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Brooklyn Nets will have limited FIBA presence this summer

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On Friday, the Croatian national basketball federation released its preliminary roster for the Olympic Qualifying Tournament and no surprise, Bojan Bogdanovic was among the top players listed.

Bogdanovic, who's been working out near his home town of Mostar, has been the leading scorer on Croatia the last several summers, but the emergence of Mario Hezonja of the Magic and Dario Saric, soon to be of the 76ers, may cut into his dominance this summer. Still, Bogdanovic has his supporters, including apparently Danny Ainge who's in Croatia on a scouting trip and said of Bojan, "Bogdanovic is very versatile outside player who had a very good season.".

Croatia played poorly in last summer's Eurobasket and so if it wants to make the Olympics, it will have to win one of three spots in the Qualifying Tournament July 4 - 9 in Torino, Italy.  The big competition is the Italian national team which has homecourt advantage.

The 6'8" swingman may be the only Nets player doing summer duty in FIBA competition, but not the only team representative.  Juan Pablo Vaulet was named to Argentina's 23-man preliminary roster last week and will participate in the FIBA South American championships in Caracas, Venezuela, June 26 - July 2.  If the 6'7" swingman does well, he could make Argentina's Olympic roster, although that won't be easy, with Argentina's "Golden Generation" going for one more medal in Rio.  Argentina has already qualified for the Olympics, which take place August 5 - 21.

Also, Chris Fleming, the Nets second assistant, will take some time off in August to coach the German national team, a job he's held for the last two years. Germany needs to qualify for the European championships in 2017 and will play starting August 31.  For the first time in more than a decade, Germany won't be able to rely on Dirk Nowitzki who announced his retirement from international play earlier this year.  Fleming will have the services of two young NBA players, point guard Dennis Schroder of Atlanta and center Tibor Pleiss of Utah. (Team Russia is in the same tournament, but Sergey Karasev is unlikely to be a Net by then.)

The Nets will also have representation on Team USA in Rio: Dr. Riley J Williams III, the Nets medical director, will once again serve as team physician for USA Basketball

Of course, things can change. Players can be added or subtracted from both the Nets roster and the national teams' rosters. The Nets could draft or sign an international player. In fact, that's expected.

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