DENVER (2016 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournaments) - Joffrey Lauvergne has played for France the last three years. He's hoping to make it a fourth consecutive summer in in the national team shirt in 2016. The Mulhouse-born power forward wants to help Les Bleus reach the Olympics.

To go to the Rio de Janeiro Games, though, France will have to win the six-team FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament (OQT) in Manila. There are going to be significant hurdles to clear.

The group (OQT) is not the toughest one but it won't be easy. Canada has a great team, the Turkish team is very solid, the Philippines is going to play at home and will be tough to beat. - Lauvergne

France will also come up against a New Zealand side that has some of the players that upset Les Bleus at the 2010 FIBA Basketball World Cup. The French must finish in the top two of Group B, which has the Philippines and the Tall Blacks. Then they must win a Semi-Final against one of the sides from a Group A that includes Turkey, Senegal and Canada. The two Semi-Final winners will then battle for a spot in Rio de Janeiro.

France (FRA) suffered a costly defeat to New Zealand (NZL) in 2010

"I am dreaming about going to the Olympics," Lauvergne said to FIBA.com. "We have no choice but to fight hard and win every game in the OQT to go to Rio."

The 2.09m Lauvergne has seen his role with France grow in importance in each of the years that he has been with the squad. He has already captured a EuroBasket 2013 title and finished third at both the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup and EuroBasket 2015.

Lauvergne (FRA) helped Les Bleus beat Lithuania to third at Spain 2014

Last summer's EuroBasket was staged on home soil in Montpellier and later Lille and was supposed to be a great moment in French basketball history as far as Lauvergne and his teammates were concerned. It was a missed opportunity.

The 24-year-old remains frustrated that Spain robbed his team of a successful title defense by beating them in the Semi-Finals. Pau Gasol had a dominating display, although Lauvergne says his own team should have won.

"For people who don't follow basketball, having reached the third place of the competition can be seen as a successful campaign," he said. "But for us, the competition left a bad taste in our mouths. We were at home, the goal was to win the competition and we weren't able to reach that goal and also clinch a spot to Rio without having to go through an OQT. We were disappointed."

We gave our best but we didn't win the gold. - Lauvergne

When he looks back on the event, there are numerous aspects to that overtime defeat to Spain, a national side that France had beaten one year before in the Quarter-Finals of the World Cup in Madrid, that bother him. Falling at home to the arch rivals was a tough pill to swallow.

Perhaps as time goes on, Lauvergne will be able to appreciate that he took part in a spectacle. The Stade Pierre Mauroy was packed with a record crowd and the drama was incredible.

"Maybe we could have shown more character in the Semi-Final against Spain because I think that the referees didn't respect us that much during that game," Lauvergne said. "We were probably too 'good and kind guys' during that game. It's easy to speak after, but at the moment, you don't know if you have to play harder as you can get fouls or technical fouls, so it was a bit frustrating.

"We were able to bounce back for the third place game (against Serbia) and we showed some resilience. We have reasons to be proud of what we have done and I am sure that everyone learned from that experience. We learned and we are not going to make these kind of mistakes in future competitions. - Lauvergne

After the EuroBasket, Lauvergne turned his focus immediately to Denver. He has some terrific Nuggets teammates, including the USA's Kenneth Faried and Italy's Danilo Gallinari.

There have been highs and lows that he has experienced in the NBA, though Lauvergne accepts them. He believes that he is making progress and that the best is yet to come.

"At the beginning of the season, I had more minutes than during the month of January," he said, "but my playing time is going up again, now. I am feeling good about my season and things are going in a positive way so far."

Lauvergne says his participation in the OQT is not a 100 percent certainty because of the status of his contract with Denver. He is hopeful, though, that his future will be sorted out in time so that he can play.

"In my case, the last year of my contract, which is next season, is not guaranteed yet," he said. "This situation needs to be solved because the French Federation (FFBB) told me that I couldn't be covered by the insurance until the Nuggets exercise the option on my contract. (FFBB technical director) Patrick Beesley told me that like a week ago.

"I am pretty confident by the fact that my contract situation will be solved in time and that I will be able to play with the national team in the OQT. Even if some players won't be able to join the team, the goal is the same: play hard and try to clinch the spot for Rio."

FIBA