<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">A relieved Boris Diaw expressed his delight at being back in a France jersey after seeing his club-versus-country insurance saga eventually come to a successful conclusion. Just minutes before Friday night's clash between France and Portugal in the EuroBasket 2007 warm-up tournament in Paris, Les Bleus captain Diaw was given the go-ahead to return to the court. The versatile forward has been unable to train with France for the past few weeks, with his NBA side the Phoenix Suns insistent on him having an insurance policy that would absolve them of liability if he was to aggravate his back injury. But he is back, and after 21 minutes of action - during which he scored four points - in the 86-64 win over the Portuguese, he is raring to go with the start of EuroBasket just two weeks away. "I am happy to be back playing," he said. "We were given the green light towards the end of the day. "I was persuaded that I was going to be able to play at some stage or another. But it is true that it is important to return to training and preparation as quickly as possible. "We are trying to put a team in place - there are a lot of players with whom I have never played and with whom I must learn how to position myself. "It was important to return as quickly as possible. I have done no team training but I had the opportunity to live with the squad and to get to know the players on a daily basis." With Diaw back into the squad, France will be hoping to push on and put the finishing touches to their EuroBasket preparations that have been hampered by Diaw's absence and injuries to the likes of Tony Parker and Florent Pietrus. "I have watched the progression of the team in the series of matches, and what is being put in place," added Diaw, who said his fitness was fine. "We are already getting a better defensive cohesion and we know that this will be our strong point. We had this last year and two years ago. "It is a question of being strong individually, but also collectively, in defense. "It is getting better and better. Now we must improve our offensive cohesion, which is more difficult to nail." </div> Source: Eurobasket 2007 I came across some recent pictures of Diaw. He looks a lot slimmer than last season and looks to be in great shape.
Diaw is a great leader and has an excellent character in real life. It is nice to see him back with France because they will need him if they want to win in Europe. He's very valuable and is only going to get better over time. He's still not yet reached his peak.
