Marc Hinton, Stuff.co.nz
They may have had twice as many defeats as wins in the buildup, but Tall Blacks coach Nenad Vucinic has pronounced his team ready to make some noise on basketball’s global stage in Turkey.

The Tall Blacks open their world championships Group D programme in Izmir in the early hours of Sunday morning (NZ time) when they take on Lithuania, and then follow that up with a mammoth task against a heavily favoured Spanish side a little over 24 hours later.

That’s a one-two opening combo of daunting proportions with world No 6 Lithuania and defending champions Spain considered two of the genuine title contenders in Turkey. The Lithuanians are in rebuilding mode, but remain one of the powerhouses on the European scene, while Spain are rated by most the likeliest prospect of rolling Mike Krzyzewski’s USA side at the tournament.

But Vucinic is adamant his men are ready for whatever awaits them through their five pool matches.

“Are we ready? I think we are,” he said from Izmir. “We are definitely ready to take anybody. We have got confidence we can beat the top teams, but we also know if we don’t come ready on the night and we don’t play well it’s going to be a struggle for us.”

That’s it in a nutshell for the Kiwis. If they bring their best stuff, they can slay these giants; but if they are remotely off key, it could get ugly.

Vucinic reckoned the last three weeks had confirmed that. Though they went 3-6, they counted heavyweights Russia and Slovenia among their victims and also went very close to adding Croatia and Serbia to that list. But they were also blown away by Turkey and first up against the Serbs, and fell to a disappointing defeat against Jordan in their final buildup game.

“We wanted to get tested as much as we could, and I think we did very well,” said Vucinic of what he called the toughest buildup this team has had to a major championship. “We know now this team can play against the best teams in the world. I think we’re in a good space at the moment.”

For all that the Tall Blacks are still going to have to find something special to pick up the two wins minimum they’ll need to find their way out of their pool and into the knockout stage. After their first two games, and a day off, they’ll then take on Tab Baldwin’s Lebanon, Canada and France to wrap up group play.

As usual they’ll be massively under-sized, with the inexperienced Alex Pledger their only genuine big man, and Craig Bradshaw, veteran Pero Cameron and Mika Vukona having to carry a big load against much bigger men.

Nothing changes there, shrugs Vucinic. “We never have enough size to bang against the big bodies, and this year’s probably the worst we’ve been in terms of size. But we’ve still managed to compete against the biggest teams in the world, and I’m comfortable with how we are there.”

Vucinic said he hoped to get somewhere between five and 15 quality minutes from Cameron who despite being well below full speed remained a “valuable” contributor for the Tall Blacks, especially at the offensive end.

In terms of the opening opponent (1am Sunday, live SkySport2), Vucinic said he knows all he needs to know about Lithuania. And he’s sure that applies vice-versa.

“There are no secrets at this level,” he said of the extensive scouting that goes on. “Lithuania are tough and big, very skilled, very clinical… but if they have got any weaknesses it may be at the point guard position where they’ve really only got one specialist.”

The temptation for the Tall Blacks could be to target the latter matches in the pool as the winnable ones. France have shown some form, but remain a volatile group; Canada have copped some hidings in their buildup; and Lebanon are a side the New Zealanders would always hope to beat.

But that won’t be the mindset, assures Vucinic.

“We’ve learned in the last 10 years you cannot target teams. We have to play every game like it’s our last. They’re all must-win games.”

As Vucinic pointed out, eight years ago in Indianapolis nobody expected the unknown Kiwis to topple Russia first up, but they did and it was the catalyst to an eventual fourth-place finish.

“At the Athens Olympics we beat Serbia and Montenegro and then lost to China who we targeted to beat… just last weekend we had a great win against Russia, had a great performance against Russia and then lost to Jordan. We’ve got to be mentally ready for all these teams.”

Vucinic has been worried about the team’s defence through the buildup tour, but has seen signs of late that his men are coming to grips with what’s required there.

And at the offensive end he admits it’s the world’s worst kept secret that the Tall Blacks rely on Kirk Penney to lead their scoring.

“We definitely need to improve our rebounding too. That’s going to be crucial for us. If we can rebound with these big teams we’ve got a chance.”

And as we know a sniff of a chance is sometimes all these upset-minded Kiwis need.

Group D, Izmir

(tipoff times NZ):

Sunday, August 29: NZ v Lithuania 1am (live SkySport2)

Monday, August 30: NZ v Spain 6am (live SkySport 2)

Wednesday, September 1: NZ v Lebanon 1am (live SkySport 1)

Thursday, September 2: NZ v Canada 1am (live SkySport 1)

Friday, September 3: NZ v France 6am (live SkySport1)