Surrounded by its president, Jean-Pierre Siutat, as well as the General Manager, Boris Diaw, the coach of the French basketball team, Vincent Collet, presented his plan of attack for the next Olympic Games. On the occasion of a “media day” that was busier than ever (Wembymania oblige) on the Parisian campus of INSEP, Coach Collet repeated that he wanted to find several elements that made up the DNA of French basketball: defense, fast play, and movement, with and without the ball.
Vincent, what do you think of the group you inherited at the next Olympic Games? Likewise, what do you think of the competition format, which is quite particular?
We have Germany as world champions and Japan beat us last year [en préparation], and we know that Brazil, which is also in this group and could qualify, is a good team. Winning from the start and confirming against Japan would already allow us to have a sort of round of 16 against Germany, the importance of which I believe I have explained to you. You have to be first in your group and above all be in the first two of the three groups. This is a considerable advantage, since then, in the quarter-finals, the draw is imperfect since the first two in the first phase will be pitted against the two best third-placed teams, which is not quite the same thing. And there is also another element, which is that the two best finishers cannot meet in the semi-final. Our objective is clearly to be part of these top two best.
How do you see the hierarchy on the back lines, and in particular on the leader position, considered the weak point of the team?
This is pending at the level of the three leaders but for the moment it is the solution which has the best chance of being adopted. But it is pending in relation to the rear, which are Nando, Elie and Nadir. Shall we make three [meneurs] plus one [arrière] or two [meneurs] plus two [arrières]we have not yet decided.
A look at Nolan Traoré
On this subject, what did you think of the latest nugget of French basketball, Nolan Traoré, invited as a training partner and promised a very great future?
Nolan, like all the other training partners, left yesterday but we are keeping him in the back of our minds depending on what will happen this week in Rouen. Everything is possible. Until the fateful date, we have reason to be able to modify the squad.
Concerning the current nugget of French basketball, Victor Wembanyanama, what are your feelings about his state of form and his motivation before this Olympic deadline at home?
It's his wish [de venir jouer cette année]. I'm not very worried about the requests. The federation and the Olympic committee have taken precautions so that we are in the best possible conditions and can work in peace. We are well aware that Victor's presence increases the attractiveness of the team but I also know that Victor is very focused and very mobilized. Even though he wasn't allowed to train, he was with us the last few days. We were able to talk with him, he is really focused on the competition and he is impatient to start preparing.
“Kenny Atkinson recognizes that Victor has mobility that is not that of a 2m15 player”
What is your game plan for this new team, with new blood and coming out of a completely failed competition last summer?
He is already clearly leaning towards one side of the field, it is towards the defense side. My conviction, which is very strong, and which is shared by the entire staff, is that our future in this competition, our ambition can only be realized if we are an extraordinary defensive team. This is what we presented to the players last week, with Boris and Fred Sarre when we did the individual interviews. For me, this is a sine qua non condition. The second condition is that we find what made the identity of French basketball for many years, which is being able to run. Beyond Victor, the player profiles we have in the group have this racing ability. Which we didn't do at all last year. We want to find him. The third point, there is necessarily a question regarding this association and we talk about it a lot with my assistants but for example, Kenny Atkinson often tells me that in the United States, we often consider that it is very difficult to have two players over 2m15 playing together. But he also recognizes that Victor has mobility which is not that of a 2m15 player. We think it could work. Even in the half court game, we will need mobility and player movement to sort of rotate around our twin towers. It's important that we play fast, even on half court. We have already put some things in place.
“Compared to his competitors, Killian was simply behind”
You already dropped Killian Hayes from the group, what was your reasoning?
The time space is very compressed and when we made the choice to take 19 players, we knew that the cutting times were going to be very tight and that this would therefore leave us much less latitude to observe the players. We are forced to make choices. As he no longer had an NBA club, he really participated in the sequences that we were able to do with the other, let's say “European” players. And it seemed to us that, compared to its competitors, it was simply behind.
How do you see this preparation phase which will open tomorrow in Rouen, with a first match next Wednesday against Turkey?
When we had good results and won medals, we were always among the best defenses, but last year, we finished 16th or 17th I think. Even after the classification games. The gap was dizzying. In rebounds, in the percentage left to the opponent… Many elements showed that we had fallen on that side of the court. And much less on the other side, in fact. That's why, today, we want to rebuild on defense. If we came early, even if the NBA players can't play [avant le 1er juillet], it's also because we noticed that with the NBA regulations, we were not able to do a preparation worthy of the name. With 28 days allowed, in the end, we had 20 days if we remove the rest days and travel… Only the American team can prepare in such a short time.
Comments collected at INSEP
