Igor Rakocevic, one of the best European shooters in the century (he is currently the 30th top scorer in the Turkish Airlines Euroleague), gave a detailed interview at Tirando a Fallar talking about his period at Baskonia, his thoughts about Pablo Laso, Dusko Ivanovic, and some other topics.
The Serbian began the interview remembering how he used to react when there was a loss.
"Honestly, I did not enjoy it too much while playing. I took it too seriously. If something went wrong, I got upset with myself. I punished myself. I wanted to practice much more after a bad game," he said.
When a player retires, there is no time to go back and change the past. Talking about this, Rakocevic admitted he would have played more seasons with Baskonia.
"Baskonia is, next to Crvena Zvezda, the team of my life. I have a house in Vitoria, and I would like my son to play there someday," Igor recognized
On the other hand, Rakocevic did make his dream true: playing in the NBA. He appeared in 42 games with the Minnesota Timberwolves in the 2002-03 season.
"It was my life goal. I am happy because I did it. I could not play too much, but I took advantage of the time spent there.
I will always be thankful to Kevin Garnett. He really helped me. He was a superstar but the best teammate ever. He killed for you," Rakocevic revealed.
During his 16 seasons as a professional basketball player, Igor Rakocevic had different coaches. One of them, Pablo Laso, with whom he coincided in Valencia.
"I enjoyed working with him. I knew he was going to be a great coach. That season (2004), without injuries, we could have even won a title. He was one of my best coaches", said the Serbian.
However, Rakocevic has no doubts about who has been his best coach.
"Dusko Ivanovic," Rakocevic said confidently. "He was honest and fair. He had clear rules. He was tough, but if you did what he asked for, he gave you what you deserved. For me, it was easy to work with him."
Rakocevic, who has been the Serbian Basketball Federation Vicepresident until last year, remembered the 9th position that Serbia & Montenegro achieved in the Eurobasket 2005.
"We tried, but that team had 12 stars, and each one just wanted to be the best. It was very difficult. Chemistry was not perfect," he admitted.
Rakocevic is now focused on his own basketball school for guards. It will be opened next January. He will also become a blackbelt in jiu-jitsu soon, a hobby he started a few years ago with Bostjan Nachbar.
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