SAN JUAN (Puerto Rico) – Winning the Olympic Qualifying Tournament in San Juan, Puerto Rico and getting a ticket to Paris 2024 seems like a tall task for this upstart Côte d’Ivoire team, but their international relevance has grown stronger every year.
This a country that had only participated in 2 FIBA World Cups until 2006, but that since 2010 has qualified to 3 of the last 4. In the same time-frame they’ve made it to the Semi-Finals at the FIBA AfroBasket 4 times, finishing 2nd in 2009 and most recently in 2021.
Add NBA center Mo Bamba to the mix and you have the makings of a potential dark horse at the event taking place July 2-7.
The Roster
Head coach Natxo Lezkano, who helmed the team between 2011 and 2015, returned to the bench in 2020 and has The Elephants playing some of their best basketball, having risen all the way up to No. 31 in the FIBA World Ranking Men, Presented by Nike.
And this time, he’ll finally be able to rely on Bamba (born in New York to Ivorian parents), who’s coming off a solid season with the Philadelphia 76ers where he seemed to develop his outside shot – hitting 39.1% of his three-pointers.
Solo Diabate, Assemian Moulare, Nisre Zouzoua, Maxcence Dadiet, Vafessa Fofana, Jean-Philippe Dally and Cedric Bah are also expected to be available after playing in the FIBA World Cup 2023.
The list also features experienced big men Alex Poythress and Matt Costello and newcomer Ismael Kamagate (drafted in the NBA’s second round in 2022).
The Question
Can they finally break through?
Côte d’Ivoire finished 21st, 29th and 27th in their 3 most recent World Cup appearances, beating Puerto Rico in Turkey 2010 and Iran during last year’s edition.
This time around they’ll share a very tough Group A with Lithuania and Mexico, a couple of countries with much more experience at this level.
The Hope
Bamba joining an inside rotation that already included Costello, Poythress, Bah and Kamagate is sure to cause major problems for their opponents.
The 6-year NBA veteran taking steps toward becoming a stretch-5 will also expand his coach’s options when it comes to building a functional rotation and dividing up the minutes among his best players.
The sheer amount of size and length of The Elephants’ frontcourt can only be matched in quantity and quality by Lithuania, who are expected to have Domantas Sabonis and Donatas Motiejunas among their bigs.
The Fear
Backcourt play is more of an open question for a team still relying on 36-year-old vet Diabate.
Moulare and Zouzoua must continue growing into their roles, not only providing spacing but also generating quality shots for their teammates on the interior.
The team shot just 40.1 percent from the field at the 2023 FIBA World Cup and their 74.6 points per game was the 5th lowest mark of the tournament. Their 17.2 assists per game were also a bottom 5 mark – an area they must shore up if they want to play in the Olympics for the first time in their history.
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