Kuric about Jasikevicius: 'When you lose, everything is more complicated' / News - Basketnews.com

Kyle Kuric told Diario Sport that Sarunas Jasikevicius always pushes the players to the limit and everything is fine when you win. He is looking forward to the next season and downplays the loss of Nikola Mirotic.

Credit: Zuma Press – Scanpix Credit Zuma Press – Scanpix

Kyle Kuric is on his way to spending the fifth season in a row with FC Barcelona. After a disappointing end to last year when Barca lost to Real Madrid both in the EuroLeague semifinal and the Spanish Liga Endesa final, the team is looking for a change in scenery.

Kyle Kuric

Team:FC BarcelonaPosition:SGAge:33Height:193 cmWeight:88 kgBirth place:United States of AmericaProfileNewsStatistics

Together with head coach Sarunas Jasikevicius, Barcelona players have been preparing for the upcoming season for the past two weeks. Four players - Tomas Satoransky, Jan Vesely, Sertac Sanli, and Rokas Jokubaitis - are currently with their national teams in EuroBasket 2022, all of which have advanced to the playoffs.

As is Jasikevicius, Kuric is entering the final year of his contract with the club. Consequently, this 2022-23 season is being viewed as an all-or-nothing year, especially for the head coach.

"It will be a different team. They are all good players, although four of them are with their national teams now and I don't know them personally. They are also used to fighting for titles and little by little we will gain the necessary chemistry," Kuric told in an interview with Diario Sport.

Most notably, Barca lost their leader Nikola Mirotic during the offseason to an Achilles injury, which will sideline the forward for the upcoming months.

"It's much better to have him on the court with us but we played games without him and without five or six other players last season, and we came through," Kuric commented on the loss of their biggest star. "We will have to play our game and go out to win with whoever is there. It is a great loss for us but his absence is also an opportunity for others to step up."

After the unsuccessful year, Barca parted ways with assistant coach Darius Maskoliunas in a move that caught the entire team off guard. Going back to the end of the season, there were some talks about disintegrated team chemistry. Kuric did not deny it.

"He is a very demanding coach because he is the first who wants to win. The truth is that here we have everything to win, so his job is to push us toward that goal," the guard told. "He always takes you to the limit and everything is fine when you win. When there are losses, you have to be strong mentally because everything is more complicated."

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