By John Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
Nicolo Melli will not be ready for the World Cup, the Italian Basketball Federation, FIP, confirmed via press release on Tuesday. The 28-year-old player of the New Orleans Pelicans was already considered doubtful for the final squad following his recent knee surgery.
His available teammates will resume practices today and go against Venezuela in a scrimmage on Wednesday. Up next will be the Acropolis International Tournament with exhibition games versus Greece on August 16th, Serbia on August 17th and Turkey on August 18th.
Both Luigi Datome and Danilo Gallinari will miss the tournament in Athens. However, Awudu Abass, Pietro Aradori, Marco Belinelli, Paul Biligha, Jeff Brooks, Amedeo Della Valle, Ariel Filloy, Alessandro Gentile, Daniel Hackett, Giampaolo Ricci, Brian Sacchetti, Amedeo Tessitori and Luca Vitali are available.