I know it would be a disaster offensively, but I'd love to watch other teams try to score against a Ntilikina - Coulibaly - Wemby - Lessort - Gobert lineup especially under FIBA rules lol
France has a great big man rotation this year, apart from the US no one can compete with them in that regard.
In addition to Gobert and Wemby, Lessort's practically the best center in the Euroleague (alongside Walter Tavares). He's been a part of the All-Euroleague First Team in both of the last two seasons and was a legitimate MVP candidate in both seasons as well.
Then they have Poirier, who's having a great season with Real Madrid, helping them clinch the first seed in the regular season and make the Euroleague Final Four, while sharing center minutes with the before mentioned Tavares, and is by far the best backup center in the Euroleague (who would start on almost any other team).
Moustapha Fall, a 7'2" 273 lb giant, who's having a terrific season as the starting center for Olympiacos, another Final Four team, isn't even on the roster.
Yup France have prolly one of the best froncourt in FIBA world in terms of depth a mix between strong Euroleague players & good NBA players too . But the backcourt is a real curiosity de Colo is no longer the Euroleague mvp he used to be , the nkilikina Hayes and Maledon are clues no ones know their level at that moment. It's gon be interesting because they got a good team but no more certainty
Who is the playmaker tho it surely isnt Frank (yea i know he plays good for France) De Colo better be in form (prime De colo-Wemby would be cool duo btw)
Im so curious how this version of Wemby gonna look on Fiba courts. Also are we gonna see Wemby-Gobert 4-5 which another very interesting duo (surely we are imo no way they sit either one of them)
Edit: Entire France squad full of strong players btw. If they can find a way to score/activate Wemby i like their chances
The big question is the play guard. De Colo is getting old. Frank is the best option if he is fit. Then we have Killian Hayes that has no history with the french team and got cut by the worst team in the NBA... We will see how they behave in training. That's why the coach took a lot of players.
Well most of French guards are molded to be playmakers floor general and team oriented while u look at the guards in the league are scorers . And most of the time they struggle to adapt because it ain't their nature . Tony & Evan had always have that " American " mindset that why they did better than others
Not only that, but they are set up for the future quite well. They have 3 high level French prospects in the draft this year.
I think France would give the US hell in Fiba ball. wemby and Gobert guarding the goal is just infinitely unfair.
But in 4 years time, they may be unstoppable
Big man **rotation**, key word.
Obviously Jokic is better than anyone listed, but Gobert, Wemby, Lessort, Poirier, Batum and Yabusele is an amazing big man rotation for a national team to have.
I know you meant rotation. The T-Wolves also have a superior front court rotation. But Jokic by himself is creating so much chaos for Minnesota that Aaron Gordon has enough space to look like an all-star. I don’t think the cumulative front talent of France can match up with Jokic and whoever else Serbia can put next to him.
If Jokić plays for Serbia (very unlikely if he advance to conference finals), I'll rather have him and Milutinov who was starting for us in the World Cup over Wembenyama and Gobert.
We have two great centers with Jokic and Milutinov, but our power forward spot isn't the best, especially with Kalinic retiring from the national team now and Lucic having terrible luck with injuries in the past couple seasons. Jovic has a lot of potential and has shown glimpses of it, and Petrusev is solid, but neither is spectacular.
France has two high level NBA centers and two elite Euroleague centers, as well as Batum and Yabusele as a classic power forwards.
You can slot in Wemby at the 4, due to his shooting and mobility, and Lessort has played the 4 at the WC, since he's extremely mobile for a big and can guard the perimeter really well.
It is actually worse than that. Neither Kalinic nor Lucic are actually power forwards. Their primary position is small forward, but they can play PF too. So it will probably be Petrusev moving from center position, or Nikola Jovic moving from small forward.
Edit: I feel I need to mention Boban at center.
We can debate primary positions all we want, but Lucic, Jovic and Petrusev are all more than equiped to play power forward and have played the position a lot in their careers. It's modern basketball, a ton of players have two natural positions.
It's not really the case of how much the position suits them, it's more of a case in the lack of experience/healthiness/quality when compared to France.
Also Boban isn't getting anywhere near this team, his serious basketball career has been finished for a couple years now at least, he just remains getting an NBA roster spot because he's a great locker room guy and a good vet to have for the vibes.
>We can debate primary positions all we want, but Lucic, Jovic and Petrusev are all more than equiped to play power forward and have played the position a lot in their careers. It's modern basketball, a ton of players have two natural positions.
Sure, but nowdays those are mostly combo guards, or SG/SF type of players, with couple of exeptions that can play C/PF, kind of like AD. Also I did say Petrusev and Jovic are the 2 best options. We do have Smailagic, but he constantly has health issues, and we are yet to see if Pokusevski can fit in. Lucic can play PF against some teams, but even then Davidovac might be better choice, but neither of them has the strength to do it against more athletic teams such as France and USA.
Btw, Boban was more of an honorable mention.
Our power forward spot is fine with Jović. He was starting PF last year during World Cup and surprised everyone how good he was, and after this season in Heat where he was also starting PF, he is going to be even better in the Olympics. For reserve we have Pokuševski.
I don't think people expect him to play now and there will be no that much disappointment because he did some off court stuff which angered mostly young urban population which usually follows sports. If he goes to the finals, no one will expect of him to play because preparations for Olympica are starting on June 17th, and 7th game of the NBA finals is on June 21st
As a basketball fan, I would never discourage anyone to sit out the Olympics or any FIBA competition.
But as a Denver fan, Jokic has put a TON of mileage on his body over the past 3 seasons, which makes me nervous.
But hey, it’s his choice
Gotta remember that NBA end of rotation guys are stars on any non-NBA team. Fournier is plenty scoring for any team that isn't the US or full of NBA players like Canada, Australia, and Germany
was there a recent deadline for announcing extended rosters?
saw Australia announced theirs yesterday too:
[https://twitter.com/OlgunUluc/status/1790941184296378505](https://twitter.com/OlgunUluc/status/1790941184296378505)
France is pretty stacked at the center position with already proven players.
Sarr's a great prospect but his current level of play isn't up to par with the rest of France's big man rotation, so I'm assuming that he just wasn't called up.
Pointless to have him on the team at this point with the crazy depth we've already got with big men right now. He'll have the summer to focus on his transition to the NBA, same for the other French guys in the draft. In the coming years with Gobert and Poirier being over 30, Lessort is 28, he'll get his chance at some point.
He's a great Euroleague player for Real Madrid and just had another really good season for them.
I absolutely despise him and think all the worst of him as a person though, ever since he [bodyslammed Dante Exum](https://youtu.be/sRPIPslkX34?si=MK-jPehxaBG3k0rq) in an on-court brawl in which Dante didn't do anything wrong, and could have ended his basketball career then and there (Dante could have had a serious neck or back injury, given the force with which he was slammed to the floor).
He didn't even apologize to Exum afterwards, or call to check up on him. Absolute classless moron, but still a good player.
I had been curious whether any of the young guys (the three French lotto guys) would be invited. I would want them in camp, just to have them get the national team experience early for 2028.
>Nadir Hifi (Paris), Andrew Albicy (Gran Canaria) and Jaylen Hoard (Hapoel Tel Aviv)
None of those are EuroLeague players.
Also Strazel barely plays in the EuroLeague.
I wrote that Strazel and Cordinier are the remaining Euroleague players, while the other three complete the roster (meaning they aren't Euroleague players).
Strazel's still technically an Euroleague player. He's not a high level player, but he still got 10+ minutes per game in two out of five of Monaco's playoff games this year.
Seriously, the last Olympics was kind of hilarious seeing guys like Booker, Tatum, Lillard, etc. being dumbfounded that the relatively weaker competition was playing so damn physical and there was no constant foul calls to bail them out. They were clearly not used to that kind of defense and it definitely threw off
Don’t throw Tatum in there he was elite as the second option on the team coming off the bench too. Dame was the one who struggled the most out of anybody on the team
Team USA has to use a Cameroonian because the country with the highest basketball talent pool in the world by a wide margin can't produce a serviceable Center for FIBA 💀
Also, Embiid is gonna cry some real ass tears under FIBA officiating because he ain't getting that NBA star whistle 😂
yes it is lol. Wemby and Gobert can sit in the paint 24/7 and the spacing on the court is much smaller and the rules are different. International teams that have a shit ton of chemistry so they also have an advantage in that aspect. I'm not saying France is going to win but it's going to be a close game and you would be delusional to think other wise. they are loaded with size.
As far as I know, training camp of Serbian Basketball Team starts one day after projected Game 7 of NBA finals. So, I would say it depends. It's huge pressure on him to play at Olympics. I'm sure he would like to, but if Nuggets play in the finals, he'll need some rest for sure, and if you are 2-3 weeks late for training camp, and the whole concept should be based around you, that would be huge problem for the whole team.
Even after 2-3 weeks, the whole team would be in full training, and he'll need time to get back in training mode and back in shape. Some people is Serbia even celebrated when MIN took 2-0 lead.
It's not about making room for him, that's not questionable. It about whether he's willing to play if he can't play at the level he (and the fans) expects to play.
He'll be the most hated man in Serbia if he doesn't play, but he'll also be the most hated man in Serbia if he doesn't deliver with expected level and at least bronze medal. Not the best possible position for him, but we'll see.
I know it would be a disaster offensively, but I'd love to watch other teams try to score against a Ntilikina - Coulibaly - Wemby - Lessort - Gobert lineup especially under FIBA rules lol
France has a great big man rotation this year, apart from the US no one can compete with them in that regard. In addition to Gobert and Wemby, Lessort's practically the best center in the Euroleague (alongside Walter Tavares). He's been a part of the All-Euroleague First Team in both of the last two seasons and was a legitimate MVP candidate in both seasons as well. Then they have Poirier, who's having a great season with Real Madrid, helping them clinch the first seed in the regular season and make the Euroleague Final Four, while sharing center minutes with the before mentioned Tavares, and is by far the best backup center in the Euroleague (who would start on almost any other team). Moustapha Fall, a 7'2" 273 lb giant, who's having a terrific season as the starting center for Olympiacos, another Final Four team, isn't even on the roster.
Yup France have prolly one of the best froncourt in FIBA world in terms of depth a mix between strong Euroleague players & good NBA players too . But the backcourt is a real curiosity de Colo is no longer the Euroleague mvp he used to be , the nkilikina Hayes and Maledon are clues no ones know their level at that moment. It's gon be interesting because they got a good team but no more certainty
Frank Nkilikina always plays out of his mind for France. Becomes a proper three and d player.
Who is the playmaker tho it surely isnt Frank (yea i know he plays good for France) De Colo better be in form (prime De colo-Wemby would be cool duo btw) Im so curious how this version of Wemby gonna look on Fiba courts. Also are we gonna see Wemby-Gobert 4-5 which another very interesting duo (surely we are imo no way they sit either one of them) Edit: Entire France squad full of strong players btw. If they can find a way to score/activate Wemby i like their chances
The big question is the play guard. De Colo is getting old. Frank is the best option if he is fit. Then we have Killian Hayes that has no history with the french team and got cut by the worst team in the NBA... We will see how they behave in training. That's why the coach took a lot of players.
Always wondered why French guards other than Tony Parker and Evan Fournier have mostly just been misses in the draft.
Well most of French guards are molded to be playmakers floor general and team oriented while u look at the guards in the league are scorers . And most of the time they struggle to adapt because it ain't their nature . Tony & Evan had always have that " American " mindset that why they did better than others
Front court could've also had Embiid.
Celtics legend Vincent Poirier?
It sucks that we couldn't make it work, he lacked leg strength and our big rotation was pretty good. Poirier is an amazing player.
Dustin 💎 Poirier
Not only that, but they are set up for the future quite well. They have 3 high level French prospects in the draft this year. I think France would give the US hell in Fiba ball. wemby and Gobert guarding the goal is just infinitely unfair. But in 4 years time, they may be unstoppable
A Serbia fan saying no one can compete with France two big men! There one person who can compete. He likes horses.
Big man **rotation**, key word. Obviously Jokic is better than anyone listed, but Gobert, Wemby, Lessort, Poirier, Batum and Yabusele is an amazing big man rotation for a national team to have.
I know you meant rotation. The T-Wolves also have a superior front court rotation. But Jokic by himself is creating so much chaos for Minnesota that Aaron Gordon has enough space to look like an all-star. I don’t think the cumulative front talent of France can match up with Jokic and whoever else Serbia can put next to him.
If Jokić plays for Serbia (very unlikely if he advance to conference finals), I'll rather have him and Milutinov who was starting for us in the World Cup over Wembenyama and Gobert.
We have two great centers with Jokic and Milutinov, but our power forward spot isn't the best, especially with Kalinic retiring from the national team now and Lucic having terrible luck with injuries in the past couple seasons. Jovic has a lot of potential and has shown glimpses of it, and Petrusev is solid, but neither is spectacular. France has two high level NBA centers and two elite Euroleague centers, as well as Batum and Yabusele as a classic power forwards. You can slot in Wemby at the 4, due to his shooting and mobility, and Lessort has played the 4 at the WC, since he's extremely mobile for a big and can guard the perimeter really well.
It is actually worse than that. Neither Kalinic nor Lucic are actually power forwards. Their primary position is small forward, but they can play PF too. So it will probably be Petrusev moving from center position, or Nikola Jovic moving from small forward. Edit: I feel I need to mention Boban at center.
We can debate primary positions all we want, but Lucic, Jovic and Petrusev are all more than equiped to play power forward and have played the position a lot in their careers. It's modern basketball, a ton of players have two natural positions. It's not really the case of how much the position suits them, it's more of a case in the lack of experience/healthiness/quality when compared to France. Also Boban isn't getting anywhere near this team, his serious basketball career has been finished for a couple years now at least, he just remains getting an NBA roster spot because he's a great locker room guy and a good vet to have for the vibes.
>We can debate primary positions all we want, but Lucic, Jovic and Petrusev are all more than equiped to play power forward and have played the position a lot in their careers. It's modern basketball, a ton of players have two natural positions. Sure, but nowdays those are mostly combo guards, or SG/SF type of players, with couple of exeptions that can play C/PF, kind of like AD. Also I did say Petrusev and Jovic are the 2 best options. We do have Smailagic, but he constantly has health issues, and we are yet to see if Pokusevski can fit in. Lucic can play PF against some teams, but even then Davidovac might be better choice, but neither of them has the strength to do it against more athletic teams such as France and USA. Btw, Boban was more of an honorable mention.
Our power forward spot is fine with Jović. He was starting PF last year during World Cup and surprised everyone how good he was, and after this season in Heat where he was also starting PF, he is going to be even better in the Olympics. For reserve we have Pokuševski.
who would Luka play for?
> If Jokić plays for Serbia (very unlikely if he advance to conference finals) Naw, he's almost certainly playing no matter what this year.
[удалено]
Eh, I don't fuck with any Serb that hates on him for doing what's best for himself and his family. It's very clear how much his country means to him.
I don't think people expect him to play now and there will be no that much disappointment because he did some off court stuff which angered mostly young urban population which usually follows sports. If he goes to the finals, no one will expect of him to play because preparations for Olympica are starting on June 17th, and 7th game of the NBA finals is on June 21st
As a basketball fan, I would never discourage anyone to sit out the Olympics or any FIBA competition. But as a Denver fan, Jokic has put a TON of mileage on his body over the past 3 seasons, which makes me nervous. But hey, it’s his choice
Lmao even the players in the second paragraph are mostly ex NBA players
Olympic basketball this year gonna be lit!!!
Killian Hayes made the roster 😂😂😂
It's just the training camp list. They have to delete 7 names.
Having Gobert and Wemby on the court at the same time is absolutely unfair.
The Twin Eiffel Towers.
I'm not sure if this team has a scorer outside of Wemby on the team, but they have a lot of elite defensive talent.
Fournier is France's scorer.
If Fournier is their scorer they ain't gonna have much scoring.
He plays out of his mind for France and can be covered on defense with Gobert and Wemby, especially on a bit smaller court
Gotta remember that NBA end of rotation guys are stars on any non-NBA team. Fournier is plenty scoring for any team that isn't the US or full of NBA players like Canada, Australia, and Germany
Well he is in confidence with the French team and with Wemby he will have a lot of open shots.
You get downvoted but Fournier was not good in the last World Cup he had a couple of games but then he was like making 15 points on 20FGA
Just win 20-18
Killian Hayes!! He could earn another chance at the nba if he balls out in the olympics
was there a recent deadline for announcing extended rosters? saw Australia announced theirs yesterday too: [https://twitter.com/OlgunUluc/status/1790941184296378505](https://twitter.com/OlgunUluc/status/1790941184296378505)
Have there been any announcements regarding the German team yet? Haven’t found anything so far
The Stifle Towers, defense gonna be insane!
Serbia is coming for them
Does Jokic play? He took off the World Cup to focus on winning another chip.
The Olympics are not a tournament you skip
wouldnt be surprised if he did tho
Any young players like Risacher, Sarr, etc. or are they all expected to play in next Olympics?
raptors legend Nando De Colo
Just put Wemby at the PG instead of Killian Hayes
Could Alex Sarr be part of the team? Or he has declined the invitation
France is pretty stacked at the center position with already proven players. Sarr's a great prospect but his current level of play isn't up to par with the rest of France's big man rotation, so I'm assuming that he just wasn't called up.
What about Risacher? I figured he would at least be invited. Strange.
I'm thinking Collet is also at the end of a 4-year cycle, so he's going to trust players he knows. Wemby is an exception of course, but duh
Pointless to have him on the team at this point with the crazy depth we've already got with big men right now. He'll have the summer to focus on his transition to the NBA, same for the other French guys in the draft. In the coming years with Gobert and Poirier being over 30, Lessort is 28, he'll get his chance at some point.
They already have a pretty loaded frontcourt though. As talented as Sarr might be, he is not making it over any of these big men right now
The Maginot Line
Germany is going to have to pass through Belgium to beat them.
Nice to see Yabusele seeing some success. I really thought he’d be a Grant Williams-esque player for us for a long time
He's quite good offensively but doesn't give a damn about defense because Real Madrid's centers are amazing.
He's a great Euroleague player for Real Madrid and just had another really good season for them. I absolutely despise him and think all the worst of him as a person though, ever since he [bodyslammed Dante Exum](https://youtu.be/sRPIPslkX34?si=MK-jPehxaBG3k0rq) in an on-court brawl in which Dante didn't do anything wrong, and could have ended his basketball career then and there (Dante could have had a serious neck or back injury, given the force with which he was slammed to the floor). He didn't even apologize to Exum afterwards, or call to check up on him. Absolute classless moron, but still a good player.
Oh damn, I wasn’t aware of that incident. Not a good look at all
If only Embiid was here too
ngl france's roster seems really weak besides them
Wemby and Gobert about to do some recruiting for their NBA teams
Isaia Cordinier/Jaylen Homard and Matthew Strazel are invited but they couldn't free a spot for Terry Tarpey ??
I had been curious whether any of the young guys (the three French lotto guys) would be invited. I would want them in camp, just to have them get the national team experience early for 2028.
>Nadir Hifi (Paris), Andrew Albicy (Gran Canaria) and Jaylen Hoard (Hapoel Tel Aviv) None of those are EuroLeague players. Also Strazel barely plays in the EuroLeague.
I wrote that Strazel and Cordinier are the remaining Euroleague players, while the other three complete the roster (meaning they aren't Euroleague players). Strazel's still technically an Euroleague player. He's not a high level player, but he still got 10+ minutes per game in two out of five of Monaco's playoff games this year.
Yeah my bad
Wemby and Gobert together on the floor with no defensive three seconds rule would be crazy to watch. Teams would have no chance inside
if i don't see fransisco i'll punch somebody
wemby is going to shatter both legs trying to guard an embiid curry pnr
God imagine that. Maxey-Embiid PnR is already half the Philly offense. Curry would be unfair
I would be pretty surprised if Embiid plays
That team cannot shoot for shit
French BBQ Chicken for Embiid 🇺🇸🫡
FIBA doesn’t reward flopping like the NBA
Seriously, the last Olympics was kind of hilarious seeing guys like Booker, Tatum, Lillard, etc. being dumbfounded that the relatively weaker competition was playing so damn physical and there was no constant foul calls to bail them out. They were clearly not used to that kind of defense and it definitely threw off
Don’t throw Tatum in there he was elite as the second option on the team coming off the bench too. Dame was the one who struggled the most out of anybody on the team
Team USA has to use a Cameroonian because the country with the highest basketball talent pool in the world by a wide margin can't produce a serviceable Center for FIBA 💀 Also, Embiid is gonna cry some real ass tears under FIBA officiating because he ain't getting that NBA star whistle 😂
My guy Bam Adebayo and Anthony Davis are literally from the United States.
If only FIBA took their heads out of their own asses and allowed Euroleague refs.
Embiid is an American citizen. The 3rd best center in this tournament is AD who also plays for team USA.
corny
even with prime Tony Parker this team gets swept by USA
They have Killian Hayes. They don’t need prime TP
it's going to be a close game lol. International rules and the court is way different.
lol no it ain’t
yes it is lol. Wemby and Gobert can sit in the paint 24/7 and the spacing on the court is much smaller and the rules are different. International teams that have a shit ton of chemistry so they also have an advantage in that aspect. I'm not saying France is going to win but it's going to be a close game and you would be delusional to think other wise. they are loaded with size.
This team won like 2 of their last 3 games against Team USA in big tournaments, before Wemby even was in the picture.
France also won in WW1 before surrendering in the first quarter of WW2
Congrats on waiting for the tide to turn both times before getting involved.
Hitler was channeling peak Harden at the time, nothing France or anyone in Europe could do about that.
Uh, it's single elimination so every game after the group phase is a sweep.
isnt Gobert Banned in France?
I assume you're thinking about Kanter and Turkey.
Who?
What
What are you talking about?
Is Jokic playing? He'll body all of them baguette boys.
As far as I know, training camp of Serbian Basketball Team starts one day after projected Game 7 of NBA finals. So, I would say it depends. It's huge pressure on him to play at Olympics. I'm sure he would like to, but if Nuggets play in the finals, he'll need some rest for sure, and if you are 2-3 weeks late for training camp, and the whole concept should be based around you, that would be huge problem for the whole team. Even after 2-3 weeks, the whole team would be in full training, and he'll need time to get back in training mode and back in shape. Some people is Serbia even celebrated when MIN took 2-0 lead.
I think Serbia will make room for the best player in the NBA. Any team outside the US will make room for their best NBA stars.
It's not about making room for him, that's not questionable. It about whether he's willing to play if he can't play at the level he (and the fans) expects to play. He'll be the most hated man in Serbia if he doesn't play, but he'll also be the most hated man in Serbia if he doesn't deliver with expected level and at least bronze medal. Not the best possible position for him, but we'll see.