Mahinmi, Parker selected for the french NT

[Bruno]

French NT coach has today given a list of 14 players for the euro 2007 (12 will be kept) :

PG :
Tony PARKER
Aymeric JEANNEAU
Yohann SANGARE

SG :
Joseph GOMIS
Michel MORANDAIS
Cédric FERCHAUD

SF :
Boris DIAW
Yakhouba DIAWARA
Tariq KIRKSAY

PF :
Florent PIETRUS
Sacha GIFFA

C :
Frédéric WEIS
Ronny TURIAF
Ian MAHINMI

[timvp]

Is Mahinmi the Beno of this team or are they going to expect him to produce?

[Bruno]

5 other players can be selected in case of injuries/forfeit :
Yannick BOKOLO
Mickael PIETRUS
Mamoutou DIARRA
Mickael GELABALE
Pape BADIANE

French NT training camp will start on July 21st.
Euro 2007 : Spetember 3rd-16th in Spain

[Bruno]

Is Mahinmi the Beno of this team or are they going to expect him to produce?

Beno :)
He should be cut or a 3rd string PF/C.

[objective]

where's petro?

[Bruno]

BTW, some news abotu mahinmi in today's french news paper :

Mahinmi, wha has still two years left on his contract with an opt out clause each year, has said to Pau president that he won't be back with them next year. Spurs should work with him this summer maybe before puting him in an euroleague team or in DLeague if they think that he isn't ready.

[Bruno]

where's petro?

Not selected but I don't know why.

[xcoriate]

France is so strong at the moment... nba level talent wise anyway. They will probably suffer the same fate as the US teams though, great talent poor chemistry and a different game style.

The SG picks suprise as well, Pietrus wasn't picked? Gelabale neither?

[Bruno]

France is so strong at the moment... nba level talent wise anyway. They will probably suffer the same fate as the US teams though, great talent poor chemistry and a different game style.

The SG picks suprise as well, Pietrus wasn't picked? Gelabale neither?

French NT needs shooters and that's why Pietrus/Gelabale haven't been picked.
Pietrus hasn't too be selected because even he is quite good playing NBA style , he sucks playing euro BB style.
A player like Ferchaud sucks. He hasn't even the euroleague level but he is a shooter.

[naico]

Florent, could easily play in the nba..Very strong forward

[TDMVPDPOY]

petro> mahinmi

mahinmi so far hasnt live up to expectations with limit PT, but imo dude is a higher chance of being a scrub

[Bruno]

petro> mahinmi


As a third string player : Mahinmi>Petro.

Petro has a quite bad attitude, will complain about playtime and hurt the team with that.
I rather have Mahinmi who has a good attitude and who will play at 100% if he enters on the court for five minutes.
A NT shouldn't be an all star team, team USA failure is the best example of that.

To me, the only real snub on this list is Gelabale. French NT will too plays with an "american" player (Tariq Kirksay).

[picnroll]

Does Noah play for French national teams? Is national team play going to conflit with Spurs summer league team play for Mahinmi?

[mathbzh]

Some month ago, Bergeaud talked about the French team in one of the TP show.
About French NBA player who could not be selected he said a few things.
If I remember well:
- Mike Pietrus has a hard time to adapt FIBA game. His last WC run was not good. Moreover, GSW style is too straightforward to play FIBA game the french team need less direct players. At SF he has a defensive specialist in Diawara and a perfect Diaw backup in Kirskay (a very versatile player).

- Bergeaud is not happy with Petro (and Gelabaleà) playing in seattle. He made a comparison in SA practicing as a team willing to win and Seattle as a team of individualities willing to go to the ASG. He also said Petro was trying to prove he is a good player instead of being usefull to his team.

I am more surprise he did not select Gelabale who was great with the French NT the last two years. Maybe he agreed with Seattle to let Gelabale work on his body this summer (he is so skinny!). Maybe he didn't plan to give him big minutes.
When Bergeaud pick a Bench player he pick a true bench player. A shooter in Ferchaud (French team really lacked one last year) , an energyzer in Turiaf (the perfect bench player). He also often pick one prospect (Mahinhmi this year, Petro last year) to see what he can do with the French team.

[mathbzh]

Does Noah play for French national teams?

Noah can't play for the French NT yet. He should do the administrative stuff it takes to play for the French team soon -he needs a french passport.

Bergeaud says it is too risky to select him while he doesn't have his passport.

[mathbzh]

Here are a few Bergeaud comment about the selection.
Sorry for the poor translation but I think the main ideas are there.

About Petro:

"On avait convenu qu'il ne viendrait que s'il avait un rôle majeur. Or j'estime que dans le basket européen un Fred Weis est au-dessus de lui"

We had agreed he would come only for a major role. But I think in european basket Weis is ahead of Petro.

About Pietrus:
He pays for the poor offensive game of the French team during the 2006 WCF. I don't have the exact quote in French.

About Gelabale:

"le cas le plus épineux" selon Bergeaud "puisqu'il a donné une grande dimension athlétique à l'équipe".
The more difficult case. He gave a great athletic dimension to the team.

He finally chose Kirskay


"Jusque-là on n'avait que deux joueurs (Parker et Diaw) capables d'éclairer le jeu, a expliqué Bergeaud. Tariq (Kirksay) rentre dans ce critère-là et va nous apporter un supplément de créativité."

We had only two players (Parker and Diaw) able to enlight the game. Tariq (Kirskay) responds to that criterion and will bring us more creativity.

[mathbzh]

Sacha Giffa should not be in the 12 players list.
The 12th post will go to Ferchaud or Morandais.
The 1 to 11 spots are definitive (unless someone goes hurt).

[Bruno]

^ yes, it seems that Mahinmi won't be cut.

If Mahinmi signs this summer with an euroleague team, he will miss a big part of their training camp. IMO, Mahinmi selection is a factor that will push Spurs to sign him instead of letting him one more year in europe.

Mahinmi shouldn't too be available for the RMR. He should only play the vegas summer league.