NBA has less pressure

Nenad Krstic and Sammy Mejia has already passed the medicals, signed the contracts and talked to the media. Our club presented its two newcomers during the press conference in USH CSKA today.

“We started our selection process just after the season finished”, - CSKA president Andrey Vatutin said. “We kept Siskauskas and Vorontsevich and now we are here to present Krstic and Mejia. The guys are in the best basketball age, when they have experience, strength, understanding the game. Hopefully they will help us… I will say it carefully – to be more successful in the Euroleague. Our signing campaign is not over yet. We need to improve 2-3 positions more, but it is quite difficult because the market is weak, most good players are under contracts. We need time to build our roster, you should not hurry here. I’d like to mention that we conduct consultations with Jonas Kazlauskas on that, we discuss our choice with the Board of the Club.”

“Nenad will add more versatility to our frontline with Kaun and Sokolov staying,” – Vatutin added. “Sammy likes to play small forward more, he can drive and shoot. Both players are signed to make the life of our opponents as difficult as it possible.”

“I like the pressure,” – Nenad Krstic said. “That’s one of the reasons I decided to get back to Europe. In the NBA you play 82 games in regular season and you don’t feel so much pressure. And I know that in Europe, no matter you play for the club or for the National Team, every game is important. You pass the test of your character every day, which gives you a chance to find out more about yourself.”

“I am excited to be in CSKA”, - Krstic added. “I know the club’s history, I know it played in the Euroleague Final Fours for 8 years in a row. I played in the Euroleague games when I was 21 last time. And I am motivated more than ever to get back to the competition. I heard a lot of good words about Russian League as well which is one of the best on the continent.”

“It is great to be a part of such a great club, with great history and traditions,” – Sammy Mejia said. “It’s a big challenge for me to play for CSKA in the Euroleague, Russian League, VTB League. I like the challenges and I am ready to accept them. I understand that I am in different situation, different role, stronger team in comparison to the ones I had in Cholet. I am on a bigger picture, I can move my career to the next level and I hope I can move my team to the bigger level now.”