PARIS (George Eddy's International Show) - The defending Eurobasket champs from France look decidedly strong after dominating Serbia in Nancy last friday and Russia in Lyon Sunday in front of sellout crowds. Both opponents were missing some key players like Milos Teodosic and Timofey Mozgov but France's starting five with a pronounced NBA flavor as well as their stifling defence give them reasons to be confident at less than one month from the start of the competition in Montpellier.

Tony Parker has said that the French selection is the best in history while his coach Vincent Collet stated, "that will only be the case if we win".  The starting five is impressive with Parker leading his two favorite lieutenants, Boris Diaw and Nicolas Batum along with Nando De Colo, in top form and just off the best season of his career with CSKA Moscow.

When these stars are running, moving and sharing the ball, the offence really clicks. Their powerful defence is anchored by Utah's Rudy Gobert, one of the NBA's most improved players last season as well as one of the league's best rim protectors. His dissuasion is not always seen in the stats, and I feel he will be the revelation of Eurobasket 2015, just as he was a revelation vs. the Gasol brothers in France's upset of Spain in the FIBA Basketball World Cup Quarter-Final in Madrid last summer. Gobert is a gobbler of space, rebounds and blocked shots and his unbelievable progress permits France to forget the absence of Joakim Noah.

All of France's big men were performing at a high level this weekend as Boris Diaw was best in evaluation for the two games while Alexis Ajinca and Joffrey Lauvergne scored a lot and Florent Pietrus captained the defence of the second squad. Nearly two-thirds of France's points against Serbia were scored in the paint. This kind of dominance inside was less expected than their aggressive, athletic defense which provoked almost 50 turnovers in the two games and has been France's trademark during the Collet era.

Batum told me that since France has less time to prepare for this Eurobasket, he decided to imitate Parker and arrive at training camp already in shape instead of using the preparation games to get into shape! This explains why France is already playing at such a high level.

Their initial "wake-up call" loss in front of an enthusiastic Finnish team and crowd was anecdotal because three players from the top five were not there.  DeColo was nursing a strained calf while Diaw and Batum were proudly showing off their African heritage in Johannesburg at the first NBA Africa game, a wonderfully successful initiative for promoting basketball on the continent.

If we had to search for a negative side for France after 3 preparation games, it would be that when the starters go to the bench there is a significative and logical drop-off in the level of play. France sometimes helps too much on defense and leaves 3-point shooters open on the opposite side of the court when opponents swing the ball quickly. Another problem might be that France is playing its toughest preparation games too early, especially home and away against Serbia, whereas the rest of the preparation and even the first round in Montpellier might be too easy to really prepare for a cutthroat match in the Round of 16, when they cross paths with the very tough Group B.     

We'll have an even better idea of France's true potential after they play Serbia in Belgrade on Wednesday and Germany in Cologne in their last preparation match-up. Yes, Germany, with Dirk Nowitzki and Dennis Schroder, a likely adversary in that famously stressful round of 16!

Concerning Serbia, they look like a potential powerhouse when Teodosic comes back. They beat Russia by 19 on saturday after staying with France for three quarters on friday. The Russians are lacking alot of their star players from the recent past but they must be conforted by the fact that they will be allowed to participate at Eurobasket 2015.

George Eddy

FIBA

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