Olympic Qualifying Tournament - LITHUANIA

[Mindozas]

Morgan injury would be seriuos blow for Slovenia.Thats dude is tough as it comes and no slow white center can give what Morgans athletism would give.

Let say Slovenia gets a bad news Morgan can play in June,does its even possible to naturalise another american in 2months?

In our country our federation cant finish naturalisation to 100% blood lithuanian kid in 2 years

ps. watched the video and yeah something happend seriuosly bad with his knee,such tough dude started screaming in pain and went down in no contact episode like Murray did few days ago.Looks almost as bad as Murray moment.

Our federation did it all for Brazdeikis to get citizenship, all the struggles are from Brazdeikis side, firstly he couldn't sent all the needed docs, probably priorities were NBA debut, then pandemic happened, he could't travel to get those missing papers and all stuck.

I don't flatter our federation usually, but they need Brazdeikis' Lithuanian citizenship first to talk with FIBA.

Morgan didn't even play for Slovenia yet, I wouldn't overemphasize this. It's still about their perimeter, if they will have all the pieces, they will have more deadly weaponry than our frontcourt and it comes down to one name most essentially.

Morgan played for Slovenia in qualifiers and was their best player with some like 15+8 and close to 20eff not counting fouls drawn. We all know where the strength of Slovenia lies, but not having anyone in the paint is huge problem against Lithuania with Domas and JV or even one of them. It'd be big loss

[Shawshank]

Morgan in main strong athletic center for uleb finalist/ most likely winner team.

Morgan looked very good in qualification way better than our centers did.He was one of main difrences why Slovenia looked very good in these qualification compared to last one.



Very rarely we see that NT naturalise not USA guard, but big that only shows how much Slovenia need him.I would argue he is in top 3 most important player for them.

They can lose one guard and be same, but I doubt they can lose only real level big and be same team.

[Hepcat]

Morgan injury would be seriuos blow for Slovenia.Thats dude is tough as it comes and no slow white center can give what Morgans athletism would give.

Let say Slovenia gets a bad news Morgan can play in June,does its even possible to naturalise another american in 2months?

Heaven forbid that the Slovenian team should actually fill the position with a Slovenian.

[Mindozas]

Poland lately announced preliminary roster. It was interesting to see if Lampe will be there, he wanted to join, but he had some misunderstandings between him/federation/coach as of late, so probably latter decided to go without him

Szeroki skład reprezentacji Polski

PG

Łukasz Kolenda, Trefl Sopot
Łukasz Koszarek, Enea Zastal BC Zielona Góra
Andy Mazurczak, MKS Dąbrowa Górnicza
A.J. Slaughter, Herbalife Gran Canaria (Hiszpania)

SG

Jakub Garbacz, Arged BMSlam Stal Ostrów Wlkp.
Karol Gruszecki, Trefl Sopot
Michał Michalak, Syntainics MBC Weissenfels (Niemcy)
Marcel Ponitka, Parma Basket Perm (Rosja)
Mateusz Ponitka, Zenit St. Petersburg (Rosja)

SF

Jakub Karolak, Legia Warszawa
Igor Milicić, Ratiopharm Ulm (Niemcy)
Michał Sokołowski, De Longhi Treviso Basket (Włochy)
Adam Waczyński, Unicaja Malaga (Hiszpania)
Mathieu Wojciechowski, ESSM Le Portel (Francja)
Jarosław Zyskowski, RETAbet Bilbao Basket (Hiszpania)

PF

Aaron Cel, Polski Cukier Toruń
Aleksander Dziewa, WKS Śląsk Wrocław
Tomasz Gielo, MoraBanc Andora (Hiszpania)
Jeremy Sochan, Ratiopharm Ulm (Niemcy)

C

Aleksander Balcerowski, Herbalife Gran Canaria (Hiszpania)
Adrian Bogucki, Enea Astoria Bydgoszcz
Adam Hrycaniuk, Asseco Arka Gdynia
Damian Kulig, Polski Cukier Toruń
Dominik Olejniczak, Trefl Sopot

[Mindozas]

Angola's new coach Spanish Josep Claros (Joventut, Mexican NT) announced preliminary roster. Only one famous name is missing - long time leader, legendary Olimpio Cipriano. Don't know the reason, maybe injury. Other than that most of key guys are there. Of course Bruno Fernandes from Atlanta Hawks headlining the list. Then Yanick Moreira from Greek AEK, who is having decent season and is among leaders there. There are some doubts regarding another big prospect De Sousa, who got in legal troubles in USA back in January 2020 and still can't solve it all, trials are ongoing, cause of that he left famous Kentucky University and didn't play all this season. Also cause of that he can't leave USA now, but he showed his will to join NT this summer, we'll see how it all will pan out.

[Katastroika]

Angola's new coach Spanish Josep Claros (Joventut, Mexican NT) announced preliminary roster. Only one famous name is missing - long time leader, legendary Olimpio Cipriano. Don't know the reason, maybe injury. Other than that most of key guys are there. Of course Bruno Fernandes from Atlanta Hawks headlining the list. Then Yanick Moreira from Greek AEK, who is having decent season and is among leaders there. There are some doubts regarding another big prospect De Sousa, who got in legal troubles in USA back in January 2020 and still can't solve it all, trials are ongoing, cause of that he left famous Kentucky University and didn't play all this season. Also cause of that he can't leave USA now, but he showed his will to join NT this summer, we'll see how it all will pan out.

We played them several times the last years in FIBA competitions. I think this is a clear +20 game for all favourites in your tournament. They have some athleticism but tactically really bad team, at least with previous head coach(es).

[Mindozas]

We played them several times the last years in FIBA competitions. I think this is a clear +20 game for all favourites in your tournament. They have some athleticism but tactically really bad team, at least with previous head coach(es).

Yeah, Angola were in a bit of downtrend latest years after their older generation started to step off the stage. They used to be quite tough nut to crack, with balanced roster, physicality, always there for some surprise, but since some 2016 they fell down. In 2017 didn't even make it Afrobasket podium. It's intriguing to see how their new generation will do now. Especially Bruno Fernandes, his impact on international scene. If he would be like some Dieng for Senegal, then Angola might rise again and you couldn't take them lightly. There are some guys from NCAA too. But overall they lack that balance they used to have, backline is quite weak. Morais is 35yo. If everyone will be aboard, newcomers will adjust well, then they might try to compete, if not, then Slovenia and Poland should beat them. Maybe not +20, but comfortable enough

[Katastroika]

Yeah, Angola were in a bit of downtrend latest years after their older generation started to step off the stage. They used to be quite tough nut to crack, with balanced roster, physicality, always there for some surprise, but since some 2016 they fell down. In 2017 didn't even make it Afrobasket podium. It's intriguing to see how their new generation will do now. Especially Bruno Fernandes, his impact on international scene. If he would be like some Dieng for Senegal, then Angola might rise again and you couldn't take them lightly. There are some guys from NCAA too. But overall they lack that balance they used to have, backline is quite weak. Morais is 35yo. If everyone will be aboard, newcomers will adjust well, then they might try to compete, if not, then Slovenia and Poland should beat them. Maybe not +20, but comfortable enough

Fun fact - after OQT in Belgrade I had to pick up a colleague from abroad at the airport and met their team. We had a fun chat, really sympathic great personalities.

[Mindozas]

Fun fact - after OQT in Belgrade I had to pick up a colleague from abroad at the airport and met their team. We had a fun chat, really sympathic great personalities.

Cool Actually Angola was always my favorites from Africa since 1992 Barcelona, when they made huge upset and beat Spain. Such different African team, which used to play quite smart, team oriented basketball


Btw, Slovenia announced their roster too. No Jordan Morgan as I wrote earlier he is injured, Omic is back to list as naturalized player. Then everything more or less as expected

JAKA BLAŽIČ (Cedevita Olimpija), VLATKO ČANČAR (Denver Nuggets, ZDA), ŽIGA DIMEC (Cedevita Olimpija), LUKA DONČIĆ (Dallas Mavericks, ZDA), ZORAN DRAGIĆ (Saski Baskonia, Španija), GREGOR GLAS (Dynamic, Srbija), ALEN HODŽIĆ (Cedevita Olimpija), GREGOR HROVAT (Cholet, Francija), JAN KOSI (Krka), MARTIN KRAMPELJ (Ilirija), LUKA LAPORNIK (Krka), MIHA LAPORNIK (Den Bosch Heroes, Nizozemska), JURIJ MACURA (FMP Beograd, Srbija), BLAŽ MAHKOVIC (Helios Suns), BLAŽ MESIČEK (Split, Hrvaška), EDO MURIĆ (Cedevita Olimpija), ALEKSEJ NIKOLIĆ (Gravelines, Francija), ALEN OMIĆ (JL Bourg Basket, Francija), KLEMEN PREPELIČ (Valencia, Španija), MATIC REBEC (OraSi Ravenna, Italija), LUKA RUPNIK (Cedevita Olimpija), ŽAN MARK ŠIŠKO (Bayern, Nemčija), MIHA ŠKEDELJ (Krka), GAŠPER VIDMAR (Umana Reyer Venezia, Italija)

[Katastroika]

This is a very good team. Will be great games in Lithuania.

Btw, Mindo, do you know when the deadline for rosters is according to FIBA? Can't find any source. Serbia already informed public here that there will be most likely players who'll join shortly before tournament so it would be interesting to see the players they've licenced for the tournament.

[Toruko]

Cool Actually Angola was always my favorites from Africa since 1992 Barcelona, when they made huge upset and beat Spain. Such different African team, which used to play quite smart, team oriented basketball


Btw, Slovenia announced their roster too. No Jordan Morgan as I wrote earlier he is injured, Omic is back to list as naturalized player. Then everything more or less as expected

JAKA BLAŽIČ (Cedevita Olimpija), VLATKO ČANČAR (Denver Nuggets, ZDA), ŽIGA DIMEC (Cedevita Olimpija), LUKA DONČIĆ (Dallas Mavericks, ZDA), ZORAN DRAGIĆ (Saski Baskonia, Španija), GREGOR GLAS (Dynamic, Srbija), ALEN HODŽIĆ (Cedevita Olimpija), GREGOR HROVAT (Cholet, Francija), JAN KOSI (Krka), MARTIN KRAMPELJ (Ilirija), LUKA LAPORNIK (Krka), MIHA LAPORNIK (Den Bosch Heroes, Nizozemska), JURIJ MACURA (FMP Beograd, Srbija), BLAŽ MAHKOVIC (Helios Suns), BLAŽ MESIČEK (Split, Hrvaška), EDO MURIĆ (Cedevita Olimpija), ALEKSEJ NIKOLIĆ (Gravelines, Francija), ALEN OMIĆ (JL Bourg Basket, Francija), KLEMEN PREPELIČ (Valencia, Španija), MATIC REBEC (OraSi Ravenna, Italija), LUKA RUPNIK (Cedevita Olimpija), ŽAN MARK ŠIŠKO (Bayern, Nemčija), MIHA ŠKEDELJ (Krka), GAŠPER VIDMAR (Umana Reyer Venezia, Italija)

lol Gasper Vidmar still available... He is the hardest center that I know in Europe. Wont be easy for JV.

[Mindozas]

This is a very good team. Will be great games in Lithuania.

Btw, Mindo, do you know when the deadline for rosters is according to FIBA? Can't find any source. Serbia already informed public here that there will be most likely players who'll join shortly before tournament so it would be interesting to see the players they've licenced for the tournament.

I didn't see any official info, but most likely 24 players list till end of May and then you can pick players from it till start of the tournament or some couple of days till it.

lol Gasper Vidmar still available... He is the hardest center that I know in Europe. Wont be easy for JV.

Heard he came back only for this summer, cause frontcourt is having lot of problems

[Katastroika]

Thanks, Mindo. Keep us updated if you hear something about deadlines as we are traditionally the very last to announce unfortunately.

[Mindozas]

Thanks, Mindo. Keep us updated if you hear something about deadlines as we are traditionally the very last to announce unfortunately.

Ok. This week our coach should announce the list, so maybe we'll have some additional info

[Mindozas]

Poland announced 18 training camp roster. No surprise cuts from previously announced 24 players one, maybe I expected Marcel Ponitka to feature, but he was cut, anyway not a big deal, while Polish rising star Sochan decided to focus on next season in USA (NCAA), anyway he would hardly make the final roster. Also coach Taylor is hopeful that Mateusz Ponitka and Tomas Gielo will be ready on time as both are nursing injuries now, especially Ponitka is crucial for Poland chances