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BUENOS AIRES (FIBA Americas Championship) - Argentina superstar Manu Ginobili has confirmed he will play no part in the upcoming FIBA Americas Championship in Las Vegas.
The San Antonio Spurs guard and MVP of Argentina's gold medal winning side at the Athens Olympics has heeded the warning of his NBA coach Gregg Popovich, who advised him to rest after the play-offs and miss the tournament, which takes place between August 22 and September 2.
The South American team is hoping to take one of two qualifying spots up for grabs at the tournament for the Beijing Olympics.
Ginobili told his official website, www.manuginobili.com: “After thinking about this a lot, I decided that it would be better to follow the suggestion of the franchise and rest.”
Ginobili has enjoyed another fruitful season with the Spurs, including setting a new franchise record with 24 straight points against the Atlanta Hawks in February.
But a punishing schedule has taken its toll on the shooting guard and, with the prospect of an another important campaign with San Antonio looming, he has taken the decision to withdraw from this summer’s event.
He added: “In my whole career, I’ve never stepped down since 1996 when I made my debut in Vitoria until the 2006 World Championship in Japan, except the pre-Olympic (World) Championship in 2005.
“However, this year the situation is more difficult.
“At the beginning of the year, I had a couple of informal talks with Gregg Popovich, who told me he does not want me to play during the upcoming break.
“Then, in March, we talked about this more seriously and I realised that was a concrete opinion, with understandable reasons.
“He (Popovich) added that he is for the FIBA Championships, and that he loves them, but he thinks I should take part in a more limited way.
“Finally, he said I have a great responsibility to the franchise and the team as a whole to start the season as fresh and healthy as possible.”
Argentina coach Sergio Hernandez has already been made aware of the situation.
“I told him this when he was in Dallas a week ago,” Ginobli said.
Speaking of other players in similar situations to himself, Ginobili said: “Steve Nash will not play for Canada and I understand Nene and Leandrinho won’t for Brazil."
Leandrinho, AKA Leandro Barbosa, has been one of the best players in the NBA this year with the Phoenix Suns while Nene has recovered from a serious knee injury and become a vital member once again of the Denver Nuggets' frontline.
“We must win the key game, in the semi-finals, and avoid the United States," Ginobili said.
Should Argentina not take of the two spots, there will still be another chance at an additional qualifying tournament.
“I am confident we won't need to go to the other qualifier," Ginobili said. "We have a good team to get the direct berth.”
Luis Scola, the Tau Ceramica power forward, will play for Argentina and Detroit Pistons reserve Carlos Delfino is also fired up about representing his country.
Delfino is likely to benefit in minutes on the court with Ginobili's absence.
Despite his withdrawal, Ginobili was at pains to point out that he has not retired from the national team altogether.
“To retire from the national team will be very, very complicated,” he said.
“A lot of my best moments and the beautiful stories I'll be able to tell when I retire will be related to the national team and the tremendous group of players I've played with, so this is totally ruled out.”
http://www.fiba.com/pages/eng/fc/new...8857/arti.html
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the correct decision.
I'll miss Gino this summer.
The NT won't be the same without him. Now I don't feel badly that I can't make it to Vegas for the compe ion.
Thanks for posting M.
The Argentines are going to hate Pop now
No.
We are going to hate some re ed reporters who can´t understand Manu´s reasons.
1.Pop
2. Parker
Now in the whos who of hated people by argentinians
We dont hate Pop ...anymore.
1.Pop
2. Parker
Now in the whos who of hated people by argentinians
Just curious...why don't they like Tony? Is it because some people have accused him of not passing the ball to Manu enough? or something else?
most Spur fans don't even like Tony..
He seems like a good guy to me, but I guess ppl just don't like the french.
It's not true that most Spurs fans don't even like Tony. He's a huge fan favorite here in San Antonio (probably second to Manu). There just seems to be a group of people on this board that don't like Tony.
Anyway this thread is about Manu.
I don't know how I feel about Manu not playing in the NT. I kind of wish he would play in limited minutes. He's better when he plays year round basketball. But the decision is his.
you listen to the radio broadcast the crowd in sa goes nuts over anything manu does and when he goes in the game
not true for tp
I would rather him play in sa with bowen
therefore bowen can teach him d
That's not true. I sit in the arena, I don't need to hear on the radio. They go nuts for Tony the same way when he does something awesome. They go nuts for Tim. And Horry. And Bruce. Get it? Manu is a big crowd favorite, but so is Tony. San Antonians don't hate Tony.
Anyway, this is not turning into another ing Manu vs Tony thread. So stop now.
is not manu suppose to get married this summer?
Manu's been married for three years or so.
well maybe he is expecting a kid..............
he still should stay in sa and bowen should help him on d since manu needs to play year around
Oh, Manu's getting old?
That stinks.
I already did, but for the rotationnah ... why Manu is saving his money (that's is said in the spanish version at least), SPurs invested a lot of money on him.
I would hate to see ARG not playing Olimpycs because USA and Brazil will get those places, ARG without Manu, Oberto, Herrmmann ... not sure Chapu ... would be a shadow team compared with Brazil and USA.
for a second I think that Spurschick was behind that
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