PUR – Puerto Rico get Lee but go to Athens minus Reyes

MARIBOR (FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament for Men) - Puerto Rico’s hopes of adding Angelo Reyes to their roster for the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament were finally dashed on Thursday.

The power forward’s wife is expecting a baby and Reyes has remained home to be by her side.

Puerto Rico Basketball Federation general manager Felo Rivera said: "His priority right now is on the birth of his son. He wants to be there and we understand it.”

Even if Reyes linked up with the team, he would not have had the ideal preparation.

“It wouldn't be practical to include him in the team as he has not trained a single day with the group," Rivera said.

His absence isn’t a positive development for the Puerto Ricans. Reyes averaged 10.2 points and 9.5 rebounds at last year’s FIBA Americas Championship in Las Vegas, helping his country beat Brazil in the bronze-medal game.

Rivera confirmed, meanwhile, that Carlos Arroyo is already with the team while Carmelo Lee will join them on Saturday – three days before the Puerto Ricans’ first qualifying game against Cameroon.

Lee has been at home with wife following the births of their premature twins. They had been in intensive care.

"The final roster is already made up," said Rivera, who confirmed that Alex Falcon, Joel Jones Camacho and Javier Mojica will be included in the 12-man roster for the Pre-Olympic tournament.

In the meantime, coach Manolo Cintron is worried about his team's poor starts to games ahead of their debut in Athens.

"We must start games with the defensive effort that we tend to show later in the game," he said.

Puerto Rico beat Iran 83-80 on Wednesday at the Alpos Cup in Slovenia but were outrebounded 33-22.

"We cannot allow ourselves to start flat in the upcoming games because a good team will give us a knock-out punch," star Ricky Sanchez said.

Puerto Rico take on Slovenia on Thursday night in their last game at the Alpos Cup in Maribor.

FIBA