The EuroBasket tournament tips off today, and the Detroit Pistons will not have a representative. After it was initially reported that he would play for the Swedish team, Bobi Klintman decided to pass, which may be a missed opportunity.
Klintman announced he wouldn’t play in the tournament, saying that he wanted to focus on “recovery” and a full offseason with the Pistons, according to the Sweden Herald.
On some level, this makes perfect sense, as Klintman lost much of his rookie campaign to injury and will be fighting for fringe rotation minutes. The Pistons do lack depth at power forward, so there is an outside chance Klintman could get some time there at some point next season.
Klintman didn’t play particularly well in Summer League to bolster his case, so may regret his decision not to play for the Swedish team.
Detroit Pistons’ rotation: Bobi Klintman could have made a stronger case
I understand Klintman’s decision not to play in EuroBasket, but it does seem a missed opportunity to get much-needed reps against some of the best players in the world.
I’m sure Klintman has plenty on his plate trying to learn the Pistons’ system and work his way into the rotation, but we’ve seen these tournaments have positive effects on players in the past.
The one who immediately springs to mind is Lauri Markkanen, who had his All-Star season with the Jazz just after a nice run in the EuroBasket tournament.
Obviously, Klintman is not Markkanen, but he could have gotten some valuable run this summer that might have bolstered his case to make the rotation.
At the very least he’d get some real-game experience against elite competition, something he’s not likely to get much of next season for the Pistons unless there is a catastrophic injury.
It makes sense for some players to bypass EuroBasket, especially ones fresh off deep playoff runs or players with tenuous injury histories.
That isn’t the case with Klintman, who is healthy and desperately needs to make up the minutes he missed in what was ultimately a lost rookie season.
But it’s his call to make, and it seems he felt it was more important to spend this time stateside working with his team and ensuring he’s full ready to go for the preseason.
Sweden will play Finland today in a game Pistons’ fans should have some interest in, as Lauri Markkanen (favorite target of trade talk) will be playing for Finland.