Czech Republic coach Zdenek Hummel is still counting on Maurice Whitfield for their upcoming EuroBasket qualifying campaign, even though he admits he has no idea when the shooting guard will link up with the national team.

Whitfield was again missing from the party as the Czechs began a four day training camp in Decin on Monday, which includes two friendly games against Estonia.

		Maurice Whitfield averaged 7 ppg in the Czech Republic's 2005 qualifying campaign.

Hummel remains in the dark about when Whitfield will join the squad but the coach insists the 33-year-old is still a large part of his plans.

"Maurice Whitfield should come to Decin but nobody knows when. We talked with his agent and he should be on his way," Hummel said.

"It is a hard situation because we do not know what shape he is in, but we are definitely counting on him for the qualifiers."

The absence of Whitfield is a setback for Hummel as this week he had hoped to finalise his starting line-up for their EuroBasket campaign.

"I  think it is the right time to find the players who will play together in qualifiers," he said.

"The games we will play against Estonia should tell us a  lot about that - we will see the power of our team."

The Czechs, who meet Estonia on Wednesday and Thursday, will finish their preparation programme in Opava next week before starting their qualifying campaign against Belgium on August 31.

Last year, Whitfield averaged 7 ppg for the Czech Republic in the Additional Qualifying Round.

The Czechs failed to win a game in the round and thus didn't advance to the final round of EuroBasket.