Spurs: Notebook: Popovich wants light international load
Web Posted: 10/14/2007 01:20 AM CDT
Mike Monroe
San Antonio Express-News
Spurs coach Gregg Popovich on Saturday expressed some of the same concerns about the grind of some international competitions that NBA commissioner David Stern raised last week in Spain.
Stern told reporters in Madrid last week that international competitions “… are too long for basketball, but FIBA is going in the wrong direction, adding teams and making it longer.”
Popovich supports his players who want to compete for their national teams but agrees the long grind of an international tournament takes a toll. He said point guard Tony Parker’s participation with the French team this summer came close to reaching a point of diminishing returns. Parker has yet to play this preseason, sitting out Saturday’s game against Panathinaikos.
“It’s tough for every NBA team that has made huge investments in these players,” Popovich said, “but we realize these guys are going to play somewhere anyway, so you tell yourself that if they’re in an organized situation, that’s better than just playing on the street someplace. We convince ourselves that playing on the national teams is OK, because that’s organized, but there is a point of diminishing returns, too.”
No Horry: Robert Horry joined the three injured point guards — Parker, Jacque Vaughn and Beno Udrih — in street clothes behind the bench. He wasn’t injured, just given a night to rest.
Missing Vassilis: Popovich says he wishes Vassilis Spanoulis, now a guard for Panathinaikos, would have stayed in the States.
Spanoulis, traded to the Spurs in the offseason as part of the Luis Scola deal, was waived in early July after he made it clear he had no intention of remaining in the NBA.
“He had a great chance to be a backup on our team,” Popovich said. “I was disappointed when he said he didn’t want to play in the NBA anymore. I didn’t even get to talk to him about it. Not one word.”
Spanoulis did not play in Saturday’s game. He opted to stay behind in Greece while nursing a sore calf.