Serbia NT director shares current nationality status of the country's top prospects / News - Basketnews.com

Dragan Tarlac, Serbian national teams' director, spoke about Tristan Vukcevic, Mario Nakic, and Andrej Stojakovic, with regards to their availability in the near future.

Credit: Juan Carlos Garcia Mate/Pacific Press via ZUMA Press Wire Credit Juan Carlos Garcia Mate/Pacific Press via ZUMA Press Wire

Serbia national teamcoach Svetislav Pesic spoke at length about what lies ahead for the squad in the FIBA World Cup qualifiers. Next to him sat Dragan Tarlac, national team's director, who covered another topic.

Andrej Stojakovic

Position:SG, SFAge:18Height:201 cmBirth place:Thessaloniki, GreeceProfileNewsStatistics

The former EuroLeague and NBA player talked about certain players' availability at the moment, starting from the current situation and those who are making a living in Russia.

"It's important that we go from game to game, in order to maintain our chances of making it to the World Cup," Tarlac, 49, said.

"There were victories against Greece and Turkey that give us the chance to continue winning from game to game to the World Cup.

The situation with the players of CSKA Moscow was good. There were indications that Nikola Milutinov and Dejan Davidovac would be in the team, but over time there were complications regarding their commitments.

Now, we definitely won't have them for these two games. You saw which players are there, the attitudes of the Spanish clubs are without any flexibility and possibility for negotiations," Tarlac commented.

The second-round pick in the 1995 Draft also spoke about players with Serbian roots that the federation has been monitoring. Discussions have been made with three specific cases- Mario Nakic, Tristan Vukcevic, and Andrej Stojakovic.

Tristan Vukcevic, son of 1997 EuroLeague champ Dusan, decided in 2020 to play with Serbia. Born in Belgrade, his father has a Serbian and Greek passport. He grew up in Olympiacos youth academy before landing at Real Madrid.

The federations of Greece, Spain and Sweden (mother's nationality) were trying to persuade Vukcevic to take their citizenship, but in the end he decided to play for Serbia. He was born in Siena, where his father played at the time.

He's still regarded as the best international prospect born in 2003.

"Everyone is being considered, everyone should be looked at from different angles, because of the place of birth, the number of passports and other things," Tarlac said.

"Tristan has a determination to play for Serbia, but he has to wait for his 21st birthday to be able to wear the national team jersey. Scouting has expanded. You sign a document that commits you to play for the national team from the age of 18 or 21. Children are introduced to situations they don't want to be in, but there's not much we can do.

Tristan didn't want to play for Greece, and he's patiently waiting for his 21st birthday. Now, according to the new regulations, a player who played for one national team in the younger categories will not be able to change his basketball citizenship until the age of 23."

Tarlac thinks the only way for Serbia to prevent players from playing elsewhere is to do early scouting so as to "have the players in the system, so that someone else doesn't force them to play where they might not want to."

"Players at American high schools are on our radar. They are highly rated and we follow them," he argued.

On the other hand, Igokea'sMario Nakic, 21, recently suffered a severe injury that would require several months of break. The former Real Madrid junior, who made his debut with the first team at the age of 17, tore his knee ligaments, having averaged 14.7 points, 8.7 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 2.3 steals in the first three rounds of the ABA League.

The former international player added he'd better not say too much about Mario Nakic, who also holds the Croatian nationality, "because I don't want us to make any claims until the family makes an announcement."

Andrej Stojakovic, the son of NBA veteran Peja Stojakovic, announced yesterday that he has committed to Stanford. The five-star recruit is a small forward from Jesuit High School in Carmichael, California.

He's widely regarded as a top prospect in his class, while father, Peja, had a terrific 13-year NBA career that included three All-Star selections, an All-NBA nod and an NBA championship with the Dallas Mavericks in 2011.

"We are in contact, we have been talking about it since Andrej was born," Tarlac revealed, before adding that the player himself must decide the country he's going to play for.

"My friendship with Peja does not change anything in relation to the decision that the child must make first; wherever he feels the closest, the warmest, as it happened with Tristan. It took time for him to decide, so should Andrej [take his time].

He must feel that he belongs here."

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