"Already at the age of 18 he proved himself a true leader, and I believe the future will bring many more medals," Dragić said.

The Slovenian basketball national team, the European superpower for the next four years, returned from Istanbul. The bad weather didn't stop twenty thousand fans from receiving the heroes of the 40th European Championship at the Congress square. At 8.30 p.m. the uproarious crowd and the sounds of Avsenik's Golica carried them to the main stage, where all those participating in this unbelievable story which lasted for almost three weeks and surprised the European basketball were presented to the fans.

"Aleksander Đorđević said that the Slovenians should have taken the hoop board as a souvenir from Istanbul, and not only the net, since we scored so many three-pointers with its help. Unfortunately, we couldn't find a 24-mm spanner…" was the first thing Goran Dragić said and continued with his recollection of his predecessor at the position of game organiser. "I remember the time when Jaka Lakovič was my mentor. I would like to thank him.... I love you, Jale." And of course Gogi was rewarded as the best player of the championships should be; all those gathered at the square chanted: "MVP, MVP, My Captain."

Luka Dončić, the biggest talent of the European basketball, was chosen together with Dragić for the best championship team. He explained that the ankle injury he suffered during the final match against Serbia was not serious: "A week or two, and I'll be back."
Anthony Randolph was extremely well received as well; the audience went crazy when he said in broken Slovenian: "Kdor ne skače, ni Sloven'c, hej, hej, hej."
And the crowd was merry, everybody jumped and waved flags. Such a sight has never been seen at the Congress Square. All the other members of the national team were greeted with the huge applause, including their "chief" Igor Kokoškov who said that we should be proud of the way the boys represented the Slovenian basketball.
The atmosphere was outstanding already when the plane landed at the airport in Brnik, where approximately one thousand fans gathered. Goran Dragić who carried the cup in his first statement for TV SLO said that he would think carefully about his decision to stop playing for the national team, and mentioned that he might continue only with the selector Igor Kokoškov. He also said that his family and friends would like him to change his mind. "My father would like me to continue, Zoran would like me to continue, my wife would like me to continue playing for the national team. Next my children will try to convince me… But such decisions must be made later, when the head cools down!"