Aleksander Sekulic convinces Joan Laporta

BarcelonaBefore giving the green light to his signing, Joan Laporta wanted to meet Aleksander Sekulic. The Slovenian coach's temperament soon convinced both the president of the blue and garnet club and the rest of the people with decision-making power. The coach has taken little time to win everyone over.

Beyond his strengths as a coach, two of Sekulic's personal characteristics have surprised Can Barça. The first is his politeness. Far from coaches who yell at both the players on the court and the rest of the staff, the Slovenian treats everyone with exquisite manners. "He listens a lot," say his collaborators. "He apologized to me for being a moment late," explains one of the journalists in charge of conducting his interviews during the games. The other characteristic is that Sekulic constantly asks his players not to protest refereeing decisions. Justin Robinson or Darío Brizuela will need time to adapt to this requirement, which is not at all common among professional coaches. "He even emphasizes it in pre-game talks," says a member of the coaching staff. "They lied to us; he is not like Balkan coaches, he is a very normal person," they joke from the club.

The great champion of Sekulic has been Xevi Pujol. “He is a coach with a very modern basketball mentality, with the ability to be close to the player and, at the same time, be demanding. He manages to make his teams proactive and capable of pressing in the right way on defense, and in offense, they seek to be dangerous from the first seconds of possession and attack the offensive rebound,” analyzes the new architect of Barça basketball.

Sekulic wants to emphasize the collective game. “I don’t like talking about individualities. I believe all the players have to be there, to play as a unit, as a team. We believe that the signings can play how we want this team to play. We will need time, but we have talent and quality. I believe we have a satisfactory and competitive squad, but we are always open to incorporating new faces if they fit for us,” opines the coach of a Barça that this Sunday hosts Valencia Basket at the Palau Blaugrana (7 p.m., DAZN).

The basketball model that Sekulic has in mind needs time, as most of the players still have to adapt to European basketball. “My philosophy is to bet on a dynamic game with many possessions. We want to play together, in sync, with a fast pace, many possessions, aggressive defenses and fighting hard on the court,” he warns.

“We must try to reach as soon as possible the point where this team's objectives are set,” analyzes Sekulic, who asked Jaka Lakovic for references before signing with Barça. “We grew up together,” acknowledges the coach of the blue and garnet team, who a few weeks ago lifted the Catalan League title. “I knew the competition, but I was surprised by the level of intensity of the teams. The atmosphere in the pavilion was also incredible. It is a championship that helped us improve our competitive level,” he argues.

A clear mission

"The best of the blaugrana basketball is yet to be written. We have a new team that, starting this season, has the mission to renew the hopes of the culers,” boasts Joan Laporta, who has made structural changes to the organizational chart to reverse the situation of the last three seasons. “The players who are arriving have technical and physical talent, but they need a process of adaptation to European basketball. We need people to work with the right mentality,” summarizes Pujol.