With Season Over, Many International NBA Players focus on Olympic Qualification
With only four NBA teams remaining and the conference finals coming to a close, many of the NBA players from around the world are prepping for the Beijing Olympics this summer.
Players such as Yao Ming, Andrei Kirilenko, Jose Calderon, Linas Kleiza, Luis Scola and Andrew Bogut will be suiting up for their respective countries in hopes of an Olympic gold medal in Beijing.
However, there are still three slots to be determined for Beijing and these three wildcard spots will be determined by FIBA’s Pre-Olympic Qualifying Tournament to be held in Athens, Greece this summer.
So the road to the Olympics has yet to be determined for many teams. The favorites Greece, powerful Brazil, Canada, New Zealand, Germany, Slovenia, Croatia, Puerto Rico, and more… and some of the teams’ hopes of making it to the 2008 Olympics hinge on the participation of their NBA representatives.
Dirk Nowitzki, Germany
No one team relies on their NBA representative as much as Germany. Last season’s NBA MVP Dirk Nowitzki found himself on vacation early this year after being eliminated in the first round two-years in a row. That’s bad news for the teams that are matched up against the 7-0 German as n doubt, he will do his best to qualify Deutschland in the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament for Men being held in July. “It didn’t happen for Sydney and Athens. I unconditionally want to fulfill my dream and reach Beijing.” said Nowitzki.
Steve Nash, Canada
In early December of last year, Steve Nash said he wouldn’t be representing Canada this summer, some still hold out hope that the former NBA MVP and Phoenix Sun’s leader will reconsider. The Canadian National Team recently left an open invitation and roster spot for the 6-3 point guard to ponder and reconsider.
As much as the National Team would like Nash to return, they are handling the situation with understanding of Steve’s dedication to his country in the past “We really have to be careful in addressing Steve Nash for a lot of reasons - he’s put in a lot of great years playing for Canada,” said Leo Rautins, the Canadian National Team’s head coach. “He’s coming off a gruelling NBA season and he’s a guy that’s battled a lot of different physical issues in his career. I think we have to acknowledge what he’s done as opposed to keep pushing him to do something else.”
Carlos Arroyo & J.J. Barea, Puerto Rico
“NBA contract” are the key words for Puerto Rico. With both Carlos Arroyo and Jose Juan Barea as free-agents this summer, their respective agents are certainly recommending them to stay away from Athens, Greece - where the pre-Olympic Tournament is being held.
Carlos Arroyo has been the face of the Puerto Rican National Team the last six years and that won’t change this time around if he is wearing his national team’s jersey.
Without Arroyo, JJ Barea will become a much more important piece to Puerto Rico’s hope, but his participation is also in doubt: “(My agent) advised me that I shouldn’t do anything (with Puerto Rico) unless I have a signed contract,” Barea said. “He wants me to have security in my future,”
It’s a difficult decision to make between personal financial security and national pride, but both the safe money is that both Arroyo and Barea will be in Athens. “I want to play in the pre-Olympic tournament for Puerto Rico and I will do my best to be in Greece, but all I can say right now is that we’ll take it day by day.” Barea told the Puerto Rican newspaper El Nuevo Dia.
Nene & Leandro Barbosa, Brazil
After a very difficult season in which the 6-11 Nene was diagnosed with testicular cancer, Nene has shown interest but has yet to confirm whether he will be playing on a Brazilian team hoping to qualify for the Beijing Olympics.
Not only is the promising center’s health a concern, Nene has also been at odds since 2006 with the CBB, the Brazil Basketball Confederation, over payment and insurance. Whether that is fully behind him or not is uncertain.
Despite these issues, the 25-year old was included in Brazil’s preliminary 15-man roster for the tournament, but head coach Moncho Monsalve will approach the Denver Nugget’s forward-center with caution, realizing the sensitive time in which Nene is going through: “I will call Nene but it’s his decision. If he comes in good physical form, he is very i
mportant to the national team. He told me by email that he is really motivated to play for the national team.”
With Leandro Barbosa, there is no question about representing his country “I think we just got to go and play basketball, qualify for big tournaments and think about our friends there right now in Brazil who need a job to play basketball. We got to help those guys. And the only way to help is to play for the national team and bring Brazil up.”
Rasho Nesterovic & Bostjan Nachbar, Slovenia
Slovenia’s captain Rasho Nesterovic will be playing for Team Slovenia in the qualifying tournament and is wondering whether adding more firepower may ruin the team’s chemistry. Some of the players that did not participate in Eurobasket have renewed interest in representing the small Eastern European country.
“The players that played at the EuroBasket in Spain did a very good thing and I think they should get the chance to finish their job,” said Nesterovic,“The core of the national team must stay the same, if you ask me. Maybe we need two, maybe three reinforcements, but not more.”
One of the players who took last summer off, was Bostjan Nachbar. “Last summer I worked extremely hard the whole summer,” said Nachbar. “I took off from National Team just to get ready for the NBA season.” Now this summer, despite being a free-agent and the risk of injury, the 27-year old Slovenian is leaning towards representing his country in their quest for an Olympic berth. Boki hasn’t made a decision as of yet, leaving the door open for speculation, “It’s definitely going to be an interesting summer.”
Are you going to be in Greece and interested in ticket sales for the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament for Men? Click here for the official online sales outlet.
Even though many of the NBA’s brightest foreign players will have a tough road ahead of them in even qualifying for the Beijing Olympics, there are some that didn’t even get that far.
Sources: FIBA World Olympic Qualifying Tournament Discussion (Ibn Forum) 2008 Olympic Basketball Discussion Forum (Ibn Forum), Discuss the German National Team (Ibn Forum), Brazil National Team Discussion (Ibn Forum), Basketball Canada Extends Open Invitation to Nash (National Post), Nene Undecided (Fiba.com), Nene Included in Preliminary Brazil Squad (Fiba.com), Nowitzki Shifts Focus to Germany (Fiba.com), Nesterovic Considers Playing for Slovenia (Fiba.com), Tough Season for Nachbar (NBA.com), Player availability issues may undermine Puerto Rico in Athens (Fiba.com), Greek National Team for Pre-Olympics (Ibn Forum), Korean National Basketball Team (Ibn Forum), Canadian National Team (Ibn Forum)
