The 27-year-old native of Novo Mesto has matured as a player in the last couple of seasons. Last year he played excellently for Krka. He was the captain of the team and finals MVP. He then won a spot on the national team and was Slovenia's second 'play' at the World Championship and Goran Dragič's backup. His performance in Spain was solid, but this year his role might be even bigger.

It's still not clear whether Goran Dragić will play at this year's Eurobasket. If the case is that Slovenia's captain doesn't play, there will be a big empty hole in the national team. And the first in line, who will try fill that hole, is Klobučar: "Yes, of course I'm ready. It's clear that I'll give everything I've got. My role will be bigger than what it was before and I'm not afraid. In the last two seasons I played at the point guard position practically all the time, and I played in strong enough leagues, so I'm really not afraid."

To create the right chemistry with hard work
"It makes no sense to waste words on how valuable Goran Dragič is to us, and whether it's possible to completely fill in the gap. But it’s clear, that in the case that he isn't with us, we will try fill that gap as best as we can and try lessen the impact of Dragič's absence," says Klobučar about the possibility of Dragič not playing at the upcoming Eurobasket. Klobučar will compete to become Slovenia's first 'play' at Slovenia's preparations together with Nebojša Joksimović, the young Luka Rupnik and Aleksej Nikolić, as well newcomer to the national team Boban Tomić.

Slovenia's national basketball team will gather on Saturday – not the full squad – in Ljubljana. The first part of its preparations will take place in Kranjska Gora: "The tournament is really close and I can't wait for it to begin. As always, I'm going into this campaign with a sense of optimism. We're waiting to begin with the hard work, to become self-confident, and create real team chemistry. Then we can focus on our set goal."