San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich has never shied away from voicing his concern about Spurs players exerting themselves too much in the summer with their national teams.

The topic arises every year with San Antonio, in fact, since the NBA club has its share of international superstars like Manu Ginobili of Argentina and Tony Parker of France.

Parker had been expected to take this summer off but gave a boost to Les Bleus, joining them late in preparations for their EuroBasket 2009 qualifying games.

Before playing for his country, though, he revealed that he had to make a difficult phone call to Popovich.

Parker, speaking in the San Antonio Express-News, said he was so nervous that: "I almost had a heart attack."

Popovich told Parker that it was okay to play, and the playmaker ended up leading the team and entire competition in scoring with an average of 26.8 points per game.

France failed to earn direct qualification for next year's EuroBasket and instead will have to compete for the one spot that is still up for grabs in the Additional Qualifying Round.

Nevertheless, Parker said: "For me, it was a good way to get back in shape. Play some real games, instead of running in the hills."