FIBA Basketball
FRA - Joakim Noah now on Parker's radar
SAN ANTONIO (FIBA World Championship) - France coach Claude Bergeaud has not indicated if he wants Joakim Noah in the team for the FIBA World Championship. But it's clear that Noah's outstanding displays in
SAN ANTONIO (FIBA World Championship) - France coach Claude Bergeaud has not indicated if he wants Joakim Noah in the team for the FIBA World Championship.
But it's clear that Noah's outstanding displays in the NCAA Tournament with the Florida Gators will lead to his inclusion at some point in the future.
France point guard Tony Parker of the San Antonio Spurs admits he has been swept up in Joakim-mania, with the bushy-haired, wiry 6ft 11in Noah having earned MVP honours in the Minneapolis Region on Sunday after leading the Gators into the NCAA Final Four.
"I don't know him at all," Parker said in the San Antonio News Express. "But I'm going to now."
Noah, Parker and the likes of Boris Diaw of the Phoenix Suns, Mickael Pietrus of Golden State and Mickael Gelabale of Real Madrid all have a few things in common.
They are young, athletic and, most important to basketball fans from Pau to Paris, they're French.
Parker is a huge celebrity in the sports world after winning NBA titles with the Spurs and also due to his relationship with Desperate Housewives star, Eva Longoria.
Noah, potentially, could end up being just as famous. He is the son of French tennis legend Yannick Noah, now a pop vocalist, and his mother was Ms Sweden in 1978.
Yannick's dad, Zacharie, was a professional football player from Cameroon who won the Coupe de France in 1961 with Sedan Ardennes. Celebrity, it appears, is in Joakim's blood.
Noah's on-court persona is all that concerns Parker, who believes the future is very rosy for the French.
"We've got a lot of young guys and I'm still young, too," said Parker, 23. "It's not like I'm 30.
"We're going to try to do something good this summer (at the World Championships), but I think we'll be even better at the Olympics."
France qualified for the FIBA World Championship by winning the bronze medal at the EuroBasket last summer in Belgrade.
PA Sport
But it's clear that Noah's outstanding displays in the NCAA Tournament with the Florida Gators will lead to his inclusion at some point in the future.
France point guard Tony Parker of the San Antonio Spurs admits he has been swept up in Joakim-mania, with the bushy-haired, wiry 6ft 11in Noah having earned MVP honours in the Minneapolis Region on Sunday after leading the Gators into the NCAA Final Four.
"I don't know him at all," Parker said in the San Antonio News Express. "But I'm going to now."
Noah, Parker and the likes of Boris Diaw of the Phoenix Suns, Mickael Pietrus of Golden State and Mickael Gelabale of Real Madrid all have a few things in common.
They are young, athletic and, most important to basketball fans from Pau to Paris, they're French.
Parker is a huge celebrity in the sports world after winning NBA titles with the Spurs and also due to his relationship with Desperate Housewives star, Eva Longoria.
Noah, potentially, could end up being just as famous. He is the son of French tennis legend Yannick Noah, now a pop vocalist, and his mother was Ms Sweden in 1978.
Yannick's dad, Zacharie, was a professional football player from Cameroon who won the Coupe de France in 1961 with Sedan Ardennes. Celebrity, it appears, is in Joakim's blood.
Noah's on-court persona is all that concerns Parker, who believes the future is very rosy for the French.
"We've got a lot of young guys and I'm still young, too," said Parker, 23. "It's not like I'm 30.
"We're going to try to do something good this summer (at the World Championships), but I think we'll be even better at the Olympics."
France qualified for the FIBA World Championship by winning the bronze medal at the EuroBasket last summer in Belgrade.
PA Sport