Another factor is that Ronzone was giving this interview to an Israeli newspaper, so he might have just been buttering them up a little bit.

One other possible line of thinking is that given the now consistent success of Maccabi TA in the Euroleague--including this season after the departure of Sarunas--they're probably good enough not to have to depend entirely on foreign stars, i.e. that they must be getting enough contribution from their homegrown players to warrant the belief that the best of those guys are capable of contributing in the NBA. Three straight Euroleague finals for the same team, from a small country that's never sent anyone to the NBA, might be an indication that the country's best native players could be good enough to contribute to an NBA team.