Despite the French national team purring along nicely in EuroBasket, it is unlikely with his performances that ex-Atlanta Hawks wing Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot will get recalled to the NBA with his current form.
His team is sitting fourth in the standings, one of the three teams in a logjam with a 2-1 record. The French have the worst overall plus-minus of these teams with a minus -ive differential. Bosnia and Herzegovina are at plus four but sit in second in the group as they beat Slovenia who is at plus 18.
If the French win the next two games then they will certainly move up the standings as they play both teams above them. If they can’t move up, the French will still move through assuming they stay in fourth but they would have the most difficult path into the final.
Why Ex-Atlanta Hawks wing TLC will struggle to get back into the NBA.
Well, for starters, TLC is not even a starter for his national team. He has played all three games off the bench, averaging 5.3 points and 3.0 rebounds in just under 20 minutes per game. These are not the national numbers that TLC needs to garner the attention of NBA scouts. He may not even get a call to go to training camp if this is how he is playing against lower-quality opposition.
However, if you are impactful on the court then this would not be a huge issue. While plus/minus is not always the best metric to go on, TLC has only had a positive impact on the court once in three games. That impact was a plus three against Lithuania.
Against Germany in the opening game, TLC had a minus six impact on the game, and then in the last match against Hungary, it was minus 17. This is a minus 20 impact on France in the three games on the court. As an NBA player playing against teams that have large amounts of non-NBA talent, TLC needs to be able to impact the game more.