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31 August, 2017
17 September
03/09/2017
News
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The beard is never coming off, says the hard-rocking Dubljevic

CLUJ-NAPOCA (FIBA EuroBasket 2017) - Montenegro's twin towers mirrored each other on the court, both posting an identical stat line of 13 points, 7 rebounds and 2 assists against Hungary.

But while Nikola Vucevic and Bojan Dubljevic can both post up, spot up, pop out and box out almost identically on the court, their personalities could not be any more different off the court. Nikola is a calm, collected, perfectly aligned guy, sometimes even being too nice when he doesn't have a basketball in his hands. Bojan? Bojan is a whole different story.

"My teammates usually say I'm a psycho," says the Valencia power forward a smile on his face. The reason is his peculiar taste in music. You can always see players walking to the arena with headphones on, some of them even warm up with earplugs in, but it is hard to see somebody borrowing Dubljevic's records any time soon.

"I can send you my playlist if you want. It's all aggressive hard rock, that's what gets me going on the court, that's what I love listening to, that's what motivates me."

Some band names to paint a clearer picture?

"Slipknot, System of a Down, Rammstein. I don't think I've met any other player with those preferences. They just think I'm crazy," says Dubljevic, laughing out loud as he reflects on his attempts to get his teammates to listen to his music.

"We do have our team rituals, though. We go through the team songs, I respect that. Of course, my musical picks don't get up there, but I can listen to all the other stuff, too. Recently, I've listened to a lot of Montenegrin bands. Especially DST, a band from my hometown of Niksic. Their song Vatra is the real deal for motivation!"

DST stands for Drustvo Skrivenih Talenata, meaning Society of Hidden Talents. Even though Dubljevic's talents are definitely not hidden, it's easy to see why they get the Spanish ACB League Finals MVP pumped up, with lyrics such as: I am not done and I will not stop/the fire is still burning inside of me/in spite of everything I'm moving forward.

Just as Montenegro have their sights set on moving forward, to Round of 16 for the first time in team history. With Dubljevic and Vucevic in the froncourt, it seems probable.

"We never look at the scoreboard during the game to see who scored how many points, and we are most definitely not counting rebounds. The most important thing is that we stayed a team after that blowout loss to Spain. We went back to the court, showed our real power, the true face of Montenegro. We will keep on fighting like this, we want to realize that dream of reaching the Knockout Phase," Dubljevic said.

After leading Valencia to a first-ever domestic title in Spain, Dubljevic now wants to use the same kind of an underdog role with the national team. But even if he leads Montenegro to a podium position finish, his trademark beard will not be coming off.

"Nope, nope, nope, nope. All my strength is in my beard. If I shave it, I would be pathetic, weak. This way, I am way too strong," he muses, grooming his beard with both his hands.

What about the ladies? Do they like it?

"You know what they say. Never change the winning formula," he concludes, laughing.

FIBA