Miles Schmidt-Scheuber and Igor Perovic in 2008 in Frankfurt

Igor Perovic (194-G-1974) is a former player that currently is in his fourth season as coach of German Pro A team Bozic Estriche Kirchheim Knights. He has previous coaching experience with the Tigers Tuebingen where he coached from 2009-2015. As a player he played in countries like Serbia, Montenegro, Israel and Germany where he played 5 seasons with Tuebingen and Wurzburg. He spoke to germanhoops.com before the Pro A game against the Fraport Skyliners.

Thanks Igor for talking to germanhoops.com. You are now in your fourth season as head coach with the Kirchheim Knights. Has Kirchheim become like a second home for you?

I enjoy my time in Kirchheim and like to work here. We have a good group of people in the club. Everything is very familiar here

The club reached the playoffs once a few years ago and is always close to the playoffs. What are your expectations this season?

We have high expectations always. We try to build the best possible team every year and I think that we are competitive every year. This year we have very good and hungry players and we can be a problem for many teams.

The club has 2 explosive guards with Flowers and Miller and the team have shown in the past that with strong guard play they can be successful like under Richie Williams. Does the team have enough depth to be a playoff team?

I think we have good depth. We have players with big rolls and some younger players with smaller rolls but all of them are super important and will get their chance to show their potential. Flowers and Miller are key players but they deserved to have that roll in our team. I wanted to have guards that can do lot of things on the court and they are definitely that type of players.

I have followed young Germans Jonas Niedermanner and Antonio Dorn for years. It seems like in comparison to other Pro A teams, the German rotation is slim?

I don’t think that our German rotation is not big enough. We have very good and smart German players. They are physically very good. Some of them have lot of experience, some of them are very young but that`s what I want and like.

You got your first coaching experience with the Walter Tigers Tuebingen. How thankful will you forever be to Robert Wintermantel who was your ex teammate that then got you that job?

Yes i will always be thankful to Robert and Tübingen for the chance they gave me. It was the best thing that could happen to me. I was part of Tübingen basketball for 10 and a half years. 7 and a half as a coach. We beat teams like Alba, Bayern, Oldenburg, Ludwigsburg and literally we beat every team in those years. Of course we lost lot of games too but we never was a big budget team that was supposed to make a big results.

How do you feel did you grow as a coach in those 7 years where you saw a lot of highs and lows?

It was great but not an easy time. We never had a lot of coaches on the bench that could help me. My first 4 years I worked together with Radio Zdravkovic who was a big help for me and became my friend life. I had lot of ups and downs in those years but that is part of every coach job. I have learned a lot.

How have you been following the Tigers Tuebingen in the last few years? Was Danny Jansson absolutely the best thing that happened to that organization?

I follow them of course. We played them the last 3 years. Danny is doing great job and he is the most important person in their organization in the last 3 years. They deserved to be part of BBL again and I wish them to stay there forever and to win every game.

How excited are you to be coaching for the first time in the Pro A against Frankfurt? You played against them and coached against them in the easyCredit BBL?

Its a pity that the club like Frankfurt moved down. They are one of the favorites to be in BBL next year.

What do you remember being your fondest moment against Frankfurt? I believe you lost more games than you won?

I played against them a lot in 10 years. I don’t know exactly how many wins and losses but definitely it was many great games. I played many games against them when Gordon Herbert was their coach. He is one of the best coaches I ever played against. I am happy that he put his name in the history books now. It is 100% deserved.

How have you personally followed Denis Wucherer´s coaching career starting in Munich and going to Giessen and Wurzburg? What kind of a coach is he in your eyes?

Denis is great coach. He was smart as a player and he can not be different now. Will be difficult to beat him this year. He had lot of success in Giessen and Würzburg. I think he is motivated to bring Frankfurt where they belong.

Did you know that you and Denis Wucherer having something very special, unique and rare in common?

Yes I know that we have one great thing in common. I had one triple double but I believe that he had more than one.

Will you remind him on Sunday?

Now when you remind me we will talk about that when we see each other probably.

In that triple double Tuebingen beat the EWE Baskets Oldenburg and the top 3 players for Tuebingen in that game were Rasko Katic 31/15, AJ Moye 23/7/6, you 22/10/10 combined in 117 minutes. What memories do you have of that game?

I will never forget that Rasko Katic played that game with only 1 practice before that game because his son was in hospital and he was with him for 24/7. He is one of the toughest people I ever met. He was 31 and 15 in that game. AJ and me had a great game too.

Was that your best game in the easyCredit BBL?

Yes that was my best game in the BBL It was hard to beat that game

I have another triva question for you? With what ex Skyliner were you teammates in Tuebingen from 2006-2008? Do you have any idea?

Of course that was AJ Moye

What memories do you have of AJ Moye. The guy was so talented and had to retire early because of a stroke with the Fraport Skyliners. Shouldn´t he have been picked up by a Eurocup team earlier? Was he just badly represented in Tuebingen?

AJ was hard working player. He was mentally and physically strong. He wasn’t the biggest talent but fighter and competitor yes. That is very difficult to find. I see that now when I am searching for that type of players every year.

I remember AJ Moye as being a positive and funny guy. What is your fondest moment with him?

I remember him as a player who gives 100% on every practice. It wasn’t any fun or jokes during the practice. I never went out in my time in Tübingen because I had a small kids so I don’t know how AJ was of the court. But if he had a similar energy of the court like he had on the court I guess it was lot of fun around him.

If someone had told you before the 2023 World Cup that Germany would win what would you have thought?

I was one of the guys that said that Germany has a team to win the medal. I saw them live in super cup in Hamburg against Canada and China and I was impressed. First of all Germany has a great coach. German players are in the physical pick and in best age. Germany is extremely tall, strong and athletic team. They have great defenders and Gordon knows how to make strong team defense from the players that like to play defense and have great length and speed. Franz Wagner is one of the best combo guards in the world. I never saw the player who is 208cm that can play both guard positions offensively and defensively. I was impressed with them but my expectation on them was high already before WM

Thanks Igor for the chat.