By Bugra Uzar/ info@eurohoops.net
Velimir Perasovic, after his season with Baskonia, was one of the most coveted coaches in Europe. His choice was Anadolu Efes and he signed even if he had to pay his way out from Vitoria.
As the Croatian coach admits in Eurohoops: “Yes, I gave a sum of money to Baskonia to come to Anadolu Efes. That’s life. You need to pay a price for everything you want to have. And I really want to coach Anadolu Efes and I made some sacrifices. Now I am here and happy”.
However, Anadolu Efes lost the president’s Cup to Fenerbahce and Perasovic wanted his team to do better: “We hoped to play better basketball against Fenerbahçe actually but we began the game on a low note and we tried to tie the score for the whole game. You have to remember Fenerbahçe is a very good team with a strong core. They are also physically very strong and play very good basketball. But I think we will improve in short notice and reach our potential”.
And that was to do also with the talent that Anadolu Efes has: “Of course we are going to play with two point guards on the floor with Jayson Granger and Thomas Heurtel. We also have Bryce Cotton. So, we are going to be using two guards throughout the season. But there are going to be times that we play with taller and bigger players but sometimes we’ll play small-ball without a center. When you have two guards on the floor, you are better at the offense but when you have bigger players you are stronger in defence. I am going to make choices according to the course of each game”.
Going back to the previous season, Perasovic had only good things to say about the leader of his previous team, Giannis Bourouris. The Greek center was mentioned as a target of Anadolu Efes, he ended up in Panathinaikos and his former coach explains why he was that important to Baskonia: “Last year, Bourousis was the most important player for us and he carried us to Euroleague Final Four. He was the leader of our team. He was an example with his execution, with his sense of responsibility for the team and with his work ethic. He helped me a lot throughout the season. If he goes on like this, he is going to achieve a lot more things because he knows and loves basketball very much. I am sure he is going to perform at a high level this season, too”.
This season, however, specially for the four Euroleague Turkish clubs includes changes and a rule issue. While fouls which will stop plays on transition will be considered flagrant in Euroleague games, they will still be called as regular fouls in the BSL.
Perasovic explains this peculiar situation, which he commented first alongside Zeljko Obradovic before the President’s Cup final: “There are going to be two different set of rules in the two main tournaments we are going to play this year and it is a problem for us. In Euroleague, fouls committed to stop fast breaks are going to be flagrants; on the other hand, there is this “advantage rule” in the Turkish League. How is this advantage rule going to be practiced in the action, or is it going to be practiced? Both unknown. What is going to happen if this advantage rule is executed when a player commits a 5th foul to stop a fast break, for example? These kinds of particular situations could change the outcome of a whole game. We watched and worked on the videos that Euroleague sent us, we did practice sessions according to that, then we played with different rules in Presidential Cup against Fenerbahçe.
I will have to make strange calls from the bench because of these changing rules. Sometimes I will say “Foul him,” sometimes I will say “Don’t foul him.” This is hilarious.
I have to adapt my players to these changing situations. So, here is my solution. We are going to play good defence instead of fouling. However, my players could commit an intentional foul as a reflex or I may tell them to commit an intentional foul as a reflex.
We are going to work on that. Officials don’t know what they are going to do either. They asked me the rules in the tournament we played in Crete. Another example… In Spanish Super Cup, officials decided to call intentional fouls as flagrants. They called a flagrant against Barcelona, they called a technical foul to their coach and the game changed. We are going to live and see. We didn’t play a game under Euroleague rules yet. Our games in Greece were under FIBA rules. So, we are going to see what is going to happen in Euroleague games but Euroleague teams have to adapt, for sure”.