BELGRADE (EuroBasket/FIBA Basketball World Cup) - On the day Serbia celebrated the return of their silver medalists from the FIBA U19 World Championship in the Czech Republic, the former most valuable player of that tournament has shocked the senior team set-up.

Galatasaray center Milan Macvan, the 2007 MVP when Serbia captured the gold on home soil, did not show up at the start of the Blues' training camp for EuroBasket 2013.

Macvan played for the Serbia team that made a surprising run to the silver medal at the EuroBasket in Poland four years ago and has featured in the senior team ever since.

He played at the 2010 FIBA World Championship in Turkey, at EuroBasket 2011 in Lithuania and last summer in the Qualification Round for EuroBasket 2013.

"Sincerely, I don't know why Macvan didn't come," Ivkovic said.

"Every single attempt that we've made to contact him was unsuccessful.

"My job is to call all the best players, but I can't force them to show up.

"I still believe that playing for your country is a big honor, something you should be proud of."

This summer's 24-team event in Slovenia is a qualifying tournament for next year's FIBA Basketball World Cup in Spain.

Serbia had lost power forwards Dusko Savanovic, Zoran Erceg and Novica Velickovic to injuries.

Complicating matters even more for Serbia, who are going to play in arguably the toughest group at the EuroBasket against Lithuania, Latvia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina and The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (MKD), is a change on Ivkovic's coaching set-up.

Two of his three assistants, Vlada Vukoicic and Sasa Nikitovic, have left the staff due to new jobs.

Remaining assistant Aleksandar Kesar has been joined by Milos Gligorijevic and Djordje Adzic.

"At the last moment (members of) my coaching staff left," Ivkovic said.

"That's a serious problem for me. We've included coaches that can answer that call, though, and I believe we'll achieve our goals."

While maintaining his sense of optimism and determination, Ivkovic isn't willing to make predictions about results.

The team needs to claim a top-six finish to earn a berth at the World Cup.

If Spain, the hosts of next year's event, are in the top six at EuroBasket, then a top-seven finish will be good enough for Serbia to take part in 2014.

"Due to the new circumstances, I can't talk about results we are going to try to achieve in Slovenia," he said.

"We have a huge number of new players, so I can't predict how fast they'll improve.

"We'll discuss our goals for the EuroBasket after the last phase of our preparations."

FIBA