25 year Dolenc has had a miserable time with injuries in the last half a year or so, guess many athletes do. Firstly injured during the playoff run of last season, and then in pre-season again. But, the good news is, for Dolenc and injury ridden BC Nokia – that he is quickly getting closer to full fitness and ready to step back to the court.
BC Nokia will have a formidable front court with Labovic, O’Mara and Dolenc – all soon ready to wrestle under the basket. So as an opponent, you might look at just staying at the perimeter and shooting threes (as Vilpas did last night – there was no business for Vilpas players to get with-in two meters of the basket).
Dolenc started his basketball playing days with Espoo Basket Team, moving from there to Tapiolan Honka, where he came through the ranks. Before moving to Kouvot, from where he made his most recent move to BC Nokia, where he has been since the 2015-16 season.
His stats at Nokia have kept improving year on year, and as still a relatively young player – you would have to say that his best years are still ahead of him. And last season was his best, and first where he averaged over 10 points per game (in Korisliiga). He has also represented Finnish National teams from U16 level onwards.
Outside of basketball he enjoys, and let’s be specific here, playing computer games – and he does mean computer, not console. And appartently can lose hours in a day playing strategy games online. (from own experience, can say that time can fly when you immerse yourself in these games..)
Foodwise – Dolenc has ‘inherited’ his fathers skill to cook up a mean Bolognese – sounds like a tradition in the Dolenc family. Not wanting to brag about his skills in the kitchen, but he does say that he does know what to do there…
In Finland there tends to be a lack of decent sized centres in the game, and Dolenc sure is one of the players who fills that role quite nicely. And he admits to enjoying the tough and physical game that you need to play to survive under the basket. Naturally this role on the court does come with its fair share of knocks and bruises.
Talking of his future plans, of course first of all he wants to get fit, onto to the playing roster.. and to have a good solid run in until the end of the season. In the long term, as any player in Finland -he would like to at some point test the waters in a league outside of Finland. And for that – of course having a good season in Finland does help. As we can see with many U.S imports who move from the Korisliiga to the ‘bigger’ and better paying leagues.
Here’s to hoping that we’ll see Daniel wrestling under the basket in the coming weeks – BC Nokia and Korisliiga will both be happy to have him back on the court!