Vasilije Micic says it’s crucial to share knowledge with the younger generations, as there is less and less potential to find good players. He revealed that he has already talked to Nikola Jokic and Bogdan Bogdanovic about gathering together with the young Serbian players to share their experience with them.

One of the top European guards in recent years, Vasilije Micic, opened up about the importance of being more vocal and sharing knowledge with the young generation on the EuroLeague Iconversation.

Micic says he was privileged to work or play together with such legends as Sasha Djordjevic, Dusan Ivkovic, Milos Teodosic and others, and now it’s time for him and other Serbian top players to start educating the new generation of players.

“For me, it was much easier than even for them, because we had those guys [points to Vlade Divac and Toni Kukoc]. I had a chance to work with Sasha Djordjevic as one of my first coaches in the national team. He was one of the tremendous point guards.”

“Then there was (Milos) Teodosic as a young example of talent. After that, I had the privilege to work with Duda (Dusan Ivkovic) as well. He was the one who put me in the national team at the age of 19.”

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“It was a great honor for me, and that’s where I started to learn about the importance of the national team, about the importance of being an example for young generations.”

Micic revealed that he already talked with Nikola Jokic and Bogdan Bogdanovic this summer about gathering everybody and sharing some experience with them.

“As we have less and less potential to find good players, I feel more and more obligated to be an everyday example. I’m very happy that guys such as Nikola Topic, Nikola Djurisic, Nikola Jovic feel free to talk to me about things.”

“I also talked last summer with (Nikola) Jokic and Bogdan (Bogdanovic) — we said, let’s just gather all together and share some experience with them.”

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“Because I don’t feel any distance in conversation with those guys, especially with Jokic too, but I feel that I can offer something. There is nothing magical behind it — just work and consistency.”

“When you have Jokic and Bogdan, who are always at the top level, I feel like we should share more. Sometimes we are too quiet because we think if we talk too much, we sound arrogant. But now, with so much on our side, with all that we did, I feel we should do that more.”

“New generations are different. They feel everything comes so easily, and they talk so easily about money and everything else. But I feel like work ethic has to be the priority.”

Vasa also believes Jokic should be the one to share the most with the young guys, as not many people know that he works extremely hard to reach everything that he has until this point.

“I also feel like Jokic should maybe be one of the leaders from our generation to share a little bit,” he said. “Nobody really knows what he’s doing — he’s just making heavy titles.”

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“But actually, he’s a great worker. I met him when he was 17 at Mega. He’s always been dedicated in his own way. He’s not working 10 hours a day, but I wish he could also be a great role model as a speaker to the other generation.”