TJ Parker evaluates ASVEL's season, names biggest disappointment / News - Basketnews.com

TJ Parker said that the season is a disappointment but pointed to injuries of Joffrey Lauvergne and Nando de Colo as the main reasons. He later commented on Zaccharie Risacher's departure. Asked to name one lesson from the season, Parker dodged the question.

Credit: Franco Arland/Icon Sport via Getty Images Credit Franco Arland/Icon Sport via Getty Images

LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne were aiming for the fourth French League (LNB) title in a row but were eliminated from contention in the semifinal stage by Metropolitans 92. After finishing the season in a disappointing manner, head coach TJ Parker evaluated the team's year.

Points this season

46%74,3Points made:74,3Accuracy:45,9%Place in standings:18Record max:100Record min:55Best scorer:Nando De ColoTeamEuroLeagueStatisticsSchedule

ASVEL - a EuroLeague club - were playing against a team that doesn't play in any European international competition but it didn't matter as Victor Wembanyama and Barry Brown proved to be too much for the reigning French champions.

Talking about the season, ASVEL's head coach TJ Parker was disappointed.

"The disappointment is there," he said after the loss. "Don't put a complete cross on the season. Of course, we had difficulties, especially with the absence of Nando [de Colo] in the playoffs, but we still won the Leaders Cup. We are also doing a Coupe de France final, even if the match was not what we wanted."

"We must not forget that it's a pleasure to have won so many trophies over the three years that I manage the team. You lose sometimes, you can't always be on top. Of course, we want to be, that's the goal at ASVEL," Parker told, via BeBasket.

It was the first playoff series in the LNB that Parker lost as a head coach of ASVEL. One of the main issues, he said, was not having Joffrey Lauvergne healthy on the roster, who tore his ACL back in October.

"We're not going to lie to each other - the absence of Joffrey also played a huge part. Joffrey is a player who creates offense and we sometimes experienced weaknesses in this area, it was very hard," Parker said. "It was a complicated season. It's difficult without Nando De Colo - your leader and No. 1 scorer, for sure. He only played 10 minutes in the playoffs. If we had won, he would have been there for Game 5."

Later on in an interview with Le Progres, Parker expanded on his previous note about Lauvergne.

"We had a lack of creativity and this is one part of the game where Joffrey could have helped us enormously. He's a very good passer as a big man, and that's one of the reasons why we recruited him," the coach explained. "I would've liked to see what this team would have given if it was fully healthy."

With the 2022-23 season completed, it is currently becoming clear that Zaccharie Risacher - the most promising talent of the ASVEL roster - is ready to leave the organization just like Wembanyama did last year.

"We've done everything to put him in the best conditions. He had playing time, had less at times, but there was a period when we absolutely had to win and we had to rely on the veterans," Parker said about Risacher's departure.

On top of not getting to the LNB final, ASVEL had a disappointing season in the EuroLeague as well, finishing the year dead last in the standings.

"The EuroLeague was tough, we had major losing streaks. We had to rebalance the squad, we waited for a reinforcement that we never came," Parker said.

Asked to name one lesson he learned from this season, Parker wasn't straightforward.

"I think that we would have returned to the final of the championship with all the weapons. If we had played in three finals, it would have been a very good season," he said. "If we want to be competitive in the EuroLeague, we have to put the means into it."

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