PARIS (2016 Rio Olympics) - France head coach Vincent Collet is optimistic he will be able to field a full-strength squad in FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournaments (OQTs) and reveals Les Bleus look far beyond simply punching their ticket to Rio 2016.

The high price which the French national team has to pay for counting with so many high-profile, successful players in its ranks is that their club season can extend into late June if they are involved in a deep play-off run.

The three OQTs will take place in early July, but the prospect of Tony Parker or Boris Diaw getting as far as the NBA Finals with the San Antonio Spurs does not worry Collet. The composition of France's squad and its preparation schedule will not be modified regardless of how the club season plays out for each player, he stated.

"We will start training camp a month before the Olympic Qualifying Tournament and perhaps we won't have all the players from the start, but we will have them joining as quick as possible," Collet told FIBA.com. "If they finish [the club season] just before the tournament they won't have to prepare, if they finish earlier they will come to preparations. 

The main thing is not the time they arrive, but the motivation. And I know that our players are really motivated to play in this tournament. - Collet

"In any case we will find the way to be ready because this is a major event for this group [of players]. We did well the last couple of years, even if at the EuroBasket [2015] the colour of the medal was not what we would have liked, and we need to follow that line next summer."

Collet has good reasons to be adamant that the core of his team will remain intact until July in a bid to reach a second consecutive Olympics.

Nicolas Batum and Tony Parker (FRA)

In September, following the Third-Place Game at EuroBasket 2015 - which saw the French beat Serbia 81-68 to claim the last step on the podium - Parker and Nicolas Batum grabbed a microphone and, standing at the centre of the court, addressed the 24,000-strong crowd at Pierre Mauroy Stadium in Lille. The superstar duo thanked the French fans for their phenomenal support, apologised for not making it to the Final to defend their continental crown and then made an important promise. Speaking on behalf of the entire team, Parker and Batum promised they would make up for the disappointment by qualifying to Rio and stepping on the podium on Brazilian soil.

Our main goal now is to get a medal at the Olympics. Of course we need to qualify first and whatever happens [in the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournaments draw] it will be difficult, because only one team qualifies from each group of six. - Collet

"Although we still don't know our group, we know already that any group will be very tough. But we have hopes and we have a clear goal. We want to go to the Olympics and we would like to get a medal. So we have no choice but to make it there."

FIBA