Spain (clubs) stealing kids from ex Yugoslavia

[pohani komarac]

i realy like to here other people opinion on this. as you all know countries from ex yugoslavia are full of talented kids, and now there are many kids like mirotic, b. bogdanovic, djedovic, rakocevic, bubalo and d. bogdanovic in spain clubs. i read many rumors that tau ceramica and real madrid are all over croatian talents b. barac 92., m. ramljak 93. and d. saric 94. i also red that they have scouts all over area to find new talented kids. for me that is big problem that could destroy our basketball. i understand that our clubs don't have mony to fight with rich clubs for players like ukic, tomas, pekovic, teodosic...but at least this players gave somthing to their clubs if nothing else than money. but where does it stops? now they are finding kids without contracts and stealing them from our clubs and even worse there is big chance that some of them will play for spain. for now montenegrian mirotic and croatian serb dusan bogdanovic are probabley lost for our countries. will spain one day have team full of guys who's last name end on ić (ich)? do spain fans like that? will that destroy our clubs and national teams?

for me that's becomeing big problem and it should be stoped before it is to leate. fiba and uleb should make som rules to stop this.

[rikhardur]

But what to say about Mirotić's case, when he states that he gets no support from the Montenegrin federation?

[pohani komarac]

what support he would like to have? money? should national teams pay their players for playing in national team? i know for sure from first hand that all talentet sportman's get support from their clubs in apartments, food, close if he is from other region and national organizations and clubs makes tham esier to pass in school.

[AlbionGate]

But what to say about Mirotić's case, when he states that he gets no support from the Montenegrin federation?

It seems Mirotic gets support (or cash) from Montenegrin federation, because he declares two days ago that he will play for Montenegro.

[rikhardur]

Thanks for the update AlbionGate.
My point was: if a player gets no support from his federation or club, he seeks what's best for him (including financially). I'm not saying it's "healthy" that so many talents go to Spain or other countries, but if those clubs have better conditions than the previous ones domestically, why shouldn't a player make a move? I guess this applies to any player at any age. But I agree the question can be discussed, since the clubs that provide a player with fundamentals that drag foreign attention get no recognition (including financially) whatsoever.

[pohani komarac]

i'm not sayig players should not make move to get better conditions. problem is for sample sibenik (drazen petrovic home town) that is probaly in worst finacial shape in croatia and mostley they living from selling players. there is one talent dario saric 94. that plays in bball school academy drazen petrovic. croatia media alredy calls him new petrovic, kukoc...(that not good thing but it's the way it is) and they can't sing him untill he is 16 so if he goes to other club before sibenik can't get any benefit from him not even mony for him and invested mony in him is vasted mony. so that could lead to completley disaster of small clubs. only i hope his father predrag saric ex sibenka player will do the right thing for all. what for sample partizan would be tooday if real or tau took their talents before they singed profesional contract? destroyed club. there should be rule that saves smaller clubs

[vaslover]

i'm not sayig players should not make move to get better conditions. problem is for sample sibenik (drazen petrovic home town) that is probaly in worst finacial shape in croatia and mostley they living from selling players. there is one talent dario saric 94. that plays in bball school academy drazen petrovic. croatia media alredy calls him new petrovic, kukoc...(that not good thing but it's the way it is) and they can't sing him untill he is 16 so if he goes to other club before sibenik can't get any benefit from him not even mony for him and invested mony in him is vasted mony. so that could lead to completley disaster of small clubs. only i hope his father predrag saric ex sibenka player will do the right thing for all. what for sample partizan would be tooday if real or tau took their talents before they singed profesional contract? destroyed club. there should be rule that saves smaller clubs

I fully support you in this quite serious problem for ex yougoslavians. But i think, that need with milk of mother to EDUCATE a PATRIOTIC SPIRIT in children. For example, during the hungry and beggar 90's for my country, even in that difficult period it was impossible to imagine our brilliant youth ice-hockey players in Canadian NT t-shirt with maple-leaf. A lot of our talents played in american ice-hockey college clubs in that difficult for Russia period, but all our brilliant talents RENOUNCED to represent youth USA and Canada NT's!..
P.s. I think Fiba should to protect such basketball donors countries as ex Yougoslavia or Lithuania, because this situation with Spain and talents from ex Yougoslavia reminds the real and full lawlessness...

[Mojado]

Spain is not only all over Ex-Yugoslavia but also in Latin America and also in Africa (Where they signed a deal with FIBA Africa).
If you are looking into the Sub-20 rosters and younger, there are many foreign-born players that are getting the Spanish passport to be fielded as locals.
Same goes for Italy (Who are recruiting actively in Argentina) and for France (Who are scouting the African continent for years now to naturalize players).
Greece had their hands on Serbian youngsters for some time, while the Irish gave a lot of Americans the Irish passport to play for their NT (I remember some years ago Marty Conlon and Mitchell and others...like nine American players on their roster).

FIBA needs to do something about this kind of recruitment, but since these countries have a good lobby, there won't be any changes soon.

[penzias]

Spain is not only all over Ex-Yugoslavia but also in Latin America and also in Africa (Where they signed a deal with FIBA Africa).
If you are looking into the Sub-20 rosters and younger, there are many foreign-born players that are getting the Spanish passport to be fielded as locals.
FIBA needs to do something about this kind of recruitment, but since these countries have a good lobby, there won't be any changes soon.

But those young players mostly keep their original citizenship and play for their NT after being recruited (Scola, Splitter, Paulo Prestes, Nocedal, Djedovic...).

The only cases that are suposed to play for Spain in the future are Mamadou Samb, probably this summer he'll join the spanish u-20 team, and maybe Mirotic.

By the way i don't think that the spanish clubs steal the players any more than Cibona or Partizan do.

[penzias]

It seems Mirotic gets support (or cash) from Montenegrin federation, because he declares two days ago that he will play for Montenegro.

Do you have the link to the article/interview? thanks.

[vaslover]

But those young players mostly keep their original citizenship and play for their NT after being recruited (Scola, Splitter, Paulo Prestes, Nocedal, Djedovic...).

The only cases that are suposed to play for Spain in the future are Mamadou Samb, probably this summer he'll join the spanish u-20 team, and maybe Mirotic.

By the way i don't think that the spanish clubs steal the players any more than Cibona or Partizan do.

It,s a big difference. Even if Cibona or Partizan stealing young talents from small towns, anyway those young players eventually will represent native NT. As for spanish clubs (or Spanish Basketball Federation) maybe they to pursue a purpose to naturalize some of ex yougoslavian youngsters for representing Spain NT.

[AlbionGate]

Do you have the link to the article/interview? thanks.

Mirotic gave an interview on montenegrin private television channel TV IN.