Paris – Talent to spare to bring back a medal from Tokyo: around executives Rudy Gobert, Nicolas Batum and Evan Fournier, currently in the NBA play-offs, France team coach Vincent Collet unveiled a solid list on Thursday , consistent and ambitious.
The winger Timothé Luwawu-Cabarrot and the point guard Frank Ntilikina, also playing in the North American league, the back Nando De Colo, the pointers Thomas Heurtel and Andrew Albicy, the pivots Vincent Poirier and Moustapha Fall, the strong wingers Amath Mbaye and Guerschon Yabusele complete the group of 12 Blues, who will have the United States as their rivals in the group stage of the tournament (July 25-August 7).
Given the possibility that some “NBAers” will end their championship late – the play-offs starting on Saturday must lead to finals that can go until July 22 -, with the risk of injury or fatigue that results, Vincent Collet drew up another list of four substitutes.
It includes winger Axel Toupane, strong winger William Howard, interior Mathias Lessort and rear Isaïa Cordinier, who will be able to immediately join the selection during the preparation camp to be held in Pau from June 24 to July 6.
Coming from the “American” colony, appear Gobert, Batum, Fournier, Luwawu-Cabarrot and Ntilikina to which we can associate Poirier, who started the season in Philadelphia with certainly very little playing time, which led him to relaunch in Madrid.
– From the size inside –
These players, apart from Luwawu-Cabarrot who was ultimately not selected after the preparation, have not donned the tricolor jersey since the World Cup-2019 and the bronze medal gleaned in China, with in passing the feat of to have dismissed the United States in the quarter-finals.
A Team USA, undoubtedly revengeful and much more armed with stars, whom they know perfectly well to face them almost every evening and which they will find in group A at the opening of the Olympic tournament on July 25. Their other two opponents will be Iran and a team from a qualifying tournament between Canada, Greece, China, Uruguay, the Czech Republic and Turkey.
To support the inevitable Gobert (2.16 m), candidate for a third title of best defender in the NBA and leading in the excellent season of Utah Jazz which aims for the title, Collet has opted for two other large pivots: Poirier (2.13 m), managed to revive at the right time at Real Madrid, where he played on average 23.3 minutes (10.8 pts, 6.5 rebounds), far from the meager 3.9 minutes crumbled among the Sixers of Philadelphia, and Fall (2.16 m), one of the three representatives of Villeurbanne, the only club in the French Championship from those selected.
– Maledon dit not –
The other two are Guerschon Yabusele, as strong on the inside as he is on the outside (he is the best three-point shooter in the French Elite Championship), who will form the duo of strong winger with Amath Mbaye, convincing with the Turkish club of Karşıyaka, and Thomas Heurtel, emeritus leader-passer.
Alongside the latter are Andrew Albicy, excellent in Spain with Gran Canaria and captain in recent international matches, and Frank Ntilikina, who is still struggling to win at the New York Knicks, but whose defensive virtues and the memory of an excellent Mondial-2019 pleaded for his selection.
In the backs, it’s a classic with the Neo-Celtic of Boston, Evan Fournier, also very good in China – he was named in the best five of the tournament – and Nando de Colo, still effective with Fenerbahçe in Turkey. .
Finally, Timothé Luwawu-Cabbarot, who exists at the Brooklyn Nets in a bloated workforce candidate for the NBA title, will assist in the N.3 position captain Nicolas Batum, reborn with the Los Angeles Clippers who also have the same ambitions.
Who says list, says absent, of which we can mention the point guard Theo Maledon, who has had an excellent start in the NBA, and has chosen to focus on preparing for next season with the Oklahoma Thunder.
“About twenty players could legitimately claim this selection,” emphasized Collet, who indeed has a “rich” problem with so many talented players available.
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