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Lebanon is taking part in the Basketball World Cup scheduled to take place from August 25 to September 10 in the Philippines, Japan and Indonesia.
Starting on Friday in Indonesia, Lebanon is taking part in its first World Basketball Championship in thirteen years — a return to business that comes with big ambitions. The “Cedars” are embodying the hopes of an entire nation following the achievements of the national team in 2022.
As a reminder, in 2022, the Lebanese players won the Arab Nations Championship before distinguishing themselves at the Asian Cup (finishing as runners-up) in an extraordinary competition. A flamboyant qualification for the World Cup eternalized this historic year.
After such a long absence, the Lebanese are obviously not keen to celebrate, especially considering that their last four friendly matches failed to leave an indelible impression on their supporters. They suffered three defeats to Côte d’Ivoire, Mexico and the Arizona Wildcats, with just one modest victory over Egypt. In terms of preparatory matches, we’ve seen more reassuring scenarios.
Journey to the World Cup
The 19th edition of the men’s basketball world championship, now known as the FIBA Basketball World Cup, is scheduled to take place in Indonesia, Japan and the Philippines from August 25 to September 10. This will be the second tournament in the new cycle that began in 2019, and 32 teams will be competing in the tournament.
This marks Lebanon’s fourth participation in the Basketball World Cup, as Lebanon previously took part in three successive editions — 2002, 2006 and 2010.
In 2002, Lebanon took part in its first World Cup in Indianapolis but finished last, losing all four of their group games.
In 2006 in Japan, the Lebanese team clinched its first World Cup victory. It beat Venezuela 82-72. After two heavy defeats to Argentina (72-107) and Serbia-Montenegro (57-104), Lebanon pulled off a huge surprise by defeating France (74-73). Two days later, however, Lebanon fell at the first hurdle after losing to Nigeria (72-95). Lebanon finished 18th out of 24 teams, with two wins and three losses. In 2010, Lebanon’s performance at the World Cup was less impressive, with four defeats and a prestige victory over Canada, in a game in which Fadi el-Khatib, scorer of 31 points, stood out magnificently.
Lebanon’s opponents
Placed in Group H, the Lebanese team will make its World Cup debut against Latvia (12:15 PM, Beirut) before facing Canada and France. Although Latvia is one of the nations making their debut in the World Cup, they are not likely to be weak. However, with nine days to go before the start of the World Cup, Boston Celtics NBA player Kristaps Porzingis has withdrawn from the squad due to a foot injury. Differently put, the Latvian interior will miss the group match against Lebanon.
Of the 32 teams taking part in this competition, perhaps none is generating as much interest and expectation as Canada. In previous editions of the world tournament, some of Canada’s best players were absent, and the results have reflected this. However, this time around, Canada presents a very talented squad, including point guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (Oklahoma City Thunder), new NBA champion Jamal Murray (Denver Nuggets) and star RJ Barrett (New York Knicks), alongside other NBA stars. The Lebanese team has been duly warned.
The experienced French team is aiming to maintain its success in major tournaments.
Les Bleus have announced a very strong squad for the World Cup, including Rudy Gobert, Evan Fournier, Nando de Colo and Nicolas Batum. The performance of the French team at the Tokyo Olympics two years ago was impressive. They showed determination and consistency. At last year’s FIBA EuroBasket, they made it all the way to the final, only to lose to Spain. France obviously has what it takes to go places.
On the Lebanese side, coach Jad el-Hajj has assembled a closely-knit squad:
Jad Khalil, Ali Mezher (leaders), Waël Arakji, Sergio Darwich, Ali Mansour, Amir Saoud, Karim Zeinoun (backs), Hayk Gyokchian, Mark Khoury, Omari Spellman (wingers), Karim Ezzeddine and Ali Haïdar (pivots).
The unknown Spellman
Missing from the NBA radar since March 2020, Omari Spellman is to hit the headlines worldwide.
Last April, Spellman’s naturalization came at just the right time for the Lebanese national team, whose ranks were seriously bolstered by the American interior, four months ahead of the World Cup.
Selected with the 30th pick in the 2018 Draft, Spellman is now thriving in South Korea, playing for Anyang KGC. Last season, he averaged 19.7 points, averaging a decent 36% from 3-point range.
Shooting from distance with confidence and accuracy is one of the attributes that make this 2m03 inside player a mobile ball of nerves, capable of closing out a possession from any distance.
However, Spellman is overweight. He weighs 150 kilos, as per a South Korean basketball blogger who provided photographic support and showed a video of the friendly between the Arizona Wildcats and Lebanon. Although Spellman scored 21 points in this game, his fitness remains far too uncertain with the competition just around the corner. Lebanon could have done without Spellman’s unfortunate fitness issue, which already cost him a few problems in his rookie season.
In any case, Lebanon is heading for the World Cup with a light heart. The team’s stated objective is reasonable: a small victory, a final ranking at the top of the Asian nations, synonymous with automatic qualification for the Paris Olympics and a place at the top table.
Given the level of its first-round opponents, the task ahead of it seems huge, even if achieving honorable results is possible. In the event of defeat, we will have to mitigate the damage by managing small gaps in order to reach our goals.
