Euro Basket Championships 2009

by Rajko Toroman
Coach Toroman Expresses Disappointment with RP Team
Head Coach of the SMART GILAS National Team

Posted on 09/09/09

I can talk about the Euro Basket Championships 2009. It is very difficult to predict who will win. The big favorite is Spain but they lost in a first game against Serbia. A lot of teams came without their best NBA players. The NBA teams don’t like that their players are playing because of the injury.

After OG when Manu Ginobili lost for most of the season, the teams started getting problems when players started playing for their home countries. These players include Novicki from Dallas, Kirilenko from Utah, Calderon from Toronto, Okur from Utah, Ilgauskas from Cleveland, and Gordon and Deng from Chicago. This is the reason why almost 10 teams are in the position to win or to go to Istanbul.

1. Spain: Like I said, Spain is the favorite. They are playing without Rudi Fernández [injury] and Calderon but still they a have strong roster. Pau and Mark Gasol are NBA stars. Riki Rubio was a star of the draft. Navaro, Garbohosa and Lopes played before in NBA. Felipe Reyes is also one of the best big players in Spain.

2. Russia: Russia is the defending champion. I don’t believe in this team. Kirilenko, Monia will not play and they replaced JR Holden with McCartney. I don’t think that they’ll be able to do something special.

3. Litvania: They lost some of the best point guards in Europe, Jasikevicius and Ilgauskas. However, they are very strong especially on the inside with the brothers Lavrinovic and Petravicius, who is the biggest star in the Kleiza team. They can surprise everybody.

4. Greece: They are coming with younger team without Diamantidis who was their key defense player. They do have a couple of big prospects. The best players are Spanoulis (who played in the NBA) and Bourousis.

5. Turkey: They are very strong and have enough young players. The biggest star is Hedo Turkoglu. However, don’t forget one name, Illiasoa. Illiasoa is a power forward who is a big prospect.

6. Croatia: I will place this team among the first 3 teams. They played well on OG and they have a lot of confidence. They have played for a long time together. I think that their time is coming. They have 12 players in rotation on the same level but I expected a lot from Roko-Leni Ukic and Nikola Vujcic. The problem could be position 4 because they don’t have a player in that position who can shoot the ball from outside to spread the offense.

7. Serbia: They might come as a big surprise. They are the youngest team but are very aggressive. They have a very good coach who has won everything. The defense is something you would have to see. The best players are Nenad Krstic (who played for Oklahoma), Novica Velickovic and Milenko Tepic.

8. Slovenia: This is another favorite team of mine. They have a lot of NBA players who have they played together for so many years. The problem is that their coach has no experience.

9. France: They are leading thanks to Parker. They can beat everybody.

10. Poland: They have a very good team with Marcin Gortat, Lampe and American Logan. They play at home and they can do something.

I don’t think that Germany without Theodore Novicki and Chris Kaman can do something. For me, it will be big surprise if Israel, Bulgaria, Letonia, England, and Macedonia get a good result.