Cedevita Olimpija part ways with Krušlin, Stipanović and Zirbes

In light of the competitive pause due to the coronavirus pandemic, Cedevita Olimpija has agreed to terminate its agreements with the Croatian national team member, Filip Krušlin, the German national team player, Maik Zirbes, and Bosnia and Herzegovina national team representative Andrija Stipanović. Krušlin and Stipanović were members of Zagreb's Cedevita last season, and Zirbes moved to Ljubljana after starting the season in China. All three joined the Dragons team before the start of the 2019/20 competitive season.

In the 2019/20 competitive season, Filip Krušlin was one of Cedevita Olimpija's most consistent players. He has appeared in all 21 ABA Regular Season. In the regional scene, he recorded 6.0 points and 1.6 rebounds per game in 17.2 minutes per game with 41.5% shot from behind the line.

In the 2019/20 competitive season, Andrija Stipanović made 21 appearances in the ABA League and averaged 6.1 points, 3.4 rebounds and 1.4 passes per game in 17.4 minutes of play.

Maik Zirbes has stepped on court in 20 ABA League games this season. He averaged 5.8 points, 3.1 rebounds and 0.5 blocks per game on the regional scene. He showed his best performance in the 2019/20 competitive season in the fourth round of the ABA League, when he scored 13 points in Stozice against Partizan NIS, grabbed nine rebounds and blocked two shots.

Filip Krušlin stated as he left Ljubljana: “I have felt great in Ljubljana this season. The city is nice and the conditions for training and playing games are great. There are quite a few good restaurants in town as well, and if I draw the line, my family and I have had a great time. The season was full of ups and downs, which is quite normal for the sport. Our team was in a whole new position after the merger of two clubs, when each of the players was still looking for a place in the team, but I believe that in the future it will be much easier for the club as everyone in the club has adapted to the situation and they know what is ahead of them. I have said before that not much has changed for me, but this was not the case in this respect either, but I tried to make the most out of every position I found myself in.”

Andrija Stipanović added: “It was very nice for me and my family in Ljubljana, because we really enjoyed the city, which has a lot to offer when you want to live a peaceful family life. I would not say that I am pleased with the season that is behind us, as we have not met our goals. We had too many ups and downs. The team always did their best. I think the chemistry inside the team was good. Unfortunately, we lost too many matches where we had all the threads of the game in our own hands, and that ended up being the final result. For the support, I thank all the fans and everyone who has supported us throughout the season. I believe the upcoming season will be more successful for Cedevita Olimpija.”

Maik Zirbes stated: “The season wasn’t as we all expected. We had a much better team for how we played. We all tried to give our best but sometimes that’s not working out together. I really like the time I spent in the city, as well as the people in the team, office and players.”

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Cedevita Olimpija sporazumno prekinila pogodbe s Krušlinom, Stipanovićem in Zirbesom

Cedevita Olimpija se je s Filipom Krušlinom, Andrijo Stipanovićem in Maikom Zirbesom dogovoril za sporazumno prekinitev pogodb. Vsi trije so se v Ljubljano preselili pred začetkom sezone 2019/20.

Cedevita Olimpija se je v luči tekmovalnega premora zaradi pandemije koronavirusa, dogovorila za sporazumno prekinitev pogodb s hrvaškim reprezentantom, Filipom Krušlinom, nemškim reprezentantom, Maikom Zirbesom in reprezentantom Bosne in Hercegovine, Andrijo Stipanovićem. Krušlin in Stipanović sta bila v minulih sezonah vrsto let člana zagrebške Cedevite, Zirbes pa se je v Ljubljano preselil po tem, ko je sezono začel na Kitajskem. Vsi trije so se moštvu Zmajev pridružili pred začetkom tekmovalne sezone 2019/20.

V tekmovalni sezoni 2019/20 je bil Filip Krušlin eden izmed najbolj konstantnih igralcev Cedevita Olimpije. Zaigral je na vseh 21 tekmah rednega dela Lige ABA. Na regionalnem prizorišču je v 17,2 minutah na tekmo beležil 6,0 točke in 1,6 skoke na obračun ob 41,5-odstotnem metu izza črte.

V tekmovalni sezoni 2019/20 je Andrija Stipanović v regionalni Ligi ABA stopil na parket na 21 tekmah in v 17,4 minutah igre v povprečju dosegal 6,1 točke, 3,4 skoke in 1,4 podaje na tekmo.

Maik Zirbes je na regionalni sceni v povprečju dosegal 5,8 točke, 3,1 skoke in 0,5 blokade na tekmo. Svojo najboljšo predstavo v tekmovalni sezoni 2019/20 je prikazal v četrtem kolu Lige ABA, ko je v Stožicah proti Partizanu NIS dosegel 13 točk, zgrabil devet skokov in podelil dve blokadi.

Ob odhodu iz Cedevita Olimpije je Filip Krušlin dejal: „V Ljubljani sem se v tej sezoni počutil odlično. Mesto je lepo, pogoji za treninge in igranje tekem pa so odlični. V mestu se najde tudi kar nekaj dobrih restavracij, in če potegnem črto, smo se z družino imeli zelo dobro. Sezona je bila polna vzponov in padcev, kar je povsem normalno za šport. Naša ekipa se je znašla v povsem novem položaju po združitvi dveh klubov, ko se je vsak od igralcev še iskal v moštvu, verjamem pa, da bo v prihodnosti klubu veliko lažje, saj so se vsi v klubu prilagodili položaju, in vedo, kaj jih čaka. Že prej sem govoril, da se zame ni veliko spremenilo, a tudi v tem pogledu temu ni bilo tako, a sam sem skušal iz vsakega položaja v katerem sem se znašel, izvleči največ, kar se je dalo.“

Andrija Stipanović je dodal: „V Ljubljani je bilo meni in moji družini zelo lepo, saj smo resnično uživali v mestu, ki zelo veliko ponuja, če želiš v njem živeti mirno družinsko življenje. Ne bi rekel, da sem zadovoljen s sezono, ki je za nami, saj nismo izpolnili zastavljenih ciljev. Imeli smo preveč vzponov in padcev. Ekipa je vedno dala vse od sebe. Mislim, da je bila kemija znotraj moštva dobra. Na žalost smo izgubili preveč tekem, na katerih smo imeli vse niti igre v svojih rokah, to pa se je na koncu poznalo na končnem rezultatu. Za podporo se zahvaljujem vsem navijačem in vsem, ki so nas podpirali skozi celotno sezono. Verjamem, da bo prihajajoča sezona za Cedevito Olimpijo bolj uspešna.“

Maik Zirbes pa je povedal naslednje: „Sezona se na žalost ni odvila in zaključila, kot smo vsi pričakovali. Naše moštvo je bilo veliko boljše, kot so to morda kazali rezultati. Vsak od nas je skušal dati vse od sebe, a na žalost to včasih ni bilo dovolj. Ljubljana mi je resnično všeč, prav tako pa sem preživel prijetno sezono z vsemi soigralci ter ljudmi iz pisarne.“