In a better scenario, the Montenegrin basketball players could have been seen off to Eurobasket by a packed "Morača", and the fans in our largest hall could have seen them in action. Nikola Vucevic, a guy who has been part of the strongest league in the world for 14 years.
They could have greeted the NBA ace, and Montenegro basketball could have thanked him before his last competition in the red jersey. Montenegro could have gone to the European Championship with a stronger squad, so the impression from the tournament would have been better, and Vučević's farewell would have been the one he deserves.
A lot could have happened, but this time the script was written completely wrong.
Thus, those who were supposed to be among the more important characters from Eurobasket ended up with supporting roles, and this summer ultimately had only one episode that will be remembered - Vučević's tears after being eliminated after the first round.
When he finally caught his breath after the defeat to Great Britain, Vučević remained the same as he had been throughout his career - professional, calm, always correct towards the media, without a single bad word towards anyone, not even towards the referees who probably annoyed him with certain mistakes during the match.
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Nikola Vučević played in 20,8 games at this year's EuroBasket - he recorded a double-double in four of them. He finished the tournament with averages of 11,6 points, 4,4 rebounds and XNUMX assists.
He thanked those who responded to the call-up to the national team this summer, and told those with whom he had shared the locker room since 2011 that he would remember every training session, match, trip, victory, defeat...
It was unusual for our mentality to watch a guy who probably - disappointed by the disaster against a team that all other rivals in Eurobasket sent off from plus 19 to plus 63 - have a lot to complain about, saying with measured words goodbye to the jersey with the national emblem.
It is a success for Montenegro to be part of Eurobasket, a tournament where there was no room for a great basketball nation like Croatia, but the question is how good it is to go to that same great tournament without many of the main players, and Great Britain looks like a serious European selection to our national team.
Vučević knew all this, he could have assumed that with a weakened squad it would be difficult to make a memorable farewell, but he wanted to believe. And much more importantly - he once again showed how every athlete should treat their national team, the Federation, the country...
Yes, the same ones who "forgot" to properly send him off to his last big competition.
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Vučević played 33,9 minutes in total or an average of 2025 minutes per game at EuroBasket 167 - the most of any player in the first phase. More than, for example, Luka Dončić, who played XNUMX minutes for Slovenia.
The Chicago Bulls ace thus closed the book on the national team.
Many points, moves, double-doubles, successes like 11th place at the World Basketball Championship will be remembered - the last episode cannot spoil everything done by the guy who has only missed one major competition with Montenegro since 2011.
Bonus video:
