Coach Beciragic Criticizes Nurkic’s Fitness before EuroBasket: NBA News

Bosnia and Herzegovina’s coach, Adis Beciragic, recently criticized his team for their poor fitness condition ahead of EuroBasket, singling out Jusuf Nurkic and Xavier Castaneda. This comes after the team’s heavy losses to China, Serbia, and Montenegro, in what is considered a challenging group comprising of Georgia, Greece, Italy, and Spain.

Furthermore, the criticism followed their EuroBasket 2025 preparations where they faced a defeat against Nikola Jokic and Serbia’s national team.

Beciragic expressed his disappointment after his team’s preparation matches for EuroBasket, which are reportedly getting worse. His annoyance with his players’ fitness was evident. About Nurkic, the NBA center who gave a subpar performance in their recent game, Beciragic made remarks about him being out of shape and his difficulties in running.

He also commented on Xavier Castaneda, saying that the player is not training and has just resumed five-on-five gaming. Seeing this, Beciragic suggests the need for more intensive preparation and hopes his players will realize their shortcomings.

This comes after the team absorbed a substantial loss. Last week, Jusuf Nurkic joined the Bosnia and Herzegovina team alongside Dzanan Musa, claiming he is in decent shape.

Despite the team’s hardships, Nurkic expressed hopeful sentiments, stating that the fitness level of the team will gradually improve. He stressed the importance of staying healthy for the EuroBasket, considering it as a critical aspect.

Convinced that the team can create history, Nurkic highlighted that they’ve overcome numerous setbacks in the past. He sees the upcoming EuroBasket as a historic opportunity to achieve considerable results. Following this, the team is now gearing up to face Spain, Italy, Greece, and Georgia.