Zare Markovski, Head Coach

Coach, tell us about your team's roster for the next Euroleague season, what changes you made and what improvements you expect to gain from those decisions?
"Dickau is a great outside shooter. He will need to learn how to read European basketball. He only arrived three days ago, however, and I am sure that with his willingness to work hard he will pay us back with the leadership we need. Porta has excellent driving skills and dishes off the ball well. He definitely is a player who can spot two or three players on court and find the open man. That is his greatest ability. Slay is a good shooter who is always ready to rebound. We know he is a very versatile player that fits in our team really well. Chris Warren is a great athlete. Transition game is his main ability, but he has a huge room for improvement. We hope that Marko Tusek will be able to get close to the player he was four years ago, when in my opinion he was one of the best forwards in the Italian League. He is close to the work we did for an entire season two years ago. I am very close to him and I think he can really improve a lot. I am convinced that he can pick up his game where we left off a year ago. Cinciarini can play with anybody on court. He is a talented player in offense, both close to the basket as well as shooting from downtown, where he can still improve a lot."
How much can you learn from the preseason about your team? What signs do you look for now that will help when the Euroleague starts?
"I would like to play fast-paced basketball, as fast as possibole, because our backcourt players like Dickau, Warren, Slay or Porta would all benefit from a fast-paced game to get the best out of them. The team will also rely heavily on Williams' physical presence, which was so evident last season."
Now that all the other teams have mostly completed their rosters, how does the competition in the Euroleague this season look like to you?
"What we have done so far has little to do with the basketball we hope to eventually play. So far we have been concentrating on our physical preparaion while we were waiting for the return of our playmakers. Antonio Porta was at the Olympics with Argentina while Dan Dickau had to come from the United States. What we have done so far has been carried out with full convinction and I am more than satisfied about how things are going. In the next weeks, we will concentrating on building the team and applying that on the court."
What are your goals going into the new Euroleague season?
"Obviously, we don't expect to make miracles in our Euroleague season. This should be seen as a prize for the city and also for the club. This is our first Euroleague season and that is the way it should be seen. Once I said that, obviously we hope to do the best we can and go as far as possible. I am not a man who makes promises. What I can say is that we will try our best and I hope that our efforts will be rewarded."