Paris 2024 Olympics: France-Turkey, a first test for the French team of Wembanyama and Gobert before coming to Montpellier

France – Spain dpa – Soeren Stache

L’équipe de France de basket-ball dispute son premier match de préparation aux Jeux olympiques contre la Turquie à Rouen mercredi (21 h 00) avec au cœur de ses préoccupations l’alléchante association de sa nouvelle vedette Victor Wembanyama avec Rudy Gobert.

The preparation of the Blues for the Olympics begins in earnest with the players playing in the NBA – who have only been able to train collectively for a few days – and therefore more intensity and level of training at Kindarena.

On the road leading to the Stade Pierre-Mauroy, where the first week of the men's and women's Olympic basketball tournaments will take place, the French will first find Turkey, a strong nation in European basketball even if she is not qualified for the Games.

Game 🔵👊#TeamFranceBasket | #PassionnémentBleu pic.twitter.com/SITdJR8UFa

— Équipes de France de Basket (@FRABasketball) July 2, 2024

The level will rise further thereafter, with a double confrontation against Germany, world champion, in Cologne (Saturday 6) then in Montpellier (Monday 8), before matches against Serbia in Lyon (Friday 12), and finally against Canada (Friday 19) and Australia (Sunday 21) in Orléans.

A duo "never seen before"

This program constitutes a strong first choice for the management of the Blues: offering tough opposition to its entry players, very different from the level of the teams – Tunisia, Montenegro, Venezuela, Lithuania, Japan and Australia – encountered ahead of the 2023 World Cup, which ended in a bitter failure.

"It’s a first match so I’m not expecting very special things, however, nuance the coach of the France team Vincent Collet. We'll call it an improved workout."

France – Italy dpa – Soeren Stache

But this meeting will show a first sample of the tandem of the two interiors Rudy Gobert (32 years old) and Victor Wembanyama (20 years old), immense in size (2.16 m for the first, 2.24 m for the second) and in potential, both offensive and defensive.

The excitement is as high as this duo."It’s something I’ve never seen before", slips Wembanyama, when Gobert estimates that"there are really no limits to the things they'll try to accomplish together".

"I think we will have more responsibilities on defense"

The team should revolve around the two interiors since the Blues management has decided to base its identity on defense. Gobert, voted best defender in the NBA for the fourth time this season, and Wembanyama, with extraordinary mobility for his size and wingspan, are among the best in the world in this area.

Les Bleus de la ligue en préparation avec l'Equipe de France de basket 🇫🇷 🏀

📸 @FRABasketball pic.twitter.com/ZekLX9qY7V

— NBA France (@NBAFRANCE) July 1, 2024

"The goal is really that we are able to defend against all teams, says Gobert. Maybe I can defend further outside knowing that there is another wall behind me, and vice versa."

The success of the Blues will also depend on the ability of both players to be able to be aligned at the same time on the floor in attack. "I think we will have more responsibilities in defense, but the bulk of the work will be in attack", believes "Wemby".

From this point of view, two reasons for hope: Wembanyama demonstrated this season at Spurs that he could play far from the basket, notably thanks to his outside shot, and Gobert can build on his very successful season in Minnesota alongside Karl-Anthony Towns, which peaks at 2.13m.

Also read: Paris 2024 Olympic Games: the Lille Olympic Village, which will host basketball and handball, has been inaugurated

The French team only has one month to manage to play these two greats who have never played together, and whose association goes against the grain of basketball of the last ten years.