Writing from Berlin: Nikos Varlas/ varlas@eurohoops.net
In the spectacular semifinal between Fenerbahce and Laboral Kuxa, a Turkish and a Spanish club clashed. However, not even one player born in Turkey or in Spain entered the court.
Eurohoops just had to ask about this unusual incident Fenerbahce coach’s Zeljko Obradovic and his answer was firm: “First of all, Bobby Dixon is Turkish citizen, he is playing for the Turkish national team. We are over here because we have used 15 players. So our Turkish players played a lot of games. They were very important. The fact that only Bobby Dixon played in the semifinal, it’s like this. My mind is not to satisfy anyone over here. My mind is to play the best possible game and to try to win. So when I will understand that I will need to play with 12 players, I will play with 12 players”.
In the past, when he was coaching Greek club Panathinaikos, the local core of the team was one of the club’s success. However, Obradovic doesn’t dwell in the past: “I don’t think that we have to compare with past situations. It doesn’t have any sense. You are always trying to do the best thing for your team, depending on the quality of the players. It’s that simple”.