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"Hopefully, some people understood what happened," Dalembert said. "It wasn't anything on my side, [that] I didn't want to play for Canada or anything like that. I made it clear the summer before that I wanted to play there. It's basically like a second, adoptive home. I feel what happened kind of got out of proportion. I don't know the reason why; there was nothing leading to the situation, where you knew it was going to happen. There was nothing like that."
Leo Rautins, the Canadian coach and a former 76er, dropped Dalembert after a loss to Slovenia in a 12-country tournament in Athens, Greece. The Canadians needed two more victories to qualify for the Beijing Olympics.
Something went sour in Athens. Despite that, Dalembert insisted at the time that he would someday like to play again for Canada. Earlier this week, he said that remained true, but "I cannot play for Leo. I cannot play for him. I mean, I wish him well, but what happened, there was no reason for it to happen like that. I'm not a controversial person.
"Everybody knows me; I'm easygoing, I'm easy to talk [with]," he said. "Everybody on [international] teams takes a risk to play for their country; I have no regrets about it. Sometimes you think you know somebody a little bit. On the other hand, something happens and that's when you see the true colors of someone."
Rautins, reached at his home in Syracuse, N.Y., said: "I hope it goes well. I don't wish anything bad for Sam or anybody. I hope it's not something that becomes a negative situation. My whole thought is, I'm open for discussion [with Dalembert], but I'm not talking about it anymore [with reporters], because it just becomes a 'he said, he said' situation, and there's no point to that."
A source in Toronto said Rautins' contract expires at the end of the calendar year.
Dalembert, born in Haiti, spent his early teen years in Montreal and gained Canadian citizenship in August 2007; he helped his adopted country reach last summer's competition by averaging 10.6 points, 9.4 rebounds and 2.38 blocks in the FIBA Americas championships in '07.
Without Dalembert, the Canadians defeated Korea, but were eliminated in a loss to Croatia, leading Rautins to tell Dalembert he was no longer welcome on the team.
"This is extremely disappointing, because a lot of effort was made to make this work," Rautins said at the time. "Sam's teammates are extremely disappointed in him and how he alienated himself from them."
The Knicks beat the Sixers, 110-104 in an exhibition game last night. Elton Brand led the Sixers with 24 points. Andre Iguodala had 16 points, six rebounds; Andre Miller had 12 points and 12 rebounds . . . The Sixers' Jason Smith, out for the season after surgery to repair a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee, was in the locker room before the game. "It's going to be a long process, I've just got to hang with it, get better progressively each day," he said. "It's going to be that 90 percent [of the time] you're going to feel great, with that last 10 percent the hardest to get back" . . . Thaddeus Young left in the third quarter with a corneal abrasion in his left eye. Lou Williams needed three stitches after suffering a chin laceration . . . The Sixers were scheduled to practice this morning at Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine before leaving for tomorrow afternoon's game in Toronto. *
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