Vucinic content with Tall Blacks Worlds draw

MAARTEN HOLL/Dominion Post

OFF TO IZMIR: The Tall Blacks were drawn in Group D with Spain, France, Canada, Lithuania and Lebanon for the 2010 FIBA World Championship.

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New Zealand Tall Blacks head coach Nenad Vucinic was neither overjoyed nor dejected after his team drew defending world champions Spain for the 2010 FIBA World Championship in Turkey.

The Tall Blacks, ranked number 13 in the latest FIBA rankings, will meet the third-ranked Spaniards, France, Canada, Lithuania and Lebanon in Group D following the official draw for the 16th world championship, from August 28-September 12, at Ciragan Palace Kempinski Hotel in Istanbul overnight.

"We have got three top-level teams in Spain, France and Lithuania," Vucinic said from his base in Tallinn, Estonia, where he coaches club team BC Kalev/Cramo.

"And then there are teams like Canada and Lebanon that are tough teams but they're teams that we have beaten before. As always, there is a chance.

"It's pretty tough to look 10 months out from the tournament and try to work it out. You don't know who will be there, with injuries and availabilities of players."

New Zealand defeated Lebanon 84-71 and Canada 77-69 in Canada last year but also suffered 90-63 and 90-68 losses to the Canadians in the last two seasons.

Lithuania are ranked sixth in the world but needed a wildcard to make the field of 24, while France is ranked 15th, Canada 19th and Lebanon 24th.

Among the high-profile NBA players the Tall Blacks could meet in Turkey are Spain's Pau Gasol (Los Angeles Lakers), Marc Gasol (Memphis Grizzlies) and phenom guard Ricki Rubio, France's Tony Parker (San Antonio Spurs) and Mickael Pietrus (Orlando Magic) and Lithuania's Zdrunas Ilgauskas (Cleveland Cavaliers).

New Zealand will open the tournament on August 28 against Lithuania, followed by Spain the following day. After a free day, they meet Lebanon on August 31, followed by Canada on September 1 and France on September 2.

Vucinic, heading into his fourth year in charge of the Tall Blacks programme, was not giving away much on his personal thoughts on being drawn in Group D, which will play out of the Izmir Halkapinar Sport Hall in the coastal city of Izmir.

"No sections are easy and looking at the big picture you have to look at who you could cross-over with ... it's a draw. It's good that we're playing some top teams.

"I was a bit surprised to be ranked behind Australia after beating them in the Oceania championship and their world ranking isn't that much higher than ours but that's the way it is. We knew we couldn't get Australia from that (line) and didn't want to get with Brazil. We wanted Puerto Rico or Canada, and that's what we got."

Should the Tall Blacks be one of four teams to progress from the preliminary round to the knockout stages, Group D would cross-over against Group C, consisting of Greece, hosts Turkey, Puerto Rico, Russia, China and Ivory Coast and playing in the capital Ankara.

The Australia Boomers have drawn arguably the toughest group with 2004 Olympic gold medalists Argentina, fifth-ranked Serbia, seventh-ranked Germany, likely to feature Dallas Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki, African champions Angola and Jordan.

Although some Tall Blacks were excited about the prospect, New Zealand did avoid a preliminary round or potential cross-over show-down with the NBA superstar-laden defending Olympic champions USA, who will be joined in Group B by Slovenia, Brazil, Croatia, Iran and Tunisia.

Vucinic said preparations for the world championship would start immediately, including setting up the Tall Blacks pre-Worlds schedule and scouting the players and coaches of their preliminary round opponents.

"We'll just try to get as much information on the other teams that we're going to be playing and working out the systems we want to play against those teams," Vucinic said.

"I'm familiar with the coaches in Europe, not so familiar with the coach at Lebanon yet, but I will be, and Canada, we've played them a few times before so we're familiar with them."

2010 FIBA World Championship groups
(FIBA rankings in brackets)

Group A
(Kadir Has Arena, Kayseri)
Argentina (1)
Serbia (5)
Australia (11)
Germany (7)
Angola (12)
Jordan (37)

Group B
(Abdi Apekci Arena, Istanbul)
USA (2)
Slovenia (20)
Brazil (14)
Croatia (15)
Iran (21)
Tunisia (42)

Group C
(Ankara Arena, Ankara)
Greece (4)
Turkey (18)
Puerto Rico (10)
Russia (17)
China (9)
Ivory Coast (40)

Group D
(Izmir Halkapinar Sport Hall, Izmir)
Spain (2)
France (15)
Canada (19)
Lithuania (6)
New Zealand (13)
Lebanon (24)