I agree. Of course I want the US to win the gold. I just want them to do it without wearing out and risking injury to key players on my favorite NBA team. And I want Batum to stop fucking playing every damn summer.
Games put more wear and tear on your body than just playing in a pickup game or practicing, especially when a team relies on you as much as France relies on Nic. He basically has no offseason, and it seems like every year he injures himself and he either misses chunks of time or it hinders his ability to play. First it was his shoulder, and last year it was his wrist. These things need time to heal, and if he jumps immediately from NBA play to international play, those injuries will never heal properly.
Damn right I am. Should he be prevented from playing, if he wants to play? Absolutely not. I just wish he didn't want to.
This is what pisses me off. If batum was durable, then I'm fine with him playing for the national team. Reality, he's not durable and he needs rest. So I would be more for Aldridge or Lillard to play for team USA, because they aren't hurt and already prove they can play big minutes and not get hurt. Until batum can prove he can be injury free, then he'd better fucking rest up and be 100% for te fucking team giving him 12 mil per!
Just accept that it is common practice for players from just about every sport to want to represent their country in international competitions. Until it gets written into their contracts that they shouldn't (and it won't: the NBA won't want to piss off Fiba) then suck it up. As other people have pointed out, players will be playing pickup ball wherever. Unless you can prove that he's at greater risk doing this than what any other player would be doing, you've no grounds for complaint. Not that that's stopped you before. Do you give a shit about Hockey? Do you complain when its players want to represent their country? Personally I'm glad to have our players playing in televised events that actually matter (at least to the participants) in the offseason. Because I'm a fan of your hometown team I'm pleased to be able to watch its players play.
Define "durable". It doesn't strike me that he's any less "durable" than the average NBA player. And thanks to the Blazers sucking hugely he doesn't have to play those pesky playoff games. Meanwhile Tony Parker plays well into June, but you don't see Spurs fans whining about him representing France. (Or maybe you do, but after he's given them three championships they can shut the fuck up.)
He will be ready to play once the season starts so this really is just a tweak... Could've happened doing anything.
Over his career, Batum has played in 328 regular season games. Parker has played 332 in that span. Who knew 4 games made all the difference?
How many of those games did Parker play injured? I can count batum 35% games played last season, 20% the season before and was relatively healthy the season before.
100% But he's Tony Fucking Parker. And besides: EVERY SINGLE NBA PLAYER has knocks and bruises. Some sit out, others play through it. Wesley's probably never played NOT injured. It's the nature of the game. The really sensible thing would be to cut the number of NBA games from the ridiculous 82 to a more sensible 60ish.
