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Slavnic: Bad blood between Efes and Perasovic
The not-so-well situation of Efes Pilsen, a team with one of the largest budgets in Europe with about 20 million euros, is surprising even European basketball pundits.
The İstanbul team has been eliminated from the Euroleague and fell to fourth place in the domestic league, the Beko Turkish Basketball League. Serbian coach Zoran Slavnic, who was once the trainer of current Efes team coach Velimir Perasovic, said his former pupil has disappointed him.
Slavnic, a legendary basketball player of the former Yugoslavia, said there is bad blood between the Turkish team and Perasovic. While noting that he has been closely following Turkish basketball, the famous coach said: “The place of such a team as Efes, which enjoys many opportunities and is composed of high-quality players, must be the final four. Attributing the failure totally to my former player Perasovic is, of course, not right. But it is a reality that Efes is suffering from serious problems. It seems that the chemistry and philosophy of the players are not compatible with Perasovic’s. Because Turks are ambitious and aggressive, they may want to see a leader like them on the bench.”
Slavnic emphasized that Efes Pilsen must look into the reasons behind their failure in the Euroleague. “Otherwise, the Turkish league may be risked, too. The defeat against Galatasaray [last week] is a sign of falling down. It means that there is a big problem to be solved,” he said.
The 62-year-old coach recalled that the Turkish national basketball team put the nation on the world’s basketball map under the leadership of coach Bogdan Tanjevic and continued: “Tanjevic became really successful by making Turkey the world’s second best team. I hope the performance of Efes Pilsen and Fenerbahçe [which was also eliminated from Euroleague] will not affect Turkish basketball negatively. Because, fairly enough, I want to see a silver medal-winning Turkey at the Olympics, too.”
The not-so-well situation of Efes Pilsen, a team with one of the largest budgets in Europe with about 20 million euros, is surprising even European basketball pundits.
The İstanbul team has been eliminated from the Euroleague and fell to fourth place in the domestic league, the Beko Turkish Basketball League. Serbian coach Zoran Slavnic, who was once the trainer of current Efes team coach Velimir Perasovic, said his former pupil has disappointed him.
Slavnic, a legendary basketball player of the former Yugoslavia, said there is bad blood between the Turkish team and Perasovic. While noting that he has been closely following Turkish basketball, the famous coach said: “The place of such a team as Efes, which enjoys many opportunities and is composed of high-quality players, must be the final four. Attributing the failure totally to my former player Perasovic is, of course, not right. But it is a reality that Efes is suffering from serious problems. It seems that the chemistry and philosophy of the players are not compatible with Perasovic’s. Because Turks are ambitious and aggressive, they may want to see a leader like them on the bench.”
Slavnic emphasized that Efes Pilsen must look into the reasons behind their failure in the Euroleague. “Otherwise, the Turkish league may be risked, too. The defeat against Galatasaray [last week] is a sign of falling down. It means that there is a big problem to be solved,” he said.
The 62-year-old coach recalled that the Turkish national basketball team put the nation on the world’s basketball map under the leadership of coach Bogdan Tanjevic and continued: “Tanjevic became really successful by making Turkey the world’s second best team. I hope the performance of Efes Pilsen and Fenerbahçe [which was also eliminated from Euroleague] will not affect Turkish basketball negatively. Because, fairly enough, I want to see a silver medal-winning Turkey at the Olympics, too.”
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