Since Victor Wembanyama is focusing on his NBA debut and Joel Embiid still hasn’t decided on his international future, Rudy Gobert will again be the boss of the racket of the Blues. After a lackluster season, ended in the first round of the playoffs against future NBA champions, the pivot of Wolves had considered taking a break with the Blues.
Finally, he is there, and his enthusiasm remains intact, and he feels “in great shape”. “As a professional player, I also have to think about my health, my physical recovery and a lot of things that can be hard to understand for those who don’t know the daily life of a top athlete, an NBA player. “he recalls in the columns of The Team. “The break after the end of the season was not one, I trained a lot in June and July, I feel good and that’s also why I’m here. »
On paper, France has a better team than at the Euro since Nando De Colo and Nicolas Batum are back, and Gobert is aiming for gold, the only metal missing from his list. “I really like the state of mind that we have at this start of preparation. We are going to play a World Cup, where there are more matches than at the Olympic Games (8 against 6 in the event of a journey to the final). We want to continue to progress every day, including during the competition. The end goal is to have the gold medal, the one we haven’t yet managed to get. »
But before considering gold, France will have to get out of Pool H in Jakarta (Indonesia) where they will challenge Canada, Latvia and Lebanon. If the Blues finish in one of the first two places, they will then cross with the group of Spain and Brazil in the second round, to hope to reach the quarter-finals.
