TOKYO (Japan) - You've heard it all about Luka Doncic flirting with all kinds of long standing Olympic records. His coach rarely gets the spotlight, but deserves a lot of praise for creating this beast of a system that allows Slovenia to be the Cinderella team of Tokyo 2020.

It wasn't an easy call for the Slovenian Basketball Federation to find a solution after 2017. Head coach Igor Kokoskov led the team to gold in the FIBA EuroBasket 2017, but then moved on to pursue his coaching dreams in the NBA.

They initially moved to Rado Trifunovic, one of Kokoskov's assistants from the triumphant run in Istanbul. It didn't work out as well as planned, Slovenia failed to qualify for the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019, and a year later it was time for the other assistant to step into the spotlight.

Enter, coach Aleksander Sekulic. Slovenia basically had nothing to lose, with Goran Dragic retiring from the national team, and Luka Doncic unable to help in the Qualifying Windows over the season. Slovenia also had a lot to gain by handing the reigns over to coach Sekulic.

Sekulic showed he's the right man for the job by qualifying for the FIBA EuroBasket 2022 Final Round with ease, doing it early enough that he had the time to set up the whole system while playing the last few games of the Qualifiers, with a bit less pressure, but still enough of it to have his team completely locked in and focused.

Sounds familiar? Of course it does. Setting up a system on the run, while playing with less pressure than others, that's what Sekulic did as the assistant coach to Oren Amiel in ERA Nymburk.

Back to back appearances in the Basketball Champions League Final 8 showcased something notable. A team that plays full court pressure defense, a team that crashes the offensive glass, a team with a lot of shooters and a vertical center who's an elite roller and can play above the rim. That was ERA Nymburk with Sekulic and Amiel over the past four seasons. 

But that's also Slovenia under Sekulic.

"They played aggressive deny, full court pressure, gave us something new to work with that I think we haven't seen at this tournament. It maybe broke our rhythm a little bit and took us out of a few things to that we usually get easy," Germany's Niels Giffey said after feeling the bruises against Slovenia in the Quarter-Finals of the Olympics.

That sounded so familiar, it triggered the connection from Sekulic's club to his national team career. Never the one to push himself in front of the team, Sekulic quietly created a monster of a team that has scored more than 90 points in each of its eight games this summer.

"He was always with us over the past years, and knows every player to the bone. He knows what he needs to do to get 100 percent from each of the players. He has a big respect from everybody and he respects us. This is the most important thing and we have the best possible coach for this national team," Zoran Dragic talked about the newly appointed ERA Nymburk head coach.

How crazy does that sound? Sekulic is only taking over at Nymburk, and already has wins over Sergio Hernandez, Julio Lamas, Sergio Scariolo and Henrik Rodl in his resume.

"These guys put their hearts onto the court. They bleed out there on the court. Everything is about the team - every decision they make. From every player. The way they played this game is amazing for me. I am very proud to be part of this team and fortunately to now be one of the top four teams at the Olympics," Sekulic remained humble.

Just a couple of months ago, he was the assistant coach in a small market. Now he's an inch away from winning an Olympic medal, the first one in Slovenian basketball history, while drawing up plays for Luka Doncic, Klemen Prepelic and all the others.

He has shown he is smart enough to stay out of the players' way while they are winning, and his management of the NBA superstar looks as good as any we saw in FIBA major events. With all that being said, the season hasn't even started, and it seems like ERA Nymburk already have a title contender in the run for the BCL Best Coach of the Season award.