Nenê, the 6-11 power forward of the Denver Nuggets was born on September 13, 1982, in Sao Carlos, Brazil. He made waves in international basketball when he played for the Brazilian National Team at the 2001 Goodwill Games in Brisbane, Australia. He was selected with the seventh overall pick by the New Knicks and traded to the Denver Nuggets. In his last NBA season he averaged 12.2 ppg and 7.8 rpg in 26.8 minutes.

The United States has a very strong team and will be playing at home. They are one of the favorites to qualify for the Olympic Games, and they are aware about this responsibility. In our group, we still have Canada, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Canada comes with a very good team. We can already see that they are very competitive and will be our first rivals; which makes this game not only a confrontational match, but also decisive in terms of the first round classifications. I know that Venezuela has a younger team, in formation, but they have excellent basketball fundamentals.

Virgin Islands is the team with lesser strength in our group, but that does not mean they will be an easy team to beat. It is necessary to pay attention and to give respect, because a game like this can always be very dangerous. On the other group, Argentina and Puerto Rico are the strongest teams. They are always in the way for Brazil. We faced both teams last week in the Tutto Marchand Cup, which took place in San Juan, Puerto Rico. They are two challenging rivals to beat… rivals in the fight to qualify for the Olympics, with NBA players who know our game, but we also know them pretty well. There are also Uruguay, Panama and Mexico, but we have to think one step at a time, first focusing against Canada and only Canada.

We had good preparatory training sessions. Although there was little time between the Pan American Games and the Pre-Olympics, we were able to quickly unite and play as a team while having good games against strong rivals in the Tutto Marchand Cup, who will now be fighting us for classifications to the Olympic Games. We are improving with each day, with each practice, and the team is getting closer and evolving even more with each new game and with each new day.

I am happy; I am back with the Brazilian team, back to my place, and at an important moment, a moment where everyone needed to be together, to play together and to work together. I came back because I can help my country, as well as everyone who is wearing a green and yellow jersey, to take Brazil to a place where it should have never left: to the Olympic Games!

We have a very strong group, which despite young, is experienced, well-rounded, and focused in the objective to qualify for Beijing. We have players in the NBA, in Europe, and those who are exploding in Brazil, at last, a strong Brazilian National Team, which we did not have for a while. This makes that our confidence and our motivation greater than ever.

We are going to the United States to qualify for the Olympic Games. Brazil cannot be out of the Olympics one more time. This is very bad not only for our National Team, but, mainly, for our sport. We are going there to get a spot, and I strongly believe on our team’s potential.