An inside look at Obradovic's lab: how Zeljko surprised even his allies / News - Basketnews.com

Credit: imago images/Seskim Photo-Scanpix | BasketNews illustration/A.Zaikauskas Credit imago images/Seskim Photo-Scanpix | BasketNews illustration/A.Zaikauskas

Zeljko Obradovic started his coaching career 31 years ago. He went through 64 finals and won 9 EuroLeague titles. But what he's facing in Partizan Belgrade is something new even to the legendary head coach.

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Zoran Savic had this unique opportunity to know Zeljko Obradovic from three different perspectives.

In 1995-96, Zeljko Obradovic signed Savic to Real Madrid as a center to replace Arvydas Sabonis.

In 1989-91, both Obradovic and Savic were teammates in Yugoslavia national team.

Savic remembers a couple of things to this day.

Zeljko always had his notebook with him. The point guard took notes after every national team practice, whether it was the practice routine, specific drills, or tactical ideas.

Savic was Zeljko's roommate. So every time he had to listen to all these stories, how Zeljko loved Partizan and how big that club was.

Thirty years later, now he serves Obradovic as Partizan's general manager.

"The good thing about Zeljko is that he has more energy now than 30 years ago when I played for him in Real Madrid in 1995-96. He has more energy now, believe me," 55-year-old Savic smiled in an exclusive interview to BasketNews.

"He's 62, but he's full of energy. He's running the practices from the first to the last minute. He corrects the shots for young players if they don't do something after the practice. I'm amazed how is he doing it."

"When he was a player, his energy was amazing. And it still is to this day," Savic adds. "He's the guy who loves people. He loves to be surrounded around people. And he loves basketball. I never saw who likes basketball and particularly Partizan so much."

The love was so big that, as Savic recalls, Partizan's negotiations on contract conditions with Zeljko took five minutes.

Of course, they had to wait for his final answer until June. But it was up to Zeljko if he wanted this challenge or not.

"I know he had 3-4 times better offers, and he came to Partizan for unbelievable less money. Because his idea is to bring Partizan to the EuroLeague. This is his motivation," Savic added.

Shocking ambition

When the papers were signed, Obradovic and Savic met to discuss how they would start this new Partizan project.

Savic was stunned when he heard Zeljko's ambition.

"His idea was to have 12 Serbian players at the beginning. I was shocked," Savic smiles.

"Look, if we find 4 or 5, we will be very happy. Without foreigners, it's impossible to be successful," Savic responded to Zeljko.

Credit Partizan Belgrade

Partizan hired Savic in March 2021. Although he's Serbian, who represented the Yugoslavian NT and won the World Cup and three European championships, the last time he worked in his native country club was 1991.

Former Barcelona and Fortitudo Bologna GM needed time to look at the local talent pool. And he wasn't very delighted.

"We tried to speak with local players, but it's not easy. Best kids are going outside Serbia at the age of 12-14. We have a new generation that is educated that everything comes easy. There's a lot of people around Serbian basketball, who suggest against going to Red Star or Partizan because there's a big pressure," Savic explained.

"I never did something in my life without pressure. The new generation wants directly to come to the NBA. But when they leave, after two years, they're begging to play for us or Red Star," Savic said. "The new generation wants everything too easy."

"And then they don't play for the national team. At first, they want to be stronger, so they work in summer individually. When they get stronger, after 3-4 years, they need to sign their first contracts. After six years in the NBA, they get tired and need to sign the maximum contract later. And after that, supermax comes," Savic told. "They always have excuses, why they don't come to Europe, why they don't fight. I think it's not just in Serbia, but everywhere."

"Now it's difficult to put people out of comfort zone. In my opinion, you can't do anything in your comfort zone. You need to risk. You need to see how to react when you play bad or good. When you play well, everybody says you're great, you're the 1st round pick. But when you miss two shots, and you're not good, nobody calls you."

"I never saw in my life that somebody became a great player only in team practice. These players, who come two hours before and stay two hours after, make the difference."

Tough love

There's no comfort zone when Zeljko Obradovic coaches you.

Partizan exploded the market by signing EuroLeague Final Fourplayers Kevin Punter and Zach LeDay. Also, a former NBA forward, Rodions Kurucs.

But they also signed eight players aged from 18 to 23. The core of Partizan includes 20-year-old Gregor Glass and four 21-year-old prospects, Yam Madar, Alen Smailagic, Balsa Koprivica, and Uros Tifunovic.

The average age of this Partizan team is less than 23 years.

"In our first practices, we were working like with a cadet team. Not even the junior team," Savic smiled. "It's crazy because they're coming from different realities, and it's not easy to put everything together. But this is what we wanted."

Partizan's preseason went pretty smooth until they faced Cibona Zagreb.

Kevin Punter, the key signing of Partizan last summer, stayed in Belgrade due to injury. He played against Cibona before and expected an easy victory for his teammates. But things went the wrong way.

"The moment we lost that game, I was kind of okay, this is going to be interesting here," Punter smiles.

Partizan had team dinner straight after the game. But after that, the entire team went to the video room to watch the film. The video breakdown started at around 11 PM.

When Savic woke up, he checked the message from the team manager for the upcoming day's schedule. The team manager sent the schedule around 3:00 AM when the video session finished.

"We all watched the film. He picked apart every possession," Zach LeDay, who was in that room, recalls.

"I love this kind of stuff because this builds players' mentality," Savic said. "The next day, we played a great game because everybody was concentrated and knew what to do."

"This is the style of coaching that Zeljko is in 100%. Some coaches could say that it was only preseason. No. Every game is important for him," Savic emphasized. "Maybe that meeting made a difference and gave lessons for the future."

"That was the very beginning. The first page to turn into the book in trying to get us to the next level to win," LeDay added.

Explaining part was always very important for Obradovic.

When Partizan was down by 20 at the recent EuroCup game in Panevezys, his players from the Balkans received a lot of harsh words in their native language.

But at the same time, Zeljko was always coming to his bench players to explain certain mistakes their teammates made on the court.

Once Obradovic approached LeDay, who was standing behind the bench. American big man never sits. Both men discussed the specific play and why it was so confusing for players.

Later, LeDay continued the topic with Kurucs, who wasn't suited up for the game and sat on the corner next to Partizan's bench.

"People said that he's crazy because he yells. But he's really not crazy," Kevin Punter admits. "I played for a bunch of yell and scream coaches. This man is not crazy."

"If you listen exactly what he says, he just tells you to do something positive. He's very demanding, yes. Very very demanding. He wants you to be the best you can be in every single possession. But I wouldn't use the word crazy. No, I wouldn't say that," KP added.

Punter, 28, is the second oldest Partizan player, as crazy as it may sound. Nemanja Dangubic is also 28, but he was born a couple of months earlier.

The way you read the message that Obradovic sends to his players, even if it's very loud and might contain explicit language, requires experience.

So it might be difficult for some Partizan young men, who never felt such pressure to be perfect on the court.

Not when the EuroLeague is on the line for a club that hasn't been there since 2014.

"We have a lot of young guys, and Obradovic coaches them really hard. He tries to hold them accountable," LeDay explained. "Everything is about staying focused and locked in. That's really the main thing."

"I know it's not easy for them," Punter said. "It can be a lot for a young player. It could be almost too much because the coach expects so much."

"It's just a lot on a line when you play for Partizan. They expect you to win every game. They expect us to be in the EuroLeague next year, so there's even more pressure on players. Putting the player in that environment that has never played high-level European basketball could be a lot," Punter admits.

"They have no choice," Savic smiled. "They chose to come here. And now they need to accept the rules."

"I was a player. When you have the coach who won 9 EuroLeague titles, and he explains what you need to do to be successful... If he told me to jump from the second floor, I would jump. He showed that this would bring you success. This is the most important," Savic added.

When Zeljko joins the practice

It's not easy, but all these players have the coach who cares most about them.

As long as the player wants to work, Zeljko is always in the gym.

As Punter explains, he will never force you to do what you don't want to. But if you want to work a little bit extra. If you want to discuss some plays, shots, anything, Obradovic is always open to helping you.

"There were plenty of times in the practice where he rebounded for players. He helped players with certain plays. He's always in the gym. He cares more than most," Punter assures.

Punter has seen him coach over the years and knew what he could expect. But one of the best scorers in Europe was surprised by how passionate Obradovic was about this team.

For example, a 62-year-old coach sometimes joins his players in practice at full speed.

"I've never in my life seen the coach at his age running around the screens and telling the players, okay okay, get out of the court, I will do that. We run the play, he runs the full speed, setting screens and doing things like that. You don't really see that," Punter says. "That man cares. He's really trying to help a lot of young players."

"He has that extra spark. We're young, and he feels that this team motivates him greatly. Because this is something new. I think he has more young players than he ever had in his career. And I believe it inspires him even more," Punter suggests.

"It's not an easy job, so he's more into it, more focused. He wants to help this team, and young players improve every day. So he's 100% with this team," Punter adds.

"Zeljko doesn't have any problem with the young players. They have a great example of Punter, who comes two hours before the practice to work individually. Our Americans are great guys. We don't have any problem with them. They're fantastic examples for young players," Savic told.

Credit K. Kavolėlis

The only request

According to Partizan's sports director, working with Obradovic is very easy.

Zeljko doesn't ask for five-star hotels or charter flights.

He doesn't want to run the whole organization.

The only request from his side is not to interfere with his job in the gym.

"Just don't touch his team. A lot of coaches are confusing because they want to run the club. But Zeljko doesn't want it. He never asked for the keys of the club. But don't touch his team," Savic repeated.

"Nobody can say to him that this guy needs to play. Even if you're the richest person in Greece or Istanbul," he added.

Although Zeljko doesn't require any special treatment, Savic himself faced some first-time experiences helping his coach build a team.

"I always look for more and more players. This is the first time in my life that you need to fight with him to bring more players. Because when he choose somebody, he's 100% with him," Savic smiled. "He never asks to bring him a player. Never."

"Usually coaches want to cut players when they get the fewer over 38. Some coaches think that somebody who will come to the team always is better than the current player," Savic shared his experience.

"I think player feels the trust that their job is safe because we're not here to bring new players every month. You really need to convince Zeljko to bring some help because he really believes in his roster," he added.

New challenge

Zoran Savic spoke to BasketNews three days after the Serbian Cup final. Partizan didn't have a chance against Crvena Zvezda and had to surrender 68-85.

Two weeks later, for the first time of the season, Partizan finally got their victory against their main rival in the ABA League 98-84.

However, 48 hours later, Obradovic was embarrassed with his team. Only at the end of the game Partizan avoided the worst loss of the season against Lietkabelis Panevezys 78-93.

That's the part of the process Obradovic and this newly branded Partizan have to go through right now.

"I think we're the youngest team that is playing in international competitions by our choice," Savic said. "For us, it would have been easier to sign twelve players between 26-35 years. But every time we choose players aged between 30-35 or 18-19, Zeljko always selects a 19-year-old. Because this is the future of Partizan," Savic said.

"It's also new stuff for Zeljko. The last time he worked this way was in 1992 when he won the EuroLeague with the youngest team ever. But now it's more difficult because everybody has more foreigners, locals are not so good. But we're patient."

"Partizan have existed for 76 years, but we don't have a single square meter with the name of Partizan. We're now working to have our own training facilities. We have great people in the club. They want to invest and help the club to be on the EuroLeague level for years. This is what we have. But our idea was to build a young team that can play together for 4-5 years."

"This is why we have ups and downs. This is normal. We have 11 new players. None of these players worked with Zeljko before. He doesn't know how they handle the pressure and anything. This is a situation we have never seen before."

"But when you see how they look from the first day and now, there's a big difference. We hope they can improve every season to be better. I think those big guys that we have can be a part of the national team for the next ten years."

"We didn't play in the EuroLeague for seven years. Everybody wants it. But nobody won something important in September or January. We have to be patient," Savic pointed up.

When Zeljko Obradovic received a silver medal after the Radivoje Korac Cup final, Crvena Zvezda fans mocked him, making a wave of emotions as if he won the gold.

Zeljko didn't lose his sense of humor. He kissed the award and showed it to the crowd ironically.

He's not used to being second, not after winning 44 titles in his glorious career.

But to bring his beloved club back on top, Zeljko Obradovic is ready to sacrifice and go through obstacles that he hadn't faced in this century.

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