Netherlands national basketball team

Netherlands
FIBA ranking	84 [1] (2016)
Joined FIBA	1946
FIBA zone	FIBA Europe
National federation	NBB
Coach	Toon van Helfteren
Nickname(s)	Oranje (Orange)
Olympic Games
Appearances	None
FIBA World Cup
Appearances	1 (1986)
Medals	None
EuroBasket
Appearances	15
Medals	None
Uniforms
Home Away

The Dutch national basketball team is the basketball side that represents the Netherlands in international competitions. It is administrated by the NMT, an organisation solely for the national team.^[2]

When it qualified for the FIBA EuroBasket, team Netherlands played quite competitive at some of the tournaments. The team reached the Final Four once and proceeded to the playoffs several times. However, its last appearance dates back to 1989 when it finished 8th. Since 1991, the team has known some tough years, overshadowed by the lack of money and support of fans and media attention. In the 2015 tournament they will make their first appearance in 25 years, only two years after the initially dissolvement of the team.

History

1946–1991: Early years

The Netherlands, playing at EuroBasket 1959

The Netherlands were one of the teams that played at the 1946, 1947, 1949 and 1951 EuroBasket tournaments. The 5th place in 1949 was the best performance of the team.

1961–1991: EuroBasket appearances and success

Oranje qualified for three EuroBaskets in a row from 1961 till 1967. After two missed tournaments, the Netherlands had another 3-EuroBasket appearances streak. In 1977, the Netherlands' star player Kees Akerboom, Sr. shined during the tournament. He was the top scorer of EuroBasket and got a place in the All-Tournament Team.

In 1983, the Netherlands booked its biggest success in history: the team got the fourth place at the EuroBasket tournament. In the third-place game it lost to the Soviet-Union.

1991–2012: Long mediocre period

Francisco Elson was the face of the team for a long time

From 1991 until 2012, the Netherlands didn't qualify for a EuroBasket-tournament. Star player Francisco Elson, former NBA-champion, represented the team on various occasions but the team never came close to qualifying. To go along in this period, notable Dutch players like Dan Gadzuric weren't willing to play for the team. Home games were usually played at the Topsportcentrum in Almere and usually got little to nothing media attention and fan support in the Netherlands.

Rising from Ashes (2012–2015)

Toon van Helfteren coached the team to it first EuroBasket tournament in 25 years

In December 2012, it was announced the Netherlands team would be dissolved for 2 years, because the national federation NBB wasn't willing to invest money in it. After a campaign by Dutch player who played in the Dutch Basketball League, the national team was eventually saved. Sports broadcaster Sport1 became main sponsor and DBL-teams investend in the team, which started playing again.^[3]

During August 2013, the Netherlands was on its way to qualification for FIBA EuroBasket 2015, but lost two games 20–0 because the team played with two players – Mohamed Kherrazi and Sean Cunningham – who were identified as foreign players by the FIBA.^[4] The NBB believed that both were eligible players, and was upset that the attention came up after the Netherlands already won 2 games.^[5]

"Miracle of 2014"

At the start of the second 2015-qualification round, things looked bad for Oranje. The DBL-teams didn't have any more money to invest in the team and the NBB wasn't ready to take the team back. Head coach Toon van Helfteren, who worked as volunteer, still did prepare for the qualifying games. He invited 42 players to play for the national team,^[6] but after most (notable) players rejected the offer, he started his first training with 7 players. The team eventually shocked the world, by beating heavy favorite Montenegro in the group to get the second place in the group. On 27 August 2014, the Dutch national team qualified for EuroBasket for the first time in 25 years.^[7]

Return to EuroBasket (2015–present)

The national team left the NBB and FEB, from 2015 the team was run by the NMT. Van Helfteren extended his contract with the national team. In contrast to the summer of 2014, big name players from foreign leagues applied to play for the national team.

In the first game at EuroBasket 2015, the Dutch beat Georgia 73–72 behind Charlon Kloof's 22 and Worthy de Jong's 16 points.^[8] The Netherlands remaining four games, but lost single digits to power houses as Croatia and Greece.

Competitive record

World Cup FIBA World Cup Year Position Pld W L 1986 14th Place 5 2 3 Total 5 2 3

EuroBasket EuroBasket Year Position Pld W L 1935–1939 Did not qualify 1946 6th Place 3 1 2 1947 11th Place 6 2 4 1949 5th Place 6 2 4 1951 10th Place 9 5 4 1953–1959 Did not qualify 1961 15th Place 6 3 3 1963 16th Place 9 1 8 1965 Did not qualify 1967 16th Place 9 0 9 1969–1973 Did not qualify 1975 10th Place 7 2 5 1977 7th Place 7 3 4 1979 10th Place 8 4 4 1981 Did not qualify 1983 Fourth place 7 3 4 1985 12th Place 7 1 6 1987 10th Place 7 2 5 1989 8th Place 5 0 5 1991–2013 Did not qualify 2015[N 1] 21st Place 5 1 4 Total 15/39 101 30 71

Team

Current roster

Roster for the EuroBasket 2015.^[9]

Netherlands men's national basketball team roster roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Name Age Ht. Club SG 0 Franke, Yannick 19 – 21 May 1996 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in) Bisons Loimaa PG 5 Williams, Leon 23 – 19 March 1992 1.89 m (6 ft 2 in) SPM Shoeters SG 6 de Jong, Worthy 27 – 14 March 1988 1.94 m (6 ft 4 in) ZZ Leiden PG 7 Kloof, Charlon 25 – 20 March 1990 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in) MZT Skopje SF 9 Kherrazi, Mohamed 25 – 29 June 1990 2.00 m (6 ft 7 in) ZZ Leiden SF 10 de Pagter, Ralf 26 – 22 July 1989 2.00 m (6 ft 7 in) SPM Shoeters SF 12 Akerboom, Jr., Kees 31 – 20 December 1983 2.00 m (6 ft 7 in) SPM Shoeters F/C 13 Schaftenaar, Roeland 27 – 29 July 1988 2.11 m (6 ft 11 in) Rethymno Cretan Kings C 18 de Jong, Nicolas 27 – 15 May 1988 2.10 m (6 ft 11 in) Cholet Basket PF 21 Smeulders, Robin 28 – 19 June 1987 2.08 m (6 ft 10 in) EWE Baskets Oldenburg G 44 Slagter, Arvin 29 – 19 October 1985 1.92 m (6 ft 4 in) SPM Shoeters	Head coach Toon van Helfteren Assistant coach(es) Sam Jones Peter van Noord Legend (C) Team captain Club – describes last club before the tournament Age – describes age on 5 September 2015

Notable rosters

World Cup

EuroBasket

Notes

1. Along with Croatia, the hosts were France, Germany and Latvia. Netherlands were drawn in Group C, and therefore they competed in Croatia.

References

1. "FIBA Ranking for Men". Fiba.Com. 3 October 2015. Retrieved 8 October 2015.
2. "Team profile". FIBA.com. Retrieved 15 May 2011.
3. "Nederlandse basketballers gered door Sport1". Volkskrant.nl (in Dutch). Retrieved 2014-06-15.
4. "Netherlands Incur Penalty". FIBA Europe. Retrieved 2014-06-15.
5. "NBB niet eens met straf". NOS. Retrieved 2014-06-15.
6. "Eredivisie basketbal Nederland". Basketballleague.nl. Retrieved 2015-01-16.
7. "Basketballers na 25 jaar naar EK". Nos.nl. Retrieved 2015-01-16.
8. Dutch Win On Return
9. "NETHERLANDS EuroBasket 2015 Roster". FIBA Europe. Retrieved 7 September 2015.

External links

• Official website
• FIBA profile
• EuroBasket.com
• Archived records