Olympic Qualifying Tournament - SERBIA

[Levenspiel]

The tournament will be held in Belgrade between June 23-28, 2020.

Group	Team	Qualification	FIBA World Ranking
A	Serbia	5th at the 2019 WC	6th
A	Dominican Republic	16th at the 2019 WC	19th
A	New Zealand	19th at the 2019 WC	24th
B	Italy	9th at the 2019 WC	12th
B	Puerto Rico	15th at the 2019 WC	17th
B	Senegal	Wild Card	35th

The first two teams of each group qualifies, and play each other to reach the final. The winner of the final goes to the Olympics.

[Katastroika]

http://www.fiba.basketball/olympics/...ent-for-serbia

Nikola confirmed, Bogdan seems to be safe, too. Looks like Serbia will have a very good team at the qualifiers (at least nominally).

Team I would love to see:

Micic, Teo, Jovic
Bogdan, Nedovic, Guduric
Lucic, Micov
Bjelica, Smailagic
Jokic, Milutinov

Good offense-defense balance, you can space whenever you want as all except Milutinov are shooting for 3, would be very nice to see this kind of team in Belgrade. Thinks it matches Kokoskov's philosophy very good.

[Toruko]

http://www.fiba.basketball/olympics/...ent-for-serbia

Nikola confirmed, Bogdan seems to be safe, too. Looks like Serbia will have a very good team at the qualifiers (at least nominally).

Team I would love to see:

Micic, Teo, Jovic
Bogdan, Nedovic, Guduric
Lucic, Micov
Bjelica, Smailagic
Jokic, Milutinov

Good offense-defense balance, you can space whenever you want as all except Milutinov are shooting for 3, would be very nice to see this kind of team in Belgrade. Thinks it matches Kokoskov's philosophy very good.

The small forward position is a bit weak but rest is more than ok.

[Wellbet]

Serbia is a pretty formidable team. And yeah I do agree with the good balance of offense and defense. The good court vision of each of everyone on this team, will be a huge factor.

[Italian Pride]

after Hackett's retirement we have another black holeg position

If Nico Mannion won't join NT next summer,i don't know who will play like PG in Belgrade

[Katastroika]

Maybe Moretti? Cinciarini? First step for Italian team is banning Gentile 25km away from every possible meeting of Italian team.

[Italian Pride]

Maybe Moretti? Cinciarini? First step for Italian team is banning Gentile 25km away from every possible meeting of Italian team.

According to the season in italian league i would say Marco Spissu,starting PG of Dinamo Sassari, would deserve a chance,but he is so undersize,only 6-0 and not an athletic player

[Katastroika]

Haven't watched Marco much to be honest except in Dinamo - Virtus this season. Interesting choice and big footsteps after Hackett's absence.

[Toruko]

Whats with this Bucks guy DiVincenzo. Is he going to play for Italy in the qualifiers?

P.S. I know that he is not a play maker.

[soulis79]

I think Italy will count on Belinelli services as a point guard. Maybe if he adapts as Basile did some years ago.Furthermore Mannion will be a lottery pick, so he will not be available. DiVicenzo if he actually plays, can carry the ball but i don't think that he is some kind of point guard, more a shot creator. It's a pity that these players(Belinelli, Bargniani, Galinari and Hackett) never achieved something special with their national team. That game against Lithuania (2015) will hunt them for years.

[mojo13]

I think Italy will count on Belinelli services as a point guard. Maybe if he adapts as Basile did some years ago.Furthermore Mannion will be a lottery pick, so he will not be available. DiVicenzo if he actually plays, can carry the ball but i don't think that he is some kind of point guard, more a shot creator. It's a pity that these players(Belinelli, Bargniani, Galinari and Hackett) never achieved something special with their national team. That game against Lithuania (2015) will hunt them for years.

I know it is not the norm, but high draft picks sometimes play. Rui Hachimura would be an example this past Summer.

[Italian Pride]

Whats with this Bucks guy DiVincenzo. Is he going to play for Italy in the qualifiers?

P.S. I know that he is not a play maker.

Di Vincenzo wants to play in June,but he does'nt have italian passport,so we'll see the next 4 months

Mannion in a recent interview on italian tv said that he wants to play https://sportando.basketball/nico-ma...e-per-litalia/

Mannion-Spissu
Belinelli-Di Vincenzo-Moraschini or Della Valle
Datome-Gentile-Abass
Gallinari-Polonara
Melli-Biligha

these are the best roster possible for us,i think not enough to defeat serbia at home

[Toruko]

Di Vincenzo wants to play in June,but he does'nt have italian passport,so we'll see the next 4 months

Mannion in a recent interview on italian tv said that he wants to play https://sportando.basketball/nico-ma...e-per-litalia/

Mannion-Spissu
Belinelli-Di Vincenzo-Moraschini or Della Valle
Datome-Gentile-Abass
Gallinari-Polonara
Melli-Biligha

these are the best roster possible for us,i think not enough to defeat serbia at home

Normally not a bad roster but positions 1 and 5 are too weak indeed.

[Katastroika]

Malone from Denver in Kokoškov's coaching staff. Very good move from KSS and Igor. Fantastic move.

[Serbian_Layup]

Really good news for two reasons:

1. Jokić will be with NT for both Qualifiers and Olympics.

2. I'm sure Kokoškov has a pretty good idea how to make the best use of Jokić, but there is probably no one better than Malone when it comes to making Jokić be the best version of him. Really clever move by Kokoškov, he knows there is such a short time to make all the things go smooth from the start during these qualifications, so Malone will just speed up the process of integrating the Jokić-ball into our offensive identity. We can expect a lot of Denver-like sets, such as DHO-s, high post plays with a lot of off-ball movement, cutting from all angles, and a lot of open looks from the three point range. And I expect Bogdan-Jokić p&r fully unleashed. Great move by our Federation and Kokoškov. We are a good team without Jokić, but we are a different dimension if he is going to be put in the best possible position to succeed, and something tells me that is exactly going to happen.

This kind of open-minded approach followed by professionalism and commitment is really important in order to achieve something big.

[Toruko]

I dont agree with you guys. Denver uses Jokic as point center. He is the main creator and this changes all defensive habits and the geometry of the team/court. Adapting in such a system is not very easy to realize especially not in that time. You can of course let him create insight altough he is much better creating from outside.

[Katastroika]

With what you are concretely not agreeing? With Malone, one of the best coaches in the NBA, being in Serbian coaching staff? I cannot believe what I read.

Usually Serbs are incredibly critical to their national team but I haven't read one single opinion whether from fans nor from experts that think that this is a bad move.

[Toruko]

With what you are concretely not agreeing? With Malone, one of the best coaches in the NBA, being in Serbian coaching staff? I cannot believe what I read.

Usually Serbs are incredibly critical to their national team but I haven't read one single opinion whether from fans nor from experts that think that this is a bad move.

Not with Melone. He will certainly helpful but using Jokic in the way Melone is using him in Denver wont be that easy. You can have him, i dont mind. :P

[Katastroika]

We are not the Denver Nuggets nor should we be (out of various reasons). But it opens a lot of additional problems to our opponents if we use Jokic as center and not in dinosaur combinations with Marjanovic, Raduljica or simmilar type of players. This could be seen in 2016 where we played very good basketball. There are many restrictions like defensive three seconds which change the environment drastically. But it's not the point. It's also not the point if he will have 30/15/10 or 20/7/3 - it's a question of maximizing his strenghts. And in this direction I absolutely agree with Layup's post.

Jokic is by far our best player, he has incredible production at the low post, he can spread, im some situations he is pretty indefendable. I think that this could look very good with this roster. If it will be like that, I don't know. My expectations are quite high if everyone is healthy.

[Serbian_Layup]

It won't be easy and I don't expect to see miracles in such a short time for preparations prior to the start of Qualifiers, but Serbian team has everything truly needed to deploy Jokić-ball in full capacity. Plenty of shooters, cutters and pretty decent perimeter defenders. Not to mention that Jokić with Teo, Bogdan and Micić will be a huge weapon in p&r sets as either finisher or facilitator when defenses collapse at him rolling to the basket, imagine leaving Bogdan, Bjelica alone in the corner, it's a piece of cake for Jokić. But for starters, use him solely as C, spread the floor, share the ball, and that alone will make this team unpredictable and very hard to stop. And I don't even think about all those sets and plays you can execute with Jokić in the low post, high post or simply by using DHO-s on the perimeter.

Bogdan and Bjelica are automatic from the long range, Micić and Teo are more often than not snipers, Gudurić is a good spot up shooter, Nedović is a bit streaky but also very dangerous. Then you have players that fit the profile of off-ball players or cutters in Jokić's offense, such as Lučić, Kalinić, Jović and Nedović (I think Nedović's athleticism will be deadly with Jokić if he would commit to a bit more off-ball role). Just mix it up, 2-3 shooters, 1-2 cutters should always be on the floor with Jokić, and it's a big trouble for teams to defend inside-outside game for 40 minutes. The main principle would be to use Jokić as C all the time.

The biggest challenge for Kokoškov will be to give a meaningful role to all of our players who really like to handle the ball and make plays, so that no one would feel alienated from the team's identity or playing in some kind of discomfort.