3×3 Paris x TrashTalk – the exclusive interview, 50 days before the Olympic Games

Last weekend, Marseille hosted Parc Chanot the Marseille Masters, first stage of the 2024 World Series, at the heart of a festive weekend jointly organized by FIBA, the 3xFestival and the FFBB. The 3×3 Paris squad did very well, finishing as a finalist after a pretty incredible Saturday. The opportunity to chat a little with the four players of the team, Franck Seguela, Paul Djoko, Alex Vialaret and Jules Rambaut. Talking about 3×3, obviously, talking about the Olympics, obviously, and a little about the NBA too. But above all, talk about values ​​and investment. Exclusive interview, it’s TrashTalk which delights.

Interview carried out on the day of the final phases of the Marseille Masters.

Hi guys, first of all thank you for being available on this match day. We attack straight away in a very altruistic way. Can you introduce… your neighbor on the right?

Paul Djoko, by Franck Seguela: Paul Djoko, the American, confidence and dedication

Jules Rambaut, by Alex Vialaret: Jules Rambaut, tough, warrior, a true friend, in every sense of the word

Franck Seguela, by Jules Rambaut: Franck Seguela, a real story together, Swiss army knife, self-sacrifice

Alex Vialaret, by Paul Djoko: Alex Vialaret, Bordeaux Ballistik, president

If you had to define 3×3 in ONE word?

Paul: sprint

Jules: synergy

Frank: intensity

Alex: sacrifice

You are in the same team throughout the year and in the French team in international competitions, so it’s better to get along well… That’s what life is like with 4 people, you sometimes bicker a bit like an old couple?

Frank: we have ups and downs but we never had any real clashes. For me it is above all thanks to the human qualities of each person, even if sometimes we had to say shit to each other in order to move forward.

Alex: it’s true, the team was made in this sense too, with guys capable of putting their egos aside for the good of the group, these are the values ​​of 3×3 too. In any case, on the ground we don’t have time to concentrate on the lows, and outside the moments of life are important and allow us to clarify things.

Paul: the fact that there is no coach in the match also gives us responsibility, it forces us to resolve our problems between us.

Is there a common misconception about the 3×3 you want to tackle? Something you hear/read a lot and you’re tired of it?

Frank: There was a basketball player who shit on 3×3 in a podcast, saying that the 3×3 guys were guys who hadn’t succeeded in 5×5…

Jules: yeah and more generally that 3×3 is a “sub-sport”, but we don’t care eh!

Paul: The real detractors are those who don’t know, because those who make the effort to really be interested in 3×3 love it, it’s pretty unanimous.

Alex: People have to understand, it’s above all a profile story, and we… well, it also gives us a boost to hit 5×5 guys. Then 3×3 is a really special lifestyle, you should know that you never really cut.

Frank: Yeah it’s not ‘we come, we play the weekend under a dome and we leave’, we are on deck 300 days a year! Oh yes, and those who always say that we would lose in 3×3 against LeBron, KD, Curry and Giannis… but everyone loses in 3×3 against LeBron, KD, Curry and Giannis!

The few minutes before going on stage, always a special moment. – Photo: Christophe Canet

Editor’s note, Franck, Jules, Paul and Alex are part of the list of players likely to represent France at the Olympics this summer.

Paris 2024 is the meeting of a lifetime, and you already have to prove yourself to be in the four for this summer. How do we prepare for such an event without being overwhelmed by pressure?

Jules: the creation of 3×3 Paris was really with the very clear objective of holding the Games. First the TQO for two years, then especially since November 2023 where we prepared 100% for this deadline. Personally, I had to leave home for a total of five weeks. The Games are clearly the goal of a lifetime, but we still have to think about what comes next, the World Tour that we have just completed and which resumes after the Olympics.

Alex: yes and then these stages of the World Tour, it’s a different context and approach (less conventional, editor’s note), that feels good too.

Frank: frankly there was enormous pressure due to this TQO, and it freed us all sportingly and humanly to qualify. Then the Olympics the configuration is different, there (on a Masters editor’s note), you miss two matches you go out. In Paris we will have seven matches to play, we will be able to increase the pressure to, I hope, explode Paris!

Besides, speaking of TQO, Jules, you have made it a specialty to register game winners!

Jules: I had already scored a game winner in the semi-final in Wuxi (China), it was the biggest shot of my career, and there, in Debrecen, it became… the new biggest shot of my career. Frankly everything is going so much too quickly, if the German scores his shot ten seconds before we don’t make the Games, then it goes in and we already have to plan for the next match, but yeah it’s an incredible feeling, it’s… lunar.

Where are we in France, in terms of 3×3? Have we caught up? What is France’s place in terms of infrastructure, framework, project around 3×3?

Paul: with the means implemented by the Federation we have nothing to envy of anyone, we have a very good place at the world level but this is only the beginning, we are only pioneers in a discipline that is still young, and what The cool thing is that 3×3 is becoming a real alternative for young basketball players.

Frank: there is really this momentum from the creation of 3×3 Paris, this kind of professional team is what we envied other nations and now we have it. We also have one of the federations that organizes the most tournaments (with the Chinese), and here we are arriving this summer in Paris to put a little more basketball in people’s faces.

Alex: in 2021 the girls of the French Team (at the Tokyo Games, editor’s note) had more than 5 million views in total, we can feel the enthusiasm!

Frank: on the other hand, message for young people who want to get started in the discipline, 3×3 is hot, places are expensive!

Paul: it’s complicated frankly, it’s a sport that’s already so physical, the energy builds up very quickly so in reality there’s little trashtalking, because it would quickly boil over, in fact FIBA ​​has cleaned that up quite a bit in recent years .

Alex: there’s also the fact that on the World Tour everyone knows everyone, we meet in the same hotels with our backpacks, there’s a lot of respect between the players.

Obligatory point of this interview: so we have Alex’s incredible mustache and Jules’ mullet cut which are causing a sensation, what is the next challenge in terms of style, Paul or Franck do you have any ideas?

Frank: So already, you should know that the work being done on Alex is real professional work. Made by the Institut Seguel’Hair, a make-up firm, because I do not accept the terminology “hairdresser”, you must note that.

Alex: and important detail, it happens in boxer shorts, and with Country.

Following these revelations it is obvious that I had to drink a glass of water down to get over my emotions.

Two questions to finish, I don’t know if you have the time to follow the NBA a little, but which NBA player do you think would be the strongest in 3×3?

Paul: Luka Doncic, Kevin Durant, LeBron James and Anthony Davis, that ticks some CRAZY boxes.

Jules: There’s Giannis too, he doesn’t shoot but he hits you all the time and in defense it must be hell!

Frank: otherwise Shai why not, but we post him… or… PJ Washington! (editor’s note, Jules Rambaut “smashed” PJ in U18, in a team that also included Payton Pritchard and Zach Collins).

After consensus and quite lively discussion, we finally all left on a roster made up of Luka, KD, AD, and… Vincent Fauché (another 3×3 Paris player, editor’s note) aka the glue guy, essential pawn of this potentially unbeatable squad.

Your prediction for the NBA Finals?

Paul: I would like Dallas but 4-2 Boston

Jules: 4-3 Dallas

Alex: 4-2 Dallas

Frank: 4-3 Dallas with 47/13/11 from Luka in Game 7

We end on a positive note, and we make an appointment. Personally, I will be there in Paris this summer, so… how do we celebrate if France wins a medal?

We all shoot a TrashTalk Apéro together, but we have a REAL aperitif at the same time!

Thanks to Franck, Alex, Jules and Paul for their availability and good humor. Thanks to Tom and Fabien for organizing this wonderful meeting. Next step? Place de la Concorde, in 50 days!