Mincidelice JL Bourg en Bresse refreshed its roster and appointed Frederic Fauthoux as head coach for its third season in the 7DAYS EuroCup.
Roster rundown: Mincidelice JL Bourg en Bresse
Straipsnis
4 Minutė skaityti
Bourg won six games in each of first two EuroCup campaigns and hopes to do much better. To that end, the club hired Fauthoux, who has been a player and an assistant coach in the EuroLeague, as head coach and brought in seven new players while keeping some of its stars from last season.
BACKCOURT
Opposing playmakers know they will have a tough time when they meet Bourg. Axel Julien enjoyed a strong debut in the EuroCup last season when he ranked among the competition’s top 10 in assists and made 46.1% of his three-pointers. Julien will share playmaking duties with rising star Hugo Benitez, who showed plenty of flashes of brilliance last season and, at age 21, is only getting better. Jordan Floyd is a scorer in a point guard’s body who could be a difference-maker in his first season in the EuroCup. Veteran combo-guard Frantz Massenat gives Fauthoux another ball-handler as well as a reliable shooter. Swingman James Palmer was a volume scorer in college and an all-around contributor in the Polish League last season. He should have a big role with Bourg. Small forward Maxime Courby started in three-quarters of his appearances last season and played an important role as a 3-and-D guy. The club has high hopes for 20-year-old Maxime Galin, who is not expected to have a big role yet this season.
FRONTCOURT
Isaiah Mike, who was a teammate of Frantz Massenat last season at German club Chemnitz, will make his EuroCup debut in his third season as a professional. He will share minutes at power forward with Alexandre Chassang and Kevin Kokila. Chassang has three seasons of EuroCup experience and a good outside shot that can stretch defenses. Kokila, 20, comes off a strong season in the French second division and will look to use his rebounding skills to carve out a big role with Bourg. At center Bourg has two distinctly different players to share the bulk of the minutes. James Dickey is a defensive ace and a rim-protector. Pierre Pelos is a smaller player and a great shot-maker as well as a very strong rebounder. The bevvy of players at the 4-5 spots will allow Coach Fauthoux to be very creative at both ends of the floor.
PLAYER TO WATCH
Homegrown point guard Hugo Benitez is one of the top young guards in France and showed tremendous strides last season. He improved his shooting and raised his per-minute averages in scoring, rebounds and steals while cutting down on turnovers. His assist-to-turnover ratio of 3.4 was sixth-best in the EuroCup. At age 21, another similar jump is within reason and would place him among the best point guard in the competition. Also working in Benitez’s favor is the fact that he is surrounded by veterans in the backcourt with presumed starting point guard Axel Julien and veteran Frantz Massenat and he is coached by a former point guard. Altogether, it puts young Benitez in position to do something special this season.
OUTLOOK
Even though Bourg has several of its key players back from last season, the team comes into the 2022-23 campaign with a new head coach and a new look. On paper, the squad looks very promising with lots of young, promising players joining several established stars who remain. Bourg has depth that will cause lots of problems for some teams, too. After advancing to the Top 16 two seasons ago, getting to the eighthfinals and perhaps even more could be very much within reach this season.