Kuol Reflects on "Crazy" France Experience

Saturday, July 1, 2023

Cairns star Bul Kuol has discussed his "up and down" experience playing for Le Mans in the NBL off-season.

Cairns star Bul Kuol experienced his first taste of overseas basketball following the conclusion of NBL23, and although his time with Le Mans in the French LNB Pro A didn’t necessarily go to plan, he says he wouldn’t change it for the world.

Kuol headed to France following his sophomore season and first ever professional post-season campaign with Cairns.

He improved his shooting splits and pulled in more boards in his second professional season and looked primed to have a strong impact in France, but he only played in 11 games over a three-month stint.

“Le Mans was an up and down experience – like a double-edged sword” Kuol said on The Huddle. “ I struggled to get healthy over there, I got there when I was hurt. Half the time I was hurt and dealing with that, and when I got healthy I fell out of the rotation and missed a couple of games.

“Then I played one game to finish the season.

“It was a weird three-month stint … I feel like it took me from not really knowing what the European market is like to no knowing a taste of it from a small sample size.

“I learned a lot from that experience.”

While basketball is a universal language, it’s no surprise to know that the sport is played differently around the world.

Upon his return from an off-season stint in Japan Illawarra’s Sam Froling noted how much slower the pace of the game was compared to the NBL, and Portland head coach Chauncy Billups noted the physicality of the NBL after drafting Rayan Rupert.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Just how high is Bul Kuol's ceiling? ?<br><br>Former MVP <a href="https://twitter.com/derekrucker5?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@derekrucker5</a> believes the former Rookie of the Year can become one of the league's top talents in <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL24?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL24</a> ??<br><br>Watch The Marketplace: <a href="https://t.co/aTyAoWT0Ps">https://t.co/aTyAoWT0Ps</a> <a href="https://t.co/1evR4Ggj19">pic.twitter.com/1evR4Ggj19</a></p>— NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1665879779323817986?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 6, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

“Being home in Australia is such a luxury,” Kuol continued. There’s not too much to change, not too much to learn. The adaptation process is easy because you’re in a familiar environment.

“When you go to a whole different continent, a whole different culture with barely any English and a whole different brand of basketball – there are so many things that just kind of hit me and I was like a fish out of water and very out of my comfort zone.

“All the challenges and trials and tribulations I was going through, I’ve never gone through before, so I had to find ways to deal with it.

“It was one of the craziest experiences I’ve ever had, and I’m very thankful I got to have it.”