<p>19-year-old Vladimir Stimac spent last season in Zalgiris’ youth team and was able to make it to a whole new level as he joined the main squad of Zalgiris. After not getting valuable minutes in the Lithuanian powerhouse, he decided to join Lacplesa Alus club, which is being coached by a former Zalgiris coach Ainars Bagatskis.</p><p><br />The young Serbian center made a significant impact on his new team. Valmiera won 6 games out of 7 along with V.Stimac and has pretty good chances to end up even second in the SEB BBL Division II. Youngster’s efforts and spectacular performance in every single game were not overlooked. He got wide recognition for his great play on February as he was named the MVP of the month. During this month V.Stimac was averaging 19.8 points, 12 rebounds and 2.3 steals per game.</p><p><strong><br /><br />- How do you feel playing already for the third team this season?</strong></p><p><br />- The atmosphere in my current team is similar of what was in Zalgiris. Actually in both places everything was fine. Right here it’s just different. Lacplesa Alus is the team that has really good guys. They support each other and do everything to help their team win. I’m pleased that I play for Valmiera, because coach Bagatskis relies on me. He gives me an opportunity to play a lot.</p><p><br />When I was in Zalgiris, I didn’t get a chance to play a lot; players over there are more experienced. However, I got a valuable experience practicing with Tanoka Beard, Hanno Mottola, Paulius Jankunas and others. It’s not the first season they play on the highest level. Zalgiris is an important team for me, but I’m still a young kid, so I don’t really concern, I’m sure I’ll come back in this team. The thing is that I have to play and improve.</p><p><strong><br />- After leaving Zalgiris, you are playing amazingly well, probably you’re hungry to play basketball?</strong></p><p><br />- Definitely, I really wanted to play. In Kaunas I could only play some minutes whilst here is a way different situation. We still haven’t played against such strong teams like Siauliai or other, so I can’t think about what the exact strength of it is. We have to win at least one more game and then we’ll try to advance to the next round. When I play decent, I think that I’m the worst player on a team and that gives mo motivation to work even harder.</p><p><strong><br />- Would you like to play against Zalgiris?</strong></p><p><br />- Why not? I’d like to measure my abilities against their powerful front line, so I would see how good I am. Maybe I wouldn’t collect a lot of points and rebounds, but that just would be a great opportunity to see how I could match them. Yet, I don’t think I’ll get a chance to play against Zalgiris this season (laughs).</p><p><strong><br />- Lacplesa Alus is a young team which raised a lot of talented players. Do you feel that?</strong></p><p><br />- Not all of them are that young. We have some older players, whereas I’m the youngest one. Sometimes they call me mad, because I always encourage everyone to work harder. On and off the court everyone is friendly; we don’t have any relation problems. The team provides great opportunities to train. It has a good gym. I’m pleased with everything. Valmiera is the best possible place for me to play in. After some changes this team improved significantly. I’ve already played against such players like Travis Reed or Martin Muursepp. They both play in the same position as I do.</p><p><strong><br />- When you joined this club, it has won 6 games out of 7. Do you feel like a big part of it?</strong></p><p><br />- I think that every player of this team is a part of such success. I give all of my efforts and try to be as good as I can, if it helps for my team, then I’m happy about that. A very important “player” is our coach.</p><p><strong><br />- What are the aims for this season?</strong></p><p><br />- Our aim is to win an extremely important game on the road against Nevezis (won 106:74) and get the ticket to play-offs. Once we get there, the road to final four would be a possibility. Also, such an achievement would obtain the right to participate in SEB BBL at least for another season.</p><p><strong><br />- How do you like being in Latvia? Do you communicate with your former teammates?</strong></p><p><br />- Everything is good here. Of course, I like Kaunas and I believe I’ll come back there. I spend my free time mostly by sleeping, playing bowling or meeting my teammates. If wee have a day off, we usually go to Riga. It’s a very beautiful city that has everything what you would need. What concerns my former teammates, sometimes we talk to each other with Tanoka Beard, Marko Popovic, Paulius Jankunas, Mantas Kalnietis, Vytenis Jasikevicius, Kirk Penney and others via phone. For the most part we talk with Tanoka. He really wanted me to become a tough player. Also, I receive a lot of support from Marko. There were a lot of times when he called me and asked whether everything is fine.</p>