Manu Ginobili: 'I will play with Argentina in the summer'

The guard of the San Antonio Spurs, Manu Ginóbili, talked about his intentions to play in the 2011 FIBA Americas Championship, his experiences with coach Lamas and the last performance of the Argentinean national team.
Ginobili averages 19 points, 3.7 rebounds and 4.8 assists per game this season and announced that he will be in Mar del Plata 2011. Last year he didn't participate in the 2010 FIBA World Championship and the time off he took made him have a quick start in the NBA.
"The rest and good preseason by not going to the FIBA World Championship was key in my performance,” said the player to La Nación.
"Even if they select me as an All Star or MVP because I rested in 2010, I will play for the national team," he added.
The return of Julio Lamas brings good memories to Ginobili as he played with the senior team in the 1998 FIBA World Championship, just as his career started to turn.
"In '98 he brought me to the FIBA World Championship when a lot of people thought that I could not make it. I remember those last 10 days with 13 players. When I knew that I made the cut, I swore that I could fly."
About the 2010 FIBA World Championship, where Argentina finished fifth, he said: "My abscense was easy to digest because it was said with five months of anticipation, but what happended to Chapu Nocioni was like a bullet to the neck. With all the effort he put to come back, it was a hard shot to the team. The national team played well. Lost a game that they could have lost against Serbia but fell in the most important game. Lithuania rolled over us. We had bad timing to have the worst game of the tournament. The team rose and beat Russia and Spain that were not easy and finished fifth which is good. After beating Brazil he had a lot of dreams. It hurts not being on top, but the balance is not bad at all."
Ginobili will join players like Andrés Nocioni, Luis Scola, Carlos Delfino, Pablo Prigioni, Fabricio Oberto, among others in the FIBA Americas Championship as they look for one of the two top spots in the 2012 Olympics.