Vladimir Micov talks for the first time ever about his rupture with serbian national coach Sasha Djordjevic.
While the Serbian national team was facing USA in the FIBA World Cup Final Stage – won 129-92 by Irving and Co. – former Cantù and CSKA forward Vladimir Micov played in a friendly tournament in Sassari with his new team, Turkish club Galatasaray S.K.
At the end of the match (lost by 22 against the home team), Fabrizio Pinna of BasketUniverso had a chance to talk to Micov. The 29-years old forward told him something about his Italian experience in Cantù and released a comment about his fight with coach Djordjevic. It was the first time Micov gave his explanation regarding the quarrel – since August 25th, when it all happened.
You’ve been playing in Cantù for two seasons. What do you think about the Italian Basketball and what are your memories about that experience?
Now I can really understand why players are used to call a place where they have been playing “my second home”. Even now, after a long time, Cantù is my second home. I have had my best time on and off the court there. In two and a half years we have increased Cantu’s level at his highest point as a city and as a basketball team. When Trinchieri first arrived in town, we were a regular team that fought hard to find a place in the playoffs, then we reached the Eurocup and the Euroleague. I think those have been the best days of my entire life.
CSKA Moscow almost changed the entire roster this off-season. Do you think they can still reach the Final Four?
Every year CSKA makes big investments in order to win the Euroleague. But last two years have shown that money cannot buy everything. When I was in Moscow, we bought lots of very good players, who were individually very talented, but we could not really play together, as a team. In the most important moment of the season, the Final Four, we failed.
Your former coach Ettore Messina has now gone back to the USA and will coach the Spurs alongside Gregg Popovich next season. Do you think he is going to be a head coach in the NBA one day?
Yes, Messina has been my coach for two years indeed. CSKA brought him back to try to win the Euroleague since the last time they won he was sitting at the side-line. He failed twice in the Final Four though. Now he has gone back to America, let’s see if he is going to be head coach in the NBA like he was in Europe, just as David Blatt did. Let’s see. Honestly, I do not think that Messina will become head coach in the NBA ever, as he does not have the motivation to fight to reach upper positions anymore.
You had quite a hard time in Serbia’s national selection; you had a fight with coach Djordjevic. Can you tell us something more about that weird episode?
It was a very unfortunate experience: at last I had decided to play for my national team and then I left because everything that happened between me and him was on national TV. Everybody has seen that I have not done anything wrong and in my opinion – but it is the opinion of others too – he overreacted. He reacted more as a player than as a coach, which shows that he is a hothead. But of course: he is the coach, I had to respect him. Now I wish to all my teammates good luck for the final game of the World Cup. There is a lot of gap between Serbia and USA, but nobody expected us to be there, so it is already a success for our team.
One last question: how are you doing in your first months with Galatasaray?
Well I’ve just arrived here and we only have four to five players who are joining the club next season. We are waiting for the others. Tomorrow my Turkish teammates are coming back from Spain, where they played in the world cup. I look forward to the new season: we have a great team, with a lot of talented players and last year the team reached the Quarter Finals in Euroleague. I hope we can do even better this season.
- Hollis-Jefferson ancora fantastico, ma non basta: la Nuova Zelanda vince e continua a sperare - 28 Agosto 2023
- Imbarazzo a Houston: John Wall torna ai Rockets dopo aver sparato a zero su coach, GM ed ex compagni - 11 Febbraio 2023
- Il miglior quintetto di sempre dei Dallas Mavericks - 10 Gennaio 2023