Lampe included in Polish 22-strong preliminary squad
WARSAW (FIBA EuroBasket 2017 Qualifiers) – Veteran big man Maciej Lampe is poised to suit up this summer for the Polish national team, for the first time since FIBA EuroBasket 2013, after being included
WARSAW (FIBA EuroBasket 2017 Qualifiers) – Veteran big man Maciej Lampe is poised to suit up this summer for the Polish national team, for the first time since FIBA EuroBasket 2013, after being included by head coach Mike Taylor in Poland's 22-man preliminary squad for the upcoming FIBA EuroBasket 2017 Qualifiers.
| Poland 22-man preliminary team | |||
| Aaron Cel | Aleksander Czyz | Tomasz Gielo | Karol Gruszecki |
| Adam Hrycaniuk | Pawel Kikowski | Lukasz Koszarek | Maciej Lampe |
| Adam Lapeta | Pawel Leonczyk | Michal Michalak | Jaroslaw Mokros |
| Mateusz Ponitka | Robert Skibniewski | A.J. Slaughter | Michal Sokolowski |
| Szymon Szewczyk | Daniel Szymkiewicz | Adam Waczynski | Lukasz Wisniewski |
| Przemysław Zamojski | Jaroslaw Zyskowski | ||
Lampe is coming off a superb individual season at Besiktas Istanbul, as he averaged 12.9 points and seven rebounds per game in the Turkish Sportoto BSL. The 31-year-old former FC Barcelona player had averaged 9.6 points and 4.6 boards per game in the Slovenia tournament in 2013.
Another veteran big man who received coach Taylor's call-up after a brief absence is 32-year-old Adam Hrycaniuk, who had last pulled on the national team jersey in summer 2014, during the qualification campaign for FIBA EuroBasket 2015.
The Polish preliminary team includes nine of the players who represented Poland in that big event last September, headlined by 26-year-old Adam Waczynski. The sharp-shooting winger led Poland in scoring with 15.8 points per game to propel them to the Round of 16 at FIBA EuroBasket 2015, where they fell to eventual champions Spain.
Waczynski went on to have a fantastic individual season with Rio Natura Monbus Obradoiro averaging 15 points per contest in the Spanish Liga Endesa, until an injury sidelined him during the final two months of the competition.
Our goal is to win this qualification race and play at the FIBA EuroBasket once again. I believe that we will present a team Polish fans can feel proud of. - Mike Taylor
Captain Lukasz Koszarek and fellow point guards Robert Skibniewski and Karol Gruszecki, shooting guards Przemyslaw Zamojski and A.J. Slaughter, up-and-coming winger Mateusz Ponitka as well as forwards Aaron Cel and Aleksander Czyz are the other eight players who had stepped out at FIBA EuroBasket 2015.
On the other hand, star center Marcin Gortat, power forward Damian Kulig and future star Przemyslaw Karnowski, who is recovering from an injury, have not been included on the preliminary team and will not compete for Poland this summer.
"I am very excited about the prospect of working with these players and continue with our team building," said coach Taylor. "Our goal is to win this qualification race and play at the FIBA EuroBasket once again. I've spent a lot of time analysing the game of individual players, we have also added a few new names and I cannot wait to work with them. I believe that we will be able to present a team Polish fans can feel proud of."
The first stage of Poland's training camp gets under way in Walbrzych on 23 July and will last two weeks. Taylor's men will play their first two warm-up games against Netherlands, on 6 and 7 August. The Polish team will then travel to Vienna to take part in a four-nation friendly tournament from 12-14 August which also includes Slovenia, Sweden and hosts Austria. Poland were drawn in Group D of the FIBA EuroBasket 2017 Qualifiers, together with Belarus, Estonia and Portugal.
FIBA