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rikhardur2
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Better not rule out Pau Gasol just yet: http://translate.google.com/transla....acb.com/redaccion.php?id=65208&sl=auto&tl=en
http://www.fiba.com/pages/eng/fc/news/lateNews/p/newsid/38708/arti.htmlESP – Pau Gasol looking doubtful for Turkey
LOS ANGELES (2010 FIBA World Championship) - Pau Gasol has dropped his strongest hint yet that he’ll take this summer off and not play for Spain at the FIBA World Championship in Turkey.
The seven-footer was the most valuable player at the 2006 FIBA World Championship and at least year’s EuroBasket in Poland, with Spain winning gold medals at each event.
In an article in the El Mundo newspaper in Spain, the Los Angeles Lakers star said: "To play for the national team gives me great enthusiasm and a lot of pride.
“It's a luxury to be able to share that joy with the team we have. It's something I have enjoyed for many years and I hope I can enjoy it a few more times although this summer it's going to be complicated.
“It's clear that with the comments I have made so far, one should know where my decision is heading. You don't need to be an expert to decipher codes.”
Gasol sat out the early part of the NBA season because of right hamstring injury and then missed time at the start of 2010 with a left hamstring problem.
Since returning to America for this season, he has indicated that at some point, a player needs to take a break and that could come this year.
“My dream is to win many rings with the Lakers and to win gold at the 2012 Olympics in London,” he said.
“I continue to do what I enjoy, which is to play basketball and be efficient and go to bed calm.
“This is my personality.”
The last time that Gasol did not play for Spain was at EuroBasket 2005 in Belgrade and Spain had a solid tournament.
They reached the Semi-Finals but then lost to Dirk Nowitzki’s Germany.
France blew out Spain in the bronze-medal game.
At that tournament, one of the positive developments was the play of Fran Vazquez, the player who on Sunday was voted MVP of the Copa del Rey after leading Barcelona to the title.
Vazquez was in the Spain squad for the 2006 FIBA World Championship but withdrew with a back injury, and that opened the door for Pepu Hernandez to add Gasol’s younger brother, Marc, to the team.
While Vazquez hasn’t represented Spain since 2005, he could return for this year’s tournament in Turkey and play alongside Marc Gasol if Pau doesn’t play.
Fran Vazquez: I'll be in Turkey if Scariolo wants me to be. I've never closed the door to the NT.
http://translate.google.es/translat...-a-la-seleccion.html&sl=es&tl=en&hl=&ie=UTF-8
"I think it's finally catching up with me a little bit," Parker said before Wednesday's practice. "What it tells me is I'm going to have to make decisions about my priorities. At the end of the season, I'm definitely going to sit down and look at what happened this year, and make sure it doesn't happen again."
"I still want to play, because I still want to go to the Olympics (in 2012)," said Parker, who turns 28 in May. "But after (age) 30, it gets tough. I think what happened this year is going to affect my decision."
I can't read the article, obviously, so I'll wait until I see something from Argentina before I say I'm surprised.Is anyone really surprised? Spurs gave him that huge extension pretty quickly which was meant to close the door on Turkey.
I understand Franz, but their same old players are pretty good!!Anyways, I'm glad this happened. Tired of hearing about Ginoboli and how he represents all of Argentina NT. Maybe they'll start actually developing other players than continuing with the same old players.
I can't read the article, obviously, so I'll wait until I see something from Argentina before I say I'm surprised.
I can't read the article, obviously, so I'll wait until I see something from Argentina before I say I'm surprised.I understand Franz, but their same old players are pretty good!!
Spurs guard Manu Ginobili made it official on Friday: He will sit out this summer's FIBA World Championships in Turkey.
The captain of Argentina's 2004 Olympic championship team said the need to be healthy for Spurs training camp in October, combined with his pending fatherhood, outweighed his loyalty to the national team.
“Everybody knows I love playing for the national team,” he said. “But this year was kind of different. It's been two years since I can do a good preseason — the one before because of the surgery; the last one because of the (stress) fracture.
“My body kind of needs it, and I want to play the (2012) Olympics, so I decided to pass on this one.
“Besides, there's another little factor here: My wife is going to have twins in a month. Those are the times you don't want to miss. Both, one next to the other, makes me take this tough decision.”
Ginobili suffered an impingement in his left ankle during the 2008 playoffs. He re-aggravated the injury in the 2008 Olympics and had surgery before 2008 training camp began. Suffering a stress fracture late in the 2008-09 season, Ginobili sat out most of this season's training camp.
Ginobili expects to play for Argentina in the 2012 Olympics in London.
The Spurs signed Ginobili to a three-year, $38.9 million contract extension on April 9, but put no pressure on him to pass on playing this summer.
“At the beginning I was waiting to see if I signed somewhere else,” he said. “But I signed here, and it made no difference. The other two things were more important: I want to have a long career and be healthy next year, and my two sons are priority at this point.
“I will wait for London.”
It seems that Pau Gasol will not play the World Cup, today he more or less confirmed it