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Fallout from Eurobasket 2011: Is Serbian basketball in trouble?

September 22, 2011

With a quite respectable history over the past 20 years – particularly in the FIBA EuroBasket tournament – Serbia has earned a reputation as one of The Continent’s great basketball powers. A little concern may be justified, then, at Team Serbia’s relatively disappointing eighth-place finish in this year’s European national-team tourney; indeed, at least one news source sees Serbia’s early bouncing as a symptom of greater illnesses affecting the team’s national program.

The English-language version of the Serbia-based Blic online ran a piece on Monday which sought answers under the headline “Basketball stifled by financial troubles and busy calendar.” Writer Tatjana Dragojevic investigated some of the woes she (and others) see as dogging Serbia hoops; today BallinEurope takes a closer look at some points of speculation.

Setting the table for the “gloomy situation none of us are accustomed to when it comes to the sport in which the national teams have achieved top results with almost predictable regularity in the past,” Dragojevic says that “For a second time running captain Nenad Krstic and his teammates will miss out on an appearance at the Olympic Games and the team will now have to go through a qualification process for the 2013 EuroBasket [tournament].”

While the veracity of the statement cannot be debated, a couple of facts might quell the disappointment somewhat. Though Team Serbia managed to earn a spot in the ‘Games in 1996, 2000 and 2004, the pool gunning for Olympic basketball medals is quite an exclusive club: Just 12 sides will be invited to the 2012 London Games tournament … though the possibility of seven of these spots filled by European teams cannot be heartening for Serbia backers.

On the other hand, the list of European nations who also missed the mark for 2008 and 2012 includes Turkey (no. 6 in FIBA’s rankings after the 2010 World Championship and no. 3 in Europe), Italy (no. 7 and no. 4), and Slovenia (no. 17 and no. 9) – not exactly shabby company. Factor in France’s non-placement in 2000 and 2004 and it might be concluded that poor performance in one high-level international tournament or two does not a disaster make.

In fact, history indicates that Serbia fans might not exactly enjoy their team playing in the 2012 Games, as the squad fared worse on each of the three occasions after Barcelona, chasing its silver medal of ’96 with a 6th-place finish in 2000 and a lowly 11th in 2004.

As Dragojevic sees it, “it will be up to the Serbian Basketball Association to tackle the crisis” and “Until that happens, we can only hope for miracles and flashes of brilliance, such as the silver medal at the 2009 EuroBasket and a semifinal [finish] at the World Championships last year.” Sheesh, top-four finishes at two major international tourneys in a row is cause for panic? Plus, if you want to talk miracles, Serbia was on the wrong end of one in 2010; would the feeling be different in Serbia now had the team taken the silver in Turkey? More importantly, would the team have performed better in EuroBasket ’11?

In “Basketball stifled,” Red Star Belgrade head coach Svetislav Pesic calls for “formation of a strong Serbian league” in which “winning the domestic league is the top priority for players.” Well, he’ll get no argument from BiE here: Serbia’s top-heavy association suffers from the same ennui that is bothersome (at least to outside observers) for a disturbingly high number of European leagues, i.e. Italy, Israel, Turkey, Lithuania, Greece, and Russia to a great extent. When one or two clubs dominate, the remaining “competitors” in the given domestic league either not-so-subtly (and in Lithuania, not subtly at all) become a breeding ground for the top teams or are simply out-budgeted.

Yet, take a look at Team Serbia’s roster for EuroBasket 2011: Though technically they brought no NBA players to the tournament – unless one includes Nenad Krstic, officially with CSKA Moscow for the 2011-12 season before August – this twelve was stocked with 10 Euroleague players: Krstic, Nemanja Bjelica, Marko Keselj, Milan Macvan, Boban Marjanovic, Kosta Perovic, Aleksander Rasic, Dusko Savanovic, Milos Teodosic and Milenko Tepic. If the national federation is going to look outside Serbian clubs for ballers, why wouldn’t a youngster take the money and run in the meanwhile? Perhaps it’s more a question of money rather than motivation … no, not perhaps. Definitely.

KK Hemofarm coach Zeljko Lukajic meanwhile sees something of a paradoxical problem in scheduling. While “Hemofarm take part in all of the three domestic competitions every season and play in Europe,” says Lukajic, “what is alarming is that some teams finish their seasons as early as March. That means that for three or four months they don’t have any tough competitive games, eventually don’t develop well enough and are simply not ready for a step forward in their careers.”

Unfortunately for them, the strange Serbian schedule is imbalanced toward competitors like Hemofarm. “We reached the final stages in three domestic competitions and in Europe last season. Together with training matches we played over 80 games,” explained Lukajic. “With the calendar and schedules that tight and with games played at that pace, you lose track of the work with young talent.”

In the near-final assessment, BiE would point out that perhaps Serbia is merely facing a bit of a nadir due to inexperience: After all, the oldest player on the team going into EuroBasket was Krstic at just-28 years old. How many national teams in Europe would enjoy having under-24s like Teodosic, Tepic, Keselj and Bjelica or their squads, reckoning they’d be around for six or seven more years (and two more FIBA World Championships)? Most, BiE thinks.

However, all of this is for naught, too, if Lukajic’s informal assessment of the state of his country’s playground ball is correct: “Some former basketball centres like Subotica, Nis, Cacak and Kraljevo are faltering and basketball is not played as it used to be. You can’t see as many kids playing basketball in the street.”

Not being familiar with local Serbian ball, BiE won’t comment on this specific; any Serbian readers care to enlighten us on the true of this statement? And how about that bigger question: Is Serbian basketball suffering from terminal illness or just a bit sluggish for the time being? We may have to wait for the 2012 squad to be assembled to find out…

Sep 22, 2011ballineurope
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This post was published on September 22, 2011
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Comments: 14
  1. Dzoni
    13 years ago

    well i can answer that about basketball not be played like it used to here in serbia ,that is true ..more kids are now playing tenis cause of djokovic ..voleyball…wee are succesfull in others sports …not like lithuanians for example who have only basketball and are true basketball country …but weak league ,and the bigest problem is that clubs dont have moenay to hold our talents in our clubs …and they leave all across the europe ..and dont play a lot …look what is spain doing ..they have the strongest league ..no wonder they are the best ..in late 80s and 90s and early 2000s when serbia was the best basketball force in the world ..wee had very strong league ,the strongest in europe ,much like spain has now ..partizan won euroleague 1992 …cibona was great ,split before that …but i think there are solution to this problem …better league ,and this generation will be great i dont have doubt ,they can play next 6,7 well 10 years acctually 🙂 if you look jasikiviceus who is 35 and still playing …gasol navaro 31 or 32 dont know exactly ,i dont know why they wont play so long ..i hope wee will be great in 2013 going for gold 🙂

    ReplyCancel
  2. Gabe
    13 years ago

    “Though the possibility of seven of these spots filled by European teams cannot be heartening for Serbia backers.”
    Let’s see: Great Britain, France, Spain and then three teams from the Olympic Qualifyer. Who is the seventh European team?
    *You also forgot to mention Serbia’s 11th place finish in the 2006 WC

    ReplyCancel
  3. to Gabe
    13 years ago

    Probably in a theoretical case that the last world champion and host are both european teams, which actually happened in 2004, though then the qualification system was different…

    ReplyCancel
    • Gabe
      13 years ago

      The article was talking about the London games so it was a mistake.

      ReplyCancel
  4. Dzoni
    13 years ago

    why is 11 th place in 2006 important ??? serbia had bad results from 2004 to 2009 ,and 2007 was the lowest result in serbia’s history when wee didnt made out of group stage of eurobasket ,then ivkovic took over again with some new kids and made 2 great results ..well afther domination from 1989 to 2002 wee had to let some ohters to play ,otherway it would be boring 🙂 dont you think gabe ?

    ReplyCancel
    • Gabe
      13 years ago

      Hmmm.. You know that half the players from the gold medal winners of 2002 were on the 2004 team that got 11th place so it’s not like it was a whole new team.

      ReplyCancel
  5. Marko Savkovic, Belgrade
    13 years ago

    I’ve enjoyed reading BiE, so here’s my comment on what many have rushed to describe as “a symptom of greater illness”. And it’s a long one, for which I’m sorry.

    And I’ll start with Lukajic saying how “some teams finish their seasons as early as March”, while complaining that his team (Hemofarm Vrsac) had to play 80+ games. This also fits nicely in the wider debate of whether there will be any basketball centers left in the near future. He refers to Subotica, Nis, Cacak and Kraljevo. And he is terribly, terribly wrong.

    First, I am amazed how Lukajic has no understanding of the way modern basketball had evolved. It was the success of UEFA Champions League that pushed for change in organization of competition. Big, financially strong teams favor strong competitions, attractive opponents, which could attract crowds. Partizan Belgrade – which has built a reputation as one of Europe’s toughest teams to beat – has benefited from the Adriatic League. Players are tested properly at least once a week, and there are always four or five Euroleague-ready teams to play against. Cibona, Olimpija, and now Maccabi – translate to a full arena (Partizan still holds a 22,567 record, set against Maccabi).

    Lukajic should not complain for having to play 80+ games every year – it was this busy schedule that made Macvan, Markovic (or the new rising star Andjusic) into what they are today – great prospects of European basketball (disregard their inconsistent play at Eurobasket 2011). Plus, referring once again to the centers of basketball – Vrsac was first known for its women basketball team, only then for its men; and success was guaranteed by the backing of a powerful pharmaceutical company with a basketball-crazy CEO. Needless to mention, each and every basketball centre in Serbia had at one time the similar arrangement working in its favor; as money had dried out, good players had left.

    Some new teams have showed up; and that’s just life, Belgrade sees most quality basketball because it invests more, has more teams, youth programs, and finally, nearly a third of Serbia’s population lives now in the city. Now, Kragujevac seems to be fighting to become a new centre of basketball – its suit should be followed by other cities as well.

    We also have to be aware – Serbia is not former Yugoslavia. The talent pool is simply not as wide as it once was. These young players have to cope with the legacy of decades of success, which is not easy. Perhaps this is one of the reasons why Spain plays its basketball with such self confidence.

    Actually, I don’t think there is a crisis at all. Serbian national team was (with Latvia) the youngest in the Eurobasket. It was decimated by injuries, playing Teodosic against a tough Russian defense 30+ minutes (Tepic and Rasic absent for injuries). It had to endure a ridiculous decision by FIBA Europe to bring additional teams to the Euro (doesn’t it strike anyone as odd that you had to play a full 8 games before reaching the quarters?) And finally, it played against two eventual finalists, Lithuania, Germany and Turkey.

    If, say, Navarro and Gasol decide on retiring from their national team next year, I believe Serbia will be a top contender in the Euro 2013. Will we be speaking of a crisis then? I doubt it.

    Best,

    Marko

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  6. Dzoni
    13 years ago

    @ gabe well that team was older ,and it wasnt whole same team ,there wasnt key player who avreged 20 plus points on world chapinoship 2002 peja stojakovic ,there wasnt starting center divac ..there wasnt starting point guard jaric …so in fact it was older and weaker team ..and couch wasnt pesic ,it was vujosevic who never did something good with national team …

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    • Gabe
      13 years ago

      2 years older

      ReplyCancel
  7. nets3
    13 years ago

    http://hoopfellas.blogspot.com/2011/09/blog-post_23.html

    serbian national team-future

    ReplyCancel
  8. Apollo
    13 years ago

    Teodosic’s attitude probably rubbed off on the rest of the team. Teodosic has a horrible attitude and work ethic. Olympiacos would not wait to get rid of him.

    ReplyCancel
  9. Dzoni
    13 years ago

    well his attitude is not horible ..maybe a little quwstionable ..but he gave everything to a serbian national team ,and especially in big games ..but his work ethic is good ,he is developing his game every year ,he is much stronger now then he was in 2009 ,he worked on his shot a lot …on his floters ..he should realy work on his defense man to man ,that is his i would say only weakness …. but all in all he is fantastic player ..olypiacos was happy to have him ..he lead them to final of euroleague in 2010 ..it wasnt his fault that kleiza and childress shit their panths out in finals ..and ran away from the ball …

    ReplyCancel
  10. Radomir - Arandjelovac
    13 years ago

    About coach Lukajic’s statement of extinction basketball centers throughout Serbia: totally true!! I want to add one more very important information and that is that the current national team of Serbia and many generations before them (who acquired international fame) are sprouting up in this “dying” centers hence the situation is more alarming than it apparently does. Great mistake of our system is that there is no corresponding program for the transformation from junior to senior squad. Coach Pesic is right when he says that the strengthening of domestic league will strengthen the national team.

    ReplyCancel
    • fan@ball
      12 years ago

      Tell me what was the situation 25 years ago? That’s the time that 2002 generation was created. Then the league was the same. What are the teams from these “phantom” centres that were successful in the old Yugoslavia. There were 2 strong teams from Serbia and 3rd would pop up from time to time. These “centres” never had strong teams and were never part of the big leagues. They had basketball schools that launched talented players but were never big teams. Now the world has changed, half of Serbia lives is in Belgrade or abroad, villages are getting empty, this is a problem of society and economical situation not basketball centres. It is such a bogus explanation. You need a quality championship to get great players not a watered down championship.

      ReplyCancel
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13 years ago 15 Comments FIBA, More2010 FIBA World Championship, 2012 Olympic Games, Aleksander Rasic, Boban Marjanovic, Dusko Savanovic, EuroBasket 2011, KK Hemofarm, Kosta Perovic, Marko Keselj, Milan Macvan, Milenko Tepic, Milos Teodosic, Nemanja Bjelica, Nenad Krstic, Red Star Belgrade, Svetislav Pesic, Team Serbia, Zeljko Lukajic
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