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Especially when Ian had a nice 2nd half, but an awful first...
Neither of them will play heavy minutes as neither of them is reliable anyway... just fouling machines who can grab some rebounds and score a couple dunks on good nights...
http://autres-sports.le10sport.com/l...hinmi_349205_a
French NT coach has decided to keep Ian and to cut Petro.
It's always nice to see Ian, a player who has missed most of the NT preparation, who has been injured for one year and who has played 23 minutes in the NBA, being picked over Petro who has played 4688 minutes in the NBA.
Especially when Ian had a nice 2nd half, but an awful first...
Neither of them will play heavy minutes as neither of them is reliable anyway... just fouling machines who can grab some rebounds and score a couple dunks on good nights...
Bruno.. reports are confusing me a lot... i thought Ian was about to be left after a very harsh feedback from the coach and now this is a 180 degrees change...http://autres-sports.le10sport.com/l...hinmi_349205_a
French NT coach has decided to keep Ian and to cut Petro.
It's always nice to see Ian, a player who has missed most of the NT preparation, who has been injured for one year and who has played 23 minutes in the NBA, being picked over Petro who has played 4688 minutes in the NBA.
I am very happy for him and this means he'll come to training camp in a roll... bad news for Haislip....
Ian started to practice with the team last Monday. During these practices, he didn't show more that the other bigmen so the coach decided to stick with his roster for the game against Italy last Friday. During this game, Petro was damn bad. Petro's poor performance surely decided the coach to give Ian a try for a nearly meaningless game against Finland. Ian was quite good in this game so he decided to keep him over Petro.
Well one of Koffi, Traoré or Mahinmi, will play some minutes. I don't see Collet giving all the minutes at PF/C to Turiaf, Pietrus and Diaw with Diaw also playing some SF.
I wouldn't also be that surprised to see Noah back if the France qualify for the Euro. In this case, it's quite sure that Ian won't play.
French coach itnerview:
"On a intégré Ian (Mahinmi) il y a une quinzaine de jours seulement parce que les Spurs ne l'avaient pas rendu disponible avant, explique le sélectionneur. Je pense qu'il peut nous aider davantage dans un registre défensif, sachant que le ulaire du poste est Ronny Turiaf et que sur le rôle de joker offensif on a Ali Traoré. Johan Petro a eu un comportement tout à fait correct, presque exemplaire, mais pas assez d'impact sur le plan du basket. En attaque, il a de vraies capacités, mais défensivement il est très en re . J'ai même ressenti qu'il avait progressé lors des quinze derniers jours, en particulier dans le domaine défensif, mais cela n'a pas été suffisant par rapport aux objectifs que nous nous étions fixés"
Basically, the French coach says Ian can provide more then Petro in terms of D. The reason why Ian was not been included in the roster earlier was that the Spurs had not made him available then
That would be great. I have not read anything mentioning the possiblity (or impossibility) of Noah returning to the team, though.
http://autres-sports.le10sport.com/l...hinmi_349205_a
I don't see at all Mike Pietrus coming back but IMO Noah is a possibility.Collet ne veut cependant «pas s'interdire» un renfort éventuel de Mickaël Pietrus et Joakim Noah, a priori bloqués par leurs clubs NBA. Un retour de Joseph Gomis ou Mamoutou Diarra, qui avaient quitté le groupe sur blessure, n'est en revanche pas envisagé.
Great news!http://autres-sports.le10sport.com/l...hinmi_349205_a
French NT coach has decided to keep Ian and to cut Petro.
It's always nice to see Ian, a player who has missed most of the NT preparation, who has been injured for one year and who has played 23 minutes in the NBA, being picked over Petro who has played 4688 minutes in the NBA.
That would be awesme. He is clearly our best big man.
http://blog.oregonlive.com/behindbla..._national.html
For those of us who don't speak French or missed the translation from Tim Brown about Nicolas Batum's injury scare, I've tracked down the official word on the matter from the Trail Blazers.
According to Tom Penn, the Blazers' vice president of basketball operations, Batum left the French National Team over the weekend and traveled to Portland so Blazers doctors could examine his ailing right shoulder. After reviewing diagnostic tests taken by French doctors and following those up with their own medical examinations, Blazers team doctors determined that Batum merely has a shoulder contusion.
The injury is different and unrelated to the one Batum suffered last season with the Blazers. The second-year small forward was cleared to return to international compe ion and already has rejoined Team France. Penn said the team finished its most recent game about an hour ago and Batum did not play, but it had nothing to do with his right shoulder.
"He checked out with our doctors and has returned to France and is expected to continue to play," Penn said.
"The real story here is how well he's been playing. He's been playing his (butt) off. He's leading the team in scoring and has been doing a little bit of everything for them. I don't know if you've seen any (video) clips of him, but he's been really dynamic and just doing what he does."
Details about international games are difficult to track down, but Penn said Batum has sparkled as his team competes in a qualifying tournament for the European Championships, which will take place next month in Poland. During a victory over Italy, just before Batum flew to Portland, he scored 18 points and added eight rebounds and six steals. In another international game, Batum had 20 points and eight rebounds and nailed a game-tying three-pointer to force overtime.
"He's really blossoming over there," Penn said.
And, to the relief of the Blazers, he can continue to blossom. The shoulder scare was just that.
Glad Collet recognized the need he had in the post but he's still not saying what he needs to say about Ian's offensive strengths. As I said earlier, Diaw was their best scorer in the post. Petro gave them nothing and Ian has certain abilities to score, draw fouls and make FTs that they haven't had from a Big so far. They just need to give him a shot to show it. He's not a star player but he's better than what they've had the past couple of years.
Nicolas Batum, Noah caught between NBA and France
The French National Team is doing their best to qualify for the 2009 Eurobasket, a key tournament in earning a berth to the 2012 Olympics in London.
However, Les Bleus has had to fight battles on and off the court concerning three of the NBA players on their roster, Joakim Noah, Tony Parker, and Nicolas Batum.
Joakim Noah
Three weeks ago, Joakim Noah’s participation for the French National Team was a cause of concern for the Chicago Bulls.
During Noah’s exit interview with the Bulls, the team set up a summer, strength-training regimen for the 6-11 power forward/center, that allowed Noah to practice with the French National Team for two weeks at the end of July.
Noah headed to Strasbourg, and played well for Team France, helping them defeat Austria and the Czech Republic in the preparation games. Noah averaged 13 points, 7.5 rebounds, and provided much needed toughness for the French interior.
The problem began when France wanted to keep Noah on their squad for the Additional Qualifying Round. France confirmed that they were attempting to persuade the Bulls to let the 24-year-old play in the AQR games against Italy and Finland.
However, Bulls made it clear that Noah should not play past the preparation round. Noah supported the Bulls in this decision.
Noah, the son of French-born tennis star Yannick Noah, agreed with the Bulls and returned stateside to begin his weight-training.
Tony Parker
After the preparation game against Austria, Tony Parker injured his foot which caused moderate drama between France and the San Antonio Spurs. The injury forced the star guard to fly back to San Antonio to have the Spur’s medical staff examine the injury themselves.
The move clearly incensed Parker, who was forced to spend several days in Texas rehabbing his injury, when he obviously would have preferred helping his country qualify for the all-important Eurobasket.
“Honestly, I don’t understand this decision, because of all the tests done with the French doctors and the Spurs,” Parker said. “I regret what is going on.”
Fortunately, Team France was fine without Parker in the one game he missed, defeating Italy 80-77 in the initial AQR game. Parker rejoined the team for their next game.
Nicolas Batum
Recently, Batum’s ailing shoulder gave cause for concern to the Portland Trailblazers, who summoned the 20-year old back to the United States so the Blazers’ doctors could look at the shoulder first hand.
Batum, who had just helped France to victory in their second game against Italy, was distressed by the news, “It was perhaps my last match, so I wanted to win at any cost before leaving the team.” Batum said, “Tony Parker got back quickly, so I’m hoping that the the same thing happens for me. I’m just taking off to be examined over there, and after that, we’ll see what happens.”
Without Batum, who is averaging 17.3 points and 5.7 rebounds per game in the AQR, France lost to Finland 77-73.
Tony Parker managed only 4 points and 3 assists in the game, but the loss was meaningless to France, as they had already clinched the top spot in their group. France will play either Belgium or Bosnia and Herzegovina to determine the final Eurobasket berth.
“I love playing for France. If we are able to quality for the EuroBasket, we will be in a good position to do well at the tournament.” Parker told FIBA.com
In the last month, France has had no less than eight NBA players on their national team roster - Tony Parker, Nicolas Batum, Joakim Noah, Boris Diaw, Ronny Turiaf, Nando De Colo, Ian Mahinmi, and Johan Petro.
Petro sucks. So what if he played in the NBA? Plenty of NBA players suck.http://autres-sports.le10sport.com/l...hinmi_349205_a
French NT coach has decided to keep Ian and to cut Petro.
It's always nice to see Ian, a player who has missed most of the NT preparation, who has been injured for one year and who has played 23 minutes in the NBA, being picked over Petro who has played 4688 minutes in the NBA.
This tournament has nothing to do with 2012 Olympics.
Go vote for TONY on YAHOO poll about fastest man in the NBA. http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/blog/bal...urn=nba,183600
How the does this tournament have to do with 2012 Olympics? This is qualifying for 2010 World Championship. Nothing at all to do with 2012 Olympics.
Well, by winning the final slot in Eurobasket 2009, they can then be positioned to qualify for the 2010 FIBA World Championships in Turkey. The winner of the Worlds gets an automatic bid to the 2012 Olympics. It's not likely the French NT would be able to win the Worlds over the likes of Team USA or even an overachieving Greek team...but this is why they play the games.
By winning the final slot in the Eurobasket 2009, they can position themselves to receive a bid to the FIBA European Tourney in Lithuania in 2011. The top two Euro teams in this tournament receive bids to the 2012 Olympics.
These are two ways in which the additional qualifying slot is related to the Olympics.
Petro, Jackson Let Go By France Before Pivotal Games
France coach Vincent Collet has swung the ax ahead of the crunch Additional Qualifying Round showdown with the Group A winners that will decide which team claims the last spot at the EuroBasket.
With Nicolas Batum set to return to the French squad following his trip to United States where the NBA's Portland Trail Blazers have looked at his problematic shoulder to make certain he is okay to play, Johan Petro and Edwin Jackson have been let go.
"We have decided to reduce the group to 12 players in order to concentrate and for the players to be in total confidence, in order to avoid an eventual cut," said Collet, whose team has clinched first place in Group B.
"We have decided to let Edwin Jackson and Johan Petro go."
Jackson, a 1.91m shooting guard, is only 19 years of age. He was called into the squad when Tony Parker was forced to fly to the United States to have his ankle injury examined by the his NBA club, San Antonio.
Jackson was in the team when France played the first two games against Italy and Finland, but did not see any action.
"Edwin joined the group when Tony Parker had to go to San Antonio at the last minute," Collet said.
"He adapted to the team and gave a lot to the team with enthusiasm in training, even if he didn´t play the two qualifying games.
"I found it interesting to have a young player in the team that in the future will be on the national team."
Letting the 2.15m center Petro go was a tough decision because of the good at ude displayed by the 23-year-old NBA player this summer.
"With regards to Johan," Collet said, "we decided not to keep him for more defensive reasons than offense. We believed that Ian Mahinmi had a profile that had more mobility and gives an advantage to the national team.
"Johan has had an exceptional behavior during training. I believe he has improved, especially defensively, in the last 15 days, but that was not sufficient for the aims we had set out."
The France players are to gather on August 22 in Paris to start preparing for their all important next two games against Belgium or Bosnia and Herzegovina, the winner of which will advance to the EuroBasket.
If Belgium win in Portugal on Thursday, they will play France. Otherwise, Bosnia and Herzegovina will go up against Les Bleus.
http://www.eurobasket2009.org/en/coi...leMode_on.html
I don't think Collet sees Ian as a defensive specialist. Against Finland, Ian was quite the opposite of that with a quite bad defense and a quite good offense. Ian got a lot of offensives touches.
Collet is talking about Ian's defense because Petro played no D. France still had a no D bigman with Traoré so they decided to keep Ian who is more a two way big.
i think pop made collet an offer he could not refuse in regards to getting ian some playing time.
I totally agree and I love how you put it. Maybe DeNiro can play the role of Pop in a movie about the Spurs franchise - "Tony, either your signature or your brains will be on this contract"
2011 Eurobasket is what qualifies to Olympics. Like you say only other way is to win 2010 World Championship which is unlikely. No team should bet on this even US. So it does not really make sense for interbasket to say this affects 2012 Olympics. As usual interbasket is full of idiots.
There is an indirect chain... but a connection none-the-less. Also, these are not the only European roads to the Men's Olympic Basketball in 2012. Host team gets a berth and then there is also the Olympic Qualifier inter-continental tourney.
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