By Lefteris Moutis/ moutis@eurohoops.net
Predrag Drobnjak speaks to Eurohoops about his role in the Sacramento Kings and says he’s certain that the national team of Serbia are going to qualify for the Olympic Games in Rio.
The Serbian legend of the sport is in charge of scouting for the Sacramento Kings at the side of Vlade Divac and Peja Stojakovic and is now going all over Europe to watch talents that would interest the Kings. Like Georgios Papagiannis, who was selected with the number 13 in this year’s draft, surprising experts as well as non-experts.
“This is the European side of the profession. I’m in charge of the international scouting for the Sacramento Kings so my base is Europe,” Drobnjak says regarding his new role and goes on to comment on what it’s like working with two of his fellow countrymen in an NBA team: “In reality Divac and Stojakovic are members of the team and part of its history since they played there for many years. They’re not something new to the NBA. They’re… Americans now! They are American citizens, they’ve spent 13 and 16 years in the NBA, they’re legends there.”
The Kings are a Serbian community because of Vlade Divac and Peja Stojakovic who are involved in the team’s management and also a European community, since on their roster there’s also the Greek Kosta Koufos, the Israeli Omri Casspi and the Italian Marco Belinelli!
And of course, the European community is going to grow with the inclusion of Georgios Papagiannis on the roster. While the future too looks even more… European, since the Sacramento Kings own the rights of the Serbs Bogdan Bogdanovic and Luka Mitrovic and the Lithuanian Arturas Gudaitis.
“The Serbian national team has to take it one step at a time”
However, now the interest for one week falls on the three pre-Olympic tournaments, with Serbia hosting one of them in Belgrade. How does Predrag Drobnjak see this challenge?
“It’s a very good opportunity for the national team of Serbia to qualify for the Olympic Games. They are hosting the pre-Olympic tournament and they have to qualify. They have at least 4-5 players who are coming off amazing seasons with their teams and they simply have to maintain their rhythm with the national team. Bogdanovic, Raduljica, Teodosic, Jovic, Bjelica had very good seasons, much better than two years ago and I’m expecting them to qualify for the Olympic Games. Of course, you never know what will happen in a tournament…”
Does the current national team remind him of that of the golden years almost one and a half decades ago when Drobnjak celebrated three medals with the national team of Yugoslavia in a period of just four years (gold in the 2001 EuroBasket, gold in the 2002 World Cup and bronze in the 1999 EuroBasket)? Can his generation be compared to the current one?
“The team has to take it one step at a time. Two years ago they won the silver medal in the World Cup, but they have to look at each tournament as a big opportunity. You can’t predict what will happen in 5 or 10 years. It’s still early.”