By Antonis Stroggylakis/ info@eurohoops.net
The initial goal that Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana head coach Zvezdan Mitrovic set for the team in his return to the BKT EuroCup after three years away was unlocked when the team made it out of the regular season.
Now, the former EuroCup champion and Coach of the Year would hate to miss an appointment with Dejan Radonjic of Bahcesehir College Istanbul down the road.
“As a team, our goal is always to take it to the next level. My goal right now is to move to the next stage and play against my best man Dejan Radonjic in the quarterfinals,” Mitrovic told Eurohoops.
“He was my best man in my wedding. We’ve been friends for ages. Since we were born,” Mitrovic added. Indeed, the two Montenegrin coaches were born 17 days apart in Podgorica in 1970.
Before Mitrovic gets the chance for a matchup with his longtime friend, Cedevita has to overcome the obstacle of Besiktas Fibabanka Istanbul in the eighthfinals. The two teams will face each other in a win-or-go-home clash at Stozice Arena in Ljubljana on Wednesday.
“I trust that my players will be ready,” Mitrovic stated. “We have been locked in on this game for weeks now. For example, we had the ABA League game versus Buducnost Saturday where we lost. Our focus wasn’t on that game but more on our game against Besiktas. It’s really important for us.”
Cedevita and Besiktas both finished the regular season with 10-8 records in Group B and A respectively. While this ratio was enough for the Slovenian team to get the homecourt advantage in the eighthfinals, the Eagles of Istanbul lost that opportunity in the tiebreaker with fellow Turkish side Turk Telekom.
Mitrovic is quite familiar with Besiktas and experienced enough to look past such details. When he measures his opponent’s current strength for example, he prefers to take a look at how well theyhandled themselves in the Turkish Cup where they eliminated EuroLeague team Anadolu Efes Istanbul in the quarterfinals.
“I know Besiktas very well,” Mitrovic said. “I’m really good friends with Coach Dusan Alimpijevic. They are a very ambitious team and have a big budget. They carry experience both as a team and individually from playing in semifinals or finals. I faced them when I was coaching Galatasaray last year. They changed a couple of guys but basically, they have some key core players together. You saw how they performed in a knockout game when they beat Efes in the Turkish Cup.”
In an interview with EuroCup Basketball, Cedevita forward Devin Robinson underlined Besiktas’s defensive aggressiveness as a key aspect that he and his teammates should pay attention to.
It’s no coincidence that Mitrovic uses more or less the same words to describe their next opponent.
“They are a super aggressive team. Great defense,” Mitrovic mentioned. “If we survive this aggressiveness in their defense and overcome this part of the game, we can get a good result.”
Among what Mitrovic and his players need to navigate against Besiktas are the complexities of a knockout game.
“The knockout game situation is a tricky situation of course,” Mitrovic said. “Some may not call the format really fair since a single bad performance in one game or an unlucky timing with injuries may destroy everything you’ve worked for through the season until then. But we have prepared for it and we’ll try our best.
“There is always pressure, especially when you play a knockout game,” Mitrovic added. “It’s on everybody. But I think Besiktas has more pressure than us.
“One of the parts of my job is to try to make my players decompress. Remove the pressure. I want my guys to play freely. To be calm, focused, ready to play our game to the best of their abilities. Through the season we were under pressure in some games and we didn’t perform as we should’ve. This time, the goal is to have a different approach.”
Making Cedevita a considerable EuroCup unit once more
By taking over Cedevita last summer, Mitrovic agreed to handle a delicate task.
Mitrovic had to manage the rebuilding of the team almost from scratch following two miserable campaigns in the EuroCup. Cedevita registered just one win last season and finished the 2022-23 campaign with a 3-15 record.
“It’s crazy when you think about it,” Mitrovic said. “I knew this was a struggling team. For me, as a coach, the main goal was to make a significant step up from these last two seasons. Even though we had a new team. Because we had to sign several new players to achieve our goal. To be competitive, for a start, and then take it to a new level – which we did by advancing from the group stage. We were close to finishing second. We missed a really good chance in our home game versus Valencia. We could’ve gotten a result there that would push us to the second place.”
In October, Mitrovic had to undergo routine back surgery that kept him sidelined from Rounds 3 through 8 – a stretch during which Cedevita went 2-4. Once he got back, the team truly began picking up the pace and delivering on the floor.
Cedevita recorded six wins over the next seven games, including a big road victory at Hapoel Jerusalem. These results gave them a powerful push upward to the top spots of Group B and also sent a message to the rest of the competition that this team is back and is legit.
“I’m an ambitious coach and I’m ambitious as a person. Considering the budget we had, we did well in the regular season, but we could’ve done better.”
Mitrovic saw his team making it past a difficult group in what he considers to be the most competitive edition of the league in recent years.
“I think this season’s EuroCup is much stronger than the previous two or three seasons,” Mitrovic mentioned. “First of all, we saw some interesting new faces in the league, like Bahcesehir. Valencia is always a dominant team, they look to play in the EuroLeague. Hapoel Tel Aviv and Hapoel Jerusalem are really strong. Besiktas and Buducnost are very good teams. The competition overall is more challenging, there are more contenders, high-level teams with big budgets. All these make everything more interesting.”
Finding the right ingredients
When looking for players to sign for his revamped Cedevita roster, Mitrovic examined the basketball characteristics of each case but also the personalities that can embrace his philosophy.
“For starters, you build the team and create the team according to your budget,” Mitrovic explained. “Considering this, this is a pretty solid roster we managed to assemble and as a result, we managed to create a solid team. We have players of all ages. Some young guys, some older guys.”
“I really care about the character first of all. I want my guys to be hard workers. Good characters. Throughout my career, I’ve worked with all sorts of different players. But for me, character, work ethic and having an inherent motivation are perhaps more important than anything else.”
Three newcomers, Devin Robinson (14.3 points, 5.8 rebounds) , Brynton Lemar (14.7 points, 2.8 rebounds) and Devante Jones (10.0 points, 3.9 assists), mainly lead the offense for Cedevita so far. Slovenia natives Aleksej Nikolic (9.8 points, 3.6 assists) and captain Jaka Blazic (9.8 points, 3.6 rebounds) provide experience, leadership and numbers. DJ Stewart (9.3 points, 4.7 rebounds)– the only US player who remained from last season’s squad – is also contributing his piece.
“We have our captain Jaka Blazic who is a EuroLeague and EuroCup veteran. But 80 percent of our guys are new to this. It’s their first time in EuroCup level. For me, it was a very interesting situation.”
Mitrovic has been accustomed to winning throughout his career.
The results speak for themselves. A BKT EuroCup title in 2021 with AS Monaco when he was also named Coach of the Year. The French League championship of 2019. Three French Cup trophies. Ukrainian League and Cup titles.
He knows what is like to get his hands on that silverware. Some of his players though are just getting started. And that has tickled their appetite.
“We won the Slovenian Cup and for more than half of my players, this was their first trophy of their careers. Devin Robinson, Devante Jones, Brynton Lemar for example. Some would say that it’s a big minus to have players who aren’t really experienced in this kind of competition. But there’s some pluses too. I think everybody is hungry for winning more. Hungry for winning trophies. They have desire and now that they got a taste for it, their desire is even bigger.
“When you are a coach, you always try to create a winning team. Build the character of victory, no matter the level. For me this is crucial.”
A special addition that Cedevita made after the season began was veteran Bosnian center Andrija Stipanovic from Lietkabelis Panevezys.
The Croatian big man has been helpful in the limited minutes (17:28) he gets with 5.8 points, 3.3 rebounds and a notable 2.2 in assists. He’s also been acting as a mentor to some of his younger teammates like Joan Beringer.
“Stipanovic is 38 years old and still going strong,” Mitrovic said. “Imagine, we have a 38-year-old big man and an 18-year-old big man in Joan Beringer. When Stipanovic arrived, he really changed the game. Not only the game. He’s that guy in the locker room. A vocal presence as well. A guy who will support the players. He’s the guy who’s helped Beringer improve a lot. Practicing. Playing one-on-one. Of course, it’s difficult for him to play two-three games per week but he has helped us a lot. Especially when it comes to the experience he brings. A great guy. Great character. Locker room, court, everywhere.”
A EuroLeague team in Ljubljana?
Even if he wasn’t born and then learned to love basketball in Montenegro, Mitrovic would still perfectly understand how big the sport is in the Balkans just from his time in Slovenia.
Naturally, he would love to see more Balkan representatives in the EuroLeague and believes that Cedevita would fit the part. After all, if his team goes all the way, that will be the true big prize for them.
“That would be great obviously,” Mitrovic said. “Ljubljana has everything. There’s an organization here that’s of a EuroLeague level. We just don’t have the budget, at least not yet. Because if you take it to the new level, there will be new sponsors who will show interest.”
“Ljubljana has great gyms and facilities. All the conditions necessary to have a EuroLeague team. And I believe it would be great for the EuroLeague to have another Balkan team.”