Boris Digi

The ever humble Boris Diaw is having quite a busy summer so far. First 3D was named team captain of the French National Team ahead of Tony Parker and other players whom Boris thought should have been given the position.

I don't consider myself as a leader, I am not the type of guy who screams during matches, that's why at the start, I did not feel it was justified for me to be given such a role... I was not sure if I would have what it takes to impose myself. I think a lot of other players could have taken up that role, some players who have already won titles and have already been captain with their clubs.

I'll bet the coach of the French team felt Boris was by far the best player on the team and wants him to lead by example, especially considering Tony Parker's mediocre performance in last years World Championships.


Next up on Boris' summer plate is him being featured on the cover of NBA Live 2007 in France. As a gamer myself, this is too cool. I love the NBA live series and will definitely be buying this one. Towards the end of this past season when I was playing online EA released the updated rosters and made Boris a freestyle playmaker to compliment Nash who also held that game ability. My games became a circus show of unstoppable behind the back, no look, reality defying passes that Jah himself would be impressed with.


Diaw is now being motion captured for the game with tiny little sensors all over his body to capture even the most minute facial expressions as well as his own unique basketball skill set. Many of the moves will be exclusive to Diaw in the game. My favorite part is that they remembered to include the famous Diaw high screen, alley oop to Marion. The guys at EA are also Suns freaks and had some excellent things to say about Boris:

He's just an all-around versatile player... At his age, Boris is just so composed, especially in the post, especially in big moments, as you could tell in the playoffs. He can shoot, he can drive, he can handle the ball, which is amazing for a guy his size. He's just an all-around excellent player.

It seems that the EA team is working hard to make this years version of Live more realistic from the facial expressions to more fluid movements. I can't wait to get my copy as soon as it comes out and I hope to be crushing all of you online soon enough. If anyone wants to hook up to play NBA Live 06 online hit me up or drop me a line in the comments.


I also stumbled across a profile of Boris' game from www.nbadraft.net which includes some great adjectives and adverbs. Look for some of those terrificly descripted phrases showing up in Boris' player on the game NBA Live 2007.


This just in. While consulting the ol' trustworthy Wikipedia I have found a new pronunciation for Diaw which would account for DeSagana Diop being referred to as "Jop." Wiki states:

(Diaw's) surname is West African-Fulani in origin and is identical to the Gambian surname 'Jawo.' While it is spelled 'Di' this is pronounced as a 'J', so the traditional pronunciation is "J'ow." The dual spellings are a result of separate British and French latinizations of Fula surnames during colonial times. Some other common examples include: 'Diallo' from Senegal (a former French colony) becomes 'Jallow' in The Gambia, a former British colony; and 'Diop' becomes 'Jobe.'

Chew on that for a while.