Svetislav Pesic jabs at Zalgiris for having guaranteed EuroLeague spot / News - Basketnews.com

Svetislav Pesic believes Zalgiris Kaunas have the luxury of not having to perform great in the EuroLeague every year and thinks having at least one permanent license for Serbia would do wonders for the development of younger players in the country.

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Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade made headlines this offseason with the signings of James Nunnally, Ioannis Papapetrou, and Dante Exum, Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade answered back by agreeing to deals with Luca Vildoza and Facundo Campazzo.

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Svetislav Pesic hasn't been coaching in the EuroLeague for several seasons now. Instead, he's the head of the Serbian national team, overlooking competitions throughout the year and evaluating the players he sees.

In an extended interview with SportKlub Srbija, the veteran specialist evaluated the recent signing of Campazzo.

"We live in a global world, basketball is a global sport, and as players and coaches, we are strangers somewhere. I wouldn't take that as a negative, certainly not in the case of Partizan and Crvena Zvezda," Pesic said. "Everything would be different if we had a guaranteed place in the EuroLeague like Zalgiris, which is independent of any results in that competition."

Zalgiris Kaunas have notably placed third in the Lithuanian Basketball League (LKL) last season behind two teams from the EuroCup and the Basketball Champions League (BCL).

"Imagine if you had at least one team that would have a guaranteed place, let alone two, what would happen to Serbian basketball? If you didn't have to win the ABA League, which is the ticket to the EuroLeague, then you would be dedicated to developing players, giving younger players a chance, and you would pay less for foreign reinforcements," the coach explained.

Pesic has recently taken a stance against the basketball system in Serbia, claiming that it has to improve in order to win the tournaments the Serbian public expects basketball players to.

This time, Pesic reiterated his thoughts once again.

"The situation in our country is that the popularity of this sport is increasing but the potential is decreasing," the veteran specialist said. "It is almost impossible to take a step forward if you are constantly under pressure for top results. This is our problem as well as that of Zvezda and Partizan when they set goals, short-term or long-term."

"We don't have a good competition system in Serbia not because we don't know how it should be done, but because we don't work on it. We think that everything we have is the best and that we shouldn't look at how others are doing," Pesic told.

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