After the easy victory against Turkey (96-46), Nicolas Batum stopped in the mixed zone to look back on the very convincing first performance of the French team. If the veteran winger was impressed by the ease of Victor Wembanyama, he also looked back at the behind the scenes of his signing in Los Angeles. While there was clearly a rush at his door on the NBA market…
Nicolas, what did you think of this first performance by the Blues, and in particular of Victor Wembanyama, who shone with 24 points in less than 20 minutes?
We tried to implement what was asked of us, particularly in terms of intensity, defensive pressure and restarts, and to maintain it over 40 minutes. There is still work to be done but the basics are interesting. When you have the two big ones, it helps a lot. […] Victor had a “Wemby Game”: he was imposing in defense, it was varied in attack… It's something we've never really experienced in the French team. He's a great asset to add, in position 4 or position 5, with two or three little ones, or Guerschon or me in 4, him in 4. He's a player we can use in lots of situations.
More specifically, you were able to test the Gobert – Wembanyama duo, and it was rather convincing at the start of the match…
Yes, they already control so many things in defense. In attack, they will still learn. We must not forget that it is only their first game, they have only played together for a week. They are still discovering each other. I think Rudy understood that, when he plays underneath, there is so much fixation on Victor up top, that he will have easy baskets down below. There, it was a little different adversity but it was a good start.
You have just agreed to return to the Clippers, are you happy to be back in Los Angeles where you relaunched your NBA career?
It's a comeback! I had several options, a lot of options, I had 17 in fact! It's a good thing. I'm going to find Ty Lue again, in a project that I like. It's a good thing.
Nicolas Batum: “We really intend to play fast, and play inside”
You signed quite quickly, was that a desire on your part, to free your mind and think only about the Olympics in Blue?
There was a lot of discussion but I tried to do it quickly. Because in training, Vincent could see that it was getting to me a bit. I was allowed some leave, let's say, to answer the phone. I tried to do it quickly to be calm and move forward.
One of the summer projects is to put the ball inside, do you think that is progressing, after this first training camp in Rouen?
It's taking shape, it's actually something we're trying to put in place. Especially since we have several targets, all four of which are different: between Guerschon, Mathias, Rudy and Victor. We're continuing to work on it because it can create a lot of situations for the team. We really intend to play fast, and play inside. [Sur ce premier match]we have already found a good balance. We must continue to progress.
What do you expect against reigning world champions Germany in the next two warm-up games? What aspects of the game will you be watching?
It's going to be special because we're going to play them twice, and we're also going to play them in a big match at the Olympics. We know it's going to be special. I don't know what the approach of the two teams will really be. We might have a truncated match, a match of pretense… Nobody's going to want to show their cards. The main thing for both teams is going to be to prepare. It won't necessarily be competitiveness, it's more about preparation. It smells a bit like a trap, playing them twice, before playing them again at the Olympics. We'll see what happens.
Interview conducted in Rouen
