France like deep blue sea

The depth of talent in the French national team, called Les Bleus, is so awesome that 7-l New Orleans Pelicans center Alexis Ajinca was left out of the 12-man roster. Ajinca was in the 17-man pool but went missing when the final cast was submitted to FIBA for the Olympic Qualifying Tournament at the MOA Arena starting today.

Coach Vincent Collet’s squad boasts of six NBA veterans, four of whom played last season. Leading the charge is the San Antonio Spurs tandem of point guard Tony Parker and power forward Boris Diaw. If Parker is the heart of Les Bleus, Diaw is the soul as team captain. Joffrey Lauvergne (pronounced La-vern-yea) of Denver and Nicolas Batum of Portland are the two others who saw action in the NBA last season.

The other NBA veterans are Nando de Colo and Mickael Gelabale (pronounced Jell-a-bal). De Colo, 29, played for San Antonio and Toronto and is the reigning Euroleague and Finals MVP with CSKA Moscow. The 6-5 sharpshooter should find his way back to the NBA sooner than later. Gelabale, 33, had stints with Seattle and Minnesota and is now playing in the French league.    

According to Mondial Basket magazine, De Colo recently received the prestigious Alain Gilles trophy as the best French player all over the world. No doubt, he’s Parker’s heir apparent as “Le Patron.” Parker has announced this will be his final stint with the French national squad.  

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Another French NBA player Evan Fournier could’ve made the team but opted to skip the tournament. Ironically, he was in the country right after the NBA season ended to enjoy Boracay. Still another French NBA player Rudy Gobert declined to suit up for the qualifier to recover from injuries. Despite the absence of Fournier, Gobert and Ajinca, France is the team to beat in the race for one ticket to Rio.

Collet has assembled a mix of veterans and youngsters for Manila. The balance of experience and youthful enthusiasm shows no indication that Collet comprised either way. The senior players are Flo Pietrus, 35, Parker, 34, Diaw, 34 and Gelabale, 33. Pietrus and Gelabale were both born in Guadeloupe, a French overseas territory. Guadeloupe isn’t considered a country by Olympic standards and is in a “limbo” category with other protectorates like Zanzibar, Martinique, Curacao, Greenland and the Falkland Islands. Pietrus, a 6-8 forward, played for France at the 2006, 2010 and 2014 FIBA World Cups and joined Parker at the 2012 London Olympics. His younger brother Mickael played 10 years in the NBA.

The other French players are 6-3 Thomas Huertel, 27; 6-7 Charles Kahudi, 29; 6-4 Antoine Diot, 27; 6-11 Kim Tillie, 27 and 6-8 Adrien Moerman, 27.

Diot, a quarterback, averaged 8.1 points for Valencia in the Spanish league last season and is slowly regaining his form after a 10-week rest because of injuries. Mondial Basket said he has to prove himself deserving of more playing time coming back from a long absence. Huertel and Moerman both play as imports in Turkey. Tillie is with Laboral Kutxa Vitoria of the Spanish league. His parents Laurent and Caroline were former national volleyball players for different countries. His father is French while his mother is Dutch.

Kahudi was born in Kinshasha, Congo, and moved to France when he was three. He was on the French team that took the bronze medal at the 2014 FIBA World Cup in Spain. Although Kahudi grew up in France, he can’t be considered a French native. He wasn’t born in France and has no French blood. His classification as a French national player has to be as a naturalized citizen.

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It’s the same situation with Parker who was born in Belgium to an American father Tony Sr. and a Dutch mother Pamela Firestone. Parker moved to France when he was two months old, according to his father who played as an import in the Netherlands and Belgium before landing in Paris. Like Kahudi, Parker wasn’t born in France and has no French blood. Should he therefore be classified as a naturalized player, too? Under FIBA rules, a national team is allowed only one naturalized player like Andray Blatche with the Philippines and Bobby Dixon with Turkey. But if Kahudi and Parker are naturalized French citizens, only one of them should be allowed to play for the national team.

Former Gilas head coach Rajko Toroman watched a recent friendly between France and Serbia in Belgrade and shared his insights on the game which the host country won, 94-88 in overtime. De Colo shot 16 points, Lauvergne 14, Parker 12 and Diaw eight. “They played three big although I think they’re more effective playing three small,” said Toroman. “One time, it was Lauvergne, Pietrus and Diaw together then they put Tillie and Moerman in position three even if they’re natural four players.”

Toroman was impressed with Lauvergne who dominated the middle. But he said the best player on the team was Diaw. “He controls the play,” said Toroman. “Diaw passes, scores, rebounds. Every player on the team is good, they’re very athletic, they have everything. It will be hard for any team to beat France in the qualifier. It will be almost impossible. They play a great system, they have experienced players who are outstanding in every part of the game.”

To beat France tonight, the Philippines must play a perfect game with the hometown fans cheering their lungs out from the opening tip.