France national team 2011

[Italian Pride]

traorè replace turiaf...

i saw traorè in the last season when he played with lottomatica rome,he seemed me a good player,above all in attack with ball in hand, but sometimes it seemed a little naive to committing stupid fouls or steps and especially non-defensive almost nothing ...

are just my impressions? mahinmi was better for you?

[raph]

Traoré is the de colo of the frontcourt (or better, they are our belinelli and bargnani, with less offensive skill ofc). Both (i would include parker but collet has been asking parker to improve his 1/1 pressure so we will see) are the usual targets of our opponents for obvious reasons.
You forgot something that i dislike with traore, he tends to cuss to referees about nothing and he loses his focus regulary. But offensively, he is a true option untill seraphin has developed a whole package (or untill tillie/lauvergne or another young manages to improve enough to come from the bench in our nt).

Turiaf blocks shot but he is a rather poor perimeter defender (he often gets caught in pnr situations) so losing him for traore won't change a lot of things. Mahinmi is a tad better in defense (foul prone though), a bit taller, but he is mostly a very good transition player (imo).

If you were thinking about our future match up, i am more worried about the gallinari/batum match up as nico has always struggle against gallo (except one game when danilo was still in nyk and i think before he had his back surgery). Even if diaw/flo pietrus and gelabale will probably rotate on him.
Anyway we are not there yet.

[Toxicity]

If you were thinking about our future match up, i am more worried about the gallinari/batum match up as nico has always struggle against gallo (except one game when danilo was still in nyk and i think before he had his back surgery). Even if diaw/flo pietrus and gelabale will probably rotate on him.
Anyway we are not there yet.

If you're worried about Gallo we're much more worried about who is gonna guard Tony Parker... well, who's gonna commit fouls on him.

[raph]

Diot is released from the nt because of his back (still painful and preventing him to play at 100% atm).

No name has been disclosed about his replacement. M'baye made the end of the preparation but most likely they will look for a pg (heurtel/ona embo).

Bad news even if it is not such a surprise considering the season diot had since his back injury (slipped disc in early may).

[raft]

Is Mahinmi on the roster? His name is on absentee list.

[raph]

No he is not. the last rumor about him being called when turiaf had his injury was a fake rumor from a french radio apparently (rmc).

The group for this Eurobasket is :
parker - albicy
de colo - ?
batum - gelabale - kahudi
diaw - pietrus
noah - seraphin - traore

+ either a pg or a combo guard to replace diot.

[Joško Poljak Fan]

When is the next French friendly game being played?

France is the only stronger team I haven't managed to watch yet and I'd really like to see them just to get a clue about what to expect.

[Jon_Koncak]

I don't know what's on Collet's mind but they should take someone who can score,there are too many bench players who are offensive liabilities,last night 4th quarter line up(albicu-kahudi-gelabale-pietrus-seraphin) was painful to watch.Imo Heurtel should be the obvious choice,i'm surprised he wasn't even called for the preliminary squad.8 points in 20 minutes in ACB,the kid can play.If not him then Jackson or Fournier,not Ona-Embo another defensive specialist sto struggles on offense

[raph]

@josko
We have two remaining friendly games to play, the first against bosnia this friday at 20h 30. The second against belgium the following day.

Both will be played at home though, so like all other games, referees might advantage the home team.
I am not sure the result and the manner will mean anything. Especially in noah's case (i assume you are mostly curious about how he looks with our nt) since he is obviously lacking competiton and playtime.

@jk
I am not a big fan of heurtel, but he would fit to replace diot. Albicy and parker have similar profile (speedy, score first pg's), heurtel can organize and find his teammates much better (turnover prone though) and score from the perimeter.
Causeur is supposed to be clear to play again though, and he might make his come back. For now he is with m'baye the favorite to take the final spot (both having played during the preparation)

[Grinder]

How does M'Baye play? I remember hearing his name before the NBA draft a few times. Saw him hit a 3 and make a few athletic plays against Canada but I'm not familiar with his game as a whole.

Is Bokolo injured?

[raph]

Bokolo expressed the desire of staying with his family to rest and take care of his wife (she is about to give birth to their second child). He has always been available in previous years so of course there were no objections (even though he would have taken kahudi's spot most likely otherwise).

M'baye was in the starting shooting guard for the batum generation (along diot at pg, moerman at pf, vaty at c and batum at the wing, with tillie/jackson/ajinca etc coming from the bench). They won U18 2006, and played the U19 the next year (ending 3rd) so i assume that's why he was on scouts's radar with a few other teammates.

About his game, he is a bit soft (especially in defense) as he never had the chance to play in a team with a defensive minded coach (or a upper level team). He can create his own shot rather easily driving - though he is a better driving from one side i think right side - through the defense or hit jumpers (mid distance or perimeter shots). Decent court vision as well, streaky shooter though.
He was playing as a combo guard in dijon (where he started as a pro) but he can't really organize his team offense imo (not yet at least). With collet as a coach, i think he can really improve but he really needs to bring toughness to his game (on both sides), nothing new with our prospects.


ps : Tchicambout is replacing diot and he will join the group tomorrow (according to catch and shoot).

[Xristos]

Never heard of Tchicambout! Is he NT level player?

[raph]

Not really, but collet clearly said he did not want to call back causeur since he had been released because of his injury and he did not want another combo guard. One could add that he probably does not want to let de colo play at the pg spot as well, which is not a bad idea considering how turnover prone he can be under pressure.
Tchicambout is rather tall and decent defensively, poor passer though (a lot of responsabilities will be carried by our wing players i guess) and limited in his drives/court vision. He has a decent 3 ptr, but honnestly without beaubois and diot injuries no one would have heard of him. He was in the initial list, which is why he was also picked (he should be fit and knows some of the tactics already).

[M-Stul9]

Turiaf coming to Siauliai,so he can play?

[Mindozas]

Turiaf coming to Siauliai,so he can play?

No, he just came as supporter