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That's good that Pop liked what he saw. Hopefully Ian contributes to the French team and maybe develop some chemistry with TP.
downright ing ridiculous that the mavs are over there keeping their players from playing for this bull national crap
and here we are in summer 7 of our best player risking it all for nothing
That's good that Pop liked what he saw. Hopefully Ian contributes to the French team and maybe develop some chemistry with TP.
Is there any site that we can find info, photos and videos about the French N.T. but in english? Should I try the Fiba official site?
Parker Returning To Country Of Birth
Tony Parker was born in Belgium and is not surprisingly immensely popular in the country, which is one reason why the Lotto Arena in Antwerp will be jam-packed with 5,500 fans on Thursday when the Belgian national team plays in the EuroBasket Additional Qualifying Round play-offs.
However, most of those in attendance won't be rooting for the San Antonio Spurs star because he'll be playing for the enemy, France.
The appearance of the Brugge-born Parker is an interesting aside to a fascinating story that has developed in the Low Countries this summer.
Belgium, arguably the underdogs of Group A heading into the Additional Qualifying Round, overcame Bosnia and Herzegovina and Portugal to reach the AQR play-offs and now they are within touching distance of a place in the EuroBasket with home and away games on Thursday and Sunday against Les Bleus.
The country is buzzing about basketball after Eddy Casteels' men overcame a narrow defeat to the Bosnians to finish 3-1 in the AQR.
One of the skilful Belgian players who is chomping at the bit to play is Sam Van Rossom.
The point guard would like nothing more than to go up against Parker.
However, a foot injury means he will not go full speed in practice on Monday and the 23-year-old could end up being out of the line-up for the game in Antwerp.
http://www.eurobasket2009.org/en/coi...leMode_on.html
Some interviews (in French):
http://pau-orthez.com/news.php?newsid=944
I find quite interesting that whenever Nando talk about his future he mentions the links between Valencia and Spurs (Valencia's coach is Pop's friend).
I wonder if Nando having a contract with Valencia has been a deciding factor for Spurs to draft him.
Does Nando remind anyone else of Steve Blake?
Good observation and possibly true, at least one of the influencing factors. Pop went to Valencia to visit Neven's practices after the Final Four. Maybe he got the live glimpse of Nando too when they were looking at Claver but the way the contract is written is important, too...not just favorable relations with Neven.
Nando didn't play in Valencia last year but in France. He will start playing with Valencia after the Eurobasket.
It was known before the draft that Nando will go to Valencia if he didn't get a NBA contract. My point was that Spurs reasoning could have been "he will work with a team close to us, it will be great to follow his development".
exagerate much?
Yes, I know Nando was with Cholet several years. I'm sure Dennis Lindsey watched Nando in Treviso at the Reebok camp, too, but I was suggesting Nando may have been at the workouts in Valencia when Pop visited Neven. Anyways, I thought you might be referring to sign-ability for Nando, in view of the Scola fiasco. Now, I see what you meant and that makes sense.
Nando wasn't in Valencia when Pop was there. Cholet's season hasn't ended at that time. Nando worked out in SA in June and even had a dinner at Parker's house with Pop.
Spurs should have scouted him a lot when he was playing with youth/senior NT or with Cholet. Cholet was last year the most interesting team to scout in France for NBA teams with prospects like Beaubois, Nando and Kevin Seraphin.
His contact with Valencia is a two years contract with an opt-out clause for the NBA after the first year. I guess that a reasonable buyout ($500K) is attached to this opt-out clause.
KBP is jealous of the French team and all the attention this thread gets.
The difference is, our best player is on that team. KBP just needs to change his tampon.
That being said, can someone post a link of all the games the French NT has played with the game stats, please?
Thanks
Sorry. I thought Nando played his last game against Virtus in Semi-Final and that Pop visited Valencia 30-4-09. Not important, any way. Edit: Actually article said Pop was visiting Neven on 05-May-09, but the point is Cholet was still playing. In fact, Cholet played Pau-Orthez on 5-5-09 so Pop wouldn't have been watching any of Nando's workouts at that time.
Last edited by Solid D; 08-26-2009 at 08:03 AM.
Could someone please tell me in a few sentences how Ian is doing/looking? The thread is a bit too long for me to start reading it now
From the last game he played, he did pretty well. Offensively was his best showing in a while and he had a nice impact on the game. He seems to be getting into better shape and adjusted to playing again since the injury.
He is doing better than last year overall, but Spurs will have to wait and see how he does in training camp and in preseason.
Last edited by DPG21920; 08-25-2009 at 05:26 PM.
Thanks. What is his expected/current role? Deep bench? Getting decent minutes?
If I remember right French team is weaker with bigmen and stronger with 1-3 slots... this means he will be able to play more?
Not sure. At first the FNT did not seem to like what Ian brought over whom they currently had. But then the other bigs played poorly and Ian got his shot. He did very well and not just in comparison to the others playing poorly.
Going forward, I am not sure what his role would be with the FNT. I am sure it will depend on who is playing well. It would be nice to have him penciled in as the starter, but I just do not know.
As far as his role on the Spurs, no one knows at this point.
Ian has only played 12 min in 1 game with the NT. I guess his role will depend on what he did in the upcoming games. If things goes well, he could end up as the first big from the bench.
A little on Mahinmi from Pop's interview today.
Popovich is happy with the progress he's seen from third-year center Ian Mahinmi this summer. He'd just like to see more of him.
After putting up a performance at the Las Vegas summer league that Popovich termed "not great, but good," Mahinmi is playing with Parker for the French national team this fall.
"That's the best thing he can do right now, to play with (Ronny) Turiaf and the rest of the boys there," Popovich said. "I'm as excited about seeing him in training camp as anybody else, just because I'd like to see what we have in Ian Mahinmi."
The team has until Oct. 31 to exercise its contractual option on Mahinmi for 2010-2011.
Last edited by duncan228; 08-25-2009 at 05:40 PM.
Do you think he will get a shot in every game, or will he be there only if others play poorly.
Even though he played 12 minutes, he played well.
I don't know, we will see.
The sure thing is that the door is open for Ian. Other bench bigmen (Alain Koffi and Ali Traoré) have been quite bad. If Ian plays well in practices and during games, he should get some consistent playing time.
Thanks D228 ! highly appreciated.
Just announced, Rubio signed officially with Barcelona. 5 years contract.
Quit spamming.
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