"When he was at the training camp we called him Bambi. Nicolas was frail and shy. He had very little athletic qualities, no power and no shoot. But he had other qualities above average, an understanding of the game, a capability to always be in the right space. We used to tell kids to watch games. He was already watching it all". Vincent Collet, Coach of Nicolas Batum in Le Mans in 2003 and France team coach.