BEIRUT (Lebanon) - Lebanon have shown they can compete at the continental level by taking second place at the FIBA Asia Cup 2022. But the Cedars face an entirely different level at the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament 2024 Spain as they battle being the major underdogs in hopes of reaching the Olympics for the first time.
The Roster
Lebanon will not be deep but they do have a very set order of hierarchy. And the player at the top is point guard Wael Arakji. The 29-year-old runs the show but at the same time can score if his team is struggling to put points on the board. The Asians will go as far as Arakji can carry them. At the time of this writing, the Lebanese federation has yet to announce a preliminary roster and there are questions whether Arakji will actually play in Valencia.
The biggest scoring help for Arakji will probably come from Sergio El Darwich, who can really hurt teams from the outside. The 27-year-old showed at the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 that he can produce on the big stage: collecting 11.8 points, 3.8 rebounds and 2.2 assists. Karim Zeinoun is another shooter that will help create space inside.
The key factor inside the paint will be Omari Spellman, who played well in his FIBA debut with 15.6 points and 5.0 rebounds at the FIBA World Cup. Spellman can also step outside and hit the three-pointer. That will make Hayk Gyokchyan and Ali Haidar all the more important as power forwards working close to the basket.
Head coach Mirodrag Perisic will also likely bring a youngster or two to the OQT thinking down the road. The top candidate would be athletic 20-year-old forward Karim Rtail, who shined at the FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup 2023 and also made his debut with the senior team at the FIBA Asia Cup 2025 Qualifiers.
The Question
Lebanon finished the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 with some momentum as they beat Côte d’Ivoire and Iran to end up ranked 23rd.
Can the Asians carry that strong finish into the OQT and spring a surprise? Because they will be heading to Spain as major underdogs.
The Hope
Arakji and co. were strong at FIBA Asia Cup 2022, where the Cedars beat Philippines, New Zealand, India, China and Jordan before before finally being taken down by Australia in the Final.
Arakji has gathered even more leadership along the way and will know how to work with the parts around him even better.
The Fear
The biggest fear for Lebanon fans is that the Cedars just cannot play at the same level from the very start and just get manhandled the whole event.
The Asians start the tournament against Spain and at least staying competitive with the hosts would go a long way in building up enough confidence for the big game against Angola.
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