Luka Bozic recorded a triple-double in the Kresimir Cosic Cup final against Cibona! 🤯
— Basketball Sphere (@BSphere_) February 17, 2024
This marks his FOURTH triple-double of the season, and his Zadar team clinched the trophy with an 80-68 win. 🏆🇭🇷
Yesterday in the semifinal he had 34 points and five rebounds on 7-12 3PT 🔥 pic.twitter.com/T3tmQd2cOa
Pushing young players is crucial, even at the expense of results
Dario Gjergja made a similar move with the Belgium national team where after excellent results in recent years he decided to initiate a slight generational shift, even at the expense of results suffering. The outcome indeed included some painful defeats, but what Dario Gjergja gained were players who, in combination with experienced players, provide a better and more complete picture.
“Last summer, only three players from this latest cycle played. We pushed young players at the cost of defeat. You simply have to know what you’re doing. The starting point guard of the national team was a guy who is not yet 21 years old. The idea is to leave something for the future. I am with the national team until 2025, when EuroBasket is scheduled, if we qualify, because it’s hard for me to do two things at once.
My idea is to leave something behind me, not just wins and defeats. My desire is to establish a culture for the national team. I am Croatian but I have Belgian citizenship and I live for the success of the national team and then the players will breathe for it too. You have to find a model to achieve that.
The important thing regarding Croatian basketball in these eight years is to profile what we want, where it should not happen that our league is semi-amateur. Talented players must be given space even at the cost of poorer results, even if it means closing the league so that no one is relegated. I am talking about this with Belgians now because we have now merged with the Dutch which is a bit of a mess. No one wants that. Even the federation did not decide that, but it is what it is.
I am currently explaining to them the model where Belgium has a problem that if a somewhat talented player doesn’t get a chance, he either comes to me in Oostende or goes to the United States because he is not getting a chance. Last year Ivica Skelin finally gave a chance to a guy named This De Ridder and he seized that opportunity and has already gone to Bilbao. He will progress there, and that’s what I’ve been saying: that our player who has some quality will go to a better place.
We have to come to terms with that. If Zabok is able to produce two good potential national team players, it is logical that they go to a better European club and then they have to find their model there.”
How to go through Giannis, Doncic and Towns?
However much the situation is difficult in Croatian basketball community they are still here and they have the quality of NBA and EuroLeague players to compete for qualification for the Olympic Games in Paris this summer. But the road won’t be easy at all. Their group includes Greece with Giannis Antetokounmpo, Slovenia with Luka Doncic and the Dominican Republic with Karl-Anthony Towns, with hopes for the return of Bojan Bogdanovic. This is the path Croatia must take because if you want to be the best, you must beat the best.
“First and foremost, the atmosphere is important. A clear and clean division of roles within the team, with a clear definition of who can do what. We should only think about the next game, only about the next team we’re playing against. That’s the most important. If we start thinking about saving players against one team to be better prepared for the next, it won’t end well. Even if we don’t succeed, it’s important to immediately analyze the reasons why we failed. After that, selective corrections need to be made within the team and coaching staff.
It’s also important to go through the training process, not only within the national team but also in the clubs. We need to identify what we’re lagging behind the teams competing for the top 10 in Europe. Can we compensate for the absence of players like Dario Saric, Ivica Zubac, Mario Hezonja or even Jaleen Smith to achieve results? Those are some of my ideas and thoughts on the matter.”
Dario Gjergja as kryptonite to Sergio Scariolo
Opening the topic of the Belgian national team it was the perfect time to delve into that subject. In last week’s international window Belgium defeated Spain, led by Sergio Scariolo, for the second time in the past two years. The first win occurred at the EuroBasket tournament less than two years ago where Spain claimed gold. Their only loss on the road to gold medal was against Belgium. We were curious about the preparations for such games.
“It’s not simple. Last summer, we had a completely different team. We rested some of the older players and wanted to introduce younger players to see their potential over time. We needed to initiate a generational shift after EuroBasket. First, it’s about communication. Let’s be honest. We can’t change much within three to five days, so communication and proper player selection are key. I believe that out of the 16 players we brought, 15 were fully committed and one wasn’t but the team itself pushed him to be better. That’s number one – communication at the highest level.
As I mentioned regarding Croatia: defining the roles within the team and expectations from each player. Analyzing and scouting the opponent to understand what to expect from them in the game. Determining the player’s role and playing time accordingly. Those little details can help the team through the individual quality of each player – that’s number one. Number two is good scouting of the opposing team. Let’s be realistic.
We all know that within three days it’s not easy to do everything – analyzing the team, identifying the players who make a difference and devising defensive and offensive strategies accordingly. Those are the basic elements.
If you noticed in both games now, entering the final phase of the game when it’s a close game, entering with a team that can handle it mentally and physically. I think we did the right thing there. For example: Against Spain, we rotated all five big men within the first 17 minutes of the game which I believe was crucial for our game. We could have been more aggressive, saved players from foul trouble and sacrificed a player who could have played more at the power forward but was at small forward, namely Hans Vanwijn. But that sacrifice, recognized within the team, wasn’t really a sacrifice.”
Record streak with Oostende
After discussing the Belgian national team it was only logical to touch upon the club he coaches. We’re talking about Belgian side Oostende. A club that under Gjergja’s leadership has won 12 consecutive domestic championships, along with seven Belgian Cups, four Belgian Super Cups, and two BNXT Super Cups. This season, they also hold the top spot in the BNXT League, which combines Dutch and Belgian teams. Their streak of 12 consecutive titles is currently the longest active streak in all of Europe.
“I don’t concern myself with that. I focus on my work and daily corrections of myself and my team and I’m not interested in anything else. What newspapers write, I don’t pay attention to because it’s wasting energy on things you can’t control. I’m not interested in it at all. We have a problem where the budget gets smaller every year. Now we only have three foreigners, and one of the reasons is the budget.
Within the team we’ve integrated several young players and I would say that they are progressing from week to week, from month to month and we can rely on them more and more. I hope that at the end of the season we’ll not only achieve good results but also develop the team’s players further.”
An elite mentality that doesn’t allow him to relax
Having been in the same system for so many years and achieving success year after year, it’s natural for some kind of saturation to occur. It’s in human nature to always seek more and better. Dario Gjergja is no different in that regard. We were interested in gaining insight into the mindset of a man who has been dominating a league for a whole decade, and where he finds motivation, focus and energy to continue.
“That’s precisely the part that I believe I’ve acquired since I was young, both through family and later working with coach Danijel Jusup. I’ve also worked with Professor Trninic and later with Drazen Anzulovic and Velimir Perasovic. You have to create some kind of model and ambition. I don’t know any other way, I can’t allow my team to look different from what I envision according to my model – a prototype of everything.
I can’t allow my team not to be prepared, I can’t allow going into a game where someone doesn’t know what to do and my role there is nonexistent or simply allow things to happen as they may. Just because I’ve achieved something doesn’t mean I’m someone now. That’s not how it works. I’ve embraced sports completely differently and try to explain to my players that whoever can accept that they will be continuously pushed to achieve something every year can stay. The one who can’t stay is the one who has become self-satisfied by winning a title or beating someone. For example, that person can’t remain on my team.
“I only think about one thing”
“The mentality is that I want us to continuously move forward. I don’t even think about the trophy. I only think about one thing. I’d divide it into three parts. So, when the season starts, first, I look at what kind of player I’ve got – let’s say October 1st. Then, by June 15th I assess what kind of player that is at that moment. When I get a talented player I believe I must maximize his qualities and elevate him to a higher level.
I think we continuously do that and I believe that in the last eight or nine years, everything has been improving everywhere, earning significant money, profiling themselves, and I deeply hope that the year they spent in Oostende was a great help for their future.
That’s how I function. First, concerning the players, second, concerning the team result. So, it’s not the same to me when, for example, we play against a better team. You play against, let’s say, Pinar Karsıyaka, a team worth 10 million euros, and we have a budget of not even half a million euros. What are we talking about? It’s not the same to me how they play in game number one and how they play in game number two. We can lose but we have to lose in a way that shows improvement compared to the first game.
We need to see that we are better and that we have corrected the mistakes we made. That’s how I would set it up. Thirdly, considering the possibilities and the teams you play against, how you can achieve a result. Again, there’s a milder way. Some coaches might see it as a joke. There are different types of coaches. With me there must be a top level of professionalism. It may not be easy to endure with me but that’s how I behave.” – confidently responds Dario Gjergja.
Flying below the radar for too long
The path that Dario Gjergja has traversed has not been easy at all. From this conversation you could already glean some of that. It’s a significant step to leave your own country, sail under the radar for about 15 years knowing that you’re qualified and have excellent results, yet many people “skip over” you even though it might be your turn. Then, when you come so close to the biggest dream of every coach, which is leading your own country and you’re left without it even though you practically had it in your hands, it’s very easy to fall into self-doubt.
“If I continuously think about what someone else thinks or if I continuously wonder why someone is not writing about me, or I ask myself why I didn’t get a chance, then I’m just frustrating myself with that. I lose touch with reality because we can talk about Zadar now, but my reality is Oostende. I have to conduct practice in Oostende at a top level at five o’clock to make it a model for the next game and I have no right to think about whether I’m mentioned somewhere or not. If I’m guided by that, then I’m making a mistake.
You lose your level of dedication and everything else. You engage in something else that is totally irrelevant and over which you have no control. It’s like when they ask me if I deserve to go somewhere else, I believe I deserve it. Now, what is the reason, maybe the reason is within me, that’s not important at all.
What’s important is if I continuously dwell on it and if I’m frustrated with it, there’s no way I can maintain my level of focus on what awaits me within my club, the national team and within the relationships with the people I’m currently working with. I can’t be thinking, for example, about Oldenburg when I’m the head coach of Oostende. That doesn’t make sense. Or what someone in Zadar or Zagreb will say about me, anywhere. You have to maintain your level of normalcy.” – told us Dario Gjergja.
The rise of Tomislav Mijatovic and Igor Milicic
When we draw parallels in Croatian basketball, in recent times two more coaches have emerged alongside Gjergja’s name, who have long sailed under the radar. One in Turkey and the other in Poland. Of course, we are talking about Tomislav Mijatovic, who spent 13 years as an assistant coach at Anadolu Efes before finally stepping into the spotlight and seizing his chance as the head coach of a Turkish team.
The other is Igor Milicic, the man who, as the head coach of Poland led the team to the EuroBasket semifinals by defeating Slovenia, led by Luka Doncic. He recently won the Italian Cup by defeating Milano, a EuroLeague team in the final.
“I’m very happy first because, as I say, the more of us there are, the better it is. We’ll be opening up space for each other. I think Igor Milicic has been doing a job similar to mine here for years, and then he went to Besiktas, but the club wasn’t at his level, he tried everything. It didn’t work out, so he left. Now he has won his first trophy in Italy, a phenomenal job. With Poland he reached a certain level, came to the EuroBasket, now they are doing what I was doing just last summer – a generational shift, testing what they can do. Now they lost two games, so people wonder why they lost. They lost because they didn’t have the best players.
As for Tomislav Mijatovic, staying in one club for so many years, everything changed. He was there, and his loyalty in the job segment was phenomenal because no matter which coach came, Mijatovic was there. We keep in touch and we worked together for a while at Cibona. We even had an anecdote in the Cibona parking lot when they asked him if he would be the head coach of Cibona or continue with Perasovic. I asked him if he wanted me to kick him in the butt. That’s how it was.
You’re done if you don’t respect people, if you don’t respect the people you work with, if you don’t respect the people who collaborate with you because no one will respect you, and no one will collaborate with you, they’ll turn their backs on you and something else is needed for us all to be on the same path and to know what and how to proceed. I’m glad for Mijatovic that he has results, they lost the Turkish Cup, but it’s just one game, 40 minutes of motivation on both sides, and that’s how it goes.”
Is it time for Dario Saric to return to Europe?
We decided to end the conversation with an NBA question. It concerned the role of Dario Saric in the Golden State Warriors, who are struggling this season, and everything seems to point towards this possibly being the end of the greatest dynasty of the modern era. Dario Saric signed with them this summer.
At the time it seemed like a perfect fit for the team due to Saric’s ability to facilitate his teammates, which perfectly complements the Golden State Warriors’ system. He started decently, but in the last 12 games, he’s been on the verge of rotation, averaging only 10 minutes with just 2.3 points and 2.2 rebounds per game on dismal shooting percentages (27% from the field, 8% from three-point range).
As the regular season approaches its finale, it’s clear that Steve Kerr’s team is more or less crystallized and everything points to Saric definitely falling out of serious rotation. The question arises again: is it perhaps time for him to return to Europe?
“As for Dario Saric, I think he decided himself in agreement with his agent, to try with the Golden State Warriors because they needed such a player profile. That’s what Nemanja Bjelica did and I think Saric could have done it at a higher level. I think he has to make a decision after this season.
As for me, I would prefer him to be a leader because I believe he could have been a much better leader in his career. When he went to Anadolu Efes, he was still young, he went to a top coach, step by step. It was a good level, let’s say that injury slowed him down, but I would really like to see him in a team where he’s a leader, that’s just my opinion.”
Karlo Matkovic should fit perfectly into the NBA
Dario Gjergja also touched on the status of Luka Samanic and Karlo Matkovic.
“I think Luka Samanic could have played in Europe for excellent clubs. When you get a call from the San Antonio Spurs, you don’t know what to think. I think he has the level to be a EuroLeague player, he’s not there yet, maybe he’ll go and come back to the NBA.
All I can say about Karlo Matkovic is that he’s exactly the type of player currently sought after in the NBA, and maybe that’s why he decided on that. Because playing in the NBA might be easier than playing in the EuroLeague considering the player profile.” – Dario Gjergja concluded this conversation for Basketball Sphere.