May 21, 2012
Marko Simonovic, Buducnost m:tel
Marko Simonovic - BuducnostOn the first night of the 2010-11 Eurocup, forward Marko Simonovic of Buducnost m:tel Podgorica, the champions of Montenegro, enjoyed one of the best performances of his professional career. His team enjoyed it, too, as Simonovic led the way to a 76-97 road win at Siauliai in Lithuania that tied Buducnost for first place in Group C in its return to the Eurocup after a year’s absence. Simonovic hit 4 of 9 three-point shots among 14 altogether that Buducnost made from the arc. He finished with 23 points, his career-high in now his fourth Eurocup season. It was a good omen for a player whose career was born from the ravages of war, and who at age 24 has become a go-to player for Buducnost in the Eurocup. "I think that we have more self-confidence," Simonovic told Eurocupbasketball.com. "We are older and more experienced than previous years. We practice our perimeter shots a lot, but there is no particular reason why we do well. Maybe we believe more."

Like many of his generation, the boyhood of Simonovic was scarred by war in the Balkans. But in his case, that tragedy led him to the basketball court when, at age 13, his family left Pristina, Kosovo to stay with his grandmother in Belgrade to avoid the war.

"When the war happened and we had to move, I was very depressed," Simonovic says now. "I was an introvert. I was not looking for friends. It was really bad. So my parents were very concerned for me and they were able through some friends to send me to start practicing basketball. They hoped it would be good for me, to socialize. Already, at the very first practice, I knew that basketball is what I wanted. New people, new ideas, running, hard work: all of that attracted me and I stayed."

His first club was one of Belgrade's classics, OKK Radnicki, where Simonovic spent three years. He then playerd three seasons for Lavovi Belgrade and one for KK Ergonom in Nis. Off that experience, Simonovic earned an invitation to try out for Serbia and Montenegro's under-21 team prior to the 2006 European Championships in Turkey. He practiced hard and had good results, but was the last player cut. Later, the team - featuring Nikola Pekovic, Milos Teodosic and Novica Velickovi - won the gold medal. But Simonovic's reward for his hard work was a call to join Oostende in Belgium. Although he only stayed half a season, the experience in Belgium helped Simonovic. " It was a great move," he says now. "I saw what it means to be professional and what they expected of the players. Maybe I thought after that I needed one more year to spend locally, but I do not regret it. It was hard to play in Oostende, away from home. I learned a lot, and now I know what to expect when I go to a foreign club again."

From Belgium, he returned to Serbia and Hemofarm, but struggled for a year and a half to win playing time. Just a few days after he and Hemofarm agreed to part ways, Buducnost head coach Dejan Radonjic was on the phone.

"Coach Radonjic insisted that I come. He told me that I’ll have a chance to play. And he fulfilled what he promised," Simonovic says now. "He saw that I could fulfill his expectations. I have given 150 percent and I have tried to prove that I am a player, and that my previous club made a mistake. I can only thank everyone in Buducnost for believing in me. Coming to Podgorica was the best move of my career."

After averaging 8.8 points for Buducnost in his first season there, 2008-09, Simonovic got a special opportunity that he marks as the highlight of his career so far: playing for Serbia and winning the World University Games gold medal at home in Belgrade in the summer of 2009.

"I hope that my national team ambitions are not complete with that gold, too," Simonovic says. "For me, being on the national team is the most beautiful thing that could happen, especially winning a medal, the brightest one. It was an extraordinary generation led by Milan Macvan, Marko Keselj, Miroslav Raduljica, Nemanja Bjelica... Sale Keser was the coach. We had a great atmosphere and I was delighted to work and cooperate with them. Unfortunately, I have not played for the men's team, yet. But I hope that I will get a chance."

In the Eurocup two seasons ago, Simonovic came off the bench to average 5.8 points for Buducnost, which won just a single game, losing five by an average of 3.4 points. Its only victory was against Hemofarm, by 11 points. In a second game against Hemofarm, which Buducnost lost by 4 on the road, Simonovic had his best scoring output, 13 points, until now. Earlier this fall, he played 32 minutes per game as Buducnost tried to make the Euroleague through the qualifying rounds, but couldn't. Then came last week's Eurocup opening game, after which Simonovic feels that he and Buducnost have better chances to reach the Last 16, but a tough group to survive.

"The group is not easy at all," he says. "Budivelnik played the Turkish Airlines Euroleague Qualifying Rounds, like us. Gran Canaria is a very tough team, with perhaps the strongest home court in the Eurocup. Reaching the second round would be a solid success for us. After that, we will see."

Most of all, at age 24, Simonovic has become the kind of basketball that every coach wants, always giving 100 percent in every practice and battling in every game. He says that the game, once again, is feast for him, thanks to Buducnost, with whom he has won two Montenegrin League titles championships and two Montenegrin Cups. His time in Podgorica, where he is in the last year of his contract, has brought him back to life, basketball-wise, he says.

"If this is my last season in Buducnost, I'd love to try to reach the best possible result with the club," Simonovic says. "Several players are in the final year of the contract and we want to say goodbye in a nice way."
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Milivoje Kovacevic, Podgorica
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