By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Timofey Mozgov, the Brooklyn Nets center and former NBA champion (with Cleveland Cavaliers in 2016), will play for the Russian national team in the last two games of FIBA Basketball World Cup European Qualifiers:
“Timothy will play for the national team in the next two qualifying games. He already spoke with the head coach of the team Sergey Bazarevich, and I informed the Brooklyn management about our plans.”, Mozgov’s agent, Stanislav Ryzhov, told Izvestia.
The 31-year-old played 31 games in 2017/18 NBA regular season averaging 4.2 points and three rebounds in 11.5 minutes of play. Russian national team coach Sergei Bazarevich confirmed that they count on Mozgov but also expressed some concern about his fitness level as the big man didn’t see a lot of play in Brooklyn:
“We talked with Timofei three weeks ago, and he confirmed that he wants to play for the national team and will try to be in good shape. He trained a lot in the US at the end of the season and continued it after returning to Russia. It is clear that it will not be easy for him to enter the game rhythm. This season, he rarely entered the court for Brooklyn and, knowing Mozgov, I can say that he needs some time to get back into shape. It will not be easy to do this. Before the matches with Belgium and France, we have only one friendly game with Latvia. Nevertheless, we are counting on our main center.”, the coach explained.
Russia is scheduled to play against Belgium on 29th of June in Antwerp and France on 2nd of July in Krasnodar. The squad is in a good position as they are second-placed in group E and have a better score in the matches against the third-placed Bosnia.