Slovan in 2006/2007

[DZK]

Well...I think they deserve their own topic :)

There were a lot of black clouds gathering around Slovan's future lately...especially because of Dragic and Zupan situation...IMO the club will get nice buy-outs from those two despite the atempts to exploit clauses in their contracts...E.Lorbek was far less valuable than Dragic when FIBA ruled 250.000 EUR buy-out for him in Olimpija-Climamio case...Goran played Adriatic league, Erazem only played for Olimpija II team...Rajgelj (Slovan's GM) was pretty correct in his statements that TAU only wants Dragic because they know the player will be far more expensive next season if he stays in Slovan...TAU has no intentions to give Dragic any major role already this season...they are only being cheap-bstards.

But even with those two gone, Slovan future is not in jeopardy...most important factor for successes of the club is NT coach Pipan...IMO Slovan has even brighter future in front of them...why?...the two generations that are now coming ('87, '89) are far more talented than current players...till now they could not count on their youth system - they even bought Goran Dragic due to lack of thier own youngsters...from now on yoth system will produce 2-3 great players every year.

Already next season the trio Klobucar-Vidmar-Preldzic will start producing...they are all key players in our U-20 team which today won against one of hot favourites, France...and they are playing against one year older guys in this tournament.

Then there are Bilic-Virk-Zoran Dragic which are part of U-18 team...this is generation of '89 youngsters...so Slovan will have 2 exceptional generations making break through to senior team.

Also they made huge signings already last year...Ronell Taylor will explode this year...and M.Begic was steal of the year at the end of last season...all they need is 2/3 experienced guys...one at PF, one at PG and maybe one more SF (Taylor can also be moved to this position due to his great rebounding)

So what roster looks like:
Frontcourt
Begic Mirza 218 C 85 BIH-SLO
Jocovic Vladan 210 C 82 BIH
Vidmar Gasper 205 C/F 87 SLO
Grusovnik Borut 209 (6'10'') C 87 SLO (was injured last year...otherwise a little less talented than Vidmar but also very useful)
Preldzic Emir 204 (6'9'') F 87 BIH-SLO
- lacks one experienced PF, maybe SF

Backcourt:
Klobucar Jaka 193 G 87 SLO
Petrovic Vjeko 193 G 81 SLO (probably will sign new contract)
Taylor Ronell 196 G 82 USA
Devic Ante??? 193 G 86 SLO ( I don't know what his status is?...at Adriatic League official site he is under "left" column...anybody knows?)
Perko Rok 182 (6'0'') G 87 SLO (another SLO U-20 player)
- at his positions they really lack one experienced PG who can score and push the ball...probably most money will be spent for this player and I woudn't be surprised if it was again some USA player.

I would start with:
- experineced PG
- J.Klobucar
- R.Taylor
- experienced PF
- M.Begic
------------
and would use a lot:
- G.Vidmar (on PF and C)
- E. Preldzic (SF, Klobucar and Taylor can share minutes with himat SG/SF positions)
- also Petrovic and Jocovic can be great role players from the bench

What to expect form Slovan this season?...IMO they will be even more dangerous than this year...in Adriatic league teams will underestimate them even more than this year as roster is full of unknown youngsters...so they will most probably have great introduction into the season...the rest of the season depends on the development of Begic, Taylor and Vidmar.

Of course Slovan must do everything to sign one great PG who will be the leader of this team...maybe Dragic will have to stay? - TAU IMO won't be prepared to pay big buy-out if FIBA decides so...stil he would probably have bad start into the season due to unhappines and added media exposure.

PF player is probably not so difficult to find.

Does anybody now any rumours concerning Slovan?

[Pija_Olimp]

DZK,
Vladan Jocović is of course a true Montenegrean (or how is this written in English? Črnogorec, skratka), he's not from BIH, he just played in Banja Luka, where he had a good time. ;)

Regarding Slovan Mr Rajgelj will also try to atract the old tomcats like Dončić and Modrić, when they are back from vacation.
Btw, there an interview with him in Ekipa today.

[DZK]

DZK,
Vladan Jocović is of course a true Montenegrean (or how is this written in English? Črnogorec, skratka), he's not from BIH, he just played in Banja Luka, where he had a good time. ;)

Regarding Slovan Mr Rajgelj will also try to atract the old tomcats like Dončić and Modrić, when they are back from vacation.
Btw, there an interview with him in Ekipa today.

I used copy-paste from Eurobasket.com :p

Know about the interview...I am waiting till tomorow to download it free of charge from the WEB ;)

[Pija_Olimp]

I used copy-paste from Eurobasket.com :p
Shame on you because you didn't triple check everything what's written there. :mad:
Well, for teams of GYL use the ABA official site. 100 times more reliable. :D

[Nimonas]

Begic Mirza 218 C 85 BIH-SLO
Preldzic Emir 204 (6'9'') F 87 BIH-SLO

what's point to get another European passport? because of EU?

and when did Preldciz arrived if he is able to play for youth teams?

[elaj]

what's point to get another European passport? because of EU?

and when did Preldciz arrived if he is able to play for youth teams?
So you can play for Slovenian NT selections? :rolleyes:

Preldzic arrived like two years ago (correct me if I'm wrong?) and he got his passport like one month ago. :D

[Pija_Olimp]

what's point to get another European passport? because of EU?

and when did Preldciz arrived if he is able to play for youth teams?

You've stepped on my toe. I don't approve these fast naturalizations just because a foreign player was scouted by our teams, brought here and because the player's own country is not fast enough to call him into their national team, our bball men grab the opportunity, arrange him a citizenship using the irregular natur. procedure and send him to a championship.

You won't believe if I tell you that Preldžić got his passport only a few days before he started the NT preps for this championship. Otherwise he plays in Slovenia for a few years now.

(If I don't approve what Gregor Fučka did to us, I cannot be happy what these two guys did for their country of origine.)

[Joško Poljak Fan]

Well...I think they deserve their own topic :)

...E.Lorbek was far less valuable than Dragic when FIBA ruled 250.000 EUR buy-out for him in Olimpija-Climamio case...

I believe that Olimpija demanded 250.000 $, but Fiba decided for 100.000 $ :rolleyes:

regarding Preldžič case, I don't approve it either, but if most of other NT's are doing the same, why shouldn't we... and Bosnian getting Slovenian passport is not like something that speciall...


about Slovan- it's been always known Slovan has the best youth school in Ljubljana (Janče 2nd) now that just finally showed out.
For the next season I hope they'd keep Dončič- not because I'd like him, but because I think Slovan youngsters need to play along someone with experience to direct them to progress faster...
They've got great youngsters and if they'd keep Dragič and Zupan they'd be a great team. If Tau doesn't get serious I would insist about it on court, the offer Tau is willing to give is not serious for one of the most promising PG's in international basketball.

[Joško Poljak Fan]

Slovan lost 85-82 yesterday to Split and is right now 0/4 in NLB league.

as I'm reading today in media Pipan realised Carr and Latham aren't the right solutions for Slovan and Slovan will mostlikely look for substitutions on PG and SF. Carr not fitting in was crystal clear yesterday when Slovan got to -20 with Carr and returned to -3 with Nikolić playing in the second half. If they'd execute their offensive plays a bit better they might actually win the game, since both teams were unable to score for quite some time in 4th quarter wasting a lot of chances.

While I haven't seen anywhere Pipan has such opinion, I think Jevdžić isn't needed either, Vidmar surpassed him yesterday by a mile in defense and in offense.

With better organisation of the game Slovan could imho improve a lot, since it's impossible to expect 19,20 years olds to be the key players without support of some better veterans in the team...

[Markoishvili]

Stefan Nikolic played brilliant defense in the 2nd half. Very impressed by him.

I thought Preldzic was more skill-full, Vidmar displayed serious low post moves. Klobucar was ok.

[Joško Poljak Fan]

Stefan Nikolic played brilliant defense in the 2nd half. Very impressed by him.

I thought Preldzic was more skill-full, Vidmar displayed serious low post moves. Klobucar was ok.
Preldžić will show more skills when his shots will start dropping- at that point playing basketball becomes much easier... and so far he has 29.3 FG%, 44%F2, 19%F3 and 50% with free throws...
Vidmar has good fundamentals and decent athleticism for his height... if only he wouldn't be getting all those cheap fouls.

[Markoishvili]

Well the thing is that his shot has been that bad at Junior CHampioniship too, but he keeps jacking up 3s anyway....still very good game for him yesterday 10pts 7rebs 6ast....that Stefan Nikolic guy is going to be a hot commodity soon.

[Buducnost PG]

Well the thing is that his shot has been that bad at Junior CHampioniship too, but he keeps jacking up 3s anyway....still very good game for him yesterday 10pts 7rebs 6ast....that Stefan Nikolic guy is going to be a hot commodity soon.

When i am right you are a croatian scout from draftexpress. So i want you to ask how you compare Stefan Nikolic to Nenad Mijatovic and Milos Teodosic. All three are born in 87 and Guards. Who will have the best career in your opionion? And can you tell me something about Stefan Markovic (88 SG/PG) from Hemofarm?

[Joško Poljak Fan]

finally Slovan fired Carr and are in search for a new player on PG.
I liked Zoran Dragič and Mlakar getting chance on PG, but they are still year or two away from effectively running the point for their team.

[Buducnost PG]

I think Slovan will not be in NLB next year so that will not be godd for the development from Preldzic, Vidmar, Nikolic and Klobucar. Preldzic is playing bad for me this season so far. Very poor shooter. Vidmar looks better. Both are good rebounders i als think that Vidmar is a great rebounder. He pulls down nearly 5 rebounds in about 17 minutes. Nikolic is talented and plays good defense i heard, but he has to work on his shoot. Klobucar is a scorer but with very poor shooting from 3 pointrange so far.

[Joško Poljak Fan]

You're right, but it's hard for young players to stand for themselves in NLB without any support from older players... right now Slovan has Paravinja and bunch of kids. Before that they also had Jevdžić and Novak- not enough and youngsters can get pressured at will and of course with their physique and lack of games on this level they'll underperform.
I'm intentionally not mentioning Carr ;)

As for next year, right now Olimpija, Laško and Helios are at higher level, with 3-4 teams in slovenian league able to surprise Slovan. But I think at the end of the season with healthy Novak, Jevdžić and Nikolić with an addition of another guard, they might compete with Helios and Laško for the 2nd place.
I think Slovan will spend more money than they actually have for slovenian league just in order to stay in NLB league.

[Picek]

finally Slovan fired Carr and are in search for a new player on PG.
I liked Zoran Dragič and Mlakar getting chance on PG, but they are still year or two away from effectively running the point for their team.that guy was awfull, I was wondering how come Pipan didn't fired him sooner.. :rolleyes:

[Picek]

Philip was once again succesfull in posting in wrong topic :D
http://www.e-basket.pl/News__Ales_Pipan_trenerem_Anwilu__36211

so Pipan is leaving the club, I guess they (the club) will now fall apart..

[Pija_Olimp]

Picek, you don't know Mr Janez Rajgelj, don't you? :D

Slovan could disappear only if it gets joined with Olimpija on uneven terms. In this case we get - unfortunatelly - a package containing Rajgelj and Pipan. So there's no bread for Philip. ;)

[elaj]

Philip was once again succesfull in posting in wrong topic :D
http://www.e-basket.pl/News__Ales_Pipan_trenerem_Anwilu__36211

so Pipan is leaving the club, I guess they (the club) will now fall apart..
We will see the news is still unofficial.

[woma]

It's official - Ales Pipan is a new head coach of Anwil Wloclawek. I understand that Geoplin won't make any trouble with letting him go, right? :)

[elaj]

It's official - Ales Pipan is a new head coach of Anwil Wloclawek. I understand that Geoplin won't make any trouble with letting him go, right? :)
No, there won't be any problems. A simbolical buyout (around ~10-20k€) will probably do it - it's logical in this case (or even no buyout), Pipan still has one year left on his contract. I hope he'll do fine in Poland. I wish him good luck.

[boki]

Damn, I just hope Pipan won't take any talents like Preldzic, Vidmar or Klobucar with him.

[Joško Poljak Fan]

for real?... now I guess the next surprise is me signing for Panathinaikos replacing Javtokas... wow :confused:

Unles slovan is really falling apart I really doubt Pipan would do it, nevermind the payement, with Preldžić, Begić, Vidmar, Nikolić, Klobučar and some other youngsters staying for 2 years in the club, he could achieve a lot... training such a talented squad imho comes only once in the lifetime... if...

edit: Pipan just confirmed it for sportal (http://sportal.siol.net/default.asp?article_id=10041010612281147170)

[Joško Poljak Fan]

Damn, I just hope Pipan won't take any talents like Preldzic, Vidmar or Klobucar with him.
only over Rajgelj's body I presume...

anyway this story must have some seriously interesting background...

[Pija_Olimp]

Philip, I do sincerely apologize. :D

I cannot believe my eyes, but since the last time I checked Slovan's site just after reading Philip's message there has appeared their official message about Pipan's leave. Guys, he can leave for free as there's written: "Aleš Pipan in Geoplin Slovan sta po letu in pol sporazumno prekinila uspešno sodelovanje."

Yeah, there's definitely something behind all this.
What's next? Rajgelj for director of Olimpija? :eek:

[elaj]

No, there won't be any problems. A simbolical buyout (around ~10-20k€) will probably do it - it's logical in this case (or even no buyout), Pipan still has one year left on his contract. I hope he'll do fine in Poland. I wish him good luck.
Rajgelj said for Prostimet.com that there was no buyout, they just let him go. Slovan is already negotiating with two candidats for new coach. ;)

I think there is no background scenario...

[Joško Poljak Fan]

I just want to see Herksel becoming the head coach of Slovan... that would be fun:cool:

[PHILIPeurobasket]

Pipan is today in Wloclawek, he sign today contract, and on 30th he will play with his Anwil against Prokom Trefl :)
http://bi.gazeta.pl/im/1/3817/z3817211G.jpg

[Joško Poljak Fan]

Aleksander Sekulič is the new coach of Slovan, after being Pipan's assistant Slovan's GM Rajgelj confirmed he'll be the head coach from now on.

Davor Marcelič (http://www.adriaticbasket.com/igraci.php?id=64) is supposed to be near signing for Slovan. If that's true they finally got a good player for youngsters to depend and learn from...
Slovan is still searching for a PG.

[Joško Poljak Fan]

Marcelič officially signed.

[PHILIPeurobasket]

Marcelič officially signed.

Davor Marcelic :rolleyes: I remember this good guy when he play in my city. I remember that he is a good sniper - he can shoot for 3 from all positions :) Good player on SF position ...

[Buducnost PG]

Slovan with the 2nd win in this season against Split. Preldzic again with good reboudning and also 6 assits. But this kid can´t shoot. 12 points, 11 rebounds. 6 assists but FG-precentage 28,6. Vidmar again with a nice game. Is he more a PF or C? But still makes to many fouls. But he is on a good way. 3 nice big man from the 87 generation Dragan Labovic, Ante Tomic and Gaspar Vidmar are in this league. If they work hard and don´t get a difficult injury they will become at least good players for europe i think. Labovic is not a big athlet so i doubt he will join the nba, but he still is a very nice and smart player. Tomic will be drafted for sure but has to get more muscle. Vidmar i don´t know but he is starting to play well and with 2.10cm is also big enough to play at PF in the NBA.

[Joško Poljak Fan]

centers ussually need more time to mature as players on other positions, all 3 of them could have a nice career (i can't get rid of scepticism when it comes to 215cm+, so I am not a big fan of Tomič though), the most important will be that they'll continue their career in a supportive enviroment (that means get away from Benneton and western clubs) potentially in some stronger domestic club, to make it step by step... sadly they showed too much of a talent already, so none of the "big clubs" (Partizan, Zvezda, Cibona, Olimpija) will be able to buyout them and they'll got to some Italian or Spanish clubs instead, which is sad, since ex-Yu clubs are still by far superior when it comes to brushing up the talent, and those kids (like Slokar, Lončar, Miličič, Lorbek...or Skita, Bogdanovič, Djedovič) are in my honest opinion missing a lot.

Preldžič has some troubles with his shot this year, just as Klobučar does (and he is actually supposed to be a great shooter), I think it will get sort out with both players growing up...

18 years old Mlakar with his record performance in NLB league with 13 points +4 assists...:cool:

[Buducnost PG]

Preldzic also at the EC last year had not good FG-precentage. And he has not some troubles he can´t shoot. Sad but true. Perhaps his shoot will become better, but he never will be a good shooter. Look at his numers, just terrible.

And yes Tomic is hyepd more then for example Labovic, but Labovic is the better player so far. NBA scouts and draftsites are writing more about Tomic because he is big, can shoot and seems to be a nice passer, but he doesn´t show much passing skills in the last year and this season. Labovic is playing good in NLB and also makes a lot fo noise in the Uleb Cup. Not foulprone, but draw a lot of fouls, good FT-shooter for a BigMan and can also hit a three. But makes to much Turnovers so far.

[Joško Poljak Fan]

Dašič actually impressed me more than Labovič those rare minutes that I saw both playing...
I don't care much about NBA hype or NBA draft, I want those players to stay in europe, if not forever at least untill 24 when they'll actually develope their game.

Preldžič has a bit weird technique of the shot, we'll see...

[Buducnost PG]

Dašič actually impressed me more than Labovič those rare minutes that I saw both playing...
I don't care much about NBA hype or NBA draft, I want those players to stay in europe, if not forever at least untill 24 when they'll actually develope their game.

Preldžič has a bit weird technique of the shot, we'll see...

24 is to much. 21-22 would be ok. And we see that playes in a age of 21 are able to produce well in the nba like it Krstic did and now is doing Bargnani. Rudy Fernandez is also doing the right think. Perhaps next year he will be in nba and i am sure he will play a good rookie season.

And you are right Dasic has better tools then Labovic. He is playing well in the last 5 games. He is also getting a lot of playing time and is the number one option on PF position even if he come from the bench. At the begining Maras was playing more, but now Dasic is over him. Dasic is one of the best players from the 88 generation in europe and the best PF. I didn´t wrote about him, because i only was speaking about the three playes from the 87 generation.

[Fish]

By reading all this stuff I just want to say that Buducnost is one of my favourite NLB teams this year. I saw them in Ljubljana 2 times. Very talented, great to watch(although the big guy is stopping the "flow" of the game IMHO). The sad thing is that they'll do their max for some rich spanish or italian team soon....:(

[Joško Poljak Fan]

By reading all this stuff I just want to say that Buducnost is one of my favourite NLB teams this year. I saw them in Ljubljana 2 times. Very talented, great to watch(although the big guy is stopping the "flow" of the game IMHO). The sad thing is that they'll do their max for some rich spanish or italian team soon....:(
well if everything goes well, I think those rich spanish and italian teams will have to pay quite some money as well... with every year they have to pay more and if Uleb manages to establish 1.5 mio € buyout for every player from uleb competitions to NBA, you can imagine how the buyouts would suddenly increase. The clubs in balkan can't wish more than that.


Davor Marcelič finally played for Slovan vs. Loka Kava in national championship.
Slovan won 86-67, with Marcelič scoring 21 points, adding 9 rebounds (Begič 13 +6reb, Vidmar 11 +8reb +3blocks). All this might be a bit too late considering Slovan is mostly left with tough opponents in the last 7 rounds in adriatic league.
Pašalič is rumoured to return to Slovan.
for Slovenia obtaining 3 teams in adriatic league next season, those signings are just a bit late now

BiH clubs (Bosna & Široki)gathered 14 wins, slovenian clubs (Olimpija, Helios, Slovan) got 19 wins and Slovan wining at least the game in Široki would be nice

[Joško Poljak Fan]

22 years old PG, Mario Moore from Vanderbilt signed with Slovan untill the end of the season.

[SK rulez]

By reading all this stuff I just want to say that Buducnost is one of my favourite NLB teams this year. I saw them in Ljubljana 2 times. Very talented, great to watch(although the big guy is stopping the "flow" of the game IMHO). The sad thing is that they'll do their max for some rich spanish or italian team soon....:(
Italian teams are not a problem, unfortunately. Italian basketball doesn't have too much money (i think that the richest club is Roma, with a budget near to 10M€, while big european teams have budgets > 20M€). And Italian teams will take only Slovenian players, if they can, because the 4 extraEU players are everywhere USA players (only Roma have 2 serbians in his roster).

[Buducnost PG]

Gaspar Vidmar is a very good prospect. Without injuries he will be one of the better C/PF´s in Europe in 3-4 years.

[Joško Poljak Fan]

He is freaking sick maaaan....
both of those two dunks in the face of Gečevski were daaaamn sick... and Gečevski is supposed to be among the best (if not the best) centers in adriatic league...

http://www.siol.net/Doc/Img/10041010703102135320-7-1-3-1.jpg

All respect to Vidmar,the way he played today was amazing. He dominated the paint (against actually a decent competition of Zadars frontcourt players) the way I haven't seen any slovenian prospect dominate it before at that age, including Rasho, Brezec, Smodiš or Tušek...

If Slovan managed to keep their team together for one more year, they'd be a helluva team actually. Their backcourt defende is great (Nikolić, Mlakar, Klobučar, Preldžić all seem to be a good one on one defenders, with Vidmar and Begić improving a lot in the paint from the begining of the season...)

Slovan is doing a good job. If they managed to keep Dragič and Zupan last offseason as planned they'd be a good mid-level adriatic league team... while with Mlakar, Čigoja and Dragič jr. their future doesn't look that bad either...
They're not Železnik, but building their team on the simmilar principles they're still priceless to our basketball...

[DZK]

I was also very impressed with both Vidmar and Preldzic yesterday...not just because of the performance but also because of the attitude...they showed no fear and great winning mentality.

Preldzic I think is already ready for next year's introduction in EL...not beacuse he is better than Vidmar...it is just he doesn't need to bulk up for his position...Vidmar will dominate next season in NLB League if Slovan gets there.

I hope Olimpija and Slovan will finnaly develope relationship that would be beneficial for both parties and also for Slovenian basketball in a whole.

[boki]

It's very exciting to watch Vidmar, he has everything to become one of the best PF/C in Europe. He has size, soft hands, he's not clumsy, has good footwork and overall motorics, is agressive and has no fear, he dunks with full strengh whenever possible. Offcourse there is still a lot of work infront him, improving defence and positioning and so on...

I must say I was more impressed with Klobucar than Preldzic yesterday. I like very much his speed, agressive defence, good driving and assisting. If his shot is falling, he could be lethal.

Preldzic has much talent, but he definately has to put much muscle to his body. He lacks strength, so he avoids contact too much. When oponnent goes with his back to the basket on him, he can't do much. I like his court vision (he is superior to Nachbar on this matter allready- I can't remember one good assist from Nachbar) and he has improved his shot from the beginning of the year. So working in fitness must be priority this summer for Preldzic, because he can't play in Eurolegue with such weak body IMO.

[Joško Poljak Fan]

I must say I was more impressed with Klobucar than Preldzic yesterday. I like very much his speed, agressive defence, good driving and assisting. If his shot is falling, he could be lethal.
I don't know if it's true, or is it just me trying to defende Emir, but I wouldn't be surprised if he changed his shooting release somewhere in the last 2 years. It happens that a player has to completely renew its shooting mechanisms (Riccardo Pittis even switched his shooting hand in his 30ies) and after that you need quite some time to fully utilise it. I got a feeling his release did change a bit from the begining of the season since it was a bit weird back than... could be that i'm wrong though...

Klobučar is playing some really intensive defense, Preldžič doesn't have the same intensity imo eventhough he is not bad either.
I think it would be best for Vidmar, Klobučar and Preldžič to stay in Slovan for one more season, eventhough they imo are able to contribute in EL to some extention, taking one step at the time is imo optimal for their careers.

[Joško Poljak Fan]

Vidmar's average in last 10 games:

24.75 minutes per game
16.6 ppg with 65.6 FG%, 80 FT%
7.5 rebounds er game (3.7 offensive, 3.8 offensive)
0.5 assist per game
1.2 steal per game
2.7 TO's per game
0.4 block per game
3.7 commited fouls p.g., 4.5 received fouls p.g.
overall with an average ranking of 19.2