Tag: San Antonio Spurs

Insured: Parker can play for Les Bleus

The French Basketball Federation has obtained sufficient insurance for its NBA players, clearing the way for Spurs guard Tony Parker and others to play in the Eurobasket tournament in Lithuania later this summer.

During the ongoing NBA lockout, the league has been either unable or unwilling to offer its standard share of insurance for international players to play in FIBA events.

As a result, the full burden of securing pricey insurance for players’ NBA contracts has fallen to the often cash-strapped foreign federations. Earlier this offseason, the 29-year-old Parker said he would not play for France unless his contract could be insured.

, France has accomplished that mission, lining up insurance for the roughly $130 million in NBA contracts on its roster.

Expected to join Parker for the start of Les Bleus camp today are fellow NBAers Boris Diaw, Nicolas Batum, Ronny Turiaf and Kevin Seraphin.

Chicago Bulls center Joakim Noah is also free to join the team, but could be held out due to an ankle injury. Phoenix’s Mikael Pietrus will skip the tournament while recovering from knee surgery.

News of the French federation’s success in solving the insurance issue came after a , though it is uncertain if it came as a direct results of those talks.

Lakers’ Bynum taking boxing lessons during lockout

Just what the NBA needed — another public-relations hit during the lockout.

But that’s what the league got when Los Angeles Lakers center Andrew Bynum spent some of his time away from basketball taking boxing lessons.

Yes, that’s  the same Andrew Bynum who will be suspended for the first five games once the season begins for his thuggish attack on J.J. Barea during the playoffs.

Bynum is working with noted  boxing trainer Freddie Roach to get in better condition during the lockout.

“I got a two a day tomorrow first road work in the morning, then back in the ring in the afternoon!,” about his early boxing work. “I’m going hard y’all!”

Providing the 7-foot, 285-pound Bynum with some knowledge of how to use his fists should be something that should make rival centers shudder across the NBA.

Is Manu Ginobili a Hall of Famer?

ESPN.com asks this question, among others, of a roundtable of its True Hoop bloggers. The answer is a unanimous, “You betcha.”

Not much to add from these parts, except to echo what ESPN.com’s straw pollsters have already said. If the case were based solely on his NBA contributions, Ginobili’s ticket to Springfield upon retirement would be up for debate. Three NBA championship rings, however, are a tough argument to beat.

Throw in Ginobili’s accomplishments on the international stage as the only player in the history of the world to win a Euroleague title, Olympic gold medal and NBA championship, and you’ve got yourself an unassailable Hall of Fame resume.

It could be argued Ginobili deserves inclusion simply for his work as Pied Piper of the upstart 2004 Argentine team that stunned the world and took home gold in Athens.

Incidentally, ESPN.com asks the same question about Tony Parker. The jury there is split with two yeses, two maybes and one nope.

These are the kind of questions we ponder during a lockout.