Fontecchio - Gallinari- Tessitori (good mix of intelligence, defense and wing shooting with at least theoretically three players that have length to fight under the basket) - it's a gamble, I know, but physicality is their main problem vs Serbia. We simply fit them worst from all teams due to length of players in all positions and they experienced this a lot in the last decade. They will work on that issue for sure.

Man,spissu and della valle together would have been a defensive disaster