Boštjan Nachbar, another crucial Slovenia’s player, said the national team’s poor performance in jump shots at the Celje tournament, where Begić did not play, could by improved by the team member whose high stature puts him in perfect position to pick most of the rebounds. Before EuroBasket 2011 in Lithuania, Slovenia’s head coach Maljković pointed out Mirza as one of the possible MVPs of the tournament, and Begić indeed showed an impressive performance.

Slovenia has a few tricks up its sleeve
Begić, however, has failed to excel at preparatory matches. “I have to work on my offense performance, and I always make sure to do my best at defense. I’m physically well-prepared. I feel well,” assures the Bosnian-born 28-year-old. He believes the preparations are well-paced. “I hope we’ll be in top shape. We’ll do all we can to show our best.”

The team had two days off, and now they’re back in the training camp at Kranjska Gora, “The two days off came in handy. I spent them with my family. We made a short trip to Bohinj.” The championship starts in exactly one week, and at this key point of the preparations, all the little details will have to be ironed out. “I think we still need to improve some tactical issues we’ve had trouble with so far. We have to make the most out of the game with France, which is the only preparatory match left. We need to keep working. We have to practise the new techniques we have planned as well as the position plans in defense. Also, we still have some action plans in store we’ve been training but haven’t used in the matches.”

Skipped the match with Italy
“Now comes the crucial part. The games we’ve won so far will be meaningless if we don’t keep on winning the championship matches,” Begić warns, staying grounded despite Slovenia’s 10 wins out of 11 preparatory matches.

Begić has had a very successful club season this year – he won the Spanish championship with the Real Madrid team and played the Euroleague finals, where his team lost against Olympiacos. In the coming season, however, Slovenia’s center player is set to don the red jersey of the very same Piraeus-located team, which has won the elite European club competition two years in a row.
Tilen Jamnik, MMC