No, Brezec’s Bobcats team did not win the camp title. That distinction went to Dirk Nowitzki’s Mavericks squad that finished the camp 4-1. However, Brezec’s team finished the four-day event with a 2-3 record, including back-to-back wins over Greg Ballard’s Atlanta Hawks squad, 68-38, and Tony Barone’s Memphis Grizzlies team, 83-60, on Sunday after starting the camp without a win in its first three games.

But to Brezec, the rest of the NBA players (Nowitzki, Milwaukee’s Zaza Pachulia and Utah’s Andrei Kirilenko and Gordon Giricek) and NBA personnel, and the 48 kids from all over Europe in attendance, this camp was never about wins and losses.

“It was great,” Brezec said at the camp’s conclusion. “I mean, for us NBA guys, we don’t see each other over the summer, and we get to see the different cultures and share our experiences with the kids.”

Brezec got the opportunity to share some of his experiences with the campers between games on Saturday. Following lunch, he, Kirilenko, Nowitzki and Pachulia had a chance to sit down with the campers in a Q&A session and share a little bit about themselves.

“For me it was a little bit different,” Brezec said of his path to the NBA. “I mean, I was drafted by Indiana and was on the bench for three years. When I came to the United States, everybody said, ‘You’re going to play; we need a big guy,’ but I didn’t play. I was lucky that I kept focused, and I was signed in the expansion draft and I was given a chance.

“Never give up on yourself. You have to believe in your ability and always listen to the coaches and the veterans. Just work hard, and everyone in the NBA will respect you, from the coaches through to the players and to the veterans.”

Brezec then went on to describe to the campers the determination and work ethic that he had when he was their age, and how he had to find time to get in the necessary work to improve his game.

“At 17, I was still at school like a lot of you guys,” he said. So what happened to me was that I had to work out in the morning. So if school was at 7:00 a.m., I had to get up at 5:00 a.m. and go to the gym, practice for an hour and a half, take a quick shower and go to school for five or six hours, and after school, have another practice. That’s how I spent the next two years, just working out every day – two times a day. After that, during the season there is not much time to practice, and in the summer you’ve got to work on your body and your skills. It’s in the summer that you get better.”

Aside from the games, the coaching sessions and the Q&A, Brezec also made it a point to make time to attend Friday’s seminar led by UNICEF to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS education and prevention. Before sitting down to listen with the other campers, Brezec addressed the campers to make sure the message would hit home. “It is very important for all of you to know how to protect yourselves to prevent HIV and Aids,” Brezec said.

By camp’s end, Brezec and all of the NBA players and personnel that helped make Basketball Without Borders Europe an outstanding success had left a lasting impression on the campers they had under their wings.

“It’s cool,” Alexis Ajinca, a 17-year-old from France who was coached by Brezec, said. “We see them on the TV, and now they are next to us and they’re coaching us, so it’s great.”