By Stefan Djordjevic/ info@eurohoops.net
Former Partizan coach and the 2009 EuroLeague coach of the year in Dusko Vujosevic talked about EuroLeague’s plan to finish the season in Belgrade, Serbia and he hasn’t given it an optimistic prediction.
“The chances for the Euroleague and Eurocup to continue are almost non-existent. There are a large number of factors that affect that, the most important are certainly international air traffic and closed borders, which are further strengthened by mandatory quarantine,” he told Danas and added that American players won’t be easily convinced to play which will impact the quality of basketball and interest in it heavily.
“The American players who represent the backbone of the teams, went to the USA, the Euroleague determined that the clubs must pay 80 percent of the contract if there is no continuation of the season, and 85 percent if there is still play. A number of players have already stated that they will not return to Europe for that five percent. Especially those whose contract expires this year. Without them, it is not the same competition, the quality drops significantly, and thus the interest. It takes a longer period of joint work of the teams for that basketball to look like something after such a break.”
He also argued that the choice of countries – including Serbia – show that the safety situation isn’t really the main criteria when trying to organize the final tournament.
“In a country where until yesterday there was a state of emergency with a rigid curfew (Serbia), some normal situation is demonstrated and applications are sent for the competition that no one else wants [to organize]. If the security situation when it comes to a pandemic were important, then something like that could be played in Austria, or maybe in Iceland, where there were the least infected. Basketball is, of course, played because of the audience, in this situation that is not possible, and that is why it is completely irrelevant where that final could be played, especially since the chances of playing are not realistic. It’s like going to Tenerife and watching the beaches there on TV.”
Despite all that, Vujosevic expressed understanding for EuroLeague’s position and noted it won’t be easy to fairly pick the next season’s lineup.
“There is a great interest of sponsors and TV companies, so it is understandable that the leaders of the Euroleague still do not want to announce the end of the season, regardless of the fact that the suspension of the Olympics created space for a longer postponement of the decision. And the reasons for postponing the Games are the same ones that apply to the end of these competitions. Of course, this situation will make it very difficult for the Euroleague management to establish criteria for filling the competition’s lineup next year, apart from teams that have long-term contracts.”