Nicolas Batum returned at length to the French fiasco of the last World Cup on the First Team board. A frank and extremely interesting assessment, where the Clippers winger brushes aside many subjects.
From his current role as “glue guy”, without a specific system, in which he tries to oil the collective game of the Blues, but which makes him ” useless “ (in his own words) as soon as the machine jams. From the absence of Thomas Heurtel, “who will give you a quarter that will save your competition” and more generally the absence of a leader capable of playing the pick-and-roll effectively with Rudy Gobert. Areas of improvement for coaching staff, in preparation against the “boxes” (against Evan Fournier against Latvia…) or in the announcement of opposing systems, where Canada and Spain have armies of assistants responsible for spotting playing patterns…
As for the adjective “political” that he dropped after the defeat against the Latvians, he explains that it was not a message about Thomas Heurtel, but rather an internal message that he wanted to resonate.
But Nicolas Batum explains above all that we must bring back emulation among the Blues, and that to avoid a new fiasco next year, during the Paris Olympics, there can no longer be guaranteed places. Starting with his own, when he doesn’t know if he’s still the man for the job as a starter at position 3!
“We must not repeat 2003, we must not repeat 2016, that would be a disaster”
“Everyone has to compete now. The 12 are over. We have to stop with this. This is me speaking, because I’ve been there. We are in a very dangerous corner. There was a TP generation, me, Nando, it followed, until Evan and then we arrive at something very dangerous, I have the impression. I think we need to rethink everything. This is what we did in 2009. The TP generation, they did 2001-2009 where, whatever anyone says, they only won a bronze medal (at Euro 2005), that’s All. They had zero Olympics, one World Cup and one bronze medal. They technically didn’t do anything. Before… ‘Come on, let’s put everything back together’. This is what happened in 2009 and I think we need to do it now, before another disaster happens next year. We must not repeat 2003, we must not repeat 2016, that would be a disaster. »
But for this to happen, the next generation must also integrate and try to break out of the framework.
“There are four leaders: Rudy (Gobert), Evan (Fournier), Nando (De Colo) and me. What we did is very good, but even we have to compete. Because yes, young people are arriving, but where are they? They don’t come, they refuse or if we call them, it could change at the last moment… Yes I’m a little hesitant, I’m sorry but there has to be this competition. This means that we have to train twice a day for example. We have to go back to the trenches. You have to reset everything and everything to zero. »
Avoiding thinking that Victor Wembanyama or Joel Embiid will suddenly fix everything during the Olympic Games. And above all to prepare for the post-Olympics, when a real transition will have to be made.
