Bo Bell | NBA TV analyst Sam Mitchell | France Basketball Olympic Silver Medal Coach Vincent Colette

what's up what's up this is Bo Bell welcome to the final Bell I'm here I'm so excited man listen I got two of the best basketball Minds in the world I think first I have my man from France just came off of winning the bronze medal against the United States Olympic team longtime friend we actually played together Vince on col I got Vince on the line with us man Vince what's up man okay but that's please I was going to tell him that coach tell the silver medal silver medal Sil you at the game oh my goodness it's silver you gotta help me out hey s a silver medal let's correct that and then I got my man Sam Mitchell here right so we uh we excited Vince what's up man how you doing I'm fine fine I recover from uh Olympics but uh I'm okay I'm okay awesome so can you do me a favor give me give the artist a brief bio of you you know your background how we met and the whole nine before we go into this uh whole discussion we met a long time ago I think it's uh thir 40 years ago almost when we play you were you were the uh one of the top three players of the league uh best us players I I I think and uh I was a a guard of this team and we were very good teammates and I remember what you were always talking to me get your feet ready I was kind of a Steve care shot Paxon and I was waiting from your creation I was relying your creation I couldn't do any stuff by myself but uh I needed your your game to to be to to be good no we were I think uh this this was good time because we we work we were working together and uh I think uh that the moment I I started to want to become a coach uh because uh I was not very with our coaching staff at this time and I was thinking how we could help the team better and uh that's the way I started to be to be coaching and uh when I start when I stopped my career 10 years later uh I became coach in the French league that's now 25 years ago and since uh 15 years I am the head coach of the French national team it's a long time too that's my career that's beautiful man and Sam you got any questions for vinel Coach I just want to ask you man being a national team coach and you looking at the development of all these French players you guys this year had three French players go in a lottery one two and six how proud does it make you as a French national being the coach of the national team to see where the players in France have come today and you can make the argument that the French league the players coming out of France is the second best league in all the world when you look at the Players now after Victor wi minyama look at all the players coming into the league you gotta be proud of how France has stepped up and become a powerful Nation when it comes to basketball yeah sure sure that's uh something we talk about a lot in France last 15 years I think it came with u Tony Parker first he was was the the first one to to really do a great things in in the NBA he won Championship four times he was the MVP of the finals in 207 and uh I think uh he he gave confidence to others to to have this dream coming true uh young kids before they were not thinking that they could make it but now when they come to uh inep which is the center for Federation for young guys their only goal is to to make NBA to get drafted and I think it comes first from from Tony Parker uh what we did since uh 15 years we were doing it with players and Tony was the main one we really build we have built the program to get better year after year until we we have been European champion and I think last four or five years we made another step and that's why we made the finals in Olympics in Tokyo three years ago and two weeks ago in Paris I I I think more and more uh we we get confidence to to play against the best team in the world and uh even against Team USA for sure we know how good they are we respect them uh for sure but uh we want to compete we we don't want to watch them and that's why we we could do these games and uh in the first R in Tokyo we had the chance to beat them we we took advantage they were not uh completely ready to surprise them but uh still you have to do this performance absolutely V so I remember you know just my experience alone right playing in France and then once I came back here you know that whole experience right it gave me a whole different perspective about the game because I saw how much more efficient the players in Europe was so can you kind of touch on the fact of what goes in your development system that make you guys uh continue to grow and get closer to the best in the world I I I think uh for sure defense is a if you want to to be a top team in the world uh no choice you are you must uh think about defensive aspect uh we are lucky in France because we get uh many athletic players which is not the case for all the countries in Europe I think from this point we are we are the top we are the top team uh so we we used to to think a lot to focus a lot on defense because we think is going to create for us easy basket if we if we make some stops if we come towards the boards we can have a good fast break situation and we try to emphasize this situation but uh it is not the only thing we we work on the the main one was uh playing without the ball because uh what is the biggest difference between NBA game and international game uh it's a freedom for defense to do anything they want and uh for this reason they can anticipate when you are in defense in international basketball you don't you have no sagon rule so you can anticipate your your position and you can move with the ball and for sure you can get numbers defensively and uh this is something you must handle offensively to create spacing if you just uh stay around uh and you just just play middle PR and roll and three other players are just watching the situation for sure you help the defense so we we have been teaching a lot how to to beat this uh positional help this shift shift position uh to create space for for offense and I think it was a a main Improvement we have been doing the last couple years awesome coach here in the US we have a basketball high school basketball that's basically the development of our players good bad and different that's the system we have in France and in Europe how do you guys take your young kids when you're 10 11 12 years old and and how do you develop those kids because here there's a lot of conversation about how valuable AE is and it has its good good things it has it bad things but in Europe and in France what do you guys do for a lack of not having more high school teams or a program how do you take your young kids and develop those we have we have h two ways until 13 only clubs okay we have clubs that's different uh in each City you have one Club where you can play basketball and these kids uh are playing there until 13 and when they are 13 the Federation starts to make a selection and in each area we have a a center where the 15 best players under 15 for instance uh will be uh drafted and uh they will they will stay two years in this Center and they will practice a daily basis uh during these two years and at the end of this program they do a national selection and they draft the 15 best players to go to Paris and they they will work the next three years and most often from this Center uh you have two or three kids who will be drafted at the end of this program that's the way we we do and uh I think what was uh very important was to create this uh area centers between 13 and 15 because before that it was only club and uh it was not very high level uh very often they were missing coaches good coaches and now for sure these kids they can practice more they can practice uh better because uh the best one are together so it's something very important to to be competitive and I I think that was the key point that made us improve a lot the last six seven years absolutely well my thing is is you know I'm in that space with with with mymy and I always tried to be a part of the solution not the issues right and so everybody got an opinion but nobody has really have Solutions here what to do and I since I left Europe because I saw what was coming I always lays lay my hat on the basic fundamentals of the game and I think the difference is just touching bases is we you guys in Europe especially in France never got bored with the basics right here we've gotten bored with the basic because it's so much about you know the internet I think that plays a Hu huge role into that but it's so much about how it look and and the Flash of the game but basketball is still still a team sport and that's one of the things that I learned playing 13 years I really leared how to play basketball as a team when I went to France so let's touch on that your system in terms of how you guys continue to develop players collectively right throughout your country and help those players continue to stay fundamentally sound but at the same time they blossom and able to play and compete with anybody in the world hey I think uh one of the things which is very different uh us players uh are fantastic one-on-one players still okay for me that doesn't change from 30 years ago especially Team USA where you you have the the best one and their their tools individual tools are for sure above aage and that allow them to do things that normal players couldn't do uh us sure we we really focus to to teach the spacing as I said okay for me offense it's first of all timing and spacing and uh these two point uh are very important and for sure uh you must respect the one-on-one situation and uh if you don't have players who can make a difference by themselves uh you have no Team game that will open operate uh but on the other hand if you only uh play oneon-one uh you you are not going to respond to any situation uh it will depend what defense what defense we we choose if the defense is fair and play strict defense at this time one-on-one ability can can win the game easily but if the defense is a team defense and gos until double team some situation or very Collective defense in offense you have no choice you must work to create the best shots and this cannot be only playing one-on-one and that's uh always find the good balance between these two situation in Europe we are sure that we must still develop uh ability from the players to because uh more and more the creation comes from the one-on-one ability you need to have players who can run through the defense to create to drive and kick to drive and Dish uh because more and more defense is going to switch everything and if you don't have players who can individually uh be uh makes the difference uh you you cannot play even if you have Team concept so you must I think emphasize both but as you say and you were completely true and I I I I fully agree what you say starts with fundamentals this is a Remains the the key yes coach I gotta ask you this when you look at the rules of the game and you look at how the international game and the America game are really close now as far as Talent what do you think think about the rules being changed to one set of rules since you got so many players now coming from Europe playing in the NBA it's almost the talent is almost equal other than the depth of teams what do you think about combining the rules having one set of rules so that all these players because it's not an American game anymore it's truly a world game and I think people get confused when they see fever around the Olympic times they see the fever rules against the n ba rules I personally would like to see the rules Come Together and and have one set of rules what do you think about the rules becoming uniform and all players around the world play Under the same rules I fully I fully agree I think uh uh this is not a problem for USA but it's a problem for France for instance we we have problems to to get uh TV broadcasting for our championship because uh most of the French people watching basketball loving basketball they make a huge difference between NBA and international basketball and and very often they think basketball is only NBA so so us it would be our advantage if the rules would be same for for everybody for sure uh and I think something else is important the way referees were calling Olympics is very different from the way they call in NBA in NBA they protect offensive players and you could see it was not the case in in Olympics it was much more difficult for Victor W Manama to play in Olympics and it it is in in NBA because they couldn't grab it grab him like they did some of the things they were authorized to do in international basketball it's impossible to do it in NBA because NBA they want the the basketball game to be a a show and they will never let you go so far defensively as they authorize teams to do in Olympics that's my point of view wow well let me let me say this too V so the balls right so if they do modify and and and and kind of put um the the rules and and and uh the style of play collectively put it together which balls would they play with you know because I I had some players talking I heard players talking about the difference in the balls that they play with uh which balls would you think that they would alling spoing sping ball okay you know in our league we have spoing too it's only in a FEA game that you have M right and then my next question is and I and I know how physical it is I always had these conversations and arguments that European basketball is more physical especially now than the NBA now back in the day it was physical in the NBA I could compare the two probably the same but people don't really know how physical the game is so can you just touch on that yeah I I see it comes as I said earlier it it it comes a lot from referees uh there is a certain level of contact that you you are going to tolerate or not and uh for me it goes a little bit too far in international basketball because you must you must keep protecting the players you must let them play okay it's a physical game so you when some when somebody is see steing or ducking you must let the defender fight and refuse to to let him take the position but uh when it's grabbing or stuff like that they sometimes they hit okay you must you want to move to make a vet and you get hit uh for me sometime it goes too far it's something you you must regulate and and I think uh we don't do enough since uh three four years in international basketball uh I think we must take care with that because the basketball uh it's a game you know you you need to to be able to to to to pass the ball in good condition to move the ball well and uh now sometimes it's even difficult to do it even bringing the ball H could be very difficult because uh I was watching a lot Canada for instance when you have guys like Dylan Brooks guarding oneon-one the the bandler bringing the ball up uh it's a real job to cross the midcourt coach when you develop your players and you got a guy like Victor and these kids coming to the NBA and they grew up playing in Europe what is your conversation with them because Bo and I often talk about this it's easier to come from Europe to play in the NBA than NBA players going to Europe because of the referee way physicality of the game the way the game is play so for players coming from Europe to the NBA obviously they're nervous we all are do you kind of calm them down and say look as difficult as it was for you to score over here it's going to be a lot easier over there because of the rules to your point they don't allow to hold in and gravity and hand check it that's why uh that's funny that you talk about that because uh we had this conversation often because last year uh it was very skinny and many people in friends were were saying it will be difficult in NBA it will be physical and and I was explaining Victor uh that it was not true uh we played the finals in our league last year and uh in the the team Monaco they had a Players called John Brown the third and uh he is uh probably the best defender in Europe and for for him it was very difficult for Victor was very difficult to play against him even if he adjusted the last two games but at the the first first two it was very difficult and uh I I could see this year it was easier so this is is one thing the the real conversation we had was about decision making the way way we we have been working together last year was always about the decision making because uh uh Victor has so many tools uh he can score from uh all all the situation okay shooting the three inside for sure mid-range but uh as uh any young player uh the main thing I I thought was to teach him to to make the best the best decision and it will be still uh his Improvement margin the next two years uh I think uh if he can do that he will be absolutely Unstoppable yes so Vin you know I I witness having an opportunity to play with you and play in France and play in the Euro Cup at the highest level and playing against some of the players that we played against Americans as well as the International Players I witnessed a few guys even back then had the skills from Europe that they could have played in the NBA but also back then what we had it was only two Americans on each team unless you had a French national player nowadays the rules have changed I think I'm assuming you can have like up up to as many as four or five Americans I think don't quote me four Americans on each team and so what I witness is I thought like a lot of the used to so what happens is a lot of the players from Europe has gotten so much better not just in France all over so you tend to take more European players a lot of times than you take Americans is there a reason for that yeah the main the main reason is the level of us players you were right to say we had only two but these two were the top players of the team anytime and the the difference between uh uh domestic players and US players was huge you know that Sam was one of the best player of the league with molier and you were one of the best player with Asel but the difference was tremendous now uh to be honest when we take us kids especially if they are rookies most often we have to teach them the same thing we have to teach young guys uh they still need to to learn the game it was not the case 40 years ago 40 years ago the US players were teaching us how to play Not only they were better one-on-one but they were better with the with the ball game for sure 100% now now uh and it is always for me the main thing some of the US kids who who come okay because they are us they think they they know everything and they don't want to to learn anything and this one very often very often they are not doing good and you have some others they accept Okay to to be taught by a European coach and at this time they keep growing but it's a big difference because uh but I think it came from a college college basketball the level of college bask basketball before was fantastic now when I watch college basketball and I do do it sometimes for me it's a little NBA the pace of the game is very high no control uh 40 years ago each offense was a very uh long long offense they were working to find a good shot and setting screens SW swinging the ball not anymore yes well and I'm G say this too Sam and I'm turn you back then as an America I always you know playing and it was only two of us and we had a third National guy I always felt like I had to do what it takes so sometimes I had to score 30 points a game I got 10 rebounds I made 10 assists you know now I'm noticing players who go over there now all they have to do is fill in the blanks because the European players are so much talented now all you got to do is do what it take for the team so can you touch on that just a little bit yeah it's a for sure that's a one point important that the European players can do more things and I think the men think they are more athletic and this this was a a huge difference before now our our kids are very athletic and sometimes more than the US players who come to Europe but uh also uh he La last year the best scorer in the French league he had only 17 points aage so you could imagine okay nobody was really dominating like it was the case before uh yes when you were playing uh you remember Ed Murphy he was scoring 32 or 33 average in 40 minutes and this was something common but I don't think except Victor last year nobody was going over 20 since a long time now so we don't see the the same thing but uh still us players who comes are good so for me uh the American domination is still something existing we can talk about European basketball coming closer which is true but uh closer doesn't mean same I think we still have a long way before uh getting at the same level at us as US basketball coach I want to talk about the difficulty of your job you're the French national team coach you had three players this year going to top six in the NBA but they weren't quite ready to play on your national team talk about the difficulty of having so much talent in all these young guys that you got lottery picks in your league or in your country the difficulty of putting together a 12 to 14 Man team because you have all these Talent was it was the reason these guys was not uh ready to play on the French national team this year just because of their youth and in experience yeah so the main reason was uh we started the camp end of June and it was just after the draft and we know that new drafted players will have things to do with their with their team and that's why we didn't take for instance Rashi rash would make the team if there was time between the draft and and we we also knew he will have to make at least one or two games in Vegas summer league and it was impossible for us that he would be missing half of the preparation I I think uh the main thing for us is the way we prepare we for sure in the the team the draft process is important we need to have the best players making the team but uh the way we prepare and put the things together is going to bring us our chemistry and without this chemistry uh no way we can uh we can make the finals of Olympics so and and for me this is the main difference with Team USA the way they they do the things they they start later okay I think three weeks only before the competition and I'm not sure they do uh as much as we do to to prepare the team in the first camp for instance well coach I got to ask you that with all that being said it's a curse and a blessing you got to be excited for 2028 with all this talent and all this size and athleticism going to be available to you and for the first time maybe in a long ever that you will be able to put a team in the Olympics that are deep normally the americ American team to me the last two or three Olympics the Americans beat you not with the starters but the de 1 through 12 in four years you may be able to put 12 guys on your on the Olympic team that are all currently playing in the NBA how proud are you and what does do you ever allow yourself to think about that being maybe being able four years from now to put 12 French players who are currently playing in the NBA comprised of your Olympic team yeah for sure I am proud for FR basketball because uh it comes from a our formation process and this is a real reward now for Olympics uh I don't think having 12 NBA players is enough to beat Team USA we the main thing is uh to make them grow and develop uh I I am seeing about my former players with Victor kibali who was with a Wizards this year uh is a perfect example uh he is very talented and I guess he could be a very good NBA players the next couple years but he still need to to work and uh he was not completely ready for this Olympics this year he still young he's a 20 years old only but uh it will be same with those who get drafted this year they are good they are they have very good potential but they still need to work if we want to to be a top team in a two 228 that's that's something sure for me uh it's a big difference between making the NBA and to become a real NBA player for me wow so Vin coach so let me ask you this as the American team assembl right you take all these players top players from their respected teams and all of these guys are what we call go-to players right where you give them the ball they go create and you know score a lot of oneon-one how big of it of an advantage for you guys because typically you guys are playing with the French national team some of these guys have been playing French national team since they was 12 13 14 years old playing together do you think that helps and give you guys an advantage um with with you know playing against teams like the USA who are simle the best talent because a lot of times you know having the best talent I agree but if that talent doesn't you know collectively come together fast enough then the best team is going to win you know a real advantage to be to be completely uh clear and honest uh we use since uh five six years to have a meeting with the youth national teams uh after the the summer and uh I am uh giving instruction to to have common things for instance defensively our main principles are the same so it's something very important for instance uh we have been European Champions under 20 last two years but when the players sometimes we pick up one or two players from this team to to make the cam for instance uh they they are not surprised because most of the things that were uh uh used to run will be the same with the with the pro team so with the with the hadle teams so that's something helping and we try to to do that to keep uh to keep the process and for 228 for me it will be very important what we will be doing next year in two years in three years because every time it's a we spend five six weeks together and during these five six weeks together we fix a program and uh for sure we don't wait the last moment to create our team we try to build it year after year and to give like a culture for all these players like this when they they will make the team for Olympics for sure they it doesn't start at the last moment they already learn things the year before and they learn also to play together which is for me the most important coach when you look at the NBA and you look at the best players and the fact that the three of four best players in the in the NBA right now are all from Europe what is that in and you look at your young player a lot of people in the NBA believe in the next two years Victor will be the face of the NBA what does that mean for Europe and for France and for European basketball now when you look at the greatest league and the most talented players of all time in the NBA to now know that the top three to four players are all from Europe and that one day maybe in the next two years that one of you guys that you raise your own could be the face that face of the NBA and he's saying bonjour how does that make you feel and what does that mean for all the kids now and Europe coach the last question on top of that would you like to see NBA teams in Europe with the a travel the way they can do the schedule a team can come over and play three or four games they got the travel now they can cut the distance would you like to see at some point a NBA team in Europe for for sure it's a for us Victor situation is something fantastic uh it was the case already last year when I was coaching him in Paris wherever we were going uh the crowd was crazy he has already is is most famous with a soccer player in France so for us it's a amazing what it's going to to create uh Spurs will come to play two season game in January in Paris and for sure uh it will be almost impossible to buy the tickets because probably one million people will want to to have some tickets so that's why you can you can feel uh it would be possible I think to have a NBA team but uh the problem the problem will be traveling uh could be could be a real real problem uh but when you were talking about the best players what about uh Yugoslavia if Yugoslavia was still together you could have yic with donich and some other players zubac has a back backup inside and banovic uh on the wings I guess this team could be a real problem for Team USA yes I think so I agree and and you know Co when coach I don't always call call me you call me K during 10 years so K I used to so here's here's here's what I see and then I want you tell me what you think right the way that the game is going right now right it's going to be um we're gonna have 12 European players on one team I I can see this coming can you see do you see that as well it's possible that that can happen well I had seven in Toronto team I had seven Europeans on my team that was the best time you had coaching eight and that was the best year I had as a coach when I was coach of the year when I had seven Europeans on my team so tell me tell me why tell me why I want to hear that so listen to this R well coach for me having those guys first of all the way they were the way they were developed as players it was all about the team it was never about them as an individual in America when we develop players it's all about that player it's all about getting him to be good getting him to a point then finding a team that fit around him the players that come from Europe they are they are taught to to fit into the team so when I when the we brought these guys over it was never about them it was all about the team and so their unselfishness the fact that they buy into the team concept they made our team come together and I do remember a night I never forget this we're playing a game and Alex Senor is kicking me on the sideline and I turned to Al a Hall of Fame I said Al what's going on why are you kicking me he said coach do you notice we got five European players on the floor I said coach we got five Toronto Raptors players on the floor and we're kicking that other team ass that's all I see and after the game I really thought about it that I don't know what maybe that have been the first time ever that we had five European players on the court at one time in an NBA game all on the same team and so for me the experience was unbelievable these guys were unselfish to a fault they were so team oriented and then the work ethic they brought a work ethic to the team that unlike any other and these guys help bring our team together and I do remember this there were people used to try to get us to have let the American players scrimmage against the European players of the time I never did that coach cuz I would all my push back was we're the Toronto Raptors we're not American we're not Europe we're not Canadians we're we're the Toronto Raptors of the NBA and so I never wanted my team to feel like there was any Division I never wanted to feel like it was them against them it was us in the fight against everybody else and I think that's why we had the most successful season and and to those guys until this day I'm still in contact with Jose curo wow and you know what else too Vince that year he got the coach of the year yes n so that that's a beautiful thing that says a lot that says a lot I I fully understand what you said because I I used to do Sam uh in the French league with the US players I always consider them as the other players and I think it's the main thing but what what you were talking before I think uh uh both sides influence the other side and uh you know 20 years ago when the first players European players were coming to NBA uh it was always the same reproach they are soft they are good they are good they have good technique but they are soft and uh I I guess uh that's uh made everybody call into question and uh us coaches from Europe we try to to give them more aggressivity to to teach them to be more more physical more aggressive and and now that's something you don't hear the same okay very often you don't see the same difference I remember when kach or even Petrovic were coming they were fantastic ball players but still everybody was saying they are soft uh now you don't hear that much this same reproach uh on the other hand I think uh us they start to to learn also the the team game as European bring it to to NBA they have no choice so I think this is interesting for for both sides and we still uh us from Europe we still look uh at NBA at us College because we think uh this is the best basketball so we try to to learn but uh we also watch Euro league because for me Euro league is the best team basketball game now wow I'm G say this too V you know in my Academy with My Philosophy you know and all this I compiled all this information through my experience playing in Europe you know watching you know playing with Philip zelle you know Philip used to score all these baskets and his his feet work was incredible um but I always laid my hat from a development standpoint on on the feet and if you look at all the players that came through my Academy that played in the NBA they not only played a long time but they was efficient and they was effective because of that philosophy example and I want to throw some name Lou real he got the six-man three times and he he when he scored a basketball they knew he was going to do and they still couldn't stop him because he was beating with his feet so he was efficient now he could have been a starter on anybody's team but he was taught at a very young age right not to try to be the best player on the team be the best player for the team and so that mentality got him 16 years in the league another one I want to touch on and when you watch these guys play you can see uh the resemblance in their game Malcolm Braga no fancy cute stuff just efficient and effective another one alinu I'm throwing these names out right he played 12 years in the NBA is because of the mindset of I taught him early team first and me second and you be the best player for the team and when you have that type of mindset when you have talent you're going to be able to perform and be successful for a very long time and be and and be on you gonna always have a place where somebody wants you so what do you think about that I think uh you are 100% right that's my uh philosophy so for me uh my Cod job is most often to convince my players we do the things together not uh separate we are always stronger together than one besides one and uh again in this Olympic uh competition when we succeeded to to be really together we became almost Unstoppable only Steph Curry stop us coach I gotta ask you this and I would love to see this I would like your thought all the great players in Europe now all the great players in in the NBA would you like to see Allstar team comprised of USA players and a Allstar team comprised of European players and they take a tour in the summer of European major cities and play a series of exhibition games to me that would be unbelievable when you got Luca The Joker Giannis all these great European players against the North American players and they do like a five Country tour five games don't have to be all some of maybe four or five games and they play a game in Paris they play a game in Luxembourg play a game in Rome Just throughout Europe how would you like to see something like that because to me something like that would bring all of these these basketball entities together and it can start the world looking at NBA at at at basketball as one entity instead of Europe the NBA Asia all these different places I would you like to see a exhibition tour or maybe four or five games of American players against European players and then another to another year Asian players that we go through certain countries so the world can see what we've all know that how great these players are around the world I would like for sure be before being a coach I am a basketball fan so it will be amazing and uh they never did it so it's very very interesting and uh not not only for competition just uh to to see two way two different ways to perhaps to to play the basketball game which will be uh interesting for for everybody because uh uh yic and donich for me are different from all the other players uh Ono for me is a us he is Greek but he is US players his way to play is not really even if he was changing this year uh with with Greece but before that uh when he was coming back in international basketball was tough for him to to be very good because he he had problems to adjust to fiber rooms uh it was much better this year but the others they are different so it will be very very interesting to to see how it could uh could be I I I would like very much like you we can propose it perhaps hey we need to put that together man think about the think about the buzz and the how how people would just be on the crazy on the on the on the edge of their seat man yeah and then speaking of that while we on that topic uh MB normally he was goingon to play with the French national team right so what happened with that situation now if he would have played he probably been a whole different outcome yeah hey I think he had a choice he was very close to to play with us and I think uh Team USA came close to him and they asked him to to come play with them and uh I guess he wanted to win the gold medal and he thought it was a better way I talk with him when he had to make the choice and what I was telling him was uh with us you can make history if you go with Team USA you will do what others have been doing but if you come with us and you make us win you you will be the first one so but uh that was not enough to convince him so like this coach would you be open to 2028 if he decided because he's already said that he don't know would you be open to 2028 if he changed his mind I I don't think I don't think so whatever and us you know we have a young guys coming behind like alexans who was drafted number two this year but we have Maxim Reno who was playing in Stanford NCAA uh and we have few guys tan salon number six this year and all of them are inside players so you gonna be loal to your guys I love that coach hey hey coach I love it loyalty to me is number one period so so so what do you see in terms of where is basketball headed you know globally not you know collectively where do you see the game going um from a development standpoint from the NBA standpoint where do you see the game going your vision I think uh one of the problem of basketball is the the court the court doesn't change and uh what impressed me the most the last five years is quickness uh it's faster and faster you could see uh regular season NBA game since two years they score 15 20 points more the pace of the game is a very fast and all the teams are working to to get a fast break situation the uh us two in this Olympic preparation we had a daily basis situation to to go as fast as possible to in offense uh we were working that every day uh we had a few things we were ining like a tag at offensive rebound and but also to push the ball as fast as we could on daily basis we were working this situation with early swing with early posttop and I think this is going to be more and more because uh uh the players are more and more athletic length is uh amazing and if you when you play half court situation uh it's more and more difficult to find uh good things and uh it's Pro with data we know that uh the more you wait on the shot clock uh the lowest is your efficiency with the shooting so for sure everybody knows that so everybody is looking to to accelerate and to to get good shots early just to to be uh coherent with the data and last question I got for you on this subject coach you know we've been friends and we've been talking over the years you know always we always talk about philosophies and things like that my takeaway every time I talk to you and then I watch your team's play the thing that stood out for me that you was really good at your mythology was switch your switch you know can you talk to us Americans like what what makes that so uh effective because you do it so well with your teams because I know that's your specialty is switching so can you just talk to us as coaches and and mentors and whoever is working with our kids we have we have two ways to to do it uh sometimes we really switch everything any ball screen we switch we call that early switch and uh we have a special way to do it uh we need to the guy who come to set the screen has to to square to touch touch the the screener uh and uh when the screen is really set we we hedge to to make the ball go back and the ball endler Defender he is going under first to deny him to roll too fast and very quickly is going to to front the mismatch and we we used to organize the team defense around that and this is something you can do in international basketball because from the weak side you can anticipate the position and one of the things we we try to to do which is very important which is probably the main is to cover the high post we want to we refuse absolutely the high low if the switch is made on the side ball screen uh we try to keep the ball same side and we I ask the big men to aggress the ball and if he gets beaten to the Bas line we are going to let switch again pale switch if you want with a mmch Defender and we come from opposite to cover and we force the ball to go all the way opposite where we still have time to to recover but this is a interesting with our team because we have athletic guards uh and we don't really suffer from mismatches and our big men for me are above aage Defender one-on-one so but we want to push them to attack the wall we don't want them to to drop too much and to let the the guards take easy s we we organize uh the one-on-one situation and it was for instance the case against Germany against schroer uh and once again we use the rule uh if we had the three seconds rules it's more difficult to do but again Scher okay we know that he is going to go to the right and we we were already in the Box uh before he was beating our big men uh we we anticipate this rotation and we had the bottom guy side of two opposite of the ball to be there already to take the charge on the top guy defending elbow situation nail to to drop down to the corner in in the same time but this is easier to do in the FBA basketball than NBA I saw because I was there I was there at the Germany game when um you guys played Germany when France played Germany and then we talked afterwards and you I saw the adjustment I saw the adjustment that you made in that regard and it was real affected and that what that's what allowed you guys to win the game is because those adjustments that you made defensively allowed you guys to win that basketball game so that's off to you man making those suggest it came also you're right you're right but it came also uh we didn't do it well the first game some of the things we had planed the first game but what what once again it's two different things what coaching staff plans and the way you execute and it comes a lot from uh how you convince the players you know it's the national team you don't have much time to to prepare and uh discussion talk briefing video sessions are very important because uh after the first game we show The Players what they didn't do really well and what was uh happening and uh that's why we we were very strict the second time to get exactly what we wanted okay for us Scher and the Vagner were the Target and it was impossible they could score 25 again so coach I gotta ask you this come 2028 you guys won a silver medal this year what do you think in your mind that you got to do in 2028 to get this team prepared what little different strategies to win the goal this time obviously you going to have Victor's going to be four years older some of your other young players are going to be coming into the fold with the national team so what do you think in your mind you need to do come 2028 in Los Angeles to get over the hump and win the gold medal for the French national team I I I I think uh three years ago before Tokyo my goal be before playing Team USA and that was the first game for us was to to be better on all the little things like vut like uh attacking the switches because Team USA is the team that switch a lot too and uh we did it well that that's about fundamentals and it remains for me the the the key but the other things is to to get better with the perimeter game we we need to to make our players grow we were talking about one-onone ability uh most of the games now at the end you have situation you need to have players who you give the ball you must decide earlier for sure Victor will be one of these but uh he cannot be alone if we want to be winners we need to find at least two others like Team USA had uh that was why they they they beat us because uh any situation they get a solution and everybody was talking about Curry and it was true but if uh we could stop Curry I am sure KD would make the difference like he did three years ago and I not in been talking about LeBron or DAV Booker Tatum so I I think this is the key we must uh make our players be better players until 228 if we want to win it's not only Collective game Collective uh team in defense can be the second thing but in offense we need to get better one-on-one W I agree so coach I want to congratulate you too I I saw where you was voted as the best coach in the Olympics actually which means he probably the best coach in Europe or probably one of the best coaches in the world I always thought you know from a basketball you was one of the best basketball even when we played together you pretty much was coaching the team right in French I can understand quite a bit of it but you was coaching the team and you was in we end up helping each other I remember we stay up all night 12 o'clock you moved in the apartment right next door to mine so that me and you could have a key to go to the gym at 12 o'cl at night to shoot so so my question to G yes Jim rats man so my question to you is you know having Sam Mitchell here Sam has so much experience working with European players like big- time success he understand the whole dynamic of God's playing the right way and you my opinion should be up to come and coaching the NBA bro there should be opportunities if they're not and I'm pretty sure you got some things that's going to be coming towards your way but man I can see you and Sam perhaps working together at some point with some team that would be magnetic that would be crazy because what would happen he understand the American players very well as well as you but you understand the European player and the French player that connection with the way that the game is going now could be a match made in having you know just having this conversation knowing who he is and knowing who you are and then you can bring in BO Bell on the development side for the Fe sound like a winner to me and I will come to boel Academy too yes yes and we're going to organize some to all the listeners we're goingon to be doing a coaching Clinic I told we we're gonna talk more about that Sam we we gonna have you come in we're gonna have a couple other college coaches we gonna have Sam uh maybe one or two other NBA guys come in and we're gonna do this huge coaching Clinic next summer so you guys stay tuned for that but last but not least man what I want to say man first of all I am so proud of you my brother thank you ex proud of you and uh thank you for taking the time to come on and Sam thank you too man thank youo man anytime I get a chance to sit with you dear friend of mine we competed against each other went hard and they get a chance to meet a coach France our France has a special place in my heart that's why I grew up that's why I became a pro that's why I learned to become a pro playing in France that's why I learned the importance of working hard and and then and this the most important thing I learned and we talked about this B the other day we saw I always tell my teams you learn to win in practice not in the game true preparation preparation if you're gonna win it's done in practice if you don't put the work in in practice and think you g to show up and just because you're going to play hard you're going to win it's not going to happen coach I love you I love the way the game is going and what people don't understand the game is gravitating toward the European way passing cutting learning to your point early in the show learning how to play without the basketball learning how to play without that ball in your hand is a key to great team basketball coach I I love getting to know you I'm looking forward to getting to know you more and then at some point Bo got to get me over to France man I miss Europe I love Europe get me over there so I can see you meet you be around you anything I can do for your coach over there here please don't hesitate call I'm sure we could talk about basketball for hours yes absolutely hey man again thank you so much buy to toor Manu tell your tell your daughter I say thank you so much and uh we see you soon AB thank you much Mery let's see thank you [Music]