Tournament not a waste of time - Vucinic

| Basketball News | Tuesday June 19 2012 6:45

Tall Blacks coach Nenad Vucinic insists it's not a waste of time going to next month's Olympic men's basketball qualifying tournament in Venezuela.

Vucinic has selected a raw-looking 12 man squad for the qualifiers, with Kirk Penney and Tom Abercrombie's absence providing a huge hit to the scoring potential and youngsters Steven Adams and Isaac Fotu also out.

He says despite having four new faces, they can claim one of three places remaining for the games.

"This is not just trying to sound positive you know, we've made miracles in the past. This would be a big miracle obviously to make it, maybe even the biggest achievement ever but it's still possible, so why not try?

"We probably lost 30 to 35 points a game with Kirk and Tom, plus Corey as well. Scoring will be an issue. We need to have good execution and also have a lot more aggressive attitude from the players that are there."

Nenad Vucinic says it will be a tough task, which may rank higher in achievement than their 2004 fourth placed finish given their withdrawals.

Photo: Nenad Vucinic

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