Zoran Lukic and the secret of his success: 'Work, work and work'

Nizhny Novgorod is one the most surprising Russian teams this season. Full of talented and young Russian players the team was able to beat in March two Euroleague clubs as CSKA Moscow and Khimki Moscow.
And next step is to beat a third Euroleague team as Zalgiris Kaunas in the next VTB United League. The key of the success is the Serbian coach Zoran Lukic, landed in the team five years ago. Sportando contacted Zoran Lukic asking him the 'secret' of his success.

Nizhny in March has been able to beat two Euroleague teams as CSKA Moscow and Khimki. How, a team as Nizhny, full of young Russian players and with one of the lowest budgets in Russia can be able to win against such powerhouses?
The two games were very important for us. Our key is that the roster is composed by young players who are hungry for basketball and they want to improve every day. We built a roster full of young players with some experienced guys as Primoz Brezec who got injured again and is done for the season. We improved our performances during the season. The victory against Khimki has been a big surprise even to me because we had big problems with injuries and also to have good practices. Khimki is a great team with very important players. But we have played without any pressure and that was the key. We did not enter on the court thinking 'we have to win', we did not have anything to lose. And it was also difficult to repeat the game we have played against CSKA. The team played a great game, especially one guy signed this season from the second division was the best player (Semen Shashkov ended with 29 points). I hope we can still improve for the coming games. I really hope because our next opponent in VTB United League is Zalgiris Kaunas. I told to the guys, we won against CSKA and Khimki, let's try to win also with another Euroleague team as Zalgiris.

What was the goal of the club at the beginning of the season?
We are a roster full of Russian young players. With us Russians can grow up and play. We have started as they were athletes without experience or small experience, now they are a real players who can play at highest level in Russia. They have worked hard and they grew up. In the past, because they were so young, we lost a lot of games by one or two points due to lack of experience. Now, they are finally players but they grew up also as persons.

What is the key of your success? In Serbia you did not coach in the best teams so your career had no shortcuts?
The key of success is work, work, work and work work work. You have to be ready for the hard work and the players have to know that. When I first left Serbia I came to Russia and in Moscow I had the opportunity to watch CSKA's practices. I did not miss a single workout because I wanted to improve my knowledge.

What can you tell me about the Belgrade basketball school? There are a lot of important Serbian coaches in Europe
Serbia has a great tradition for basketball coaches as Dusan Ikvovic, Zeljko Obradovic, Svetislav Pesic and I am sure I miss someone now. For me it was a big opportunity to watch out they were working.

What is the contract status with Nizhny?
My contract expires after this season but the club already contacted me to sign a new one

What about your future, you would love to return in Serbia and coach one of the top teams, or you see yourself still abroad?
To grow up, I see myself outside Serbia, definitely.