John Calipari calls Charlie Villanueva ‘overweight’: Cuts him from Dominican Republic national team – NBA News
John Calipari, who is the head coach of the Dominican Republic basketball team, has decided to cut Charlie Villanueva from the team ahead of the Olympic Games qualifying tournament.
The reason stated by the coach is that Villanueva is overweight and not fit enough to be part of the team.
Detroit News reports that Calipari talked to Deportes en la Z and said:
“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.”
Calipari was the head coach of the Kentucky Wildcats basketball team this collegiate season, and led them to the NCAA championship. He has also been attached with Dominican Republic basketball team, who are looking to make one
last attempt of qualifying for the London Olympics.
The Dominicans are all set to participate in a pre Olympics qualifying tournament for teams that just missed qualifying last year. The top three teams in the tournament will enter into the Olympic Games later this year.
Villanueva has however denied the claim by Calipari, tweeting a photo of himself at 243 pounds, 10 pounds less than his weight last time when he played for the team. He did suffer from injuries all season long, which allowed him
to play only 13 games for the Detroit Pistons.
There is little doubt that Villanueva does not fit into the playing style of the Kentucky coach who relies more on penetration offense rather than a more structured approach.
Calipari however needed a better reason to cut him from the team so he used the overweight excuse. This comes as another blow for Villanueva, who has had a tough season with the Pistons battling with injuries and not being able
to compete for most of the season. The Pistons have applauded the effort he put into his rehab program, but missing almost one whole season is not a good sign for a basketball player.
The Dominican Republic squad will also include Atlanta Hawks centre Al Horford. The player also had injury problems throughout the last NBA season, but got it going for the Hawks in the first round of the playoffs. He is completely
fit now and will need to have a big tournament if the Dominican Republic want to qualify for the Olympics.
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