CAN – Dalembert still upset after being kicked off Team Canada

TORONTO (National team) – One of the more bizarre episodes to occur in international basketball this summer happened at the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Athens, when Canada coach Leo Rautins booted center Samuel Dalembert off the team.

Dalembert struggled in a blowout defeat to Slovenia and the following day, with the team about to depart for the arena to take on Korea, sparks flew.

"I was already on the bus, sitting down, and he (Rautins) asked to talk to me," Dalembert said in remarks published on Canada Basketball’s official website.

"The timing was very bad. Stuff was going on. Stuff he said to me, I talked back. After that, there was a gesture that he made that really upset me.

"After that we started talking, and things escalated.

"I was playing for me. I was playing for Canada. But obviously the bus wasn't going to leave if I didn't get off the bus. So I made the decision to get off the bus."

Without Dalembert, Canada fell behind against Korea but came back and won, only to then crash to a big defeat to Croatia in the knockout stage.

After the win over Korea, Rautins had said to FIBA.com: "Without getting into too many details, we decided to move forward with the players that we felt had the passion and desire to be here and play for Canada and that’s about it, in a nutshell.

"It’s disappointing, for sure, but we have to have players who are 100% committed to it. If they’re not, it’s not going to happen for us."

The Canada Basketball website said that Rautins called Dalembert a "prima donna" and added that the player had distanced himself from the rest of the team.

Rautins also revealed the players were unanimous in their agreement to move forward without Dalembert.

Dalembert, who travelled to Toronto at the weekend with Philadelphia taking on the Raptors in a pre-season game, says he won’t be coming back as long as Rautins remains in charge.

"I will say no," Dalembert said.

"You never know. You get one slap; you don't know when you're going to get another slap again. I'm not ready for that."

Rautins is under contract with Canada until the end of 2008 and it’s not known if he will remain in charge.

Wayne Parrish, the executive director of the national basketball organization, has been trying to calm down the situation and Dalembert claimed he had received an apology from him.

"What happened in the summer was unfortunate," Parrish said.

"But my hope is over the next six to eight to 10 months we can resolve this in a good way. It's important that the lines of communication are open with Sam and I, and I know Leo feels the same way."

FIBA