The Dominican Republic has a shot at playing basketball for the London Olympics, but they will have to get past the pre-Olympic qualifying tournament.Last year, they missed out. With John Calipari as the team's coach, they plan to get in. The Kentucky head coach made a big move, though, as he cut Charlie Villanueva from the team.
Why? His weight.
From the Detroit News:
“Charlie was not in good form when we saw him,” Calipari told Deportes en la Z. “He was overweight, and unfortunately, we could not slow down the entire team and it was a decision taken collectively. Last year, Charlie behaved really well with us and his only problem was his weight.”
However, Villanueva would respond on Twitter, posting a picture of himself at 243 pounds, which is ten less pounds than he was the year before.
If that's the case then, why did he REALLY get cut? Eric Freeman of Ball Don't Lie thinks it could be because Villanueva does not fit with the team's system, which is an uptempo offense with dribble penetration.
I guess that's a good excuse then by saying weight, but it might have been better for coach Cal to have said that. However, will the Dominican team succeed without Villanueva? They still have Al Horford, so they have a good shot this summer.
We'll see what happens. But it's for sure we won't be seeing Charlie in London this summer.
Josh Dhani is the founder of FootBasket. You can read more about him at his website. Follow him on Twitter @joshdhani.
Original Story:
http://www.footbasket.com/2012/06/joh...
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June 13, 2012
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