URU - Granger focuses on Unicaja move

MALAGA (FIBA Americas Championship/FIBA Basketball World Cup) - Jayson Granger says he loved every minute of his first full summer with Uruguay's senior national team in 2012.

A player who blossomed into a solid Spanish league player with Estudiantes in Madrid the past several seasons competed at last year's South American Championship and helped fire the Uruguayans to a third-place finish.

The 1.86m guard was third in scoring for Uruguay at 12.8 points per game, first in assists at 3.2apg and second in rebounding at 5.4rpg.

"It was great, great experience," Jayson said to FIBA.com back in March.

"I had been waiting for the opportunity since a long time ago and I can't wait for this summer."

Just a month away from the start of the FIBA Americas Championship in Venezuela, though, and Granger won't be with the national team but instead focusing on his big move in Spain to Unicaja Malaga, where he will play for the club's new coach, Joan Plaza.

"I see myself in a difficult situation, in which very few people understand," Granger said.

"I just signed for a new club, new city, new coach, new teammates, so I want to be training there from the first minute.

"It is true that there is a guy (new signing Mindaugas Kuzminskas) who is coming later, but his situation is different to mine so we can't compare."

Kuzminskas, who is in Lithuania's preliminary squad for the EuroBasket, played for Plaza at Zalgiris Kaunas last season and should have a better idea of what to expect in his first days at Unicaja.

"Besides, I've hardly stopped, my body needs to rest, while I've had back problems, which thankfully has not come back to bother me, but do not want to overload it knowing that this year I have two games a week," Granger said.

Unicaja will play in the Spanish Liga Endesa and the Euroleague.

"To put an end to the issue," Granger said to the Uruguayan media, "I am proud that (coach) Pablo Lopez has called me but I have to make a decision, and it is not easy, I have to think about me and it's better if I stay with Unicaja.

"And do not confuse this with the club saying it does not want me (to play for Uruguay) or may ban me or something.

"The decision not to play is mine alone."

Uruguay will still have a very good and competitive team at the FIBA Americas Championship, where they will take on Puerto Rico, Canada, Jamaica and Brazil in Group A.

The top four sides will advance to the second phase and meet the best four from Group B, which includes Venezuela, Argentina, Mexico, the Dominican Republic and Paraguay.

The four teams that have the best records advance to the Semi-Finals of the FIBA Americas Championship and clinch places in the FIBA Basketball World Cup.

FIBA