Reports of Jeremy Pargo’s impending Georgian citizenship have been greatly exaggerated, it seems.
Earlier this week, English-language Eurobasket.com reported that the Georgian Basketball Federation is willing to offer All-Euroleague nominee Jeremy Pargo a passport.
To wit: “Reports says that the Georgian federation are considering naturalizing Pargo so [that] he will play for Georgia in Eurobasket 2011 in Lithuania.” The thinking, at least on Eurobasket writer Nikloz Arveladze’s part, was that the national team would drop Gran Canaria’s Taurean Green – already a Georgian citizen – from the proscribed naturalized player spot and substitute Pargo.
While it is true that Green may not play for Georgia in this summer’s Eurobasket, national team officials addressed the Eurobasket report to Georgia media; one stated that “I do not know where this information came from, but the fact is” (“არ ვიცი, საიდან გაჩნდა ეს ინფორმაცია, მაგრამ ფაქტია”) that no such plans to nab Pargo are underway and coach Igor Kokoškov is building a game plan which includes Green.
Elsewhere in the blogosphere, Pargo appears completely coincidentally to serve as subject of the rather unkindly-titled post “Where Are They Now? Jeremy Pargo.” (Um, he’s a Euroleague All-Teamer playing in the big league’s Final Four…?)
Team Georgia also includes Americans Shammond Williams (Montegranaro), Tyrone Ellis (Estudiantes), and Malvin Sanders (Menorca Basquet).
