Serbo-Montenegrin legend Svetislav Pesic has joined the chorus of praise for Germany following their silver medal run at EuroBasket 2005.

Pesic, who led Germany to EuroBasket glory in 1993 and did the same with his native Yugoslavia in 2001, did not coach a team in this summer's tournament but his son Marco played for Germany as they stunned Slovenia in the quarter-finals and Spain in the semis.

Dirk Nowitzki, the Dallas Mavericks ace, was Germany's star and was named the MVP of the tournament, despite their defeat to Greece in the final.

Pesic, who is now the coach of Lottomatica Roma in Italy's top flight, said to PA Sport: "It is once more a case of us seeing the importance of a team and without that on a daily basis, you have problems.

"It is important to have one or two players like Ronaldinho at Barcelona in football or like Nowitzki in Germany.

"Nowitzki is the same for Germany as Ronaldinho is for Barca but without having a team, it is impossible to win," he said, while adding that his national side Serbia & Montenegro only failed for this very reason.

"We have not worked well," he admitted.

"We did not find a team spirit and that is the reason why we did not do well in the EuroBasket but it is something that they have to learn.

"We have good talents but we need to learn what is good and what is not good."