A familiar face to 7DAYS EuroCup fans is checking in from Gran Canaria to tell us about his experiences with the team. Power forward John Shurna is in his seventh season in the competition. He first played in the EuroCup with Valencia Basket and has also suited up for Cedevita Zagreb, MoraBanc Andorra and Gran Canaria. This is his third campaign with Gran Canaria and Shurna hopes the experience they have, both individually and collectively, in the competition helps them challenge for the EuroCup title next spring. Shurna will share the ups and downs of the season, whether from Gran Canaria or on any of the team's long road tips, right here on EuroCupBasketball.com!
John Shurna, Gran Canaria: 'Winning the EuroCup would be amazing'
First of all, I have to say it's definitely a plus knowing the EuroCup well and having played in the competition before. Obviously, the format's changed so it is a different mindset. Now, it's more important that we improve as a team week by week, trying to play our best basketball towards the end of the season, during the playoffs, as opposed to the previous format where each game was of higher importance, as you had to make sure you advance to the next round. So it's good to have experience and a lot of my teammates also have experience in the competition. So I think that bodes well for us.
I've played for some good teams in the EuroCup, but never won the title. It's fun seeing a lot of familiar faces as we play against these different teams, as you grow to have a lot of respect for the teams and the players as well. I think everybody competes their hardest, but there's a fun respect for both sides, so it's fun seeing familiar faces and having some laughs before and after the game. I think that winning the EuroCup would be amazing, but with the new format, more things have to fall into place. Obviously, we have to be healthy and playing good basketball toward the end. And with the single-elimination playoff format, it definitely makes things more exciting, but much more of a coin flip as well.
We come off a break in which we didn't play in the EuroCup or the Spanish League. We had a rare weekend without games, but most of the team went to represent their national squads, which is obviously a great honor. I think that it shows the quality and talent on our team. All of them had success with their national teams as well, so that was very exciting. There weren't too many guys here in Gran Canaria, so it was just a couple of us practicing with some of the younger guys who were grateful enough to help us out during the week practicing.
Gran Canaria has done a good job of developing young talent throughout the program. It's fun now seeing former players returning, whether it be Albert Oliver, who is an assistant coach in the second team, and we have Sitapha Savane as our president now. So there are a lot of guys who want to call Gran Canaria home and want to see the program continue to do well, and that includes the youth players, as they continue to grow and develop.
We have a former player as head coach, Jaka Lakovic. He had a phenomenal career as a player, winning everything, and as a coach, he has had great success so far as well. So he's someone who knows the Spanish League and had success in the EuroCup with Ulm as well. He's been great. He expects a lot from his players but I think, being a former player and with all the success he has, he is someone that we all listen to and take advice from because he knows what it takes to win at the highest level. And as a point guard, he's been a leader his whole life, basically, so everyone has a lot of respect for him. We are fortunate to have him here as a coach.
As a point guard, he played for some of the greatest coaches in Europe and being so successful, he is someone who I'm sure made sure everyone was in the right positions when he was playing and winning at the highest of levels. He is a great competitor who wants to win, and some who makes sure our focus is on defense and the scouting reports. In practices, he focuses on finishing the play and things like that. I have nothing but great things to say about him as he's been really good for us.
The World Cup is coming! There is some buzz in the team and of course, I'll definitely be rooting for the USA. I think anytime the World Cup's been brought up in the locker room, I bring up the USA and it merely gets laughed at and they continue on with their national teams. Obviously, we have Nicolas Brussino from Argentina, Vitor Benite from Brazil. Damien Inglis and Andrew Albicy are French and, of course, we have some Spanish guys. These are some of the favorites, so I think they merely laugh at the thought of the USA competing in the World Cup, but I'm going to cheer them on and hopefully they can prove some people wrong.
The EuroCup will be back soon and we have a lot of road trips in the next couple of months after we play Hapoel Tel Aviv at home. After that, we are on the road, I think, for 10 days. So it's going to be a long road trip, but obviously, I think it's a good test for our team and an opportunity for us to come together, so we are fortunate. There are a lot of great guys in the locker room who work hard and want to have success as a team, too. So hopefully we can come together and it will be a successful road trip for us, and definitely long, coming from Gran Canaria, that's for sure. Most times we fly to Madrid and then to our next destination, and then whether it's another connecting flight or a bus. So it's long travels, but people have to come to Gran Canaria, too!