Barack didn't actually make the final cut...
The Spanish Basketball Federation is reporting that coach Sergio Scariolo has finalized his 12-man roster, and that Carlos Suarez has been passed over for Caja Laboral’s Fernando San Emeterio.
Scariolo informed his team of the decision after yesterday’s 79-72 win over Team Slovenia in Ljubljana; he was quoted on the Spanish Basketball Federation’s official website as saying, “We said goodbye to Carlos Suarez with the feeling that with one more year of maturity and experience, he will make a step that will allow him, in my opinion, to be a major player on this team for many years.”
(“Nos despedimos de Carlos Suárez con la sensación de que con un poco más de madurez y un año más de experiencia dará un paso de progresión que le permitirá, según mi opinión, ser durante muchos años un jugador importante en la selección.”)
On Tuesday, Spain took care of business in Ljubljana in slightly different fashion than usual. Though the backcourt wasn’t especially impressive, the frontcourt foursome of twin-towering starters Marc Gasol and Alex Mumbru (who got the start at PF), plus Fran Vazquez and Jorge Garbajosa were basically unstoppable. This quartet of bigs combined for 51 points highlighted by 14-of-17 shooting on twos.
Sani Bečirović was Team Slovenia’s top scorer, with 17 points scored in under 27 minutes of play.
This weekend, Spain will be playing South American teams Brazil and Argentina in what should be some very revealing games – at least for the antipodean sides; figure Spain wins both handily.
Oh, and that final 12-man roster looks like this: Jose Manuel Calderon, Víctor Claver, Rudy Fernandez, Jorge Garbajosa, Marc Gasol, Sergio Llull, Alex Mumbru, Juan Carlos Navarro, Felipe Reyes, Ricky Rubio, Fernando San Emeterio, and Fran Vazquez.
