Things have taken a serious turn for Victor Wembanyama and the French National Basketball Team. If France loses their upcoming game against Canada, they will be eliminated from the 2024 Paris Olympics basketball tournament and their Olympic journey will end without a medal.
This past weekend, French coach Vincent Collet was upset after his team lost against Germany, and specifically called Victor Wembanyama’s performance out in the loss.
“He stopped the ball too much. Against that kind of aggressiveness, you can’t play that way. You are never 1-on-1 because they come to double-team, and there’s no space to operate. It’s important to move the ball,” said Collet.
Wembanyama accepted the idea and has tried to assure French fans that the team will get on the same page.
“Clearly, at the point where we are, after more than a month of preparation and three competitive matches, we know what we have to do,” said Wembanyama. “We have experienced a defeat, we know what works, what does not work, what we should focus on, and what we should completely avoid. Now it comes down to a bit of personal involvement, and a sense of urgency on our part. It could end very soon. We no longer have a choice.”
There is a sense of uncertainty and anxiety among fans given that in recent matchups, Canada has had the solid upper hand against the French team. On July 19, Canada defeated France 85-73 in an Olympic exhibition game. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led Canada with 23 points, while Victor Wembanyama struggled with early foul trouble and finished with only 10 points.
Nicolas Batum, the veteran leader of the French national team, took to television after the recent loss to Germany and sat next to Wembanyama, trying to assure the public.
“Of course, it’s not necessarily reassuring, at the level of the general public… But we still qualified for the quarter-finals,” said Batum. “It’s a new competition which begins now. We return to Paris. We return to the heart of the Games. There may be a little magic happening, we hope. Now it’s up to us to prepare and be ready for a huge fight, to show another face.”
The French media and analysts who follow the team see several stitches that may be falling apart and not keeping the team together.
The French coaching staff has relentlessly emphasized defense since announcing the twelve players for the Olympic Games. This focus is especially crucial because NBA stars Rudy Gobert and Victor Wembanyama anchor the team. The group was intentionally constructed to become one of the most formidable defenses in the competition, leveraging their physical attributes. However, some critics argue that offensive production hasn’t received the same level of attention.
French media has also expressed growing concern about Coach Collet’s leadership effectiveness, citing instances of instructions not being fully respected and occasional hesitancy on his part.
“At times, we are wrong in the way we want to play,” explained Evan Fournier after the recent defeat against Germany. “We pay for the broken pots. Nowadays, the best defense remains the attack. It’s no longer the game of the 90s or 2000s where you could really defend half-field.”
For example, the defense is supposed to generate counter-attacks but France has managed to score very poorly after solid defensive stops.
Batum recognized the lack of discipline of the French team, “There were many negatives to take away. The first period is when you have a team that does not want to listen to the instructions and does not want to play hard. I pushed a scream at the break.”
