The newly appointed Dominican Republic national basketball team head coach, Kenny Atkinson, has told the Atlanta Constitution newspaper that he is leaving it up to Al Horford to decide whether he will play with the Dominican national basketball team in its bid to qualify to play in the 2016 Rio Olympics.
The Dominican Republic qualified for the FIBA World Basketball Cup last year and advanced to the Round of 16. It finished 13th overall in the tournament.
Last week, Eduardo Najri of Southgate, the agency that manages the national basketball team announced the hiring of Kenny Atkinson, assistant coach of the Atlanta Hawks, Al Horford’s NBA team, to be head coach of the Dominican basketball team.
The newspaper speculates that his first task may be to recruit Horford, the Hawks’ three-time All Star center to play for his home nation.
“There is some pretty good potential for the team with NBA players,” Atkinson said. “I’m not sure if Al is going to play. My stance is it’s up to him. It’s his personal decision,” he told the media.
While Horford has played on the team in the past, he was not in the team that qualified for the World Cup in Madrid, or the team that played in Madrid.
The Atlanta Constitution reports that it “appears unlikely that Horford will commit to playing in the 2015 FIBA Americas Tournament Aug 25-Sept 6. He last played for the Dominican Republic at the 2009 FIBA Americas Tournament.”
“It’s going to be a good opportunity for Kenny,” Horford said. “He definitely has some influence on me if I do decide to play but understanding that we have a long season and my priority is here with the Hawks,” he told the newspaper.
The 10-team FIBA Americas Tournament will be held in Monterrey, Mexico this year with the top two teams qualifying for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
http://www.ajc.com/news/sports/basketball/atkinson-named-dominican-coach-will-recruit-horfor/nktjc/