Very attached to this blue jersey which he has worn 181 times, Tony Parker was inevitably affected by the rout of the France when World Cup 2023. A competition that Vincent Collet’s men finished in… 18th place, without even seeing the second round.
At the microphone of RMCthe legendary French leader was therefore not kind when expressing his disappointment with the failure of the tricolor in Asia.
” There, we really lived a fiasco “, launched the neo-Hall of Famer. ” I talked about it for a long time with Nicolas Batum, for an hour on the phone, and it’s true that it’s very, very disappointing. It’s not normal for a team like that to lose in the first round. We have never seen Spain or the United States lose like that in the first round… »
Then Tony Parker to continue, notably regretting the surprise defeat against Latvia: “ We had a string of great performances recently, we had three great medals, and it’s really a shame to lose like that in the first round… Latvia had a great match, they put in crazy shots, but it’s not still not normal that we lose like that in the first round. It’s true that it was a bit of a shame… »
Make decisions with the collective in mind
THE ” fiasco ” of the band of Rudy Gobert and Evan Fournier, certainly one of the most resounding in the history of tricolor basketball (if it is not THE most resounding…), should now make it possible to draw lessons at one year from the very expected Olympic Games in Paris.
But Tony Parker, who “ find it stupid » the rumors surrounding the future of Vincent Collet and who recommends to the Federation to « don’t panic warns that future decisions by French leaders will have to be taken with the collective balance in mind.
” They’re going to have some big choices to make. “, Considers the 2013 European champion. “ If you bring big players like Joel Embiid or Victor [Wembanyama], it has to be complementary to the rest, because it could mean the departure of certain executives, which can make headlines. We need to improve the team, we need change, but it’s not going to be easy… »
To see if Boris Diaw, one of the relatives of Tony Parker, incidentally manager of the Blues, will listen to the advice of “TP” when taking stock of the French summer …
