MIES (Switzerland) - This will not come as a surprise for anyone that knows international basketball and certainly no one in Europe.
In Serbia, there is a strong belief that their understanding of basketball and commitment to the sport over the years has made them the best.
Anyone watching the new Netflix series Court of Gold about the Men's Olympic Basketball Tournament Paris 2024 will be reminded of it, or discover it for the first time.
Bogdan Bogdanovic, who became his country's all-time leading scorer during the Olympics, talks about the sport and its place in Serbians' lives in one episode.
When you are young, everyone teaches you that we are the best in basketball
“Basketball is in our blood," he says. "When you are young, everyone teaches you that we are the best in basketball.
"With the success that we have, you start believing it."
Serbia was once one of the Republics of Yugoslavia and contributed legendary players to legendary teams that won medals at numerous events.
Yugoslavia won five World Cups, the last in 2002 in Indianapolis. That's when Yugoslavia made sure a USA team of NBA players would not, for the first time, reach the podium at the Olympics or the FIBA Basketball World Cup by beating them in the Quarter-Finals, 81-78.
Yugoslavia won eight FIBA EuroBaskets, the last in 2001.
They also won the 1980 Olympic gold medal, and claimed silver in 1988 and 1996, and bronze in 1984.
Since Serbia became an independent nation, the country finished runners-up at the FIBA EuroBasket in 2009 and 2017, at the World Cup in 2014 and 2023, and at the 2016 Olympics. Serbia probably had an even better team last year but lost in a Semi-Final thriller to the USA, 95-91, at the Paris Games, yet then defeated Germany to win the bronze medal.
What's more, Serbia can now proudly boast NBA players like Bogdanovic of the Atlanta Hawks and Nikola Jokic of Denver, who also happens to be the best player in the world.
Jokic has been named as the NBA's MVP in three of the past four seasons.
It's clear that equally embedded in the Serbia psyche is the necessity of working hard in practice, and also on the mental side of the game.
In Court of Gold, assistant coaches suggest to Pesic that to break the monotony for the players, maybe they could go out one night to a restaurant and after pausing a couple of seconds, Pesic replies that there a couple of gyms close by where they could run.
And even if Serbians are taught they are the best, the great thinker Pesic has the wisdom to emphasize another idea, which he does in the series while sitting around the table with his colleagues.
He says the only way for Serbia to get better is to acknowledge someone else is better because it then makes Serbia work harder.
What’s next for Serbia? Well, they have qualified for the EuroBasket 2025 and are now undoubtedly the heavy favorites to win the event.
It’s time for them to finally lift a major FIBA trophy.
FIBA