Basketball: Draw a blessing but NZ have sights set higher

New Zealand's world championship basketball draw is a blessing admits coach Tab Baldwin but his sights are set much higher.

The Tall Blacks are in the weakest of the four groups for the tournament at Japan starting on August 19, with a top-four finish in their six-team pool an achievable goal.

Baldwin said given the growing number of teams that could be classified as world class, the Tall Blacks had emerged well from last night's draw in Tokyo.

Panama and Japan have not been to a world championship before while New Zealand beat Angola at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Only Spain and Germany could be rated among the world's leading lights.

"There are some teams in our pool who don't have a lot of world championship experience," Baldwin said today.

"We're pretty satisfied with it. Certainly, we feel pretty confident we can win through pool play and into the next round."

However, Baldwin, who guided the Tall Blacks to fourth at the world championship in Indianapolis four years ago, said group play should be regarded as just the beginning.

"We could set our sights just on getting through pool play, but that's not our goal," he said.

"We've been there before, a lot of our guys have been around a long time now and our sights are going to be higher.

"The tournament is of such a high calibre that we're sure to be facing world class opponents. That will be the true test of how far we've come."

Baldwin also warned against taking any pool games easily, rating his opponents as among the most athletic.

He said Panama would be a force under experienced American coach Nolan Richardson, who had stockpiled years of success at US collegiate level.

Japan, who have qualified as hosts, were a little-known commodity but had given Australia a tough time when they clashed last year.

Angola were now a more experienced team than the one New Zealand beat for 11th place at the Sydney Games.

The group B preliminary matches are to be played in Hiroshima.

Baldwin believed the tournament would be "the greatest in the history of the sport" given the continued improvement of European, South American and Asian nations. He noted the United States were likely to field a much better team than the one who crashed out at Indianapolis.

Meanwhile, Baldwin remained unconcerned about the potential danger posed to him and his family by bird flu, which had recently been detected in Turkey where he is coaching at club level.

Of more concern was the financial status of his Banvitspor team's sponsor -- a chicken processing company.

World championship groups:

Group A: Argentina, Venezuela, France, Serbia and Montenegro, Lebanon, Nigeria.

Group B: Spain, Panama, Germany, Japan, NEW ZEALAND, Angola.

Group C: Lithuania, Brazil, Greece, Turkey, Australia, Qatar.

Group D: United States, Puerto Rico, Slovenia, Italy, China, Senegal.

- NZPA