PISTONS: Tayshaun Prince earned a spot on the USA Basketball team for the Beijing Games. Dwyane Wade will join Prince on the team barring a last-minute change for the Miami Heat guard. The roster will be announced Monday during a news conference in Chicago. Wade’s Olympic selection first was reported by the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.
The team will formally begin training in mid-July and is scheduled to start the Olympic series of games in Beijing Aug. 10. The gold medal game is Aug. 24, the day the games close. Phoenix forward Amare Stoudemire is withdrawing from consideration. Stoudemire was concerned about about pushing his body too hard after knee surgery in 2005 and 2006.
COLLEGE: The National Association of Basketball Coaches said it strongly opposes accepting commitments from students who have not yet completed their sophomore season in high school. The decision comes a little more than a month after the 15-year-old Michael Avery said he would attend Kentucky, and cites NCAA rules that prohibit coaches from contacting athletes before mid-June following their sophomore season.
The board of directors said the decision was made, in part, because younger athletes had not yet demonstrated “sufficient academic credentials” to be admitted to school. The board also acknowledged it was too difficult to project how refined their basketball skills would be by graduation.
SPURS: San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich said Manu Ginobili should “definitely not” play for Argentina in the Olympics if his injured left ankle doesn’t improve. Ginobili hurt his ankle early in the playoffs and a recent MRI revealed that a ligament in his heel is about five times the size of the one in his other heel, Popovich said. Ginobili will have another MRI in three weeks, but Popovich said that “if it hasn’t changed at all, I think he should definitely not play in the Olympics.”
GRIZZLIES: Juan Carlos Navarro rejoined FC Barcelona after a one-season stint with Memphis. Navarro signed a five-year contract, opting to return home instead of playing in the NBA.
“We plan on extending a qualifying offer to Juan Carlos so that the Grizzlies retain the right to match any future offer if he ever decides to return to the NBA,” Memphis general manager Chris Wallace said.
The 28-year-old guard averaged 10.9 points, 2.6 rebounds and 2.2 assists with the Grizzlies and was chosen to the NBA All-Rookie second team in May. Navarro made 156 3-pointers during the season, two short of equaling the NBA record for a rookie.
Associated Press
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