Italy bring two big NBA stars to Basketball World Cup in China
Li Xiang
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Italy announced on Thursday the final roster of the country's national team for the FIBA Basketball World Cup in China. The squad will rely on the core group that helped them pass the European qualifiers and of course, its two NBA stars.

The list goes as follows:

Awudu Abass (guard), Luigi Datome (forward), Danilo Gallinari (forward), Marco Belinelli (guard), Amedeo Della Valle (guard), Daniel Hackett (guard), Paul Biligha (forward), Ariel Filloy (guard), Amedeo Tessitori (forward), Jeff Brooks (forward), Alessandro Gentile (forward), Luca Vitali (forward)

Danilo Gallinari #8 of Italy handles the ball in the warm-up game against Serbia, August 23, 2019. /VCG Photo

Danilo Gallinari #8 of Italy handles the ball in the warm-up game against Serbia, August 23, 2019. /VCG Photo

Marco Belinelli #3 of Italy shoots in the warm-up game against Serbia, August 23, 2019. /VCG Photo

Marco Belinelli #3 of Italy shoots in the warm-up game against Serbia, August 23, 2019. /VCG Photo

Belinelli and Gallinari will be the most powerful weapons in offense for Italy. The former returned to the San Antonio Spurs for the 2019-20 NBA season and continued to do what he does best in his career: moving through screens, catching the ball and shooting 3-pointers – the stranger his stance was, the better chance Belinelli had to make the shot.

Gallinari had an explosive season with the Los Angeles Clippers. First, he's much healthier as he played 68 games in the regular season, the most in five years and the third most in his career. Second, he achieved a career-high field goal rate of 46.3 percent while scoring 198.8 points and 6.1 rebounds, both career-highs as well. Gallinari also kept a 3-pt rate of 43.3 percent and free throw rate of 90.4 percent.

(L to R) Ariel Filloy, Luca Vitali, Paul Biligha and Awudu Abass of the Italian national basketball team /VCG Photo

(L to R) Ariel Filloy, Luca Vitali, Paul Biligha and Awudu Abass of the Italian national basketball team /VCG Photo

The other selects of head coach Meo Sacchetti included the four core players of the European qualifier lineup: Abass, Biligha, Vitali who played all 12 games and Filloy who only missed one. Tessitori was a surprising decision. The 24-year-old man, though having played for Italy's U16, U18 and U20 teams, does not have much experience with this national team.

Italy are in Group D with Angola, the Philippines and Serbia led by Nikola Jokic. They will first meet the Philippines at the Foshan International Sports and Cultural Center on August 31.