By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
Being out vastly in 2023, Vladimir Lucic came back at the beginning of this year to provide experience and leadership at Bayern Munich. Despite Pablo Laso leaving for Baskonia and the coaching change involving Gordon Herbert, the 35-year-old is still there in Germany.
That could have been different this summer, however. According to one of Zeljko Obradovic‘s assistants in Partizan Belgrade, there were indications about the black-and-white side wanting to bring Vladimir Lucic back. He already played there from 2008 to 2013.
“All these years we tried to bring some players back to Partizan [Belgrade]. Let’s say, [Vladimir] Lucic, [Nikola] Milutinov… We didn’t succeed for various reasons. Every coach wants to have as many domestic players as possible, but when something can’t be done, it can’t be done”, Vladimir Androic previously told Telegraf.
Now, talking to Basketball Sphere, Bayern’s captain clarified the situation. “I have a contract with Bayern for one more year. Some people forwarded that statement to me, even Leo Westermann, although I don’t know where he got it from. The statement was not fully defined and I can only say that this was really the first summer that there were some contacts, but I am still a Bayern player”, he explained.
One of his former teammates in Bayern he’s now under Zeljko Obradovic‘s guidance. “Andrea Trinchieri had a name for such types of players – “elite team player”. [Isaac] Bonga falls into that category. He can do many things, and for the locker room, he is outstanding. The most important thing for him is to win, he is not so interested in individual performance”, he first said about Isaac Bonga.
“He can cover multiple positions, take over, [he has] good basketball IQ, a shot that depends on confidence, which he does not lack. He is a competitor, excellent with the ball, clumsy, with big and long legs, but excellent technique. In this kind of Partizan team, he can play a very important role”, Vladimir Lucic followed when talking about the all-around German forward.
PHOTO CREDIT: Turkish Airlines EuroLeague