Pesic criticizes EuroLeague and ABA League: 'These are insignificant changes' / News - Basketnews.com
Serbia's head coach Svetislav Pesic criticized the ABA League for refusing to postpone matches that are played before the FIBA windows. The specialist also commented on the closure of the gap between the favorites and the underdogs.
Credit: FIBA Credit FIBAOn November 7th, the Serbian national team will start preparing for the upcoming 2023 FIBA World Cup Qualifiers match against Great Britain.
Head coach Svetislav Pesic had previously stated their opponents to be the favorites of the matchup, to which Britain's interim head coach Marc Steutel answering back a week later.
In an interview with Mozzart Sport, Pesic commented about the back-and-forth with his colleague.
"I see that a Great Britain coach's statement appeared in the public in response to my alleged comment that they are the favorites. I didn't say it like that," Pesic said. "We should not forget that they already beat Greece at home, that they had a triumph over Latvia in their hands with two minutes left to play."
"We don't declare them favorites but we know that it will be a difficult game for us," he continued. "People still don't realize how much the gap is closing between the clear favorites and the clear underdogs. Latvia defeated Turkey by 26 points. In the EuroBasket, Belgium won against the soon-to-be champion Spain. These are all teams that do not have outstanding players in the EuroLeague but they play together for a long time, which is very important."
Recently, both Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade and Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade announced that they made all their Serbian players available for the upcoming FIBA window.
Although coach Pesic was happy that all sides agreed on one common goal, he criticized the EuroLeague and later the ABA League as well for now moving the matches to allow the players appropriate rest time.
"The Euroleague failed to move the matches. Olimpia and Virtus did it, some others might be moved too, but for us, these are all insignificant changes," the veteran specialist told. "We play against Great Britain on Friday, and we travel to Newcastle the day before. We cannot count on players like Kalinic, Guduric, Micic, Lucic, Jaramaz, and others because of their obligations to the clubs."
"The Turkish Federation managed to postpone the matches before this part of the qualification. We tried to postpone the matches of the Adriatic League on Saturday and Sunday before the national team commitments in the first, second, and third windows," Pesic continued. "If nothing else, it would at least allow the national team candidates to rest a little and possibly join the preparations earlier. The ABA League refused it, so there was no point in asking about it."
Nikola Milutinov and Dejan Davidovac are currently playing in Russia for CSKA Moscow. Pesic told that both players would not come to play.
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