You announced last November that you did not necessarily intend to field a 100% EuroLeague team, despite the availability of players. What thinking guided your choices for this new list?
Always the same. Complementarity remains essential. I also think that since we are in a new era, being able to work in continuity is a saving of time compared to the 4-5 training sessions that we will have before the match in Croatia. Having players who participated in the November window means we don't have to start from scratch, not having to explain everything again. Andrew Albicy, moreover, will create the link between these two worlds and having this unifying player is essential. This reflection was therefore the starting point to make the best possible team. And it wasn't easy because many players perform in the EuroLeague and we therefore had to make some pretty strong choices.
Players who had an excellent season in the EuroLeague will not be part of the French team while NBA players are not yet available. Is this the perfect illustration of the extreme difficulty of joining the national team?
Absolutely, because I repeat, these players play but above all they perform. So it's complicated. But over time, players will join this French team because we need to see a lot of them. There is this February meeting, I hope EuroBasket 2025, once qualification has been acquired, then other windows, numerous, of qualifications for the 2027 World Cup. It is the luck of French basketball that to have a plethora of players in the national championships, in the EuroLeague. And we have not yet drawn from the NBA… or university reservoir where certain elements play very well, without necessarily being able to evaluate them well.
Coincidentally with the calendar, this week, Timothé Luwawu-Cabarrot (Vitoria) scored 25 points against Olympiakos, Sylvain Francisco (Zalgiris) 20 points against Virtus, Nadir Hifi (Paris) was decisive against Anadolu Efes. To what extent do these performances sometimes shake up your certainties?
Timothé was injured for a long time but Sylvain and Nadir have been performing well since the start of the season. So I wasn't any more bothered than two days earlier (he smiles). Sylvain and Nadir were at the heart of our discussions with the staff because they are very good with their club. But Théo Malédon, Elie Okobo and Matthew Strazel are also very good. We therefore have to make choices around the specificities but also in relation to the knowledge that I can have of the players. In five days it's very hard to get to know the person, beyond the player. This gives me time to speak with some by telephone between now and the summer. We will have time to discover ourselves.
Should we read your choices as clues for the summer campaign or is it a reflection at the moment?
It's really at the moment. Obviously I would like the players to play as many matches together as possible before EuroBasket because that's how we gain automation. But it is difficult to project too much without the certainty that some will be present this summer, which could modify the team around these very great players. Once again, I am very attentive to complementarity. Putting the 12 best players is almost easy: the stats, the playing times, we put them on paper and off we go. But it doesn't work that way.
-Even if this is undoubtedly somewhat caricatured, we could estimate that the potential external sector of the Blues is in the EuroLeague while a large part of the internal sector is in the NBA (Wembanyama, Gobert, Yabusele, Sarr, etc.). Did this make the selection easier?
Perhaps it was a little clearer in this sector, especially since Amine Noua and Yoan Makoundou were very good in November, each in their own register. But among the EuroLeague interiors we talked about Mam Jaiteh, Moustapha Fall, Petr Cornelie. For example, I spoke with Moustapha Fall and we concluded that it was not necessarily the right time to recall him. I thought it was important to have people who are familiar with window formats, which is the case with Vincent Poirier and Jaylen Hoard. As for Neal Sako, he has been very good since the start of the season and plays with Théo Maledon, which will simplify integration into the game.
Despite its record, France is not yet qualified. After a double confrontation against Cyprus in November the context will be radically different and much more perilous…
If the Croats don't win against us, they are eliminated. They will therefore be waiting for us firmly. We have a lot of players used to playing in particular atmospheres, at Partizan, at Red Star, at Olympiakos. It was important.
When you communicated this list, did you say to yourself that the one you present this summer will cause a lot of knots in your brain?
Yes but they are good knots. Cool knots to undo! French training is present everywhere. I thought about it even though since December I had focused primarily on the EuroLeague and this February list. I am very happy with the list that we published, with the objective of having efficient basketball to win and playing beautiful basketball.
