SLO – Memi Becirovic: ‘We don’t just have one leader’

ISTANBUL (FIBA World Championship) – It’s not enough to say that Slovenia had a great EuroBasket in Poland last year.

You remember that team that was so mentally tough under Jure Zdovc that when player after player got injured, the team seemed to get stronger and stronger?

It was, quite possibly, the grittiest run to the last four ever achieved at a European Championship.

So many players had knocks that the waterboy was about to suit up.

Despite the courage and the determination of Slovenia, an overtime defeat to Serbia in the last four and a one-point loss to Greece in the bronze-medal game meant that Zdovc and Co went home empty-handed.

The thousands of Slovenians who travelled to watch, and the players themselves, deserved better - not that anyone back in Ljubljana cared.

When the players, coaches and staff returned home, several thousand fans greeted them and treated them all like the heroes.

By beating Croatia in their Quarter-Final in Katowice last year, Slovenia earned a second straight trip to the FIBA World Championship.

However in December, at the draw for the event in Istanbul, Zdovc dropped a bombshell and announced he was stepping down to focus on his duties as Union Olimpija coach.

Fortunately for Slovenia, a very experienced Memi Becirovic was available to take over.

Becirovic spoke to Jeff Taylor for FIBA.com.

FIBA: Belated congratulations on your appointment as national team coach. How excited are you to be here in Istanbul with Slovenia?

Memi Becirovic: Yes, I’m very excited. It’s a big honor for me to lead the team in such a big competition as the World Championship. After all is said and done, you are supposed to play and show good basketball and I hope this team will.

We remember watching Slovenia play so well at the EuroBasket in Belgrade five years ago to qualify for the World Championship for the first time. The national team seems to be getting better and better every year, building some momentum. Is that how you see it?

Memi Becirovic: Yes, I agree with you. We are a young country and we needed some time to build our self confidence for the big competitions. We are now, I think, grown up and are ready for the big competitions. We showed this last year at the European Championship and I hope we will show it at this competition.

How hard it is for you as a coach to know that you won’t have players like the Lorbek brothers, Erazem and Domen, in the squad this year? Erazem made the all-tournament team at the EuroBasket and Domen was outstanding at the event as well.

Memi Becirovic: Yes, okay, it’s hard but this is basketball, this is sport. You can’t have all players all the time because they also have club competitions, they are tired, and they are injured, and not only the Lorbeks. I miss Matjaz Smodis, who was important.

Smodis was a real leader in that team last year. Who is the real voice in the locker room this year?

Memi Becirovic: The captain is Jaka Lakovic. He’s the most experienced guy. There is also (Primoz) Brezec and (Bostjan) Nachbar. We don’t just one have leader. They act like a team.

Can you see in the players in the squad last year how that experience affected them in terms of their confidence because Slovenia really were terrific in Poland at the EuroBasket and overcome so much adversity to reach the Semi-Finals. That was the best Slovenia team that I had ever seen.

Memi Becirovic: Yes, I agree with you. Also, I saw those games and it was the best team. My hope is that we will do the same this year at the World Championship. Okay, let’s see, we didn’t do so well in the pre-season, the pre-Championship games. But this is something different. But we also have a lot of supporters coming. We expect 3,000 fans and they give us a lot of confidence, and energy to play.

FIBA