Ever wondered what it’d be like to watch San Antonio Spurs’ guards Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili square off against one another? Come late July you won’t have to.
The group’s for the 2012 Summer Olympics were revealed and the United States, France and Argentina were all put in Group A. Tony Parker, Boris Diaw and crew versus Manu Ginobili, Fabricio Oberto and crew. Tunisia and whoever the first and second place finishers in this July’s World Qualifying Tournament.
Not enough Spurs for you? That’s fine. Group B has 2008 Silver Medalist Spain, along with Brazil, Australia, Great Britain, China and the third place qualifier. That’s Tiago Splitter’s Brazilian team, Patty Mills’ Australia and Great Britain possibly featuring Spurs’ draftee Ryan Richards. That’s seven current, former and potentially future Spurs playing against one another in London.
The top four teams from each group will qualify for round two. Qualifying for round two won’t be a problem for Team USA, but if they don’t bring their A games, France or Argentina could be in trouble depending on which teams win the qualifying tournaments. In Group B, Brazil shouldn’t have a problem advancing with Spain, Spurs assistant coach Brett Brown’s Australian team will be a fringe team and Great Britain doesn’t have a chance in hell to get out of pool play since the only reason they qualified was because they’re the host country.
If we assume the best, the Spurs will have roughly two weeks of rest from the end of the season to the start of Olympic training camps. The games themselves get going July 27th.
For Spurs fans, I am sure they will be keeping an eye on the health of Parker, Ginobili, Mills, Diaw and Splitter when next season rolls around considering they will have logged many minutes on the court from this season, playoffs, and Olympic games.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
