By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
Determined to deliver upgrades to Crvena Zvezda mts, team president Nebojsa Covic disclosed a couple of players topping the summer list. The focus in on landing experienced Serbian stars Milos Teodosic and Miroslav Raduljica.
“Building a team, you must aim to strengthen the squad as much as possible. [Nemanja] Nedovic returned, we tried with [Nemanja] Bjelica and [Boban] Marjanovic but failed. Now our focus is on [Milos] Teodosic and [Miroslav] Raduljica,” he revealed to Expres, as relayed by multiple Serbian outlets and roughly translated with the aid of Google.
Teodosic, 35, is contracted with Virtus Segafredo Bologna for the next season. Consequently, the 2022 7DAYS EuroCup champion and Finals MVP is already projected to return to the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague after concluding his two-year NBA run with the Los Angeles Clippers and three solid EuroCup campaigns with Virtus Bologna. He has been linked to Zvezda on multiple occasions but a deal has yet to come to fruition.
Raduljica, 35, has been displaying his talents in Asia since 2017. Previously logging 53 games played in the NBA between the Milwaukee Bucks and Minnesota Timberwolves, and 70 appearances in EuroLeague between EA7 Emporio Armani Milan, Panathinaikos, Partizan MT:S, and Efes Pilsen have highlighted his lengthy career.
The Belgrade outfit has already confirmed John Holland, Dalibor Ilic, Hassan Martin, Nemanja Nedovic, and Aleksa Uskokovic as summer additions, apart from re-signing captain Branko Lazic and naming Vlada Jovanovic as the new head coach.
“There are also young players. We have many talented youngsters loaned to FMP and other teams,” added Covic on the depth of the roster and went on to mention 16-year-old point guard Nikola Topic, “Some will stay with the senior team. Among them is Nikola Topic, the son of our former player Milenko Topic.”
Zvezda will compete in the 2022-23 editions of EuroLeague and AdmiralBet ABA League, and also in Serbia’s domestic league and cup.