After the European Senior Basketball Championship, Serbia can no longer be considered a "basketball country". At the European Championship for players under the age of 20, the Serbian national team took first place this year, but in the European B division, beating Iceland 80-67. We didn't qualify for the Olympics last year, and it will be very difficult to get to the World Championships next year. From the "country of basketball" we are the World and European champions in another basketball game - basketball (3-on-3 basketball).
The failure of the Serbian national team at the last European Championship was very difficult for basketball fans. We had the best player of the NBA and the best player of the Euroleague in the team in the last two years, but we still got out too early. The common conclusion is that Bogdan Bogdanović was missing. There is no good back shooter in Serbia and that is objectively the biggest problem the national team faces.
It is not a current situation but a problem of the last ten years. Quite simply, apart from Bogdanović, there is no player in the shooting guard position who could continuously score 15-20 baskets per game. Marko Gudurić, who, at least in name, should replace Bogdanović, scored only 2 points in the decisive game against Italy.
Once again Pešić vs Teodosić
In the absence of top playmakers due to the change of generations and injuries, the Spanish national team hired the American player Lorenzo Brown for this championship. Brown, it turned out in the end, was one of the best players and led the game of the Spanish team that ended up taking the gold medal more brilliantly.
Recently, the question of naturalized foreigners playing for the Serbian national team has been raised more and more. Svetislav Pešić emphasized that he has nothing against a foreigner wearing the Serbian jersey.
The recent captain of the national team, Miloš Teodosić, said on the subject: "If Serbia decided to take a foreigner into the national team, I would stop playing for the national team at that moment." I wouldn't even be interested in it as a fan, I wouldn't want to participate in it in any way. It's not normal for me. They know what a club is and what a national team is. I would always play with what I have, whether it's enough for gold, fifth or tenth place."
Serbian Danielle Paige
On the basketball forums, after the failure of the national team, the conversation on this topic increased.
According to Serbian customs, the discussion quickly turned into curses and threats, although we already had experience in engaging an American player, that is, a female player.
Namely, the women's national team of Serbia used the services of Daniel Page in the last few years and with her became the champion of Europe. No one had a problem with her, and especially no one could blame her for putting in less effort than our players. On the contrary, she did her best every time. Now he is an assistant in the professional staff of the women's national team of Serbia under 20 years old.
The argument called Daniel Page, the successes that the national team achieved with her, sobered up the heated heads on the forums a little.
What if Kevin Panther had been
At the moment when Bogdan Bogdanović was injured, we could hire one of the American basketball players who already have a Serbian passport.
On the forums, Kevin Panter came out on top almost immediately, first of all as a wish of Partizan fans, but who is certainly an excellent back shooter who could replace Bogdanović in this championship. He certainly wouldn't take it long, if only because at the moment Serbia doesn't have a better player in his place in the team.
The basketball association would have to think about the future of Serbian men's basketball, otherwise this sport will share the fate of representative football, i.e. in the near future we will experience delirium just by placing in the European Championship, and we will only be able to count on the World Championship if they expand the quota for Europe.
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