France national team 2010

[Franz]

how many superstars from around the world said they skipped the w.c but really like the olympics and are sure to be there(manu,pau,lorbek,dirk,tony p.,nohah,kirlenko)?

Most of these players won't even be playing in 2012. Either because they're too old and ineffective or because their team didn't qualify.

The only player on that list that is a lock for the Olympics is Gasol. These other players who have their eyes set on 2012 need to STFU and wait.

[mvblair]

i saw yesterday french basketball national team in France aeroport (charle Degaul) i talk to Nicolas Batum , he said to me that they were going to New York to play with Usa than Go to Toronto to Face Canada ,they are preparing very very well ,he said to me that their target is semi finals ,he said also that Parker and Noah won t play ,i saw all the team (Ajinca ,De colo ,...) except Turiaf who will join them there in Usa

Wow!! Very cool, Gazara! Was Batum as big in person as he looks on TV?

Perucho, you're right: the French team is not a lock for 2012. They played well in EuroBasket 2009, but this is a team that consistently under performs.

[raph]

We are over rated because we have many players in the nba. Basically, players in the NBa => medias pro nba => supposed level of the nt
No one is checking if we have a gasol, siskau, smodis (etc) type of player.
It's less of a pain for italy and turkey, but they also have their load of disappointing competition curiously mostly since they had big names (at least here) in the nba.

Fact is that it's been several years that we lack key players in the paint (besides flo pietrus & diaw), especially since the retirement from weis & moiso. No one left to intimidate, fix the defense and provide what you expect from a "center", and that's why not having noah is such a pain (and a "local drama"). Bunch of people criticizing his lack of commitment (while not having played for any of our nt's in the past, but let's move on)

As for what he declared, blame him for being lazy and not knowing the international competition if you want, but i don't expect a player who have always been playing in the states to be able to figure out how tough the qualification process is for a european nt.
And i don't jump on the bandwaggon to blame his choice, i think chicago can offer him a decent enough contract to play in a contender (even if it will prolly take a few more pieces in the roster), and you can't ignore the situation (potential lock out + pressure from his agent/surroundings most likely).

The real scandal is that we could not train any decent tall center in the last 10 years. Worst, we found wise to burn bridges with moiso after the 2003 eurobasket. And not all our big are crackheads (=> points our scouting and prospect development)

[perucho123]

its like that statement in the movie classic a bronx tale. france has so much talent mvblair but i think they lack the commitment to the national team. the french soccer team has done their best with their golden generation 98'world cup,2000 eurochamps,2001-2003 confederations cup,4 straight world cup appearance . now france has their golden generation in basketball and ? they dont sence the urgency of time. these guys like parker,diaw,m.pietrus,turiuf arent getting any younger. 13 NBA players!!! thats no joke. russia germany have 2 and their indespensable. italy 3 thats their best. brazil is the france of the americas. but they gt a great coach"magnano" and the commitment of the players and now they will finish top 8, guaranteed. france should look into american NBA coach, who likes to teach and get the commitment of the players and play a hybride game nba/fiba like the USA. play to your streangths.

[raph]

now france has their golden generation in basketball and ? they dont sence the urgency of time. these guys like parker,diaw,m.pietrus,turiuf arent getting any younger. 13 NBA players!!! thats no joke. russia germany have 2 and their indespensable. italy 3 thats their best. brazil is the france of the americas.

Where is the french nowitski ? Who is the french kirilenko (ok, you could debate that diaw can bring more or less the same stuff) ?

You seriously put turiaf, MP and even parker in the same category as nowitski, kirilenko, splitter/nene/"tahiti bob" varejao or even scola/gino for argentina ?
Among the 13 players, 80% are role player (even batum). The highest rank'd being diaw (and not a lot of fans in the nba would want him in their team from reading a bunch of blogs) and parker. Turiaf, MP are rotation players basically, batum and beaubois are roleplayer for now, we will see how they develop, same deal with seraphin. As for considering ajinca, mahinmi, diawara, petro etc nba players, lol...

Get real, those are among - we have a few talented guards here and even gelabale left in europe - our best players for sure, but they are very far from being superstars (except parker, or tp + eva i should say).
And above all we don't have any pf-c of a good size & level to go along diaw/pietrus.

Last but not least, parker and turiaf have always participated in the NT since their euro gold medal in junior unless they got injured (the case for turiaf this year). Pietrus (mickael) finally decided to have surgery for his wrist this summer. Last year we had gelabale who had no contract who clearly said he would not be available for the nt because of his situation.
The only headcase being noah, but you can't really speak of a lack of commitment for a guy who never played for france in any of our NT's in the past.
We have our share of diva's, right, but the main issue is still our elite pool - number wise and talent wise, the way we train our players is highly debatable here -, no matter what you seem to think.

[mvblair]

Where is the french nowitski ? Who is the french kirilenko (ok, you could debate that diaw can bring more or less the same stuff) ?

You seriously put turiaf, MP and even parker in the same category as nowitski, kirilenko, splitter/nene/"tahiti bob" varejao or even scola/gino for argentina ?

Tony Parker is that good, Raph. TP remains one of the best PGs on the planet. When he plays in the NBA, he is as good as anyone. He's also played well for the French NT...when he can.

Among the 13 players, 80% are role player (even batum). The highest rank'd being diaw (and not a lot of fans in the nba would want him in their team from reading a bunch of blogs) and parker.

I don't know what other people think, but I'm a big Diaw fan. If he could recover the energy he had a few years ago, he'd be the French Nowitzki.

Turiaf, MP are rotation players basically, batum and beaubois are roleplayer for now, we will see how they develop, same deal with seraphin.

Yeah, but those are good players. They're very good. And Beaubois might be great!

As for considering ajinca, mahinmi, diawara, petro etc nba players, lol...

I haven't seen enough of them to comment.

And above all we don't have any pf-c of a good size & level to go along diaw/pietrus.

True.

We have our share of diva's, right, but the main issue is still our elite pool - number wise and talent wise, the way we train our players is highly debatable here -, no matter what you seem to think.

Raph, you seem to be saying "France has players that look good because they're in the NBA, but really they're not good and the expectations for them are always too high." Is that what you're saying?

I think I would agree with that. Maybe the French players, because they're in the NBA, have very high expectations.

[raph]

Yeppers.

As for diaw, it's hard to compare him with dirk as one is a very good defender, the other one well.. the other well is an awesome scorer

I like the comparison with kirilenko as before he gained some weight (not necessary "fat free" ^^) he had a rather similar game and a big impact on his team.

Still, i also said that our main goal should be to develop a lot of EL level players at all position to fill our club rosters and some of the best european teams/leagues. Situation tends to change as we no longer seem to focus mostly on athletic profiles, but it will take a few more years to see a real change imo (i remain optimistic because of our 92/94/95 generations, but till they are in their 20ies we gonna have to rely on our nba players, whatever are their limits).

[gazara]

Wow!! Very cool, Gazara! Was Batum as big in person as he looks on TV?

Perucho, you're right: the French team is not a lock for 2012. They played well in EuroBasket 2009, but this is a team that consistently under performs.

yeaa very big ,he s very cool , i say to him when i finished my question ,that we will beat you this year like 2006 ,he said to me ,c est un reve lol :P i like De colo he s very good person ,their coach is crazy lol

[samer_1_2]

I dont think it will be an easy match for any of both teams.. this is world champ. and all teams have to be well prepared in order to get the win..

But I assume France is having the upper hand over Lebanon and over newzealand .. Lithuania is a strong team .. Canada is strong this year in addition to Spain

[Aegis]

Nice american tour !

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PG and C are rubbish !
When Bokolo is your best PG (even though I like him very much, we are talking about international bball here), you know you have a problem.

I hope De Colo can somehow find his Valencia form at PG. (well, never seen Valencia play this season, but I heard he was doing okay there).


So far, we are a 2 man team. Only Diaw and Batum are playing good, with Bokolo and Flo Pietrus doing okay somehow.

[Federoy]

france should look into american NBA coach, who likes to teach and get the commitment of the players and play a hybride game nba/fiba like the USA. play to your streangths.

Oddly enough, I actually agree with your statement. The bulk of France's NT roster plays in the NBA, and as the American failures of the past have proven, there's a transition process that must take place when adjusting from NBA to FIBA basketball. I think it's unreasonable to expect that French players can simply be inserted into the NT line-up and play FIBA basketball without the benefit of experience and cohesion to succeed at that level. Teams like Germany, Lithuania or Serbia have the majority of their players playing in Europe under international rules, so the adjustment period takes far less time, making it more likely for them to build team chemisty.

France should definitely play to its strengths. Speed and athleticism are two of their great advantages, but along with that, they need to mold individual talents into a functioning unit, and that's where I think an American coach could be valuable. France in a lot of ways resembles the make-up of an American team (not speaking strictly in terms of race/ethicity), and I believe an American coach can exploit those similarities and be successful at doing so.

Nolan Richardson, who since leaving Arkansas has gone on to coach both the Panamaian and Mexican NTs, would be an ideal candidate as coach. He uses an uptempo style of basketball ("40 Minutes of Hell" as he called it at Arkansas) to overwhelm the opponent on the offensive and defensive end, yet he has the understanding of the fundamental X's and O's necessary to win in international play. He had marginal success at elevating Panama and Mexico, but those teams never had the skill and talent that France does, so it could turn out to be a perfect marriage. Just a thought.

[PRSURF]

Nice american tour !

-11
-22
-31


PG and C are rubbish !
When Bokolo is your best PG (even though I like him very much, we are talking about international bball here), you know you have a problem.

I hope De Colo can somehow find his Valencia form at PG. (well, never seen Valencia play this season, but I heard he was doing okay there).


So far, we are a 2 man team. Only Diaw and Batum are playing good, with Bokolo and Flo Pietrus doing okay somehow.

Ajinca play good defense!

[damelo]

Oddly enough, I actually agree with your statement. The bulk of France's NT roster plays in the NBA, and as the American failures of the past have proven, there's a transition process that must take place when adjusting from NBA to FIBA basketball. I think it's unreasonable to expect that French players can simply be inserted into the NT line-up and play FIBA basketball without the benefit of experience and cohesion to succeed at that level. Teams like Germany, Lithuania or Serbia have the majority of their players playing in Europe under international rules, so the adjustment period takes far less time, making it more likely for them to build team chemisty.

They still learned the game under FIBA rules, and won some titles as youngsters against some guys that actually beat them. Is NBA having players loosing their level?

Well, you speak about cohesion fo Germany, but basically, the matter for France is not about NBA or FIBA. It is about who is coming or not! Every years, we start with 20+ names in the team, half of which vanish as summer passes on. I think Germany kept a roster that looked the same every year. Not exactly, but closely.

You ad our Injury record, and you get that French team that spends more time trying to know who will be there because they have already renegociated contracts, not got injured playing summer leagues, or even training for the WC.

The team has still a nice potential, but I still prefer De Colo as a combo off the bench. That was supposed to be his place, but both our PG got injured. I didn't see France matches yet, but saw some from Valencia. De Colo is not a real PG yet. He is doing all right, but may seem like the Parker begining with San Antonio. I think the coach was still giving him lots of orders on the court, and a large part of the creation was in the hands of Matt Nielsen. De Colo remains a great future player, and an already great scoring guy.

The main problem NBA is giving us is that guys are more attached to NBA than NT, and thus, prefer to ensure their place in the US before coming to Turkey.

Spain has not that problem. Only Pau Gasol do things that way. Germany has not that problem. Dirk is good enough not to fear not being the Franchise player of Dallas.

The coaching problem is not the main one. The main one is to have a regular team every year to get more cohesion. Fast game is linked to defense. If France can defend together, they will run any fast break they can.

[gazara]

why not Lebanon to repeat 2006

Lebanon can win over NZ canada and France ,specially the Lebanese team is doing very well

1-Great team ,the best NT for Lebanon since we debute Basketball ,Great coach ,Great chemistry ,Grest spirit ,Great players ,many scorers ,Many stars ,Big Heart

2-Win Stankovic Asia Cup over Japan by 39 pts in Final without Matt Freijie

3-Play Effes Pilsen Cup :loose to Turkey by 21 pts with Big performance by Lebanese Team

4-Loose To Argentina (1st fiba ranking) by 7 pts only ,our Team is great and doing very well

5-Win over Canada by 12 pts ,and all the game lebanon was leading all quarters ,and Coach baldwin play with big Rotation ,all 12 players played ...

Our Team is great ,We have to play in the same way in WC ,our target is to reach the 2nd round ,why not win over France ,Nz and Canada ...Lithuania and Spain 2 hard missions

WE are Prouddd of our Teammm ,of Our NT ,of Our Playersss

The trioo Khatib-Vroman-Friejie Are unstoppablee ,3 scorers and not to miss Fahed Roni the best shooter who killed France in 2006

Cedarsssss are Comiiiiiinggggggggg
Long Live Lebanoooooooonnnnnnnnn

[LaNaranjaBasket]

Its the 12-man roster known yet?

[raph]

Should be known either tonight (press conference after the game) or tomorrow.

Lombahe-kahudi & ajinca could be cut though since they did not play the last game and tonight's game.

Which would mean :
pg : de colo - bokolo - albicy
sg : batum - causeur - jackson
sf - diaw- gelabale
pf : flo pietrus - koffi
c : traoré - mahinmi

If we follow the trend during the preparation, pg duty should be shared mostly by bokolo & albicy as de colo has been suffering (and we need his scoring) to create offense and to defend properly other team's pg's.

Ppf duty will mostly be shared between diaw and flo pietrus, koffi will switch from pf to c and gelabale should be used at pf if we run some small ball basically.
Sf will be shared between batum and gelabale mostly, diaw at times (it will depend on the match up ofc, and on the fouls received).

[samer_1_2]

Tomorrow never dies.. There will start the FIBA 2010 tomorrow..
We are all waiting this big event.. HOPE EVERYTHING GOES FINE.

http://www.sport24.com/basket-nba/mo...spagne-409268/
Good luck for aFrance

[micho]

Tomorrow never dies.. There will start the FIBA 2010 tomorrow..
We are all waiting this big event.. HOPE EVERYTHING GOES FINE.

http://www.sport24.com/basket-nba/mo...spagne-409268/
Good luck for aFrance

don t be so happy hahaha coz lebanon will kick your team out of WC this year again after 2006 win .. good luck for you