The Montenegrin trio on their way to the Euroleague

Montenegro will not participate in the Eurobasket, only Nikola Ivanovic will play in the Euroleague, but the honor of our basketball in the elite society on the Old Continent will be defended by as many as three coaches - Duško Ivanović with Baskonia, Dejan Radonjić with Red Star and Zvezdan Mitrović on the Monaco bench.

The fact that only Greece has more coaches in the EuroLeague - Dimitris Priftis from Panathinaikos, Giorgos Barkokas from Olympiakos, Dimitris Itoudis from CSKA and Janis Sfairopoulos from Maccabi shows how much the experts from the smallest country that has ever participated in the world championships in basketball are valued. Spain is tied for 2nd place with Montenegro (Pablo Laso in Real, Xavi Pasqual in Zenit and Israel Gonzalez in Alba), Italy has two representatives (Etore Messina in Armani and Andrea Trinkieri in Bayern), and they will each have one coach in the elite six countries, including the countries of basketball, Serbia and Lithuania.

The honor of opening the 65th edition of the strongest competition on the Old Continent went to the debutant in the company of the best, Monaco. Mitrović, who also played in the Euroleague in the 2019/2020 season. with Asvel, he completely changed the team with which he became a sensational Eurocup winner last season.

He brought as many as 11 players, and the latest reinforcement is an indication that the "princes" do not want to play only an episodic role - one of the best defenders in Europe, Mike James, who was the first scorer of the Euroleague in the 2018/2019 season, arrived in Monte Carlo.

- Last season we had a completely new team, but we had a lot of time for training, because we often did not play domestic championship games and we performed in the Eurocup. The problem is that we started the preparations with one team, and later four players came, so lack of playing and lack of familiarity will be a problem for all of us at the start. By the way, when you are in the Euroleague, there is no specific training. We play five games in the first 10 days, three are away games, so it all boils down to recovery, preparation and games, through which we will play. We have great players, but we are still far from the right team - points out Mitrović.

Only Rob Gray, Ibrahima Fay-Faye and young Rudy Demai remained in Monaco, and besides James, the Lithuanian center Donatas Motejunas, experienced "four" Will Thomas and Brock Motum, Leo Westerman, Paris Lee, Brock Motum, Alfa Diallo also arrived. ..

- We are debutants, but it is normal that ambitions, both mine and the club's, have become different with the arrival of famous names. The most important thing is to create a game system in defense and attack, so that the players get to know each other and recognize each other on the field, and for me there is a question mark as to how it will all look like. After 10 years, Motejunas is back in European basketball, which is different than in the NBA and China, so we have to be patient. And Westerman had three not-so-great years due to injuries and many missed games, and because of that he also missed our appearance at the tournament in Athens.

The team from Stijena welcomes Panathinaikos tonight from 19:51. It will be a replay of the coaching showdown between Mitrović and Priftis from the Eurocup final, in which the XNUMX-year-old from Podgorica outwitted his older colleague, who was then on the UNIKS bench.

- This match is a historic event for Monaco. Everyone is extremely excited, they can't wait for the start, the hall has been adapted, which is why we only trained on the new baskets on Tuesday. PAO has a good squad, it is very good offensively. It has a lot of experienced players, and in the preparatory period it lost only to Crvena zvezda and Zenit. I watched him against Partizan, Efes and the Greek Super Cup, he looked good.

With the arrival of James, who left CSKA because of a falling out with Itusida, Monaco got a leader, a player who likes to solve games and scored an average of 20,1 points in the last three seasons in the Euroleague.

- James is a public leader and the biggest star, but first let's see through the games how he will fit in and how the team will accept him. It is a process that will last, it will be a big challenge for me as a coach. It will be interesting - concluded Mitrović.

His godfather, Dejan Radonjić, has significantly more experience in the Euroleague, where he managed 156 games. In the second term on the bench of Crvena zvezda, the stumbling team got back on its feet and won the ABA league and the double crown in Serbia, and this summer he made the team he wanted - he brought back Nikola Kalinić, Luka Mitrović, Nate Walters and Maik Cirbes, brought Nikola Ivanovic, Aaron White, Austin Hollins and Stefan Lazarevic, but injuries ruined all plans. White will be absent at least until December, and Ognjen Dobrić, Dejan Davidovac and Branko Lazić are also absent due to injuries.

- It is very difficult to talk about what we can do now, given the problems and the absence of a large number of players during the preparations. We did not conduct the preparatory part as we wanted, that we all train together and play complete matches so that we could make certain analyzes and tests. We enter the season with problems and the desire to overcome the circumstances in the most painless way and to perform an extremely difficult period ahead of us, because we play 11 games in 27 days, to perform as well as possible - pointed out Radonjić.

Zvezda was 17th in the Euroleague last season with 10 wins, the former coach of Budućnost, as well as the army of fans, wants more.

- I hope we will achieve a better result than last season. But, considering the injury situation, it is very difficult to talk about it now. We were forced to find alternative solutions in the training process, and to cancel the trip to Greece for the tournament. By the way, the team has undergone huge changes, it will take time for the guys to adjust.

Kalinić returned to Zvezda this summer, who joined Radonjić and transferred to Fenerbahce, with whom he was the European champion, for a compensation of millions.

- It is very important that we have a player of the quality of Nikola Kalinić. We expect him to make a huge contribution to the achievement of results, just like all the other players.

In the 1st round, the "Red and White" are visiting Saša Đorđević's Fenerbahce.

- Fener formed a very, very good team. The players who provided quality in previous seasons are still there, and quality and experienced reinforcements have arrived. This is a team that can do a lot this season. We are aware that a difficult match awaits us, especially in the situation we are in.

On Monday, three days after the duel in Istanbul, Zvezda will meet Budućnost Voli in a replay of the last three finals of the ABA League, but Radonjić is not thinking about the big derby of the ABA League yet.

- At this moment, there is total concentration on events on a daily basis. Due to the circumstances, we have to behave like this, with the hope that day by day we will be in a better situation. That's why we are now focusing only on Fenerbahce - pointed out Radonjić.

The French league has never been stronger, we will attack the title

Mitrović arrived in Monaco six and a half years ago through the back door, but he achieved enormous success - with Monaco he won the Eurocup and three Leaders Cups, the double crown with Asvel, he was the best coach in both France and the second highest quality European competition... Now will try to bring the first championship title to Monte Carlo.

- Our goal is to do as much as possible in the Euroleague, and to be in a good position in France before the playoffs. The Pro A league has never been stronger than it will be this season, and we will try to fight for the title. It is not too important who we will be at the end of the regular part of the season, because in France the home field is a small advantage, and we have none - emphasized Mitrović.

Giants again in the fight for the throne

Two people from Podgorica, born in February 1970, have no doubt that the teams that have dominated in recent years will fight for the title of European champion again.

- The season is long, a lot can happen and some thoughts change, but I expect that the clubs that were at the very top of the previous years will fight for the cup - said Radonjić.

- Efes, which remained almost the same composition, Barca, Real and CSKA are the main favorites for the title. Maybe someone else will appear, because Zenit has a huge budget, there's also Armani and Bayern, who might repeat last season, and Fenerbahce has a very solid, good and experienced team - added Mitrović, who is 17 days younger.