Basketball: Pesic interview: “Which anti-athlete has the idea?”

FC Bayern Basketball has had its most successful season ever with the double of championship and cup victory. Before returning to the EuroLeague, Managing Director Marko Pesic nevertheless sees great dangers and calls for a standardisation of the European calendar.

Pesic also spoke to SPOX about a possible return of Paul Zipser, the squad for the coming season and the great potential of the German national team.

SPOX: Mr. Pesic, the first question is obvious right now: How far have the talks with Paul Zipser gone?

Marko Pesic: There is no new status, except that we are talking. But we always do, even in the last two years. Paul wants to get completely well and then he sees further. He still has the NBA dream in mind and since last season didn’t go well, he hopes to try again in another situation, similar to Jared Cunningham before you ask. Both still want to join the NBA, so we put the squad together without them.

SPOX: But there would still be room for both of them in the squad.

Pesic: The coming weeks will show that. The coach and sports director want to see how the team fits together in preparation and then at some point either tell me whether they still see a need or not. At the moment they are quite relaxed and satisfied with the quality of the squad, so I can’t predict what it will look like in a week or two.

SPOX: Were you surprised that the past season went so much worse for Spišer than the first?

Pesic: Looking back, not because he played for several months with a foot injury that severely restricted him. The expectations were certainly different, but I believe that the injury played a key role. But the circumstances were different than in his rookie year, because the Bulls filled up the tank. He did not know this situation and it was certainly not ideal for him, as he himself emphasized in retrospect.

SPOX: Nevertheless, the NBA excitement remains so great that it is determined to stay there. Do you think it’s problematic how the NBA wish eclipses everything else?

Pesic: We are experiencing a fundamental problem with European basketball that has never existed before. Everyone talks about the NBA, but imagine that the permitted number of foreigners in China is being increased from two to four. This would have a massive impact on the EuroLeague. In addition, the decision of FIBA is catastrophic that now, in the middle of preparation, international matches are to take place and clubs are to park their players for two weeks. We can talk a lot about the NBA, but I think there are much bigger problems. The most important issue is a common European calendar. This is the prerequisite for every step, every development that we can and want to make.

SPOX: Do you see that happening at some point? It doesn’t necessarily look like the enemy sides are cooperating with each other.

Pesic: I don’t think people are talking to each other right now. And that is still a huge problem that is above all. We are now in preparation here in Garda Trentino, trying to prepare players for 80 or 90 games next season – and after ten days FIBA decrees that we have to turn players off and play several games at competition level! Which anti-athlete came up with this idea? And then it says, “We have to take care of the players.” Nobody does that. And the argument that it’s exactly the same at European Championships simply doesn’t work: players come to the national team earlier and are prepared for the tournament over a few weeks. This is completely different. How are you going to promote European basketball if you are in the middle of preparing for it? I’m still a big fan of the international windows and I think they can do the national team good. But one would also have to meet the clubs somehow.

SPOX: The windows during the season collide with the EuroLeague dates, for example.

Pesic: Right. And that’s where I make it easy for myself: I always make the decision that is best for FC Bayern. We’ll see if there are any ways to free one or the other player. I might be able to give Robin Amaize three games in November. But then the Finnish association comes along and accuses me of distorting competition because we are not giving up Petteri Koponen. The Serbs are asking why Vladimir can’t have Lucic. That’s why: Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t. Then I’d have to take half the crew off. And I can’t do that from a club perspective.

SPOX: What I don’t quite understand is that you openly address this, as do many other officials, the players anyway. Nobody is happy with the current system. Then why is nothing happening?

Pesic: Good question. I do not know when the problem will arrive at a level where the officials can make a difference. At the moment it is more in the direction that the clubs are doing what is best for them, regardless of the associations, the FIBA or the EuroLeague.

SPOX: Then everyone suffers from this system.

Pesic: Only not the NBA. There it is of no interest what is happening in Europe. Those who benefit are smaller associations whose best players are not all employed by EuroLeague teams. Larger bandages have very little of it. And who suffers the most are the players. I believe that the best players should always be on the national team, and FIBA has the task of making this possible. But first a deal with the NBA would have to be made, because the best Europeans play there. Instead, it is only here in Europe that people are trying to regulate everything and make demands. But if Jokic, Marjanovic, Teodosic and Bogdanovic don’t play with the Serbs, that’s not the best team. Why should we be forced to turn someone off, but not the NBA? The travel argument doesn’t work either. There are enough players in Europe who have to fly to South America for the qualifiers and then directly back again.

Page 1: Pesic about Spišer and the problem of player standstill

Page 2: Pesic praises national coach Rödl and raves about Dennis Schröder