Pundits pick Greece to have strong World Cup showing
The Greek National Team received high praise in a pre-tournament poll of journalists from the 32 nations competing at the 2019 FIBA World Cup.
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One of the pre-tournament betting favourites to dethrone the United States at this summer’s FIBA World Cup, Greece also received plenty of high praise from journalists based out of the 32 nations competing at this summer’s tournament.
Journalists were asked a variety of questions ranging from which sides would reach the podium this summer in China to which players would have stand-out tournaments.
According to the respondents, the United States are still expected to claim the gold medal this summer as the reigning two-time champions received 53.8% vote ahead of Serbia (38.5%), France (3.8%), Spain (1.9%), and Australia (1.9%).
While Greece seemingly didn’t get a vote to finish on top of the podium this summer, the Ethniki rank third among the sides expected to finish with the silver medal with 15.4% of the vote. That still remains behind the likes of Serbia (44.2%) and the United States (23.1%), while France (11.5%) and Spain (5.8%) were the other top vote-getters for the silver medal.
No side received more votes than Greece in the vote for who will walk away with the bronze medal, while the likes of the United States (21.2%), Serbia (13.5%), Spain (9.6%), and France (9.6%) also received votes for the bronze medal.
The United States was the runaway winner in the vote for the tournament’s offense in terms of points-per game average, while Serbia were voted as favourites to be the toughest defense with 30.8% of the vote edging the likes of France (26.9%) and Greece (21.2%).
The other team-related votes included the overachiever of the tournament, which voters expect to be Nigeria (25%) while perennial challengers Spain are the favourites to underperform this summer in China after receiving 17.3% of the vote.
While Greece didn’t quite dominate team-related votes, the Ethniki featured quite prominently in every player-rated vote with Giannis Antetokounmpo tipped to follow his MVP-winning season in the NBA with a strong showing in China.
In fact, Antetokounmpo was the runaway vote-getter for the top scorer of the tournament vote with 43.1% of the vote going to the Milwaukee Bucks superstar ahead of the likes of Serbia’s Bogdan Bogdan Bogdanovic (11.8%), and the American trio of Kemba Walker (11.8%), Donovan Mitchell (9.8%), and Kyle Kuzma (3.9%).
Antetokounmpo was also voted as the favourite to finish the tournament as the top rebounder with 28% of the vote leading the way ahead of France’s Rudy Gobert (23.1%), Serbia’ Nikola Jokic (15.4%), Spain’s Marc Gasol (9.6%), and American big man Myles Turner (3.8%).
It wasn’t just Antetokounmpo who got praise in the player-related voting as Nick Calathes is the journalists’ pick to finish with the most assists with 28.8% of the vote going to the Panathinaikos playmaker.
The MVP of the Tournament vote was the lone poll not won by a Greek player as the United States’ Walker finished the leading vote-getter, while Antetokounmpo finished in a tie with Bogdanovic for third with 15.4% of the vote.
Journalists were also polled for their expectation for the all-tournament team, with Antetokounmpo the lone player not from either Serbia or the United States to crack the five-man squad.
