Eurobasket Group D rivals Finland and Sweden have announced their 12-men rosters as the road to their final destination of Koper gets ever closer.
For Finland, who qualified through the additional qualifying rounds, two years ago, they will be looking to improve their impressive ninth place finish in Lithuania with a good showing in Slovenia.
They will have to see-off Greece, Russia, Turkey, Italy and, of course the Swedes first.
“We have a fantastic group of motivated and committed players,” Finland coach Henrik Dettmann commented.
“Many thanks to all the players who were involved for their contribution to the national team and to Finnish basketball.
“Some have to stay at home but we are all one team.”
The majority of Finland’s 2011 team will play this year in Slovenia. The squad is headlined by Petteri Koponen with Teemu Rannikko, Gerald Lee and Sasu Salin also involved.
Finland team for Eurobasket: Petteri Koponen, Mikko Koivisto, Antti Nikkilä, Kimmo Muurinen, Shawn Huff, Gerald Lee Junior, Tuukka Kotti, Teemu Rannikko, Roope Ahonen, Samuel Haanpaa Hanno Möttölä and Sasu Salin.
Sweden have named their 12-player roster for Eurobasket as Jonathan Skjoldebrand has successfully shaken off a back injury to join the team.
Coach Brad Dean had made it clear that he wouldn’t name his final team until he had confirmation of Skjoldebrand’s condition and whether he would be able to play or not.
“The doctor said that Jonathan could not play on Friday, in our last friendly game in Germany,” Dean said.
“But he should be back to 100 percent on Sunday, so we have taken him on the team.”
Guard Tobias Borg was the final player to be released from the Sweden squad, which is headlined by NBA players Jonas Jerebko and Jeffery Taylor. They have struggled in their Eurobasket warm-up games with seven games played and the one win against Great Britain to show for it.
Dean admits that with his final team sorted, Sunday’s final preparation game against Germany in Bamberg will be a good test for his team.
“Germany will be a good test for us, they are a great team, of the type that we are going to play against at the Eurobasket,” Dean said.
“[I would like to see] improvement, I want to see us getting it together on defence and play aggressively as a team.
“I want to see us play smart and with nice flow on offence and I want to see us making our shots.”
Sweden team for Eurobasket: Jonas Jerebko, Jeffery Taylor, Jonathan Skjoldebrand, Anton Gaddefors, Viktor Gaddefors, Kenny Grant, Ludvig Hakansson, Joakim Kjellbom, Brice Massamba, Thomas Massamba, Dino Pita and Erik Rush.
