Oliver Popoviс: "The main goal is for us to play good basketball again"

Zenit-2 head coach Oliver Popovic spoke with the club’s press service about the plans for the farm team’s preseason preparation.

— Oliver, we are glad to see you again at the Zenit Basketball Academy. Tell us, how was your offseason and summer? Did you manage to rest?

— I’m happy to be here again, at Zenit. As always, the two months at home went by quickly. We are starting to work, and I hope everything will go well this year.

— The team is gradually getting into the training process. What can you say about the players’ condition, and what is most important to establish during the preseason stage?

— It’s too early to talk about form, we’ve only just started training. This year the team will be much younger than last season. For now, we’re not at full strength. It’s too early to say anything definitive — we have a young team, and we’re just beginning to work.

— What are your expectations for the upcoming season?

— A lot has changed compared to last season: we have a new assistant coach, and the strength and conditioning coach has also changed. I hope that this year will be just as solid as the last one. The goal is for us to play good basketball again. That’s the main task for this team. We’ll see how it goes without experienced players.

— Tell us about Zenit-2’s preseason plans.

— We have a series of friendly games scheduled. The next game will be against Dynamo Primorye on September 5. We’ll try to get as much practice as possible.