Les Bleus’ new coach spoke at a press conference on Tuesday, ahead of his first two matches in charge of the French team, on Thursday and Sunday.
Freddy Fauthoux makes his mark. Vincent Collet’s successor at the head of Les BleusThe new coach is leading his first training camp, with two games against Cyprus (November 21 and 24) in the run-up to Euro 2024. An express training camp, with only four training sessions on the schedule and no NBA or Euroleague players. The only player present at last summer’s Olympics was Andrew Albicy. The “Petitou” spoke at a press conference in Nanterre on Tuesday. Selected excerpts.
The rally : “It’s a short window and very intense days. We’ve got to get things up and running with a new staff, even though we’ve already worked together beforehand on video, but we’d never had the chance to see each other all together. We talk a lot to each other about the kind of basketball we want to offer the players defensively and offensively, and then there’s the meeting with this group of players. We’ve tried to put together the best possible team to win the two games – that’s the primary objective of this gathering – but also to see the players we might take on in the future. Beyond the players, you need to know the people to create something strong. Four training sessions, including yesterday’s (Monday) unopposed because some players were playing on Sunday. That’s what we’re being offered, and we have to adapt to that.”
I’m pretty comfortable and everything’s going well
Freddy Fauthoux
Fauthoux “shy” according to Andrew Albicy : “I don’t think I’m shy, but it’s better for me to be like that today (smile). For the moment, everything’s going well, there’s no need to be different. And it’s also that there are a lot of specific things to say, so my attitude and temperament are like that. I feel pretty comfortable and everything’s going well, but everyone has their own opinion.”
Nolan Traoré : “He’s a player with real qualities as a very good basketball player, he’s playing pretty well with Saint-Quentin in this early season, it’s his first year in the European Cup, we’re following his development and we hope it will be identical to the hopes we have for the basketball player he can become. So it’s only natural that we should take him in this first window to see what he can do at international level. Each time it’s a different stratum, a little higher up, and we need to see players for the future. That’s also why we took on Andrew (Albicy), our captain, who thought I was shy, to help him take his first steps. The comparisons with Tony Parker? I wish him all the best, to have the same career as Tony. It’s always difficult to compare two different people. There are striking similarities in the game, yes, but different characters. The future will tell if we can compare. This game of comparisons is neither simple nor good. You have to make your career first. It will be better that way…”
His first training camp as coach : “It gives me… enormous pleasure, but above all it’s an honor. France has been achieving world-class results for a long time. When you watch the French team and dream about it, you want to make your contribution to French basketball. It’s an honor and a joy. That’s still how I feel today, even if the first responsibility is to win the two games against Cyprus. But you try to enjoy the moments, the arrival of the first players, the first staff meetings – these are important moments in your life, representing French basketball at international level. It’s like when players get their first cap, I’ve been there. This is my first as a coach, so I’m enjoying every moment of it every day, it’s great.”
Andrew Albicy : “When you start a new adventure, you look ahead a few years. If everything goes well for boys like Noa (Essengue), Nolan (Traoré), Mo (Diawara) and they fulfill their dream of playing in the NBA, we won’t be able to have them in the window, it’s now or never to see them. If we only take youngsters around these elements, we won’t have the right balance of experience and team. We’re trying to build the best possible team. We’re lucky to have a double Olympic medallist available for this window. All the others are in the NBA or Euroleague. That’s the big difficulty. Andrew has always been attached to Les Bleus, to the windows. And when I saw the impact he had with the staff, with his willingness to always be there, it was obviously good to have a player like that on the team.”
Defense has to be in our genes.
Freddy Fauthoux
The game project : “Defense has to be in our genes. We must always remember what our intrinsic values are so that we don’t lose ourselves. That’s the message. That’s what we worked on first, to win balls, the kind of basketball that a lot of teams play. If we want to play a type of basketball in which the players enjoy themselves and people are happy to see us, a type of basketball that also wins, we have to defend first to score those baskets. The players understood that this morning, and we insisted on it. But we must also be clear: not everything will be perfect by Thursday. With four training sessions, the staff, us, me, we’re not magicians and neither are the players, to play collective basketball you need to create automatisms in the game and we won’t have acquired them in four sessions.”
His close relationship with Boris Diaw : “The Landes Cup? I was for Boris but against Biscarosse (smile). (…) Getting to know each other. There are several people on the staff I didn’t know before. We have that advantage. You don’t have to go through that stage and it saves you time in your work. Fred? A memory with Boris? I’ve got lots (laughs). Do you have to say them here? (laughs) It’s very easy. I’m very respectful of the hierarchy and it’s very easy to know who’s in which position and who’s making the decisions. It’s even easier when you know the people well, because you can also anticipate what’s going to be said and done. You don’t have to ask yourself 1,000 questions. As we know each other pretty well, it makes it easier to make simple decisions.”
Interview at the press conference