Venezuela
FIBA Ranking: 27
NBA Players on Roster: None
Outlook: Even if Greivis Vásquez was able to play for the team, there just isn’t enough firepower on Venezuela to make any noise in this tournament.
As hosts of the previous FIBA Americas tournament in 2013, the Venezuelans were able to feed off the crowd’s energy to a fifth place finish. Starting small forward, John Cox, is the all-time leading scorer at the University of San Francisco (yes, the same school that Bill Russell led to 2 national championships), and is also the cousin of Kobe Bryant.
Now that would be the ringer of all ringers!
Next: In The Hunt