Nikola Kalinic is in his second stint with Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade. He first played for the Serbian powerhouse during the 2014-15 campaign after joining from Radnicki Kragujevac. He helped Zvezda win three titles – the Adriatic League and Serbian League and Cup – before legendary head coach Zeljko Obradovic recruited him to join Fenerbahce Istanbul. In five seasons with Fenerbahce, Kalinic reached four consecutive Final Fours, three straight EuroLeague championship games and played a big role in winning the 2017 crown with 17 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists in the final against Olympiacos Piraeus. He also won three Turkish League championships and three Turkish Cups with Fenerbahce. After playing for Valencia Basket last season, during which he earned EuroLeague MVP of the Month honors for February 2021, Kalinic returned to Zvezda with a leading role.
Nikola Kalinic, Zvezda: 'I'm trying to improve every year'
"It feels great. It feels kind of like home,” Kalinic said of his return to Belgrade. “A lot of things changed, but not too many. When you think about it, we are here. Especially, I like the fact that a lot of guys that are here were here when I was [for the] first time starting with Branko Lazic, Luka Mitrovic, even Maik Zirbes... so it feels good to be here.
"My family is closer, my friends are closer. So those are all the things that we really realize how important they are in the COVID-19 time, so that is also the big reason why I came."
Kalinic left as a relatively inexperienced player and returns a leader, with a much more polished game all around, on offense and defense. He joked about the fact that nothing much changed, but it did, as he became one of the best forwards in European basketball.
"I'm saying I only have a little bit more beard, and that's it, everything else is the same," he joked. "But yeah, I changed a lot. I think I improved my game in many aspects, especially my behavior towards basketball. I think I am much more professional than I was before. I mean, I was younger, so I didn't realize how important is the rest and the sleeping, the food you eat and everything else.
"Every year I’ve added a little bit more to my game and that's my goal, the whole career, to be the best player I can be."
"So I think that's why I'm also more consistent. I think I can do more things on the court. I think I can put the ball on the floor more. I think I can even play some pick-and-roll. I improved my low-post game, especially my offense. In defense, I think I also improved my rebounding skills. I can position myself more, predict what's going to happen. So I think I'm trying to improve every year. And I think I did in stats or without stats. I think every year I've added a little bit more to my game and that's my goal, the whole career, to be the best player I can be."
Leaving Fenerbahce, a team full of stars, allowed him to play a much more important role with Valencia and now he is doing the same in Belgrade: no one doubts, from Coach Dejan Radonjic to any of his teammates, that Kalinic is the team's first choice and its vocal leader.
"That was also one of the reasons why I came, it's a new part of my career. I mean, I was always trying to be a leader in hard work, in behavior, at practice and in the games, to be the guy who can lead the team with the energy or motivation or emotions," he said. "That's one of the reasons why I signed. I was talking also with Dejan Radonjic. I think we have a good relationship. He believes in me a lot and like I said, like always, I can't promise anything. I can only promise I'm going to give my best. I'm going to try to be prepared for every game and I'm going to try to lead this team. Like I said, in basketball or outside of the court, things and practices, I always try to do all of that."
A big plus that comes with playing for Zvezda is its legendary rivalry with Partizan NIS Belgrade. He had a chance to reprise it during his years with Fenerbahce. Coach Obradovic, some of his assistants, Jan Vesely and Bogdan Bogdanovic were all with Partizan in the past and of course, Coach Obradovic re-joined his former team last summer, too. Kalinic was joined by Pero Antic and Marko Guduric as former Zvezda players, and every time there was a derby, jokes flew all over the place.
"It was fun, always when there's a derby match or something, you always have some jokes, whoever wins the game," Kalinic said. "So it's a part of Serbia in everyday life. People in Serbia like sports and basketball, so they all enjoy those fights. And that's also the thing we will try to do this year, to give everybody some good entertainment, high-quality basketball and let the better team win."
Kalinic and Coach Obradovic worked together for five years and are now on opposite sides of a rivalry. Kalinic said that he believes Obradovic coming back to Belgrade makes the rivalry even more prestigious and he talked to Obradovic about it.
"We had some talks during the summer. I think it's a great thing him coming to Serbia and to the Adriatic League. Every other coach can learn a lot from him. I mean, when you play against him, you know, you can expect a lot of things, you must be prepared," Kalinic added. "So I think it's good for sport in Serbia, for sport in this region and especially for basketball, obviously. And I think it's going to be fun. Like I said, to play against him is always fun. I remember when I played for him how motivated people were to play against us, so I think it's going to be... it's going to be the same here. I think it can help a lot."
"I think in basketball there is not just a defensive player and just an offensive player because for me, it's a complete game."
With Valencia, Kalinic averaged 10.4 points, 3.4 rebounds and 3.2 assists. He was at his best in February 2021, when he earned MVP of the Month honors. Kalinic averaged 15.3 points, 5.7 assists, 3.7 rebounds and 1.3 steals for a 21.3 PIR average that month in which Valencia knocked off CSKA Moscow, Real Madrid and Zenit St Petersburg. His impact went beyond his numbers, however, and he is using that experience with Zvezda this season.
"I try to do different things. I like to prove myself as a two-way player, which I think I was during my whole career," Kalinic said. "Those people were always considering me a defensive player. I think in basketball there is not just a defensive player and just an offensive player because, for me, it's a complete game, you know? So you cannot play one without another or you can't win a game with one without another. So it's as simple as that."
Zvezda fans can expect Kalinic to keep leading the team at least until the end of the 2022-23 season. The time has come for him to make Zvezda as competitive as possible as its main reference.
"That's my philosophy and I try just to prove and to show myself as maybe a little bit more of an offensive player and to do some things maybe that I couldn't do it in the bigger teams, where you have a lot of talented guys, when you have such talent in your team, there is no need for you to do some other things," Kalinic said. "So I will try to keep on doing that. I think I had a good season in Valencia, and I'm going to try to do the same in Zvezda or even better."