Interview, Dejan Kamenjašević: Crvena Zvezda and Partizan have bigger budgets than us, NBA must enter Europe as a partner

"You just reminded me that we start in 40 days; I hadn't even thought about it. All I know is that we begin preparations and training on August 24th. We won't be complete because we have as many as nine players who will be with their national teams. The other four or five players, due to their medical conditions, we decided not to send with their national teams this time. So, like everyone else, we'll start with an incomplete roster. We'll begin just one month before the EuroLeague tips off. A EuroLeague that will be more interesting than ever. We say it every year, but it's true — it's always getting better, always stronger. A EuroLeague that will surely have, I'd say, at least 12 candidates for the Top 8 or Top 10, or four, five, or six candidates for the Final Four. We're still in the market, trying to find one or two more reinforcements to complete our roster. As everyone knows, we maintained continuity with 12 players from last season who won the ABA League and competed in the EuroLeague. Of the 15 who finished the season, 12 remained, which is a huge achievement. I think that's a signal to us that we're doing things right, retaining our core and team continuity. We're only adding new reinforcements that specifically address the gaps we had and the issues we faced last season. I believe we definitely have a better team than before. Now, how far this team will go, and what we'll achieve, nobody knows; time will certainly tell, as they say." - Dejan Kamenjašević

"If we analyze objective facts, not subjective opinions, I believe we should be satisfied. Of course, within our team and club, we always strive to be better, to improve our situation, and to learn from our mistakes. And we made many mistakes last season in organization, logistics, structure, decisions... A thousand things happen in a club daily, and naturally, we learn from all of it, trying not to repeat the same mistakes twice. But if we look at things objectively: a season where we were in the EuroLeague for the first time, where we were in the ABA League for the second time, where we've only existed for two years – let's not forget that, sometimes people do – where we started with such enthusiasm, passion, and that vision, a ten-year new system in European club basketball that has proven successful, where we changed many things or showed that they can be done not better or worse, but differently... Where in this last season we had so much travel, so many challenges, like moving to Sarajevo and, well, the beginning of our status as sports refugees... Where at one point we even had nine injuries on the roster, which forced us to enter the market and bring in new players during the season... Now, since there are no longer such quality players available during the season, unlike in the summer... We didn't manage to improve the team with those new players, and with all those negative elements that happened and hindered us... I think we had a very respectable season where we didn't manage to enter the Top 10, which was our EuroLeague goal, but we also know that if we had stayed in Dubai and played... the situation would probably have been different. We probably would have gotten those one or two extra wins we were missing. As for the ABA League, well, you see, the first year we were in the semifinals, the second year we were in the final and we won. So, I really don't know what more could have been expected from that team given everything I've listed and all the problems and adversities that held us back in our pursuit of continuous improvement. But that's why we had this summer to recover, prepare, and organize, and I believe we will be even better next season." - Dejan Kamenjašević

"We went to Sarajevo because, at that moment, it was the city that offered us the best conditions to play those games and provided some assurance that we would have fans at the matches. We didn't know how many, or what to expect, but we knew we'd have people cheering for the team, mostly because of Kamenjaš and Musa. In the end, Sarajevo reacted wonderfully, and as the city of Sarajevo has always been, it went crazy for Dubai. We had 7,000 people attending EuroLeague games, and 4-5,000 for ABA League matches. Because of this, we are now fourth, actually third, on the ABA League attendance lists. I even think we're second, above Crvena Zvezda and Partizan, as there isn't that much attendance in the ABA League. Sarajevo reacted in an extraordinary way. We had situations there where Aleksa Avramović received more applause when entering the court or during announcements than, for example, Kenan Kamenjaš or Musa. Filip Petrušev, who is usually booed, received constant applause, which he wasn't used to. And then, for example, we had situations where we truly had enormous fan support, to the point where we even played some games in Zenica, where it was even better. So, I would really like to take this opportunity to thank the city of Sarajevo, the city of Zenica, and all the people who enabled us to play our games there and gave us the support they did, because without them, we certainly wouldn't have succeeded." - Dejan Kamenjašević

"We retained 12 out of 15 players. Firstly, that's a huge success, that we kept the players we wanted to keep, unlike what happened in some other environments. On top of that, we've brought in, or are still bringing in – we still have a few players left to sign – players who can certainly provide what we lacked last season in certain positions... Especially in defense and defensive aggression, particularly in that team defense we were missing, and defensive rebounding... I believe we have that now. The athleticism we've added to our team. And I think with Pascual, and his system of basketball, and his experience, knowledge, character, and the charisma he brings to the EuroLeague, and with the team that was already there, and which, let's not forget, also won the ABA League – because that's important to always emphasize in the Balkans... And with those four, five, six, seven new players who will join, bringing our roster to 18 by the end of the season... I mean, with whom we will start the season and complete this transfer period... I think we have a very solid squad and a much better team than we had last season, which then needs to show its true potential." - Dejan Kamenjašević

"I don't know if it's the best, but it's certainly the longest, that's for sure. We now have seven or eight centers who can all play. We still don't know what Žaite will be like, how he'll return... So, we definitely worked on this consciously, strategically, because last year we started the season with 15 players, and at one point nine players got injured, and we ended up bringing in four players during the season. Those players we brought in during the season, that was one of the mistakes I personally made, where we didn't manage to upgrade the team to the level we expected, because you can't find good players on the market at that time. Now we've opted for a different system, which is to immediately build a roster of 18-19 players, with the risk that if no one gets injured, you'll have problems finding playing time for everyone. But then again, if someone does get injured, those players who are already integrated, who are already on the roster, who already know and understand the system, they will play, and you won't have to bring in players from outside. So, it is a risk, but we learn from our mistakes every day, and I think it's a much better option than starting with 15 and then ending up with 19 or 20, but with five players you bring in during the season. Among other things, from my perspective, 80 percent of EuroLeague teams will have 17, 18, 19 players, so we are not unique in that; we are just like everyone else. The difference is that we might have changed some things, and we also introduced this new system of ours... Some teams are already copying it, even though we didn't invent it; we copied it from football, where we signed several players, four so far, whom we will send on loan: two to Joventut Badalona, one to Unicaja Malaga, and one to Virtus Bologna. These are players who are already at EuroLeague level or close to EuroCup/EuroLeague, young, promising, good players who can get even better, who can develop in those environments this year, where they cost us nothing, where they are there, but whom we can bring back in a year or two, or take them off loan and bring them back to our club, with the added benefit that we wouldn't then pay 2 million or a buyout of a million, but they would cost us 500,000, which is what their current contracts are, or 400,000, or something like that, or even less. And of course, we also hope to save money that way, to... to strategically develop the roster in the future and to be competitive in the market with everyone else." - Dejan Kamenjašević

"Xavi Pascual is Xavi Pascual. He's a big name, a wonderful person, a true professional... Someone who, in my opinion, should have many more titles than he does, at least EuroLeague titles, but that was his path. I think Xavi Pascual, as Xavi Pascual, has definitely found his place in Dubai. He has the team he wants, and he will have an even better team here. He has a good club organization, a good city, excellent working conditions, opportunities for progress, and all the mechanisms in place to win if possible. People at that level now, like him, like Željko, like Sarunas, they haven't been working for money for a long time, if they ever did. They're now working for their personal reputation and for the sheer enjoyment of it. And I see that in Xavi. He wants to win, he wants to compete, he's motivated, and he's very easy to work with. In that regard, I think we'll definitely have a good season, but of course, that depends on many factors that neither he nor I can control. But what we can control, I believe we'll have a pretty good season." - Dejan Kamenjašević

"I stopped explaining these things a long time ago because people either take them out of context, or say something I didn't say, or don't understand, or don't want to understand, and so on. I repeat again, regarding these constant issues, these are just facts. Sometimes the truth doesn't suit people. So, our first season, we had 4.5 million, you know that, I've said it actively and passively about 15 times. And we reached the ABA League semifinals. We brought in some players who were very difficult to attract to Dubai at that time, like Dāvis Bertāns, like Klemen Prepelič, or others, who realistically could have had better conditions and contracts elsewhere at that moment. Then we entered the second season, this past one, where we increased the budget from 16 million to around 18 million due to bringing in those players mid-season... But that was our budget, and it remained so, and it is still so. In that second season, when we were in the EuroLeague, we brought in many players who were completely under the radar. They were known to the public, but they didn't have EuroLeague offers. McKinley Wright, who came for very little money; Kabengele, who came for very little money; Kosta Kondić, who was here, and no one saw him, but now that he's in Dubai, everyone wants him... So we have to say that we brought in players under the radar for little money, and that's probably why we had the budget we did, because we worked strategically, organizationally, and because those players signed with us during the season. Now, we come to this upcoming season you're asking me about, which I will, of course, answer, because I always answer, I'm open about it, a grateful interlocutor, and I hide nothing, there's none of that with me... Our budget, from last season's initial one to this upcoming one, has increased by approximately 20%, give or take between 19% and 21%, which again places us between the 7th and 9th budgets in the EuroLeague, as you know everyone has increased their budgets now. You know that just the other day Maccabi added 8 million to their budget. Žalgiris too, not to mention Milano and Efes... Madrid, Hapoel, Olympiacos, Panathinaikos, Fener – we won't even talk about them. Crvena Zvezda and Partizan! Partizan officially stated they have the largest budget in history, and Crvena Zvezda officially or unofficially around 26 to 27 million. So these are budgets that are completely in line with ours, some even above us. In that regard, we are there. Now, why is that so? Because we have players who have been with us longer, who have contracts that are still active, some we've changed, some not. The ones we've brought in, we're still bringing in some players under the radar, although this year we haven't brought in many under-the-radar players; we've only brought in Davon Mintz under the radar, let's say he's a player who can surprise, and that's it. Everything else is already known to the wider public: from Okobo, Blossomgame, Shengelia, Diakite, and so on. Of course, Diallo was also here, then he went to the NBA. And we are currently still looking for one or two point guards, and with that, we will close our roster for this season. The budget, I repeat, would be between 7th and 9th place; last year we were between 11th and 12th. So, we've improved the budget, but others have improved theirs too, accordingly... But, I repeat, I think... I think it's wrong if... of course, it's done intentionally... But it's wrong when Dubai is always put in that parallel: "Aha, budget – Dubai." What does that mean? It means others also have budgets, and others have money. We have it, of course, but not the most, nor the least. But I think when talking about the budget, it hides the reality we don't want to talk about, which is how organized Dubai is, how professional Dubai is, what Dubai has achieved in two years... Because you know very well that building a club in two years is almost impossible if you don't have top-notch organization. And top-notch organization isn't just about money, because others have money but don't have top-notch organization. We showed that in the second season when we relocated more than 200 people in one day, three charters that we paid for, to leave Dubai and go to Ljubljana, let's not forget that. That's also related to organization. And let's not forget that Dubai, when you look at our overall budget – I've never said this before, but I will now – when you look at our overall budget, you have the budget for players and for staff. The club's budget, when you pay for the Coca-Cola Arena, when you pay for charters, when you pay for the ABA League license, when you pay for the EuroLeague license... That budget alone, without players, is 60-70 to 70 percent of the club's budget. That means we spend up to 30% on players, while some others spend 80% on players. But we spend 70% on the club's structure. Not on management, that's the least; I'm talking about the ABA license, EuroLeague license, charters, and the Coca-Cola Arena." - Dejan Kamenjašević

"I believe we should be co-owners by all parameters, just like some other teams and clubs that are with us in this group of teams fighting for co-ownership. Among them are Crvena Zvezda and Partizan, who are our basketball friends and colleagues off the court, and rivals on the court. I believe we, as Dubai Basket, should be co-owners, because ever since the Middle Eastern market opened up for the EuroLeague with the Final Four in Abu Dhabi, with the Super Cup now in Abu Dhabi, and with Dubai as a team competing in the EuroLeague, I think the EuroLeague has gained an unconscious power to suddenly dominate European basketball, and the NBA is no longer an absolute enemy they should fear. That can always be a dark cloud, a threat that exists, but we see more and more that... I've said it from the beginning, I said that the NBA will never enter Europe on its own, because they can't enter, because there are no more teams, no more players, no market for a new league with unknown clubs, with organizations that don't have that much time. As we ourselves know how difficult it was to organize Dubai Basket, now try to organize eight such teams in Europe in places where basketball is not so prevalent, like in England, or Germany, or France... I think that's an impossible job, especially to organize them in cities where historical clubs already exist, like Panathinaikos, Olympiacos, or not to mention Barca, Real Madrid. So, the only thing I see possible for Europe and for the EuroLeague is for the NBA to come, but not as a colonizer, but as a partner, and to take that commercial part with us, with the EuroLeague, because I think that's the only thing they can do, because they do it well. As for everything else, for them to teach us about the sporting aspect when they've practically copied all the sporting elements in the EuroLeague for their NBA, I think that makes no sense. And we must know that the NBA is also, I see it, declining in America. The NBA, they control more or less the market in America, especially with those fantastic television contracts, 70 billion if I'm not mistaken..." - Dejan Kamenjašević

"It's nothing special now. As a developing club, and as a club that is truly growing with a global base, and as a club that hasn't had a development team until now, we are trying to have a development team, nothing more, nothing less. Crvena Zvezda has one, Partizan has one, Barcelona has one, Madrid has one, everyone has one. We didn't because we couldn't do everything in the same year. Now is the moment for it in our ten-year vision; we have it planned anyway. We had these players who are 16, 17, 18 years old; they are not ready to compete when we go to those big Next Generation and ABA U19 tournaments. They don't have enough quality games in Dubai to play to be ready for those tournaments. No matter how much talent they have, they lack quality games. That's why we decided to establish cooperation with a club that is, of course, in the Balkans, where it's easiest for us to cooperate with them due to language and mentality, and also because it's a basketball nation... nations, and basketball genes, because there are the most talents here, because it's not the European Union, because the visa regime is also easier for our foreigners, and so on and so forth. And among those six or seven offers we truly had, from Šibenik to Slovan from Slovakia, via Igokea, Bosna, Čačak 94, and Vojvodina, for now we have chosen, not exclusively since we can expand in the future as well, but we chose Vojvodina because we think they were the most concrete, the fastest, and the easiest to cooperate with. Rebrača opened the doors for us there and truly proved to be a man who wants someone to help him and to build it up together with him and with the people who work there. They also have great support from the football team, Football Club Vojvodina, which has made significant progress in the last few years, as I was told – I'm not a football expert... But led by Dragoljub Zbiljić, they have created a serious organization that now even covers all sports societies from football. They have the city behind them, they have a good hall, the old one in Spens, but a good hall, they also have a small hall that is new, operational, it's a university city, a beautiful city... So I think we can help them, and they can help us, and it's a cooperation that encompasses, let's say, mutual interest and mutual satisfaction. And I think that can only be good for Vojvodina, for Novi Sad, for Serbian basketball, and we will, of course, help and develop Serbian national team players and Serbian basketball, and that it is a development team for Dubai, which, like any other for Crvena Zvezda, for Partizan, or for Mega, or for anyone. And I think there's nothing bad for anyone there, but rather something positive and good where Dubai again shows that it is turning to this region and is here to help and extend a hand to anyone who wants it or who meets some minimal conditions." - Dejan Kamenjašević