REGENSBURG (David Hein’s Eye on the Future) - The French federation FFBB announced a pool of 37 players committed to Team France Basket with sights set on the cycle through to the Men’s Olympic Basketball Tournament.

While many look at the list of France’s NBA stars willing to sign the “charter of engagement” or even the country’s top stars spread throughout Europe. One note of interest is the inclusion of the next group of youngsters who could be donning the French jersey in international play.

The FFBB and the selection committee has seen that France’s core of players who brought Les Bleus back to international prevalence - Tony Parker, Boris Diaw, Mickael Gelabale, Florent Pietrus - are just about done with their national team duties, with Diaw the only player included in the pool.

But even the next generation of stars has started to age a bit as the players born in 1987 (Nando De Colo and Fabien Causeur), 1988 (Nicolas Batum, Rodrigue Beaubois, Adrien Moerman and Kim Tillie) and 1989 (Antoine Diot, Thomas Huertel, Edwin Jackson and Kevin Seraphin) will all have celebrated their 30th birthday by the time 2020 and the Japan Olympics come around.

With that in mind, the FFBB has already started looking ahead to determine which young players could already be on the verge of making an impact at the highest level by 2020.

A quartet of players who will turn 22 by the end of the year have been included in the pool in Axel Bouteille of FIBA Europe Cup finalists Elan Chalon, FIBA Europe Cup winner Mathias Lessort of Nanterre 92, Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot of the Philadelphia 76ers and Boston Celtics’ 2016 first round draft pick Guershon Yabusele, who split the season with the Shanghai Dongfang Sharks in China and the Maine Red Claws of the D-League.

Lessort is currently expected to be picked in this June’s NBA Draft as is the gem from France’s 1996 generation, Alpha Kaba, who was also included in the Team France Basket pool.

The youngest player in the pool is the floor general of France’s FIBA U18 European Championship 2016 title-winning team, Frank Ntilikina. The Strasbourg IG point guard followed in the footsteps of Batum and the 1988-born generation with the U16-U18 European double after having won the FIBA U16 European Championship 2014.

Despite playing the whole season as an 18-year-old, Ntilikina averaged 7.2 points, 1.9 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 0.9 steals in 18.2 minutes while hitting 39.5 percent of his three-pointers in helping guide Strasbourg to the Play-offs Qualifiers in the Basketball Champions League.

Ntilikina was awarded the MVP trophy at the U18 continental tournament and continued to blossom at Strasbourg under the watchful eye of national team and Strasbourg coach Vincent Collet, who said Ntilikina’s basketball IQ is what makes him so special.

"For such a young guy, he's already playing with the pros, making good decisions," Collet told FIBA recently. "Sometimes he's missing aggression but his basketball IQ is something really special. He looks to be 25 very often."

Ntilikina is also expected to be drafted in June which would likely cause him to miss the FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup 2017. But he will likely play a major role for France’s senior national team in the near future. He will be 21 years old when the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 tips off, and it wouldn’t be a surprise if he is already in the mix.

"For such a young guy, (Frank Ntilikina) is already playing with the pros, making good decisions. Sometimes he's missing aggression but his basketball IQ is something really special. He looks to be 25 very often."Vincent Collet

For those wondering, Ntilikina might be the start of another wave of talents - similar to the 1988 generation. Also in the 1998 group are Killian Tillie, Adam Mokoka and Elhadji-Digue Diawara while the 1999 generation is loaded with the likes of Ivan Fevrier, Jaylen Hoard, Yves Pons and Olivier Sarr. And lest we forget the 2000-born Sekou Doumbouya, who was named to the All-Star Five at the FIBA U18 European Championship 2016 one day shy of his 16th birthday.

And there are a couple of players from the 1996 and 1997 generations who could work their way into the France team long term as well, including Isaia Cordinier, Stephane Gombauld, Jonathan Jeanne and Amine Noua.

The idea of Team France Basket is a good one - getting a pool of players to commit long-term to playing for the national team. It also serves as an excellent method to motivate younger players to keep working and recognising their development until now.

France’s biggest stars might be getting a bit older in general, but there are more than enough young motivated guys who will be soon knocking on the door into the national team.

David Hein

FIBA

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