REGENSBURG (David Hein's Eye on the Future) - Japan head into the next window of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 Asian Qualifiers with a 0-2 record in Group B. But Nippon basketball leaders are using the training camps ahead of the February games to see what the future might look like.

Japan head coach Julio Lamas has included three interesting youngsters in his 22-player pool for his January 15-17 camp in preparation for the February 22 game at home against Chinese Taipei and February 25 at Philippines.

The 1998-born Hyu Watanabe, the 1999-born Yudai Nishida and 2002-born gem Chikara Tanaka will also be in the camp next week in Kumamoto.

The 6ft 2in (1.89m) wing Nishida is the most well-known of the trio, having played for Japan the past three summers. In 2016 he helped the Japanese reach the final of the FIBA U18 Asian Championship, averaging 17 points, 4.5 rebounds and 1.9 assists. That qualified Japan for the FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup 2017, where the Tokushima native collected 10.3 points, 2.3 rebounds and 1.7 assists a game. The 18-year-old Nishida can no longer play in the youth ranks internationally and now takes his first steps into advancing into the senior national tea.

Yudai Nishida was one of the leaders for Japan at the FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup 2017.

Tanaka meanwhile has been mentioned on fiba.basketball ahead of the still-yet-unplayed FIBA U16 Asian Championship 2017. The 6ft 0in (1.84m) half-American can play both guard positions and small forward.

"He has a very aggressive playing style and is emotional," Japan’s U16 coach Torsten Loibl said of the 15-year-old Tanaka. ”Chikara can become a complete package on offense and defense.”

Takana is expected to be one of the leaders of Japan’s team as they attempt to qualify for the FIBA U17 Basketball World Cup 2018. He also represents one of the next top talents in the country. So the exposure to the senior national team will be a fantastic help for him ahead of the cadet continental championship.

Watanabe, meanwhile, is a bit less known. No, there is no relation to Yuta Watanabe, who is playing for George Washington University in the United States and will therefore be unavailable for the February Qualifiers.

But Hyu Watanabe does have something in common with Yuta - namely he is also enrolled at a college in the United States: the University of Portland. But the 6ft 9in (2.07m) center has not played this season with the Pilots, which is why he is available for the camp.

For those who might be struggling to find more information on Watanabe, it might be more productive looking under his more common name in the United States, Hugh Hogland.

He was born to an American father and Japanese mother in Hawaii and helped his Iolani high school to two state championships in 2014 and 2016 and the final in 2015. He averaged 15.5 points, 10.2 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 3.1 blocks in his senior season at Iolani. Hogland also was a standout volleyball player, participating in various USA Volleyball Youth and Junior National Team programs.

Watanabe/Hogland would provide the Japanese team some valuable height. His 2.07m makes him the tallest player in the Japanese camp along with Joji Takeuchi, who also stands 2.07m.

Hogland could be just one of two players from Portland to play for Japan one day. His teammate with the Pilots is Tahirou Diabate, who was born in Mali but moved to Japan when he was 14 to focus on year-round basketball development. The 6ft 10in (2.09m) big man was a force in Japan with Teikyo Nagaoka, helping them to the 2016 Okinawa Cup, Japan's High School National Championship. He averaged 31 points and 18 rebounds per game as a junior and won MVP honors at the Okinawa Cup as the top scorers and rebounder.

Diabate, who has never played internationally, scored 101 points in a game at the Nagaoka Tournament. He also had games with 51 and 61 points. In addition to his native tongue Bambara, he also speaks fluent English, French, Spanish and Japanese. It is unclear however if the Japanese basketball officials are looking at trying to get him a Japanese passport.

Regardless, the teenage trio of Watanabe, Nishida and Tanaka will give Coach Lamas and the team a bit of youthful exuberance as they and 22-year-old Yudai Baba are the only players under 24 years.

All-in-all, it will be a great chance for Lamas to see the next wave of talent that might come into the national team and could perhaps help them in preparations for both the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 and the FIBA Men’s Olympic Basketball Tournament 2020 - knowing that Rui Hachimura and Yuta Watanabe are also coming soon.

There are four more camps planned before the Qualifiers: January 29-31, February 5-7, February 12-14 and February 19-21 - all in Tokyo.

What are the chances that the young trio plays at home against Chinese Taipei or at Philippines next month? Probably not great. But this is more about Lamas seeing about the future. And that is beginning to look brighter and brighter.

David Hein

FIBA

FIBA's columnists write on a wide range of topics relating to basketball that are of interest to them. The opinions they express are their own and in no way reflect those of FIBA.

FIBA takes no responsibility and gives no guarantees, warranties or representations, implied or otherwise, for the content or accuracy of the content and opinion expressed in the above article.