World Cup preview
I have Spain facing Team USA and Serbia taking on Greece in the semifinals with the Americans eventually defending their crown over the Serbians
The biggest tournament of international basketball is set to begin in a couple of days, with Gilas Pilipinas trying to improve its performance in Spain while aiming to clinch an outright berth in next year's Tokyo Olympics.
The road will be very challenging, of course, especially since they are no longer competing in Southeast Asia or in Asia.
This time around, Gilas are ranged against some of the very best cagers in the world, and it will be interesting to see how they fare given all the constraints they had to deal with in their less-than-ideal training and preparation.
The 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup will be held in eight Chinese cities, with the teams in Beijing, Wuhan, Guangzhou and Foshan tipping action off on 31 August while group play in Shanghai, Nanjing, Shenzhen and Dongguan will then begin the next day on 1 September.
Let's preview the entire competition by looking at each group, projecting who will advance to the second round, and then trying to see who has the best chance of taking the World Cup trophy home.
Group A (Beijing): China, Poland, Venezuela, Ivory Coast.
To be quite blunt, China had a very favorable draw, which isn't really surprising since it is the host country, and the Chinese had the privilege of choosing where they wanted to go.
More than that, however, China hasn't spared any expense in its preparation, and Team Dragon looked solid in its tune-up games.
Poland will be without Marcin Gortat, which is a shame, but the Poles should still be favored over the Venezuelans and the Ivorians in this group.
Group B (Wuhan): Argentina, Russia, Nigeria, South Korea.
Sure, Argentina will not have icons like Manu Ginobili, Carlos Delfino or Fabricio Oberto, but it still has a loaded squad, thanks to the presence of Facundo Campazzo and the seemingly immortal Luis Scola.
Russia, led by Sergey Karasev, should give them a stiff challenge in this group along with a Nigerian squad laden with bona fide NBA talents like Al Farouq Aminu.
The Koreans, sadly, look easy prey in Wuhan and will hard-pressed to book even a single victory.
Group C (Guangzhou): Spain, Puerto Rico, Tunisia, Iran.
Spain is the odds-on favorite to come out of Guangzhou unscathed and to eventually contend for the podium. Even without Pau Gasol, España will be rock-solid, thanks to Marc Gasol, Ricky Rubio, the Hernangomez brothers and Sergio Llull.
The Puerto Ricans are slight favorites to join Spain in the next round, though a Salah Mejri-led Tunisia and Hamed Haddadi's Iran may also give them a run for their money.
Group D (Foshan): Serbia, Italy, Philippines, Angola.
Nikola Jokic may just be the best center in this entire tournament, and we will actually see him colliding with our very own five-time Philippine Basketball Association Most Valuable Player (MVP) June Mar Fajardo.
That should be fun to watch, unless Jokic makes minced meat of Fajardo, which would then make it absolutely painful.
The Italians have a couple of NBAers in their stable, too, in Danilo Gallinari and Marco Belinelli. Despite that, they will still have trouble matching up with a Serbian side, whose prized slotman will be flanked by Boban Marjanovic, Bogdan Bogdanovic, Nemanja Bjelica and Milos Teodosic.
To be frank, the two European sides are the favorites to advance while Gilas and the Angolans are significant underdogs.
Group E (Shanghai): United States, Japan, Turkey, Czech Republic.
There are two All-NBA First Team members in this World Cup, but, strangely enough, none of them are playing for Team USA.
Jokic plays for Serbia, while the reigning MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo will rock Hellas blue.
Still, nobody should really be able to touch the Americans in Shanghai, unless Gregg Popovich allows them to severely underplay.
The team I'm really excited for is Japan, who will be led by NBA up-and-comers Rui Hachimura and Yuta Watanabe. They're my sentimental bet to join Team USA in the second round.
Turkey is big and good, and the same can be said for the Czechs, but I'm biased like that, so there.
Group F (Nanjing): Greece, Brazil, Montenegro, New Zealand.
I expect Antetokounmpo to hands down be the best player in the entire World Cup, and he should make it look easy for the Greeks to go undefeated in group play.
Brazil has been impressive in its tune-up matches, thanks to Anderson Varejao and Leandro Barbosa. But even then, they won't be enough to upend Greece.
It will be nice seeing Nikola Vucevic suit up for Montenegro and the Webster brothers for New Zealand, but I have them falling by the wayside after round one.
Group G (Shenzhen): France, Germany, Dominican Republic, Jordan.
All-NBA Third Team member Rudy Gobert is going to be the best defensive center in the tournament, and he will lead Les Bleus to glory in Shenzhen.
France should top this group, even as Germany will threaten with the inside-outside duo of Maxi Kleber and Dennis Schroeder. A much-improved Jordan will join the Dominican Republic as the dark horses in this group.
Group H (Dongguan): Australia, Lithuania, Canada, Senegal.
The Australians just beat the Americans in a recent tune-up in Melbourne, and that raised their stocks by a mile. With Canada's NBA well practically depleted, the table is set for Australia and Lithuania to play for the top spot in Dongguan. Andrew Bogut versus Jonas Valanciunas. Joe Ingles versus Domantas Sabonis.
After the first round, things will get even more interesting in the second round group phase where certain groups will have cross-matchups. After this chaos, I expect the quarterfinals matchups to be Argentina versus Spain, Serbia versus Russia, Team USA versus Lithuania, and France facing Greece.
I have Spain facing Team USA and Serbia taking on Greece in the semifinals with the Americans eventually defending their crown over the Serbians.
Then, Greece will upend Spain for the final spot on the podium.