duncan228
06-01-2008, 12:01 AM
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/basketball/nba/spurs/stories/MYSA060108.8C.BKNspurs.vacation.344d242.html
Spurs players head to summer 'vacation'
By Jeff McDonald
Freshly shaven and wearing a ball cap pulled low over his eyes, Manu Ginobili could have passed for 21 years old when he showed up at Spurs headquarters Saturday afternoon.
Coming off a Western Conference finals series in which he often looked about 51, this was a good sign for the Spurs' guard.
An even better sign will be if he emerges from the offseason looking no older than 31, which will be his birth-certificate age when the team reconvenes for training camp in October.
After limping to the season's finish line on a jammed ankle that severely limited his production in the playoffs, Ginobili is set to help Argentina defend its gold medal in this summer's Beijing Olympics.
“It's going to be a month and a half of really stressing workouts and competition,” Ginobili said Saturday after clearing out his locker for the summer. “The mental part is almost as difficult as the physical part.”
You can't blame the Spurs for worrying, at least a little bit, about the physical part.
Ginobili enjoyed the best season of his NBA career — averaging a career-high and team-leading 19.5 points per game and winning the league's Sixth Man of the Year award — in part because he took last summer off to fully rest his body.
An ill-timed ankle injury in the playoffs, however, robbed him of his lift and explosion. He averaged just 12.6 points against the Lakers in the conference finals, which ended with the Spurs' Game 5 loss Thursday.
Now, Ginobili is poised to endure the summertime stress test that is the Olympic Games, where he will compete alongside Spurs teammate Fabricio Oberto, a fellow Argentine.
Spurs coach Gregg Popovich would never begrudge Ginobili a chance to defend the gold he won in Athens, and he'd probably be hung in Argentine effigy if he tried. Still, Popovich admits Ginobili's health will be “a major concern” this summer.
“He's got to heal,” Popovich said. “We started that process today. He'll be off of his ankle for the next four to five weeks. Obviously, we couldn't have done that during the playoffs.”
In his last official act of the 2007-08 season, Ginobili received an anti-inflammatory injection Saturday, and expects to be pain-free in a week to 10 days. An MRI on the ankle has revealed no structural damage.
The Argentine team is slated to begin Olympic practices July 5 and could be playing until Aug. 24. In between, Spurs brass will hold its collective breath every time Ginobili so much as steps off the bus awkwardly.
Ginobili says no Spurs official has expressed anything more than a mild worry about him playing this summer. It wasn't necessary.
“I'm going to be the first one to be concerned if I feel like the joint is going to bother me,” Ginobili said.
Provided he doesn't re-injure himself in Beijing, the Spurs don't believe playing will have an ill effect on Ginobili's 2008-09 season.
For Exhibit A, see 2004, when Ginobili followed up a grueling run to Olympic gold in Athens with his first All-Star season in the NBA.
Based on precedent, the busy summer could at least earn Ginobili a get-out-of-training-camp-free card in October. Tony Parker rested during camp last year after spending his summer playing with the French national team and throwing a high-profile wedding.
For Parker, the summer of 2008 should be a mite more relaxing. France has been all but eliminated from Olympic qualifying, and Parker has committed to sitting out international competition anyway.
“I'm going to rest, work on the stuff I can get better at, and come back a better player,” Parker said.
Except for the marry-a-TV-starlet thing, the Spurs' two star guards have essentially swapped summers.
Ginobili can't count on much rest, especially if Argentina makes another gold-medal push.
“It's going to be a tough summer,” Ginobili said.
The only thing the Spurs can do is sit back, cross their fingers and hope Ginobili returns to San Antonio in October on two healthy, 31-year-old legs
Spurs players head to summer 'vacation'
By Jeff McDonald
Freshly shaven and wearing a ball cap pulled low over his eyes, Manu Ginobili could have passed for 21 years old when he showed up at Spurs headquarters Saturday afternoon.
Coming off a Western Conference finals series in which he often looked about 51, this was a good sign for the Spurs' guard.
An even better sign will be if he emerges from the offseason looking no older than 31, which will be his birth-certificate age when the team reconvenes for training camp in October.
After limping to the season's finish line on a jammed ankle that severely limited his production in the playoffs, Ginobili is set to help Argentina defend its gold medal in this summer's Beijing Olympics.
“It's going to be a month and a half of really stressing workouts and competition,” Ginobili said Saturday after clearing out his locker for the summer. “The mental part is almost as difficult as the physical part.”
You can't blame the Spurs for worrying, at least a little bit, about the physical part.
Ginobili enjoyed the best season of his NBA career — averaging a career-high and team-leading 19.5 points per game and winning the league's Sixth Man of the Year award — in part because he took last summer off to fully rest his body.
An ill-timed ankle injury in the playoffs, however, robbed him of his lift and explosion. He averaged just 12.6 points against the Lakers in the conference finals, which ended with the Spurs' Game 5 loss Thursday.
Now, Ginobili is poised to endure the summertime stress test that is the Olympic Games, where he will compete alongside Spurs teammate Fabricio Oberto, a fellow Argentine.
Spurs coach Gregg Popovich would never begrudge Ginobili a chance to defend the gold he won in Athens, and he'd probably be hung in Argentine effigy if he tried. Still, Popovich admits Ginobili's health will be “a major concern” this summer.
“He's got to heal,” Popovich said. “We started that process today. He'll be off of his ankle for the next four to five weeks. Obviously, we couldn't have done that during the playoffs.”
In his last official act of the 2007-08 season, Ginobili received an anti-inflammatory injection Saturday, and expects to be pain-free in a week to 10 days. An MRI on the ankle has revealed no structural damage.
The Argentine team is slated to begin Olympic practices July 5 and could be playing until Aug. 24. In between, Spurs brass will hold its collective breath every time Ginobili so much as steps off the bus awkwardly.
Ginobili says no Spurs official has expressed anything more than a mild worry about him playing this summer. It wasn't necessary.
“I'm going to be the first one to be concerned if I feel like the joint is going to bother me,” Ginobili said.
Provided he doesn't re-injure himself in Beijing, the Spurs don't believe playing will have an ill effect on Ginobili's 2008-09 season.
For Exhibit A, see 2004, when Ginobili followed up a grueling run to Olympic gold in Athens with his first All-Star season in the NBA.
Based on precedent, the busy summer could at least earn Ginobili a get-out-of-training-camp-free card in October. Tony Parker rested during camp last year after spending his summer playing with the French national team and throwing a high-profile wedding.
For Parker, the summer of 2008 should be a mite more relaxing. France has been all but eliminated from Olympic qualifying, and Parker has committed to sitting out international competition anyway.
“I'm going to rest, work on the stuff I can get better at, and come back a better player,” Parker said.
Except for the marry-a-TV-starlet thing, the Spurs' two star guards have essentially swapped summers.
Ginobili can't count on much rest, especially if Argentina makes another gold-medal push.
“It's going to be a tough summer,” Ginobili said.
The only thing the Spurs can do is sit back, cross their fingers and hope Ginobili returns to San Antonio in October on two healthy, 31-year-old legs