Charlie Villanueva Says He Wasn’t Cut By Dominican Republic National Team

Charlie Villanueva has gotten himself in great shape during the offseason, and is now trying to dispell the rumor that he was cut by the Dominican Republic national team. Per the Detroit News: “At the suggestion of his financial manager, he found himself at Shut Up and Box in Royal Oak, using unconventional methods that are becoming increasingly popular in NBA circles. ‘I’d never tried it so I said, ‘Why not?’ Villanueva said. ‘The first time I did it, I was like ‘Wow,’ I saw how tired I got so fast.’ He started a few months ago and it’s become addictive to the eighth-year forward, after the initial awkwardness. ‘Then I wanted to get better at this. Then it became, I want to do this all the time. I could see my body getting better and better,’ he said. In the midst of those workouts, his year went from bad to worse upon hearing he was cut from the Dominican Republic National Team. Upon hearing the name of Kentucky and national team coach John Calipari, Villanueva grunted. ‘The DR thing definitely stung,’ he said. ‘That’s your country you’re representing. They never gave me an opportunity to work out in the first place. I never worked out for these guys, it caught me off guard. I’m reading up on this and I’m like, ‘Wow.’ There were rumors of a secret workout in New York, where it was said Villanueva didn’t measure up, an event Villanueva said ‘never happened.’ ‘Now I have to go out and defend myself,’ he said. ‘Now everybody thinks I tried out and got cut and that was never the situation. Imagine the people who really don’t know me. The people who just pick up a newspaper and sees the headline, ‘Charlie Villanueva got cut from the Dominican Republic.’ I’m an NBA player who gets cut from a national team that only has two other NBA guys on the team.’ In addition to all of that, there was the penultimate — the whisper that wasn’t so quiet from folks who wanted the Pistons to waive him under the amnesty clause, even though it wouldn’t have helped the team in free agency. ‘It burns me up. It just drove me. Instead of being upset, I said, this will pass and I will let my game do the talking,’ said Villanueva.”