Batum, France have lofty goals for the World Cup in China

PAU (France) - There is one way and one way only for France to replicate the success of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2014, when Vincent Collet's men turned some heads by securing a top-three finish in Spain.

Nicolas Batum, France's leading light five years ago when Les Bleus stunned hosts Spain at the Quarter-Finals in Madrid before finishing third, says the team has to put the clamps on the high-powered offenses they are going to face in China or their stay in the Far East is going to be a short one.

"We have to get back to our main strength, one that we haven't done well in the last two competitions, which is our defense," Batum said. "It was our biggest strength in our best years. And when we won medals and a title (FIBA EuroBasket 2013), it was mainly because of our solid defense. Coach (Vincent) Collet speaks a lot about this, and he is right.

"We've been working a lot on this aspect of the game since the beginning of the training camp, and everyone is really into it. Something good, too - a huge plus - is that now we have Rudy Gobert back with us. He was here in 2014, and having him in the paint is great. In 2014, we were able to be very solid defensively and that is the main reason why we went that far into the tournament."

Gobert is in the opinion of many the best, the most intimidating presence on defense in the NBA, where he plays with the Utah Jazz. His star was just beginning to take off at the World Cup in 2014 but now, he's even better.

"WE ARE AMBITIOUS, BUT IT'S IMPORTANT TO TAKE IT ONE STEP AT A TIME. THIS IS A VERY LONG AND INTENSE COMPETITION."- Batum

Batum, Gobert and France will have to be at their best from the off because every win is crucial for teams as they attempt to advance to the Quarter-Finals. In the First Round, France will play the Dominican Republic, Germany and Jordan in Group G and if they finish in the top two, they will progress to the Second Round Group L and meet the two sides that advance from a Group H that consists of Australia, Lithuania, Canada and Senegal.

"This (First Round) group is pretty open, it's very competitive," Batum said. "We know that in a World Cup, every team is going to do everything to win and have a good run. Every team that is competing in China earned its spot, won games to be able to compete on the world stage so they won't give up or just come to China to play three games and go home.

"That's not the goal for a team. For example, I didn't know that much about Jordan, and I have started watching some games and study their game. They play well, they play fast, they like to shoot. We don't know them that much, but they have the potential to be a team that can make life harder.

Batum says 2.16m (7ft 1in) center Gobert should make France more formidable on defense

"They play with a lot of passion. Even the Dominican Republic, they couldn't have (Al) Horford and (Karl) Towns, but they also were able to qualify without them during the Americas Qualifiers. Germany, we lost to in 2017 but we want to beat them in the First Round."

In the opinion of Batum, there are many countries that can realistically aim for a spot on the podium.

"Yes, the battle for the top three spots is going to be crazy," he said. "A lot of teams can be in the medal spots and it's going to be intense, very hard for every team to be in those spots. But every team, including ours, is going to fight for it, to play at its best level to try to come back home with a medal.

Batum (middle) was a member of a star-studded All-Star Five at the 2014 World Cup

"I really like to see that the level of international basketball has grown that much, and it's going to be a very intense tournament in China. The players are going to do everything they can to make their fans proud and help their teams win, and the crowd is going to enjoy a great show and a fantastic competition."

Batum even thinks Africa can put their World Cup struggles from past tournaments behind them and do well.

"The teams that qualified for China 2019 have a lot of talent, and that would be great to have at least one or two teams go to the knockout stage of the tournament," he said. "That would be so great for African basketball. Teams like Senegal are in a very tough group, but they can achieve great things and go to the next round. The growth, the progression of basketball in Africa is going very well, and having great performances from the national teams of the continent this summer would be another sign of this progression."

While achieving a top-three spot again is an aim, at bare minimum France want to stay in the hunt for an Olympic berth.

"It's the first goal, yes," Batum said. "The first step is to qualify for the Olympics and after this, focusing on how far we can go into the competition. When we get there, game after game, we'll have a better view of what's possible. We are ambitious, but it's important to take it one step at a time. This is a very long and intense competition, many teams can reach the medal spots."

FIBA