France and San Antonio Spurs guard, Tony Parker has decided not to represent his country in Turkey this year, due to fatigue – as he joins Argentina’s Manu Ginobili, Australia’s Andrew Bogut and possibly USA star, LeBron James on the list of NBA players that won’t feature at the ‘Giant Get Together,’ beginning in August.
Parker, who has just turned 28 said: “I don’t want to play on the national team this year, and that’s because I played the last five summers.
“This year, I felt it a lot. I was tired all the time.
“I’d wake up in the morning, and I was tired. I had a lot of injuries, too, and it’s time I got a break.”
France though, despite losing their go-to player, have an abundance of talent in the backcourt. Namely Dallas Mavericks‘ Rodrigue Beaubois – one of the sensations in this year’s NBA rookie class. Who will almost certainly feature for the French in Turkey.
Two other key players, that might feature this summer is Power Electronics Valencia‘s, Nando De Colo, who guided his team to EuroCup glory this season, and Antoine Diot of French side, Le Mans. Both featured in EuroBasket last summer.
France get a chance for revenge in Turkey when they face the team that eliminated them at EuroBasket, Spain. They will also square off against, Lithuania, New Zealand, Canada and Lebanon in Group D.
The USA are rumoured to add successful NBA rookies, Tyreke Evans, who won Rookie of the Year this year and Stephen Curry to their preliminary squad for the summer.
Coach, Mike Krzyzewski, as usual could be spoiled for choice when it comes to superstars – as so far, only Cleveland Cavaliers star, and reigning NBA MVP, LeBron James has said that he ‘might not’ play for the United States in Turkey.
The United States are massive favourites to win the Gold in Turkey, and start their campaign in Istanbul, where they square off against Slovenia, Brazil, Croatia, Iran and Tunisia in Group B.
Argentina have named their 16-man preliminary squad for this summer – and in addition to the four NBA players in that line-up [Fabricio Oberto, Luis Scola, Carlos Delfino and Andres Nocioni], the South-American giants have a contingent of players that earn their trade in Spain’s ACB. Namely their starting point-guard, Pablo Prigioni of Real Madrid included.
Paolo Quinteros of CAI Zaragoza and Juan Gutierrez of CB Granada, as well as Matias Sandes of Ayuda en Accion Fuenlabrada and Hernan Jasen of Asefa Estudiantes are amongst the other ACB based players included in coach, Sergio Hernandez’s preliminary squad. All of the mentioned won bronze at the Summer Olympics in Beijing in 2008.
Argentina will start their road to Kayseri with warm-up games against Australia. The three-game series will begin in Perth on June 25th. Then they will move to Melbourne on the 27th, then completing their series in Adelaide on the 29th.
Argentina preliminary squad:
Pablo Prigioni (Real Madrid), Juan Manuel Fernandez (Temple), Juan Pablo Figueroa (Atenas de Cordoba), Juan Pablo Cantero (Atenas de Cordoba), Paolo Quinteros (CAI Zaragoza), Carlos Delfino (Milwaukee Bucks), Andres Nocioni (Sacramento Kings), Matias Sandes (Ayuda en Accion Fuenlabrada), Hernan Jasen (Asefa Estudiantes), Federico Kammerichs (Regatas Corrientes), Marcos Mata (Penarol de Mar del Plata), Luis Scola (Houston Rockets), Leonardo Gutierrez (Penarol), Fabricio Oberto (Washington Wizards), Roman Gonzalez (Quimsa), Juan Pedro Gutierrez (CB Granada).
John Hobbs for talkbasket.net
