D’Tigers’ head coach, Alex Nwora has announced that only the best hands will be selected for the 2019 FIBA World Cup in China later this year.
Following last weekend’s draw that pitted Nigeria against Russia, Argentina and Korea in Group B, Nwora said the World Cup is only deserving of the best materials that the country can boast of.
The Coach who led Nigeria to becoming the first country in the world to qualify for the World Cup to be hosted in China said it’s time to go back to the drawing board after the euphoria of qualification.
“You have to bring your best players to the World Cup. It is not a competition you attend with just any player.”
With interest being shown by many players eligible to play for Nigeria and positive discussions with some Nigerian players in the NBA, G league and across Europe, selecting the best will be a priority task for the coaching crew.
“There will be a try out. We have to go through our list, see each position and see who is going to be best for each position. There are so many young players in the US and the NBA that we want to integrate into the system.”
He promised that every quality player will be given a fair chance to fight for a shirt during the camping exercise expected to start soon.
“Being in those camps, we will re-assess those players who played the different windows and that will give us a good chance to see those new players that we will be taking to the World Cup and hopefully those we will use in the future.”
According to the tournament schedule released by Federation of International Basketball Associations (FIBA) on Monday, D’Tigers will start their campaign against Russia on Saturday, August 31 before taking on Argentina on September 2 in Wuhan.
Their final group game will be against South Korea on Wednesday, September 4, 2019.
