FIBA Basketball

    GER - Schoo given the boot by Germany coach

    BERLIN (FIBA World Championship) - Germany coach Dirk Bauermann has trimmed his FIBA World Championship squad to 14 players, with centers Christopher McNaughton and Bjorn Schoo the players not making the trip to Japan

     WIN a trip to the FIBA World Championship Finals weekend

    BERLIN (FIBA World Championship) - Germany coach Dirk Bauermann has trimmed his FIBA World Championship squad to 14 players, with centers Christopher McNaughton and Bjorn Schoo the players not making the trip to Japan.

    McNaughton, a 23-year-old center with Bucknell University, and the 25-year-old Schoo are both prospects for making future German teams, but were deemed too inexperienced for next month`s tournament.

    The cuts come just days after the 33-year-old veteran swingman Denis Wucherer announced his international retirement.
    Bauermann's squad have finished their Mallorca training camp and will now have a two-day break before meeting up again in Hamburg for the first of two warm-ups against Canada - on Friday in Hamburg and on Sunday in Nuremberg.

    Bauermann is then expected to make his final two roster cuts after the team's warm-up tournament in Berlin on August 4-5 where France, Turkey and Italy are also playing.
    Germany's superstar Dirk Nowitzki has yet to join the team, deciding instead to work out with his mentor Holger Geschwinder.

    The Dallas Mavericks power forward will meet up with his team-mates on Wednesday.

    "I have been working intensively alone with Holger, and I am fully motivated to be with the team and play five-on-five again," Nowitzki said on the German basketball federation's website, www.basketball-bund.de.

    "I think I will find my way back into the team quickly.

    "I'm happy that it's about to start and I'm looking forward to the games in Hamburg, Nuremberg and Berlin. Every game is important since we don't have a lot of test matches before the World Championship."

    Germany are drawn in Group B at next month`s showpiece and will play Spain, New Zealand, Panama, Angola and tournament hosts Japan.

    Germany`s 14-man squad: Mithat Demirel (Besiktas), Patrick Femerling (Panathinaikos), Robert Garrett (GHP Bamberg), Julian Sensley (no club), Demond Greene (ALBA Berlin), Guido Grunheid (RheinEnergie Koln), Steffen Hamann (GHP Bamberg), Johannes Herber (ALBA Berlin), Jan-Hendrik Jagla (no club), Robert Maras (no club), Dirk Nowitzki (Dallas Mavericks), Ademola Okulaja (BC Khimki), Pascal Roller (Deutsche Bank Skyliners), Sven Schultze (Armani Jeans Milano).

    PA Sport