Calipari says Charlie Villanueva too fat for Dominican national team

And so the decline of Charlie Villanueva continues…

The Dominican Republic has a chance to make the London Olympics this summer, they are in the pre-Olympic qualifying tournament for teams that just missed out qualifying last year. Get a top 3 finish and they can pack their bags for London.

John Calipari — last seen coaching Kentucky to a national title — coaches the Dominican team. And he made his first big move of the summer recently:

He cut Charlie Villanueva. For being fat. From the Detroit News (hat tip to Ball Don’t Lie):

“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.”

Villanueva denied this, tweeting a photo of himself at 243 pounds (about 10 pounds below his playing weight last season). However, Calipari and company had issues with Villanueva’s conditioning last summer, then he played just 13 games for the Pistons last season due to ankle and other injuries. That said, the Pistons praised his efforts to get back in the lineup and his work in rehab.

What’s the deal here? As Eric Freeman noted at BDL, Villanueva’s game just doesn’t really fit Calipari’s uptempo, dribble penetration offense. But to cut an NBA player you need a better excuse, so let’s go with weight.

The Dominican roster still has some serious talent on it. Like the Hawks Al Horford, who needs to have a monster summer if they are going to London.

By the way, don’t think Calipari took the Dominican job to set up future recruiting pipelines. That’s not it at all. He just loves teaching the game. Why would you think he’d have another motive? You are so cynical.