President of Red Star, Nebojsa Covic, in an interview for RTS, touched on various topics, including the success of the Serbian national team in the FIBA World Cup and the composition of the Crvena zvezda team.
Covic emphasized his belief that “the Eagles” can achieve a silver medal at the global event.
“It’s a great success. A significant result has been achieved. Before they set off for China, I had a meeting at the ‘Stark Arena’ and met with Svetislav Pesic. Of course, I saw most of our guys. At that time, I told him that I have confidence in them and that he probably hasn’t forgotten how it’s done, considering that we worked together in 2001 and 2002. I said we have a very good national team, a good composition, and good guys,” Covic stated.
The club’s president from Mali Kalemegdan also explained how the team fostered a good atmosphere.
“Seven, eight of those guys have gone through our system, whether through FMP or Red Star. I talked about how they are good, and it all depends on chemistry. Circumstances led to it happening in an unfortunate incident with Borisa Simanic.
At that moment, a high level of unity was achieved among them, and it was a joy to watch them play. I don’t want to single anyone out or scare them away in the jerseys of any other club. This is the national team of this country, and we should all be proud.”
Covic also addressed a topic that the Serbian national team coach talked about after the final.
“Success must not hide the enormous problems in basketball. We are facing huge laziness and a lack of strategy, starting from the Basketball Federation of Serbia and onwards. The story about the Serbian Basketball League is correct; it is to blame for producing seven, eight, 12 such players. Of course, this analysis should include something that some dare not say. We need to escape hypocrisy and politicization even when celebrating.
We have space; in a year, there are the Olympics where I would like us to have unity. Stars and individuals don’t win; it’s the team. We have great potential, whether it will continue, we will see. The junior team that won the European Championship gives hope, but we also need to be realistic. This is not the former Yugoslavia.”
There was also talk about potential additions to Crvena zvezda.
“I don’t know, I don’t believe so. I can’t rule it out, but we are well-equipped enough. We have built and balanced the team according to the requirements of Dusko Ivanovic and the coaching staff. Currently, there are 16 players in the squad, which is satisfactory in terms of numbers. We will have a huge number of matches, and we will play all of them in the ‘Stark Arena,’ both in the EuroLeague and the ABA League. And we will train in the small hall of the Arena.
It doesn’t belong to any club; it should be shared. We have finalized this. There is a lot of interest, a good team, and our ambitions are very clear. We have a competitive team that can achieve very good results. What we need is for the environment in which we play to be completely fair in every aspect,” Covic concluded.