New Japan men's national team head coach Julio Lamas, who arrived in Japan last week, has not spent enough time assessing his players and their technical skills yet. But he's satisfied with their intangibles so far.

"We've had our practices in a very good mood," the Argentine said through an interpreter after Friday's practice at Tokyo's National Training Center. "And I like our players' attitude as well. They have very good energy and they are smart, too."

The team will play a pair of exhibitions against Uruguay at Aoyama Gakuin University on Saturday and Sunday before departing for Spain for a training camp and competing in a few tuneup games for the FIBA Asia Cup, which will be held Aug. 8-20 in Beirut.