FIBA World Cup 2019: Previewing Group D
Group D of the FIBA World Cup consists of some solid teams and familiar faces, how will it pan out?
The 2019 FIBA World Cup is right around the corner. The tournament should hopefully help fill the hole in the vast and desolate months between free agency and the NBA regular season. Thirty-one qualified countries and host China are competing in this year’s tournament.
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This tournament is a little more wide open than a lot of other international contests in prior years. Team USA isn’t as loaded with talent as it usually is and Australia and Serbia look very legit. Group D consists of Angola, Philippines, Serbia and Italy.
There should not be a shortage of excitement during the event. More basketball is always welcome and the FIBA World Cup is always a fun surprise in years without the Olympic Games. Group D is a case of one very talented team, an average team and two lesser teams.
The competition is quite split in this group yet international competition is always welcoming of a little dash of chaos.
Serbia is a legit contender for the gold medal. They have NBA-level talent down the line, including a lot of solid big men. Nikola Jokic, Boban Marjanovic and Nemanja Bjelica round out a solid frontcourt.
Bogdan Bogdanovic will play shooting guard for the team and should perform well for Serbia.
Italy has some NBA talent as well with Danilo Gallinari and Marco Belinelli running power forward and shooting guard, respectively. Italy comfortably qualified for the World Cup after missing 2010 and 2014 and is looking to make some noise in the further rounds.
The talent disparity is quite large between Serbia and Italy and the other two teams in the group. The Philippines and Angola do not have the same kind of top professionals that the other two countries in Group D have.
Of course, international play allows for a lot of opportunities for upsets, close games, and interesting story lines. Here is a glimpse at what Group D has to offer.