France NT 2008

[Hvala Milane2]

From July 31 to August 2 France NT will play the traditional tournament in Bormio, Italy. Does anyone know when your guys will come to Italy before the tournament starts? Thanks!
SCHEDULE :
July 31:
FRANCE - POLAND
ITALY - ISRAEL
August 1:
POLAND - ISRAEL
ITALY - FRANCE
August 2:
ISRAEL - FRANCE
ITALY - POLAND

 

[raph2]

I haven't found any recent info about this tournament, merely the old link of the players listed by the new NT staff before the final list for the qualifications for next euro.

Link is here.

From that link it seems that there will be the tournament from 31/07 to the 02/08 then a practice period which will end by a match-up against italy the 05/08.

 

[Hvala Milane2]

I haven't found any recent info about this tournament, merely the old link of the players listed by the new NT staff before the final list for the qualifications for next euro.

Link is here.

From that link it seems that there will be the tournament from 31/07 to the 02/08 then a practice period which will end by a match-up against italy the 05/08.

You're right, I forgot to post it. How many players will you bring to start the training camp? I hope someone on the list will be left... . And is Diaw's presence confirmed?

 

[raph2]

He should be there. As for being in good shape, another story (we should blame you italians as he likes his mum's pastas a bit too much )

More seriously, players like batum, ajinca, gomis and prolly the ones who are negotiating contract for next year(s) won't be there (turiaf, diawara..) as well those who will play in the summer leagues (noah + couple more maybe).

Should be there (my guess) :

tchicamboud - pellin - sangaré
diarra - de colo - ferchaud/dubiez
kirksay - diaw
brun - giffa - issa
badiane - marquis - vaty

 

[Hvala Milane2]

He should be there. As for being in good shape, another story (we should blame you italians as he likes his mum's pastas a bit too much )

More seriously, players like batum, ajinca, gomis and prolly the ones who are negotiating contract for next year(s) won't be there (turiaf, diawara..) as well those who will play in the summer leagues (noah + couple more maybe).

Should be there (my guess) :

tchicamboud - pellin - sangaré
diarra - de colo - ferchaud/dubiez
kirksay - diaw
brun - giffa - issa
badiane - marquis - vaty

I'm also curious to see De Colo and Kirksay, the first because so far I've just heard about him as a young rising star already able to play great at top level and the second because I love undersized players like him who can contribute in many ways. Let's wait and see!

 

[Aegis2]

Does anyone know when your guys will come to Italy before the tournament starts? Thanks!

Probably the day before the tournament. The first camp in Vichy will last until july 29th, so they'll arrive either the 29th (late evening) or the 30th.

 

[Hvala Milane2]

Probably the day before the tournament. The first camp in Vichy will last until july 29th, so they'll arrive either the 29th (late evening) or the 30th.

Yes, now I know since I've already read the programme on the French Federation's website, however thanks!

 

[Hvala Milane2]

The list of players invited to French National preparations on July 20th in Vichy was announced.
However it's not confirmed if all of these players will attend the camp.
Alexis Ajinca (215-C-88) of Hyeres-Toulon Var Basket
Pape Badiane (208-F/C-80) of Le Mans Sarthe Basket
Nicolas Batum (201-F-88) of Le Mans Sarthe Basket
Yannick Bokolo (189-G-85) of Le Mans Sarthe Basket
Stephen Brun (202-F-80) of BCM Gravelines Dunkerque Grand Littoral
Laurent Cazalon (195-G-79) of Chorale de Roanne Basket
Nando De Colo (202-G-87) of Cholet Basket
Mamoutou Diarra (200-F-80) of PAOK Marfin Thessaloniki (GRE)
Boris Diaw (203-F/C-82) of Phoenix Suns (USA)
Yakhouba Diawara (200-F-82) of Denver Nuggets (USA)
Thomas Dubiez (195-G-80) of BCM Gravelines Dunkerque Grand Littoral
Cedric Ferchaud (195-F-80) of Elan Bearnais Pau-Orthez
Sacha Giffa (195-F/G-77) of Strasbourg IG
William Gradit (197-F-82) of JA Vichy Val d'Allier Auvergne basket
Joseph Gomis (180-G-78) of C.B. Valladolid (ESP)
Dounia Issa (199-F-81) of JA Vichy Val d'Allier Auvergne basket
Aymeric Jeanneau (185-G-78) of Adecco ASVEL Lyon-Villeurbanne
Tariq Kirksay (199-F-79) of Unics Kazan (RUS)
Ian Mahinmi (206-F/C-86) of Austin Toros (USA)
Claude Marquis (201-F/C-80) of Cholet Basket
Joakim Noah (211-F/C-85) of Chicago Bulls (USA)
Marc-Antoine Pellin (171-G-87) of Chorale de Roanne Basket
Johan Petro (214-C-86) of Seattle Supersonics (USA)
William Soliman (203-F-80) of Chorale de Roanne Basket
Yohann Sangare (193-G-83) of Adecco ASVEL Lyon-Villeurbanne
Steed Tchicamboud (193-G-81) of Cholet Basket
Ronny Turiaf (208-C/F-83) of Los Angeles Lakers (USA)
Ludovic Vaty (206-F-88) of Moraine Valley CC (USA)
Head Coach: Michael Gomez
Assistants: Jean-Louis Borg of Vichy, Jacques Commeres
How many chances are there to see the other NBA players (Petro, Turiaf, Batum, Noah and Diawara)? And wasn't Gomis injured?

 

[Aegis2]

Gomis (injury) and Sangaré (who doesn't want to come for some reason) are replaced by 2 youngsters : Fabien Causeur (Le Havre) and Rodrigue Beaubois (Cholet)

 

[raph2]

Zero chance for batum as i said in the first answer i gave you (just like gallinari i guess anwyay?). He's not even sure to play for portland for the incoming season (he's gonna play in the SL and a lot will depend on how he behaves/performs there).

Apparently turiaf should be fixed soon as he has an offer from gsw that LA has to match (or improve) soon otherwise he will play for them. Which means he should be available for the preparation quite fast.

Hard to say for petro & diawara (lots of trades in the nba atm and diawara needs a new contract), as for noah i guess he's gonna play in the SL (currently playing in the orlando SL and he should play in las vegas's ones (no idea for the last)).

Not necessary how it gonna ends though that's what i think is gonna happen.

 

[Hvala Milane2]

Zero chance for batum as i said in the first answer i gave you (just like gallinari i guess anwyay?). He's not even sure to play for portland for the incoming season (he's gonna play in the SL and a lot will depend on how he behaves/performs there).

Apparently turiaf should be fixed soon as he has an offer from gsw that LA has to match (or improve) soon otherwise he will play for them. Which means he should be available for the preparation quite fast.

Hard to say for petro & diawara (lots of trades in the nba atm and diawara needs a new contract), as for noah i guess he's gonna play in the SL (currently playing in the orlando SL and he should play in las vegas's ones (no idea for the last)).

Not necessary how it gonna ends though that's what i think is gonna happen.

Gallinari is in the list and should play, I have to say fortunately because with the team Recalcati called we might struggle even to qualify (no centers and no reliable scorers). If Turiaf will join your team quite soon I'd be happy to see him when your guys will come to Italy.

 

[damelo2]

Team was announced. I'm disgusted. Not even Flo Pietrus is in. We'll have Nando de Colo and marco Pellin. Bokolo is in, even if he is a point guard with no drive, no shoot, he just go high and dunks easily, well, for now, i'm not going any further, I have to go find the coach and tell him build a real team.

 

[Aegis2]

This team seems very weak and 100% Pro A. Clearly, topping a group with both Turkey and Ukraine will be very very hard.

Anyways, here is the list :

PG
Marc-Antoine Pellin (Roanne)
Yannick Bokolo (ex Le Mans, looking for a new club)
Steed Tchicamboud (Cholet, just joined Nancy)

SG
Nando De Colo (Cholet, probably Dynamo Moskow very soon)
Abdoulaye MBaye (Dijon)
Fabien Causeur (Le Havre)
Dubiez Thomas (Gravelines)
Cédric Ferchaud (Pau-Orthez)

SF
Laurent Cazalon (ex Roanne, forgot where he signed)
William Gradit (Vichy)

PF
Stephen Brun (Gravelines)
Sacha Giffa (Strasbourg)
Dounia Issa (Vichy)

C
Pape Badiane (ex Roanne, now Le Mans)
Ludovic Vaty (Pau-Orthez)
William Soliman (ex Roanne, now Vichy)

For the record, Stephen Brun, with his one cap, is a veteran since there are only 4 players with more caps (including awful Bokolo and rubbish Ferchaud)

The only good news is that Claude Marquis (Cholet PF, not quite our saviour, but he is certainly one class above Brun or Issa) and Kirksay (Kazan SF, possibly the only class player of the team) who are both home for personal reasons should join the team in Italy.

 

[Jon_Koncak2]

As a fan of a club that had the "honour" of being coached by Gomez i sympathize with you guys.this squad seems really weak and sets France's participation in euro in serious danger.and cutting F.Pietrus whom i consider france's most valuable player is an unbelievably stupid decision

 

[raph2]

Awful bokolo is above all a defenser. And obviously, if france fails it will be because of bokolo since he cannot score 10 pp and provide 8 assists for each game.

/yawn.

Some should stick with the facts that it's weak at any position, and the scoring trip (okay, he was pointing out the lack of 3 pts threat & the lack of EL experienced players, we saw the result) that was tried by bergeaud during last euro proved undoubtedly that this is the way france should play. Obviously. Ah btw, bokolo was not there during that euro, but i assume it does not count (neither the ranking of france during last world championship). And i pass on the fact that he's willing to come for this bloody and scary qualification trip while most of all players are carefully fleeing for whatever reason.

Main issue is that we are the only country in europe with soooo many potential good prospects which is unable to let them play (even russia does better, not specially something to be proud about). And any friggin player needs to play in order to turn its potential into real tactical, physical & technical tools.
With enough prospects developed each year even at young age, most of our NT would be much more competitive from one year to another. At this time we just have exceptional generation and when that generation of player decide to take a break from the NT, everyone is realizing that what's behind is sh..

Waste of time though, it has always been easier in this country to point out the result (and the "choice") instead of pointing out the main reason (and the origin of the issue).

ps : Flo pietrus is not in the list because he's thinking about geting surgery to fix an old injury (or whatever it is, but it was announced way back in time). Curiously, julian is more or less in same situation.

 

[Aegis2]

Well, I don't think Bokolo's defense is that great that it makes him a decent PG at international level.
Anyways, besides Parker, the only french PG I wouldn't rate bad at international level is Sciarra so I wasn't particularly picking on him. But yeah, kudos to him for coming unlike Sangare and Jeanneau.

At least, you didn't try to defend Ferchaud. How this guy and Dubiez can be in the top5 french SG (Gomis and MP2 included) show our lack of depth. The worst is that to help them, we only have 3 prospects (granted De Colo is now more than a prospect but he hasn't been tested at a high level yet)

Also, it doesn't concern the NT anymore, but Julian decided to not take the surgery.

 

[raph2]

I don't defend anyone, i just point out the obvious, bokolo has nothing to do with france NT bullshit. And anyway bokolo is much more of a sg without decent shoot.

French NT will have better days once we get rid of the crappy old south-western mafia from french federation. And when best teams will have a real developing project for young players, if not in their own roster, at least in other proA's teams's roster (something we can see everywhere in europe, at least in best leagues). Here in France, the purpose is to prevent your current opponent to develop the best prospect by signing them without any hope to get some minutes with the pro. Only a few teams are taking the risks to develop their own players, others are just playing a chess game where everyone is losing in the end.

And, even if i cannot blame players selected (which would be really narrow-minded) , i have to say that i somehow wish this team fail to qualify for next euro. Can't see another solution to kick the morons out and turn the page to build something efficient & lasting at all levels.

 

[AlbionGate]

Same situation as Serbia last year. Almost every valuable player missing.
Some young talented players (De Colo - Pellin - Vaty - Causeur) and a lot of defensive players.

If I were Michel Gomez :

Badiane - Marquis - Vaty
Brun - Issa -
Kirskay - Cazalon
De Colo - Causeur - M'Baye
Pellin - Tchicamboud

 

[raph2]

lol... No way you can compare both situations... Much more talent individualy & in numbers for serbia, it goes without saying...

And your best prospects are playing, if not in serbia, elsewhere in europe. Main issue for serbia is managing all ego's i guess (turkey has tons of talent as well and more or less the same trouble between nba & non nba players)...

ahh.. if only in a few years we could follow the way you handle youth development (teams A & B and best prospects playing early in the top teams, top coaching & scouting etc.) considering the potential we have here...

As for the team though i guess you are right. I m just hoping diaw will wake up as it's gonna be a slaughter in the paint against turkey (brun + marquis or badiane vs turkey 4 & 5's = major ouch, not like we won't suffer at other posts though).

And basically it should be another post parker trip with De Colo ending the qualification round saying " i can't do everything" or stuff like that.

 

[Khalid802]

Do u guys know what happened with Tarek Abdulwahad (ex. NBA player, whom is also French). Is the guy still playing any b-ball?
It's a shame that the Pietrus brothers are no longer playing with the French NT. They had amazing physical capabilities and were very explosive on offense (especially with their dunking skills).