BLOG: Žarko Paspalj – “U19 ABA League Championship and ABA League 2 are great for young players”

An oftenly discussed theme in the basketball world is the ratio of the domestic and foreign players. I have been discussing this with almost everybody within the region. There is and evident lack of players which have enough quality to play in the national team jersey of any of the ABA League countries. There is also another thing that I cannot understand, but seems to be an important factor. Those players aren’t maturing anymore with 17 or 18 years of age, but reach their peak later, after reaching 20 years of age. If the club is chasing a result and is composing its team with this goal in mind, there is a question arising, whether it should wait for young players or should they fill the gap with a foreign player. But, there is also a question how many foreign players are too many to be useful for a team. When you fall out of the process of building something, it’s difficult to return to that track. I have been discussing this with many people. I believe that we mainly think alike, but it is not clear whether someone has enough will and desire, given all of the necessary conditions, that clubs have for work with youth categories, or can they handle great expectations when chasing the result. This is a very thin line.

But, this is not a question, suitable for the ABA League, but rather its clubs. I believe that every club should have people, that take care of the young players, within its organization. They should also take care of securing the necessary material conditions for it, which is quite a challenge. In the end, the Yugoslavian basketball school would never have been what it used to be in case there weren’t several dear enthusiasts, that have loved basketball so much, but they also had it all which was necessary for them to live a quality life, so they could focus on searching for talent, which is a very complex business. Sadly, today there are a very few such people. It is true that the kids are different nowadays, but we should also be working with them.

We are coming back to the point, where there are no quality players with 17 or 18 years of age, regardless of how much we wish to have such players. This has changed. In the NBA lots of players, which do not wish to wait to finish college, get drafted in their first year, with 19 years of age. This is a real mess and we are seeing lots of things. Perhaps we are trapped in the era, where we believed that if you aren’t a mature and quality player by the age of 18 or 19, then you’ll never be one. However, I hope that they can prove me wrong and that I will get the evidence of the players really maturing later nowadays.

When speaking of the ABA League players, Dragan Apić is after more than half a season convincingly the best in the statistic categories and has won the MVP of the month honours twice in a row. I have been watching him in the game against Cedevita. This kid is a great player and is proving his value and probably the people whose opinion is more relevant that mine, should predict how far his career can go. However, even in this moment it is clear that he is a serious player. I am not familiar with his situation or his plans, but I believe that he is prepared for the next step in his career. And for sure he is interesting and he has the quality – there is no dilemma.

From the players, that have proved themselves with excellent statistics, there are two Croatian internationals – Luka Božić and Tomislav Zubčić. Božić is a player that needs lots of minutes on the court and it is evident that he is taking advantage of it in the best possible way. My friends from Croatia will agree that their greatest problem is their national team and that they will have plenty of problems especially over the next couple of years, when they will not be playing at any major competition. Slovenia too. I will not comment on why and how. They are the victims of bad decisions and everything that has been going on and is going on in the basketball in general. It is true somehow in the end that quality, desire and enthusiasm, in basketball, bring the success in the national team jersey. We are all experiencing problems with the development of young players, where there are lots of things necessary to be done at all levels.

ABA League is doing plenty in this area and I am happy to witness it. ABA League indeed is the most quality sporting competition in our region and if there was no ABA League there would be no quality basketball in the region. That is for sure. Also, the U19 ABA League Championship and ABA League 2 have made an impact and are offering additional space for the youngsters to prove themselves. To get noticed and to demonstrate their talent and quality. I believe that they will.

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BLOG: Žarko Paspalj – “Juniorska ABA liga i Druga ABA liga napravili dodatan prostor za mlade igrače”

U svom drugom blogu za zvanični sajt ABA lige, ambasador lige Žarko Paspalj je pričao o afirmaciji mladih igrača u regionu ali i košarci uopšte. Pročitajte više u donjim redovima.

Česta tema u košarkaškom svetu je odnos domaćih igrača i stranaca. Te razgovore sam imao sa skoro svima u u regionu. Sve je uočljiviji nedostatak igrača koji su dovoljno kvalitetni da bismo ih videli u nacionalnom dresu bilo koje zemlje. Tu postoji druga stvar koju teško prihvatam, ali izgleda da je to bitan deo. Ti igrači više ne sazrevaju sa 17 ili 18 godina, već svoj maksimum dostižu tek kasnije, posle dvadesete godine. Ako klub juri rezultat i u skladu sa tim sastavlja ekipu, postavlja se pitanje da li treba da ima strpljenja da čeka mlade igrače ili da eventualno popunjava tim sa nekoliko stranac. Ali, pitanje je sa koliko stranaca se prelazi granica korisnog za klub. Kada jednom izgubiš kontinuitet stvaranja nečega teško se vratiš. Imao sam taj razgovor sa mnogim ljudima. Mišljenja nam se uglavnom poklapaju, ali pitanje je da li neko ima volje i želje, uz sve uslove koje imaju timovi u radu sa mladim selekcijama, takođe da li oni mogu da istrpe velika očekivanja kada se juri rezultatat. To je jako tanka linija.

Ali, to nije pitanje za ABA ligu, već za klubove. Mislim da svaki tim u svojoj organizaciji treba da ima ljude koji će da se bave mladim igračima, da im se uz to obezbede i materijalno dobri uslovi, što nije mali posao. Na kraju krajeva, jugoslovenska košarka nikada ne bi bila to što jeste, da se nisu njome bavili neki dragi entuzijasti koji su mnogo voleli košarku, ali opet sa druge strane imali su sve uslove za svoj dobar život i mogli su da se posvete pronalaženju talenata, jer to je vrlo kompleksan posao. Na žalost, danas ima jako malo takvih ljudi. Istina je i da su se klinci promenili, ali trebalo bi da se radi sa njima.

Opet se vraćamo do toga da više ne postoje kvalitetni igrači sa 17 ili 18 godina, kolika god da je naša želja. To se promenilo. U NBA se mnoštvo igrača, da ne bi čekali da završe koledž sa 22, uzimaju već u prvoj godini studija, sa 19 godina. Nekako sve je sve to pobrkano i čudno, svedoci smo i ovoga i onoga. Možda smo mi ostali u vremenu da ako nisi igrač sa 18 ili 19, onda nisi nikada, ali se nadam da će me igrači demantovati i da će me uveriti da to sazrevanje možda dolazi kasnije.

Kada govorimo o igračima u ABA ligi, Dragan Apić je posle više od polovine sezone ubedljivo najbolji po statističkim parametrima i evo već dva meseca je MVP. Gledao sam ga protiv Cedevite. Taj momak je dobar igrač, pokazuje svoje kvalitete i verovatno bi ljudi relevantniji od mene mogli da procene koji je njegov prag, dokle on može da ide. Ali, čak i u ovom momentu jasno se vida da je on ozbiljan igrač. Ne znam kakva je situacija sa njim i kakvi su planovi, ali mislim da je spreman da ide na veću stepenicu. A da jeste interesantan i da jeste dobar, to nema dileme.

Od igrača koji se još izdvajaju po statistici su dvojica hrvatskih reprezentativaca, Luka Božić i Tomislav Zubčić. Božić je igrač kome je minutaža bitna i očito je da on to koristi na najbolji mogući način. Moji prijatelji iz Hrvatske će da se slože da je njihov najveći problem reprezentacija i da će tek da imaju problem u sledeće dve godine kada neće biti prisutni ni na jednom velikom tamičenju. Slovenija takođe. Neću da ulazim zbog čega i kako. I oni su žrtve loših odluka i svega što se dešavalo i šta se dešava u košarci uopšte. Stoji negde na kraju da kvalitet, želju i entuzijazam, kada je košarka u pitanju, nose uspeh u nacionalnom dresu. Svi kuburimo sa mladim igračima gde osim priče moraju da se urade mnoge stvari svim nivoima.

ABA liga i na tom polju čini dosta i to me radije. ABA lige jeste najkvalitetnije sportsko takmičenje u regionu i da nje nema ne bi bilo kvalitetne košarke na ovim prostorima. To je sigurno. Takođe, juniroski turnir, kao i 2. ABA liga su napravili veliki iskorak i omogućili još veći porstor za mlade. Da se nametnu, da pokažu talenat i kvalitet. Nadam se i da hoće.