Nesterovic talks about Doncic leadership, Dragic role, and building a National Team / News - Basketnews.com

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That’s a morning table you would like to be a part of every single day. Goran Dragic, Radoslav Nesterovic, Sasha Doncic, and the rest of the Slovenian basketball federation enjoyed their coffee on a nice terrace of one of the main Kaunas hotels.

Radoslav Nesterovic

Position:CAge:45Height:213 cmWeight:113 kgBirth place:Ljubljana, SloveniaProfileNewsStatistics

Nesterovic was all smiling. He loves that warm but not humid Lithuanian weather in summer. And he had to love his team's start in the Olympic Qualifying Tournament, beating Angola by 50 and Poland by 45 in a way that brings kids to love the game of basketball. With exceptional teamwork, ball movement, threes, and Luka Doncic on top of that.

Nesterovic, the general secretary of the Slovenian basketball federation, is here in Kaunas to support his team on its Olympic quest. Only a winner of this Qualifying Tournament in Kaunas will get one of the four remaining tickets to Tokyo. Slovenia National Team is halfway, facing Venezuela in the semifinals of OQT on Saturday. They're only two wins away from the first Olympics ever.

Slovenia by far played the most beautiful basketball in Kaunas. Everybody's talking about Luka Doncic and his supporting cast, making it a perfect fit to watch. But all this team spirit starts from the sidelines and people who are putting the right pieces into the right position, giving them space to show their best.

Former NBA and EuroLeague champion Nesterovic, 45, in an interview to BasketNews explained what it takes to take care of a team with a worldwide star like Luka Doncic on its roster and what's behind this special National Team we're following in Zalgirio arena.

- For us Lithuanians, it's mandatory to qualify for the Olympic games. With what kind of expectations and feelings are you here in Kaunas?- If we would say that we don't expect to go to the Olympics, it wouldn't be fair. Same as Lithuania, other countries expect to have a chance to fight for it. Whatever happens, happens. Four games in five days, it is not a season of 10 months. It's probably the temporary shape of the players: how they will sleep, how they will wake up. I just hope, that in the end, everybody will stay healthy and without injuries. If we make it, it would be great. It would be a historic achievement. But if we don't make it, life is not going to stop. We are going to keep going and working for that, so eventually, we are going to make it for sure.

Luka Doncic

MIN:19.29PTS:15.5 (55.17%)REB:6As:9.5ST:2.5BL:0TO:1.5GM:2ProfileOQT2021

- One of the biggest opponents of this OQT tournament is Lithuania. What do you think of the host team as your main rivals to qualify for the Tokyo?- I mean, Lithuania is historically strong, especially with the National Team. Always on the top positions, medals, and great players. You're on your home court and you have an advantage. But we'll see. It's still far from there. I prefer thinking step by step and game by game. And then just go from there.

- I feel that you should be a fan of team Lithuania since we have some solid traditional big men like Jonas Valanciunas and Domantas Sabonis.- Yes, which is now very rare to see players like that. They're both dominant. Not just here, but in the NBA. They're a big presence in the NBA. But as I said, from Lithuania to Poland, everybody has their chances. We have to go from game to game focused 100% thinking not too far, but about the current game.

- How hard is it to bring Luka Doncic, having in mind the Dallas Mavericks, his NBA superstar status, and long draining season?- Yes, but he feels great. There are players who he knows from childhood. He feels confident with them and is having a good time. Once you have such a friendship between the players, it's much easier to convince the guy to come.

- Four years ago you had Goran Dragic, Anthony Randolph, and Luka was just helping them. Now he is the alpha. What kind of leadership is he showing to the team?- It's not just on the court, but also off the court. It's connected. He's keeping the players together and in the straight line. He achieved probably more than all of us Slovenian players combined. The future is bright for him if he continues working hard with determination and focus. But yes, it's two completely different teams with him and without him. Same for you. If you wouldn't have Sabonis or Valanciunas, it would be different. You need all your best players to be competitive and to bring high-level game. Teams, who are missing guys, will have problems. Fortunately, we don't miss anybody except Zan Sisko. But overall, we're in a good situation.

- The last time Luka Doncic played for the Slovenia NT was the Eurobasket 2017. How did he change in four years?- When he went to the NBA, nobody, even me, expected he would rise so fast from a rookie to an All-Star and Top-5 player. I think he matured a lot. He figured out what he needs to do, how he needs to behave, how he has to carry that pressure. He achieved a lot, but I believe, that it's still just the beginning of his career.

- What it's like for you, as a general secretary and all the Slovenian basketball federation, to have a top-class player in the world on your team?- For us, it's easy because the NBA tells you what you can and what you can't do. And Luka is pretty easygoing. We sat with him before everything started, we talked about what he wants and doesn't want, and then just try to follow these rules. It's much easier when you get straight guidelines like from the NBA, where they know how many days he can practice, what he can do, what he can't do. The same on marketing.

- Usually, your work should be based on basketball decisions. But such a worldwide star like Luka opens you various marketing possibilities. How much of basketball and how much marketing there is in your daily job?- He's definitely one of the guys, who's filling up the arenas. When you have him, he can fill up any arena and bring a crowd, which is a quality that not a lot of players have. Definitely, with him, it's completely different. As we saw now when he is with us, it's not local stuff, it's more like worldwide stuff. Because we have people from the USA, China and all over the world following us. It gives us some opportunities which we never had. It's just a matter of how you're going to use it and if you're capable of using it in a positive way.

- You're lucky you're not in China right now, so we wouldn't be sitting here so relaxed. But have you already had any chance to feel the atmosphere of what it's like to have a worldwide star around your team?- Just on social media, when you see, who is writing, how they're writing. But it makes me happy that a country of two million people is well recognized, because of one man all over the world. It gives you some hope for the future that it's going to be much brighter.

Everything is ok. He's very easygoing. No special demands, no superstar demands. He is happy with the guys and enjoying every moment. As I said once, it's very important for him just to stay as he is. This is the game for him and he is playing the game. It has to keep being the game that it doesn't become a job. Once it becomes a job, it's not fun anymore. It's like going to work every day.

- Have you ever had to protect Luka from all the outside noise?- They taught him in the NBA very well (smiles). And he knows better than the guys who never experienced that. It's something normal for him to have hundreds of newspapers writing about him every day. In the NBA it's normal, so this for him is like kindergarten (laughs). Nothing to compare with the NBA, where they monitor and analyze his every move.

- Years ago Slovenia was recognized for one guy who's sitting at another table. What was the idea of bringing Goran Dragic together with a National Team to Kaunas?- We just spoke with him and Sasho Zagorac - they were with us for so many years. No special meaning, just to go there and support the team. Maybe some players in the team will get some extra confidence when they're going to see him. But Goran was our leader and captain for such a long time, that it definitely has some special relationship with the guys on the National Team. We hope it will help in the confidence and they're going to show it on the court

- There should have been some jokes, that Goran should switch polo shirts to a basketball jersey.- Yes, Sunday he is coming out! (laughs.) He's definitely done. We have to respect his decision. He gave so much to the team, that nobody can't say anything. He always gave 100% and was always there with his heart.

- When was the last time you stopped persuading him to come back?- Probably immediately. He retired in 2017 and I tried in 2018, so he goes to the World Cup. But he said no. From my experience, I know that once you can't handle it physically, then it doesn't make sense to push the guy. He said that he's physically not 100%, so I said ok, don't worry.

- What was the process of bringing Mike Tobey to the team?- Before we had Jordan Morgan, but unfortunately he got injured. So we had to find somebody else...

- You had only two months for it...- Three weeks, actually (laughs). The point for us, if you have 11 good guys, you have to give them one piece, that can help them achieve the goal. We thought Mike would be a perfect fit. He's a young great player with a great personality. Unfortunately, we're not like Lithuania or Serbia, which has great centers. We still wait for our kids to grow up (smiles). Mike is a great guy and we're thankful that we got him there. There is not even one thing that we regret.

Credit FIBA

- How do you try to find that missing piece? Where does it start?- Firstly you probably watch basketball qualities, but we, our federation, decide on a personality. If you can't have the best player in the world, if his personality doesn't match and fit with 11 other guys and coaches, that makes no sense. Because you're going to bring one guy who's going to break the other eleven. And the other eleven will isolate him, so it doesn't work like that.

We always try to fit and we were very lucky with all three guys (Anthony Randolph, Jordan Morgan, Mike Tobey). They're great people. Everybody knows basketball, but they're great unbelievable people. It's an honor and luck to meet them and work with them.

- Was it Klemen Prepelic who offered his name first?- Maybe him, but we knew that Luka is going to come, so we needed somebody to fit us. We didn't need somebody who is trying to have the ball all the time. But somebody who can follow what Luka does and outside shooters do.

He's a good shooter, big body and he has experience of FIBA tournaments since he was in the FIBA U19 World Championships. So it's not like FIBA competition is something new to him.

And some feeling. When you watch the guy, you have some feelings and instincts about how it will fit the team.

- You should be the General Manager. You bring Anthony Randolph, Igor Kokoskov to the National Team and now Tobey looks like a perfect fit. Do you have any ambitions to work as a GM?- I don't know... I never thought about that. In Europe, it's very difficult. In Europe, sometimes people who give money think that they can decide everything. But it's not like that... Coaches are there for coaching, players for playing... In the NBA it's a little bit different. Although it depends from team to team.

I always say that from my experience with the NBA, I had one guy who was in charge of everything. And other guys were in charge of their job. But the guy who's in charge of everything doesn't interfere with them. They do decisions, in the end, he has to say. If he doesn't trust them, then he changes them. If the president doesn't trust the GM, then you change him. Why you have him if you have to think about this job?

The same is in our National Team. When we put the coach, we say that he can do whatever he wants, to choose the players he wants and be responsible for the result, for everything. If you need any support, we're going to give it to you. But we're not going to interfere with you who you're going play, and how you're going to play.

I think it's the only way. Letting the coach know that he has all the confidence from us. That we have his back and he can work his job. Then even him will be relaxed and focused on one thing, not if me, him or you will pressure him, 'hey, why he doesn't play, why you this and that'.

- How did you end up hiring coach Aleksander Sekulic to run your team?- He is with us for such a long time, 10 years probably. He had a great job in the European qualifiers. We were trying to get some big name for these qualifications. But it's not regular stuff with one month of preparation. It's 10-day preparation and it starts. I think he really showed in these windows that he can put the team together in a short time, refresh it and prepare for the games. More than coaching and stuff, it's more like preparing guys mentally to be ready on a high level when it starts.

Credit FIBA

- How winning the Eurobasket 2017 influenced basketball in your country?- Immediately yes, but then these windows started. And it started melting down with problems we had didn't qualifying for the World Cup. But for 12 games we didn't have our full roster and it's difficult for us since we're not such a big country that can afford this. Not 5, but 2 main guys and we're a completely different team.

But now with Luka's success, just before the coronavirus started, we had around 3,000 people in Miami visiting the game of the Miami Heat and Dallas Mavericks. For Slovenia, it was a big part of that.

- When I watched the first games of the Slovenia National Team here in Kaunas, I felt how much I was missing that kind of beautiful basketball, which we couldn't witness since Slovenia didn't qualify for the World Cup 2019. I was just trying to imagine how pitty it was for you guys. Did you try to knock on some doors?- We're not some big federation like Spain or France, who make examples or can change the rules.

- Maybe any cooperation with other basketball federations was possible?- We're on the same page with Lithuania, Latvia, and small countries. We try to explain that we're small countries, but we have great players. So for you, it would be much better... I don't disrespect anybody, but to have all these great players on the World Cup, EuroBasket. Not to have them and say, that you have to qualify... You can say that when you have regular stuff and you have the opportunity to bring the players in every moment. So if you don't convince guys like Sabonis and others to come to play for the National Team, it's on you. But not when you put games when it's impossible to bring them because they play in the NBA, the Euroleague... It's not normal stuff.

- It was not normal stuff with the COVID-19 either. How did Slovenian basketball survive this challenge?- It was crazy. We were closed for like 3-5 months. No basketball, no practices. Especially for the young kids. Imagine somebody who was under 17 in 2020, when the COVID-19 started. Now he is 19 without any games... This is not going to be seen tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. But in five years, you will have a big gap in a generation. Not just us, everybody. It's one of the things that will affect the quality of the game.

- What would historical presence in the Olympics mean for Slovenian basketball and your country?- Not just for us, but for everybody it would be something special. Especially to bring back again something that's going to connect the people. I think that people were divided even before. But now with COVID-19... Masks, no masks, vaccines, no vaccines... They're divided.

I always say that sports are the only thing which is uniting people. Left, right, extreme, not extreme, whatever. They all compete for one country and people bring that national pride and determination. I still think that sports are the only thing which can bring us back and put some positive things in our lives.

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