By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
After finishing the season with the Orlando Magic, Nikola Vucevic sets his focus towards EuroBasket 2017. Group C seeded Montenegro will play the preliminary round in Cluj, Romania and the 26-year-old center states he can’t wait for the games.
“I’m excited about it,” he said in an interview for FIBA. “I want to help the national team have a great campaign. On a personal level, I have great expectations, too. In 2011, I was so young and I was there mostly to gain experience at senior level.”
Contrary to his number production with the Magic, Vucevic hasn’t been able to deliver as much as he’d like in a major tournament with his country’s national team. Something that he expects to be changed in the upcoming Eurobasket.
“In 2013, I didn’t have the chance to show what I was capable of doing; it was very frustrating, so I want to show now what I can do. Most of the people in Europe don’t know that much about my game and me.”
In the first round of the EuroBasket, Montenegro will face countries like Spain, Croatia and the Czech Republic. Which means some serious competition inside the paint for Vucevic.
“This summer I want to compete at my best level and I am going to have a great opportunity to have nice match-ups against guys like the Gasol brothers, the big men from Croatia and Jan Vesely (Czech Republic) for example. That is going to be fun and very competitive, I am looking forward to it.”