Arguably Lithuania’s strongest part of the team, the front line, got a bit weaker after it was announced that Paulius Jankunas will have to miss the EuroBasket as he was unable to fully recover from injury in time.
The Lithuanian national team training camp starts in just four days, on July 15. Even though it estimated that Jankunas should be ready for action in four months, the recovery process turned out to take more than initially expected.
The news of Jankunas absence leaves Lithuania with three power forwards: Linas Kleiza, Donatas Motiejunas and Ksistof Lavrinovic. The former is yet to decide whether to play in EuroBasket.
During the presentation of the preliminary squad head coach Jonas Kazlauskas declared that he intends to invite players form the students national team which is currently participating in World University Games in Kazan. Although point guard Adas Juskevicius was widely considered as the top candidate to receive the call, a forward might also be invited to join the training camp.
Lithuania was drawn in Group B with Latvia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and FYROM.
