By Nikos Varlas/ varlas@eurohoops.net
On Friday at Aleksandar Nikolic Hall, Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade hosts Anadolu Efes Istanbul in a clash between 3-7 teams who both need a win more than anything!
A third of the regular season in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague is behind us and the two gladiators are in a tie with three other teams (Valencia Basket, Unicaja Malaga and AX Armani Exchange Olimpia Milan) at the bottom of the table. Every game is crucial for both in their effort to improve their positions in the standings.
The man of the hour, the player who will draw the most attention in this game, is definitely Vladimir Stimac! The Serbian center, who is having an amazing season at an individual level, returns to Belgrade to play against his beloved Zvezda, of which he officially declares himself a fan!
He has played for Zvezda during two different periods, from 2008 to 2010 and then again in the 2015-16 season, his only one in the EuroLeague with Zvezda. In fact, that’s when they won the Serbian championship as well as the Adriatic League together!
The establishment, the long journey and Stimac‘s takeoff!
The 30-year-old Serb is in his fifth season in the competition and, in fact, Efes is the fifth different EuroLeague team, after Zalgiris Kaunas, Unicaja Malaga, Bayern Munich and Zvezda.
In general, he’s had a long journey in professional basketball and he has played in many countries: Lithuania, Latvia, Czech Republic, Turkey, Spain and, of course, his home country, Serbia. He was always useful and important to his teams.
The explosion of his game this season, though, is unprecedented and more than impressive! Stimac has had a very strong start to the season and is rolling along amazingly well: he averages 14.4 points, 7.2 rebounds, 1.1 assists and a PIR of 19.9 while making 64% of his two-point shots in almost 25 minutes per game on the court.
His statistical achievements and the substance of his game!
It’s enough to present some figures to understand the Serbian center’s surge. In his previous most-productive season, he had 7.6 points and 5.1 rebounds as a player for Unicaja. After 10 rounds in the EuroLeague this season, he has found the time to score in double digits seven times and to get three double-doubles!
After the 10 first game days he’s the player with the most two-pointers in the EuroLeague (59 of 92), shares the top rebounding total with Kaleb Tarczewski (72) of AX Armani Exchange Olimpia Milan, stands as the sixth-best scorer (144 points) alongside Nick Calathes of Panathinaikos Superfoods Athens, and ranks third in the PIR, behind only Luka Doncic and Nando De Colo!
In the first 10 games of this season, he has posted career highs in PIR (29), points (22), defensive (10) and offensive rebounds (7), assists (4) and steals (3)!
It’s very rare to see a player with this kind of surge in his numbers, but above all, Stimac is raising the quality of his game and his impact. He’s dominating under both baskets, he has evolved his offensive game in the paint tremendously, and if he’s not the most improved player in the EuroLeague, then certainly is among the three most improved!
It’s interesting to see how Stimac approaches his return to Belgrade to face the team of his heart!
“Everyone knows I’m a Zvezda fan. Even… Twitter!”
“Everyone knows that I love Zvezda, it’s no secret, it’s my team! Even on my official Twitter account you can see that it says: ‘Fan of Crvena Zvezda!’ For me, going to Belgrade to face them is quite difficult…
I expect to be received with positive reactions. I know the fans love me, like I love them, and we all know they are amazing and create a unique atmosphere. I’m very happy I will get to see so many former teammates and friends. It will be an amazing feeling, this team means a lot to me.”
With every season that passes, the Serbian center gets better and better. Is it a matter of maturity, more individual work, or just experience and confidence?
“Big men need more time to mature”
“The most important thing is that I got opportunities to play more minutes in order to show what I can do. I’m happy with what I’ve been able to achieve in the last two seasons, with proving that I can stand out at the top level and be one of the key players on my team. You know, it takes big men especially a bit longer to mature and it helped that I gained experience in many teams, alongside great players. The national team has helped me a lot, as well.”
“We click with Dunston, it’s important that Derrick Brown is coming back”
Okay, but how does he explain his unlimited surge competitively this season? One that has convinced Velimir Perasovic to play Bryant Dunston at power forward so that there is enough room for both of them on the court!
“First, I’ll say that we’ve lost some games that we should’ve won. It’s true that I’m playing well at an individual level and I will work even harder. The coach saw that we can play in the same lineup with Dunston, so he’s using both of us together. It’s also important that Derrick Brown is coming back to play the ‘four’ and I can’t wait for us to improve and win more games. I’m glad I’ve proven that I belong at the top level, but we have certain goals to achieve with Efes and that’s the only thing on my mind right now.”
So, this is Stimac. A player who demonstrates that it’s never too late to improve and become more complete. In the last years, through his will, hard work and perseverance, he has proven, first to himself and then to everyone else, that our limits and our goals should be defined by us for ourselves and not by others!
For now, he’s called to go to Belgrade and, in a crucial game for survival, to hurt his beloved Zvezda and their unique fans, by doing what he’s become accustomed to doing every night this season: surpassing himself!