Absences from the Japan WC

[wardjdim]

Latest news:

- So, Kobe is out, Pierce is out, Redick is out, Odom is out, Greg Oden is out, Billups and Redd were out 4 months ago...
Sounds like what had happened 2 summers ago for the US
- Also, Bargnani is out, as are the retired veterans Galanda, Bulleri, Pozzeco and Chiacig and the injured Righetti for Italy
- Radmanovic and Jaric are cut for the 2-time defending Champions. The Serbs will also miss the retired Bodiroga, Rebraca, Tomasevic, the overrated Drobnjak, the injured Vujanic, Milojevic and the ones who didn't accept the invitations (Stojakovic, Krstic, Pavlovic)
- Spain will be missing Fran Vasquez
- Lithuania is without Jasikevicius, Songaila and Kaukenas, as well as the retired Stombergas and Eurelijus Zukauskas
- France cannot have Joakim Noah this summer and will miss Antoine Rigaudeau
- Slovenia wont have Matiaj Smodis and Beno Udrih
- Australia will be missing superb big men David Andersen and Matt Nielsen
- Turkey refreshed their roster like the Italians did. Turkcan is out, Okur and Turkoglu didnt accept the invitations and will be out indefinitely. Erdogan skips the WC due to injury
- Germany, Brazil, Argentina and Greece go in Japan without any significant problems (up to now...)

[YYY]

- Lithuania is without Jasikevicius, Songaila and Kaukenas, as well as the retired Stombergas and Eurelijus Zukauskas

We do not miss Songaila, but you probably should add Timinskas and Ilgauskas to the list.

[Levenspiel]

- Turkey refreshed their roster like the Italians did. Turkcan is out, Okur and Turkoglu didnt accept the invitations and will be out indefinitely. Erdogan skips the WC due to injury

Kerem Tunceri joined to the club of absents, too.

Edit: I just noticed these absents would form a complete team. In fact this would be the starting five if they were coming.

pg - Tunçeri
sg - Erdoğan
sf - Türkoğlu
pf - Türkcan
c - Okur

[elaj]

- Slovenia wont have Matiaj Smodis and Beno Udrih

???

Firstly, It's Matjaz Smodis!

and Beno Udrih will be at WC!

[Fripp_Moe]

Great topic!

..
Those older Italians did not retire. They just were not called for this tournament, which Recalcati uses as preparation for EC-2007.

Brazil's Nene was injured all season. He is said to be OK now, but is not yet cleared for full-court competition. I guess there's a chance that after signing that huge contract he will pull an Ilgauskas, but I don't know what kind of person he is. We'll see.

Japan is without Yuta Tabuse, the only famous Japanese basketball player.

Slovenia won't have Vujacic.

[Pija_Olimp]

Let's sumarize:
Slovenia won't have Matjaž Smodiš, Saša Vujačić and Erazem Lorbek. Fullstop. I really hope!

[BBallfanJ]

What was Kobe's reason for sitting out? This is the first I've heard of it.

Never mind. I just saw he's having knee surgury.

[Nemesis 11 (aka Sabas 11)]

Yes as usual, these tournaments are more about who's NOT playing that who is. I have less and less interest in the tournament now. Who knows who else will pull out by the time it begins in August. Missing key players only gives teams excuses to lose, which hurts the competition.

[wardjdim]

So, the new updates force me to make a new list:

USA - Bryant, Pierce, Redick, Oden, Odom, Billups, Redd
Italy - Bargnani, Galanda, Bulleri, Chiacig, Righetti, Pozzecco
Serbia - Radmanovic, Jaric, Bodiroga, Rebraca, Tomasevic, Drobnjak, Vujanic, Milojevic, Stojakovic, Krstic, Pavlovic
Spain - Vasquez
Lithuania - Jasikevicius, Timinskas (Ilgauskas is not so important, he never played anyway), Kaukenas, Stombergas, Zukauskas
France - Noah, Rigaudeau
Slovenia - Smodis, Vujacic, Lorbek, Gorenc, Tusek
Australia - Andersen, Nielsen
Turkey - Turkcan, Okur, Erdogan, Turkoglu, Tunceri
Brazil - Nene (?)
Japan - Tabuse
Puerto Rico - I heard that Ortiz has officially retired and Santiago will not play. Any news? What about the guards?
- Germany, Argentina and Greece have no absences (up to now...)

[YYY]

Siskauskas is going to miss the WC. He said the he hasn't yet recovered after very hard season. Damn that Italian league!

[adebisi]

Siskauskas is going to miss the WC. He said the he hasn't yet recovered after very hard season. Damn that Italian league!

what is the source?

[YYY]

http://www.rinktine.lt/

[avolbert]

So, the new updates force me to make a new list:

USA - Bryant, Pierce, Redick, Oden, Odom, Billups, Redd
Italy - Bargnani, Galanda, Bulleri, Chiacig, Righetti, Pozzecco
Serbia - Radmanovic, Jaric, Bodiroga, Rebraca, Tomasevic, Drobnjak, Vujanic, Milojevic, Stojakovic, Krstic, Pavlovic
Spain - Vasquez
Lithuania - Jasikevicius, Timinskas (Ilgauskas is not so important, he never played anyway), Kaukenas, Stombergas, Zukauskas
France - Noah, Rigaudeau
Slovenia - Smodis, Vujacic, Lorbek, Gorenc, Tusek
Australia - Andersen, Nielsen
Turkey - Turkcan, Okur, Erdogan, Turkoglu, Tunceri
Brazil - Nene (?)
Japan - Tabuse
Puerto Rico - I heard that Ortiz has officially retired and Santiago will not play. Any news? What about the guards?
- Germany, Argentina and Greece have no absences (up to now...)

FIBA really has to go to a four-year cycle for the World Championships, just as in the World Cup in soccer. Either the Olympics or the FIBA championships have to be selected as the real championship, with the other becoming primarily a youth competition as in Olympic soccer.

With regional competitions for eligibility to the championship, the current situation forces stars to play for their country each summer. When Europe dominated international basketball and top European players played in local leagues in Europe, a two-year cycle was feasable. But with most top international players now in the NBA, or in more competitive European leagues, it is no longer feasable. You will always see top players declining to compete and both the FIBA championships and the Olympic competition will see their prestige reduced.

[Fripp_Moe]

FIBA really has to go to a four-year cycle for the World Championships, just as in the World Cup in soccer. Either the Olympics or the FIBA championships have to be selected as the real championship, with the other becoming primarily a youth competition as in Olympic soccer.

With regional competitions for eligibility to the championship, the current situation forces stars to play for their country each summer. When Europe dominated international basketball and top European players played in local leagues in Europe, a two-year cycle was feasable. But with most top international players now in the NBA, or in more competitive European leagues, it is no longer feasable. You will always see top players declining to compete and both the FIBA championships and the Olympic competition will see their prestige reduced.

It's a good point that attention and prestige are divided among competitions, unlike in soccer.

As for the WC cycle, it has always been four-year. It's European Championship that is played every two years and is organized by FIBA Europe which is a sepatate organisation.

If we take the three upcoming tournaments:

WC-2006
EC-2007
OLY-2008,

The Olympics tournament is definitely the main competition. Qualifying for it is the goal of each country's basketball federation. The only way to get there through WC is to win the gold. For comparison, to qualify for Olympics through EC a team should win at least bronze for automatic qualification or take no worse than 6th place to have a chance.

So a lot of teams are preparing for the EC-2007, stars are not coming and young players who need experience fill the rosters. That's the "primarily a youth competition as in Olympic soccer" that you mentioned.

But it depends on other competitions. Take the next three:

EC-2009
WC-2010
OLY-2012

So next time youngsters may play at EC, and WC will be stronger.

[kestas]

Lithuania - Jasikevicius, Timinskas (Ilgauskas is not so important, he never played anyway), Kaukenas, Stombergas, Zukauskas

Timinskas and Ilgauskas were in the list, while Stombergas and E. Zukauskas weren't. firt two chose not to come to the camp while invited, while the last two were not invited, because they finished their international careers last year. so basically we are missing Ilgauskas, Timinskas, Kaukenas and Jasikevicius, (add Siskauskas) imho, although you could come up with a dozen names that are good players and are missing as well because of the different reasons (like Slanina or Tomas Masiulis)

k