Tag: San Antonio Spurs

Amar’e not ready to go ‘native’ on Chinese trip

New York forward Amar’e Stoudemire has explored and enjoyed  most areas of Chinese culture during his recent trip to Chinese for a large multi-national shoe country famous for its swooshes.

Stoudemire has explored the Great Wall of China, ridden in a rickshaw and even at the Nike Festival of Sports.

Buton exploring all elements of China — namely Chinese street food.

Here’s how Stoudemire described it in a blog post at Amarestoudemire.com:

“Spent my last few days getting the local flavor of the people and culture of Beijing by visiting the Chinese Street Market. I was starving, but there was no way I was messing with these.  They deep fry them here.  I am going to have to pass!”

In particular, Stoudemire wanted nothing to do with the assortment of seahorses, silkworms and scorpions on a stick served up at various places in Beijing.

Something tells me that Stoudemire — like many tourists returning home after an overseas trip — couldn’t wait to savor a Big Mac and some fries as soon as he landed back home.

Will we ever see an NBA All-Star Game again in San Antonio?

The news that prompted a question about whether the league’s mid-season classic ever would return to San Antonio.

The league traditionally likes to revolve this game around, particularly for franchises with new buildings.

But with the ATT Center open since 2002, we still haven’t seen an All-Star Game there.

Since that opening, we’ve seen the league allow the game to be played in Las Vegas, at the Dallas Cowboys’ Stadium in Arlington and once before in Houston. And it will be heading back to Houston again with a gap of only seven years — shortest span in league history for a single franchise between times hosting All-Star Games.

The ATT Center was suitable for the WNBA All-Star game last month, but apparently might not be good enough — or the league can’t block enough hotel rooms in the busy convention period of late February — to bring another NBA All-Star Game to town when San Antonio’s climate might be at its best of the year.  

And the immediate future doesn’t look bright. The league will have the renovated Madison Square Garden open next year, along the with the new Barclays Center in Brooklyn for the New Jersey Nets. The league hasn’t had an All-Star Game at the United Center in Chicago, Canseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, the Palace at Auburn Hills (Mich.) and the American Airlines Center in Dallas or the American Airlines Arena in Miami.

The only franchises to have failed to host an All-Star Game include Toronto, Memphis and Portland. Oklahoma City hosted two previous All-Star Games when the frachise was in Seattle.

But with 14 different teams (including the joint Laker/Clipper All-Star extravaganzas) hosting the All-Star Game since the Spurs, it might be doubtful if the game is ever coming back.

The NCAA appears to have outgrown the Alamodome for men’s Final Fours after overlooking the facility in its last bidding cycle. And it seems that the NBA has similarly progressed past the ATT Center as well for its spectacle events as well.

Oberto’s hand injury could keep him out of FIBA Americas tourney

Former Spurs center Fabricio Oberto’s chances of playing for Argentina in the upcoming FIBA Americas tournament will hinge on a quick recovery from a recent hand injury.

Oberto sustained  a fibrillar rupture on his left adductor muscle, a long muscle buried deep in the hand that adducts to the thumb, last week. After the injury, doctors plan to limit Oberto’s practice for about two weeks.

But Argentina coach Julio Lamas told FIBA.com that he for use in the FIBA tournament next month. 

“I hope I can count on him for the tournament,” said Lamas, who plans keep Oberto on the 12-man roster even if he can’t play in early games of the tournament.  “I’m not sure he will make it, though.”

Oberto, 36, returned to his hometown of Cordoba, Argentina, for recovery before returning to the team earlier this week.

The Argentina team will play an exhibition Thursday night in Buenos Aires against Venezuela before Lamas trims the roster to 12 players.

Oberto, a member of the Spurs 2007 NBA championship team, was an important member of the Argentina team that claimed the gold medal in the 2004 Olympics in Athens. And his absence from his current team would be a big loss, according to teammate Manu Ginobili.

“We need him,” Ginobili told FIBA.com.

But teammate Leonardo Gutiérrez expects Oberto to contribute to the team.
 
“Oberto will be part of the team,” Gutiérrez said. “He’s a key player and he has to be there even if he plays five, 10 or 15 minutes.”

A heart ailment cut short Oberto’s NBA career after he announced his retirement after five games with the Portland Trailblazers last season. He played with the Spurs from 2005-09.

Oberto worked hard to get back into playing shape and apparently can still help the Argentinian team. It would be a shame not to see him compete at the FIBA tournament because of his recent nagging injury.