By Eurohoops Team / info@eurohoops.net
Beşiktaş coach Dusan Alimpijevic recently took an important step in his career. The Serbian manager replaced Svetislav Pesic and became the new head coach of the Serbian national team.
Following Beşiktaş‘s victory over Onvo Büyükçekmece, Alimpijevic traveled to Belgrade and spoke to the press for the first time as Serbian national team coach.
He spoke about managing Besiktas and Serbia’s national team simultaneously, a “privilege” that few people can have.
“The pressure I feel is a privilege very few have. Of course, you have to be very disciplined in life. I won’t have any free time anymore. Even if I did, I’d have to plan very carefully how to use it. How many hours will I dedicate to Beşiktaş, how many hours will I dedicate to the national team…? Can a coach dream of anything more than that? I can’t express how proud I am of myself,” said the new Serbian coach.
Regarding his new role and the philosophy he aims to implement, Alimpijevic made himself very clear, remaining humble and grateful for the opportunity.
“When I think about the people who have held this position before, I feel even more proud. I know how much basketball means to this country. I want to thank President Covic (President of the Serbian Basketball Federation) and the Board of Directors for considering me worthy of this position,” he added.
When asked about possible changes to the Serbian national team, one of the best in the world, with a roster enviable by any team, Dusan stood firm on the ideas they’ve had so far. “We researched the most important characteristics of today’s basketball, and they’ve changed drastically compared to last year. It would be absurd to say we’ll play this or that type of basketball because we don’t yet know who we’ll have,” he commented.
He took the opportunity to make one thing clear: there will be no “naturalized” players on his roster. “A foreigner… no, not while I’m the coach. We know what we are as a country, and we wouldn’t be like this if we had one,” he concluded.