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ULEBcup.com interview: Blagota Sekulic, PAOK
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One of the great basketball towns in Europe - Thessaloniki, Greece - is living some heady days again, with both of its top teams doing well in the continent's top two competitions for the first time in recent memory. For PAOK, which qualified early for the ULEB Cup elimination rounds from difficult Group D, one of the most pleasant surprises has been a young, diverse group of big men who all arrived last summer to the team. That group is being led by 24-year-old Blagota Sekulic, who is the ULEB Cup's eighth-best rebounder and the team's second-best scorer. He is also the youngest European player ranked among the competition's top 25 in average index rating. Despite his youth, Sekulic boasts plenty of high-level experience, having debuted in the Euroleague at the tender age of 18 with Buducnost of his native Podgorica, Montenegro. The upcoming elimination rounds will mark Sekulic's second time advancing so far in the ULEB Cup - he was a quarterfinalist with Maroussi two seasons ago - and as he says in this ULEBcup.com interview, he is ready for anything this time. "In such games, everything is important: one rebound, one shot or one free throw can decide who is going to the next level," Sekulic told ULEBcup.com. "That is what I learned from those games: every single minute and second on the court is very important."
First of all, congratulations for reaching the ULEB Cup elimination rounds. Group D was considered extremely strong. How do you feel about the accomplishment of qualifying early and the chance to still finish as high as first in the group?
"It's a big success for us. This group, as you said, was very difficult from the beginning, with all the big teams in one group. We qualified and we still can go higher. That makes it all a good thing for us. We played some great games, but I think we can be even better."
Against such tough opponents, you are putting up your best numbers ever at age 24. Do you feel you are taking a step higher into the prime of your career?
"Yes, this year is the best, I think, of my whole career so far. I have some more playing time, playing 20-plus minutes per game. I wanted to play either in the ULEB Cup or in the Euroleage this year, which is one reason I went to PAOK. So it has been a big step for me this year. It's something I really wanted and I hope that the team and I will continue to play good. We can go even higher together."
 PAOK has succeeded so far despite many roster changes and injuries. Only six players have appeared in more than six of the nine ULEB Cup games so far. How was it possible to keep focused with the lineup changing so much?
"These are the things you can't do anything about. With the two of our American players being changed, the two new ones who arrived got together with the team very quickly: that was most the imporrtant thing. They helped us a lot. Generally, we were very lucky with those two guys. Now, we have to adjust again because one of them is injured now and his replacement just arrived."
PAOK's young frontcourt - you, Drago Pasalic, Lazaros Agadakos and Dimitrios Charitopoulos - has been consistent despite all of you being new to the team this year and relatively yougn. As a group, are your best days ahead still?
"The team put together a good group of big guys over the summer. We get along, understand each other on the court, and play well together. We've played solid until now, and because this is our first season together, all four of us on this team, we still have lot of room to improve our game. I think that when the most important games come, we will be even better."
Your previous ULEB Cup season, with Maroussi in 2004-05, ended with a two-point elimination in the quarterfinals. What lessons from that experience will you take into the upcoming elimination rounds?
"Yes, that year we lost against Makedonikos, and they went all the way to the final. They had a strong team, but we lost by one ball. In such games, everything is important: one rebound, one shot or one free throw can decide who is going to the next level. That is what I learned from those games: every single minute and second on the court is very important."
Is it difficult to change mentality from winning games only to winning a two-game point total as happens in the elimination rounds?
"It is difficult. It is something that I think is the most difficult in sports generally, not only in basketball. But I think that if you are focused enough and want to go to the next level, you are going to make it possible to change your mentality. Psychology is something really, really important in sports."
 In general, PAOK has less experience than some teams at this stage, but you guys can count on veteran Vlado Scepanovic, your teammate from way back when in Buducnost. How has it been for you to reunite with him?
"It has been great. It's always good to have somebody from your country whom you knew from before as a teammate. Of course, he's helping me a lot with his experience. He has a lot of it, too, from playing so many years on national teams and in the Euroleague. But it's not only me: he's trying to help everybody with his experience. I'm just glad to have him around."
How important to your career was that early experience of winning a lot with Buducnost and playing in the Euroleague as a teenager?
"You know what? I think the most important thing was watching some of the best players in Europe at that time; watching how they practice, how they act in the locker room, how professional they are. And I learned a lot from all of them. I had some great coaches in Buducnost, too, and generally I learned a lot."
Of course, PAOK faces Unics Kazan on the road to end regular season. How important is it to finish in first or second place in order to play second games at home in the elimination rounds?
"For us, it would be very importantant. We have to beat Unics in Russia if we want to go higher. We will fight until the end for sure and try to reach that higher place. But even if we don't get the home advantage, we will not give up. We will try to win a road game to start and then come back home and win another one."
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Monday, January 15, 2007
Frank Lawlor, ULEBcup.com
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