By Eurohoops Team / info@eurohoops.net
We are witnessing big names coming to clubs like Partizan Mozzart Bet and Crvena Zvezda in the past two seasons. The black-and-white squad has Zeljko Obradovic on the bench, and guys like Dante Exum, James Nunnally, Kevin Punter, and Zach LeDay, while Zvezda is the talk of Europe with Dusko Ivanovic, Luca Vildoza, and now Facundo Campazzo.
Big names require big salaries.
“Honestly, I’m a little jealous, because I wasn’t able to play in a team with such a budget and at the same time be in the city where I was born, grew up, in a club where I feel good. I had to look elsewhere for financial matters,” Vladimir Lucic of Bayern Munchin said in an interview with Mozzart Sport.
Lucic began his illustrious career playing with Partizan.
“On the one hand, it’s good that the time has come for players to be able to play for big money in Belgrade, in the country where they were born, without having to go and look for it far away from home. It was not a luxury we could afford. My income for five years at Partizan may be at the level of one and a half months’ salary of some Crvena Zvezda players, and with some players maybe only one month’s salary.”
He continued…
“I’m not only talking about my five years at the club but also the players we brought in during that period. The philosophy is completely different now, so it can’t be compared.”
Times have definitely changed in Serbia.
“The current EuroLeague system and the public in Serbia, which is not easy at all, does not allow a team to be formed as it used to be. For example, to have two foreigners and ten domestic players on the team. It’s very difficult to bring in quality domestic players now, let alone young ones who will be in shape, patient in searching for their role, and can commit to working for a long period of time. Two completely different times, it’s hard to compare them.”