PARIS (France) - Sometimes the stars need to align for a man to present the best version of himself.
They did for Isaia Cordinier on August 6, when France coach Vincent Collet turned to his athletic shooting guard for his defense against Canada and got a whole lot more.
Looking for an edge, Collet found it in the then 27-year-old, the son of a 1996 Olympic handball star Stephane Cordinier. Thankfully for French basketball fans, son Isaia chose to play another roundball sport.
Had he not, the French might have missed out on playing this summer in a second straight Olympic Final against the USA.
With France still looking for their best form going into a Quarter-Final showdown against unbeaten Canada, Collet called on Cordinier and the rest is history. He not only defended, but scored.
He did so with daring drives the basket, and with 3-pointers. The 1.96M Cordinier finished with 20 points in a 82-73 triumph.
"Let's not lie to ourselves: my performances at the Olympics have changed the way people look at me, that's for sure." - Cordinier
And then in the Olympic Semi-Finals against 2023 World Cup winners Germany, a team that had thrashed France, 85-71, in the Olympic Group Phase in Lille, Cordinier helped the French get revenge. He turned on the style with 16 points and 7 rebounds in a 73-69 win.
Cordinier made himself a part of French legend with those performances.
He is no longer a talented French player that's just a part of a national team, but one that had a starring role in two of the biggest wins in the country's basketball history.
It was a life-changing experience for a player who is now in his third season at Virtus Bologna, the same club where Argentina great Manu Ginobili and France's FIBA Hall of Fame guard Antoine Rigaudeau once played.
"I have never been so high in terms of emotions, competitiveness, energy, adrenaline. Even in terms of pleasure, I had never felt that on a court"
"Let's not lie to ourselves: my performances at the Olympics have changed the way people look at me, that's for sure," Cordinier said in an interview with Basket Europe.
"People know that I did it at the highest international level, that I've reached a new level. My status has changed. When I came back here to Bologna, I came back with a lot of confidence."
Cordinier will one day be able to reflect more on his time in a French jersey at a home Olympics, but now he's trying to help his club.
Even so, the Olympics now define him, at least for many fans. And he even admits that being an Olympian took him to a different plane.
"I have never been so high in terms of emotions, competitiveness, energy, adrenaline," he said. "Even in terms of pleasure, I had never felt that on a court.
"I enjoyed it and celebrated, of course, but we move on to something else quite quickly, with new goals. On the other hand, I used a lot of the energy, the vibes that I had this summer, transcribed them into my daily work, in the season to tackle."
Cordinier owes a debt of gratitude to Vincent Collet for believing in him and including him in the France team. It's one of the hardest units to make and especially at the Olympics. Yet Collet also owes Cordinier a debt of gratitude, for helping rescue France with his play and leadership.
Cordinier was in the France team that suffered a 95-65 blowout at the hands of Canada on the opening day of the 2023 World Cup. The French also fell to Latvia and endured an 18th-place finish. Still, Collet kept the faith in the players.
"I'm not sure that Vincent changed his view of me, he always had the same confidence," Cordinier said. "It's just that he was looking for a good defensive start in the quarter-final against Canada and he felt that that was when I could be most useful."
Cordinier, the man Collet needed for defense, also scored 24.4 percent of the team's points in that game, only second to Guerschon Yabusele's 22. It was a master stroke to call his number.
"I played my game," Cordinier said. "My strength is my versatility. I can play several roles on the court. And when I have the opportunity, I can bring my whole range, both on defense and in attack. It's a whole. I showed it that day and once it starts to sink in, teammates tell you to continue to be aggressive, and you ride the wave.
"At that moment, I think Vincent said to himself 'he's good, he's staying on the court', but he always had the same confidence."
Cordinier played 25 minutes of that game and 33 against Germany in the Semi-Finals.
For Virtus, Cordinier is averaging almost 13.8 points, 4.9 assists and 4.9 rebounds per game in European competition, and 9.5 points, 3.9 assists and 3.4 rebounds per game in Italy's Lega A.
After feeling the exhilaration of representing his country on one of the great stages in international basketball, he's now thriving at a legendary club, in a city that is married to basketball.
"It’s truly a historic club," he said. "You can feel the passion of the people in the city, the enthusiasm of the people. It lives basketball."
Cordinier is still riding that wave he caught before the game against Canada.
FIBA