Cross yet another internationally-known name off the list for participation in the 2010 FIBA World Championship: Dirk Nowitzki today announced in a good news/bad news kind of way that he would not be playing for Team Germany in this summer’s tournament but that he will be suiting up for next year’s 2011 Eurobasket competition.
Nowitzki complimented the current crop of youngsters populating the German roster – guys like Lucca Staiger, Robin Benzing and prospective Oklahoma City Thunderer Tibor Pleiss and others from Germany’s Eurobasket 2009 team as well as this year’s U17 team – and said “I am sure that they will present themselves well at the World Championship and will continue to develop.”
Giving reasons for declining the opportunity to play, Nowitzki said – and stop BiE if you’d heard this one before – “I signed a new contract in Dallas, where there is a new team and entirely new conditions, and would like to focus 100% on the upcoming NBA season this summer.”
The official writeup at the German Basketball Federation website noted that Nowitzki’s absence would appear to make Chris Kaman’s inclusion on the squad very unlikely.
