By John Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
VTB United League relayed Evgeny Pashutin’s starting picks for the Russian Stars and Rimas Kurtinaitis’ for the World Stars ahead of the All Star Game matchup between the two squads on February 16.
The Russian Stars will tip off the All Star Game with Alexey Shved, Dmitry Kulagin, Nikita Kurbanov, Semen Antonov and Joel Bolomboy. The World Stars will feature Jamar Smith, Mike James, Kyle Hines, Mindaugas Kuzminskas and Jonas Jerebko.
Antonov was a last-minute replacement filling in for his injured CSKA teammate, Andrey Vorontsevich. Changes for the World Stars as well with Malcolm Hill drawing the All Star nod instead of Drew Gordon who will play in the Polish Cup final with Zielona Gora on February 16 and Branko Mirkovic replacing Davion Berry.
Russian Stars reserves are Anton Astapkovich, Vitaly Fridzon, Maxim Grigoryev, Dmitry Khvostov, Sergei Monia, Vladislav Trushkin, Artem Zabelin and Denis Zakharov.
Bench players for the World Stars aside Hill and Mirkovic are Gustavo Ayon, Adas Juskevicius, Errick McCollum, Dusan Ristic, Janis Timma and Kyle Vinales.
The All Star Game will be held at the VTB Arena in Moscow. Players for the dunk and three-point shootout contests have been confirmed as well.