Now that Boston Celtic’s Al Horford has accomplished his career milestone of winning an NBA Championship, there is much speculation whether he will accept the challenge to become an Olympian. The Dominican team still has a chance at qualifying for the Paris Olympics.
The DR team is playing preparatory games in Spain now under Coach Nestor (Che) Garcia. Garcia has been on the coaching staff of Argentina and Venezuela when they played in an Olympic Games. The Che hopes to coach a Dominican team in the Olympics.
To make the Olympic team, the DR needs to win a slot during the 2-7 July 2024 (Dominican time) qualifier to be held in Piraeus, Greece.
The Dominican team coach is putting together the roster of the team that would travel to Greece for that important competition. He tells Diario Libre the task is not easy, because of the contractual conditions of many top players and other considerations, such as getting visas.
Diario Libre reports Garcia explains that Eloy Vargas and Luis Santos are playing in Uruguay through 24 June. At the time of the interview, other possible team members Jasel Perez and Juan Guerrero were in Venezuela, and Victor Liz was in Puerto Rico.
Diario Libre writes that Garcia says it will be a miracle if Al Horford plays for the Dominican team.
So the question is now that Al Horford has won his coveted NBA Championship, will he join the Dominican team? In the past, he had refused to join, arguing he needed to concentrate on the NBA championship.
Playing in its third Olympic Qualifying Tournament, the Dominican Republic is hoping to add needed depth and scoring capacity with Al Horford and Karl Anthony Towns to get into the Paris Olympics. The DR was one game away from making the Olympic cut during the final qualifying round of the London 2012 Olympic Games. Al Horford was on that team.
Yes, Al Horford was a member of the Dominican Republic national basketball team that participated in the 2012 Olympic qualifying tournament. He played a key role in the team’s success, leading the team to a 95-85 win over Korea in preliminary action.
Al Horford performed exceptionally well in the 2012 FIBA World Olympic Qualifying Tournament. He played five games for the Dominican Republic national team and averaged 18 points, 9.4 rebounds, and 3.2 assists per game.
Without doubt, the Dominican national team is counting on its two leading NBA stars Al Horford and Karl Anthony Towns to grab one of the four last slots available to participate in the Paris Olympic Games.
Diario Libre reports that García did not confirm Karl Anthony Towns would join the team. Meanwhile, Chris Duarte of the Denver Nuggets has said present at the training camp and is committed to make the Dominican team to the qualifier.
For the 2023 World Cup tournament that positioned the DR for the qualifier, Karl Anthony Towns of the Minnesota Timberwolves was a key team player. Towns also played on the national team with Al Horford when he was in college basketball.
The Dominican team advanced in qualification for the World Cup by defeating even team Argentina sans NBA stars, commanded by the same Argentine coach Nestor (Che) García. 20-year old Jean Montero is credited with pulling the team forward before the star players would join. Montero is an Andorra league player who has been named the best young player of the Spanish Liga Endesa for the second consecutive year. He is the star player of the micro-state club.
Another key player is Andres Feliz, who has shined in Europe in Spain as a guard and in past Dominican national team games. Lester Quinones of the Golden State Warriors is described as a dangerous shooter and slasher. Victor Liz and LJ Figueroa both can also score from the wings. Angel Delgado and 35-year-old veteran center Eloy Vargas also have played for the team.
Winning that slot into the Olympics will be tough. The DR needs to beat better-ranked Slovenia and Greece to win the ticket to the Olympics in the Olympics Qualifier set for 2 to 7 July (Dominican time) in Piraeus, Greece. Luka Doncic of the Dallas Mavericks will play for Slovenia and star player Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks will play for Greece.
Around the world, 24 teams are vying for the last four slots to complete the 12 teams in the Olympic tournament. The 24 teams are split into four groups of six with the Dominican Republic playing in the qualifying tournament in Piraeus, Greece.
The DR will first play Egypt (FIBA ranked 20th) and Greece (14th) in Group B. The DR will play Egypt on 2 July and Greece on 3 July (Dominican time) in Piraeus, Greece.
If the team has two wins, it will go against the winner of two games from the Group A with Slovenia (11th), New Zealand (21th) and Croatia (30th) in the Semi-Finals. The Finals game will next decide who of this group of six gets the slot to participate in the Paris Olympics’ Men’s Olympic Basketball Tournament.
The Dominican Republic qualified to participate in the Olympic Basketball Qualifier because it finished in 14th place at the World Cup. The best 16 remaining teams that did not advance directly to the Summer Olympics are playing for the four slots in the qualifiers.
It will be tough for the Dominican national team to win its qualification group and the slot to compete in the Olympics. As mentioned above, the Dominican Republic is ranked 19th by FIBA and would need to defeat the national teams of Slovenia (11th), Greece (14th), Egypt (20th), New Zealand (21st) and Croatia (30th) to win the slot.
Slovenia has on its national team Luka Doncic, the Dallas Mavericks star player, and Vlatko Cancer who plays with the Denver Nuggets. Doncic is having a stellar role in the Dallas offensive in the NBA Final. Slovenia team coach Aleksander Sekulic: “We have only one plan, to go to the Olympic Qualifiers with the strongest team. … We are counting on Luka to help us already in the preparation games.”
After Slovenia, the next toughest team to beat is Greece. The team is ranked 14th compared to the DR’s 19th ranking. Yet, the Greeks will have the homecourt advantage, with the qualifier taking place in Piraeus, Greece.
Legendary Greek basketball player Giannis Antetokounmpo, a 2021 Milwaukee Bucks NBA champion, has said he will be on the team. It was expected. The 29-year-old has played for Greece when available and had spoken about doing so many times last season.
Giannis Antetokounmpo will be joined by recently crowned EuroLeague Final Four MVP Kostas Sloukas. Others named to the team are Nick Calathes, Thomas Walkup and Georgios Papagiannis.
Same as for the Dominican Republic, the Greek team needs a win in the four-game Olympic Qualifier to be played over a five-day period in Piraeus, Greece to win the ticket to the Olympic Games.
Greece will face the Dominican Republic on 3 July 3 and Egypt on 4 July (European time). The semifinals will be on 6 July and the final on 7 July.
Twenty-four teams are six-team groups are competing to win the four slots. In addition to Piraeus, Greece, the other teams in the OQT are competing in Riga, Latvia, San Juan, Puerto Rico and Valencia, Spain from the same 2 to 7 July 2024.
The highest-placed team for each region of Africa, Americas, and Asia/Oceania (three teams), after the eight teams directly qualified, will be selected before the 16 highest-placed teams from the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 and five teams through the pre-qualifying tournaments. The winner of each tournament will qualify for the Men’s Olympic Basketball Tournament.
The four winners of the last qualifier tournaments will reach the Paris Olympics, where they’ll join France, World Cup champion Germany, Serbia, Canada, the US, Australia, Japan and South Sudan in the Olympic field.
The next Olympic Games will take place in Paris in 2024 from July 26 to August 11.
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Diario Libre
18 June 2024