Svetislav Pesic: “I told Teodosic that I couldn’t offer him the status he had in the team”

By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net

Svetislav Pesic held a press conference and talked about the Serbian national team and also about his decision to cut Milos Teodosic from the team.

Pesic was totally direct and he said that he did the same with the longtime captain of the national team: “I told him directly that I cannot, after everything I’ve seen in the practices, offer him the status and place he had so far in the national team, that I’m turning to players who I think can give more at this moment”.

However, Pesic also didn’t hide his discontent about the leak of his decision: “I see, and I know, that everyone who plays sports knows that hard decisions must be made, not only when it comes to the national team. Those decisions are different in clubs and in the national team. I see that some decisions caused strong reactions, especially in the case of Milos Teodosic. What happened to me for the first time is that I didn’t even have time to inform the team, and all the portals released the news that Teodosic was crossed out of the roster. You are wrongly informed. After that, my colleagues, with whom I have contact, called me, but I didn’t want to answer anyone, I wanted to keep the peace in the national team. Our job is the team, the team was informed a little later, but everyone knows what I was thinking when I made this decision”.

Pesic also admitted that this was not an easy call, considering what Teodosic had given to the national team over the years: “We had a good conversation with him. The decision is mine, it is not easy, not only because he has been on the national team for many years, but it is not easy for any player. He was perhaps a little surprised, but it is an integral part of sports. Of course, there were a lot of conversations on the subject, we know that he is the captain and a top playmaker, a basketball player, but we thought he would stay on the team as a reserve player. He was never a bench player, and I told him that I have better players than him for those positions. As I said, the team is not made up of the 12 best, but of the 12 that work best as a unit. He thanked me, as I thanked him for the way he accepted the news”.

After this turn of events, Nemanja Bjelica and Vladimir Lucic will be the captains of the Serbian national team. Teodosic has already said goodbye to the team.

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