The history of every club, even the biggest ones, is full of heavy defeats, shipwrecks, after which the "heads" of players, coaches, management...
The future loves is, unfortunately, a record holder in numerous categories. To this day, he is the "owner" of the most convincing defeat in the history of the Euroleague, 112:49 from February 13, 2003 against Montepaschi in Siena, and ABA League is alone in the first four places in the category of the most convincing failures in the playoffs as of Tuesday evening.
And she experienced all those debacles in duels with Red star - In 2019, in the final of the playoffs, she lost the second game by 38 points (107:69), the master by 43 points (97:54), and now she experienced a complete fiasco in two duels and was defeated 93:55 in Belgrade and 97:56. in Podgorica.
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The fact that since the 2001/2002 season, when the regional competition began, no one except Budućnosti has lost by more than 28 points in the playoffs, speaks volumes for what a "feat" these defeats are.
In 2018, Sailors stopped at that deficit in the first match of the semi-final against Zvezda (91:63) and "red and white" last year in the fourth game of the final against Partizan (112:84).
And the problem is not only those terrible defeats, but that the Future has completely lost its identity. In the 2017/2018 season. made history by winning the ABA league with a team that included only three foreigners - Kyle Gibson i Kyle Landry from the beginning, a Justin Dolmen from mid-season, when it was realized that another reinforcement was necessary.
He was then one of the leaders and a member of the BiH national team. Nemanja Gordic, but he was not a stranger to anyone in Podgorica, because he grew both as a person and as a basketball player in the capital of Montenegro.
That title was both the best and the worst thing that could have happened to the club that was still living in Njegoševo Park at the time.
Bubućnost returned to the Euroleague after 15 years, but it turned out that it does not have the capacity for the elite in the management, nor a sufficiently strong base of domestic players, which is urgently needed for clubs whose budgets cannot be measured with the big ones.
The "blues" defeated CSKA, Barcelona and Real Madrid that season in "Morača", but they finished in second last place in the Euroleague with only six victories and "tails" that are still dragging today.
The budget had to be more than doubled overnight, the appetites and prices of local players also increased, but they were sidelined and remained there in the years that followed...
It went from mistake to mistake, foreigners were brought in who were paid too much and did not guarantee great results. The management allowed the symbol of the club, the guy who was the hero of the city, Nikola Ivanovic, his contract expires in the summer of 2021 and to cross the line that the fans will never forgive him - to sign for Crvena zvezda.
No matter how much his move was incomprehensible to many, especially because of the "poisonous" rivalry and insults that he, together with his teammates, survived several times in Belgrade, that departure was an announcement of the slow extinction of the "real" Buducnost.
A year after Ivanovic, they also left the club Danilo i Zoran Nikolic, and quietly, without any fanfare, and the silent hero of the historical title, Filip Barovic.
This completely destroyed the core of the team that wrote the most beautiful pages in 2018, and only four Montenegrins remained in the club - former captain Suad Sehovic, who played just enough this season to break the ABA league record for three-pointers made, his successor with the ribbon Petar Popovic, To Igor Drobnjak i Aleksa Ilic.
All but Popović have episodic roles, and Drobnjak, after his great editions at Eurobasket, was completely lost in time and space, because he is with his former coach Vladimir Jovanović was the undisputed first choice Tre Bell-Haynes.
Huge mistakes were also made in the selection of the team, which the fans often know to say that it was put together by the manager Misko Raznatovic, which is in a way true, because Budućnost started the season with 12 of its players and a coach!
However, it was quickly seen that the selection was bad, so they arrived at the end of last year Eric Green i JJ O'Brien, and at the end of the transition period i Emmanuel Lecomte.
Green showed his class, but the problem is that he had no one to play with - O'Brien only showed class for moments, Lecomte did not bring anything, Alpha Kaaba was mostly desperate (rumors about a non-sporting lifestyle are buzzing on social networks and in basketball circles), Cameron Reynolds was completely lost in the second part of the season, the BiH national team (Edin Atić, Kenan Kamenjas, Aleksandar Lazic) would sometimes just flash, and Bel-Haynes is weak for physically demanding competitions such as the ABA League and the Eurocup.
And instead of giving even the last atom of strength at the end of the season, against their biggest rival, to at least lose honorably, the "blues" surrendered and finished two games with Zvezda with minus 79.
No one had the desire to at least make a rough foul, to react to the referee's decisions and thus show that he cares. Everything was a straight line...
Everything that is happening to Buducnosti was best described a few years ago Marco van Basten, when he was asked why Milan stumbles.
“When we Gulit, Rijkaard and I came, we were the only foreigners. Everyone else in the team was Italian and knew how heavy and important the Milan jersey was. Now there are too many foreigners in the team, who do not feel the greatness of this club", said the legendary striker.
Buducnost is now in the same problem, facing an uncertain future. President Dragan Bokan he was thinking of leaving last summer, and the question is whether he will stay now, because his mandate is expiring.
If he leaves, he will be left with a historic title in the ABA League, but also with the feeling that he could have done much more.
With the money that he, the sponsors and the state invested in the club, Budućnost had to build a top sports center (the House of Basketball in Kokoti is by no means that) and create players. Because for a long, long time, she didn't make any, and she easily allowed her talents to run away from her nose...
With whom against SC Derby?
Probably, it would have been easier for everyone if the season had ended in humiliation against Crvena zvezda, but Budućnost will have to fight for the title of the champion of Montenegro with the city rival and its former branch, SC Derby.
The question, however, is who Petar Mijović will oppose to the "students", because he can register only four foreigners, and he has only three Montenegrins available - Šehović, Ilić and Drobnjak.
Captain Popović injured his shoulder in the first game with Zvezda and it is hard to believe that he will be ready for the final, which is played on three wins. The first match is on Sunday at 20 pm.
The problem for Mijović is which four foreigners he will choose. Green and Bel-Haynes are probably safe choices, the rest will be decided by the nuances.
Bonus video:
