TB EXCLUSIVE | Nikola Kalinić: Before Obradović, I was treating basketball as a hobby. It’s a job now.”

We can talk about two phrases of your career and I think you can agree with this: Before Obradović and After Obradović. How did working with him affect your understanding of basketball? 

I must say that before Obradović, I can’t say I was great but I was a good player. (Laughing) I’m kidding. Yeah, of course, he changed it. He’s a proven winner, probably the best coach in European history. That may be the biggest difference: Not just understanding what basketball is, but also understanding what basketball life is. Many times, I’m kidding with my friends that I started living as a basketball player like two years ago. He made me do it. Earlier, I was always treating basketball as my hobby, something that I like. Two years ago, I started living basketball life. It’s a job now, which is good and bad. It’s good because I’m more focused on practicing. It may be bad because – I can’t say I’m not enjoying – earlier I was treating it more as a game. Maybe that is the big change. He showed us how much work it takes to live basketball life every day, almost 24 hours, to improve ourselves, watch videos, prepare ourselves before and after the game. I mean I was doing that also earlier. I always watch my games afterwards. I think it’s a good way to analyze yourself and your team. But he stepped it up on another level. 

I’m assuming you’re going to join the Serbian National Team for the World Cup this summer, if you’re healthy. 

Yes; but I don’t know what will happen. We see that now they’re playing but I don’t have much contact with them. We will see. 

Guys like Nemanja Bjelica and Boban Marjanović said that they’ll be in China this summer. In fact, Bjelica said if healthy, Serbian National Team is the best national team after Team USA. How much do you agree with his statement? 

I don’t like those kinds of statements. I think it’s too soon to talk about anything. Like he said, it’s about injuries but there are also so many good players, so many good national teams like Spain, France and all the other teams. That’s why I don’t want to be disrespectful to anybody. It’s true that we have many NBA players, many EuroLeague players. So, if we all are there, I think we can be a real problem for everybody but I don’t like these statements. Summer is far away, like I told you. I don’t know who’s gonna play, who’s gonna be there, who’s not. To be honest, if we don’t win these two games, it’s possible for us to not even go to the Championship. We’re still not there, for sure. It’s a little bit too soon. 

Throughout the Qualifiers, you’ve been able to play only twice for Serbia due to injuries and scheduling. And we know NBA players can’t play international games during the season. So, most of the top players can’t help their countries reach big tournaments, while a lot of players who carry the burden during the Qualifiers probably won’t make it to the World Cup. We’re caught between two fires. Given this scheduling conflict will remain for a while, how will the national teams figure it out? 

National team is about players who are available; it’s about best players who are available to play. I don’t think that guys should feel bad if some of them don’t go to the Championship. He can play in the Qualifiers and it’s even better that he has his chance. If some guys didn’t say no to the national team the year when I entered – Mačvan, Micov, Lučić was injured – if all those things didn’t happen, I wouldn’t probably be here and we would never be talking. I think if somebody doesn’t play, somebody else gets a chance. If they are real players, they’re gonna prove themselves. It’s only good for them. 

And about [the schedule of qualifiers]; yes, I agree. I’m not against qualifiers but you can make it a normal schedule to give players some time to rest, to travel and travel back. I’ve already told my ideas many times. If you make it in New Year’s Eve, some players can be at home with their families and some American players in Europe can also go back to the States to be with their families. That can be one window and another window can be after the season. Again, there are some people who may or may not be smarter than me to decide.