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It's now crunchtime in international basketball.
With five Nets playing in FIBA competition --three in the World Cup, two in FIBA Europe's qualifying tournament-- and one assistant coaching in the Worlds, Brooklyn will be well represented. It's not likely that the three Nets in the World Cup will face each other, barring upsets (plural). Bojan Bogdanovic and Croatia will face former Net Andray Blatche and the Philippines on Opening Day, August 30, in Seville, and Joe Wolf, the Nets new big man coach, will face one of his charges, Mason Plumlee, on September 4 in Bilbao.
The two Nets playing in the FIBA Europe Qualifying Tournament, Mirza Teletovic and Sergey Karasev, will not play against each other.
So here ya, go ...
August 24 -- In FIBA Qualifying Tournament, Bosnia plays vs. Great Britain in Sarajevo, Bosnia, and Russia plays Italy in Cagliari, Italy.
August 26 -- Final Croatian warm-up for the FIBA World Cup will take place in Zagreb, Croatia's capital, vs. Lithuania.
August 26 -- Team USA vs. Slovenia, in Gran Canaria, Spain, 2 PM ESPN. Final US warmup.
August 29 -- FIBA World Cup teams must inform FIBA of their final roster of 12 players.
August 30 – September 14 -- FIBA World Championship in Spain. Plumlee will play for Team USA, Gutierrez for Mexico, Andray Blatche the Philippines and Bogdanovic for Croatia. Joe Wolf, the Nets new big man coach, will assist Mike Fratello with Ukraine. The opening game in Sevilla will feature Philippines vs. Croatia, meaning Blatche vs. Bogdanovic. At the same time, Ukraine will take on the Dominican Republic in Bilbao. Later that same day, it will be Team USA vs. Finland in Bilbao (2:30 p.m. on ESPN/ESPN3) and Mexico vs. Lithuania in Gran Canaria. Here's the complete schedule.
September 26 -- The traditional date that NBA training camps open is October 1, but teams participating in the NBA Global Games, like the Nets, start a few days earlier. September 26 is Media Day in Brooklyn. This should be the last Nets camp to be held at what used to be called the PNY Center and before that the Champion Center in East Rutherford. It's expected the Nets new facility in Industry City will be ready for the camp in 2015.
October 7 -- Preseason: Nets vs Maccabi Tel Aviv, Barclays Center. 7:30 PM
October 8 - Nets board charter for Shanghai, China.
October 12 -- Preseason: Nets vs Kings at the Mercedes-Benz Arena in Shanghai. 1:00 AM, NBA TV
October 15 -- Preseason: Nets vs Kings at the MasterCard Center in Beijing. 7:30 AM, NBA TV
October 19 -- Preseason: Nets vs. Boston Celtics, Barclays Center. 3:00 PM
October 20 -- Preseason: Nets vs. Philadephia 76ers, Barclays Center, 7:30 PM
October 22 - Preseason: Nets vs. Boston Celtics, TD Garden, Boston, 7:30 PM
October 31 - Nets have to decide on extending Mason Plumlee and Sergey Karasev's rookie contracts into a third year and Marquis Teague's into a fourth year.