Βy Nikola Miloradovic/ info@eurohoops.net
Bogdan Bogdanovic won the silver medal with Serbia in the Olympics, he was one of the standouts of the tournament and now, as he is gearing up for his return to the US for the upcoming season, he has set a very simple goal.
The Serbian sharp-shooter wants to stay healthy and be there for his team, setting his target: “To play 82 games. I haven’t managed to do that yet and it’s very difficult. Last season I missed two, in one I was sick, and on the other I was injured. I think I can make it happen this season. We need to work on the team atmosphere, we have a lot of young new players, so we have a chance to achieve it with players like Trey Young, Capela, Hunter… It’s a new challenge for me, in the NBA everything is possible, everything is possible everywhere, but you have to have faith and one should remain persistent”.
Bogdanovic presented himself his eight children’s camp in cooperation with Adidas at Despot Stefan Lazarevic Elementary School, the school he attended in Serbia and in whose gymnasium he made some of the first basketball steps.
As he said: “We have a mission to restore the courts, improve the conditions for development, for our children to play. This is where I took my first basketball steps and I have special feelings for it. We were looking at how to give back, someone left this for us and we feel a responsibility to leave something for the children behind us and to motivate them that way”.
Bogdanovic also talked about the Serbian national team, the changes that are expected in the Serbian federation, and the decision of coach Svetislav Pesic to step down, admitting that he would like to have him on the national team bench: “We talked and I just sent him one of my first interviews, in which I said that I would like to be coached by Pesic. I just sent it to him, so he can decide. He feels an emotion and a responsibility to stay, but it is up to him to decide. Now it is like that, we will see what will happen in two or three months. I don’t know how it goes according to the rules, but we told him in a sporting way, everyone in their way, sent a message that they were satisfied with the cooperation and that they had great respect for the coach. We hope that he only deceived us a little with that statement”.
During his stay in Belgrade, a photo of him wearing a Partizan jersey appeared on social media, and Bogdanovic once more confirmed the obvious: “I wanted to send support to the club where I started my professional career. Everyone knows how much I love Partizan, I trained in their gym, they provided me with the conditions I needed and I wanted to send them a message of gratitude. I know everyone is waiting for a promise (ed. note: to return someday), but my focus, not to lie to you, is the NBA and I am focusing on being as good as possible. When the time comes for that, emotions will surely rule”.
After all, Bogdanovic has a fan in Hawks’ legend Dominique Wilkins who talked about him to Eurohoops.