By Eurohoops Team/ info@eurohoops.net
France is gearing up for the 2019 FIBA World Cup with Nando De Colo among the prominent members of Vincent Collet’s squad. FIBA interviewed the new Fenerbahce Beko player who is coming off his second EuroLeague championship run with CSKA Moscow and hopes for further glory at China.
“We have to think and focus on our game and our team” he pointed out and added: “The most important thing is to focus on ourselves, to reach that level where the opponents think more about fearing us than us thinking too much about them, with all due respect. I have always thought this way, and I think it’s the best way to do it and keep moving forward.”
“The training camp is not that long, and we have two big stages in Pau and Lyon to work on our best chemistry, and that communication between us is going to be very important, too” the 32-year-old guard took out and explained: “We all want to do great things, and we work hard to do so and have the same winning mindset.”
“When I first came to the senior national team, we lacked size” he admitted and furthered: “After this, we got some big guys, and we lacked some shooters. When we supposedly had more shooting guys, we had less defense . But today, we have such a solid and talented roster at every position.”
De Colo added: “We have guys that can create their own shot, we have guys that can score in the paint, in the post, big guys, stretch fours, point guards that can defend very well. Our roster is very deep and talented”. “We have guys like Rudy Gobert, the best defensive player in the NBA, but defense is a matter of the five guys on the court” he mentioned as well.
“The five guys on the court will make things work only if we defend like one. We can’t have a player or two that put less intensity on the defensive end. If that happens, the defense is going to be less solid, and that is not the best thing to do if you want to win” he said and concluded: “That is what happened two years ago at the EuroBasket, when we lacked some unity in our way of playing.”