Where will Mirotic play?

VALENCIA (Jeff Taylor's Eurovision) - The FIBA Basketball World Cup in Spain is a year away and there is much to ponder before then.

One question deals with the future national team of Nikola Mirotic.

Born in Montenegro, Mirotic developed into a top-notch basketball player in Spain and even represented the country when it hosted the 2011 U20 European Championship in Bilbao.

Mirotic was a major hit while leading Spain to the title and capturing MVP honors along the way.

As countries can only have one naturalized player in their squads, Mirotic's path to Spain's senior team has been blocked by Oklahoma City Thunder defensive stalwart Serge Ibaka.

One of the premier shot-blockers in the NBA, Ibaka, an African, played for Spain's gold-medal winning side at the EuroBasket in Lithuania two years ago and in 2012 helped the team win its second straight Olympic silver medal.

This week, Ibaka said in a statement that the medical staff of the Thunder had advised him to rest this summer.

His unavailability has left the door open for Mirotic, but he wasn't named in the squad.

When Spain coach Juan Antonio Orenga was asked about Mirotic, he said: "Mirotic turned down the possibility to come and play for Spain and he should be the one to explain the reasons why."

Mirotic told FIBA.com recently that he loved representing Spain's junior teams and would like to play for the senior team.

So what has happened?

He has been caught between a rock and a hard place.

We can safely assume that Spain cannot offer Mirotic assurances that he will take the country's naturalized spot for the FIBA Basketball World Cup, or guarantee him a place at EuroBasket 2015, or at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics.

If national teams were allowed to have two naturalized players, then Mirotic might now be set to don the Spain shirt this summer.

There has been speculation that Spain’s basketball federation (FEB) has been lobbying FIBA to change their rule and to allow two naturalized players.

As it is, he is not playing for Spain this summer and now appears set to have a well deserved break.

Montenegro have indicated they would like Mirotic to play for them and if that happens, look out!

The little devil inside me that likes interesting storylines hopes that Montenegro have a terrific EuroBasket and qualify for the World Cup, and that Mirotic runs onto the floor wearing a Montenegro shirt next year.

Can you imagine how good Montenegro, who won all 10 of their Qualification Round games last summer without Nikola Vucevic and Nikola Pekovic, would be with Mirotic?

Pau Gasol and Juan Carlos Navarro are also taking the summer off, but Spanish fans can at least rejoice in the fact that everyone else wants to be in Slovenia for the EuroBasket, like returning players from the Olympic squad in Sergio Rodriguez, Rudy Fernandez, Sergio Llull, Jose Calderon, Marc Gasol, Fernando San Emeterio and Victor Claver.

There is also Ricky Rubio, Pablo Aguilar, Xavi Rey, German Gabriel and Alex Mumbru.

That's right, Alex Mumbru!

He's another link to Spain's very successful past, including their gold medal triumph at the 2006 FIBA World Championship.

Serbia, one can surmise from their long absentee list, will not be as strong as they might have been at the EuroBasket.

The EuroBasket gold medal is supposed to be there for the taking for France, but they have had players making themselves unavailable.

Russia won't have Andrei Kirilenko or the hard-working center Sasha Kaun.

It will be interesting to see the teams that Lithuania and Italy show up with. The Lithuanians should always be in the hunt for medals. Italy, meanwhile, will not have Danilo Gallinari.

Greece will have plenty of firepower and experience.

I like their chances of reaching the podium.

If Turkey can go into the EuroBasket with the same time of focus and confidence that they carried into the 2010 FIBA World Championship, this team can do great things.

As the host nation, Slovenia should be able to play with an unrivalled ferocity and determination.

The main aim for all the EuroBasket medal contenders will be to be among the top six teams to qualify for the World Cup.

If Spain are in the top six, then a top seven finish will do.

Jeff Taylor

FIBA

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