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Spurs Want Ginobili to Miss the Olympics

Manu Ginobili had fully intended to play for Argentina in the Olympics this summer, but the ankle injury he sustained during the NBA playoffs may force him to change his plans. For the first time, Ginobili admitted that his injury was worse than he first thought, and that there was a possibility it would keep him from representing his country in the games. Which would be just fine with Spurs' coach Gregg Popovich.

Pop expressed his concerns, and made it very clear that he and the team would prefer that Manu rest his injured ankle and skip the Olympics.
"My concern is that it is going to get worse. He's got to seriously consider his health."

"He's just as hobbled as he was in the L.A. series. If we had a game today, he couldn't play."

"He's got to go back and live there (in Argentina) some day. But his bills get paid by his performance with the Spurs."

That last line is classic Popovich, isn't it? He should know by now though, after years of filling his roster with foreign-born players, that their country comes first, even before their lucrative job playing in the NBA. Just ask Yao Ming, who skipped out on the Rockets' season early to make sure he'd be ready to play for China in the Olympics.

Under the collective bargaining agreement, an NBA team can't order a player not to play in the Olympics. But it appears there's no rule preventing Popovich from making his feelings known, and for making the decision an extremely tough one for Ginobili.

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