He arrived in Spain in 2014. The destination was Murcia, where, in the first term, he stayed for three years, and then he moved to Obradoiro, from where he came to Zaragoza after a year. He played in Zaragoza for two seasons before returning to Murcia in 2020, where he became the club's captain and legend.
It is about Montenegrin national team member Nemanja Radović, who is playing in the strongest national basketball championship in Europe this season. The Endesa League starts today, Murcia visits Granada in the first round (18 p.m.), and the basketball winger talks to "Vijesti" about the new season, life and career in Murcia, as well as a great summer with the Montenegrin national team.
- The Spanish league is the best domestic league in Europe. He has many talents. Many teams stepped up. Not everyone can come and play in Spain. Everyone who comes is either a proven player or someone the coach or general manager has to like. It will be serious basketball - eight teams are separated by budget and talent, but the others also have enormous quality. After all, it has happened many times that the first team loses to the last, which speaks of quality - says Radović.
The Montenegrin representative sees four teams in the top.
- The favorites are Real Madrid, Barcelona, Baskonia and Unicaja, which has been doing a superb job in recent years. They left the entire team, only Brizuela moved to Barcelona, and they brought Cameron Taylor from Girona. They are a serious team, well-coordinated, they won the Cup last season. These are the teams that will surely be in the top. Barcelona changed a lot of players. I think it will take time for her to get used to it.
The biggest change in Barcelona happened on the bench - Šarunas Jasikevičius was succeeded by Rodger Grimau, a former Blaugrana player.
- I think that there is a lot of pressure in that team, that it takes time to put things in order, to create continuity. It didn't work out with Jasikevičius in previous years, now they have a new coach, Grimau, who played there before. Some new story, we just have to see how it will go.
I'M AT HOME IN MURCIA
Mursija and Nemanja Radović - a success story that will last at least until 2025. The Montenegrin basketball player extended his contract this summer, will not change the midfield, and will soon break some club records.
He played 248 games in all competitions for the club. In the Endesa League, in the jersey of Murcia, he was on the field 218 times, so he will soon overtake Xavi Sanchez (221) in second place. The leader is Sadijel Rojas with 292 matches in the Endesa League.
The wing basketball player could become the club's best scorer this season. Currently, he has scored 1.930 points, and in first place is Ralph McPearson (2.082).
- This is my eighth season in Murcia. I am delighted with the city, the people and the club. I have been a captain for many years. I feel at home. I broke almost all the records - I'm a little short of breaking the points and jumps. I am at the top in everything. The very fact that I am in one place for a long time means that I like it - both for me and my family - explains Radović.
Murcia finished last season in 9th place, and missed the playoffs by one win, while they were eliminated by Unicaja in the quarterfinals of the Champions League. Last season, Radović averaged 10,4 points and 3,5 rebounds in the league.
- Last year, we missed the playoffs by one win. We played the last game against Barcelona away from home and it was difficult. It was an OK season. We have strengthened a lot this season, the goal is to try to qualify for the Cup and to try to enter the playoffs. We lost to Unicaja in the Champions League last season, and this year we will try to reach the final four.
Murcia lost to Unicaja in the semifinals of the Super Cup last weekend, and Radović played a good match and scored 13 points with eight rebounds.
- It meant that I trained with the national team all summer. At Mundobasket, I played 15-16 minutes per game, so I came quite ready, I wasn't tired. I arrived fresh which is a good thing for competing in Spain.
NICE THINGS HAPPEN IN MONTENEGRO BASKETBALL
Radović had a successful summer with the Montenegrin basketball team, which won 11th place at Mundobasket. Boško Radović's team played the tournament very well, the only drop was against Lithuania, but that didn't spoil the impression either.
- We looked great, we played good basketball. I think that the cycle, since Boško Radović became the selector, we did well. In the World Cup qualifiers we played well, achieved some great victories. Then last summer we did a good job at the Eurobasket and lost to Germany, who won the Mundobasket this summer. Good work has been done in recent years, good things are happening for Montenegrin basketball and this Mundobasket was successful. In the first phase, we defeated Egypt and Mexico, and only against Lithuania we were not up to par. Lithuanians don't answer to us at all, they don't really suit us. Against America, we showed that we can handle basketball forces. We almost beat them.
THE WAY TO GO
In February next year, the qualifications for the European Championship begin, and Montenegro is in a group with Sweden, Germany and Bulgaria. Three teams from the group will advance to Eurobasket. The qualification for the Olympic Games is in July, and the draw for that competition has yet to take place.
- I wouldn't change anything too much. This is the way to go. There are a lot of young guys joining the national team. Our generation - Bojan Dubljević, Vladimir Mihailović, Nikola Vučević and I are a little older and we are here to help them a little more. They should soon take over the leadership of the national team. We play well, we do good things. There is a good group in the European Championship qualifiers, I think they can play with everyone except Germany, they are at a serious level. But why not with them? There is also that qualification tournament for the Olympic Games. It will be nice - concluded Nemanja Radović.
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