Gold medal causing extra stress for Spurs’ De Colo

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Nadno De ColoOn media day, San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich and guard Tony Parker talked about bringing Parker back slowly and not overworking him after playing a majority of the offseason for France at Eurobasket.

Playing an 82-game season followed by a late playoff run that ended in Game 7 of the NBA Finals and adding on a full Eurobasket tournament can take it's toll on a player's body.

But apparently Parker's teammate on the Spurs and the French National Team, is experiencing some pains of a different kind after Eurobasket, according to his interview with ZonaDosTres.com.

You wake up great. After a very short night and knowing you have a few days to take advantage and enjoy this title. You wake up with neck pain from the weight of the gold medal. (Laughs).

Don't expect Popovich to feel sorry for De Colo and his neck pain from his heavy gold medal. De Colo said he was back in action shortly after Eurobasket since he had to join the team through training camp at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs.

Throughout training camp and now throughout the preseason, De Colo will have to battle for a spot in the rotation and it'll be a three-horse race between him, Cory Joseph and Patty Mills to play backup to Tony Parker at backup. De Colo is hoping his sophomore campaign brings more minutes and a bigger role.

I hope to play more, of course. Having more responsibilities on this team and, of course, I'll keep working to get it and to return to the Finals again.

After the experience of hoisting the Nikolai Semashko EuroBasket trophy and having the gold medal draped across his chest, De Colo will look to follow that with the Larry O'Brien and some gold around his ring finger to compliment his medal.