Aleksandar Raskovic on the future of European basketball, his relationship with Obradovic and more

Aleksandar Raskovic, one of the most powerful agents in the world, has made a long interview with Telegraf.rs, where he talked about his career, his relationship with coach Zeljko Obradovic and many other interesting topics. Here are some of his answers from the interview:

About his relationship with Obradovic:

"I have been working with Obradovic for 19 years, since his years with Panathinaikos. We always have had a professional relationship, I only deal with him when he has to negotiate contracts. Zeljko is a gentleman, it's an honor to know a man like him. He's always the best because he has quality and because he has always dealt with issues in his own way, taking responsibility for every single action.

On Dusko Vujosevic:

"If I had five children and they were all basketball players, I would give them only to Vujosevic. He was the only one capable to make someone with endless talent work on all other aspects of his personality. Dule was a wizard in doing that. I brought many players to Partizan because of Dule. I had some verbal issues with him at some point, but this is all part of this business. He really understands the talent of a player and knows perfectly how to develop it. The work that he did with Bogdan Bogdanovic was simply amazing."

On Bogdan Bogdanovic:

"I've started to work with him and his family when he was really young. I've always known that he would have become a great player, I made in an interview back in 2010 when nobody knew nothing about Bogdan and I said that he was going to become a great player, also because his family is a normal one, normal people who didn't force Bogdan to become a player. Now I'm very happy that he's in Sacramento with Vlade Divac, that organization is always under pressure from the media but I know Vlade and I know how good he is. The young core of Sacramento will develop into a really nice team."

On Nigel Williams-Goss:

"It was my decision to bring him in Adriatic League. He's a really good player, now three Euroleague teams are looking at him and there'll be more. You know what? When I met him the first time and I brought him to Europe he reminded me of J.R.  Holden.  In many elements of his personality, attitudes, relations, the way he talks and takes certain remarks that are given to him, he adopts other's opinions, I recognized Holden. Holden's story was something really remarkable. He came to play for 700 dollars and he ended up his career playing for 5 million per season, getting Russian citizenship and playing for Russian NT. He also received Medal of honor for foreigners  from Vladimir Putin"

On future of European basketball

"It's all about business right now. You have more players going to China or Korea because those leagues can offer more money than Europe. In Asia, they're going to create something similar to Euroleague, because they have the money to do it. You'll see even more players in the coming future to go to China, Korea, and Japan. And now with the two-way contracts in NBA, you have at least 60 players that won't come to Europe anymore. Clubs in Italy, France, and even Germany can't offer the same kind of money that Chinese teams or Korean teams can offer to the players. Euroleague it's trying to close itself before NBA making other changes but it won't be easy"