2. Cristiano Felicio actually plays well in the FIBA World Cup
I am digging pretty deep on this one. With the FIBA World Cup beginning on Aug. 31, the basketball world will finally have a tangible game to follow again with standout countries like the United States, Canada, Spain, Argentina, etc. competing in China. One team that is commonly overlooked, and with good reason, is Brazil.
There is a big man that is a member of the Chicago Bulls that will be among a group of experienced players for Brazil in the FIBA World Cup, though. That Bulls big man is the usually inept Cristiano Felicio. But we did get to see a couple double-digit point efforts from Felicio with Brazil in friendly play this month.
Felicio helped Brazil, along with former NBA role player Leandro Barbosa, to a scrimmage win over China 73-70 last week. He posted 10 points in that winning effort, and Barbosa had a team-leading 14.
It is much different for a player that hasn’t consistently proven himself at all with the Bulls to have a scoring effort like that against China than for Tomas Satoransky to carry the load for the Czech Republic.
If Felicio actually shows out well in the FIBA World Cup, it still shouldn’t inspire much hope for Bulls fans. His Brazil team will be competing against countries like Greece and New Zealand. Brazil has one of the easier runs through group play in this year’s edition of the FIBA World Cup. A big showing from Felicio is very possible.