CAN/FRA - Unlikely buddies making an impact

IZMIR (FIBA World Championship) - Kelly Olynyk and Andrew Albicy are the most unlikely of buddies.

One is nearly seven feet tall, the other stands just 178cm. One is from Canada, the other from France. One speaks English and just a little French, the other French with just a little English.

But what Olynyk and Albicy have in common is they are young stars making an impact the 2010 FIBA World Championship in Turkey, and they both captained their countries in New Zealand last year at the FIBA U19 World Championship.

From this, a friendship has developed. “I talked to him a bunch when he got here to Turkey, he’s a great guy and he played really well against Spain, he was scoring and making plays so I am real happy for him,” Olynyk said about the pint sized Albicy.

Albicy is also full of respect for his fellow young gun. “I like him as a player. He is very tall but also very mobile, he is a really good player.”

As you could imagine, neither of them could have imagined representing their countries at a men’s world championship so soon. “I didn’t expect that at all,” Olynyk said. “Long may it continue,” Albicy added.

They caught up with Paulo Kennedy from www.fiba.basketball to talk all about it, and you can see the full story on FIBA TV.

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Paulo Kennedy

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