Eurobasket 2022 Qualifiers

[Dtown]

Surprised there wasn't a topic about this yet, with games starting in less than two weeks.

Eurobasket is (unfortunately) going the World Cup route with qualifying. The good news is qualification should be relatively simple for most teams (just don't finish last in your group), the bad news is none of the windows are going to allow NBA/Euroleague players. So are we going to see a team like Slovenia screwed over again?

[Katastroika]

It's Eurobasket 2021, bro

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serbia_at_the_EuroBasket_2021_qualification

Nice one of Serbia. Only disturbing names to me are Raduljica and Rebic (who seems to play a good season in Russia, though). All most talented (and available) players are there. Maybe Dusan Ristic who plays excellent in Russia should have been called up but I suppose that players like him don't fit in Kokoskov's philosophy.

[Katastroika]

Serbia will be fun to watch with Kokoskov. I liked what I saw. Kravic should be considered for summer's campaign. A model of a modern player that exploded this year in ACB.

Anyways, this qualifiers are - again - a catastrophic move of FIBA. Total useless.

[Toruko]

This FIBA - EL dispute could activate new step ups in the nt. Greece for example called Kalaitzakis (the good one) for the first time to the nt. Also Turkey has an 99 born Sehmus Hazer who plays with 10 points average in the cl and 7 points in turkish league

[Victorious]

A surprising but memorable victory for the Netherlands against Turkey in Turkey. The last time Holland beat Turkey was 34 years ago. The Netherlands are a decent team. Perhaps better than one might think. They are performing nicely during the last 5-6 years and definitely deserve a spot in the next Eurobasket.

[Katastroika]

Agree about Netherlands.

What happened to Lithuania? Their roster is everything but weak. I didn't watch the game but they got toasted in Belgium. Very surprising to me in that dimension.

[Toruko]

A lack of being able to create. We have to solve this play maker problem. The selection of the players is very weird. Played to one dimensional without attacking the rim. The roles of the players are not clear at all. We desperately need Bugrahan Tuncers creation who is doing a great job against Bayern.

We have to be prepared for surprises in these Windows. LTU is being dominated, Slovenia lost, Turkey too...

[Victorious]

A lack of being able to create. We have to solve this play maker problem. The selection of the players is very weird. Played to one dimensional without attacking the rim. The roles of the players are not clear at all. We desperately need Bugrahan Tuncers creation who is doing a great job against Bayern.

We have to be prepared for surprises in these Windows. LTU is being dominated, Slovenia lost, Turkey too...

I think the Netherlands are pretty good. They tend to be somewhat unstable, but they were able to pose problems to many good teams in recent years. Turkey beat them in overtime at the Acropolis tournament a few years back. But the Netherlands seem somewhat stronger and more experienced now. Perhaps with this new coach they are more stable as well. Also, as I said before, Turkey basically consists of its 3 NBA players. Only with them can they compete against the better teams. But you keenly tried to refute me. The Turkish players on yesterdays roster are not bad, but the point of the matter is that other countries also tend to develop players at that level nowadays. You need either protagonists in the EL or NBA players to shine.

Agree about Netherlands.

What happened to Lithuania? Their roster is everything but weak. I didn't watch the game but they got toasted in Belgium. Very surprising to me in that dimension.

Countries like Belgium have become increasing better over the last decade, while Lithuania is nowhere near the level of Saras, Siskauskas, Javtokas etc. time. We tend to look too much at the jerseys. I don't think Lithuania has the luxury nowadays to loose a few key EL players. We should realize that the basketball map is changing. Germany is very close to the top countries, and Belgium along with the Netherlands are close to where Germany was a decade ago.

[Toruko]

I think the Netherlands are pretty good. They tend to be somewhat unstable, but they were able to pose problems to many good teams in recent years. Turkey beat them in overtime at the Acropolis tournament a few years back. But the Netherlands seem somewhat stronger and more experienced now. Perhaps with this new coach they are more stable as well.

Sorry but this is nonsense. The most important things in bb are having clear roles, a balanced skill set and playing together. The NL team scored just with one guy who plays in Turkey for a bottom team. Turkey was thanks to his coach catastrophically prepared otherwise Turkey should be able to beat NL with any team. This team is never be able to beat any serious team in Europe.

Turkey basically consists of its 3 NBA players. Only with them can they compete against the better teams. But you keenly tried to refute me. The Turkish players on yesterdays roster are not bad, but the point of the matter is that other countries also tend to develop players at that level nowadays. You need either protagonists in the EL or NBA players to shine.

I never claimed to beat top 15 teams in the world without top four players but NL must be beaten with any turkish roster.

Yesterdays reasons for loss were:
- lack of prep time
- bad roster selection
- bad mental prep
- lack of play maker (Tuncer was with Efes because Larkin is injured)
- no clear roles

And it is obvious that Turkey needs its main NBA player + Larkin. The other ones are solid role player but they dont know how to carry a team. The most worrying point is the defensive effort since the wc 19. The coach is doing a very bad job.

[Katastroika]

Maybe you are a little to overconfident about Turkish players' quality. I wouldn't go so far to call Serbia B a favourite against Netherland. Not by any means.

[Picek]

Mateo Drežnjak made a debut in an NT official game yesterday against Sweden and was our best player yesterday.
to those who haven't heard about him make a note and remember the name.
he is only 20 years old but made a huge improvement from last season.
he is playing for Široki in ABA 2 league and is their best player.
the kid has it all.
pretty strong body, good ball handling for his size, great defense, good court vision, needs to work on his shooting but has a good shooting mechanic to start with so it should be easy to upgrade.
he will have a good career.

Roko returned to the starting PG position at the age of 36.
and even with 36 and all his deficiencies he is our best PG.
he needs to be respected for everything he did for our NT during his career.
had a good game yesterday, wasn't holding the ball in his hands for too long.

I'm not an optimist when it comes to Mršić being a head coach of our NT and his overall coaching abilities but defense looked solid. swedes started the game 1/21 FG.
at moments even our attack was unexpectedly fluid.
the hall was sold out and it was played in Zagreb and not on the coast.
if we can win in Holland it will be a good morale boost for the upcoming OQT in Split in june.
I think it will be crazy atmosphere there, can't wait for it to start.
last time I was in Split Spaladium Arena it was when our handball NT played it's group matches in 2018.
fantastic atmosphere then and even better to be expected now.

[Straight forward]

I see most of our rivals testing and integrating young talent and we are "preparing" for OQT with absolute mediocrity. From our top 4 brightest youngsters this season in Kulboka, Brazdeikis, Velicka, Jokubaitis (and with the lesser extent Sirvydis, Masiulis, Sedekerskis, D.Giedraitis), we basically ddin't see any of them in NT (just few minutes for Masiulis). That's how we climbing back from the worst stretch results wise (2016-2019) of our NT BB history and the lowest point ever in FIBA rankings.

[Hepcat]

What happened to Lithuania? Their roster is everything but weak. I didn't watch the game but they got toasted in Belgium. Very surprising to me in that dimension.

Only one team took yesterday's game seriously and came prepared to play and that was Belgium. In fact I'm very willing to bet that the Belgians derived extra motivation from all those articles in the press hinting that they weren't a "serious" opponent for the Lithuanian team. I see even former Team Lietuva Coach Antanas Sireika was quoted on Thursday as saying Belgium was not a serious team and he's certainly someone who should know better. Somebody was undoubtedly posting those articles (many/most translated from Lithuanian) on the bulletin board of the Belgian team's locker room. The Belgians therefore came out yesterday determined to make a statement.

Meanwhile the Lithuanian team probably believed its own press clippings. They treated the trip to Belgium as a nice mid-winter holiday break from the rigours of their respective club team schedules. They simply weren't ready for a game and they paid for their arrogance by getting toasted by a highly motivated Team Belgium.

[Picek]

Turkey was thanks to his coach catastrophically prepared otherwise Turkey should be able to beat NL with any team. This team is never be able to beat any serious team in Europe.
.

we are not a superpower, or even a power for that matter, especially without our NBA-ers, but we lost to NL in last qualifiers.
they are pretty much the same team now.
and Turkey without it's euroleague and NBA players is no force either.
at least not a force that someone should fear off or a force that can think about itself that are too good to lose to NL or anyone else for that matter.

[Toruko]

we are not a superpower, or even a power for that matter, especially without our NBA-ers, but we lost to NL in last qualifiers.
they are pretty much the same team now.
and Turkey without it's euroleague and NBA players is no force either.
at least not a force that someone should fear off or a force that can think about itself that are too good to lose to NL or anyone else for that matter.

Well then you underperformed as well. Nobody can convince me that this one man team with below average skill set with players from the third spanish league is dangerous. If you lose to them then its just a lack of prep. Of course a team can surprise you by having a good day but in case of Turkey it was just the total failure of the coaching stuff.