By Eurohoops Team/ info@eurohoops.net
Partizan Belgrade coach Zeljko Obradovic commented on the involvement of his players Carlik Jones, Sterling Brown and Isaac Bonga in a street fight that took place outside a night club in the Serbian capital.
“You know what? I was shocked,” Obradovic said after Partizan’s 100-75 over Spartak Office Shoes in Game 1 of the ABA League quarterfinals. “That shock still haunts me. A few years ago, the Euroleague decided to create an association of players who are the most important, ELPA, then a coaches’ association, then referees. We all, each in our own guild, have rights, but we also have obligations. The players have to understand that, each one of us. At the beginning of the year, at the first training and meeting, I explained to them that they are Partizan players and that it will be the same when they sleep, when they are in a restaurant and a cafe, that the news will appear. I can only tell you that I was shocked by the scenes that I saw. I hope that it will never happen again. They are young people who made a huge mistake and I hope that with an apology they realized what they did and that it will never happen again in their lives. They have their lives ahead of them, they should do whatever they like, but I am shocked by those images.”
Partizan stated that Jones, Brown and Bonga were subjects to racial insults by a group of people in a night club in Belgrade. The incident escalated outside the club and became violent.
According to footage from a street camera, Jones appeared to smash a bottle on a person’s head and injuring him.
All three players participated in Game 1 while police investigation on the incident is ongoing.
“The club’s rules exist, they will definitely be sanctioned, there is no dilemma,” Obradovic added. “The club will decide what kind of punishment it will be, we have the rules. ELPA wrote the rules on rights and obligations, we have to react accordingly. I told them that in every situation they have to control their emotions, to think about the fact that they are Partizan players and that in that sense they do not have a private life. They have to be careful where they go, who they sit with, how they behave, I have said that before. I am not justifying what happened, I do not know what happened, nor do I want to get into it. My experience working with them is that they are great guys, I cannot know what happened to make them react like that. In our job and on the field, let alone off it, controlling emotions is very important. They have to respect themselves and all the people they come across, I hope it will never happen again, not to them but to anyone. We are all human, we make mistakes, they have accepted it and apologized.”