Pre-Olympic tournament 2012

[straight forward]

First of all Puerto Rico and Dominican Republic got some individuals that are better than most of your individuls(maybe with an exception of Kleiza).

I don't underestimate Lithuania, I just think that the two teams that have the best chances of reaching Olympic Games are Greece and Russia!

I have to say though, if I had to say which team I think will be the third one, of course I would say Lithuania!!!

Well in 3 position I don't think we have a problem! Stratos Perperoglou, Kostas Papanikolaou and hopefully Panagiotis Vasilopoulos would be perfect. Perperoglou and Vasilopoulos are great players, for sure they have some drawbacks but in total they are very good! Plus the young gun Papanikolaou who showed some of his quality in his first tournament with the senior Greek team!!!

In 4 position, in my opinion, we have the best power forward playing in Europe, as a starter, Antonis Fotsis! Then we have Mavrokefalidis who's a great offnsive player but unfortunately is 99% sure that he's never going to play for Greece. Tsartsaris is too old and Kaimakoglou is just a role player. When Fotsis is on the bench, Kaimakoglou can cover him pretty well though! BUT, we still have the opportunity to put Bourousis as a power forward(we have done it many times before!! ) as he has everything a PF should have(quickness, great defense, long and mid range shot and great inside game)!!! So, no problemo!!!

No, I don't think we'll have a problem because of that!!!

Indeed, Greece has a problem in long range shooting as always but also Greece, as always, covers this problem through some players' great personality and great skills!!!

And I think that on the other side, Lithuania lacks in players with great personality(considering that Saras and Siskauskas will not be there).

You only have Kleiza but is a controversial issue whether he has a great personality or not. Is a similar case to Teodosic! He can be a great leader who carries his team on his shoulders but he can be the vulnerable part of his team and the one who will burn his own team and teammates! Double-edged knife.

Russia is not unpredictable. They are one of the most consistent teams in the world for the past 4 years!

This year they had a problem in center position but next year Kaun will be back and they will be full in every position!!!

FYROM indeed will be a major disappointment for those who think that they are a great team...

*I think Lithuania has many talented players but without a strong personality, as I said before, to lead them. You don't have a coach too. Your coach in Eurobasket 2011 was Saras, I hope you noticed that!

It won't be an easy tournament for Lithuania. You'll pretty much depend on Kleiza.

I hope Saras and Siskauskas choose to play next year. Then, you'll have your leaders and things will become more easy!!!

Who are these individuals of PR and Dominican Rep.? Not that I'm trying to underrate them, I have no reasons to do so.

Stratos Perperoglou, Kostas Papanikolaou, Vasilopoulos. All too weak in my account, except maybe Papanikolaou, but he probably will be lacking one or two years experience. Perperoglou is soft and inconsistent. Vasilopoulos comes, gets his fouls and sits down - that's basically his role for any team. Papanikolou probably will be a good player, but later in the future, IMO.

With all respect to you guys and your love to Fotsis, he's just a role player (strong one) and he is barely in competition with Kleiza. Sorry, different potential, different skills, completely different personalities. Greek fans underrate this strong player usually. I know he was a huge prospect, actually he even looked like that when he was younger, but couldn't live up to his potential, ended up as solid role player for top clubs. However, Fotsis is a solid card, but basically the only one, as Tsartsaris is too old and I'm not impressed with Kaimakoglou. However, my thesis here is that Greece can't match Mačiulis (3) and Kleiza (4). Actually, no other country except USA could match this in WC 2010 (one tournament though, hopefully we'll see them both in Olympics qualification). Bourousis can't play 4. Imagine him against Kleiza, the latter is too times faster. There probably also will be Motiejunas, also very fast 4.

As for personalities, off course we are lacking such guy as young Šaras. But who is Šaras in Greek NT? Well it was Pap and DD, but both are gone. As for future leaders Valančiūnas will be the one. Great fighter/competitor and the natural born leader, in his own way.

Finally, players and not personalities playing on the court.

However, it's my picture. It's your choice how to rank the teams.

BTW, I don't want Šaras on the team. He had a good tournament till the very most important games. Unfortunately he totally f... up in these games and couldn't deal with leadership and even his nerves and pressure. He was very humble and very good role player till the clutch games, but when the ball got hot, he couldn't just play as a role player, he started to rule (including Kemzura). And that was one of the main reasons why we failed. Šaras is the legend and always will, but he can't play in NT team anymore because here he's the leader and he can't be the leader anymore. As simple as that. He will be brilliant for PAO as a role player and under Obradovic who won't let himself to involve with Saras stuff, Kemzura did unfortunately.

Lithuania 2012 should be young, fast, athletic and hungry. We have all tools for that, now it's up to Kemzura.