PRAGUE (EuroBasket 2015) - Tomas Satoransky and Jan Vesely headline the Czech Republic 12-man squad which boarded the plane to Riga to compete in Group D and includes nine of the players who had represented the nation at EuroBasket 2013.

The FC Barcelona Lassa playmaker had averaged 11.2 points and 4.2 assists at EuroBasket 2013 while the Fenerbahce Ulker big man had led the team both in scoring and rebounding with 17.0 points and 11.2 boards per encounter in Slovenia.

The veteran duo of Lubos Barton and Jiri Welsch, who were the only players with EuroBasket experience on the Czech roster up until two years ago, were also selected by head coach Ronen Ginzburg for the 2015 roster.

The 2013 core has largely been maintained as wingers Pavel Pumprla, David Jelinek, Vojtech Hruban, forward Pavel Houska and center Petr Benda are also included, raising the number of returnees to nine.

Somewhat surprisingly however, coach Ginzburg decided ultimately to cut 23-year-old center Ondrej Balvin, who was an integral part of the team at EuroBasket 2013 and in last summer's qualification.

"We had six bigs and we had to choose five," Ginzburg explained.

"After discussions, we decided that Ondrej would be the one we let go.

"It was a difficult decision, the final cut is always the hardest, but we are convinced that we made the right choice."

American-born veteran winger Blake Schilb, who has been married to a Czech woman for years and finally got Czech citizenship this year, is a new addition to the national team.

The other two EuroBasket debutants will be big man Patrik Auda and point guard Jakub Sirina, both of whom first suited up for the national team in last year's qualifying campaign.

The Czechs played a total of seven warm-up games during their preparations for EuroBasket 2015, recording two wins.

"We are getting better every week, we were far from perfect at the beginning, we lacked flow in our game but we have now reached our peak," commented Satoransky.

"Our best game was the last friendly, in Spain [against the two-time EuroBasket champions].

"Although the result did not reflect it, since we did not win, that game was a positive experience.

"So hopefully we will be in our best form right from the start of the tournament because the first two games in Riga will probably be the most important," the Czech star asserted.

The Czechs go up against Estonia in the Group D opener on Saturday and take on Ukraine on Sunday.

They then face hosts Latvia, Belgium and finally Lithuania.

Czech Republic final roster for EuroBasket 2015: Patrik Auda, Lubos Barton, Petr Benda, Pavel Houska, Vojtech Hruban, David Jelinek, Pavel Pumprla, Tomas Satoransky, Jakub Sirina, Blake Schilb, Jan Vesely, Jiri Welsch.

Go to eurobasket2015.org for complete coverage of EuroBasket 2015.

FIBA