Bogdan Bogdanovic was a guest on Aleksandar Stojanovic’s podcast “Alesto,” where he discussed several interesting topics.
The captain of the Serbian national team had an outstanding FIBA World Cup performance, culminating in Serbia winning the silver medal. While there is regret for the loss in the final, Bogdan Bogdanovic delivered his best, except for one game against Italy when he struggled. However, he quickly regained his form and became one of the best players for the Serbian national team throughout the rest of the tournament.
Condition before knee surgery and success with the Serbian national team:
“I had moments when I couldn’t sleep due to pain. I would literally get up to adjust my knee just so I could continue sleeping. I’ve had a lot of problems in the last two years, underwent medical exams, and both the doctors and I are satisfied. I feel much better.
If I feel good on the court and work well, the results will come. It’s all the product of hard work. Regarding the results at the FIBA World Cup, it’s still all fresh. There’s a little regret about the final,” said Bogdan Bogdanovic.
The enigmatic conversation on May 20
“I don’t know if it was a conversation or texting. At that moment, I wasn’t thinking about anything. I can’t remember my thoughts, but it wasn’t about gold and medals. Simply to get together, to be healthy, and to be satisfied with being there.
To me, it’s important to honestly express your emotions, no matter what they are. The first question was about why Nikola Jokic wasn’t there? Let’s be clear, he participated in that journey to the FIBA World Cup. Maybe we wouldn’t even have gone if we hadn’t beaten Greece and Turkey. There wasn’t much joy and happiness about being there; instead, some tension was created right away. Basketball is a team sport, and we need to have a slightly different approach.
Both us as people and you as journalists need to change our approach to the national team a bit. That was more my reaction; I just wanted to say, ‘Slow down, we’ve just gathered, let’s be happy that we’re here.'”
Bogdan Bogdanovic couldn’t recall exactly what he said on May 20, but his close friend, who served as a link for his appearance on the “Alesto” podcast, revealed the enigmatic words from that day:
“He said we would play in the World Cup final, and then he would break all records…” to which the Serbian captain laughed and replied, “Well, almost…“
“There were various moments in my head…”
There were various moments in my head. Moments of giving up, arguments, and many tough situations, injuries. How can I put it, moments when you stop and wonder, ‘What is this doing to you?’ There were various nights and days like that. In those moments, you have to find strength. The pressure we had is a kind of privilege. Not everyone can experience it in this world.
The toughest night was after Borisa Simanic’s surgery. We didn’t sleep at all then. To think that someone could lose their life at the championship is unbelievable. We all wanted him to get better, and that gave us strength. His message also gave us strength, and we fought even harder afterward.”
Captain’s role
“Nikola Milutinov and Stefan Jovic helped me a lot. We shared that pressure, and I didn’t feel it was particularly hard for me. I think it was harder in 2013 for Nenad Krstic when he was our captain. No one was disobedient; we all put ourselves in the service of the team. There were also tough training sessions when you don’t feel like practicing, but the guys found the strength and gave it their all. I didn’t feel like I had to do anything special; I just enjoyed it.”
Best moments
“The head chef in Pazova prepared incredible food for us, and we couldn’t wait to have a meal he made after training. Going to Manila and the victories against Lithuania and Canada made the whole tournament more beautiful.”
How does a player react after a game like the one against Italy?
“I don’t know, various thoughts go through your head. You have to return to calmness and realistically assess what happened in the game. Right after the game, I told myself, ‘Wow, what have you done?’ I don’t know how it happened to me; there are days when you miss everything. You make some decisions uncontrollably, and I took that responsibility in front of the team, saying, ‘We didn’t lose; I’m to blame for this.’
I didn’t want them to be burdened; I took some shots I believed in. I do that every day in practice and make them with a high percentage. It just didn’t go in that time. Maybe because it wasn’t an elimination game, there was a sense of greater freedom. We were up by 16 points and then lost slowly.”
Written assignment that turned out to be true
“There were three topics when Bogdan Bogdanovic did essays. The first one was always literature, the second one was ‘if I had a magic wand,’ and the third was a free topic.
“I always chose the free topic and wrote about basketball. After all those fours, I rarely got fives; my teacher kept deducting points from my grades. She gave me a little star and a note on the side saying I didn’t have to write about basketball all the time. Then I got a three, and the next year even a two. That was my childhood (laughs),” shared Bogdan Bogdanovic.
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