“How Did We Become a Basketball Superpower? Well, We Were Golden State Before Golden State!” A Mouthwatering Story: Serbia, Jokić, Mišović, Teo, Ćosi...

- That blend was forged by legendary coaches Aca Nikolić and Ranko Žeravica, who honed their skills in America during the 1970s, Rajaković stated, continuing: - Žeravica and Nikolić spent several months working at UCLA with John Wooden, and at North Carolina with Dean Smith. Their experience there, which they brought back to Serbia, then Yugoslavia, revolutionized basketball. Our basketball became a kind of, I wouldn't say copy, because they were intelligent enough to learn without merely imitating, but rather adapting it to our mentality. This was further built upon by Krešo Ćosić, who was also an American-trained player.

- We had so many fantastic coaches – creative, smart, intelligent – who managed to shape that acquired knowledge. Why is that important? I believe the Yugoslav national team in the late '80s, and if we look at the European Championship in Italy in 1991, just before the war, where we absolutely dominated, the way we played, we were Golden State before Golden State. - It was a simple game, based on the quality of the players, a unique trick in the game, high intelligence, and quick decision-making. That characterized our school of basketball. Things happened quickly, they changed, basketball evolved, and so on. And then we come to the fact that God always blesses us with talented children and virtuosos.

- In my opinion, Miloš Teodosić is the best point guard in basketball history, as a passer, as an assist man. And again, Nikola Jokić, I think he's the best passer at the center position. Both of them became who they are, not because coaches yelled at them, "Don't do that," but because they were allowed to be creative in their play and were permitted to make mistakes, which were an integral part of the game, Rajaković emphasized.

- It's a big question how Nikola Jokić would have developed if he had joined the youth teams of Crvena Zvezda or Partizan. He stayed playing for a small team, and Miško Ražnatović discovered him based on newspaper clippings – his stats, rebound numbers, points, and so on – which intrigued him enough to send his scout to see what this guy looked like. - Nikola was supposed to move to Barcelona, but he played terribly in the game where Barcelona scouts came to watch him, so they gave up. The rest of the story is incredible: he came to the NBA as a second-round draft pick and became the best player in the world. - Nikola is an exceptional professional. He loves basketball deeply, he is incredibly dedicated to it. I think his narrative, which he tries to promote, "horses and basketball isn't important," I don't think that's true. Basketball is extremely important to him, the national team is extremely important to him; he wants to be a champion. And indeed, I've followed him since 2019 when we were together with the Serbian national team, and it's incredible how much he has matured as a person and as a player since then. - And how much he has learned and adapted. Every time I see him play for the national team, when he returns to the NBA, I see him as a better player. I see him as a champion. We in Serbia must be extremely proud; he is the best Serbian basketball player we have ever had. And yes, we truly have the honor and privilege to live in his era and to have the opportunity to watch Nikola, and to be able to watch his games on television, and for him to play with such love and passion for the Serbian national team and to play in these windows now.

- That was August 2, 1996, so in about 10 days, it will be 30 years since I started coaching. It was an interesting situation; I stopped playing at 16 and already knew then that my playing career wouldn't go in that direction, that I wouldn't be a Radmilo Mišović, or a Željko Obradović, or a Vladimir Androić. - So I decided to start coaching. It was a tough decision because I loved basketball so much, I loved playing, but then again, working with young players brought me a lot of satisfaction, happiness, and excitement, so from that perspective, it was an easy adaptation. - In that first year, I started with a camp at Borac's courts, coaching younger selections. Later, I was an assistant coach with cadets and juniors, who were actually players of my generation, so after a year and a half, I became the head coach of the junior team, and literally my former teammates were the players on the team. So that was also a very interesting and beautiful experience. - I truly believe that God guides us through life and puts us in situations where we ourselves don't know why something is happening or how it's happening.

- At the Basketball Without Borders camp in Treviso, I had the opportunity to meet people from the NBA and Italian basketball, who later recommended me to San Antonio. That was a very important experience for me, living and working in Serbia, working at Crvena Zvezda, and at the same time having the chance two or three times a year to go to America and improve myself. - And it was very interesting: every time I went for seven or ten days, I saw so many new things, absorbed so much positive energy. And always, upon returning to Serbia, I would say: "Now I'm going to apply that here." And that energy would last for two days until I faced the reality here. Then I would give up on some of the things I learned there, and there was always a desire to be part of such a system and to be able to work in an environment like the NBA.

- I'm not sure if it has anything to do with the water or the Morava River, but generally, this city was incredibly fortunate to have a talent like Radmilo Mišović. Many people don't know what a career he had, what he accomplished, how far ahead of his time he was, and what a genius he was on and off the court. - I had the opportunity to sit with him, along with Milan Petronijević, with Peca, when we were with a coach from Čačak, where we worked together, and we were talking about his shot. And he said, when I started shooting, no one was doing jump shots; we all shot from the ground, and that was it. He said, then taller players started appearing to block shots. He thought, what should I do? I can't keep shooting like this; I have to start jumping. - No one taught him the jump shot; he came to the conclusion himself that he had to change something. To jump to be able to shoot. And the stories about him are legendary and mythical, how he trained and how intense his shooting practice was, that in 30 minutes, I don't know, it's a number, 500-600 shots, all on the move, all at a sprint. So, when you grow up in a city where such a great figure existed and where young players come, and where they can watch him as such, it's normal for players to try to emulate him. - So I think a large part of the credit goes to Mišović for why there are so many shooters from this city. And the city is such that we are not Nikšić, we are not Mogren, where people who are 210 cm tall walk the streets. We don't have that kind of physique in the city; mostly guards come from this city, and then from Radmilo, from Arsić, from Androić, from Marinović, and now Avramović, a large number of guards come precisely from this city.