Memi Becirovic: I'd love to coach again in Europe but I don't close doors to Iran NT

Sportando: Three years with the Iranian National team, one continental Asian title and a participation in the World Cup 2014 in Spain. Memories and experiences you remember the most.

Becirovic: “A wonderful experience both from the human and basketball point of view. Three marvellous years that have helped me to know a great country that increased and develop every year the passion for basketball. I like to consider me as an ambassador that has tried to bring my own experiences of European trainer and the relative knowledges in the Asian basket. Asia is a continent rich in talents and passion, is not quite rhetorical to sustain that it is the continent of the future for the world basketball. In Iran I have found great availability, patience and help to facilitate all of my jobs, fans followed us always with great enthusiasm and curiosity, unforgettable experience”.

Sportando: Could you tell us your memories about the tournaments you have played as head coach of Iran NT?

Becirovic: “I had a great feeling with the guys and it was really a beautiful group that immediately produced results. All of them have shown desire to learn, to grow and try to compete at the top basketball levels. Also the level of Asian Cup, that we have won in 2013, is for instance surely good, there are lots of teams that grow year by year. I’m not referring only to China, that has important financial budgets but also players that have enormous athletic potential, like South Korea (that shows always great pride and a very good organization) and Philippines that you had seen in Spain at the World Cup. They surely have lack of centimetres in different positions but they handle it with their energy and enthusiasm, and not to forget their original game-system . The Spanish kermesse was very important for the Iranian team, we have shown to be able to compete against important teams as France (we lost for only five points). We have shown very good players, one excellent as Haddadi, or important as the captain Kamrani”.

Sportando: Iran was the more recent stop in a rich career full of satisfactions, which was the key moment inside these lots of experiences on the bench.
Becirovic: “I have had the chance to coach and develop many excellent players (for example Erazem Lorbek and Bostjan Nachbar), I had many satifactions in my career. I had a very good experience in Ukraine (with Mariupol) and in Belgium (at Ostenda) but I believe that the year that changed my career was with the Helios Domzale. It was just after my year in Rimini and a comeback in my country it seemed for me a natural choice, I had the opportunity to grow and develop a wonderful group, we got a great trophy and the Slovenian national cup. An interesting and young team, it was very important to have a couple of years to work with the whole group, it's so rare right now for a coach to have enough time to develop and build a team with enough time, everything in a coach life now moves really fast and everything could change soon”.

Sportando: To create and handle a group is not so easy and need time as you said, which are the technical aspects that a team need to develop and get the coach ideas.
Becirovic: “The equilibrium and the ability to perform on the court are difficult to be created and you need players that creates these situations on the parquet. I was at the Forum to attend the game between EA7 and Fenerbahce. When you have an extraordinary player as Zisis, and also Preldzic, that open well the field, create good spacing, it’s already very simple to find good and open shots. Milan has tried to stay in game, Hackett, Brooks and sometimes Gentile competed really hard, the problem for Milan is in the paint. Samuels, that dominates often in the Italian championship, and James are not so competitive with the verticality of some teams as Fenerbahce is."

Sportando: Italian championship that tries to find not new spaces and visibility in a historical phase not exactly extraordinary. Which are the recipes to try to return to the top of continental basketball.

Becirovic:” It’s not an easy period for any league in reality with well known economic crisis that is passing through Europe. In Italy I believe that one of the most important problems is the little space for the Italian players. I would like to see less American players, often they are not talented as in the last 10-15 years, and more minutes for the Italian young players to make them grow and to develop in the competitions. Even you can have some defeats, especially in the first months, but I believe that this kind of choice will give you more chance to grow, and you also creates a lot of affection from the fans that love to see young Italian rising stars playing and starring in your teams. Also I add in these recent years, after a crisis, more young national teams are developing and growing. Many talents that then we also see in the “azzurri” national team, a very good group with many chances to make a long run in the next European championship in September. A winning national team and many young guys in the Italian championship could represent a beautiful step to a bright future to every level, to create more attention from the medias and from the fans”.

Sportando: Italy that is regularly in the Becirovic family life, Sani (after many stops here) has now reached Piacenza.
Becirovic:” Sani by now has a legacy with Italy - dad Memi smiles - his wife Simona is Italian, he played in so many Italian teams, he is not only also Italian citizen just because of passport. He loves Piacenza and teammates, the management is trying to build the future with a lot of care. Obviously the situation in the standings is not simple, Sani is trying to give an help to find a way to carry the team with his experience."

Sportando: What will be the future of Sani Becirovic? And what about your future?
Becirovic:” Sani loves so much to play, he has a great passion for the game. He knows he is very close to end his career. Future as a GM or as a coach? Why not!. He likes to learn and to live the atmosphere of basketball, inside and outside the field, I will not be surprised at all be surprised to see him in a bench or in a GM desk. About me I can say I’m waiting for the right offer and chance. The idea to be able to return to compete with a good European team is a challenge that I would surely accept. I don't close anyway the door to the national Iranian, the contract with them is finished but if I can’t see any good chance or contract in Europe i would probably accept a new offer to run again with Iran."