Jasikevicius opens up on Barca exit, compares EuroLeague derbies / News - Basketnews.com

Jasikevicius called Mirotic's contract termination unserious and said he was very disappointed with Barca's management and wouldn't consider returning to the club in the foreseeable future.

Credit: Oscar J. Barroso/AFP7 via ZUMA Press Wire - Scanpix Credit Oscar J. Barroso/AFP7 via ZUMA Press Wire - Scanpix

After months of being a free agent, Sarunas Jasikevicius took over Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul and almost immediately improved the team's record. However, his departure from FC Barcelona still garners attention months after it happened.

3-pointers this season

37%8,7Points made:8,7Accuracy:37,4%Place in standings:13Record max:17Record min:4Most made 3FGs:Nicolas LaprovittolaTeamEuroLeagueStatisticsSchedule

Now in Istanbul, Jasikevicius gets to coach in multiple derbies against Galatasaray EKMAS Istanbul and Anadolu Efes Istanbul. Previously, he led Barca against Real Madrid in the famous El Clasico.

Looking at those matchups, Saras says nothing compares to the derby between Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens and Olympiacos Piraeus.

"I don't think you can compare anything with Panathinaikos-Olympiacos. I think that right now, together with the Partizan-Zvezda derby, these are two of the biggest games in Europe. But for me, you can't compare anything with Panathinaikos-Olympiacos, and the truth is that I had Greek teammates at Barca, and they were very disappointed with El Clasico," Jasikevicius said in an interview with Piti Hurtado on Movistar+.

"It's because of the fans. The public [here] is clearly calmer, more polite, the police are more in charge here than in Greece," Saras smiled. "This is clear in Greece, it's a real war in Serbia. I suppose it is the same because they are similar [as people]. The fans are incomparable."

Compared to the last season, this year in the EuroLeague is distinctively different, as teams are now striving to become at least 10th in the standings following the closure of the regular season due to the play-in format.

Despite the change receiving widespread praise, Jasikevicius thinks the implementation at this point of the basketball structure is questionable.

"I don't like it. I don't like it because we're always saying that we are playing too many games with [FIBA] windows and [local] championships, and we have 34 games to clearly show where we can be. If I were [in a situation] with many injuries and it could be useful to place 10th and have another opportunity to enter the playoffs, I would speak differently. For me, I think we need to always talk about the same thing that we play too many games, that we are killing the players. And here we play more," he said.

FC Barcelona / Schedule

FC Barcelona Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade94-76 Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul FC BarcelonaWed17:45

While Saras' main focus is on Fenerbahce now, his days with Barcelona still garner tremendous attention from the media both in Spain and in his home country of Lithuania.

Talking about the three-year period with Barca, Jasikevicius was proud of the team and the players.

"Personally, very good. I think I already had friends there, I made more friends. My family was super happy, and at the basketball level, I think we had three wonderful years if you don't consider that we didn't win the Euroleague, which is everyone's big hope. I think we have to be very proud of the three years. We won titles there, and we were always first or second in the Euroleague and ACB," Saras said. "I think I am very proud."

As a player, Saras was known as a winner, capturing the nickname of The Golden Boy in Lithuania.

As a coach, Jasikevicius has been to the EuroLeague Final Four four times but hasn't been able to capture the title, neither with Barca nor Zalgiris Kaunas, his club prior to the stint at Barcelona.

"The Euroleague titles, above all, are clearly an incredible emotion, but of course, there are defeats that hurt you. One of these, I think, was last year. One of my worst defeats was in the semifinal in Kaunas," Saras revealed. "Because clearly I think that we had a better team than Madrid, but look, you arrive in a game, and you don't score anything, and Madrid has players with a lot of experience, and they take the game from you, right?"

"I also like how the guys recovered after the Final Four because it was a hard blow. I think that we showed good basketball, very good basketball, especially in the last five games, the two against Malaga and the three in the final against Madrid," he said.

Jasikevicius' departure from Barcelona was mired in controversy, while numerous rumors circulated about the relationship between the club's management and the coach himself. In the end, Saras said goodbye to the team, and he has no warm feelings toward the management now.

"Well, like any big club, it's a complicated club. I always say, and I said it a couple of months ago, that I feel very disappointed with my bosses, with the people at the club, and with how the treatment was these three years. I think I suffered a lot from the inside, and at times, we certainly seemed like we were not going in the same direction," he said.

Barca's offseason was also full of publicly questioned decisions, such as the hiring of Roger Grimau as Jasikevicius' replacement, the seemingly sudden termination of Nikola Mirotic's contract, public statements about cutting costs while signing expensive deals at the same time.

"Mirotic's case, as it was discussed at the time, it was not serious, it was not that of a big and good club. Then, it became quite clear to me at the personal level that we were going to part ways. At the project level, I no longer liked the things that were happening here.I wanted different things. I suppose they understood it too," Saras said. "I rejected the first offer, and they did not come with a second, so thank you and until the best of times."

"I think one of the things that has also hurt me a lot is that these people with whom I worked for years put a lot of things out in the press. There have been meetings behind the scenes with journalists to tell things. In the end, people don't understand that we're living in the same world. Then you receive information, and truth be told, it has hurt a lot," Jasikevicius recalled. "It was not serious, not serious..."

The Lithuanian specialist has been in Barca three times in his career - twice as a player and once as a head coach.

Would he be willing to return to call Palau Blaugrana his home for the fourth time? Saras isn't ready to say no, but it's highly unlikely.

"I would say that now there are fewer options than ever because it is the third time I have left, and all those times have been very painful. I have never said no in life, but it's good now," he concluded.

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