Partizan GM reveals crucial Nikola Mirotic's mistake that prevented his move to Belgrade / News - Basketnews.com

Zoran Savic revealed that Partizan had a three-year contract ready for Nikola Mirotic, with agreed-upon demands, however, the EuroLeague star decided to inform all the other clubs about the deal, the word spread out, and created a big pressure.

Credit: Rokas Snarskis, Partizan Belgrade Credit Rokas Snarskis, Partizan Belgrade

Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade sports director Zoran Savic gave a detailed explanation of what happened with Nikola Mirotic, who was on the verge of transferring to the black-and-white Belgrade side.

Nikola Mirotic

Position:PFAge:32Height:208 cmWeight:102 kgBirth place:Podgorica, MontenegroProfileNewsStatistics

"I read various comments as if everyone knows better than us, but there is only one truth, and the whole thing went like this," Savic started in an interview with Bojan Brezovac of Mozzart Sport and continued with a lengthy monologue:

"We had our first conversation before the Final Four in Kaunas. I knew that Barcelona would not want to continue with Nikola on the team, and he knew it too," Savic said. "We were the first to contact him before anyone else in Europe. It was a fair conversation with him, but we decided to wait and see how the season ends. We also contacted his agent Igor Crespo to offer him a specific contract. We talked all June, but the contract termination with Barcelona was long."

"Still, everything was going well, but he made one mistake. While we were talking to him, the whole of Europe was speaking about his move to Olympiacos, then Olimpia Milan, no one mentioned Partizan, and he liked that -- he saw that we were serious, that information was not leaking from us. All those conversations with him went calmly, he showed composure.

"And then, in one of the meetings with Zeljko Obradovic and me, he interrupted and said: 'People, I have decided, I am coming to your team, and I will inform all the other clubs about it.' I advised him not to do so because the word would immediately spread that we are the club he is moving to, and in the end, that's exactly what happened. As the information got out, the pressure got going, and the situation changed," Savic underlined.

Partizan had a three-year contract ready for Mirotic, with agreed-upon demands and even provisions allowing the EuroLeague star to leave after the first year if he was unhappy.

"We had a three-year contract with him, and we agreed to all the terms," Savic revealed. "There was even a clause that he could leave the team after the first year if he didn't like the way we were working. He had a few more clauses where he could easily leave the team, everything. We promised him all that and fulfilled it.

"He even talked to Kevin Punter to make everything sure. He openly said that he wanted us to compete for the EuroLeague title. He even said on one occasion that he did not want to take the number of Danilo Andusic, who wears No. 33, but he will take the jersey with No. 3.

"We offered him to work with the best coach in Europe, we offered him to become a true idol of 25% of Serbia since they say there are so many Partizan supporters, to be part of a big project that entire Europe is talking about. What we couldn't offer him was the finances he might have had with some other clubs."

What happened next?

"The tensions are fierce, but we all face tensions. In the end, we as a society sent a bad image that one player cannot come to Serbia even though he has never played for Zvezda or Partizan before. Personally, I was bothered by that sentence about dividing Serbia," Savic stressed. "Well, separate sides have always been there. He can't divide anyone. After all, divisions in sports are nothing new. Everyone supports their club; people are always divided by fan affiliation.

"It's not something specific to Serbia. Nikola even jokingly said that he would withstand all that pressure because he earlier made a move from Real to Barcelona, ​​but you saw what happened in the end.

"I'm just sorry that everything here is presented as life or death. That's not normal. This is neither life nor death, this is a sport and should remain within the scope of the sport. The players should go out on the court and show who is better."

Mozzart Sport's interview then delved into another hot topic, future signings for Partizan.

"Everyone is an insider, and there is little truth in what is being said or written," Savic pointed out. "What I can say is that we are in contact with many players, and we will bring three. Only Ostoja Mijailovic [Partizan president], Zeljko, and I know who these players are."

Last but not least, the conversation touched on Yam Madar's surprising departure to Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul.

"First of all, I should say that Yam is a great kid, but we didn't expect him to leave," Savic said. "He had a decent contract, we believed in him, and we wanted him to sign a new contract to extend our cooperation. We brought him when nobody even knew about him, and he became the best young player in the EuroLeague, which is not a small thing.

"He made a mistake because of the way he left. If you want to be big, then you don't leave like this. We talked to him during the season and let him know that we wanted him on the team. We had patience with him. We gave him a lot, of course, and he also offered many great things to us -- it was mutually beneficial. He was an important player for us."

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