In the list of 12 Blues who will defend the French colors at the 2023 World Cup in a few weeks, one name, that of Sylvain Francisco, jumped out at me and caused an immediate flashback as well as real joy for the boy and his anything but classic career.
We are June 30, 2015 in Paris. Impossible to forget the date. My daughter was born two weeks earlier. That day, Damian Lillard is in Paris for the Lillard Academy, an ephemeral event hosted behind the walls of the Lycée Buffon. The opportunity to discover how “Dame” is an interesting player and man during an interview with Théo (Haumesser). But it’s another leader who captures my attention.
Matches take place on the field set up for the occasion. Barbara Youinou, now a journalist at Est Républicain and a long-time member of the REVERSE team, then told me about a young player who had come as a visitor and who did not take part in the matches. A phenomenon called Rescue Doumbouya, barely 15 years old and considered a nugget of French basketball. It’s not him I want to talk about. While we discuss, a leader with a blindfold and devastating dribbling sows desolation on the field, game after game. It looks like he landed in a New York playground. He is clearly above the opposition, although he barely seems to go over 80 meters. He plays with an intensity, fieryness and showmanship that seems to be his default mode. Barbara explains to me that he is indeed French, but plays in the United States.
Lillard, summoned to compose a team to face another concocted by his ex-teammate Nicolas Batum, also flashes on the one who calls himself “Frenchy”, long before the character of The Boys. He therefore selects him for the final, of which he will be elected MVP.
Sylvain Francisco was then 18 years old and lived in Florida, where he attended a prep school. We have very little opportunity to discuss, but I tell myself that I must try to follow the rest of his journey. You don’t see many players of this profile in the professional world. Three years later, almost to the day, I find him in Levallois. Sylvain could not get a scholarship for one of the big universities that were interested in him, Kentucky in particular, for lack of a sufficient level of education, and returned to France.
The club, which has embarked on a youth project with Boris Diaw as a mentor, is organizing a small meeting with the media in the Chipotle restaurant in the city. I am the only one to discuss with him and, after reminding him of this memory of the Lillard Academy, offers him a “filler-gathering” interview as we did in the past in REVERSE, before the magazine became a Mook.
He tells me about his career, which started in Sevran. His style of play shaped in the Paris region, then sublimated in the United States, especially on the AAU circuit where he met Malik Monk – “he was strong, but I had taken over” – Ben Simmons, Markelle Fultz, D’ Angelo Russell, De’Aaron Fox and many more. His family, with his brother Bateko (first French member of an NBA staff in Utah), so important to him. His NBA dream, too, even if at this hour he is probably the only one to believe in his chances.
The France team, for which he will play a World Cup in a short time, is then hardly in his mind. Angola, the country of origin of his parents, even contacted him. I swear to myself, again, to follow his adventures. And there will be many…
Sylvain was quickly labeled “strong talent, but an unstable player”, despite flashes with Paris Basketball and the Chorale de Roanne. It was abroad that he ended up flourishing, once again, at Basket Manresa (in Spain) with which he played in a Champions League final, and at Peristeri, in Greece. In the meantime, he was noticed by the regulars of Quai 54, a tournament tailor-made for his qualities as a dribbler, scorer and dunker. Each time it shines, Barbara sends me a little message to see if I saw what “my guy Sylvain Francisco” had done. As a fan, I obviously rejoice every time, but still can’t say how far he will be able to go.
The staff of the France team, who have always kept it in the back of their minds, have clearer ideas. He gives him his chance for the World Cup qualifiers, in a private group of his NBA players. “Frenchy” seizes the opportunity and shows all his panoply by taking advantage of the playing time offered by Vincent Collet: playmaking, shooting, activity, showmanship, it’s all there.
[????LIVE] ???? Basket – Qualifications CDM 2023
???????????????? THE POSTER OF SYLVAIN FRANCISCO! pic.twitter.com/qUy2qmSd3T— NBAextra (@NBAextra) November 14, 2022
The Blues have very rarely had players with the profile of Sylvain Francisco in their history. During the last Euro, creativity and attacking punch were lacking. This is precisely why I was hoping to see his name in the list of 12 for the World Cup. I was answered and I hope that Sylvain will be able to show on a larger scale what makes the originality of his game. He deserves it.
Relic of a 2015 article on Lillard Academy.
2023-06-29 14:31:00
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