Aleksandar Gruev: "Our team has tremendous potential which we still have to fulfill"

Aleksandar Gruev is one of Rilski Sportist′s key figures in the last years, and also he is the team captain. The 27-years old point guard has been in Samokov for the last 8 years, and has always been a fan favourite with his hustle and his devotion and leadership on the floor. He was kind to take some of his time and answer some questions for balkanleague.net.   Q: You are already in your third season with Rilski in the EUROHOLD Balkan League, what do you think of the competition?
Aleksandar Gruev: I think that it′s one good competition. The level isn′t much different than the Bulgarian league, but the mindset for the games is different, because we′re playing different teams from different countries.   Q: In the quarterfinal playoffs you are facing OKK Beograd, who are a really young team, but they surprised Levski in the group phase. Now they have homecourt advantage in the series, what do you think is the bigger positive - their homecourt advantage, or the fact that your team is more experinced than them?   AG: OKK are a typical Serbian team. They have really young guys plus a couple of experienced players, they play really good as a team, as a unit. It′s not a surprise that they defeated Levski. However I hope that our experience will be a key and that we win the series. Of course we won′t rely only on experience, we will give 100% effort to win the games.   Q: In one of his latest interviews, the new coach Rosen Barchovski said that Rileco needs a change in the mentality, do you support his opinion?
AG: After coming to Rilski three years ago, Aleksandar Todorov was talking about changing the mentality. We were one good team without any success. This change started then, and we won the Balkan League, we played final for the Bulgarian Cup and three more semifinals in the championship and in the cup. In the last months it seems like we lost some of our self esteem, after we lost a lot of games, and the team had a completely different goal in the start of the season. So I can say that I agree with Rosen Barchovski here. A team such as ours can′t lose this much, or rather we can′t lose without team spirit and without fighting until the end.   Q: Unfortunately this season didn′t pass without an injury for you. But it seems like you are coming back more motivated after every injury you suffer.   AG: Injuries are part of professional sports. The last year has been quite difficult for me, after I injured my knee last April. I couldn′t recover fully and until a month ago I was still feeling pain and I couldn′t practice on 100%. Now I feel good and I hope that another surgery won′t be necessary when the season is over. But I will think about it when the time comes. Now I am healthy enough to help the team reach it′s goals.   Q: You have been in Samokov for quite a long time, have you thinked about changing places, going abroad, after all every player wants to go and play in another country?   AG: Really when I came to Samokov 8 years ago, I haven′t believed that I would stay for so long. But as time passed I got used to everything around here, with the team, with the fans. 8 years ago Rilski was making first steps in the top division in Bulgaria, we were only young guys on the team, and we only won a couple of games per season. With the years the goals of our president Petar Georgiev became bigger and bigger, which was matching my personal goals. The work conditions here are perfect, I′m sure that only Levski and Lukoil are the other teams in Bulgaria that have conditions as good as ours. I would go play abroad only if a really good offer comes in. I wouldn′t throw everything away and go play just because it′s abroad.
Q: After Nasko Radev got injured, Mijovic and Radojevic joined the team, do you think they are doing a good job in the paint so far?   AG: Both of them are really good players. And I am really happy to be playing alongside them. Mijovic grew up with KK Partizan, and that can only speak for itself. Radojevic is really experienced, he has played in the NBA, and also in some other good teams. There are still some things we can desire, but that goes for the entire team too, not personally for them. We have tremendous potential, and I don′t think we′ve lived up to fulfill it. The most important thing for me is that they fit in good with the team, and that′s really important for every organization.   Q: In the previous season of the Balkan League,only Bulgarian teams won the competition - you with Rilski in 2009 and Levski in 2010. Do you think that this year some team can overcome this tendency, or "tradition" and we can see a new BIBL champion?   AG: I hope not, but I think that Feni, Ulcinj, Mornar and OKK have their chances. Any team that reaches the Final 4 will want to be the champion. In tournaments, who are decided in only one game nothing is ever clear, and there are no favorites.