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RC Buford’s cell phone rang in 2007 and on the other side it was David Stern NBA’s CEO. “Do not force your players to quit to their national teams”, the commissioner asked. The advise came after Gregg Popovich insisted that both Manu Ginobili and Fabricio Oberto had to take care of themselves more and be absent of the Olympic qualifying tournament in Las Vegas. Little has changed since. Maybe the franchises prohibiting their players to do so stopped being public (except Cleveland of course) but pressure by teams is till having a devastating effect. That pressure is the same Manu suffered and is currently under and will have Manu on the following month. “Those will be tough difficult weeks to come” Carlos Prunes Manu’s agent admitted. His agent in Argentina is not talking about the evolution of his injured left ankle… it would be the Texan demand the main actor on this never ending story.
Pop, following his military formation, handles everything on the Spurs. He is a very demanding coach and is on every single detail even the most private of their players: ha has made that the wife of one of the Spurs players came back immediately to San Antonio because “she had been was too much time abroad already and her place is next to her husband”. With greater powers than a regular leader, he fiercely takes care of his job and his team’s interests. That is why he “suggests”/orders that the foreign players play specific tournaments, he prefers them to have some rest (if they have any thing bothering them physically is the perfect excuse) so they are super fresh for the beginning of the regular season: he has done it with the argentines and lately with PG Tony Parker, who agreed not to play for two years for the French National team.
He is now doing this with Manu and for that he started using a new argument and a very heavy one: Gino’s contract extension that San Antonio’s front office is currently negotiating with his agents. The SG still has two years left on his contracts, and on the new agreement there would be two more… Juicy. “There is no obligation, but both parties wanted it and conversations begun”, his agent Prunes confirmed to Ole. Thinking in 2010, it seems a more beneficial situation for the player than for the franchise , that’s why it will be a weapon that the Texans could use to pressure Manu. “If you play in Beijing, maybe we’ll forget about the negotiations” he could be told. Manu’s relationship with Popovich and Buford is close and excellent, but business is business…
Pressure could be watched, even more, the news and reports coming from Texas are very different to what we are hearing on our country. “Here they say his injury is worrisome and that it didn’t get better in three weeks and could need surgery if it doesn’t heal” Jeff McDonalds San Antonio Express-News reporter told Ole. By the other hand in Argentina, everybody is very optimistic about the injury after a group of specialists did new studies. “the injury is not severe and is not a high risk one. With medication and kinesics treatment, the affected zone will go back to normal and he could be part of the Olympics” Diego Grippo Argentina’s national team doctor.
It is evident that if it was another player this injury would definitively not take him out of Beijing. But Manu’s situation is different. Behind that ankle there are very strong interests. Popovich doesn’t want him to risk anything because he knows that, without him, his team can’t be a champ again. It was very clear after the loss to the Flakers in the WCF: Gino on a lower level means elimination. That’s why he (Pop) was very nervous when Manu gave him a huge NO to immobilize the ankle for 6 weeks. “it is not an option, that way I’ll miss the Olympics. I can’t prepare in just 20 days”, he told him and the Spurs doctor after receiving the news that his ankle never came back to it’s normal state. Then is when the option came to wait three weeks and make (the 7th or 8th July Prunes confirmed) another MRU in San Antonio. Manu already warned them once… how many times will he be able to do it?
I wonder who that was. 
