European Prospects

Before leaving for Northern France on Saturday morning, here are some first pieces of information that could be found around the net about the Douai World Tournament 2009.

• 15 NBA team will be represented in Douai this year (Indiana Pacers, Philadelphia 76ers, New Jersey Nets, Houston Rockets, Atlanta Hawks or the Phoenix Suns are some of them)
• Lithuania started the tournament with a big win over Australia behind the efforts of Gediminas Orelikas (17pts, 8rebs, 2asts) and Donatas Motiejunas (14pts and 3rebs). For the Emus, the main players have been Hugh Greenwood and Cody Ellis (18pts and 7rebs)
• Canada started strong in their opener against France, that had toplay without last year’s MVP Andrew Albicy who was still in the competition with his club team but will join the team later on. Rob Gagliardi (24pts, 5rebs, 5stls) and Kelly Olynyk (21pts, 3rebs, 3asts) together with Ty Nurse (13pts, 4rebs, 6asts, 3stls) were the players that the French defense could not stop.
• The US team opened the tournament with a defeat against a Puerto Rican team that some observers sees as a potential tournament winner. In fact, they are led by the impressive Mike Rosario who finished the first game with 33pts, 6rebs and 3 assists. Jio Fontan showed his versatility with 9pts, 9asts and 5rebs while on the other hand, Jared Sullinger came in for 21pts and 12rebs for the United States.
• DIME Magazine is covering the tournament by following as embedded reporters with the US Team. Here you can find a report about their opener against Puerto Rico. Follow the whole coverage of Aron Phillips right here.
• In tonight’s games, Canada lost against Australia while the US had their second defeat, this time against Lithuania in an offensive 110-107 for the Balts.