SRB - Cavs' Pavlovic to play for Serbia at EuroBasket if selected

CLEVELAND (EuroBasket 2007) – The proud basketball nation of Serbia has been on a downward trend since 2002, when the country won a world title as Yugoslavia in Indianapolis.
Vlade Divac retired while Peja Stojakovic has chosen to focus on his NBA career.

Failures at the Athens Olympics and EuroBasket 2005 in Serbia & Montenegro soured the atmosphere further.

The chutes of recovery are beginning to show, however, with three young stars committing themselves to the cause in recent weeks.

The latest was on Wednesday when Sasha Pavlovic of the Cleveland Cavaliers said he was ready to play for the national team again.

A 6ft 7in forward averaging just under 10 points per game in the NBA's Eastern Conference play-offs for the Cavs, Pavlovic was a reserve at the 2004 Olympics in Athens but was left off the team at EuroBasket 2005.

Last year, he chose to skip the World Championship.

Then, with Montenegro's basketball federation having been recognised at last year's FIBA World Congress, there was speculation he would begin to represent the Montenegrins in international competition since the small Balkan nation is the country of his birth.

Pavlovic, however, plans to play for Serbia.

He told the popular Serbian sports website, Sportska Centrala: "You can write, I'll play for Serbia."

The mood has changed dramatically for Serbia in the past month.

Dragan Sakota’s position as coach has been in question following recent presidential elections at the federation, with Armani Jeans Milano boss and former Yugoslavia point guard Sasha Djordjevic being touted in the Serbia media as his possible replacement.

First, Orlando Magic center Darko Milicic backed Sakota.

"I talked with my team-mates from the national squad and we all agreed,” Milicic said, “Shale (Sakota's nickname) is the coach we would like to play for. (In that case) All of the players would rush to be ready for EuroBasket."

Then Milos Vujanic, a recently crowned Euroleague champion with Panathinaikos who had been unable to play the last two summers, said: “I've missed competitions just because of my injuries. Now, I'm ready, and I'm looking forward to once again being in the squad that represents my homeland. Of course, it is necessary to be first called for the national team, but, as far as I am concerned, there's no way I'm going to miss the European Championship this year."

And now Pavlovic has given the team a lift.

The EuroBasket tips off in September with Serbia in Group A alongside defending champions Greece, Russia and the team that wins the additional qualifying tournament.

Jeff Taylor
FIBA