MOSCOW (EuroBasket 2015) - Russia will be without their big man in the middle for EuroBasket 2015 as NBA center Timofey Mozgov has pulled out of the tournament to recover from recent knee surgery.

The Cleveland Cavaliers center underwent arthroscopic surgery on his right knee on 1 July after injuring it during the NBA playoffs but playing on through the Finals. The 28-year-old Mozgov said he needs time to recover.

"First of all, that was not my decision, to come or not. The circumstances played their role. I will not be able to help the national team because of recent knee surgery," Mozgov was quoted as saying in the Sport Express.

"I wanted to come badly but I simply have no time to recover. I love the national team atmosphere, I am glad to be around all the guys but unfortunately this year's Eurobasket will be played without me."

Mozgov played a major role in getting the Cavaliers to the NBA Finals this past season, averaging 10.6 points, 6.9 rebounds and 1.2 blocks per game.

With Mozgov unable to go for Russia, head coach Evgeny Pashutin will most likely rely on CSKA Moscow's Pavel Korobkov and Ruslan Pateev from Khimki in the post in Group A, where the Russians will face Bosnia and Herzegovina, Poland, Israel, Finland and hosts France in Montpellier.

The 24-year-old Korobkov came on in March and April for CSKA in VTB United League with double digit scoring four times over a six-game stretch.

All told, the 2.06m big man hit double figures eight times in the VTB and averaged 5.5 points and 2.4 rebounds during the season.

The 25-year-old Pateev averaged 6.2 points, 4.1 rebounds and 1.0 blocks in the Eurocup for Khimki while excelling in the Russian Superleague as the 2.13m big man collected 13.4 points, 7.3 rebounds and 2.4 blocks for Khimiky-Podmoskovye.

While Nizhny Novgorod's Semen Antonov could also play in the paint, two other low post options for Pashutin could be 2.14m Artem Klimenko from Avtodor Saratov and Zenit St Petersburg's 2.20m Andrey Desyatnikov.

The two 21-year-old centers teamed up to help Russia finish third at the 2015 Universiade in South Korea.

Both Klimenko and Desyatnikov have been invited to Pashutin's training camp in Montenegro along with fellow Universiade team members Artem Vikhrov, Pavel Antipov and Mikhail Kulagin.

Those players will undergo medical checks prior to leaving for Montenegro on July 18.

Most of Russia's nominated players already went through the medical tests - Antonov, Dmitry Khvostov, Dmitrii Kulagin, who like his brother Mikhail just signed with CSKA Moscow; Nikita Kurbanov, Pateev, Anton Ponkrashov, Evgeny Voronov, Egor Vyaltsev and Andrey Zubkov.

Ponkrashov will not be attending the camp in Montenegro, joining the team thereafter along with CSKA Moscow players Korobkov, Vitaly Fridzon and Andrey Vorontsevich as well as Khimki veteran Sergey Monya.

Pashutin is still hoping that NBA guard Aleksey Shved will play at the 24-team event.

Go to eurobasket2015.org for complete coverage of EuroBasket 2015.

FIBA