3x3 - Top 10 men to watch at the 3x3 World Champs

MOSCOW (3x3) - The 2014 FIBA 3x3 World Championships will take place in just a week, on 5-8 June in Moscow, Russia. Two years ago, despite the presence of Euroleague players George Bogris (Greece), JBAM (France) or basketball legend Jorge Garbajosa (Spain), the (then) little-known Dusan Domovic Bulut gave a four-day 3x3 lecture. The Serbian is back to defend his title and a lock for any top 10 list. We put forward nine more names to remember:

Blaz Cresnar (Slovenia, 2.16m, 27 years old, #1 in the world)
'Birdman' has made his nest on top of the 3x3 Individual World Ranking. The tallest player in the tournament is looking to add the last 3x3 silverware still missing in is trophy cabinet after winning both the FIBA 3x3 World Tour and the FIBA 3x3 All Stars last year.

Gabriel Deck (Argentina, 2.00m, 19 years old, #531 in the world)
The star of the gold-winning Argentinian team at the 2013 FIBA 3x3 U18 World Championships is back on the 3x3 circuit. This big fan of Luis Scola won against boys last year but can 'Gaby' win against men?

Dusan Domovic Bulut (Serbia, 1.91m, 28 years old, #4 in the world)
Nobody could stop 'Mr Bullutproof' two years ago in Athens. The cold-blooded Novi Sad native is back to defend his title with a nearly identical Serbian team. By the time you read this, he may be preparing his winning speech for his next column on FIBA.com.

Michael Flores (Venezuela, 1.93m, 29 years old, #6 in the world)
Two years ago the mercurial Flores helped Venezuela stun Slovenia and reach the quarter-finals. If he does even better in Moscow, he may well earn enough ranking points to be the next #1 3x3 player in the world.

Firas Lahyani (Tunisia, 2.01m, 21 years old, #497 in the world)
The only African team in the men's tournament, Tunisia will feature the bouncy Lahyani whose fancy goggles and cartwheel dunks should not leave fans indifferent.

Yaseen Musa (Qatar, 2.00m, 33 years old, #267 in the world)
Watch out for Team Qatar who comes to Russia with the nucleus of their 5x5 national team including the lanky Musa who topped both Andrey Kirilenko and Juan Carlos Navarro as top scorer of the 1999 FIBA World Championship for Junior Men and told FIBA.com he wants a medal and then become one of the top 3 players in the world.

Konstantin Nesterov (Russia, 2.03m, 33 years old, #114 in the world)
You won't find many big men with his footwork and passing skills and if he wins gold in front of the Russian fans, he might soon be known as 'Konstantin the Great'.

Tomoya Ochiai (Japan, 1.95m, 26 years old, #15 in the world)
The lefty who wears #91 and holds the nickname 'Worm' as tribute to his idol Dennis Rodman will no doubt be one of the main attractions in Moscow.

Davi Rossetto (Brazil, 1.79m, 21 years old, #101 in the world)
The speedy playmaker made noise at the 2011 FIBA U19 World Championship finishing as second top scorer for Brazil. He showed similar abilities on the 3x3 court ending second in the scoring charts at the 2013 FIBA 3x3 World Tour Rio Masters. But with a strong Brazilian team featuring the charismatic Gustavo Bracco, number one is the only option.

Angel Santana (Romania, 1.98m, 37 years old, #16 in the world)
The voluble veteran is also a professional air controller. That may explain why he's always on the radar in the money time.

Check out the 10 women to watch at the 2014 FIBA 3x3 World Championships.

FIBA