OK guys, it's here. First games start in under 24 hours. Might as well do a preview rather than, like, my actual job.
USA's schedule, as best I can calculate time zones (all in Shanghai which is +12 hours from us). Games are at 20:30 local time (GMT+8) so they'll generally be at 8:30am ET.
Sunday 9/1, 8:30am ET: vs Czech Republic
- They'll pretty much just feed the Bulls' Tomas Satoransky
- Their center, Ondrej Balvin, is 7'1" and plays in Spain for Gran Canaria
- They have a naturalized player, Blake Schilb, who was a standout all-American for Loyola Chicago '07 and plays for a French team after a decade in Europe (mostly Czech Rep.)
- First time they've qualified for the World Cup
Tuesday 9/3, 8:30am ET: vs Turkey
- Only real test of the first group stage, Turkey is a legit team starting 3 NBA players (Korkmaz [PHI], Osman [CLE], Ilyasova [MIL]), and with a rotation of ex-NBA / near-NBA EuroBasket standouts including old friend Semih Erden
- SG Korkmaz (of the 76ers) is their primary scorer; expect Smart to be tasked with wearing him down
- Naturalized citizen
Scottie Wilbekin (SEC POY in 2014 for Florida) is their starting PG, and the only player besides the NBA trio to not play on a Turkish domestic club (he had 3 months with the 76ers in 2015)
- At the Acropolis warmup tournament, they played Serbia and lost by 15, played Greece and lost by 14.
- One of the most decorated European teams. Hosted and reached the final of the 2010 world cup, where an absolute berserk home crowd in Istanbul (which had pushed them, barely, over Serbia in the semis) got them looking pretty credible for their ritualistic demolishing by Kevin Durant.
Thursday 9/5, 8:30am ET: vs Japan
- You're gonna hear over and over about PF
Rui Hachimura, #9 pick by the Wizards this spring out of Gonzaga. At the 2014 U17 championships, he put up 25 against a USA team that included Jayson Tatum. He is already, by some margin, the best Japanese player ever. The Jays are gonna have to contain him.
- Starting center
Nick Fazekas is one of only two players to have his number retired by the Nevada Wolfpack; he led the team in points during qualification (for which they only had Hachimura for a few games last September).
- Other notable player is Yuta Watanabe, who's on a 2-way contract with the Grizzlies after graduating George Washington in 2018 and going undrafted. Very smooth, guard-like moves despite being 6'11". The rest of the roster plays on the top couple of Japanese clubs, 4 of them on league champions Alvark Tokyo.
- In warmup games,
Hachimura demolished Iran, and led Japan's first-ever victory over a European team (by
beating Germany and dunking on Dennis Schroder).
- We last played Japan in the 1972 Olympics, which is not an auspicious parallel.
So, assuming we win all those games and that Group F also goes according to rankings, we will then play in the second group stage:
Saturday 9/7, (time TBD): vs Brazil
- Brazil is one of the most decorated teams, having won the FIBA world cup in 1959 and 1963, Olympic Bronze 3 times, gold at the PanAm Games 6 times, and gold in 4 Americas Cups (most recently
2009) . They are the only team other than the US that has never failed to qualify for the World Cup.
- Their roster features only 2 current NBA players, who are somewhat fringe (Bulls reserve
Christiano Felicio and Grizzlies prospect
Bruno Cabaclo), but has a number of
former NBA veterans most notably Anderson Varejao and Leandro Barbosa, plus Barcelona star / Lakers pawn
Marcelo Huertas. Jazz backup PG
Raul Neto did not make the roster.
- Perhaps needless to say, their team is very old, the
oldest roster at the world cup, but with a lot of international experience.
- They didn't play many warmups; they did narrowly
beat China a few days ago.
Monday 9/9, (time TBD): vs Greece
- Obviously, this is the first matchup that will catch a lot of US attention, so you gotta imagine FIBA is hoping that Brazil manages to top Greece in the first group stage so this match gets played on Saturday morning rather than Monday morning.
- Team Giannis (3 players have that first name) was
sans freak for their
final warmup vs Venezuela a few days ago, due to irritation in his knee. His brother Thanasis played despite foot problems. Let's hope nobody tells the Bucks.
- Despite his star power, Greece is anything but a one-man roster, having one of the deepest and most experienced EuroLeague rosters at the world cup and ranked #8 in the world.
I. Bourousis is 2-time all-EuroLeague, ex-Grizzly PG
Nick Calathes has won 5 all-Defense awards,
G. Papagiannis was picked #13 in 2016 by the Kings, etc. Most of their non-Antetokounmpo rotation plays for Greece's 2 top teams, Panathinaikos and Olympiacos.
- Fun fact: Their team
hates Serbia, and games between them have ended in brawls
multiple times.
On the other hand, maybe we'll get an upset by New Zealand...
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDucvQYlWj4
If victorious, these games would be followed by...
Wednesday 9/11, 7am if winning the 2nd group, 9am if finishing 2nd:
Quarterfinal vs L1/L2 (likely France, Australia, maybe Lithuania)
Friday 9/13, (time TBD): Semifinal
Sunday 9/15, 8am ET: Final