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In FIBA World Cup, Bogdanovic and Blatche look like best bets

By Net Income
Crobasket/ B. Petrinovic

The FIBA World Cup draw will take place Monday. The 24 teams finalized last week will know who their opponents will be in the preliminary round of the world championships in Spain from August 30 to September 14.

As of now, Croatia's Bojan Bogdanovic is the only player with a Net connection committed to play. Deron Williams has been named to the player pool for Team USA but has said it's unlikely he'll play. Andray Blatche is interested in playing for Philippines if he can become a Philippine citizen by June 30. Ilkan Karaman, the Turkish PF drafted in 2012, is likely to play for Turkey, but he's still recovering from double knee surgery last summer. He is expected to return to Euroleague action at the end of February.

Mirza Teletovic, who would have been a candidate for the World Cup scoring title, won't be in Spain. Bosnia was not selected for one of four wild card positions this week, disappointing him.

"I didn’t like it. I thought Bosnia deserved it, being in European Championships for nine years and having hosting the juniors and Eurobaskets" he told Tim Bontemps. "We’ve just made an amazing step and to me, it’s crazy that Bosnia didn’t get it. But it is what it is.

"Bosnia is a small country, you know? It’s their decision. I don’t like it. But that’s OK."

Also, Mike Fratello will coach Ukraine in the Worlds. Joe Prunty's Great Britain was not chosen.

Meanwhile, opposition to Blatche (and Javale McGee) getting citizenship in the Philippines has arisen.  The dean of a law school in the southern Philippines is preparing papers that argue the plan is "cheating."

“It is an unsportsmanlike act, or worse, it is a form of cheating," said University of Cebu College of Law Dean Baldomero Estenzo.  The opposition could hurt the Philippine national team's hopes of making the June 30 deadline. Such citizenship legislation can take months.

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