Greatest Eurobasket teams for each country.

[Terrorizer]

Weird no one even mentioned Russian team from the 90s. We haven't win neither Eurobasket nor World Championship back then but we were often extremely close. Among Eurobasket ones I'll go with the 97 team (almost the same team eliminated USA and lost just two points against similarly mighty Yugoslavia in WC finals in 1998). Karasyov, Babkov, Kudelin, Fetisov, Panov, Mikhailov, Kisurin - all in their prime. Plus some help from Pashutin bros and Vitalik Nosov. It was a great team though it only finished third. The team from 1993 (silver medals in both Eurobasket, where we dramatically, in a famous Russian choking manner, lost against hosts Germany, and WC-1994) is close but I like 97 more. The third among these is 2011 version. 2007, a champion one, was much, much weaker, as strange as it may sound. But in 2007 we realized whichever potential we had to the fullest, playing very confidently all tournament long, and this is a feat many more talented and much more deep Russian national teams couldn't achieve (back in the 90s we were may be the ultimate underachiever of European basketball - I mean, so many podium finishes but not even one title). Yet 2011 was just great: maybe, our deepest team in quite a period, no one, not even Kirilenko played 30+ minutes in this team and it was full of quality - Kirilenko, Mozgov, Fridzon, Khryapa, Monya, Vorontsevich, Bykov, young and not as retarded and egoistical as he is now Shved... And this team played a good basketball - both defensive-oriented and very much assist-focused, with great ball movement and varied offensive schemes. It's very disheartening that after London Olympics (third place was a disappointment since we have it all to win against Spain and play US in Olympic finals... but Russian choking made it impossible once again) the team was destroyed 'from above'. All the shit in federation, CSKA crooks running wild, and in a blink of an eye we went from a European powerhouse to the Europe's laughing stock. The saddest thing is that youth basketball also took a deep blow during these years and now, with all the recent humiliations at the youth level (like U-20 team relegated to Division B and being unable to return for two years in a row), we are reaping what Vatutin&Ivanov&Kuschenko gang sow in those dark years of Russian basketball.

Later I'll write what I think were the best teams in 1990s - 2010s from the non-Russian NTs. From the top of my head some mid-00s Spanish squad and early 00s (pre-Parker) French ones are very worthy of mention. Late 90s - early 00s Yugoslavia also. Greece 05 with some stretch.

[Srle]

yeah right

Yeah right, Serbia had a better depth and all around better teams , star power was on our side, you had only three true European stars on that roster in 1992 in Drazen, Kukoc and Radja, while Serbia had Divac, Bodiroga, Danilovic ,Savic, Rebraca,Paspalj,Tomasevic, Obradovic , we had our stars in and out missing tournaments , playing with the injuries in the 90's and we were still winning championships , our teams form 2001 and 2002 would easily take out your 1992 team, Croatia and Germany were so lucky to have those brief successes in the 90's .

[CoachZ]

Yeah right, Serbia had a better depth and all around better teams , star power was on our side, you had only three true European stars on that roster in 1992 in Drazen, Kukoc and Radja, while Serbia had Divac, Bodiroga, Danilovic ,Savic, Rebraca,Paspalj,Tomasevic, Obradovic , we had our stars in and out missing tournaments , playing with the injuries in the 90's and we were still winning championships , our teams form 2001 and 2002 would easily take out your 1992 team, Croatia and Germany were so lucky to have those brief successes in the 90's .

You are not realistic. The question was not about a decade but rather a specific team. Like 1992 Croatia vs 1992 Serbia. It would've been a crazy game I would love to see. At that time Bodiroga was a kid, Rebraca, Tomasevic kids as well, Obradovic as well. It would've been a duel of Prime Drazen (28), Prime Radja (25), Prime Kukoc (24), Prime Vrankovic (28) vs Prime Djordjevic (25), Upcoming Danilovic (22), Prime Divac (24), Prime Paspalj (26), Prime Savic (26). Everybody else was role players.

Only a few years later that Croatia team was not a real challenge for us, since they lost Drazen, Radja started getting injured and Bulls turned Kukoc into a stretch 4 So yeah in 1995 or any later years, this was not an issue. BUT in 1992, that would've been a crazy, crazy game. So much firepower on both sides. I think our roster was a bit more team oriented for sure, but they had a scoring edge for sure. Defensively it's a toss up.

Coaching wise, I think we would've had an advantage there.

A nice clash of different philosophies. We would'be had more team oriented game, they would've had a more of a brute scoring presence

[glmr67trn]

Here's my take - the 2011 French team was something from a genre you won't forget. They might have taken silver, but their play... wow, just on another level. Imagine the lineup: Tony Parker, Nicolas Batum, Boris Diaw, Joakim Noah - that's like an all-star team for any squad. And when they played together, it was something incredible, true team play. I particularly want to highlight Parker. That year was just fantastic for him. He didn't just control the game; he inspired everyone around him. Truly a captain's role.