By Bugra Uzar/ info@eurohoops.net
Although Fenerbahce defeated Besiktas very easily, 100-80 for the Turkish Basketball Super League, Zeljko Obradovic was far from happy with the way his young players behaved in the game.
The coach of Fenerbahce was not in the best possible mood during the press conference after the match. The reason? “I’m really upset about my young players’ last quarter performance” said Zeljko Obradovic. “They have to respect themselves, the coaching stuff, the jersey, the fans. If I have to jump from bench to motivate my young players, then this team has ended. I’ve tried to explain them what it means to be a part of this team too many times. They are so lucky because they are playing beside many talented players. But i don’t think they understand me anymore. It’s like talking to a wall.”
With Jan Vesely injured, Zeljko Obradovic commented on the reduced options in his roster. “We have to protect Pero Antic because he just returned from injury. We have to be careful for upcoming matches. That’s why I use players in different positions. We will play 4 important games in 9 days. And we have only one big guy (Ekpe Udoh). I’ve never been this kind of situation before in my coaching career. We have to prepare ourselves to playoffs like this. This situation shows us what we have to do for upcoming season. Because next year Euroleague’s format is going to change and we have to talk about next year’s roster from now on because we can’t play like that next season.
Of course, Bobby Dixon received a special mention by his coach after his triple-double achievement. “I usually don’t mention individual performances but Bobby was excellent today. He did triple double and that’s so rare in European basketball. I’m congratulating him.”