00:09How do you introduce yourself to the big public? Who is Aleksandr Sekulic as a coach, his philosophy of basketball,
00:23what can the people here in Palau expect for your team?
00:29Okay. You want short or long?
00:33No problem. Take your time.
00:36Okay. Now, to be to the point, I've been coach many years. I've been working with a lot of great
00:45coaches.
00:46And so throughout the many years, I've built a philosophy. I can say it's philosophy. First, I'd like my team
00:56to play with a lot of intensity
00:59and a lot of energy both on offense and defense. So to play with more pace, with more possessions, to
01:09try to disrupt the opponent, not to play the way they want to play.
01:15And at the same time, which is one of the things that I really emphasize, is to try to put
01:21the players in the right positions.
01:22So they feel comfortable when they're playing basketball, so they don't have to think. They are more, take care of
01:32the instincts, because I believe that instincts are the most important part of the, let's say, playing basketball.
01:41I think it's the game of instincts, which you gain with experience, which you gain with the practices, playing more
01:48games. So to put the players in the right situations, so they can perform to their best.
01:59Let's go.
02:01For sure.
02:01As the coaches?
02:02The ones I work with.
02:07OK, the biggest influence on me had, for example, Borz Darmajkowicz, who I work with in the national team.
02:18also Igor Kokoschko who I work also with him in the national team there are some coaches
02:25maybe not so known but one of them was working I think in a student is Alexander Jikic who was
02:32many years in partisan also in NBA so there these are the main influences influences for me on my
02:41basketball philosophy the ideas of basketball in general and in a short way which was the process
02:50how you became to to the coach of Barca because it's many many many names in the table and then
02:58you are the choice for the club which was the process who called you first for example Mario
03:09Bruno Mario he called me and my agent yeah this is the way it went it was a big surprise
03:16for me
03:16because at that time I thought that Barca already picked the coach I thought that they already signed
03:23the coach but it seemed that they didn't so this was the start and then slowly but not too long
03:31it was they had to decide first I had also a short meeting with Mr. Laporta and then soon after
03:44that
03:44we made the mutual decision to work together
03:50you said yes now that you talk with with the president
03:57what did you ask for for this season the president I was to be honest with you we didn't speak
04:09about
04:10uh too much about basketball probably he wanted to uh get to know me get to know what kind of
04:19person I am
04:20uh we were speaking about maybe some players but we didn't speak about the goals we didn't speak about
04:28the uh the things that we want to do in the the next season or seasons and this is something
04:36that we're
04:37going to build now how you define as a not as a coach as a person because uh after this
04:45uh meeting with
04:46with Laporta he picked the choice of Alexander Seguric um which are your um I don't know your your best
04:55skills uh in life not only in in the court okay it's difficult to judge myself this is something that
05:02you might ask uh Mr. Laporta why what he saw what the people saw in in my personality but something
05:13that I try to be uh always straight to the point honest uh especially when talking to the players
05:25um and I like to be fair uh I don't I hate hypocrisy so basically in short these are the
05:39the let's say
05:40some of my personalities who did you know about this club uh before to come and uh what are the
05:49the first
05:50uh things that you learned here in in Barcelona as a club okay when we speak about Barcelona we speak
06:00about Barça a club Barça uh this is probably one of the most famous clubs in the world so I
06:09mean with
06:11this is enough said how much how much respect I have to this for this club and the second thing
06:18that
06:18uh would you ask me the second part of the question is that is about my first impression probably when
06:26I came here is high highly organized club uh which you can see with a lot of experience and a
06:38lot of
06:39history behind so you can you have people uh working here knowing what to do when to do it how
06:47to do it
06:47do you remember uh when uh when was the first time you uh you watch on tv or here in
06:54the court one
06:55one game of barcelona i was on the court 18 years ago here excuse me 30 years ago 18 18
07:04years ago i was
07:07here i remember i was on the court my friend jaka laković who's now coach in tenerife he was playing
07:14for
07:14barca so he made it uh happen from this this was the reason i came to watch barca and i
07:23remember the
07:24fans i remember the atmosphere here was amazing yeah a couple years ago laković was in the table as
07:32probably um coach of barca yes did you call him to know uh more things about the the club we
07:41spoke we
07:44basically we are still good friends so we're in contact all the time um you have 11 signings
07:52uh new players uh new players how many time needs a coach to build a structure because barcelona is a
08:02winner club you don't have many time you know and how to how do you manage these things
08:11it's not easy it takes time uh that's why also the players that were signed here are signed let's
08:21say that they're compatible so we need to figure out first of all how to uh make this all together
08:29players coaches how to make this team play for each other how to play together to build this chemistry
08:36you cannot do it overnight because if you could do it overnight it would be easy job so i think
08:42we
08:42started i think it's a good selection of the players the signings are i think the players that
08:46can fit the style the ideas that we have here in the club and then to build on what we
08:55have
09:00in the club but it's difficult to say in a time how much time we're gonna see each game i
09:09saw in this
09:11first three game first uh four games we had and it's a little bit more than one week that we
09:17have
09:19significant improvements in our game so i believe if if this trend will go soon we can be in a
09:26situation that can play good very good basketball that's what we want to play uh 38 games of regular
09:34season in euroleague 34 games in in ligandesa um it's a it's a crazy for for players for you because
09:43you
09:44you you don't have time to uh train uh what is your opinion about uh it's a lot of games
09:53it's uh
09:56it's not just there's a lot of games it's a lot of difficult games uh very competitive
10:02spanish atsebeligan this is very competitive you have great teams amazing coaches super talented
10:10players so this is a big challenge also for barca to overcome the difficult schedule because euroleague
10:21as we know it's also amazing quality so i believe that
10:29uh in order to be successful you need to build the foundation uh now in this preseason to build a
10:38physical tactical uh psychological foundation so when the game starts with the crazy schedule
10:45that we're going to be ready under your point of view you are very far just now uh
10:50uh from olimpiaco sobranathinaikos of rembache or madrid or you are ready to to compete uh even
10:58since the the very beginning uh for this year okay you you speak now about the best teams in europe
11:10it's not just for barca with these new signings but for any team is going to be difficult to compete
11:16with
11:16them but i believe that in a if you are you're going to do a good job i mean if
11:22you're going to have
11:23team healthy why not um which player can we surprise more because uh before i i asked uh juan nunez
11:34and
11:35he doesn't answer me but you know many many new players many unknown players even in for the big public
11:44uh which player have you have you seen these days uh you you you guess it can be the surprise
11:53okay this
11:55team is built uh in the way that the the biggest strength of uh is going to be the unity
12:06of the team
12:08just to expose uh some individuals or to say who are going to be a surprise first of all it's
12:14difficult to say uh it's difficult to predict it's a lot of factors they're gonna it's gonna influence
12:21this um but it starts with the leadership i think uh kevin punter is going is a true leader that's
12:31why
12:31he became a captain and then we see we go from this i believe that as a team we can
12:38also be a surprise
12:41uh maybe the choice of uh kevin punter as the cup the captain is for the club or or it's
12:48yours you you
12:49guess he can be the leader the team needs no after the first of all my all my decisions all
12:58decisions
12:58that i make uh are always consulted with the whole uh staff and knowing uh also his history because kevin
13:08punter has an amazing career behind him uh being captain of some important teams winning the titles as
13:15well um and the way he uh acts like professional on every practice uh let's say also the the previous
13:27season and everything that he did so far for the club he deserves to be a captain
13:31and with his leadership skills for sure he is the right choice maybe the the last two one um
13:41you know the the fantastic river rivalry between real madrid and barcelona uh what uh what tell the
13:50the people about this are you excited about uh these games are you worried about that i would be lying
13:59if i
14:00would say i'm not excited i think this is the most famous in europe for sure a classical and of
14:08course
14:09i'm excited at the same time uh season is long uh it's going to be different emotions in these games
14:17but we need to take this game as any other game in terms of preparation in terms of
14:23uh style of playing we need to play the way we want to play not to be affected by the
14:31emotions of
14:32this kind of game do you think you you can recover the happiness here in in palau there has been
14:42a couple of years with many difficulties with many changes in the in the bench
14:51and here in the court many days people is happy but many days is angry and they
15:00you can you feel that you can change these things
15:07um it's not only about me okay the main idea of of
15:12of this team or how to be successful this season is to play basketball
15:26up to the standards of barca
15:30which means not only the the talent the quality of the game but also the the heart you put into
15:36the game
15:37that you show that you care that you play for this team that you're gonna
15:43figuratively speak and die for this team on the court so that you that your
15:51fight or a desire to win the game should be unprecedented it should be all in every game
15:58and this is something that i want this team to play the way to play and if you're going to
16:03play this way
16:04i believe that the fans will recognize this and the product of this product of this style of play
16:10is going to be also wins and hopefully uh happiness of the fans
Comentarios