RUS - No JR, maybe no AK47 for Russia
MOSCOW (EuroBasket 2009) - Russia point guard JR Holden will not help the national team in its quest for a place at the 2010 FIBA World Championship in Turkey and there are fears that Andrei Kirilenko won’t either. Holden, who hit the game-winning shot in the title game of EuroBasket 2007 to shock hosts Spain, has decided to take a rest this summer ...
MOSCOW (EuroBasket 2009) - Russia point guard JR Holden will not help the national team in its quest for a place at the 2010 FIBA World Championship in Turkey and there are fears that Andrei Kirilenko won’t either.
Holden, who hit the game-winning shot in the title game of EuroBasket 2007 to shock hosts Spain, has decided to take a rest this summer while Kirilenko remains an uncertainty following comments by his agent that the MVP of their gold-medal run two years ago will not be in Poland.
Russia coach David Blatt said to the Russian website, www.gazeta.ru: "We spoke to JR, we listened and we decided not to call him.
“He has done a lot for us and now he needs to rest."
Holden, an American who hails from Pennsylvania, has represented Russia in international competition since the country’s successful qualifying campaign for EuroBasket 2005. Last year, he ran the point for Russia at the Olympics and was arguably their best player.
Kirilenko said immediately after the NBA campaign that he probably would not play but Blatt, who has named the versatile forward in his preliminary squad, says he has heard nothing definitive from the player.
"Kirilenko is a key player in the national team and it would be stupid not to include him on the list,” Blatt said to the Russian website, gazeta.ru. “More so, considering he hasn't said no.”
However, Kirilenko’s agent, Marc Fleisher, said to the Deseret News on Thursday: "He's definitely not playing. I just talked to him, and he said, 'I'm not playing.'"
For Russia to reach the 2010 FIBA World Championship, they must finish in the top six of the EuroBasket in Poland.
If Turkey, the hosts of next year’s big event, finish in the top six, then seventh place would be good enough Russia to make it to Istanbul.
With Holden staying out, another American who has a Russia passport – BC Khimki’s Kelly McCarty – has been named in the squad.
McCarty played for Blatt’s Dynamo St Petersburg team in 2005 that went undefeated in the FIBA Europe League and won the crown.
FIBA