Worst 12th man contest

[Rodrigue Beaubois]

Sure he's been pretty bad, but I'm not sure he can qualify. There are several players who have played even less minutes for Montenegro, like Marko Todorovic or Aleksa Popovic. Even Nemanja Radovic has played less, even though he has at least made a basket.

But unlike the others you mentioned, every minute on the floor he spent, he just made damage to the team. The guy can't put the ball on the floor, can't shoot, can't play defense, has no court vision... The same can be said for his brother. But those guys have their place cemented in NT because of their political activity, not because of basketball skills. You mentioned Popovic, that guy has very limited basketball knowledge, but at least he gives his 100%, Radovic too.

[Darrell Armstrong]

But unlike the others you mentioned, every minute on the floor he spent, he just made damage to the team. The guy can't put the ball on the floor, can't shoot, can't play defense, has no court vision... The same can be said for his brother. But those guys have their place cemented in NT because of their political activity, not because of basketball skills. You mentioned Popovic, that guy has very limited basketball knowledge, but at least he gives his 100%, Radovic too.

I totally agree with you. All I'm saying is that this guy is not the 12th man, more like 8th or 9th. So he could be the worse rotation player in the whole tournament for all I know, but doesn't belong in this list of players whose only role was to sit on the bench and cheer, or at most serving as Human Victory Cigars like David Barlow.

[reamily]

China has makan and Abushalamu rotting on the bench, Japn has 3 Kosuke Takeuchi, AverySchafer and Seiya Ando

[Darrell Armstrong]

China has makan and Abushalamu rotting on the bench, Japn has 3 Kosuke Takeuchi, AverySchafer and Seiya Ando

Avery Schafer doesn't sound very Japanese to me...

[Darrell Armstrong]

These are the standings after the first round:

1- Panagiotis Vasilopoulos: 14 minutes, 1 miss, 0 points. Was benched against Brasil, so maybe he's the lucky charm after all
2- Lucio Redivo: 6 minutes, 4 misses, 0 points. Only saw the court against Korea
3- Mason Plumlee: 22 minutes, 2 points. Only basket came against Japan
4- David Barlow: only plays a few seconds at the end of games. Human Victory Cigar
5- Eger Arar: 0 minutes
6- Agustín Caffaro: 4 points in 4 minutes. Only played against Korea
7- Paul Lacombe: played very poorly against Jordan, then redeemed himself against Dominican Republic. 6 points in 27 minutes total
8- Ariel Filloy: 21 minutes, 7 points. Only played OK against Gilas Pilipinas and didn't see the floor against Serbia

Honorable mention:

Mark Barroca: 6 points in 20 minutes. Considering how poorly his teammates have fared, can't point my finger at him
Miroslav Raduljica: 8 points per game in 11 minutes, not that bad
Andrei Sopin: played surprisingly well against Argentina: 9 points 4 assists in 22 minutes
Quino Colom: 24 minutes, 7 points and 6 assists. Only one missed shot. He's making the most of limited minutes

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A word about the scoring system: 12th men don't play much, so those who didn't get playing time in blowout games will appear higher than those who did not take part in contested games. Then I apply the Groucho Marx rule: "It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt". 12th men who got the chance to play and made clear how useless they really are will appear at the top of the standings, starting with those who had a more negative impact against the weakest competition.

[vuxsa]

I think Raduljica’s performance against Italy in important moments bought him enough credit to not be considered for this list. Bircevic is still in the zone, but in all honesty there are a lot of candidates for less successful squads.

[Darrell Armstrong]

I think Raduljica’s performance against Italy in important moments bought him enough credit to not be considered for this list. Bircevic is still in the zone, but in all honesty there are a lot of candidates for less successful squads.

Yes, that's why he's an honorable mention. I haven't seen Bircevic play lately, so if someone wants to propose him, I'd have to take his word.

[Tesla]

Gudurić still totally overhyped at best.

[markkanen]

I don't see such in Lithuania. All guys deserved their spots, couldn't call anyone as "lucky" or "completely doesn't deserve a spot" case. Sure, some will have little roles, but no lucky tourists this time

Other teams... maybe from our group David Barlow could be called as lucky to travel to WC. I mean he wasn't even in preliminary roster, but some players from his position withdrew, some got injured and here you go - veteran got a call up. Don't expect much from him, deep bench most likely scenario

Russia - Andrey Sopin. I know Russia bball not that bad, but raised the eyebrow with the question - who the hell is he, when saw him for the first time? Only google helped he: A guy from second division and even there not a difference maker. He was named to Russian reserve squad in the beginning of the summer, a future reserve, but when massive injury wave hit the squad at the backline, he was called up to NT and now he is in final roster. Crazy. Just cause simply there were no other options. His countrymen Motovilov is similar case, but at least he looked better in preps, so might get bigger minutes.

Well, Sopin wasn't that bad against Argentina, was he? He played surprisingly well.

What about Larentzakis from Greece or Kaza Kajami - Keane from Canada?

[Darrell Armstrong]

These are the standings after the second round:


1- Lucio Redivo: played again, and now accumulates 17 minutes. He plays garbage minutes for an unbeaten team and boasts a team-worst -11 +/- How can you do that? Oh yes. Shooting 1/10 from the field. Think about it, played less than two quarters and found a way to shoot 10 times, while turning the ball over 2 times as well. He scored a grand total of 4 points in 13 possessions.
2- Panagiotis Vasilopoulos: 21 minutes, basically invisible with just 2 missed shots and barely contributing anything
3- Mason Plumlee: 26 minutes, 2 points. Only basket came against Japan. At least he grabbed some rebounds, which should came as no surprise considering he's a seven footer a half of them were against Japan's soft frontcourt
4- Ege Arar: finally played! Only 11 minutes, and contributed more personal fouls than points and rebounds combined. So maybe the coach was right leaving him on the bench while the games counted...
5- David Barlow: only plays a few seconds at the end of games. Human Victory Cigar
6- Paul Lacombe: played very poorly against Jordan, then redeemed himself against Dominican Republic. 7 points in 27 minutes total. Still to see the court in a contested game
8- Ariel Filloy: played quite a lot of minutes against Puerto Rico and fouled out
9- Agustín Caffaro: a per-minute monster averaging 24-12 with 4 blocks and steals per 36 minutes, while shooting 100% from the field. It's amazing what you can do with small samples and naive projections. In reality he has barely played a handful of minutes here and there

Honorable mention:

Mark Barroca: 15 points in 45 minutes. Considering how poorly his teammates have fared, can't point my finger at him
Miroslav Raduljica: has played just 3 more minutes than Bircevic and tops the team in made free throws, an amazing streak of 20 out of 21
Andrei Sopin: played surprisingly well against Argentina: 9 points 4 assists in 22 minutes. Only played 3 minutes since, doing nothing. One-hit wonder? Maybe, but at least he justified being taken to China
Quino Colom: 24 minutes, 7 points and 6 assists. Only one missed shot. He's making the most of limited minutes. Has not seen the court in the 2nd round

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A word about the scoring system: 12th men don't play much, so those who didn't get playing time in blowout games will appear higher than those who did not take part in contested games. Then I apply the Groucho Marx rule: "It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt". 12th men who got the chance to play and made clear how useless they really are will appear at the top of the standings, starting with those who had a more negative impact against the weakest competition.

[mojo13]

Well, Sopin wasn't that bad against Argentina, was he? He played surprisingly well.

What about Larentzakis from Greece or Kaza Kajami - Keane from Canada?

Kaza Kajami Keane was MVP of the Dutch League this year and is moving over to the BBL this season for Mittelduetscher BC. He is a decent young and still improving player. Surely there are many worse players than him in the WC. Arnt there guys not even playing on real pro clubs on some of the African and Asian team. He’d be a star player for the Philippines.