Group A consists of Argentina, France, Lebanon, Nigeria, Serbia & Montenegro and Venezuela, and is headlined by San Antonio Spurs stars Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker.
Games will be conducted in Sendai, Japan from August 19th to 24th.
Read more about the 2006 FIBA World Championship tournament at the informative official website Fiba.com
Nigeria
The Star:
Olumide Oyedeji- 6-10, PF/C, Santruce (Puerto Rico), 25 (?) years old
Jonathan Givony
A terrific athlete who never really panned out as far as the NBA is concerned, Olumide Oyedeji is a "summer league warrior" type who has a great chance of showing NBA scouts exactly what they are missing out on in a leading role with the Nigerian National team in Japan. In the absence of Ike Diogu, who was listed on the preliminary roster for Nigeria but will not be attending, Oyedeji will have to be the teams star.
Oyedeji is an impressive physical specimen, featuring great size, terrific length and a chiseled NBA body. He gets up and down the floor extremely well and possesses the right amount of quickness and explosiveness to get the job done effectively inside. He has raw footwork once establishing position inside but a good enough touch around the hoop to knock down shots from close range when a dunk isn't an option. Olumide plays extremely hard and is not afraid to throw his weight around in the paint. He'll even surprise you at times by stepping back and knocking down a mid-range jumper. His biggest strength has to be his ability to hit the glass, though. Oyedeji utilizes all of his terrific physical attributes here to come up with rebounds outside of his area, particularly his length and sheer tenacity in which he goes after boards. He impressed the DraftExpress staff in last year's Vegas Summer league by putting up 9 points and 7 rebounds in just 20 minutes per game, but apparently not the NBA scouts in attendance who warned us that he "does this every summer and then never pans out." If he's anywhere close to his listed age of 25 (most have their doubts) then the book on Oyedeji might not be closed quite yet as far as the NBA is concerned.
He is a well known player who was projected as a lottery pick back in the 2000 draft after a dominant performance in the Hoop Summit, only to fall to the middle of the 2nd round after concerns over his true age saw his stock plummet. Oyedeji already has 3 years of NBA experience under his belt playing with the Orlando Magic and Seattle Supersonics, but has been bouncing between Europe, China, Korea and the Puerto Rican league stockpiling as much cash as a super strong and athletic big man can, which is quite a bit.
He's been a fan favorite everywhere he's gone, and the stories of his generosity if giving back to his fellow Nigerians (particularly with the basketball camps he sponsors) have made their way around the world. It remains to be seen how much interest Oyedeji has in returning to a bench-warming role in the NBA, but he has an outstanding opportunity to show teams that he is capable of much more than that with the way he's developed in the past few years.
Oyedeji is an impressive physical specimen, featuring great size, terrific length and a chiseled NBA body. He gets up and down the floor extremely well and possesses the right amount of quickness and explosiveness to get the job done effectively inside. He has raw footwork once establishing position inside but a good enough touch around the hoop to knock down shots from close range when a dunk isn't an option. Olumide plays extremely hard and is not afraid to throw his weight around in the paint. He'll even surprise you at times by stepping back and knocking down a mid-range jumper. His biggest strength has to be his ability to hit the glass, though. Oyedeji utilizes all of his terrific physical attributes here to come up with rebounds outside of his area, particularly his length and sheer tenacity in which he goes after boards. He impressed the DraftExpress staff in last year's Vegas Summer league by putting up 9 points and 7 rebounds in just 20 minutes per game, but apparently not the NBA scouts in attendance who warned us that he "does this every summer and then never pans out." If he's anywhere close to his listed age of 25 (most have their doubts) then the book on Oyedeji might not be closed quite yet as far as the NBA is concerned.
He is a well known player who was projected as a lottery pick back in the 2000 draft after a dominant performance in the Hoop Summit, only to fall to the middle of the 2nd round after concerns over his true age saw his stock plummet. Oyedeji already has 3 years of NBA experience under his belt playing with the Orlando Magic and Seattle Supersonics, but has been bouncing between Europe, China, Korea and the Puerto Rican league stockpiling as much cash as a super strong and athletic big man can, which is quite a bit.
He's been a fan favorite everywhere he's gone, and the stories of his generosity if giving back to his fellow Nigerians (particularly with the basketball camps he sponsors) have made their way around the world. It remains to be seen how much interest Oyedeji has in returning to a bench-warming role in the NBA, but he has an outstanding opportunity to show teams that he is capable of much more than that with the way he's developed in the past few years.
The Upside:
Champ Oguchi- 6-4, SG, Oregon Ducks (NCAA), 20 years old
Jonathan Givony
One of the youngest players at the World Championships, doubling as an intriguing high-major NCAA prospect, it will be interesting to see what type of impactif any-- Champ Oguchi can make in Japan.
Coming off a breakout sophomore season (nearly 10 points a game in 19.4 minutes per) for the Oregon Ducks, Oguchi made some very serious noise particularly towards the end of the college year, scoring 20 points or more in 7 of his last 13 contests. His rise in production unsurprisingly coincided with the sharp increase in playing time he began receiving over the last 6 weeks of Oregons extremely disappointing season.
The fact that he put up great numbers almost whenever he was given a serious chance to get playing time shouldnt come as a shock at all when considering the type of player he is. Oguchi is a volume scorer who is capable of coming off the bench and providing instant offense for a team in search of a spark. Hes a lethal outside shooter whose accuracy shouldnt suffer one bit from the slight increase hell see comparing the International 3-point line with the college one.
Oguchi has NBA range on his jump-shot and will prove that to you almost any time he gets a sniff of the ball. He has no conscience whatsoever--for better or for worse--and will hoist up shots instantaneously if you give him just an inch of daylight. He is excellent coming off screens thanks to his heady off the ball movement and possesses very nice elevation on his jump-shot complimented by a lightning quick release, a pretty follow through and the excellent elevation he gets off the floor. Oguchi is quite a trigger happy player and is prone to streaks of extremes in regards to his accuracy, going from red-hot to ice cold unpredictably and seemingly for no particular reason.
Unfortunately thats about all there is to his game at the moment, culminating in the fact that an absurd 75% of his field goal attempts (189/252) come from behind the 3-point line. Whats sad is that Oguchi is actually an above average athlete who possesses a nice first step, even if he lacks some strength and vertical explosiveness to get the job done in the rare occasion that he will make his way all to way to the rim. His ball-handling cant be described any other way but poor at best and a downright liability at worst, featuring no left hand and really no willingness to do anything except catch and shoot off screens or pull up off the dribble.
On a Nigerian national team that doesnt really have a great offensive shot creator to drive and dish to a shooter on the wing, nor a big man who can draw double teams and pass out to the open man, Oguchis effectiveness could be severely minimized when you take his one-dimensional status and extreme lack of international experience into consideration. As an NBA prospect, he obviously still has a long ways to go in terms of proving himself as a draftable player.
Coming off a breakout sophomore season (nearly 10 points a game in 19.4 minutes per) for the Oregon Ducks, Oguchi made some very serious noise particularly towards the end of the college year, scoring 20 points or more in 7 of his last 13 contests. His rise in production unsurprisingly coincided with the sharp increase in playing time he began receiving over the last 6 weeks of Oregons extremely disappointing season.
The fact that he put up great numbers almost whenever he was given a serious chance to get playing time shouldnt come as a shock at all when considering the type of player he is. Oguchi is a volume scorer who is capable of coming off the bench and providing instant offense for a team in search of a spark. Hes a lethal outside shooter whose accuracy shouldnt suffer one bit from the slight increase hell see comparing the International 3-point line with the college one.
Oguchi has NBA range on his jump-shot and will prove that to you almost any time he gets a sniff of the ball. He has no conscience whatsoever--for better or for worse--and will hoist up shots instantaneously if you give him just an inch of daylight. He is excellent coming off screens thanks to his heady off the ball movement and possesses very nice elevation on his jump-shot complimented by a lightning quick release, a pretty follow through and the excellent elevation he gets off the floor. Oguchi is quite a trigger happy player and is prone to streaks of extremes in regards to his accuracy, going from red-hot to ice cold unpredictably and seemingly for no particular reason.
Unfortunately thats about all there is to his game at the moment, culminating in the fact that an absurd 75% of his field goal attempts (189/252) come from behind the 3-point line. Whats sad is that Oguchi is actually an above average athlete who possesses a nice first step, even if he lacks some strength and vertical explosiveness to get the job done in the rare occasion that he will make his way all to way to the rim. His ball-handling cant be described any other way but poor at best and a downright liability at worst, featuring no left hand and really no willingness to do anything except catch and shoot off screens or pull up off the dribble.
On a Nigerian national team that doesnt really have a great offensive shot creator to drive and dish to a shooter on the wing, nor a big man who can draw double teams and pass out to the open man, Oguchis effectiveness could be severely minimized when you take his one-dimensional status and extreme lack of international experience into consideration. As an NBA prospect, he obviously still has a long ways to go in terms of proving himself as a draftable player.