“Rajkovic is working for the first time at a CSKA-level club, it’s not a fact that a coach with Euroleague experience would have performed better” – Vatutin

President of CSKA Andrey Vatutine said in a interview that he did not consider the team’s head coach to be blamed for the unsuccessful season Emile Raikovitch and also explained the reasons for continuing to work with him.

In May CSKA lost in the seventh game of the VTB United League semi-finals against Krasnodar Lokomotiv-Kuban (100:103 OT) and did not reach the decisive phase of the confrontation. In the match for third place, the army team defeated Zenit. Rajkovic took charge of CSKA in June 2022. Before that, he coached Avtodor Saratov and Astana Astana.

– It is clear that the result of the season did not satisfy anyone. We were objectively not ready for a hard fight in the semi-finals. The first whipping traditionally goes to the coach, but it would be unfair and not in our rules to make him guilty alone. The coach is always hostage to players’ performances, their health, condition, mood, club selection opportunities. I have a great respect for coaching, so I try to make drastic personal decisions in case of real, according to me, need.

Life experience shows that patience is a very important part of the process. In 2012, we had a great team: Kirilenko, Teodosic, Siskauskas, Khryapa, Krstic. We lost a number of games during the season, we were favourites, showed very spectacular basketball, moved the ball, defended, but dramatically lost the Euroleague final against Olympiacos. Then they won the Russian championship, but the thorn in that final was too painful and Jonas Kazlauskas was fired. Believe me, I never stop wondering if we did the right thing at that time. There is no answer to this question. In fact, it’s different for everyone.

Since the Euroleague introduced the “everyone plays with everyone” scheme in 2016, the regular season winner has never won the Final Four. Watch this season: Olympiacos were left without a title after a brilliantly held Euroleague championship, in NBA regular season winner Milwaukee were knocked out in the first round of the playoffs, in NHL Boston in a season” soft” and completely updated all possible records in terms of number of victories, winning streaks, performances, but also was eliminated in the first round.

Back to Raikovich. It’s important to remember: the Swede missed two months due to injury, didn’t play in the quarter-finals, didn’t have time to get fit, tried to make it through the matches in the semi-final series, but there was not enough time. Then Milutinov got injured. At the same time, the fate of our season was decided by overtime in Game 7 of the semifinals, one or two possessions, one or two hits. A little more luck and we would have sung the praises of the ability of the coach and the team to face a difficult situation.

We signed a two-year contract, this factor must also be taken into account. They understood that it is difficult to create a champion team in a year, they assumed that local failures were possible. It was the first time in his career that Emil was at a club of this level with such pressure, he understood a lot and learned a lot on the job. It’s not at all a fact that a coach with any Euroleague experience would have performed better.

The series with Zenit for third place was also an argument for continuing relations with Rajkovic, he did not “lose” the team after losing in the semi-finals. I hope Emil is battle hardened and will do everything possible for the best result. Although in conditions where the team’s salary budget has been seriously reduced, the task, let’s say right away, is not easy, Vatutin told .