There’s no denying the Argentinian national team is talented. From San Antonio Spurs’ Manu Ginobili, Andres Nocioni, Luis Scola, Fabricio Oberto, to Carlos Delfino, this team is loaded but it also means this is an older squad as they reunited their best from the glory days of Argentina basketball.
Argentina has an average age of 31.9 years making them the oldest team at the FIBA Americas tournament something Ginobili is well aware of.
“This is a tournament of 10 games in 12 days and we are not exactly the youngest team,” said Manu Ginóbili, who made his national team debut in 1998.
Indeed this tournament is a sprint so rest, health, and trying to put games out of reach early would be to the benefit of Argentina.
“Our youngest players are (Juan) Gutiérrez, who is 27, and Delfino, 29. For the time being we are fine because we took every chance we had to thrash our opposition,” added the San Antonio Spurs player. “I’m happy to get rested and to avoid suffering in the last minutes, which is something that consumes a team both physically and mentally.”
However, this age topic should be normal to hear for Ginobili. How often have the Spurs been considered old and dead in the water by the masses when they are not winning games? But if they start rattling off winning streaks, they are no longer old but are experienced.
Regardless, rest will be key for this team as the tournament marches on. Ginobili and the rest of the experienced Argentina squad will next play Puerto Rico, with an average age of 27.7 years, on Friday.
