What friendly games Serbia, Group D teams will play before EuroBasket? / News - Basketnews.com

Credit: Pedja Milosavljevic/STARSPORT Credit Pedja Milosavljevic/STARSPORT

With less than a month dividing us from the start of EuroBasket, it's time to look at what will happen in Old Continent's biggest competition.

BasketNews will offer you a clear picture of the rosters and the commitments the national teams will face in preparation for EuroBasket.

Here's a look at Group D, which will be played at the O2 Arena in Prague, Czech Republic.

Netherlands

The team coached by Maurizio Buscaglia might not be one of the strongest in the event. Still, they earned their spot in the competition after eliminating a team like Croatia during the World Cup qualifiers.

Charlon Kloof, Yannick Franke, and Olaf Schaftenaar are among the leaders of Maurizio Buscaglia's group.

They have already proved that they can overcome opponents that, on paper, are better than them. They'll try to do the same in a group highlighted by the Serbian national team, one of the biggest candidates to win the competition.

Preliminary Roster:

Worthy De Jong Kai Edwards Yannick Franke Matt Haarms Shane Hammink Mohamed Kherrazi Charlon Kloof Jito Kok Malevy Leons Rienk Mast Quintent Post Olaf Schaftenaar Roeland Schaftenaar Luuk Van Bree Keye van der Vuurst de Vries Dylan Van Eyck Boy Van Vliet Marjn Ververs Leon Williams

Training Camp:Started on July 27 in Amsterdam

Pre-EuroBasket schedule:

August 4, 20:15 CET: Slovenia83:76Netherlands (Friendly game in Celje, Slovenia) August 5, 20:15 CET: Montenegro76:67Netherlands (Friendly game in Celje, Slovenia) August 7, 17:00 CET: France89:65Netherlands (Friendly game in Rouen, France) August 12, 19:00 CET: Netherlands 66:68 Germany (Friendly game in Almere, Netherlands) August 19, 18:30 CET: Lithuania vs. Netherlands (Friendly game in Vilnius, Lithuania) August 24, 17:00 CET: Georgia vs. Netherlands (2023 FIBA World Cup Qualifiers) August 27, 19:00 CET: Netherlands vs. Spain (2023 FIBA World Cup Qualifiers)

Finland

With a mix of great experience (Petteri Koponen, Sasu Salin, Shawn Huff), exciting talent (Olivier Nkamhoua, Miro Little, Luukas Vaara), and the presence of their NBA star Lauri Markkanen, Finland will present as an exciting team to watch in Prague.

While the possibility of reaching one of the top four spots remains unlikely, on paper, Finland has the chance to advance to the final phase of EuroBasket in Berlin, which would already be a great accomplishment for this team.

Preliminary Roster:

Max Besselink Perttu Blomgren Shawn Hopkins Shawn Huff Mikael Jantunen Henri Kantonen Severi Kaukiainen Petteri Koponen Carl Lindbom Miro Little Alexander Madsen Lauri Markkanen Edon Maxhuni Juho Nenonen Lassi Nikkarinen Olivier Nkamhoua Topias Palmi Hannes Polla Remu Raitanen Sasu Salin Ilari Seppala Luukas Vaara Elias Valtonen

Training Camp: Started on July 31 in Kisakallio, Finland

Pre-EuroBasket schedule:

August 4, 18:30 CET: Finland 71:75 Belgium (Friendly game in Tampere, Finland) August 6, 18:30 CET: Finland 80:71 Belgium (Friendly game in Tampere, Finland) August 10, 18:30 CET: Lithuania 76:61 Finland (Friendly game in Kaunas, Lithuania) August 11, 18:30 CET: Lithuania87:52Finland (Friendly game in Vilnius, Lithuania) August 18, 17:30 CET: Finland 97:94 Ukraine (Friendly game in Jyvaskyla, Finland) August 25, 17:30 CET: Finland vs. Israel (2023 FIBA World Cup Qualifiers) August 28, 17:00 CET: Estonia vs. Finland (2023 FIBA World Cup Qualifiers)

Poland

Number 13 on the FIBA World Ranking, Poland will try to bounce back after getting eliminated in the first phase of the FIBA World Cup qualifiers.

Igor Milicic, the head coach of the team, will keep relying on his two main stars: AJ Slaughter and Mateusz Ponitka, who remains free agent on the club market.

The possibility of getting one of the four spots to advance to the final phase of EuroBasket is not impossible for Poland, especially if the team rediscovers its defensive solidity. NBA rookie Jeremy Sochan is also a part of the roster and will be one of the most interesting names to watch at EuroBasket.

Preliminary Roster:

Aleksander Balcerowski Aaron Cel Jakob Coulibaly Aleksander Dziewa Jakub Garbacz Lukasz Kolenda Michal Kolenda Filip Matczak Michal Michalak Dominik Olejniczak Mateusz Ponitka Jakub Schenk AJ Slaughter Jeremy Sochan Michal Sokolowski Jaroslaw Zyskowski

Training Camp: Began on August 4 in Warsaw

Pre-EuroBasket schedule:

August 12, 16:40 CET: Ukraine 88:60 Poland (Friendly tournament in Istanbul, Turkey) August 14, 18:00 CET: Turkey 94:78 Poland (Friendly tournament in Istanbul, Turkey) August 17, 20:00 CET: Greece 101:78 Poland (Friendly tournament in Athens, Greece) August 18, 17:00 CET: Turkey 86:87 Poland (Friendly tournament in Athens, Greece) August 19, 17:00 CET: Georgia vs. Poland (Friendly tournament in Athens, Greece) August 25, 18:30 CET: Poland vs. Croatia (EuroBasket 2025 Pre-Qualifiers) August 28, 17:00 CET: Austria vs. Poland (EuroBasket 2025 Pre-Qualifiers)

Czech Republic

The host of the group will have many eyes on itself at EuroBasket. Tomas Satoransky and Jan Vesely, now reunited at a club level with Barcelona, will try to lead the team to another surprising performance.

The group is basically the same that we saw during the World Cup qualifiers, except for a couple of important additions.

In the preliminary roster, there's Vit Krejci, currently the only Czech player in the NBA.

After recovering from a severe knee injury, Krejci played his rookie campaign with the Oklahoma City Thunder, averaging 6.2 points and 2 assists per game in the past season.

Preliminary Roster:

Jan Vesely Vit Krejci Patrik Auda Jan Zidek Vojtech Hruban Tomas Satoransky Ondrej Balvin Martin Peterka Jaromir Bohacik Ondrej Sehnal Lukas Palyza David Jelinek Martin Kriz Tomas Kyzlink

Training Camp: Started on August 2 in Prague

Pre-EuroBasket schedule:

August 12, 17:30 CET: Czech Republic 93:60 Bulgaria (Friendly game in Pardubice, Czech Republic) August 14, 17:30 CET: Czech Republic 95:83 Croatia (Friendly game in Pardubice, Czech Republic) August 19, 20:30 CET: Germany vs. Czech Republic (Friendly tournament in Hamburg, Germany) August 20, TBD: Czech Republic vs. Italy/Serbia (Friendly tournament in Hamburg, Germany) August 24, 20:30 CET: France vs. Czech Republic (2023 FIBA World Cup Qualifiers) August 27, 18:15 CET: Czech Republic vs. Hungary (2023 FIBA World Cup Qualifiers)

Israel

With their NBA star Deni Avdija on board, Israel will try to advance to the final phase of EuroBasket after getting eliminated in the group phase that they hosted back in 2017. The roster is a mix of veterans and a couple of up-and-coming players like Yam Madar and Yovel Zoosman.

Will that be enough to go to Berlin? That remains to be seen, but in this group, behind Serbia, there's definitely room for some surprises.

Preliminary Roster:

Deni Avdija Tamir Blatt Gabriel Chachasvili Jake Cohen John DiBartolomeo Noam Dovrat Tomer Ginat Nimrod Levi Yam Madar Gal Mekel Rafael Menco Niv Misgav Guy Pnini Roman Sorkin Bar Timor Idan Zalmanson Yiftach Ziv Yovel Zoosman

Training Camp: Started on August 1 in Tel Aviv

Pre-EuroBasket schedule:

August 8, 19:30 CET: Israel 95:86 Auburn (Friendly game in Tel Aviv, Israel) August 12, 17:00 CET: Georgia 68:81 Israel (Friendly game in Tbilisi, Georgia) August 13, 17:00 CET: Georgia 96:104 Israel (Friendly game in Tbilisi, Georgia) August 16, 19:00 CET: Israel 112:61 Romania (Friendly game in Tel Aviv, Israel) August 18, 19:30 CET: Israel 105:61 Romania (Friendly game in Tel Aviv, Israel) August 25, 17:30 CET: Finland vs. Israel (2023 FIBA World Cup Qualifiers) August 28, 20:00 CET: Israel vs. Sweden (2023 FIBA World Cup Qualifiers)

Serbia

After the disappointment of last summer, when the team failed to qualify for the Olympic Games in Tokyo, Serbia is now ready to play the main role again at EuroBasket, being hands down one of the favorite teams for the final victory of the tournament.

Despite the absence of Bogdan Bogdanovic, who's recovering from a knee injury, their preliminary roster is nothing short of amazing, with the presence of NBA MVP Nikola Jokic, EuroLeague stars Vasilije Micic, Milos Teodosic, Marko Guduric, and Vladimir Lucic.

NBA youngsters like Aleksej Pokusevski and Nikola Jovic were not released by the Oklahoma City Thunder and Miami Heat, but Serbia still has many guns left in its arsenal.

Preliminary Roster:

Aleksa Avramovic Nemanja Bjelica Dejan Davidovac Ognjen Dobric Marko Guduric Marko Jagodic-Kuridza Ognjen Jaramaz Nikola Jokic Nikola Kalinic Balsa Koprivica Vladimir Lucic Vanja Marinkovic Vasilije Micic Nikola Milutinov Nemanja Nedovic Filip Petrusev Dusan Ristic Borisa Simanic Alen Smailagic Milos Teodosic

Training Camp: Set to start on August 4 in Belgrade

Pre-EuroBasket schedule:

August 13: Serbia 82:73 Montenegro (Friendly game behind closed doors) August 17, 20:15 CET: Slovenia 97:92 Serbia (Friendly game in Ljubljana, Slovenia) August 19, 18:00 CET: Italy vs. Serbia (Friendly tournament in Hamburg, Germany) August 20, TBD: Serbia vs. Germany/Czech Republic (Friendly tournament in Hamburg, Germany) August 25, 20:00 CET: Serbia vs. Greece (2023 FIBA World Cup Qualifiers) August 28, 19:00 CET: Turkey vs. Serbia (2023 FIBA World Cup Qualifiers) Thank you for being with us! Subscribe to BN+ and browse ad-free.