Digging deep into the final rosters now available to us, we find a very select number of draft prospects, as most of the big names were either cut (Emir Preldzic), got injured (Danilo Gallinari), or just flat out werent considered good or experienced enough to play at this level yet (Nicolas Batum, Omri Casspi, others). So which prospects did survive the cuts? Whos the favorite to win the entire thing? Lets take a look and also consider some non-draft eligible internationals that might be worth keeping an eye on.
Group A
Israel
Lior Eliyahu F 2.03 09.09.1985 Tel Aviv (ISR) Maccabi Tel Aviv
Yaniv Green F 2.06 16.05.1980 Tel Aviv (ISR) CSKA Samara
Dror Hagag PG 1.80 31.12.1978 Beer Yakov (ISR) Hapoel Jerusalem
Yotam Halperin G 1.96 24.01.1984 Tel-Aviv (ISR) Maccabi Tel Aviv
Ido Kozikaro F 2.02 08.01.1978 Zefat (ISR) Hapoel Nahariya
Erez Marckovich C 2.08 10.07.1978 Eilat (ISR) Hapoel Jerusalem
Matan Naor F 1.94 03.11.1980 Rehovot (ISR) Hapoel Nahariya
Guy Pniny F 2.01 04.09.1983 Tel Aviv (ISR) Hapoel Jerusalem
Jeron Roberts G/F 1.94 11.10.1976 CA (USA) MyGuide Amsterdam
Moran Roth PG 1.86 10.11.1982 Rehovot Maccabi Ramat Gan
Amit Tamir C 2.10 02.12.1979 Jerusalem (ISR) AEL
Meir Tapiro G 1.92 28.03.1975 Haifa (ISR) Bnei Hasharon
-Israel easily could have had brought along a very intriguing prospect by the name of Omri Casspi had they chose to but for some reason they decided against it.
-Both Eliyahu and Halperin were drafted last year in the second round, and their respective teams will likely be in Spain to monitor their progress. Halperin had a huge summer helping Israel through the last chance Tournament on the way to sealing the final berth for the Eurobasket.
-The Israelis would be ecstatic to win one of their three games and move on to the next round.
Serbia
Nemanja Aleksandrov F 2.09 10.04.1987 Beograd (SRB) Red Star Belgrade
Branko Cvetkovic F 2.00 05.03.1984 Gracanica (BIH) Akasvayu Girona
Zoran Erceg F/C 2.11 11.01.1985 Pakrac (CRO) FMP Zeleznik
Milan Gurovic F 2.04 17.06.1975 Novi Sad (SRB) Prokom Trefl Sopot
Marko Jaric G 1.98 12.10.1978 Belgrade (SRB) Minnesota Timberwolves
Dragan Labovic F 2.05 20.04.1987 Prokuplje (SRB) FMP Zeleznik
Stefan Markovic G 1.91 25.04.1988 Belgrade (SRB) Hemofarm
Darko Milicic C 2.12 20.06.1985 Novi Sad (SRB) Memphis Grizzlies
Vuk Radivojevic G 1.97 30.07.1983 Beograd (SRB) Alta Gestion Fuenla.
Milos Teodosic G 1.95 19.03.1987 Valjevo (SRB) FMP Zeleznik
Milenko Tepic F 1.98 27.02.1987 Novi Sad (SRB) Partizan Belgrade
Novica Velickovic F/C 2.05 05.10.1986 Beograd (SRB) Partizan Belgrade
-Obviously the most intriguing roster as NBA scouts are concerned, and not by a small margin, the Serbs took the very unconservative step of inviting no less than 8 players who aged 22 or younger, including the youngest player in the tournament in 19-year old Stefan Markovic. Realizing that they dont have much of a chance of competing for medals with the type of talent theyve been forced to leave at home, the Serbian federation instead decided to build for the future with what will become the backbone of their national team for years to come.
-Consider just the current and former Serbian NBA players who didnt make it Peja Stojakovic, Nenad Krstic, Sasha Pavlovic, Vladimir Radmanovic, Mile Ilic, Kosta Perovic Igor Rakocevic, Zeljko Rebraca, Zarko Cabarkapa, Peja Drobnjak,draft pick Milos Vujanic and you begin to realize how deep the pool of talent extends, but also how much it needs to be refreshed by these incoming generations that have been incredibly successful at every stage of youth basketball.
-If we had to pick one player to focus on from an NBA draft perspective (not only for this team, but maybe from the entire tournament now that Gallinari is gone), it would probably be Nemanja Aleksandrov not only is he a skilled 7-footer who showed incredible potential as a teenager before tearing his ACL, but he will also likely see extended playing time for this Serbia team.
-Even if things certainly could look better for the Serbians, a core of Marko Jaric and Milan Gurovic at the guard spots and Darko Milicic up front is already way better than at least half of teams here have to start with. A little us against the world camaraderie mixed in a youngster or two stepping up at the right time could easily be enough to push Serbia into the quarterfinals.
Russia
Sergey Bykov G 1.90 26.02.1983 Novodvinsk (RUS) Dynamo Moscow
Jon Robert Holden G 1.84 10.08.1976 Pittsburgh, PA (USA) CSKA Moscow
Victor Khryapa F 2.03 03.08.1982 Kiev (UKR) Chicago Bulls
Andrei Kirilenko F 2.09 18.02.1981 Izevsk (RUS) Utah Jazz
Sergey Monya F 2.05 15.04.1983 Saratov (RUS) Dynamo Moscow
Nikita Morgunov F 2.10 29.06.1975 Novokuznetsk Triumph Lyubertsy
Nikolai Padius G 1.95 01.09.1980 St.Petersbourg (RUS) Unics Kazan
Zakhar Pashutin G 1.96 03.05.1974 Sochi (RUS) CSKA Moscow
Anton Ponkrashov F 1.98 23.04.1986 St. Petersburg (RUS) Khimki
Petr Samoylenko G 1.87 07.02.1977 Outchkoudouk (UZB) Dynamo Moscow
Aleksey Savrasenko C 2.17 28.02.1979 Krasnodar (RUS) CSKA Moscow
Nikita Shabalkin PF 2.04 09.10.1986 RSO-Alania (RUS) Khimki
-David Blatts squad has two players who are still draft eligible in Anton Ponkrashov and Nikita Shabalkin, both of whom are 2nd round draft prospects for this upcoming year. Either one could be useful for the Russians off the benchparticularly Ponkrashov who fills a void on this squad with both his ball-handling and playmaking ability. Shabalkin should also be able to see minutes as well, as Russia is fairly thin up front
-The Russians are one of the biggest wildcards of this tournament, as they have two current NBA players (Kirilenko and Khryapa) coming off average seasons, one former NBA player (Monya) coming off an awful one, an American point guard (Holden) who is either brilliant or terrible, but never in between, and a lot of question marks besides that.
-Kirilenko is the type of long, active, athletic presence who can change a game at any given moment with his many versatile skillsbut hes not technically skilled enough to be a legitimate go-to option offensively when his team needs a basket. Therefore, a lot will boil down to how well American coach David Blatt can get his players to buy into his up-tempo system and share the ball between them as a unit.
Greece
Ioannis Bourousis C 2.15 17.11.1983 Karditsa (GRE) Olympiacos
Nikolaos Chatzivrettas G 1.95 26.05.1977 Thessaloniki (GRE) Panathinaikos
Dimitrios Diamantidis G 1.96 06.05.1980 Kozani (GRE) Panathinaikos
Michail Kakiouzis F 2.04 29.11.1976 Athens (GRE) Cajasol Seville
Dimosthenis Ntikoudis F/C 2.05 24.06.1977 Larissa (GRE) Panathinaikos
Lazaros Papadopoulos C 2.10 03.06.1980 Krasnodar (RUS) Real Madrid
Theodoros Papaloukas G 2.00 08.05.1977 Athens (GRE) CSKA Moscow
Michalis Pelekanos SF 1.98 25.05.1981 Korydallos, Athens (GRE) Real Madrid
Vasileios Spanoulis G 1.92 07.08.1982 Larisa (GRE) Panathinaikos
Konstantinos Tsartsaris C 2.05 17.10.1979 Veria (GRE) Panathinaikos
Panagiotis Vasilopoulos F 2.02 08.02.1984 Marousi (GRE) Olympiacos
Nikolaos Zisis G 1.95 16.08.1983 Thessaloniki (GRE) CSKA Moscow
-There isnt even one NBA player on this roster, but that has a lot more to do with circumstance than this teams true talent level. Spanoulis just finished what he would probably call a nightmare season from his perspective, while Diamantidis and Papaloukas are clear-cut NBA material if they only felt the urge to prove it by taking a pay cut and crossing the ocean.
-Keep an eye on Yiannis Bouroussis if you get a chance hes quietly establishing himself as one of the best big men in Europe these days playing with Olimpiacos. Only 23 years old and having started to play basketball just five years ago, hes got NBA upside for sure. We wrote about him earlier this summer.
-Besides Spain, the Greeks should be considered the top favorites to come away with the Championship.