Famous Yugoslav national basketball player Nikola Plećaš stated that all leagues in Yugoslavia "are collapsing due to the large number of foreign players, due to the invasion of Americans who play in both the domestic leagues and the ABA League."
"I think the ABA League was well-conceived, with the best clubs from the former Yugoslavia, but unfortunately we have come to the point where the domestic leagues have weakened, the clubs are doing poorly, and the youth have been neglected," said Plećaš in an interview for today's Politika.
As he pointed out, "all of this had a bad effect on the vast majority of national teams, which failed in international competitions in almost all categories."
Speaking about his time playing basketball, he stated that the unique step shot he was known for "came about with the blessing of his coach who was not shy about learning from the players."
"I'm not sure that today's coaches would have any understanding for something like that. I must also point out that both Aca (Nikolić) and Ranko (Žeravica) supported the personal excellence of each player, because they knew that this creativity would make a difference against others," said Plećaš.
He stated that "today there is poor communication between coaches, it is done via computers and the internet."
"I come to the conclusion that coaches do little with the practical part," he said.
"American basketball is being copied a lot and that's not good for us, because we don't have such strong individuals in all positions as they do. We have always been characterized by a collective game, which is the exact opposite of the US game," Plećaš explained.
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