Friday evening, on the floor of the Palais des sports in Pau, Montenegro will face the Blues (8:30 p.m.) without its three best interiors, sturdy and technical, the local trademark. Nikola Vucevic and Marko Simonovic are retained in the NBA, in Chicago, and Bojan Dubljevic (Valencia) is injured.
But another Montenegrin tradition should give the Blues a hard time: that of the naturalized American leader. The extra ingredient in the local recipe since 2011. Friday night, it’s Justin Cobbs who will put on this conductor’s costume. The Los Angeles native, cousin of Russell Westbrook, has held the job (and his passport) since 2020.
A canvassing assumed
This change of nationality is permitted by FIBA regulations which authorize a naturalized player by selection. ” Our team is particularly vulnerable outside, while we have excellent players in the key. This is why, from the birth of the national team, we decided that we would call on a naturalized player in position 1 “, confided Danilo Mitrovic, the general manager of the selection, on the BeBasket site in 2017. Justin Cobbs is already the sixth point guard in ten years. Because local leaders do not hesitate to change and interchange their American cards.
After the pioneer Omar Cook at Euro 2011, Taylor Rochestie qualified Montenegro for the 2013 edition which he lived… on his sofa. Meanwhile, Tyrese Rice, considered more efficient, had obtained his passport for the final phase. Same fate for Derek Needham, summoned in qualifying for Euro 2017 and left aside once the mission was accomplished, again in favor of Rice.
Superstar Cobbs in Eurocup
Needham was able to play the first World Cup in the history of Montenegro, in 2019, before being pushed out by Justin Cobbs. Champion of France with Le Mans in 2018, the leader now plays for Buducnost Podgorica, the best club in his adopted country. And he walks on water in the Eurocup (19.2 points and 4.8 assists on average).
Isaia Cordinier and Mouhammadou Jaiteh, beaten with Bologna (86-82, November 3), can testify to this. As an aperitif before finding the Blues, Cobbs even signed a match at 44 rating against Ljubljana on November 17 (33 points, 5 assists).
But Vincent Collet had negotiated the Cobbs threat well in February 2020 then 2021, during qualifying for the Euro. ” This is one of the central issues, we are trying to reduce our performance and we have succeeded in doing so quite well. If Andrew (Albicy) can play, it will be defense position for position, but otherwise Lahaou Konaté had behaved rather well against him “confided the coach on Thursday.
In two matches against the Blues, the Californian had scored 11 points, with a catastrophic address (23%). The two defeats had weighed heavily in the Montenegrin non-qualification. To dream of a second World Cup in a row, Montenegro will need Cobbs’ best face. As for ten years, the small Balkan country has linked its destiny to that of an American leader.