Bostjan Nachbar, the 31-year-old former NBA swingman from Slovenia, feels ready to make a comeback to the league. Despite the NBA lockout, Nachbar is probably the only European player who is not in a rush to ink a new big contract in Europe as he did in previous years. Moreover, Nachbar is going to wait for his chance in the NBA where he still has something to prove.

The small forward has learned during his career that rushing leads to failure. After being a sixth man on the 2007-08 New Jersey Nets and averaging 9.8 points and 3.5 rebounds per game, Nachbar decided to return to Europe, where he spent his last three seasons playing in Russia and Turkey. However, the last two years with Efes Pilen were more than disappointing for Nachbar. No titles, limited playing time and a rising frustration.

Due to ankle surgery, Nachbar was also unable to help the Slovenian national team at EuroBasket 2011 this summer, but he is not wasting his time and stays positive. Nachbar spent his summer in weights room and basketball gym, where he was preparing for his big comeback to the NBA.

Nachbar sat down with RealGM in Kaunas, Lithuania, where he provided commentary for EuroBasket games for his home country television, to talk about Slovenian basketball, Euroleague, his wish to get back to the NBA, his activities off-the-court and much more.

RealGM: First of all, how is your ankle rehab going?

Nachbar: It’s going really good, everything is on schedule. It has to be from six to eight weeks rehab and I’m in eight week. Before I came to Lithuania, I was already back on court, doing basketball drills, running and shooting. I don’t feel pain. I had problems before surgery and now I feel much better. I feel healthy and that’s good.

RealGM: Slovenia obviously did not play very well at EuroBasket 2011 as it was expected. In your opinion, why did this happen?

Nachbar: One thing is they didn’t have a breakout game. In the first game of the tournament their shooting was very bad; their shooting percentage was very low. And they just carried it from game to game. It was almost like cancer and started spreading. They couldn’t get over the slump. I think they were averaging about 62-63 points per game, which is really low for the Slovenian team, which always plays well offensively.

I think the second thing is there are a lot of new players on this team and young players, who never played on big stage. It’s a big experience for them. The team was also not so tight together like it was before because there are some players missing and there are some changes in generation. I also think that the team didn’t have enough time to get under the new system of the coach. It was a really tough situation. Also expectations for this team in Slovenia were very high. People were talking about making it to the semifinals. Once the team didn’t start well, the pressure on the team was escalating.

RealGM: Personally, I was expecting more from Goran Dragic who played below his capabilities most of the time. What happened to Dragic in this tournament?

Nachbar: Of course, he’s the engine of this team and the team is not playing well. I think in previous championships he didn’t feel much pressure. There were always older players who carried the pressure and it was the first time Dragic was in this spot. Everybody expected him to be a leader. The way the team played, it was very tough for him to go out, play and do what he did in previous years. I think that was also one of the reasons.

RealGM: How tough for you is it to watch Slovenian national team games from the sideline?

Nachbar: It’s very tough. I didn’t enjoy that. Once I came here to provide commentary it became even harder. I’m definitely not enjoying Slovenian team games; it’s really hard. I do pre-game and post-game analysis, I don’t do play-by-play commentating and I really don’t want to do that. I wouldn’t like that. When Slovenia played against Spain and they started good, I was sitting in media tribune next to Slovenian commentators and after one nice play I was so excited and I stand up. All the media section was looking at me like “what the heck are you doing?” and I just said sorry. That’s the moment where I knew I couldn’t commentate Slovenian games because I’m much too emotional.

RealGM: Do you expect to see Goran Dragic and Sasha Vujacic playing together for the Slovenian national team one day?

Nachbar: I don’t know. I never really got into how they feel about each other. I think it looks bigger than it actually is. In the NBA, it’s a rivalry so what can you do? If they play together, I’m sure they would be fine. They wouldn’t be thinking what happened two or three years ago.

RealGM: The Slovenian national team usually misses a lot of players and this year is not an exception. Do you believe that EuroBasket 2013, which will be held in Slovenia, could bring them all together to fight for their country?

Nachbar: It’s very interesting and very sad at the same moment that this generation never really played together at full capacity. I hope that we will have a chance to do that.

RealGM: In your opinion, are missing top level players the main and only reason why Slovenia is not among elite European national teams?

Nachbar: For sure having all players together would help. Talent wise, looking on the roster, we should be there. We never played together, all best players. We never did that in all ten years. It’s disappointing. I wish we did and even we didn’t succeed, we would have had a feeling that at least we tried. And this way because we never did together it’s even more disappointing.

RealGM: You didn’t wear the Slovenian national team’s jersey in only one summer - EuroBasket 2007. Is playing for your country a thing you have to think a lot about or does it come naturally?

Nachbar: It became a part of my basketball life. Like you said, I missed only one tournament, other than that, I was involved in all biggest tournaments. It’s an important thing more, even though it’s not easy in the summer. After the season you have some minor injuries and you want to take some time off to relax and recharge. For me, it was always on my mind and I’m one of the guys, who play with hearth.

RealGM: Let’s be fair and say you had two disappointing seasons in Euroleague. What are the main reasons that happened?

Nachbar: Many reasons. First of all, just the style of play for Efes Pilsen, I didn’t fit well. I was out of my position for both seasons; I played at power forward 99 percent of the time. That was really disappointing for me. Even though when I signed a new contract, I knew I’m going to play at four for some time, that was an agreement, but I didn’t know I’m going to stick on that position for all time.

It’s the same like you. If you do your job every day as a journalist and one day somebody asks you to be a fireman, you can do it but you wouldn’t be great at it. That’s what happened to me. After the first season, I spoke with coach Velimir Perasovic and I said I would stay if that will change. I’ve got a promise I’ll be playing at three. The team was very good, they had ambitions and I love living in Istanbul, and I decided to stay for another year. But then the same thing happened. During the season, because of injuries and Efes Pilsen didn’t have a center, they put me at the four and I just stayed there. He said this is where I want you to be and where I believe you could do the best job. He kept me at the four that was really disappointing. That was the main reason because I feel most comfortable playing at small forward, for sure.

RealGM: Efes Pilsen was one of the best teams if we look only at the roster. Do you think that frustration between the players was the main reason why this team didn’t reach more than Top 16 in Euroleague over the last two seasons?

Nachbar: I think so. I think it was obvious that were wasn’t good chemistry on the team. Personally, I never had problems with my any of my teammates but I don’t think that the team was formed in the right way. In both years we were trying to figure out who’s carrying the most pressure, who’s is going to be a main player, main point guard, power forward, center... It was really confusing. If you look at it now, none of players really shined. Basically, all players had same frustration like me.

RealGM: Let’s talk about more positive things and the NBA. Which team did you like playing for the most - Houston, New Orleans or New Jersey?

Nachbar: I liked living in Houston, same as New Orleans, but my favorite place was New York and New Jersey. First I got traded to Nets, I felt really uncomfortable because I never saw myself living in a big city like New York and that area. I came from a 4,000 people town. I never really liked thinking about living in a city like New York. But once I moved there and I started living there, I started loving it. Now New York is my favorite city. And just playing there, being in that environment and playing with great players I played like Jason Kidd, Vince Carter and Richard Jefferson... That was a really special experience for me.

RealGM: Do you still feel any sentiment for the Nets?

Nachbar: Yeah, but the team has changed so much. They changed the coach; they changed everybody on the team. It’s like a new team now. Of course, I want them to do well, but I don’t feel strong connection.

RealGM: Why did you decide to leave New Jersey back in 2008? Was it financial?

Nachbar: Mostly about financials, but it also was a challenge. I always had it on my mind to return to Europe. I thought it would happen later, when I’d be a 31-year-old or 32. In that year, the NBA had a problem; free agents were not in a nice position because everybody was waiting for 2010 when all big names would be free agents. It was really hard to get a good contract. Even though I had two big seasons with the Nets, I could probably get a solid contract, but the Dinamo contract was huge. At that moment, there was no economical crisis; Russian basketball was on the rise. Other players left too - Carlos Delfino, Jose Garbajosa, Earl Boykins, Josh Childress - a lot of solid NBA players left.

RealGM: I watched your training video this summer and it seems you are trying to gain some muscle mass.

Nachbar: Yes, I’m trying to get a little bit bigger. I was always skinny, not a strong athlete-basketball player. This summer was the first after four years that I had a chance to work on my body a little bit because every year I was with my national team. This year I am focusing on getting my body in shape.

RealGM: Does it mean you have intentions to get back to the NBA?

Nachbar: Yes, I would definitely like to. That’s why I’m being so patient. I was in contact with a couple of very good Euroleague teams and I told them to wait on NBA first. I want to be patient. I don’t want to make a decision early like in Dinamo or the Efes Pilsen situation, when I decided early on summer. I’m going to wait this year and see what happens on the lockout. The NBA is my number one priority.

RealGM: When you think about the NBA, do you pay attention to winning teams? Do you read all the lockout news?

Nachbar: Yeah, I do. I’m not really big on the Internet like that. I’m not reading every rumor or every news story. In general, I do follow it; I talk with my agent a couple times per week. I follow the situation closely.

RealGM: Do you have offers on the table right now, which you could accept and go play right away?

Nachbar: I had two serious offers, which I turned down. They were from Euroleague teams.

RealGM: Six years ago, I read that you became a president of Slovenian team Koper. Are you still involved in that club activity?

Nachbar: I became a president just to help basketball in that region. We succeeded to bring a lot of young kids to start playing basketball. In that small town, from number about 10 kids in the club to bring over 120. We really expended our basketball school. Unfortunately, we don’t have our senior team. Because of financial problems, we’re not able to do anything big. It’s very limited budget. But our basketball school and especially my basketball camp in the summer, we’re able to bring a lot of kids, which is our main focus now, to show and give basketball to young people.

RealGM: Is this your hometown and do you feel you are a role model there?

Nachbar: I live there now. I’m a kind of role model there; through my name and experience I try to encourage young people to start playing basketball.

RealGM: I heard that some other players were also involved in your camp activity.

Nachbar: A lot of players had come. Primoz Brezec had come; Saso Ozbolt, Goran Jagodnik and Igor Rakocevic were also there. We are going to bring more in the future. It’s really nice to see all the kids very excited when they come to the camp and they a chance to meet all those players. We are going to continue doing that. Actually, we are in talks with the NBA now to turn my basketball camp into an NBA camp. We could cooperate with the NBA, promote their name in Slovenia and they could help us with their ideas how to make this camp better.

RealGM: I don’t want to make you feel like a veteran, but what you still would like to achieve in your career and do you have a lifetime goals?

Nachbar: I believe these are my best years of my career. I feel great physically, so I know I’m capable to play on high level for three, four or five years. Personally, my biggest satisfaction would be winning something with the national team. Getting a medal with my national team would be priority. But as far as club goes, I would be very satisfied by getting back to the NBA. Not a lot of players went from Europe to the NBA, went back to Europe and came back to the NBA. It’s really tough to do that. It will be my personal goal. I didn’t leave NBA because I was not successful. I left the league for other reasons and I feel like my story in the NBA is not finished. I would like to continue that.

RealGM: Do you think you could finish your career where you started it, for example, in Ljubljana?

Nachbar: I played there only for one year, I started with smaller teams, but Union Olimpija is Slovenia, Slovenia is Union Olimpija. I wouldn’t mind finishing there but I’m not thinking about that yet.