Nicolas Batum on adding Joel Embiid to French national team: Would you say no to the MVP?

Nicolas Batum was among them. In his return to the international basketball after the 2021 Olympic Games for the last World Cup of his career, the captain of France admitted he felt his “biggest disappointment” with the national team. “I’ve never been ashamed with this jersey but this is the first time I’m ashamed,” Batum said in the post-game presser. “I’m scared to go home because we let a lot of people down. A lot of people believed in us to do something special. We didn’t do it.” -via EuroHoops.net / August 27, 2023

Nicolas Batum: “It was my last World Cup, I missed summers but I did everything for this jersey. When we deprive ourselves of certain guys… We’ve been together, we’ve been putting something in place for years… The players, we screwed up, but it takes a lot of people to question themselves. I have one year left in the France team. We need everyone in Paris, the best conditions, everyone. I don’t give a damn about politics, we need the best team in France possible. I screwed up my last World Cup and it really pisses me off.” -via L’Equipe / August 27, 2023

Nicolas Batum (after elimination of the French team in the first round of the World Cup, at the microphone of beIN Sports): “It’s a big disappointment, that’s for sure, we broke down mentally, physically, they were very strong, we weren’t together. We cannot take them away. This match characterizes what has happened for five or six weeks. We are a very good team, we have shown that for several years. Everyone must question themselves after what happened this summer: coaches, players, Federation, up there. That we deprive ourselves of certain players (Thomas Heurtel, leader with 99 caps and four international medals, has been suspended from the French team for a year and his signing in Russia), that we lose players because of certain conditions. Everyone needs to be committed.” -via L’Equipe / August 27, 2023

Tim Bontemps on Joel Embiid: “I don’t see any scenario he plays for France. I would be stunned if he did. I’ll be pretty surprised if he plays for Team USA either, but I’d be pretty stunned if he plays for France.” -via Apple Podcasts / August 28, 2023

Are you going to be more aggressive in your Joel Embiid pursuit? French national team general manager Boris Diaw: I’m not aggressive person per se (laughs). I don’t think it’s a pursuit. It’s about people who want to come. Some people come or don’t come to the national team for different reasons. He’s a special case for his own reasons. I don’t think there’s a way to be aggressive in our part. -via EuroHoops.net / August 28, 2023

Boris Diaw: I don’t think it’s one answer to our team. It’s not “OK one magical that’s going to change everything”. Like I said, the problem to this competition isn’t who was here and who wasn’t there. I think that it’s that with the team that we had that should have done better than what we did. And that means that it’s the fault of everybody. I’m not saying it’s the only coaches, or the players, or the managers, or the stuff. It’s that with the team we had we should’ve done better. -via EuroHoops.net / August 28, 2023