The name of the European player who has spent more time on the floor in Euroleague games this season might surprise some people. Cibona guard Davor Kus had never even been a full-time starter before in his seven-year Euroleague career. Now, Kus is proving to be just the team leader Cibona needed as it battles in Group B to reach the club's fifth consecutive Top 16 qualification. Kus, 28, is not only a constant presence on the floor, but is enjoying a breakout season. He is scoring 12.6 points per game, his highest average all decade, while leading the Euroleague in both free throws made and accuracy from the foul line for any player with more than 40 attempts. Most important, he and Cibona are on the brink of that Top 16 ticket with three regular season games left. Kus might feel tired sometimes, as he says in this Euroleague.net interview, but he feels much more the strength of responsibility to uphold the Cibona tradition every time he takes the floor at Kozarkaski Center Drazen Petrovic. "Every player of my generation in Croatia started playing basketball because of Drazen," Kus told Euroleague.net. "He was my idol. Now, to play in this gym with his name gives you more responsibility to play better."
Davor, how do you feel about Cibona's chances going into the last three weeks of the regular season?
"Out main goal before the season was to make the Top 16. We knew when we saw our group that it would be very, very hard because we are playing against teams with much bigger budgets than ours. But we also knew that we had some quality and now we are in a position, with maybe one more win, to go to the Top 16. I think it will be enough, one win: I hope it will be enough. But it's very big that we are deciding this situation and not waiting for other results. The bad thing is we have two away games and only one at home. So far, we haven't won on the road yet. I hope we can change that in Tel Aviv this week. I know it will be hard, but we'll go and try to win."
Would reaching the Top 16 make this a successful season for Cibona already?
"Yes, I think so. As I said, we play against teams with much bigger budgets, so it would be an accomplishment, yes. Of course, if we make it, we won't be satisfied like the job is done. We want to win every game. Knowing our strength on our home court - we've become known in the last few years for winning at home and with that advantage we have a chance to play and win against anyone in Europe."
 Last season, you guys started the Top 16 with three victories and then lost three games and missed the Quarterfinal Playoffs on a tiebreaker. How difficult was that to deal with?
"It bothered me, yes, because we had a great chance. Our last game was against Efes on our home court, and we had beat them three times before that last season, but we lost that one. We expected too much to win it, because they were injured and we had the home court. Unfortunately, we didn't do it, and I think those chances come along once in a long time. Hopefully, we'll get another chance this season."
You are having your best Euroleague season ever so far: playing lots of minutes, scoring, leading. Were you expecting all this to happen this season?
"I spoke with my coach before the season, so I knew what my role in the team would be. I expect to have to handle a lot of responsibility and I think that right now I do think that I am having my best year, certainly improved from last year. But I think have space to improve for next year, too. The main thing is that Cibona is playing good this year, especially since before this season, many people had a lot of questions about how the team would play. The best way to answer is with wins and if we keep answering that way, we'll have the chance to reach the Top 16, which is our goal."
You lead the Euroleague with 65 made and 91.6% accuracy. Cibona leads the league as a team, too. You never even attempted 65 in full, 20-game Euroleague seasons before this. How did free throws become such a big part of your and your team's success this year?
"It is a big part, that's right. This year I am more aggressive going to the basket. I am finding more contact and drawing fouls, but this is a style of play for the whole team, I think, getting to the foul line. Once you are there, making them is a matter of concentration. I don't shoot 100 free throws a day to get better, but I do shoot 10 with maximum concentration, like they were the last ones of the game. It's the same with the whole team. After me, ranked second in free throws, is Brent Wright. So it's a big part of our game and I hope we can continue that."
 A second important stat of yours is minutes. You are on court more than all but two other Euroleague players. What does being out there almost constantly means in terms of your responsibility and leadership?
"I have lots of minutes not only in the Euroleague. What makes it harder is that I do the same in the Adriatic League. So it's twice a week, 35 minutes in both games. It can get you tired, and it's very important to be physically ready all the time, but even more important is to be mentally ready. Lots of times the team will expect you to step up in situations because you are playing so much and have the ball. And it's important that the coach believes so much in you that he gives you so much of a chance to play. You have to be ready."
After you guys beat Unicaja in overtime early in the season, you apologized publicly to your teammates for some bad plays. Why?
"I think it was the right thing to do at that time. We had led that game for the first three quarters, by 20 points at one moment, and then we went overtime. I took a bad last shot at the end of regulation time. There were better solutions than my bad shot. I apologized to my teammates because I think it was the right thing to do to help the team spirit and to show that it is the job of all of us to improve."
 You are one of five players on Cibona's roster - with Marijan Mance,Baris Krasic, Vedran Morovic and Marton Bader - who left the club in the last three or four seasons and then came back. What brings players back to Cibona?
"I think that Cibona has a good atmosphere to play in. It's a club with great history and everyone is proud to wear this jersey. We have also been playing every year in the Euroleague and having good results lately. I also think it's good place to come back as an investment by players in themselves for future seasons, because they get great experience playing at the highest level of the Euroleague, and of course, other teams see them doing that."
What does it mean for a Croatian player of your generation to play for Cibona on the court at Kozarkaski Center Drazen Petrovic?
"Every player of my generation in Croatia started playing basketball because of him. I started out playing football, as most kids in my street and my town did as young guys. Then I saw how he played basketball - and that was it. I decided then that I wanted to be a basketball player. He was my idol. Now, to play in this gym with his name gives you more responsibility to play better. Everybody remembers Drazen and the fans who come here to see us will always compare the times he played on Cibona with this time."
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