Netherlands select historic 12-man squad

NIEUWEGEIN (EuroBasket 2015) - Netherlands head coach Toon Van Helfteren has concluded the historical task of picking the 12-strong roster that will represent the national team on its return to a EuroBasket tournament after 25 years.

The Dutch will compete in EuroBasket 2015 Group C in Zagreb, the very city which had played host to the last major competition they had participated in before spending two-and-a-half decades away from the big stage.

Van Helfteren himself was a 36-year-old player in 1987, when he pulled on the Dutch jersey and made one final bow at EuroBasket in Athens.

The Dutch coach was forced to make some tough choices, as he elected to leave out of the final roster five players who helped the Netherlands earn the coveted ticket to the EuroBasket during last summer's 2nd Qualification Round.

Center Thomas Koenis was the last player to be cut from the team that will board the plane to Zagreb and alongside him Nick Oudendag, Kevin Bleeker, Dexter Hope and Julius Van Sauers will also watch the EuroBasket from home.

"It was an extremely difficult decision to drop these guys who made it happen last year," admitted Van Helfteren.

"We all keep the fatastic memories of what we went through together last summer."

Netherlands have opted instead to place their trust on their most experienced international duo, Robin Smeulders and Henk Norel, despite the fact neither had participated in the qualifying campaign.

Norel and Smeulders will compliment in the Dutch frontcourt 27-year-old power forward Roeland Schaftenaar, who was the team's top scorer in the 2nd Qualification Campaign, with Nicolas De Jong, Ralf De Pagter and Mohamed Kherrazi also making a valuable contribution under the basket.

Team captain Arvin Slagter, Worthy De Jong and 32-year-old veteran Kees Akerboom will be called upon to play their usual important role in the Dutch backcourt, but this time the Dutch can count on an additional perimeter weapon.

Charlon Kloof, the 25-year-old guard who had not played for the national team since the U20 European Championship of 2010, showed during the Netherlands's warm-up games this summer that he could take on increased scoring duties at EuroBasket.

Point guard Leon Williams and 19-year-old Yannick Franke, who was the second-top scorer in July's U20 European Championship Division B, will be asked to play a supporting role in the Dutch backcourt in Zagreb.

Netherlands will step out for their historic return on 5 September to take on Georgia and will then face The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (MKD), Slovenia, hosts Croatia and finally Greece.

Netherlands final roster for EuroBasket 2015: Kees Akerboom, Nicolas de Jong, Worthy de Jong, Yannick Franke, Mohamed Kherrazi, Charlon Kloof, Henk Norel, Ralf de Pagter, Roeland Schaftenaar, Arvin Slagter, Robin Smeulders, Leon Williams.

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

FIBA