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Our Federation, fans, basketball community still value this competiton very much. We have been facing rejections from our star players in all competitions in recent years, not just for the World Cup. Also, motivation hasn't been there for years. We need to re-establish the culture of our team, and deal with whatever is happening. It's also true that players have different ambitions, NBA took over completely on the list of players' priorities. But it might be true that the trend in international basketball going forward is that Olympics will have huge advantage over all other competitions.
Maybe just fire your coach and maybe those stars will back... The Eurobasket tragedy by Serbia in the hands of Italy should already decided by your federation to change coach... I'm sure Jokic doesn't like what Pesic did when he was benched majority of 2nd half that puts Italy ahead and winning the game... Jokic is a superstar and he should be not benched for that long...
Maybe just fire your coach and maybe those stars will back... The Eurobasket tragedy by Serbia in the hands of Italy should already decided by your federation to change coach... I'm sure Jokic doesn't like what Pesic did when he was benched majority of 2nd half that puts Italy ahead and winning the game... Jokic is a superstar and he should be not benched for that long...
No, this is not on Pesic. Jokic simply doesn't want to play. That's it.
As far as I'm concerned this kid can already compete for senior roster. Micic, Jovic, Jaramaz are all out. Topic is the only PG left. LOL
In all seriousness, he might be the best playmaking guard left after all these rejections.
Pesic is going to have a really tough job handling this situation. Right now, if nothing unexpected happens, we are going to the World Cup without single real point guard on our roster. Kinda feel sorry for Bogdan, incredibly hard load on his back once again. One good positive might be Jovic getting minutes (along with Petrusev and Smailagic) and who knows how good he is already. He could be a real weapon, even though just a rookie. Hard to compete for medal but the road to 1/2 doesn't seem impossible.
No, this is not on Pesic. Jokic simply doesn't want to play. That's it.
I guess some just can’t accept the simple explanations that the guy went through a grueling season that culminated in a championship and wants the summer off. Even dumber people can view this as some sort of treason or a lack of love for their country. Idiots! I would bet that this being the worlds instead of the Olympics had something to do with it as well. There’s probably a better chance that he would have suited up if that was the case. I think barring injury he’ll be there next summer trying to qualify or directly in the Olympics.
Sometimes we forget these are human beings and can use a summer break. And if it’s a choice of a summer off during the Worlds or the Olympics history has shown us the obvious choice.
Good goal for Serbia is to qualify for Olympics, If I am Jokic I wouldnt consider Olympics if they cannot do it or at least show any potential) to pull it off (like what happened in 2021 where Philippines already exposed them(despite having players who has below average reputation in offense in our country) making them very vulnerable against Italy). You were very lucky that you only have Italy or DR as roadblock to the final 8..
After all Serbia needs to do is win their bracket and the roadblock for them upto final 4 is a depleted Lithuania or Greece.
To becomes Asia's Best, we need to compete against the World's Best..
1 Big 4 small > 5 out offense.
I guess some just can’t accept the simple explanations that the guy went through a grueling season that culminated in a championship and wants the summer off. Even dumber people can view this as some sort of treason or a lack of love for their country. Idiots! I would bet that this being the worlds instead of the Olympics had something to do with it as well. There’s probably a better chance that he would have suited up if that was the case. I think barring injury he’ll be there next summer trying to qualify or directly in the Olympics.
Sometimes we forget these are human beings and can use a summer break. And if it’s a choice of a summer off during the Worlds or the Olympics history has shown us the obvious choice.
Jokić is his own man, it's legitimate to do whatever he feels like. It's true that he is coming off a very tough season with big mental and physical fatigue. It's also true that he is not a slave of fans' wishes and projections. He has his own life. However, the thing with Jokić is that Serbian NT (and fan base) never knows what to expect from him, in terms of whether he is going to play or not. It's very hard to create a consistent base of dedicated players if the best player around whom you build your team has such ambivalent stance regarding NT. No consistency whatsoever. He's already skipped NT too many times that it gives fan base the right to think that he just doesn't like to spend summers with NT, no matter if it's Olympics, World Cup or any other competition. He skipped all of them and he is just 28, barring in mind that there were no competitions at all in 2018 and 2020. That seems too much. I absolutely don't think and it's wrong to think that he doesn't love his country, but it's safe to say that he is not enthusiastic about playing for NT in whatever competition it may be.
Serbian NT is a big thing here, everybody is watching NT. Preparations are very important and it's necessary to have commitment and consistency from players in order to reach some success. That doesn't mean everyone must show up in every competition, that's impossible, but sense of commitment is very important. That's exactly what we don't know about Jokic, his dedication to NT at this point is very suspicious. I hope you are right though, and that Jokic will be there to help us go to Olympics (which we can do only in OQT next year as it seems, because it's highly unlikely to grab the ticket in the World Cup considering all absences).
What Jokic doesn't seem to understand is that his impact on the culture of our NT could have been incredible and that goes beyond couple of competitions or medals. Pau Gasol and his generation have had such impact in creating great culture for Spanish NT which went even beyond medals they won. They are still picking fruits and live of off that culture established by Gasol's generation. That is the kind of impact I have in mind when thinking about Jokic and Serbian NT, and it's a shame that he is wasting his years regarding NT as his legacy could have been legendary with an impact that would have continued long after his retirement. Such an amazing player like him, one of the best to ever play basketball, his dedication and better commitment to our NT would have had tremendous influence on all our players and future generations. That's the culture I'm talking about, which is way more important than couple of medals or playing few tournaments.
I get what your saying and I definitely can see your line of thinking. But he competed in 2019 fiba World Cup, then the next tournament in ‘21 was a very unique situation in that his last NBA playoff game was like only two weeks before the start of the Olympic qualifying tournament. It’s very possible that he was going to sit that out with the intentions of playing in the Olympics after a month of rest. I can understand this line of thinking considering Serbia was a heavy favorite to win the qualifying tournament. Then he played in the next tournament being last summer’s Eurobasket. And then we come to this summer which is also somewhat unique because it was a very long season culminating in an NBA title. So I think next year and a potential Olympic Qualifying and Olympic tournament will kind of give us a clearer picture on Jokic when it comes to the argument of the importance he places on National team play. If he plays I think this argument is pretty much moot but if he’s healthy and sits out for consecutive summers then I would probably be on the other side of the argument.
Finally some good news - Stefan Jovic will join NT. He may not be as good as earlier but he is still capable PG, in fact the only true PG we have on the roster (not including Topic as he is too young to compete right now). Remains to be seen what happens with Jaramaz and Pokusevski but I figure they won't recover in time.
Having S. Jovic means much more fluid P&R and P&P game with our bigs - Milutinov, Petrusev and Smailagic. That adds flexibility and puts pressure on opposing defense. Bogdan, Marinkovic, Guduric, Nedovic, Jovic, Avramovic are all capable of shooting lights out and when you add a capable point guard and rolling bigs like Milutinov and Petrusev + excellent pop game from Smailagic, we definitely have something to work with on offense. There is of course Bogdan with his individual talent when things get ugly or when we need buckets. I'm optimistic that our offense will look good, especially if we get into shooting form and have expected/unexpected contribution form Jovic, Petrusev and Smailagic. I'm actually excited to see how this group works together, they are going to show up with plenty of pride and defiance.
As for defense, it's clear that we have to be much better than in previous years when we basically didn't defend at all in key games. It hurts not to have Kalinic and Lucic, but it's all about desire and right mentality. Looking at guard depth, there are pretty good and physical defenders like S. Jovic and Avramovic. Then, we have Bogdan (who was pretty solid defensively even in NBA playoffs) and Marinkovic (going to be so important defensively). So, basically we have guards who can play good to excellent defense and 2 of them can take some time at SF like Bogdan and Marinkovic. That's pretty good. Then, there is Dobric also at SF (decent defender). One player I would give extra consideration when talking about defensive upside of this team is Radanov. He is very good defensively, switchable player, can defend 1-3 (locked down Wilbekin in the fisrt half vs Turkey in Belgrade game), Now, we all know he can't shoot but he brings ton of physicality on defense, rebounding, and nice passing game on offense. He can't shoot but has a high bball IQ. I would strongly think about Radanov as a rotational piece for this team. He can even take some time at PF in small ball lineup. Our defensive upside is a little bit weaker in the frontcourt. N. Jovic is still not a good defender (even though he bulked up a lot, which is still going to be helpful defensively on boxing out), Smailagic can lose focus and lacks lateral quickness, while Petrusev who is going to play PF for the most time is not exactly ideal defender at PF. Milutinov is good enough as rim protector. Having in mind some defensive deficiencies in the frontcourt, I would consider to additionally strengthen our perimeter defense 1-3. If we have a strong perimeter defense then it's a lot easier to mask whatever defensive liabilities we have in the frontcourt. That's why players like Radanov become very interesting. There is also Davidovac in the mix, but not sure how he can help this team depending a lot on running and grinding. High IQ player though. Basically, we have material to work with on both ends, it's just a matter of focus and clicking as a group.
If both Jaramaz and Pokusevski are out, this is my team:
G: Bogdanovic, S. Jovic, Guduric, Avramovic, Nedovic (this team will need the best version of himself)
F: Marinkovic, Jovic, Dobric, Radanov
C: Milutinov, Petrusev Smailagic
In the mix and strong consideration: Ristic, Davidovac, while Simanic, Trifunovic and Beslac don't have much chances if everyone stays healthy. Topic too young, but he is coming soon.
Many players from this roster can play multiple positions which gives us possibilities to mix a lot and find some good lineups that mesh well together in both ways.
Closed game against Bosnia yesterday with no official report from the game, but it seems like Serbia won and N. Jovic had an excellent game. He might bring a lot to this team already.
Another closed game yesterday vs Poland. The result leaked in Polish media - 81:66 (23:14, 19:16, 23:14, 16:22) win for Serbia.
Poland played with both Ponitka and Balcerowski, no info about who was available for Serbia.
Very interesting observation from Polish coach after the game, which gives us an insight about possible game plan of Serbia going forward. He said that Serbian team shot a lot of threes and was very physical in defense. That's exactly the identity this team should build - running, shooting and grinding on defense.
Games against Greece and Italy will tell us more about identity of this team.
From Pesic's recent interview I can read a few things:
- Guduric is definitely shifting to PG, he will get minutes there, alongside S. Jovic and Avramovic.
- S. Jovic will have an important role as he will be first PG of this team.
- About Nikola Jovic: "He came back much stronger this year and made huge improvement over the last year. He is playing with a lot of confidence and enthusiasm. I'm satisified with the way he behaves on and off the court". Safe to say Jovic will be in the final roster. If he breaks out Serbian team will be much more dangerous and versatile.
- Simanic might be the one getting a roster spot, rather surprisingly. He offers outside shooting and transition but not much of anything else.
- If Smailagic doesn't recover in time, Ristic might be in. He can shoot and was great in qualification windows but it's suspicious what he can do vs stronger opposition.
- I wouldn't be surprised if Nedovic is left out.
Acropolis Cup will give clearer picture on roles and what to expect from some players.
1. Defense, new energy and commitment are needed at this end of court.
2. How does S. Jovic look, and how much help (energy) can Avramovic bring at both ends.
3. Guduric taking PG role is something worth exploring in these games.
4. Hopefully, Petrusev will keep improving and playing with confidence, especially since Smailagic is hurt.
5. Nikola Jovic...how well he can adjust to this level of basketball or is it too soon to expect big contribution from him. His shot making skills, transition and passing awareness are very much in line with the way this team is being constructed.
6. Nedovic...Can he be scorer off the bench? He would have to shoot a lot better than last season. If he can shoot in decent percentages, it will be good to have that kind of his version.
7. I would like to see Radanov as his size and physical defense is very intriguing.
8. We can manage 1-3 positions, but it will take serious effort to patch up frontcourt, especially rotation at PF. I'm not sold on Simanic and Davidovac at PF, or Ristic as a backup at C.
We have nice positional versatility as we have many players that can cover multiple positions, especially on the perimeter. We can use these games to try it out. As for frontcourt, Petrusev can take minutes at PF, it's a pity Smailagic is out for this tournament because it would have been nice opportunity to test him in some small ball shooting lineups.
New Serbian captain discusses preparation for the upcoming World Cup
This is in line with reports from closed games. We are looking to play faster with more shooting, transition and much better on ball pressure on defense. Bogdan will do his thing, no need to talk much about him. We can use Milutinov very much in missmatch situations but I wouldn't force his post up game against tall and strong centers as he lacks better footwork to create advantage in those situations. Grabbing rebounds, locking up the paint, attacking smaller centers and putting pressure as a roller are his primary tasks. This team has a lot of unknown factors and that is exactly what makes it interesting with some upside that most are unaware of.
One obvious weakness is that we lack playmaking. Hopefully, it's going to be better with S. Jovic. Guduric was decent at playmaking, but I guess he will be less with ball once Jovic is back and act more as secondary ballhandler.
Avramovic was good, his energy is crucial on both sides of the floor. Aside from some bad decisions at the end of clock, he was good.
Jovic didn't score, but I was super impressed with his physicality, rebounding and interior defense. Offense will come. His first touch with the ball was pulling down defense rebound and leading transition with few dribbles and great pass to the corner which led to completely open Avramovic three after extra pass. That kind of skill is a game changer for us. He'll get serious minutes if he continues to play like this. Pesic is already pushing him.
Ristic has a nice shooting stroke, could be serviceable but he must do better job with defensive rebounding and finsihing layups around basket.
Militinov is good. He will deliver what is expected from him.
Nedovic has to do better than this, because I don't see any use from him if he keeps it up like this. Aside from that nice lob pass to Militinov, everything else was pretty bad.
We need to find a way to include Petrusev more offensively. Exploiting missmatches, attacking closeouts and run some p&r with him. S. Jovic will be helpful in that regard.
I hope Smailagic will recover in time, we need more options and shooting in the frontcourt.
Marinkovic couldn't hit anything, but that is not worrysome, his shot will come around.
Interior defense was very good. Encouraging game. It will be interesting how we defend Italian guards tomorrow. Militinov and Petrusev should have big advantage in the paint, but they will also have big challenge to defend Melli and Datome on the three point line.
What a bad defense vs Italy. Again, it's like we are playing against non shooting team so our tactic is to provoke as many open shots as possible LOL. I figure we are saving defensive effort when we meet in Manilla. Otherwise, we will be in big trouble.
The biggest takeaway is of course Jovic. 18/7/3/1 in 30 min. Without forcing anything. Safe to say we are getting a big player for the future. It's incredible how much stronger he got over the past season. He showed all his repertoire tonight - shooting, driving, passing, finishing through contact, he even hit a fadeaway. The skill we can use a lot is his ability to pass the ball on the move while driving. He is already really good at this and we can do a lot of damage with his playmaking finding open shooters in corners.
Aside from sorting out defense against shooting teams which play all 5 out lineups, it's important to get back S. Jovic and Smailagic. Guduric is doing decent as a playmaker but we need a pure point guard like Jovic for 10-15 minutes. It will help us a lot and take the pressure off Avramovic and Guduric. Then, I like Ristic, but we need Smailagic there as a backup center. Not sure why Pesic won't use Petrusev at C for some stretches. He didn't play at all tonight.
This team can make success only if they are locked in defensively. That still remains questionable. Switching defense is bad, rotations after just first screen and pass are very slow. Staying few feet away from Italian shooters or going under screen is just total mental lapse. We didn't care about defense at all. Not sure if that was part of tactics.
If Nedovic continues to play like this, I would take Topic in a blink of an eye. He really needs to step up.
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