Markovic, who doesn’t renounce playing with young players in many of his teams, expect a lot from young players. However, sometimes the expectation of success does not allow this situation. So, coach knows that.
“First of all, I had experienced a lot in the past to work with young players in Sarajevo, Bosnia. I had with Nihad Djedovic who was going to Barcelona, Sehovic Brothers, who are playing in Buducnost now. I bring to the national team Nemanja Gordic, Kikanovic and Dedanovic. There was 17 years old. I put them to play in the senior national team later. I also coached junior national team with Jusuf Nurkic who is in NBA now and biggest name at the time. It was his first official championship for any kind of team. It was junior national team championship in B Division. Also in that roster was Vrabac, Buza. So, I have experience before to work with young players. Of course, It’s not easy in one championship in Turkey or any kind of championship that coaches are under the pressure to win games to give young players. But you always need to find the balance. You also need to be in the environment they support young players. Because some teams don’t want to young players, some fans doesn’t like them, some fans prefer win games. It’s important that where you work, what young players you have and how they think about all the situation. Today, young players are not anymore like they was before. Now, they have different goals. They don’t like to work very much. You rarely find the young players who likes to work and who thinks about basketball. We have Kadir Bayram and Arber Berisha. I try to explain them that this is not a hobby. This is their job. Right now, they are very young, they should spend 6-7-8 hours in the gym if they want to play. They need to always do everything possible. They need to be more concentrate and more focused than all the players. They are young. There’s a target for everybody for me, for all the players. They should always be more ready, more focus than the other guys. Slowly, slowly. When you have those kind of team players with you 1-2 years, maybe you can change the mentality. I really don’t have complaint. They’re good kids. They work well but I also push them to be even try to work concentrate, more focus. This is very important.”