Dejan Kamenjasevic has lofty ambitions for basketball in the UAE that includes, but isn’t limited to, a Euroleague team being based in the region.
Since opening Basicball Academy in Dubai last year alongside Zoran Savic, Kamenjasevic has set out to ensure the sport reaches its potential in the country.
While the academy has expanded to 18 locations and reached 250 kids in little more than a calendar year of its existence, Kamenjasevic believes they’re just scratching the surface right now.
“Our main goal is to bring the Euroleague in the future,” the 39-year old Bosnian told Sport360.
“We’re not here just to have an academy. We are here to work with everyone who wants to develop and enhance basketball in this region.
“In four, five years, we will do some things that will change basketball here.”
The players worked under the Sports Area Director Dejan Kamenjasevic and of the Coach Ivan Vilotic, watch video... http://t.co/Da4dY9Napn
— BASICBALL ACADEMY (@BASICBALL_UAE) November 1, 2014
Kamenjasevic also wants to bring current youth and senior Euroleague teams for tournaments hosted in the UAE, but his ultimate vision is indeed ambitious.
The Euroleague is the highest level of competition for club basketball in all of Europe, fielding star-studded outfits like Barcelona, Real Madrid, Maccabi Tel Aviv and Olympiacos. After the NBA, there is no other league in the world that has more talent.
The goal of having a Euroleague team based in the UAE seems like a pipe dream on the surface, until you consider what Basicball have already achieved and the contacts that Kamenjasevic and Savic have from their background in the sport.
After leaving his home of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1993 due to war, Kamenjasevic went to Spain, where he reached the Catalan League as a player.
Injuries forced him to retire at the age of 25, but Kamenjasevic went into coaching and was the assistant coach of Akasvayu Girona which won the FIBA EuroCup and the Catalan League in 2007.
Kamenjasevic then progressed to being an assistant coach in the ACB League, the Euroleague and finally a coach at the Europe Basketball Academy of Girona.
His journey allowed him to cross paths with fellow Serbian Savic, a former renowned Euroleague pro, general manager and then agent at the time of their meeting. The two worked together on a project to strengthen basketball in the UAE.
“It was our decision to do it in the Middle East because this is a region in the world which has potential, money, infrastructure and has taken a huge march towards improve the kids’ and the population’s knowledge about basketball,” Kamenjasevic said.
“I have a vision and I have a perspective of the bigger picture. I was looking for stability… not only economic stability, but stability where you feel you’re growing with a project and doing something that is yours.
WHAT A SUCCESSFUL AND UNFORGETTABLE EXPERIENCE! Watch now the latest part of the "diary"... https://t.co/3FiibNeOFG pic.twitter.com/YgNAp3HXxX
— BASICBALL ACADEMY (@BASICBALL_UAE) August 29, 2015
“Because I believe in that, I left everything there – not only the team and the professional coaching job, but I left my family and my kids to come here.”
Basicball have wasted little time in making a name as they brought Houston Rockets star Dwight Howard, the Minnesota Timberwolves’ Ricky Rubio and former NBA sharpshooter Peja Stojakovic for camps at Dubai Sports World last August.
“We’ve showed our background, what we’re capable of, our experience and of course our network,” Kamenjasevic said.
“The people who are on the ground are people who have been in basketball all of their life and this is what makes a difference in our company.”
