Spurs guard Tony Parker will take two-year hiatus from French national team

[phxspurfan]

http://canadianpress.google.com/arti...XGneuG1OVdyAyA

Spurs guard Tony Parker will take two-year hiatus from French national team
15 hours ago

PARIS - San Antonio Spurs guard Tony Parker will take a two-year hiatus from the French national team.

Parker said on his website Wednesday he needed time to rest and pledged to return to the team in time for the 2009 European championship in Poland.

"It has been many years that I am playing more than 120 games a year," Parker said. "In the end, my body is at risk."

Parker said he made the decision after meeting Tuesday with his coach and teammates.

Parker led France to the quarter-finals of the European Basketball Championship in September, but the team failed to qualify for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Parker, who was born in Belgium and grew up in France, is scheduled to play when the Spurs open the season against Portland on Oct. 30.

In San Antonio Wednesday after the Spurs' second day of training camp, Parker said he wants next summer to recuperate.

"I'll try to get some rest for my body and spend some time with Eva (Longoria, his wife). So I'll take a break for a little bit," Parker said. "I will use that summer to rest and make sure my body will be OK."

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said Parker's decision shows maturity.

"I think he's thinking down the road, thinking about his career as far as what he wants to do with the Spurs and how many times he wants to try to play for a championship, what kind of toll it will take on his body in the long run," Popovich said.

[phxspurfan]

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5...dk3kGHVNIEf_wg

Parker has meanwhile defended France coach Claude Bergeaud after their disastrous European campaign where they failed to qualify for the Beijing Olympics.

"When you have a poor performance it is normal for the media to jump on you but you have no right to treat Claude like a dog. This irritates me. The coach has a certain responsibility in this loss but what do you do with the players.

"It is not Claude who was on the court. You have to admit that the players were not playing well but I still believe that this team was better than the one from 2005."


http://www.sportsnetwork.com/default...acn4105776.htm

Parker said in an interview on the site that he made the decision after meeting Tuesday with Spurs head coach Greg Popovich.

"He was clear when he said that I won't be participating in the qualification, next September, for the Euro 2009. He wants me take a rest, much like Manu Ginobili did this summer by not playing the Tournament of the Americas, tournament that was the Olympic Games qualifier. Of course, he has no problem with me playing the Euro 2009 in Poland. I will thus have a two years hiatus from the national team," said Parker, who is entering his seventh year in the NBA.

"They know that the national team is something special for me but they think it is now the best time for me to take a much deserved break and rest my body. It has been many years that I am playing more than 120 games a year. In the end, my body is at risk and Pop does not want to take any risk with me. At least now, everyone knows what the future is about for me and the national team," said Parker, who averaged 18.6 points, 5.5 assists, and 3.3 rebounds per game last season.

[phxspurfan]

oops...I noticed this was already reported in the Tony Parker hits the weight room thread. Sorry about that.