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I also let Drakslar clarify what was said in our Q&A before we move onto other topics. This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

The interview was (conducted) in Russian. I think people use Google translator too much, and Google translator, it translates differently. What Google translator was missing is that, “Luka is not in game shape.” And “game” is the word that was missed out here. It’s impossible right now to be in game shape because there are no games. He’s in good shape, he practices five-on-five, he’s having strength and conditioning workouts. He’s working really hard, but he doesn’t have games. The misinterpretation or the poor translation of the international media, they just used Google translator right here because I tried; I put in the Google translator, and I saw this is how it translates. But if you translate like it’s supposed to be translated, there’s the word “game” over there. That was the main part that was kind of missed.

Exactly. There’s no basketball player right now (in game shape), especially in the NBA because there’s no games, so how can you be? The question was, “Can he play tomorrow?” Yes, he can play, you know? But he’s not practicing with his teammates. He’s got good teammates over here in Slovenia, but this is not teammates from his team in Dallas. It’s completely different. This is it. The quarantine has taken a toll on every player.

There are some positives and some negatives over here. Players get some time to mentally refresh. The season is very stressful for the players. (And players got some time) to solve injuries, to rehab the small overload syndromes. … Of course, this took a toll on every player. But if media only reads those words not in the context, that’s a problem.

Yeah, exactly. The time without games and without the hits he’s receiving (from) the games, for sure, it’s helped him. This was one of the parts of our work, actually, we put a lot of focus on it; on his ankle, on his thumb and on his wrist, also. He had a problem with his wrist when he came back. He still felt the pain in all of those three parts of his body. He felt pain in the wrist, thumb and ankle. He could not work properly, so we focused a lot on this. This was not our main goal, but one of the main goals, the (injuries) that were bothering him and would bother him a lot probably if the season would continue, as there is no time to recover and rehab.”

I think this is the 17th year I’ve been a strength coach. I have been with the Russian team, this is my second season right now.

Yeah, I was an athlete. I was not a team-sport athlete, but I was a swimmer, actually. I was a swimmer for 10 years and in college, in the third year of college, I decided to put the theory in practice. I started to work in a professional basketball club developing athletes, young basketball players and it was one really good thing. There were great basketball players like Goran Dragic, Zoran Dragic, Jan Vesley who were developed, which started in this project, and since then, I (mostly train) basketball as a strength coach. I had some period of working with the (Slovenian) national swimming team and national rowing team. … But basketball was the main (focus) and working with other athletes individually.

Actually, when he was 12 years old, I did a couple of practices with him (when he was) on Olimpija Ljubljana. He does not remember that. He had really big feet already, he couldn’t control his legs, but he was a super good young basketball player already. But he had a problem controlling his big legs so we tried to do some movement control exercises at that time. But since then, we were not in contact. In Slovenia, the last eight years, I’ve been working with a couple of Slovenian national team players, and one of them is Luka Rupnik (who plays professionally in the Belgian Pro Basketball League). He’s a good friend of Luka Doncic, also. Luka adores Slovenia. He loves being in Slovenia, and he was searching for someone to help him during the offseason part, and he probably got a recommendation from the other national team guys. We met and we started to work, and (it’s been) successful until now. (laughs)

Sometimes, when you see some athletes saying good words about their country, you think, “OK, maybe this is only for media.” But for Luka, you can feel this every day. He loves Slovenia, he adores it and you can feel it on a daily basis. You can feel his, how do I say it, patriotism? His love to his country.

All Slovenians, we are attached to Slovenia. This is a really beautiful country, and we always really, really love to come back. Also, in my time in Russia, this whole coronavirus started later in Russia, so I was really predicting what will happen in Russia, and I just said, I really want to go (home) to spend time with my family during these times.

All of Slovenia, everywhere around, (it was) people speaking only about that. I would say (it) like this. I didn’t feel that feeling because I was in Poland. I was working (for) a Polish basketball club, BC Stelmet Enea Zielona Góra, at the time, so I watched this from Poland. So I didn’t feel the atmosphere, but when I was talking with my friends and reading some news, it was all about that. It was all about the EuroBasket and how successful and important it was for Slovenia when you are in Slovenia.

Yes, yes. Definitely there are some people (who) love team sports, some people (who) love individual sports. But in general, when (a Slovenian athlete) is successful, and we have a lot of internationally successful athletes, yeah, it’s unbelievable. We’re so small, and we have so many successful athletes, international level, in sports and individual sports, it’s unbelievable. This is probably the biggest marketing or commercial… how we would say that?

Not just marketing, but this is how the word of Slovenia goes out. It’s really important, I think. It’s really important. We have beautiful nature but we also have very good athletes.

Luka, he’s 21, but you will never say when you are around him that he’s 21. He still has some, let’s say, teenaged behavior. But he’s unbelievably correct and mature. He’s respectful. He’s a good friend. You will never say he’s an international superstar. When you’re around him, you will never say that, really. I don’t know how to explain it, but he’s a really good person in general.

He went through a not-easy path going from home so early to a foreign country. He was still a young kid. He definitely used this opportunity that he was given with his talent, but still, human-wise, it’s not an easy task. It’s not an easy way to go. And he survived it really well. He’s a strong person. He’s an amazing person.

The energy level that he puts into the work and each individual exercise is unbelievable. When he gets to work, he gets to work. The level of execution of (him) practicing, it’s on the level of his game and how he plays. It’s unbelievable.

He’s 21 years old and achieved so much at this young age, and he’s still willing to work as hard as anyone who still wants to get to this level. It’s unbelievable.

His Slovenian’s alright! It’s OK! All of us who are abroad, or out of the country for a while, we lose a little bit of, how do you say this…

Fluency, yeah, but the word… let me (look it up).

Besedišče. Let me see. Vocabulary!

So we lose a little bit (when we go abroad), and even I, when I come home after a season, I usually, it’s easier for me to talk in English than in Slovenian. Sometimes I ask my girlfriend, like, “Hey, what’s the word?” So it’s funny. But he’s normal, he’s fluent and even though he was out of Slovenia more than half of his life almost, he’s still OK.

As I said, one of the things was solving the small injuries he had. The second thing … is improving his body composition. You know what I mean by that, yeah?

So body composition is to decrease the percentage of body fat and increase the percentage of muscle mass. So this is one important part of getting rid of the consequences of quarantine. And the third thing is developing his athleticism, his strength, his ability to play on his level.

I would say that his impressive basketball mind is the first thing that he has. He has the way to use his body much more efficiently because of how he understands basketball, how (he has) basketball vision. And then the body comes, and the body he has, he’s unbelievably strong. There were articles talking about his eccentric, decelerating strength that he has, which is unbelievable. He’s a little bit on the (larger) side of the guards, and he still can use his body in a fast way. He can still be fast, he still can jump and penetrate with ease, so, you know, his strength is … he’s amazing. I could go into details about his physical characteristics, but this would take a completely (different) interview.

I expect he will be in really good shape. Let me be clear (laughs). He’ll be in a great physical shape and game shape, so I believe that, you know, he’s maintaining all the basketball (skills) and the feeling for the game. I think he will get this super quickly, especially as talented as he is. He will get that super quick. I suspect he will be like he was at the top level.