By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
Aleksander Sekulic will see through his contract with the Slovenia senior national team, explained Basketball Federation of Slovenia president Matej Erjavec.
“Of course, Sekulic has a contract until the end of next year and that’s it,” he clarified the future of the 44-year-old tactician, “An excellent coach, he is under contract with us.”
In 2020, Sekulic became the head coach of Slovenia, following three years as an assistant. Under his guidance, Luka Doncic and the remaining members of the squad competed in the 2020 Olympic Games held in Tokyo last summer but were narrowly shy of winning a medal, bested by Australia in the bronze-medal contest.
Knocked out by Poland in the 2022 EuroBasket Quarterfinals Wednesday evening, Slovenia fell short of expectations this summer. Slovenia previously eliminated Belgium in the Round of 16 and topped Group B of the preliminary round ranking over Germany, France, Lithuania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Hungary. The upcoming challenge is securing a spot in next summer’s FIBA World Cup through Group J of the European Qualifiers.
Sekulic, 44, was recently named as the new head coach of Lokomotiv Kuban, in preparations for the 2022-23 edition of the VTB United League. Moving to Russia, he ended his tenure as the ERA Nymburk play-caller.
The Ljubljana-born specialist worked his way up from a coach in the youth system of his hometown Slovan. Becoming the head coach of Krka in 2011 led to winning the Slovenian league title and Supercup in 2012. Landing at Nymburk in 2017, he was promoted from assistant to head coach for the 2021-22 season and added the Czech Republic’s NBL championship to the list of achievements.
Photo Credit: FIBA.BASKETBALL