Little physical bomb of 1m86, capable of shaking the coconut tree in the dunk but also at the end of the alley-oop, like the other evening against Montenegro in Montpellier, Sylvain Francisco discover what it is to prepare for the French team ahead of a major international competition.
A true revelation of the Greek championship with Peristeri this season, to the point of finishing in the best five majors of the season (alongside his compatriot Moustapha Fall), Francisco has yet to find his bearings in Vincent Collet’s rotation.
The latter wants Francisco to be more in the percussion, and the aggressiveness towards the circle than in the stationary shooting behind the arc. Against Lithuania, the pocket leader showed great things, in particular his budding complicity with Frank Ntilikina.
Sylvain, you made a good start against Lithuania, with 8 points in 12 minutes including two 3-point shots almost in a row, how do you feel in the group?
“It’s obviously nice to be able to take shots like that. But it was an end to the game with a fairly large gap so it doesn’t matter much. The most important thing for me is knowing where and when I can find my shots and find my teammates. It is in any case a good training in this preparation. Because I think there will be situations like that where I’m not going to play a lot and I’ll go into the fourth quarter and I’ll have to be good. »
You finish 18 points ahead of Lithuania, in what was your first real prep test match, is that significant in your opinion? What lessons do you draw from this?
“It doesn’t mean anything yet, only that we continue to progress. It can be seen that we are making good progress. It also depends on the opposing team, I think it will not be the same with them. They’ll wake up and they’ll watch the video… We’ll see. It’s just one more preparation match, to allow us to work on our game even more.”
“Nando plays while walking so to speak, and it’s boring, it’s super annoying! »
You are now four games in preparation, how do you see the progress of the team? What did you appreciate in this match in particular?
“What we liked is that we were really aggressive in defense and in attack, we were successful. But we mainly focused on defense. Various defenses have been proposed, from [zone] matchupof the [zone] 3-2, 2-3, [de la défense en] indiv’… We still have waste but we see that we are improving more and more. »
You have evolved under the leadership of a legendary point guard in Vassilis Spanoulis this season, can you tell us if the influence of Nando De Colo is a similar, and important, contribution to your game?
“Me, all I see is Nando walking, and everything is easy for him [rires] ! That’s what’s incredible with him, he shocks me every day in training. He plays while walking so to speak, and it’s boring, it’s super annoying! You see he has experience and I try to learn from him but also from others. »
Interview in Orléans
Photo credit : Leroy/TheAgency/FFBB
