Dainius Adomaitis, head coach of Lithuania, released the final roster of his team for the FIBA Basketball World Cup on Tuesday. Two NBA giants, Jonas Valanciunas and Domantas Sabonis will help their team make it out of the "group of death" before competing for the title in the tournament.

Besides Valanciunas, another four players also played for Lithuania at the 2014 Basketball World Cup in Spain: Jankunas, Kuzminskas, Maciulis and Seibutis, making sure that the team can match others in terms of tournament experience.

Zalgiris Kaunas, one of the oldest teams of the Lithuanian Basketball League (LKL), have contributed four players – Grigonis, Lekavicius, Ulanovas and Jankunas – to the national team. Aside from the four being familiar with how each other play, Grigonis and Ulanovas can make a dynamic wing duo.

Needless to say, Sabonis and Valanciunas will be the most important weapons for Lithuania in both offense and defense in China. As the son of FIBA legend Arvydas Sabonis, Domantas has inherited the excellent footwork, complete offensive skills near the rim and accurate shooting of his father. Last season, he could get 14.1 points, 9.3 rebounds and 2.9 assists on average in simply 24.8 minutes per game.

As for Valanciunas, the 2.13-meter-tall giant has gone through some tough years since joining the NBA in 2011. He was slow in switch defense and his posting-up skills did not seem to belong to the fast small-ball era. However, Valanciunas is a typical European center whose combination of size, soft touch and skills makes sure that he can make big contributions to the team as the pivot in the paint with enough time and ball possessions, In the 19 games he played for the Grizzlies last season, Valanciunas claimed 19.9 points, 10.7 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.6 blocks on average, all career highs.

Though Lithuanian players are rarely famous outside Europe, their national team have been a strong championship contender in every FIBA competition, which makes selecting 12 players a difficult task. For example, coach Adomaitis had to cut Zygimantas Janavicius and Martinas Geben to make room for defensive stalwart Butkevicius.

"These decisions are always unpleasant. We stayed up all night discussing it with the coaching staff. We looked at our friendly games, analyzed them. We needed some insurance regarding the situation with Marius Grigonis even with him doing all he can to be back on his feet as soon as possible. Looking forward, we needed one more good perimeter defender," said Adomaitis.

Having been put in Group H with Canada, Australia and Senegal, Lithuania, even with their remarkable strength, cannot afford to be careless with any game. They first meet Senegal at the Dongfeng Nissan Cultural and Sports Centre on September 1.