First experience on the court for Cedevita Olimpija
The team of Cedevita Olimpija stepped on the basketball court of Stožice Arena for the first time in this year’s preparation period, and players and the members of the coaching staff also introduced themselves to the media.
(Photo: Cedevita Olimpija/Ales Fevzer)
After Cedevita Olimpija’s players got through the medical exams in the first few days of the preparation period, the Dragons along with the head coach Slaven Rimac and his coaching staff, hit the floor of Stožice Arena for the first time in this year’s preparation period.
At the same time, Cedevita Olimpija introduced all three assistant coaches. Teo Čizmić, Marko Maravić and Dragiša Drobnjak will be the helping hand of coach Rimac from the sidelines. Čizmić, as a player for then Jugoplastika, won two EuroLeague titles, and he was the assistant coach of Rimac in the past season in Cedevita Zagreb. He was also the head coach in Poland, Hungary and Romania, and as a player, he played for Postojna from 1995 to 1997. Maravić is a familiar face in Slovenian basketball, as he, among others, wore the Dragon’s jersey, and in the past few years, he was working with Basketball Club Ljubljana. Maravić was a member of the Slovenian national team in EuroBasket 2015. Drobnjak was the member of the coaching staff of Ljubljana’s club in the ending of the past season, and the popular ‘Drole’ won six titles of a Slovenian national champion and two titles of the Belgian national champion as a player.
At the opening practice almost all players were present - Filip Krušlin, Martin Krampelj, Michael Hopkins, Petar Vujačić, Edo Murić, Mirko Mulalić, Codi Miller-McIntyre, Jaka Blažič, David Kralj, Andrija Stipanović, Saša Zagorac and Issuf Sanon appeared. Only Marko Simonović and Ryan Boatright were not present this time. Simonović was in Ljubljana on Monday to do the medical exams, but then he joined the Serbian national team, which is preparing for the upcoming World Cup in September, while Ryan Boatright arrived in Ljubljana after the end of the first team’s practice.
Cedevita Olimpija will stay in Ljubljana until August 19. After that, the squad will travel to Rogla, and stay in Pohorje until the end of August. On September 11 at 18.30, the fans will get a first chance to see Cedevita Olimpija in action, as the Dragons will take on ratiopharm Ulm in a preparation game in Tivoli Sports.
Slaven Rimac, head coach of Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana: “We have the greatest ambitions and the great desire to do something special. It is difficult to guarantee anything in terms of results, since our team is entirely new. However, we have managed to compose a team full of the players with the proper character and I believe that we will therefore manage to attract the crowd with the way we will be playing.”
---------------------
Košarkarji Cedevite Olimpije prvič stopili na parket stoženske lepotice
Moštvo Cedevite Olimpije je v sredo prvič v letošnjem pripravljalnem obdobju preizkusilo parket Arene Stožice, košarkarji in člani strokovnega štaba pa so stopili tudi pred predstavnike medijev.
Po tem, ko so košarkarji Cedevite Olimpije v ponedeljek začeli z vsemi potrebnimi zdravstvenimi pregledi, da so člani strokovnega štaba na čelu z glavnim trenerjem Slavenom Rimcem dobili boljši vpogled v pripravljenost igralcev, so Zmaji v sredo prvič stopili na parket stoženske lepotice in se predstavili tudi zbranim predstavnikom medijev.
Hkrati je Cedevita Olimpija predstavila vse pomočnike glavnega trenerja v novi tekmovalni sezoni. Na klopi bodo Rimcu pomagali Teo Čizmić, Marko Maravić in Dragiša Drobnjak. Čizmić je kot igralec takratne Jugoplastike dvakrat postal prvak Evrolige, osvojil je tudi štiri naslove jugoslovanskega državnega prvaka, v minuli sezoni pa je bil Rimčev pomočnik v zagrebški Cedeviti. V svoji trenerski karieri je deloval tudi kot glavni trener na Poljskem, Madžarskem in v Romuniji, kot igralec pa je med letoma 1995 in 1997 igral v Postojni. Maravić je stari znanec slovenskih košarkarskih parketov, ki je v preteklosti kot igralec že nosil dres Zmajev, v zadnjih dveh letih pa je deloval v okviru Košarkarskega kluba Ljubljana. Leta 2005 je bil del slovenske moške članske reprezentance na EuroBasketu, ki je potekal v Srbiji. Drobnjak je bil član strokovnega štaba ljubljanske ekipe že ob koncu minule sezone, kot igralec pa je priljubljeni 'Drole' kar šestkrat posegel po naslovu slovenskega državnega prvaka in dvakrat po naslovu belgijskega državnega prvaka, športne copate pa v kot postavil lani.
Na uvodnem treningu so bili prisotni skoraj vsi košarkarji, prišli so Filip Krušlin, Martin Krampelj, Michael Hopkins, Petar Vujačić, Edo Murić, Mirko Mulalić, Codi Miller-McIntyre, Jaka Blažič, David Kralj, Andrija Stipanović, Saša Zagorac ter Issuf Sanon. Manjkala sta le Marko Simonović, ki se je v slovenski prestolnici mudil le v ponedeljek, prestal zdravstvene preglede, nato pa se znova pridružil pripravam srbske članske reprezentance na septembrsko svetovno prvenstvo ter Ryan Boatright, ki je v Ljubljano prispel po prvem treningu.
Košarkarji Cedevite Olimpije bodo v Ljubljani trenirali do 19. avgusta. Sledila bo selitev na Roglo, na Pohorju pa bodo Zmaji ostali vse do konca avgusta. Za tem se bodo vrnili v Ljubljano, 11. septembra ob 18.30 pa se bo Cedevita Olimpija navijačem in širši košarkarski javnosti prvič predstavila na pripravljalni tekmi. V Hali Tivoli se bodo Ljubljančani udarili z nemško ekipo ratiopharm Ulm.
Slaven Rimac, glavni trener KK Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana: "Imamo največje ambicije in ogromno željo, da naredimo nekaj posebnega. Težko je karkoli zagotoviti v smislu rezultata, saj imamo povsem novo moštvo. No, uspeli smo sestaviti moštvo polno igralcev s pravim karakterjem in verjamem, da bomo uspeli privabiti publiko z našim slogom igre."
