Manu Out for the Olympics?
The Argentinian National Team qualified for the Olympics last summer with only one of their collection of NBA stars. Luis Scola held the squad down as they placed second behind the U.S., which was good enough to make it into Group A.
But before this stacked squad has ever gotten a chance to come together for Beijing, it looks like they’re going to lose their biggest contributor, Manu Ginobili. It turns out that the ankle injury that hobbled him during the Hornets’ and Lakers’ series could very well keep him out of the Olympics. The ligament in his left heels is five times the size of the same ligament in the other foot.
“I have to say you that my injury is much serious than I expect,” said Manu. “I made many tests during the last period and I heard just bad news about my left ankle. At this time I do not want to consider the possibility not to playing in Beijing. I always was an optimist and I will do everything I need in order to show up on the court in jersey of my country. I think that everything will be known until July 6th when I will get final results of the tests.”
As you’d imagine, even if everything looks intact on July 6th, the Spurs will do everything in their power to keep Manu out of the Games. Gregg Popovich said that if the ankle doesn’t improve then Manu should “definitely not” play in Beijing.
June 19th, 2008 at 4:00 pm
djkianoosh says:
this is a big blow to argentina. they could have easily contended for silver/bronze and this really hurts their chances at grabbing a medal. he shot a ridiculous over 70% for the entire tournament last time and was definitely the best player. sucks that they won’t get a chance to defend the gold properly.
he needs to shut it down and not risk it, cause he might ruin all of next season for the spurs if anything bad happens.
June 19th, 2008 at 4:13 pm
Brandon Hoffman says:
This is a shame. I really wanted to face the Argentinian team at full strength.
But I don’t agree with NBA teams prohibiting their players to represent their countries.
Players who are injured or have a long history of injury carry risk, but playing in the Olympics (for most players) is a once in a lifetime experience.
June 19th, 2008 at 5:15 pm
rangerjohn says:
ok i will say it, being a homer like i am you know, this injury is EXACTLY the ONLY reason why the spurs didnt repeat or at worst get past the lakers. the spurs had 2-3 forth quarter colapses against the lakers and the 4th is manu time.
that being said, all the talk about dirk “is not soft because he came back early from injury”, MANU PLAYED THROUGH THE INJURY ,now thats what NOT SOFT is about!
June 19th, 2008 at 5:51 pm
rodnets says:
Im from Argentina, Manu is not the only one of 2004 gold medal team that won´t play. Pepe Sanchez (former Temple Owl and Sixers/GState) won´t be there. For me he was equally valuable with his brain and execution.
However I think Argentina would compete for silver/bronze with the actual team. Delfino could replace Manu cause he is older than he was in 2004 and ready to take the load with Scola.
You also would see more of Walter Herrmann’s Shining Hair…
What made Argentina won the Olympics was TEAM effort, something US doesn´t really know how to achieve with all their stars. I would take Boston Celtics (+Howard and Paul) to the Olympics and have secured the gold without a doubt.
Peace
June 19th, 2008 at 6:25 pm
hatinonmanu says:
hopefully manu gets an infection or something in his foot during some sort of surgery and has to quit basketball for life.
June 19th, 2008 at 7:55 pm
rodnets says:
wow #5 you must hate manu so much, how many daggers and flops did he got on your team…
June 19th, 2008 at 9:33 pm
danachen says:
really? i just read this news on a forum on tall dating site —Tallmingle.com—, seems it is a big news there.
June 20th, 2008 at 1:25 am
The Mitten says:
@hatinonmanu
You shouldn’t wish that sh*t anyone. hater
@Manu
STAY HOME. GET HEALTHY. TAKE A SUMMER OFF!!!!
June 20th, 2008 at 7:59 am
djKianoosh says:
rodnets has a great point. I’ve kinda wondered at times why US basketball doesn’t just send that year’s NBA championship team to the Olympics to represent. Kind of like a bonus for winning the championship. You could round the team out with say a max of three other players from around the league, just cause you gotta figure the champion already has 2-3 great players, they only need a couple more studs/starters.
Take Boston this year. Great team. playing together and all, but add Chris Paul, Deron or Kidd. Add Kobe. Add Dwight Howard. Hello. Done. Bye. Makes too much sense I guess.
June 20th, 2008 at 8:28 am
rangerjohn says:
dj
the 2 problems i see with this, 1, the guys have already played 100+ games and are deserving of some rest, they may be extreamly tired (celtics played 108 games this yr not counting preseason) now you want them to go play 10 more right before training camp starts?
2) team usa is a mix of players from all over, that is the beauty of it, people from every town want to see their players on the team.
so you would rather see perkins play starting center on team usa then d howard? or old arse ray allen instead of say d-wade? i understand your point, but just liek the nba, there are only so many roster spots so taking an established team and “Adding pieces” would not work either.
i love the way they did it this yr, making the guys be part of the team early and often. nothing worse then what they did last olympics, just throwing some guys in there and saying here go play. they let the usa down and they let larry brown down making him look like an idiot.
June 20th, 2008 at 1:42 pm
Jim says:
Also, the Spurs team from 07 would have been pretty slight, since I think Duncan, Finley, and Bowen would have been the only eligible guys in the top 7.
June 20th, 2008 at 8:10 pm
doc says:
They’ll lose by 35 to the US instead of 25 now.