Although the match was not a decisive one, Zdovc is a little disappointed that Gaziantep, the Turkish team he has coached, lost against Tofaš at the last match of the Turkish championship. It’s just better to end the season with a win, he says. His team took 10th place, and won 3rd place at the final EuroChallenge tournament in Bologna. Zdovc more than fulfilled the goals of the team management with his results. He is going to focus on working with the Slovenian national basketball team over the summer, since he’s taking the team to the world championship in Spain this September.
You took 10th place with Gaziantep and attracted quite a lot of attention in the EuroChallenge cup. Are you satisfied with the season?
I’m the kind of coach who’s never satisfied, but it’s true that if someone had offered me this 10th place and a place in the final EuroChallenge tournament, I would have signed that. No one believed we could make such a step forward. I don’t think we had any realistic possibility to qualify for the Turkish championship playoffs. There was some hope, but we had played in Europe until the end of April and had a difficult schedule of matches. The fact that we lost the last match of the season, at Bursa, has left a bitter aftertaste, however. I would have gone home feeling better if we had won.

Was the salary regular?
I have nothing but good experience with the Turks and can’t say anything bad. If the salary was late, it was late by a week at the most.
You witnessed how Union Olimpija lost against Helios at the first match of the semi-finals in the Slovenian championship. What’s your opinion of the match?
It was a good match. Olimpija had half of the team missing and was very limited, and Helios had a good day. Olimpija didn’t block the shoots; Helios caught the momentum and would have been hard to stop. When Olimpija caught up with them, though, I was sure they would win, but then Helios scored some very difficult shoots.

Do you find it surprising that Helios played so well? Olimpija’s coach Sagadin regularly emphasizes that the players are unmotivated due to late salaries …
This is not relevant and is only an excuse for poor results. The boys are young, and when you play for Olimpija, you forget about the money. In my case, Olimpija didn’t pay me for an entire year.

Back to the national team. When are you seeing Goran Dragić?
We’re planning to meet him next week and to publish an extended list of player for the world championship by the end of the month.

What do you think are the odds of Goran playing at the world championship in the fall?
Not great. Considering all his statements I have a feeling he’ll try to leave out the championship. He had a difficult season, problems with injuries, so – we’ll just have to wait and see.

Do you plan on using special tactics to convince him?
I’m very bad at persuasion. Those who want to play, will play, those who can’t, won’t.
He could be given a special status and join the team right before the championship …
Why? The preparations only take a month, and Goran ended the season in April. But – there’s no point in speculating. Let’s wait until we talk to him.
What about the second Slovenian NBA player, Beno Udrih?
They’re all candidates until I publish the list.

Have you talked to Božidar Maljković since your return to Slovenia?
No, but I have to admit I’ve just been thinking about calling him.