Basketball On The Internet.

DUAL-Olympian and Utah Jazz swingman Joe Ingles is home in Adelaide and enjoying some long overdue downtime, even if it means missing the Rio Olympics qualifying series.

I spoke with him yesterday at length for News Corp and found, as I expected, the same personable, self-deprecating and true blue Aussie he has always been, albeit appreciably worldlier, naturally.

The same knee issues which kept him from playing for Australia against Angola in a match Goran Dragic turned into controversial with tweets which prompted a feeble FIBA investigation, will keep him out of the two-game series against New Zealand in mid-August.

"I fought that decision for a fair while," he admitted, the thought of not wearing the green-and-gold hard to reconcile.

But after having his knee drained of excess fluid several times during his NBA season with Utah Jazz, the decision to rest in the off-season became the only sensible one.

"At one point, I couldn't pull my leg up into a quad stretch," Ingles said, the over-use injury requiring rest for a full recovery.

Ingles flew into Christchurch on Monday to watch his fiancee Renae Hallinan in action for Adelaide Thunderbirds in the ANZ Championship.

"It was Salt Lake City to San Francisco, San Francisco to Auckland, Auckland to Christchurch, then Christchurch to Melbourne, Melbourne to Adelaide," he said.

"I got into Christchurch on Monday morning and watched the (netball) game that night.

"Renae has followed me around the world for six years to watch me play so for me to divert to watch the game is something I really wanted to do."

Ingles said he had thoroughly enjoyed his "unbelievable" NBA experience and was looking forward to more.

Online

Joe missing the Rio qualifiers is at http://bit.ly/1zK7TJJ

On Saturday, The Advertiser will run a full feature on his NBA season.