By Semih Tuna / info@eurohoops.net
Dusan Alimpijevic is among the younger coaches in Europe but he’s already experienced EuroCup with Bursaspor, Euroleague with Crvena Zvezda, and even the NBA in Dallas.
His hard-working nature and eagerness to learn led him places and Eurohoops caught up with him to discuss everything he did so far in his career, how he has developed a perfect link with Bursaspor, and what awaits in the future.
– First of all, coming from a pretty small town in central Serbia, starting a coaching career at such a young age, could you please tell me about that process? What motivated you to be a coach? How did you decide to be a coach? I guess you had torn your ACL twice…
– Yes, exactly. I am coming from a small city in central Serbia. It is a neighboring town to Belgrade. When I was 15, I decided to go to Belgrade and play basketball there. Also I wanted to go to high school there, but unfortunately, at a really early phase of my basketball career, I had an ACL injury. I was around 17 years old when this happened for the first time for me. After that, I recovered myself following a surgery and recovery process. However, immediately after that, when I was 18-19, I had a second injury due to a torn ACL. So after three surgeries I decided to be a coach. Because in the meantime, I also had a meniscus surgery. So I decided to quit. Luckily, some coaches liked me when I was a player as a kid. I was committed to be their assistant coach. So I started like this. In Belgrade, in some small clubs, I was an assistant coach and soon after that, I got hired for the junior team. Everything else after that is history. We had some talented kids. People from Novi Sad called me to go there. These two kids went to their junior team and I went to Novi Sad’s first team as an assistant coach. The name of the club was Novi Sad. So I also started as a really young assistant coach in the first division of Serbia. I was 22 back then. Also there was some good basketball in Serbia back in those days. We had a lot of good clubs. Maybe not many in ABA League standards, but we still had a lot of good clubs in that moment and it was a great experience and honor for me to be an assistant coach in the Serbian League at the age of 22. For five years, I was an assistant coach and then club gave me a chance to be the head coach. In the meantime, the club in Novi Sad became Vojvodina Novi Sad. This is one of the biggest brands for that part of Serbia. In other words, it was what Partizan and Red Star are for central Serbia and the whole country. It was also great. At the age of 28, I was the youngest coach in Serbia and so I started with a new page and new job. Thanks God, it was really good.
In the first year, our mission was to stay in the league, but we stayed very well. The following year, the goal was again not to have problems for staying in the league, but we got into the playoffs. So it was great for us. Also we showed up at the end of the competition for National Cup. Briefly, that is it. Then with Spartak Subotica, we reached the playoffs for the first time in 14 years that the country was not Yugoslavia, but Serbia.
Then I got called from FMP. That call came just before the Super League, when the ABA League finished. It was great. Those 2-3 months were great. We kicked Partizan out of semi-final. I guess it was the first time after 15 years without Partizan in the final. In only two games, we got two wins with really young players. Right now they have good roles in EuroLeague team Red Star. I was lucky to have them in that team. We had that short but really great season with FMP. Then it is easy to follow the part with Red Star and the rest.
– As a young coach, you believe in young players too. You worked with Nikola Kalinic in Vojvodina. You worked with EuroLeague players such as Jonah Bolden and Dejan Davidovac in FMP. Dragan Apic is an effective EuroCup player too. Where does the idea of playing the young players come from?
– That idea is something that is living for a long time in this Balkan area countries. It is really not valid only for the clubs that I worked for. It is also valid for all the clubs in Croatia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia, also in Slovenia. The clubs in those area do not have that kind of budget to compete with the big-budget clubs. Idea from the clubs in that area is that you need to make some good investments in young, domestic and build the main roster from the domestic players. Then when you find something good with the foreigners, you use it to fill some void, to be better. It is not opposite way in bringing foreigners and completing the roster with domestic players based on your needs. They have another perspective in that area. In that period, it was good for me. With Kalinic, I was an assistant coach in that team but we started together. He came from Subotica to Novi Sad when I just started as an assistant coach over there. About Davidovac and the rest of the guys you mentioned, all these guys were in FMP when I was there. So, we achieved a great season. We made really some good job. They deserved to be at the place where they are right now. In that time, when I took over Red Star, the president wanted to establish some financial stabilization for the club. In that time, we chose this way, and I think it was the right choice. Because if it were not for this, financial stability would not be established and the Red Star would not be in the situation it is today. They decided to build a roster with young and domestic players, then to see where we are in the market to choose available foreigners for us. We chose the kids from FMP. Some of them showed up for the first time not only in the EuroLeague, but also in Red Star. EuroLeague was another dimension, another level for them. But again, with those kids, we had some really special season, one that some still remember to this day, one that we will for sure remember till the end of our lives. We beat Real Madrid in Madrid. We won against Olympiakos for the first time in Red Star history. Zalgiris, Barcelona, two-times Valencia, two-times Milano. They were the champs of their respective countries. So it was a great season for those kids and for me as a coach. It was an unbelievable experience. This was something that you cannot explain on paper, but it was great.
– Head coaching at 30 years old is already a story, but coaching at a EuroLeague club at the age of 30 is a whole different story. Was it tough? Were you ready for the challenge?
– President of Red Star has a vision with everything he is doing. President in that time had a vision that they had very good seasons with coach and the staff. They had had really good seasons. They almost won everything and he decided that he needs something stable for the moment and for the club’s future. Also when you invest in some players and kids all the time, you need to see how your investment worked that far. For sure as the youngest coach of EuroLeague at the age of 32, for sure it was a big challenge. It was actually more than a challenge, it is everything. It is little bit of everything. EuroLeague is the highest level of basketball, and you are coming there at 32-years without any EuroLeague experience, but that is why the President said “We have to start from some point. Every coach starts from some point.” But, I am really thankful for that opportunity that he gave me and he really believed that we can do something good, which we did. 11 wins in the EuroLeague in that moment was pretty difficult…
– I think it was an incredible achievement for that roster…
– It was also one of the smallest rosters in the EuroLeague history. This is really easy to check. But it was also one more challenge for everybody. When we started the EuroLeague, no one expected us to have that many wins. No one expected us to have more than five wins because in that time, there were 16 teams in the EuroLeague. We played 30 games with really tough rosters in a really tough schedule. I guess it was the second year of EuroLeague in this format. It was also a new thing for everybody. You cannot adjust to that, because it was only the second year. We finished with 11 wins in the EuroLeague and we finished at top of the regular season standings in the ABA League. Then of course the final is a different story…
– Do you think if the finals against Buducnost had gone in a different direction you would have stayed with the Red Star?
– You know, the thing is that everybody thinks that we separated because of just one game or that loss in the final. But actually I had a three-year contract with Red Star in that time. I talked with the President and I thought it would be better to leave, because I saw that no one was ready for the things coming in that moment after what we did with those kids. To avoid misunderstanding, I want to clarify that of course right now they have a really great season and really big success in the league. But in that area, it is very easy to explain to fans sometimes we need to sacrifice some things for the future and years to come. That was the reason. Buducnost was good, they did everything to win that game. I did not even talk about our injuries but we finished that final game without Nemanja Dangubic, who was really great for us that season. This is my opinion, but maybe he played his career’s best season that year. Also we did not have Pero Antic and Milko Bjelica. Bjelica could not play the final game the way he normally plays. There were also some other problems. Without three really important guys for us, we were in final, we fought and we lost. We can talk about this, but this is really totally another thing.
– Coach, what brought you part ways with Red Star? You were saying nobody was prepared for what was coming. I know you got into the market late, and there was some financial stability issues, but there was also some investment in young players and you were a young coach. You were part of those investments too, isn’t that right?
– It was like this. It was exactly this way, but, you know… Like I said, they had had really good seasons and won almost everything thanks to club, coach and the players of course. They won almost everything, and it was really difficult to understand what was coming and what we need to do, to prepare in that year. That is why the club signed a three-year contract with me, but as I said, I think that we did not explain good enough what we were doing that year. Nevertheless, I am really proud of having been called from Red Star. I was really proud and I really think that we did a great job that season. I mean, now, you can see what we did with that budget. I am happy for that. Right now, my country, Serbia and all the other countries in that area are going with a different style. We have Buducnost, Cedevita and Partizan in the EuroCup. Zeljko (Obradovic) came back. A lot of good coaches in the EuroCup… Of course, Red Star is in the EuroLeague. There are some good budgets, good teams. I am really happy that I can see that teams of that area are doing well.
In terms of what was coming, Red Star was not a big budget team but it had a really big budget for the region, it is a really big club with the fans and the organization. Red Star is an unbelievable organization and a lot of people are involved over there. But as I said, the main problem is budget. It is not only for the Red Star, this is for all of the clubs in the area. I cannot talk about the current situation, but I know what we had in that year with me. Some debts came from past and club and President just decided to say “It is enough, let’s finish everything this year. Let’s get the things right from this year on.” And he actually did it. That is why we sacrificed some things. That is why we decided to go into the season with that roster, but without too much pressure on to win ABA League. Every team fights for the ABA League title, because it gives you a chance to play in the EuroLeague. That year it was obvious that it would be hard. At the beginning, it was much calmer because there were no expectations. But then we played the first game against Zalgiris in Kaunas and we had this buzzer-beater for the win, which we missed. Then Barcelona came to Belgrade, we won against Barcelona. Then same thing happened against Khimki Moscow. We were up by 14 points at half time, but then we lost. Then Maccabi came to Belgrade and we won. So we had two wins after four games in the EuroLeague. Story before these four games were completely different, then it became a whole different story when we won two games. I was there to know one way, to know what our mission is, what our goals are, what our future holds and why we were doing that. You could see that in the following season, the budget was already bigger because club and the president fixed the financial situation that year when I was there. Like I said, I am proud of that year and I am proud that I kept my good relationships with all of the people from the club. We have a really good relationship. I came to Turkey with some people from the club to see another system, to see another point of view, and also to see another organization. It’s been a good experience for us also here.
– You mentioned Obradovic’s return to Partizan. How is your relationship with him? I found out that you spent some time with him in Istanbul after you parted ways with Red Star.
– Yes, I was in Istanbul with Fenerbahce when I just finished my episode in Red Star. I called him because in that moment, I had some free time. In our job, you rarely find some time to go some place and spend some time with good coaches. I called him and he said “Of course, yes.” I came here and spent unbelievable 7-10 days in Istanbul. I was with him and the team almost 7/24. I watched all of the practices, I was there close to the offices. I spoke with him all the time and he is an unbelievable guy spending unbelievable amount of energy on basketball, living basketball 7/24. You can learn really so much from him. It is not like a phase, you can keep learning. When Zeljko has some practice, it is some small basketball clinic each time. I really enjoyed that time in Istanbul with Fener. I really saw a totally new view and angle of basketball. It was great time for me.
– Which coaches did you look up to in the past and do you look up now?
– I mean, basketball is one small village and when you want to look at all these good things, watch the EuroLeague, the good games and the good coaches, you have a lot of that in Europe. I just had this talk with one of my friends in Serbia, where we talked about the situation of basketball in Europe. There are 18 teams in the EuroLeague. There are 20 teams in the EuroCup. It means that there are 38 teams in these two competitions. And then let’s say, there are around 20 good clubs in other competitions. In whole Europe, there are less than 60 teams competing at the highest level with good coaches, good organizations and good players. So, if you want to learn something, open your eyes and mind, watch all these teams and coaches, and you would not have a problem to take something good. For sure, you will take something good out of it. Right now, whoever says something different it would not be honest. Because of that time I spent in Istanbul, I can really say that whoever watches Zeljko and his practices can learn a lot from him. Right now, we have a lot of good coaches in EuroLeague. For sure, Jasikevicius is one of the coaches that you see something new, some new ideas in each game from. For sure, I think that this is something that modern basketball is looking for, how to attack, how to defend. I really enjoy watching him. There is a lot of good Serbian coaches that you can have some conversation with and learn from. Svetislav Pesic is right now our National Team’s coach. He is really a guy with unbelievable experience and when you talk to him, you can learn a lot. Dusko Vujosevic is still there. I was in some clinics with Vujosevic and it is amazing to see his level of basketball knowledge. Everybody knows that, but every time he surprises you with some small details and an unbelievable way of thinking for basketball. I was also in some clinics in Serbia together with him as a lecturer and I was really enjoying with him. It was great to hear something from him about the basketball.
– Coach, you had a stint in the NBA Summer League back in 2018 with Dallas Mavericks. What have you observed over there? How did this chance come up?
– I think that this chance comes up for all the EuroLeague coaches when you finish your season in the EuroLeague, because the NBA teams want to have some EuroLeague coaches to exchange their experience and opinions. Of course, my opinion is that you go there to see much more than what they can take from you. Because, when I was there, I saw that they are going 6-7 years ahead of us, the European basketball in everything, every point whether it is the organization, preparation, recovery processes, relationship with the management, how they manage all these things. If you go there with an open mind, you can really learn a lot. You can take what you think is good to adjust to your basketball philosophy and also you can say “I do not want to go over the line. This is the line for Europe, this is the line for States, so let’s stay there. I will not take this and that.” But for sure, as I said, at one point, I counted around 50 or more people on the court from the organization. All of them had some job to do. In another moment, I counted 21 coaches on the court. Everything is set up for the players to feel well and have all these conditions for their development. Of course, this is not some big secret. Everybody knows that they are paying more attention to development and offensive schemes and skills, not having to do much with the defensive skills and tactics. For sure, if you are going there, you can see much more about offense, some offensive ideas. At the end of the day, it was a great experience. In that moment, Rick Carlisle was the head coach. Of course he did not lead the team in the Summer League but he was there all the time. We talked with each other. It was a great experience for me to talk to him and all of his assistant coaches, who were in charge of the team when he was away.
– In Dallas, it looks like all staff practice together in the outside. I guess you are doing this thing at Bursaspor too. Do you practice with all your staff in the outside? Because one of your assistant coaches is a very good friend of mine and we went to college together. He told me that you are in the best shape of your form. I guess you also go to hairdresser before the games, right?
– Evet evet. (Laughs) We have this “togetherness” thing, you know? When I went to Dallas, I saw that everybody had a practice per day. And it was a long one. For example, practice was starting around 1 o’clock. All coaches are coming there around 8 o’clock in the morning, and they practice together. They practice all together. Even Rick Carlisle was on some bicycle, on some soft lifting or something. As I said, there were around 20 coaches over there. They have some running, cycling, lifting etc. all together. When they finish that, they go to have breakfast together in the facility gym. They have a kitchen and a cook over there. They have breakfast and then they go to the office to split the job for the practice and prepare for it defining what each would do in that particular practice, what their responsibilities for the practice are and to what they should pay more attention than usual. After that, players start showing up. They come around an hour before the practice, so assistant coaches go there to pass the ball to them for shootaround. Practice starts at 1 and everyone is ready for that. That part, I call it “Dallas.” I said, “Look motherf—, we have to work on that part. Let’s get together.” It is also good for building chemistry inside the coaching staff. I think that chemistry is everything. As it is important between the players, it is also important for the staff. We are coming and calling it Dallas.
– Before Bursaspor, you had a short stint at Avtodor Saratov for around three months. Three months is a very short period for evaluating a coach’s performance. I believe that there was some non-basketball related topics that led to your departure from the club. Could you tell us what happened over there?
– I presented my philosophy. In that moment, we were out of the playoff picture and our goal was to enter in there. After these three months, we were in the playoff picture. We played some good basketball in that moment. These things happen in basketball where you can not find the same language with the people from the club. So it is a normal thing, but I have to say that they were fair about everything till the end. We just could not go together till the end, and I do understand that. It is good to have some club as Avtodor in the VTB League because they invest so much in basketball and all of us, who are workers in the basketball world, need to respect that. Because today it is not easy to find money for any club. Avtodor is there as a stable club. I really also appreciate that it was another experience for me as a coach. Every experience is a good experience if you know to learn something good and take something good out of it.
– Finally, you signed with Bursaspor and it has just been over a year since your first signing with the team. There are not many stories in Turkey where a foreign coach comes and signs a 3-year deal. Could you please tell me how the club believed in you and how you made them believe in you?
– I have to say that I have a really good relationship with the people who are leading the club, which means the President, the sponsors, the people that put some financial contributions in place, along with the GM. I really have a good relationship with the board. From the first day when I came, I showed what I want from the players in the team. I think that the people leading this club respect that. I cannot be late for the practice, I should only come 3-4 hours before and stay until 3-4 hours after the practices. I also cannot come late asking them to be professionals. Because my behavior is a professional behavior in every practice. It means that I prepare for every opponent team, for every meeting. We hold a lot of meetings. If you are concentrated, you can take a lot of good information on how to play, what you have to do, how to punish, how to defend. We are helping them a lot. We are also giving them great energy from our coaching side. It is not always easy to do something like this. Because I think that all the energy starts with the coaching staff. If we do not have the energy, practice cannot be good. That is why I have shown my own example and what I want from the players since Day 1. I am really happy over here at Frutti Extra Bursaspor, because these people are really helping me have a good time here, feel good as a coach and fulfill some ideas from my side. They are really supportive, they appreciate the hard work and dedication to the job. They really have a great vision for the future, because right now, they are going step-by-step. We moved our organization so much from last year to this year. There is plenty of room for improvement for the next seasons. This club is not only thinking about the results, even though they are in the first place, of course. Besides that, they are also thinking about the organization, future, financial stability of the club. As I said, we moved our organization so much from last year to this year. There are not many coaches with 3-year contracts, but I did not use this to be more relaxed, but I used it to work more and harder. When I came here, we could not win a game for 20 days. We could not win anything. We had some really big COVID-19 problems when I came. We had 6-7 players for the practices, we could not even play 5-to-5 in the practice for the first 1-2 months. All of them showed really great support. The President, the GM, all board members… I remember this time when the sponsorship people came, knocked on my door and said “Coach, do not worry. We will make a great future with you and this is a small present for you.” It was some Turkish Coffee machine, because they knew that I am a coffee junkie. They said “Do not worry, we saw how you are working and we will have a bright future together.” And then it was like that. After around 20 days, we started winning. We did some cuts and some new additions. At the end of the season, when we put all the players we signed and cut into an equation, we were in plus. It was also a great job from the GM’s side to make a really great kind of equation. After those moves, we finished better than how we were supposed to finish at the beginning. We spent less money than how it was planned at the beginning.
– A lot of players left. Your top scorer Malik Newman left. Daniel Hamilton left. You had to sign new players. Was that environment chaotic for you?
– First of all, I remember the first time I jumped on the flight and came to Bursa and the GM called me and said that we had all these problems with Hamilton, and I told him that I did not want to see him in the practice. Then I came here, and after 3-4 weeks, I saw that it was not in my basketball philosophy how they were thinking, how there was no defense, no concentration for information. Because I know that I am not easy for coaching. I put so much information and so many meetings for the game preparation. You need to be really physical in every practice, and hard practice is not easy but at the end of the season, you will, for sure, be a better player than you were before. For sure. At least, by 1%, but you will be better by 1%, not worse than before. You will learn some basketball and you will be prepared to some serious basketball in some systems with good coaches. Then, it was Malik Newman, then it was Perry Jones, then it was Kenny Kadji at the end. We signed Tillman, but we also cut him immediately. So we signed Shayok, Bircevic and Lamar Peters… It seems that we did a great job with all these signings and like I said, thanks to the GM and all the people in the club who had understanding of the job we were doing. We did a great job, and we were only one win away from the playoff for a team that was fighting to stay in the league. We almost made it to the playoffs. We also had some really big wins like Fenerbahce, Karsiyaka away game and against Besiktas twice.
– You did not bring any former assistants of yours to Bursaspor. After all, could you use some familiar faces around? Can you tell us a bit about this decision?
– First of all, last year, when I came here we had bigger problems than the place of an assistant coach or something else. We needed to react quickly, we needed to react very fast at all these problems. In the meantime, I saw that I also have a very good coaching staff and that we needed some investment also in them in terms of knowledge, new experience. And they are also hard working people. They want to work, they understand the basketball and most importantly, they want to learn. All of them are really good people. The first thing for the coaching staff is to be good people and then the hard work. Third thing is to open your mind and to be prepared to learn something. All these coaches wanted to learn something and make some progress in their knowledge. Then I talked with the people from the club, and they once again showed that they sense for this kind of things, they have a vision. They sent them to Serbia to provide an opportunity to learn and see something different, and thanks to people from the club, I organized a lot of meeting with EuroLeague assistant coaches for them. For example Buğra Bayazit was with one of the most important assistant coaches of the EuroLeague, who is now with Zeljko. I know he had one more meeting with a former EuroLeague assistant coach, who was my assistant coach. Also he had a meeting with another coach, who has always been present in the national teams in all youth categories. For example Batuhan had a chance to be with a physical coach that worked at the highest levels of basketball, volleyball, water polo and handball and he is also a wrestler. He has five different sports at the highest level. I think he could not see something better than this. Of course they have their own knowledge and experience but it was good to see something else and to learn something more. Sometimes, it is not only about practices, sometimes it is also about that sense of how to lead and organize practice, some small questions, some good answers. Sometimes these things are better than anything else. As I said, they came back to Turkey as better coaches than before. We also have Serhan Kavut, who is really a good guy and doing great job. He is also present in all the ideas all the time, and he is a great development coach for the young players in the practices. This year, I also brought an assistant coach with me, who is more of a tactics coach as the first assistant coach. I can say that I am definitely satisfied with my coaches and the people in the club.
– Bursaspor board members came to visit you and you introduced them to people from Red Star. You introduced them to people who are inside the EuroLeague teams. Is there a structure that you want in Bursaspor right now or is it a work in progress?
– It is much more stable than before for sure, but still we are in the progress. This is a big team with the army of our fans. This is a big team and a big name. But as a basketball club, we are still young and learning. If I am right, this is the third year of the club in the first divison and only the second year in the EuroCup. We can say that they made an unbelievable progress in the past 3-4 years. They did a great job as the people that are leading this club. President and the GM are here since the Division 2 times, and now they are in the EuroCup with some really big names. Only 4-5 years ago, they were in the lower divisions. We can say that they know what they are doing. With the new guys, energy, financial support, we made what we are now. We have more place to go further and further. The fact that they came to Serbia tells you two things: first of all, our relationship is not only a coach-management relationship, but it is also a friendship. Of course, job is job and we know that results are all measured. It is always like that. Coach is responsible for the results, and I am aware of this. But I am also proud of the relationship with them. However my life in Bursa and Bursaspor finishes, wherever it finishes, I will stay as a friend. If we end up with some really bad results and times, I will stay friends with the President, with the owner, with Nedim Yücel, with all board members, because I really appreciate the change they are giving me and this relationship. It was one thing about our relationship that they came there, which took it a step further. The second thing is that these guys are really hungry to learn more and more in basketball. Okay, they are very successful in their business, but in basketball, they want to learn more and more all the time. I am really proud of that. These guys did not have any problems to get on the plane to come to Serbia and see another organization, to have another experience, to meet other people. It was not only Red Star, it was a lot of agencies in Belgrade. They saw some young players. They saw how we can invest more and more in the next years.
– This summer, you entered the summer market for the first time in Turkey. What do you think are the reasons why Turkey cannot produce enough players despite having a manpower of more than 80 million inhabitants?
– One word: Character. Only one word. In Serbia, we have this expression where we say that only the hungry dogs go for the hunt. I think the Turkish players are not hungry for basketball. With a country of 84 million people, for sure, you have to change a lot of things in terms of development aspect. I can talk about this days and nights. I was so shocked to see that the coaches prefer bringing screens for the kids who do not even know how to dribble or pass the ball yet. In Serbia, this is almost like a crime. You can call the basketball police to arrest them, if some coach calls for a ball screen for a kid who does not even know how to dribble. In youth categories, we have a lot of good coaches in Serbia, which is a country of seven million inhabitants. These coaches pay a lot of attention to the development. We are teaching them the basic things when they are kids. We do not think about ball screen, zone defense, or these cheating things for the kids. Because for sure, one day they would pay for it. So many development practices, so much work put into it and to be honest, when I said character, I mean that we are pushing the kids so much to put a lot of hard work, a hard attitude and teaching them how to handle the tough situations. Because most of the time, the coaches are tough in Serbia. Thanks to that, the tough situation in the game is not so difficult for them to handle during the game. They will handle every stress better if you are putting some big stress on them in the practice. We can talk about this for days and nights, but I am just talking about the things I saw in this period. Players are not hungry, they are so fine with sitting on the bench. They do not want to come and stay 1-2 hours before and after the practice, which I really cannot understand. To be honest, this year, I have players with unbelievable work ethic. Maybe thanks to this interview, they will also know what I am thinking, but I am really satisfied because all these players are coming and staying 1-2 hours before and after the practice. They care about the scouting information, their body. I was so pissed off when I came to the first meeting and saw their bodies. They did not care about their bodies. If you want to be professional, if you want to do your job, it means that you should care about your body too. Because your body is a tool, a weapon. It is everything. You are living thanks to that body. This is also a sport culture.
– Speaking of local players, I would like to mention two names. The first one is Onuralp Bitim, who was the MVP of U16 championship at the international level. I remember that. And Egemen Güven was in the same position in 2012. I guess he was among the All-Championship team. The Turkish basketball has been awaiting for them to show up for a long time. This year, we see that they got more responsibility on the court, and it looks like they are handling it well. How do you see them?
– In my first year here, I showed that the color of skin, the religion or the player’s nationality is not important. For me, the only measure is how you work, how you treat your obligations, your behavior and your performance, i.e. if you can help the team or not. For me it is really not important if you are a Turkish player or a foreign player. If you are a better player, I am not a stupid coach to give more minutes for another guy. In first year, I showed this to the domestic players and I am happy to hear that local players want to come and play for me and Bursaspor only after one year. Because they know that they will be treated like anyone else and given a chance. That thing helped me so much to bring these good, prospective, young Turkish players in Egemen, Onuralp, Ömer, Metin and also Birkan stayed with us as a team captain but unfortunately he is struggling too much with the injury. Besides them, I have some other young players. Maybe it is not yet time for bigger roles but they are with us, expecting some role in the future. Tarik is with us, Yagiz is also with us. These young kids are also helping a lot in the practices. We will see what we can do with them in the future. Nobody can become a good player without proper chance, without trusting them. We have to give them the chance to see their directions, and they deserve a chance on the court in the practice and games. I always tell my players that they should first deserve it in the practice to get something in the game, and not the opposite way around. This is one of the biggest problems with the young players right now. They want to have something in the game to show themselves. No, I want to see you in the practice, and then, I will give you the chance in the game.
So, they got the chance and they are doing well. For sure, there is plenty of room for improvement. There is a lot of things they can learn more, but I can say that I am satisfied with our choice for the domestic players. They are taking good roles and minutes this year.
– Four years ago, when you were the head coach of Red Star, you benched Pero Antic in the game against Fenerbahce in Istanbul, and you had this “passionate” reaction towards him while doing that. Fenerbahce fans reacted to that, as Antic was a member of the EuroLeague-winning Fenerbahce team. Do you remember these times? It must have been such a weird situation for you…
– It was really interesting and funny for us. Of course, Pero Antic is a legend. Wherever he shows up, he is a legend even without the basketball. He is a guy who did really big things in the NBA. He was part of the team that won the EuroLeague in Fenerbahce too. He is a legend, but I mean, the conversation we had was not anything bad. I really had a good relationship with him. I guess he was the oldest guy in our team, and I was full of respect for him. But it was really funny. We laughed together after the game. You cannot say anything to Pero in front of Fenerbahce fans.
– How is your life in Turkey? What do you do in your free time? I know you are very hard-working person, but what do you do in your free time?
– I am here with my wife and kid. I have another kid coming in February. It is a pretty busy day for me. As a family and personally, we enjoy the life in Turkey a lot. There is a lot of things common with our life in Serbia. We also want to enjoy the life and the food. I think there is no better country than Turkey to enjoy the life. You are the best in that. If someone wants to come and see really good things, Turkey is the best place for that. So I am really happy here. Bursa is a nice and big city. We have our fans in every step. You can see their support to us. Also the management is doing a lot of things to make me feel more comfortable and facilitate our lives in Turkey. I am really enjoying a lot. When I have free time, I try to be with my family and my kids. Because there is not too much of free time. Practice is practice, but also before the practice, I have to prepare, I have to watch and I have to do these “Dallas” things. Every time when I have a chance to be with my family, I try to use it.
– Fenerbahçe was previously mentioned for Allerik Freeman. Now Freeman has gone to Moscow. The worst part is, your 5 games have been postponed due to COVID problems in both your team and your opponents. Obviously, it will be difficult to play these games without Allerik Freeman. Are you considering a replacement?
– Right now, as you said, for Allerik, it is a done deal and I have to say that as a club, and personally, as a coach, we are happy for that. We are really happy for that. Because I think this is a huge thing for all sides. Of course, at the first place, as a player for him, it is a huge thing, then for our team. And me as a coach and for our club, too. To give two guys with buyouts in just a couple of months and to give them to two of the best clubs of EuroLeague in Efes and CSKA, we have to be proud of this result. Because actually this is a really good result. Yes, it will be difficult, but we still have our goals and dreams. We did not complain. We were not nervous about this. We just keep going with practices, with good work ethic. We continue with that. Hopefully we will find again good rhythm. The worst part of this terrible situation with COVID and 17 days without games is that we really find a great rhythm and we find our best shape since the beginning of the season with the new roster after Egemen and Anthony Brown’s departures and new addition of Tolga, we play two good games against Buducnost and Denizli. But this is life. We should accept to live like this and continue with that. Maybe we only have a chance to be sorry, because we did not play these five games with the intact roster, before Allerik left. But I truly believe in good system and in these players, and I believe that we will make some good surprise.
– It has been 14 months since you take over Bursa and you have already sent 4 players to the EuroLeague. You received buy-outs from 2 of them. This is also very important for Bursa’s reputation in Europe. People turn their eyes to Bursa and see that there is a mine there. Although this situation has weakened your hand in terms of roster, how much does it match up with the philosophy you want to create?
– I have to say that I cannot say this better, the question speaks for itself. In 14 months, we gave four players to EuroLeague in Baskonia, Fenerbahce, CSKA and Efes. This is the fact that we are really proud of. For sure, it is good for the club’s reputation. Also before me, Bursa gave two players to the EuroLeague. We show that we really grow up as a club, as an organization and we are a really good place to help young players or players who want to be on another level with the hard work. We show that this is really good place to go further in their careers. We are proud of it. We are really happy with this. As I said in the interview, not everyone can be champions. For us, as a club, we have our missions and our goals, but at some point, if you compare what the success is for a club like Bursa, then for sure, it is not to be the champions. It is also how this organization grows up, whether we are stable or not, if we can send our players to the EuroLeague, if we can have some benefit from this as a club, also financially, which is not a small matter when you talk about budgets such as ours. And of course it is important to play some good basketball and get some good wins such as Fenerbahçe, city derby TOFAŞ game. We also had some unlucky defeats, but this is life. The philosophy that we want to create is to practice hard and hard work would pay off. This is what we are talking about since the beginning. We show this example very concretely with the players who are going to the EuroLeague. But also a very important thing to be understood is that our goal is not only to give these players to “somewhere.” We also want to grow up as a club and say that this is the best place not just to come and go, we also want to be a club for the people to say “this is the best club to come and stay.”