His analysis after the World Cup: “It’s a failure. You would have to be crazy to say the opposite… We collapsed against Canada in the second period… In other circumstances, we would have been able to overcome the difficulties of the first period. This is what I have tried to analyze since the end of the competition. I did some introspection in addition to collective debriefs. The preparation did not suggest such a derailment from the first match… We got into it as we did to our opponents in the past. They attacked us. We knew they were going to do it, but knowing it is not enough. We had undoubtedly underestimated this level of aggressiveness and not worked hard enough on palliative solutions. Despite everything, this has happened in the past and we have been able to find solutions. The heart of the analysis and the big difference is the level of cohesion. The most painful observation of failure is that this was not the case. This analysis is important because it is linked to our ability to bounce back. We must reestablish the values that made it possible to win medals, have a stricter and firmer framework but above all rediscover values of cohesion, to be a real team. This is work that will take all year. That’s the goal, to share that with the players. Let everyone understand that nothing will be possible if we don’t team up again.”
The list of 12 players known from the start and the idea of testing NBA players next year: “We discuss it, it came up often in the debriefs. With the dates imposed by the NBA, we only have 28 days before the competition. It’s very short… We can, however, extend the preparation time with players who don’t play in the NBA. We think: this is a major issue. It doesn’t have the importance that some people give it. After this type of poor performance, it’s easy to find lots of reasons for things that didn’t work… But the Spaniards were also beaten by Canada and Latvia, certainly in much more correct circumstances than us… Since I’m here, the best campaign is Tokyo 2021, and the 12 were selected from the start. It’s more a question of accepting a role that we haven’t been able to bring to the level of previous years. (…)It is not enough to come together to make a team, for cohesion but also to do real basketball work. Sometimes, we did six weeks of preparation during the time of Boris Diaw and Tony Parker…”
Nicolas Batum who calls for total competition in 2024: “Last year, he shouldn’t have said that he would be there until Paris in that case, it’s a bit contradictory… But he has basically right. We need to be creative, innovative, we need to find new players, the one we are thinking of (Wembanyama, Editor’s note), but not only that. The important thing is to rebuild a team.”
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Objective podium at the Olympics: “The Americans will be the absolute favorites… They would have been before, but with the added reinforcement of Joël Embiid… There are others, like the two finalists of the last World Cup, Germany champion of the world and Serbia. The Germans played magnificently and with the fire that we lost. We have to find that flame again. We cannot debrief this summer’s two matches (Canada and Latvia) without covering the last campaigns. The state of mind is always the first value to oppose in this type of competition where you must first fight.
His mistakes: “The coach is necessarily responsible for the lack of cohesion. He is not the only one but the main person responsible. It’s up to me to find the means. Lack of humility? I should have been more transgressive. I perceived things. Weakness in rebounds? When you have such an athletic team, you’re easy and calm. We were too settled, too comfortable, we lost sight of the fact of building, the fight and we quietly moved towards the competition when we should have been more transgressive to take care of these warning signals. Preparation never fully allows you to see all of this. It’s in the difficulty that you see if you have a real team. The other values, fighting, self-sacrifice, sacrifice, are what show that you are a great team.”
The position of leader: “We didn’t go into the details of building the team. We rethought the leader position, we know that it is a problem that is not new. This will be the object of all our attention all year round. Killian Hayes? Yes, there are many others that we will follow… One of the choices that I regret is not having taken Andrew (Albicy). The reasons seemed justified, we chose youth and we didn’t think we would go down so much defensively… When everything goes wrong, it’s easier to find what we could have done better, we don’t have to Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater.”
Thomas Heurtel: “Interested in his potential return? Yes, I can’t say the opposite, he was my starting leader at Euro 2022… We will monitor the situation and hope that it gets better but we will deal with it.
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Victor Wembanyama present in 2024: “It’s only positive. (…) At the heart of the game like in Boulogne-Levallois? The French team is not Boulogne (smile). It will already be a centerpiece of the building. He can play with all the other interiors we have, that would also have been the case with (Joël) Embiid. This is one of his strengths, he can play strong winger or pivot, and maybe even winger in the years to come! This is an obvious added value. (….) Revolutionize the game? When you bring in a dominant player, it inevitably reshuffles the cards a bit but it’s rarely unfavorable… He’s an asset on both sides of the pitch. We must first find our defensive identity. We averaged 95 points in the first two matches. It starts there. In this area, due to his size but also his intelligence, he can contribute considerably. He can play pivot by being associated with strong wingers, Gerschon Yabusele or Nicolas Batum, or as a strong winger with Rudy Gobert for example. These are different perspectives that we will try to use. To see how he will integrate into the NBA this season even if I am rather confident…”
No club in 2023-24, 100% focused on the Olympics: “It changes a lot, it will be like before Tokyo in 2021, that leaves more time for analysis. Before Tokyo, I had never seen so many NBA matches in my life… Not always for the best (laughs). I will make several trips. Cohesion? Yes, but you also need to coach upstream. For the leaders, we will have to support them and not wait until the end of June to do it.
Comments collected at a press conference