TalkBasket.net Basketball Forums

Quote:Saric backs Petrovic to lead Croatia again

CHARLOTTE (FIBA EuroBasket 2017) - There is certainty when it comes to Croatia's national team. The program is loaded with the talent. That is not up for debate.

And maybe the biggest talent of all is 22-year-old Dario Saric, the Most Valuable Player at the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament (OQT) in Turin.

There is also uncertainty, though. The country's basketball federation doesn't have a president and with the FIBA EuroBasket 2017 less than a year away, the national team has no coach.

Saric, a rookie in the NBA this season with the Philadelphia 76ers, told FIBA.com this week that Aco Petrovic, who led the team this summer, is the ideal coach for the team.

FIBA.com: What message would you send back to the fans regarding the federation having no president, and the national team no coach?

Saric: I know 50 percent of what is true, what I have heard, read in the newspaper. (But) It's almost November and we're supposed to have a coach in December, January, already to come here and visit us in the States if he has time. I don't know what the reason is, but I think the people that will have the responsibility there will make a good decision.

FIBA.com: How do you view Petrovic? Was he a good coach for you?

Saric: Yes, I like Petrovic. He put the pressure off the team, he put the newspaper out of the team, the fans out of the team. For him, it was really important what the 12 players were doing on the court. And we started to play basketball for fun. It was no longer like a job, but fun. And I like him. He's a very good coach.

FIBA.com: So would you like him back as coach?

Saric: If it's possible, why not? I think we did a good job this last year in the Olympic Games. We won the group (Group B ). Okay, we lost in the Quarter-Final to Serbia because of one ball, because of maybe five minutes a blackout during the game. But we won the group. Imagine, Croatia have 4.5 million or 5 million people and on the other side, you have (Group A winners) America with 300 million people. It's big for us and I think this is how we are supposed to continue.

FIBA.com: What did this summer do for your confidence, winning the Most Valuable Player honor at the OQT and then playing in Rio?

Saric: It helped me a lot. I spent this summer working on my game, to be ready when I got to the NBA. I got the national team pre-qualification, the Olympic tournament after that and in those two tournaments, I got the best experience in the world. I played against the best players in the NBA, the Euroleague. It was the big, big time for me. After that, I got some experience. The coach gave me 15 days off and then I came here.

FIBA.com: Why did Croatia have success?

Saric: Success, if I talk about the team, I talk about the chemistry. We had two, three very important guys and we found chemistry on the court. We fought for each other which is the most important thing in basketball. We found that in this Olympic tournament and we showed how we must play in the next tournaments.

FIBA.com: Should there be genuine cause for the fans to be excited about Croatia?

Saric: I think yes. We have five or six young guys around 19, 21, 22 years old that are here in the NBA. We have Bojan Bogdanovic, who is a main guard in Brooklyn and he's here already three years. Because of that, we've got some pressure, but that's sport, that's life.

FIBA.com: What about making an adjustment to the NBA?

Saric: It's one level up from Europe. It's faster. People are better moving, stronger here than in Europe. You know, of course, a big change for me, the three-point (line) is a little bit different, sometimes it's hard to feel the space around you because you play on a smaller court in Europe and a different system offensively and defensively. I need time to adjust. Sometimes you have good games, sometimes you have bad games. It’s totally different to what I have played up to now.

FIBA.com: With an 82-team regular season, that's an adjustment, too?

Saric: Yesterday we had a game in Philadelphia and after the game, we got the trip here (to Charlotte) and in two more days, we have another game. It’s a bit weird to play something like that. You need to adjust to that part of life and you have to have a short memory, as they say, to go from one game to the next.