Zeljko Obradovic appeared on the TV show “Teme do Arene” on Arena Sport television, where he shared several interesting insights.
The coach of the Black and Whites (commonly referring to Partizan Belgrade) talked about his time as part of the Detroit Pistons, the defensively worst game of Partizan in the previous season, and the topics of discussion included Nikola Jokic, Jusuf Nurkic and Jan Vesely.
“Honestly, I’ve never had a concrete offer from the NBA. Honestly, I spent 40 days as part of the Detroit Pistons organization. It’s the best league in the world. They take from us, and we take from them. I had the opportunity to be part of the team; I even received per diems. When I arrived, Joe Dumars told me he wanted to discuss all the details I observed. We talked about the possibility of working together, but these are some things between us” – said Zeljko Obradovic, continuing:
“I want to be clear and precise. That stay there was fantastic for me. At one point, I received a call from a manager inviting me for an interview. I didn’t understand it and asked, ‘What is an interview? Isn’t that something you give to journalists?’ Last summer, I attended a seminar held by Sergio Scariolo together with Dumars. He had been with the Toronto Raptors before that, and I was curious about what led to Darko Rajakovic being appointed head coach. I have a fantastic relationship with him, and we talk a lot.
They believe that with a young coach, they can develop young players more easily. They think it will happen much more naturally than with Scariolo, who aims for results. Do you think it’s possible in the EuroLeague and that results are not the primary focus? I don’t think so; everyone wants to at least reach the top eight” – Zeljko Obradovic stated.
“Defensively, it was our worst game…”
“Let me now go back to the worst game defensively in the EuroLeague last season. We played against Alba, and in the starting lineup were Uros Trifunovic, Tristan Vukcevic and Balsa Koprivica. But we didn’t suffer; when they left the court, it was 18:18. I remember all of that perfectly. Giving young players a chance always depends on how committed and willing they are.
I believe Balsa will make a huge leap this season because almost everyone has forgotten that he had an injury setback last season. I know how hard he worked this summer. He has both the strength and height to contribute offensively, but above all, I expect his performance on defense. I hope he succeeds in doing that”
Nikola Jokic
“I love watching him play. I used to wake up to watch all of his games. He’s a fantastic player. His speed of thought and ability to anticipate situations on the court are incredible. And those shots of his, that’s something everyone talked about how hard he works on. Those shots are abnormal, among us. LeBron James and Anthony Davis were turning in amazement at what he was hitting.
However, there’s one thing that people don’t realize or don’t think about too much. He was the 41st pick in the draft. There’s a coach out there who saw him and allowed him to play the way he does. Mike Malone surely did that. He created a game, and the Sacramento Kings are doing the same with Domantas Sabonis”.
Jusuf Nurkic
“They had to decide whom to keep in Denver at one point, Jokić or Nurkić. I’m really interested in what Nikola thinks about all of that. Nurkić is an outstanding player, no doubt. Jan Vesely told me about his encounters with him in the national teams. He said Nurkić was the toughest player he ever had to guard. I couldn’t do anything against him, Coach” – Zeljko Obradovic recalled.
Seminar in Spain
“Rick Carlisle insisted on sitting down with me and Duško Ivanović. That was when I was coaching Real Madrid. He knew everything about us. He knew my reactions, Dusko’s reactions, and one of the things he said was that in the NBA, 80% of coaching is about the relationship with players, and 20% is basketball, the details.
I know how you work, I know the details of your offense, I know the details of your defense. This was 25 years ago. Coaches who are coming now, we talk basketball stories, what is training? From the moment I returned from Detroit, it was in 2012, I started thinking about why these people train in the morning?
Of course, it’s a perfect system. Collective training is from 11 to 1, then it’s done. They have an incredible number of coaches, someone does individual work, works on shooting, the gym. After that, I started working the same way. I do one training, and it suits the players. It even suits us. I think these are some things that, when you think about it and accept that they were once impossible” – Zeljko Obradovic said.