The French team may have made it to the final at the European championships, but they did not show their best side in Germany. Absent from the tournament, a regular coach of the selection gave food for thought on this subject at the microphone of RMC Sport, in particular with regard to Rudy Gobert. That is plain and clear.
Before the start of Eurobasket, the Blues had the firm intention of justifying their status as Olympic vice-champions and ascending the throne of the Old Continent. Except that in the end, they lost to Spain in the final and more generally showed a lot of weaknesses throughout the tournament. To the point of coming close to elimination in the round of 16 and quarter-finals, against Turkey and Italy. Not exactly glorious…
Unsurprisingly, coach Vincent Collet’s players have not escaped criticism, especially Rudy Gobert who was destroyed by the fans after the defeat in the final. Except that according to Nando De Colo, the star of the Timberwolves does not deserve such treatment. Guest of the RMC Sport channelthe full-back who missed the competition instead pointed to some questionable coaching choices in his view, saying Gobzilla’s talent was misused:
The cash balance of Nando de Colo on the Blues at the Euro
I believe that during the final, there were bad tactical choices, decisions that were not good, and even if we had a very limited first half because we let Spain play, we have to take the game in hand in the second half. We didn’t know how to do it. (…) I think we were very inconsistent throughout the Euro, even if we managed to go almost to the end. We clearly had the capabilities, but things weren’t done the right way.
It’s not to blame Rudy, but giving him the ball every time from a high post isn’t the best way to use it. We know very well in what style of play Rudy can be very important for us, defensively, but also in attack. If we create for him, we have to be more aggressive towards the basket and not let him create for others. You have to put each individuality at the service of the team.
If the pivot of the Timberwolves did not hesitate to knock himself out after the lost game against La Roja, De Colo is therefore not convinced that he is responsible for his performance below expectations. It’s hard not to see a spade addressed to the coach… In addition, the veteran also dwelt on the problem of lost balls, which was recurrent during the competition. On this, he shares Collet’s opinion according to which they “killed” the EDF :
We lost a lot of balls throughout this Euro. It is not the fact of losing balloons in itself that is the problem. If we lose balls because Thomas Heurtel or Evan Fournier create play, it’s not a problem. There we had ball losses where we wonder how we could have lost them. It’s a shame because instead of controlling the game we have to fight. (…) Everyone has to put themselves back in their place, everyone knows what they can bring to the team, like last summer. Everyone was doing for the team and not trying to get by individually.
According to Nando De Colo, the Blues should have accomplished more than a simple silver medal during this Eurobasket. Regarding Rudy Gobert, the ASVEL full-back also thinks that better use of the triple DPOY could have made the difference, instead of criticizing him.
