By John Rammas/ irammas@eurohoops.net
The 29-year-old French point guard was Bryant Dunston’s teammate in Efes (2015-17) and he simply couldn’t miss such a feast, even with any possible… after-effects ahead of the LG AegeanBall Festival.
“I’m a bit tired. It was a wonderful wedding for Bryant Dunston and his girlfriend, now wife. I have a bit of a hangover but I’m slowly feeling better,” he told Eurohoops, between his commitments in Greece’s top 3-on-3 Basketball Event in Syros, to which no one had to convince him for too long to come.
“Since I’ve been in Athens for about a week for the wedding, it was a good opportunity for me to come and play in this nice tournament and to enjoy basketball.”
“It’s a different feeling playing in this kind of tournament. We had a 10-second shot clock. You pass, you shoot, it’s over,” he added full of ease, at least as long as he wasn’t playing in Miaouli Square since no one wanted to lose on the court. Why is that?
“When I stepped in the locker room, they told me that, if we win, they will give us big TVs (laughs)!”
Funnily enough, that TV set (which he didn’t win, as his team was defeated in the final by that of the host, Georgios Printezis) wouldn’t have been inconsequential when one considers how difficult last season was in Barcelona.
“New players will come and I hope we will have a better season, especially in the EuroLeague,” he wished.
“I don’t know what happened last season. We have the talent. At the beginning of the season we were playing well, then we had some ups and downs, we weren’t playing as a team.”
On the other hand, France’s football team is playing as a team in the World Cup, and then some. In fact, tonight (10/7) is their big opportunity to return to the final for the first time after 2006 (they lost to Italy in the penalty shootout) and claim their second trophy since 1998 (3-0 against Brazil). They just have to overcome the obstacle of Belgium in the first semifinal in Saint Petersburg (the other team that will play in the final will emerge from the Croatia-England game the day after).
“Of course I’ve seen all of France’s games. I hope we go to the final. There, it would be nice to play against our friends, the English!” he said, full of confidence.
“I’m counting on Mbappe. I like Griezmann, but Mbappe is the future of football!”