Here's a nice list of the major international players missing out on the FIBA Worlds. I like how Rosen threw New Zealander Sean Marks into the bunch. Despite his NBA pedigree, I don't think the older, slower guy would help out the Kiwis that much. They already have a veteran sharpshooting big in Pero Cameron, and besides the shooting of Kirk Penney (the tournament's second-leading scorer) I've found the bouncy, scrappy play of undersized bigs Thomas Abercrombie, Mika Vukona and Casey Frank (all in the 6-6 to 6-8 range) to be the major reason why the Kiwis have advanced to the knockout rounds.
Still, besides their awesome upside, Team USA also has several other reasons why they are likely to win the last game of the tournament. Just consider the respective absences of Yao Ming, Dirk Nowitzki, Manu Ginobili, Andres Nocioni, Tony Parker, Andrew Bogut, Sean Marks, Jose Calderon, Pau Gasol, Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Chris Kaman, Andrei Kirilenko, Nene, Steve Nash, Rasho Nesterovic, Mehmet Okur, Mickael Pietrus, Darius Songalia, Beno Udrih, Sasha Vujacic, and Rodrigue Beaubois.
Read more at msn.foxsports.com
In other words, if Team USA is deemed to be the NBA’s B (or even C) team, then most of the other countries still in the mix are similarly short-handed.
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