101 Greats of European Basketball

Vladimir Stankovic
101 greats
of european
basketball
Belgrade, may 2018.

Vladimir Stankovic
101 greats
of european
basketball
Belgrade, may 2018.

FOREWORD
By Jordi Bertomeu,
President & CEO Euroleague Basketball
A retrospective look at European basketball as proposed
to us in this book leads us both to admire the
enormous and endless capacity of our continent for
creating talent and to recognise the ability of its main
protagonists to evolve and adapt themselves to the
different circumstances and vicissitudes that European
basketball has gone through over the last few
decades.
Sport is not isolated from the political, economic
and social conditions that have been defining our continent
since the end of the second great armed conflict
that Europe suffered in the twentieth century. Understanding
what happened in the various countries, in the
various blocs that shaped the post-war Europe and the
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101 greats of european basketball

subsequent developments until today, is fundamental
to realise how sport and therefore basketball in its turn
lived according to the social and geopolitical guidelines
of each moment. These circumstances have not been
irrelevant at all to understand in which context some
of the greatest stars of European basketball were born
and raised and why, in some cases, they did not have
the crowds’ recognition that athletes enjoy at present,
not always with more merits or talent.
For historical or cultural reasons, or accidentally in
some cases, the European map of basketball has traditionally
limited itself to the south, in the Mediterranean
basin, and to the north, in the former USSR and in the
new states that appeared later in the 90s. Throughout
these years, the hegemonies have been passing
from the hands of one country to another, from the
mentioned USSR, the former Yugoslavia, Italy, Greece,
Spain and Lithuania to the most recent countries of
France and Turkey.
This explains that our protagonists are from these
countries in their great majority. Following my above
reference to the enormous capacity for creating talent,
I must specify something else. It is in the mentioned
countries where different methods of knowledge
transmission and sports training have been devised
that have provided us with the names appearing in this
book.
In Europe, basketball is developed around the club.
It is the basic and more important unit of our sport.
Basketball schools from the Balkan countries or Lithuania
have produced and continue to constantly generate
top players, coaches and referees of great quality at
world-class level. This has happened even under difficult
political and economic circumstances, which I have
mentioned previously, and which give a perspective of
the greatness of these schools. It is true that until the
80s, it was very hard to enjoy this talent out of their
respective borders beyond international competitions.
It was the time of the old rules that limited international
transfers and even the freedom of movement of players
within countries, also in the so-called Western Europe.
After the opening of borders, the effects of the Bosman
judgment, and lately the evolution of the NBA towards
the concept of a global worldwide league, have entailed
a radical change in the structure of the labour market of
our players and coaches.
At present we have European talent distributed on
the court and on the team benches across all the continents,
and this has also made us a world power.
The history of European basketball also gives us an
idea of the ability of its competitions to evolve, driven
by the determination and vision of their clubs and executives.
The creation of the European competitions
in 1958 meant a turning point in the development of
our sport, only matched by the incorporation of the
North American professional basketball into the global
competitions, such as the World Championships or the
Olympic Games.
At the same time, the domestic leagues have been
evolving, increasing their „standards”, generating
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greater competitiveness and making our sport accessible
to the general public through the media, especially
through television. An evolution that has also reached
a pan-European level with the creation of an own
league, the EuroLeague, whose mission is to bring the
beauty and quality of European basketball to all the
fans around the world. Never ever since 1959 have our
clubs, players, coaches and officials enjoyed the attention
they have today.
Today basketball is the second worldwide sport
thanks to the above.
Although the book is retrospective, it is historical,
because it introduces the characters who have built
this bright present throughout the years, it is always
necessary to look ahead and see the challenges facing
us, anticipate the needs arising from this growth and
look for the suitable solutions that will allow us to keep
on growing. Nonetheless, without a doubt, the future
cannot be designed without knowing the past. The
road cannot defined if we do not know where we have
come from. In this regard, this is a key book to provide
us with models, make us aware of our strengths and
our weaknesses, and prepare us better for this fascinating
trip.
The sports globalisation and its economy raise
difficult and exciting challenges: Finding and properly
managing the necessary resources to continue with
the task of our predecessors has become a top priority.
Defining the appropriate framework for our players,
coaches and officials to perform their activity in the
best possible conditions and be able to offer all their
talent to our fans. Managing our clubs upon the basis
of a much wider and much more dynamic professional
market than the one we had until the beginning of
the current century. Adapting the players’ training
programmes to the new market reality, where volatility
and the rush to run too fast are becoming a risk.
Competition and competitiveness have always been
the decisive factors in the appearance of sports stars.
Our policies, our rules and our decisions must promote
these criteria if we want to keep on growing.
Our organisations will need to understand that
in the era of technological change, permanent communication
and image, fans no longer understand
entertainment in a passive way, but, on the contrary,
they want to be part of the show and want to interact,
and for this reason we need to be near. When physical
proximity is no longer significant and the sports consumption
is so different, we have to present our competitions
and the relationships among the different
stakeholders in such a way that we can satisfy millions
of basketball lovers.
It was the personalities of this book who gave that
response in their time in history. These players have
been the top stars on this road, and without them
nothing that European basketball has achieved would
have been possible. They are our example, and for this
reason it is so useful to get to know them the way this
book will allow us to do.
Thank you so much, Vlady, for such a fervent effort.
101 greats of european basketball

A museum
of Europe's
basketball
superstars
My introduction to European basketball was a painful
one. At the European qualifying tournament for the
1992 Barcelona Olympics, I was invited to play a morning
pickup game with other journalists. A bald guy on
the other team crossed me over with his dribbling skill
in the way that is now called „breaking ankles” – but in
this case literally left me with a swollen foot. After we
lost the first game against his team, mine huddled to
discuss strategy.
„Somebody needs to help me with that bald guy,”
I said, panting. A teammate of mine from Sports Illustrated
looked at me like I was crazy. „That bald guy?”
he said. „Don't tell me you don't know who that is.” It
turns out that I was being schooled by Juan Antonio
Corbalan, the subject of one chapter in this book, who
had recently been making assists to another legend
from these pages, Arvydas Sabonis.
If I had known my good friend Vladimir Stankovic
then, maybe I would have been saved from my embarrassment.
The truth is that his collection here of 101
of the greatest retired players in European basketball
was long overdue for more people than just me. The
list of Europe's stars stretches from 1950s pioneers
– some of whom, like Pino Djerdja, even today's most
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knowledgeable fans might not know – all the way to the
most recently retired legend, Dimitris Diamantidis. It
amounts to walk of fame spanning the 60 years to date
that European club competitions have given an international
stage to basketball on the Old Continent.
My own fascination with European basketball soon
improved my knowledge. At that Olympics qualifying
tournament, I quickly found my favorite player, Jure
Zdovc, whose story is also here. He missed those Olympics
by one shot, but a year later he won the EuroLeague
in one of the biggest upsets ever. At Barcelona Olympics
themselves, Sarunas Marciulionis, another protagonist
of this book, took me on the Lithuanian national team's
bus to do an interview, and I also met Arturas Karnisovas,
another player you can read about here.
The first EuroLeague game I saw live was in 1996,
after I had moved permanently to Spain. Caja San
Fernando of Seville, coached by Aca Petrovic – he and
his late brother Drazen figure in many of these stories
– was hosting Partizan Belgrade in Seville. In the years
between the Barcelona Olympics and that game in
Seville, I had spent most nights sitting courtside as an
NBA reporter, so close to the action that players often
dripped sweat on my notebooks.
On this night in Seville, also in a courtside seat, I
soon stopped taking notes and just watched in growing
disbelief, my mouth wide open in surprise. In hundreds
of games during that era of isolation one-on-one plays
in the NBA, I had witnessed nothing as close to true
team basketball as I was seeing now. Before my eyes
were 10 players in non-stop motion, offenses and defenses
moving in split-second synergy like a high-speed
chess match. I remember being struck, too, by the
speed of shooters and defenders racing from sideline
to sideline, through and around multiple screens, in a
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horizontal chase scene that was new to me as it totally
contrasted with the vertical, up-and-down style of the
NBA. Partizan's Dejan Tomasevic, another subject here,
was the leading scorer on that night, which I still consider
my awakening to what makes European basketball
unique.
A couple of twists and turns later, I found myself as
a head coach – for the first and last time of my life – in
Spain's second division. There, my team battled Fuenlabrada,
then led by another legend found here, Velimir
Perasovic. I still consider it an honor that he was on the
all-star team I coached that season, even though he
couldn't actually play due to sickness.
With all these experiences, I would have thought that
I had received a good education in European basketball.
Then I had the fine fortune to begin working with Vladimir
at Euroleague Basketball, and I soon realized how
much more there was for me to learn, especially about
the subject of this book – the players who lifted European
basketball to the place it occupies today. Together,
they forged a unique, team-first brand of basketball that
now appeals to many people – certainly to this lifelong
fan and basketball journalist – more than any other.
Today, we know beyond any doubt that the quality
of players in Europe and their expertise in the practice
of our sport is of the highest level. (Yes, I'm talking
about practice!) But for the greats who paved the way
for today's stars – the ones who developed the European
game in relative obscurity, before international
satellite TV and instant highlights on your telephone
from halfway around the world – this collection is one
of long-awaited justice and gratitude.
My good friend Vladimir saw and spoke with many
of them, reported on all of them, and collected this
fascinating book full of their stories. What comes shining
through these stories is that the European game,
though it may have missed the marketing expertise
that leads to global recognition, never lacked for great
talent, unique characters, intense competition and pulsating
atmosphere.
The men in this book, who come from all around the
world, excelled at one thing above all – making the sport
of basketball better than it would be now without their
individual and collective genius as players. We see all
the evidence for what they accomplished in the new
heights of popularity and respect that the European
game reaches with each passing season.
Oddly enough, even though we didn't meet until
much later, Vladimir and I both arrived to live in Barcelona
about nine months before those 1992 Olympics.
I just wish now that he had been my opponent in that
pickup game. Presuming I could have defended him
better, I would not have had to break an ankle to start
my path to enlightenment about the European game,
because I would have heard his first-rate stories sooner,
too. Better late than never, he has helped to make
me a true believer in European basketball's long and
often under-recognized history of great players.
Readers of this collection will soon become true
believers, too.
Editor’s note: For purposes of clarity and consistency,
the major European club competitions, which went
by many different names over the years, have been
referred to throughout by their most recent names in
each case: the EuroLeague, the Saporta Cup and the
Korac Cup. Likewise, two of the major international
country competitions are cited throughout the book
exclusively as EuroBasket and the World Cup.
Frank Lawlor, Editorial Director
Euroleague basketball
101 greats of european basketball

CONTENTS
FOREWORD......................................4
Jordi Bertomeu, President Euroleague Basketball
A MUSEUM OF EUROPE'S BASKETBALL SUPERSTARS... 6
Frank Lawlor, Euroleague web-page editor
101 GREATS OF EUROPEAN BASKETBALL .........8
Vladimir Stankovic, author
WENDELL ALEXIS .............................. 14
The Ice Man
FRAGISKOS ALVERTIS .......................... 18
The man with 25 titles
JOE ARLAUCKAS............................... 22
The record man
MIKE BATISTE.................................. 26
The star who found his second home
ALEXANDER BELOV............................ 30
The “three-second” man
SERGEI BELOV ................................. 34
Officer and gentleman
MIKI BERKOWITZ............................... 38
The man of the last basket
DEJAN BODIROGA ............................. 42
“White Magic”
KAMIL BRABENEC.............................. 46
The Czech scoring machine
BILL BRADLEY. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .50
Senator between the hoops
WAYNE BRABENDER............................ 54
An atypical star
TAL BRODY .................................... 58
Israeli basketball history
MARCUS BROWN. .............................. 62
A champ in six countries
JUAN ANTONIO CORBALAN .................... 66
A doctor among the baskets
KRESIMIR COSIC ............................... 70
A player ahead of his time
ZORAN CUTURA ............................... 74
A great from the shadows
DRAZEN DALIPAGIC. ........................... 78
The sky jumper
IVO DANEU .................................... 82
The first great Slovenian
RICHARD DACOURY. ........................... 86
Professional winner
PREDRAG DANILOVIC. ......................... 90
Simply a champ
MIKE D’ANTONI. ............................... 94
The NBA’s first “European” head coach
MIRZA DELIBASIC. ............................. 98
The last romantic
DIMITRIS DIAMANTIDIS. ....................... 102
A diamond on the court
VLADE DIVAC. ................................ 106
An icon without a ring
GIUSEPPE-PINO GJERGJA ..................... 110
A Bob Cousy clone
ALEKSANDAR DJORDJEVIC. ................... 114
“Alexander the Great”
JUAN ANTONIO SAN EPIFANIO. ................ 118
A Spaniard with a Yugoslav wrist
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GREGOR FUCKA .............................. 122
Not your typical star
NIKOS GALIS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
A scoring machine
PANAGIOTIS GIANNAKIS...................... 130
The Greek Dragon
ATANAS GOLOMEEV.......................... 134
Bulgarian legend
ALBERTO HERREROS.......................... 138
A three-point professional
JON ROBERT HOLDEN......................... 142
The golden Russian
DUSKO IVANOVIC............................. 146
Montenegro’s Holy Hand
SARUNAS JASIKEVICIUS....................... 150
Mr. Basketball
ARTURAS KARNISOVAS ....................... 154
King without a crown
ODED KATTASH............................... 158
The King of Israel
DRAGAN KICANOVIC.......................... 162
The Cacak genius
RADIVOJ KORAC ............................. 166
The legend that lives on
TONI KUKOC.................................. 170
The Pink Panther of basketball
TRAJAN LANGDON ........................... 174
The Alaskan Assassin
MIECZYSLAW LOPATKA....................... 178
The Polish legend
CLIFFORD LUYK. .............................. 182
The first great naturalized player
KEVIN MAGEE. ................................ 186
A mythical figure lacking only titles
FERNANDO MARTÍN .......................... 190
A pioneer gone too soon
BOB MCADOO. ............................... 194
NBA and EuroLeague champ
SARUNAS MARCIULIONIS. .................... 198
The Lithuanian machine
PIERLUIGI MARZORATI. ....................... 202
A Cantu legend
DINO MENEGHIN . ............................ 206
The eternal champion
BOB MORSE. .................................. 210
The legend of Varese
CARLTON MYERS ............................. 214
The 87-point man
MIHOVIL NAKIC. .............................. 218
An octopus under the rims
PETAR NAUMOSKI ............................ 222
The Macedonian pearl
AUDIE NORRIS. ............................... 226
Barcelona’s adopted son
FABRICIO OBERTO. ........................... 230
Hard-working star
ALDO OSSOLA. ............................... 234
Von Karajan of Italian basketball
THEODOROS PAPALOUKAS ................... 238
MVP off the bench
101 greats of european basketball

CONTENTS
ANTHONY PARKER............................ 242
Two-time EuroLeague MVP
ZARKO PASPALJ.............................. 246
The man who changed the Greek League
MODESTAS PAULAUSKAS..................... 250
The first Lithuanian “king”
VELIMIR PERASOVIC.......................... 254
The professional scorer
DRAZEN PETROVIC ........................... 258
An unfinished symphony
RATKO RADOVANOVIC........................ 262
Mind over matter
NIKOLA PLECAS .............................. 266
Saint Nikola
MANUEL RAGA ............................... 270
The Flying Mexican
DINO RADJA.................................. 274
The legend of Split
IGOR RAKOCEVIC............................. 278
A killer on the court
ZELJKO REBRACA............................. 282
Blocks master
CARLO RECALCATI............................ 286
Owner of two European three-peats
ANTOINE RIGAUDEAU ........................ 290
“Le Roi”
ANTONELLO RIVA............................. 294
The Italian bomber
DAVID RIVERS................................. 298
The man of the final
EMILIANO RODRIGUEZ. ....................... 302
The Great Captain
JOHNNY ROGERS. ............................ 306
A champ by any measure
ARVYDAS SABONIS. .......................... 310
The Lithuanian Tsar
ZORAN SAVIC. ................................ 314
The title collector
CHICHO SIBILIO. .............................. 318
The Dominican shooter
LOU SILVER. .................................. 322
The man with the wrong name
LJUBODRAG SIMONOVIC. ..................... 326
The rebel genius
RAMUNAS SISKAUSKAS ...................... 330
Mr. Three-Pointers
ZORAN SLAVNIC. ............................. 334
The first showman
OSCAR SCHMIDT ............................. 338
The Holy Hand
MATJAZ SMODIS ............................. 342
The humble champ
NACHO SOLOZABAL. ......................... 346
The brains of FC Barcelona
SAULIUS STOMBERGAS. ...................... 350
The man who made 9 of 9 triples
WALTER SZCZERBIAK. ........................ 354
The superstar with the unpronounceable name
ZAN TABAK . .................................. 358
A triple Euro-champ with an NBA ring 359
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CORNY THOMPSON........................... 362
A big man like a playmaker
DEJAN TOMASEVIC........................... 366
The center with point guard passing 367
MIRSAD TURKCAN............................ 370
The king of rebounds
JORDI VILLACAMPA .......................... 374
The 8 who was a perfect 10
OLEKSANDR VOLKOV......................... 378
The symbol of Ukrainian basketball
GENNADY VOLNOV........................... 382
Europe’s winningest player
NIKOLA VUJCIC............................... 386
Triple-double man
CHRISTIAN WELP............................. 390
A double Euro-champ
DOMINIQUE WILKINS ......................... 394
An American from Paris
LARRY WRIGHT .............................. 398
The man with two rings
MICHAEL YOUNG............................. 402
A one-man team
JIRI ZIDEK .................................... 406
A Czech legend
JIRI ZIDEK JR. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 410
Family matters
JURE ZDOVC.................................. 414
The Golden Slovenian
ABOUT THE AUTHOR.......................... 419
101 greats of european basketball

Wendell
Alexis
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The Ice Man
Searching data to refresh my memories
about Wendell Alexis (July 31, 1964,
New York), I found the video of the final
minutes of the fifth game in the Italian
League final series of 1989. On May 27,
Enichem Livorno and Philips Milan, the
European champ the previous year at the first Final
Four in Ghent, played for the title.
In the four previous games, Livorno – who had
home-court advantage – won the first one with 39
points by Alexis; Milan won Games 2 and 3; and then
Livorno tied it again with a win in Game 4, setting up the
fifth, decisive battle. With 20 seconds to go, Milan was
winning by a point and had possession. Mike D’Antoni
held the ball for about five seconds and passed the ball
to Roberto Premier, who took the shot and missed. In
the resulting fastbreak for Livorno, Andrea Forti scored
for an 87-86 win. The small gym in Livorno exploded. It
was collective madness.
The court was invaded by fans and the title was celebrated
in between great euphoria and public incidents,
including an aggression against Premier. The hero of
that game was Wendell Alexis, with 33 points... but it
was the most short-lived title of his career. The referees
looked at video of the game’s last play in the locker
room and decided that the last basket had been scored
after the buzzer. So the title ended up in the hands of
Milan, which had encountered a tough opponent in
humble Livorno, thanks to the superb Alexis.
That’s just one chapter in the long and successful
career of Wendell Alexis, one of the best Americans
who ever played in Europe. I wouldn’t dare make a selection
of the best 12 Americans ever in Europe, but I
am sure Alexis would be a serious candidate for the
forward position. Standing at 2.04 meters, he was a
versatile player. He normally played power forward,
but he was also a good shooter and it was not unusual
to see him move to small forward or even shooting
guard. He was a complete player, made for offense.
His thing was scoring points, but he also pulled rebounds
and, thanks to his long arms, could also play
great defense.
First stop, Valladolid
The Golden State Warriors picked Alexis in the
1986 NBA draft with the 59th pick (one before Drazen
Petrovic), but then did European basketball a big favor
by not including him on the roster for that season. He
had finished his university career at Syracuse with
great numbers and, logically, he was expecting his
chance in the NBA. But it just didn’t arrive. Like many
before him, Alexis then tried his luck on the other
side of the Atlantic Ocean. He was signed by Forum
Valladolid in Spain, a humble team on paper, albeit
one that would also sign Arvydas Sabonis three years
later, in 1989. Only two games were needed to see
that Forum had signed a star in Alexis. He would finish
that first season averaging 18.2 points and recording
a personal best of 44 points against Clesa Ferrol (89-
86), a game in which he played 40 minutes and made
19 of 26 two-pointers. Then, on July 14, 1987, Real
Madrid announced the signing of Alexis. He was the
third addition for the club that summer, after Jose Luis
Llorente and Fernando Martin, who was coming back
to Madrid from the NBA.
Lolo Sainz, the legendary player and later coach of
Wendell Alexis
101 greats of european basketball
A

Vladimir Stankovic
Real Madrid, told me the reasons that pushed him to
sign Alexis:
“We were looking for a power forward, one who
could not only rebound but also shoot. There was a lack
of this kind of player on the market back then. We set
our sights on Wendell and we hit the mark. He was a super
player, a serious man who fit into the team just fine.
He never hid. He had lots of self-confidence because he
knew he could do many things. He had also great physical
readiness and good legs to play defense, plus long
hands to defend any opponent.”
There’s a video available on the Internet that
showcases his character perfectly. In the final of the
Korac Cup between Real Madrid and Cibona, Madrid
won the first game of the series at home by 102-89 in
front of 12,000 fans. Fernando Romay and Brad Branson
scored 25 points each and Alexis added 21, but
the play of the game was a spectacular slam by Alexis
over Croatian giant Franjo Arapovic (2.15). Also, Alexis
volunteered to defend Drazen Petrovic, who managed
to score 21 points but with bad percentages, making
just 3 of 12 two-pointers and 3 of 8 threes. All credit
goes to Alexis.
In the second game, Petrovic scored 47 points, but
Cibona only won by a point, 94-93, so Real Madrid took
the trophy. It was the first European trophy for Wendell
Alexis, who was 25 years old, just entering his prime.
He ended that season with similar numbers to the ones
he had in Valladolid: 18.0 points per game in the regular
season, 18.7 in the playoffs. However, FC Barcelona
ended up taking the title by winning the final series 3-2.
Despite playing well, Alexis had to leave Real Madrid
because back then the number of foreign players was
limited to two, and Real Madrid had already signed Drazen
Petrovic and Johnny Rogers.
Italian League champ... for a half-hour
Alexis chose Italy and the humble Livorno as
his next stop, and he ended up being Italian League
champ – for 30 minutes, at least. He had two excellent
seasons there, scoring 20.8 and 19.4 points on average.
After that, he moved to Ticino Siena, which at that
time was far from the heights it would reach early in
the 21st century. There he put up 20.3 points and 5.9
rebounds, after which he switched to Trapani, where
he played his two best seasons in Italy. In 1991-92,
Alexis scored 25.2 points and pulled 7.8 rebounds per
game; in 1992-93, he improved to 25.8 and 8.3! It was
the right time to sign for a big team again. He chose
Maccabi Tel Aviv, where he won the 1993-94 Israeli
League title and was that season’s MVP, but he decided
to return to Italy. In Reggio Calabria, he posted his usual
numbers, 20.9 points and 6.8 boards. The following
campaign he landed in France with Paris Levallois, and
once again was consistent, with 22.5 points plus 5.5
rebounds per game.
I will never understand how no really big teams
after Real Madrid and Maccabi ever signed this great
player, but on the other hand, the fact that ALBA
Berlin chose him to become the pillar of its growing
project was the key moment for the evolution of the
club. In the summer of 1996, at 32 years old, Wendell
Alexis joined ALBA. He would stay there for six years,
winning six straight German League titles plus three
German Cups. He became the top scorer of all time in
the club and a true idol for the fans of the team. Marco
Baldi, general manager of ALBA for many years, told
me about Alexis’s role in the club:
“Wendell Alexis is not only one of the biggest players
in the history of ALBA. He is a great personality and a
long-time friend that I have the utmost respect for,” Baldi
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17

said. “With him, we went on an unprecedented string of
victories. During Wendell’s six years with ALBA, we won
six consecutive German championships, three German
Cups and became a force in the EuroLeague. Wendell is
still ALBA’s all-time leading scorer. In his time in Berlin,
he earned the nickname ‘Ice Man’ as he was able to hit
numerous game-winning and championship shots. In
September 2012, we retired Wendell’s jersey (#12) in an
emotional ceremony. Even 12 years after his last game,
well over 7,000 fans attended the ceremony to celebrate
an important figure in the history of ALBA Berlin.”
In a spectacular homage in September of 2012, as
Baldi mentions, ALBA retired Alexis’s jersey number 12.
It made perfect sense, as it’s very difficult to imagine
anyone other than the Ice Man wearing that number as
he had done during those wonderful six seasons, winning
nine titles and scoring 5,922 points in 341 games.
Personally, I didn’t see many live games with Alexis, but I
do remember when he played at Hala Pionir in Belgrade
in February of 1989. In the semis of the Korac Cup,
the great Real Madrid – with Martin, Biriukov, Romay,
Iturriaga, Branson and Alexis, who scored 17 points –
defeated Crvena Zvezda by 82-89. In Madrid, the score
was 81-72 with 24 points by Alexis. That season, in 12
games, Alexis averaged 19 points. After that, I saw
some games of his in ALBA’s jersey and especially at the
1998 World Championships in Athens, where a team
of American “volunteers” appeared, due to the NBA
lockout. He was the second-best scorer of that team,
which won the bronze medal, with only 2 points fewer
than Jimmy Oliver. His averages were 11.6 points and
4 rebounds. Against the Argentina team with Nicola,
Oberto, Wolkowyski and a young Ginobili, he netted 20.
He also made it to the modern EuroLeague during
the 2001-02 season, putting up 16.4 points and 4.4
rebounds per game, and was ALBA’s top scorer and
second most-used player on court, with 31 minutes per
game, behind only Derrick Phelps.
Euro-trophy at 40
At 38 years old, Alexis was thinking about retirement,
but in December of 2002 he had an offer from
PAOK Thessaloniki, and he delivered: 13.4 points and
5.8 boards in the FIBA Europe Champions Cup and 12
points and 5.5 boards in the Greek League. Was that
the end of his career? Of course not! There’s nothing
better than winning a title at 40 and Alexis did just that
with Mitteldeutscher BC, even though he missed the
FIBA Europe Cup final four due to injury. However, with
17.0 points, 4.7 boards plus 1.3 assists, Alexis was a big
factor in Mitteldeutscher reaching the final. And in the
German League, he was the usual Alexis: 18 points plus
6 rebounds per night.
Personally, Wendell Alexis reminded me of Damir
Solan, the great Jugoplastika forward of the 1970s.
Alexis rebounded better and played closer to the rim,
but aside from wearing the same number 12, they had
in common the way they moved, their technique and
the ease with which they scored points, the essence of
basketball.
When he finally retired at 40 years old, Alexis offered
his expertise and knowledge as an assistant in high
schools (Saint Joseph), the NCAA (New Jersey Institute
of Technology) and even the NBA Development League
(Austin Toros). And he has a lot to teach.
Wendell Alexis
101 greats of european basketball
A

Fragiskos
Alvertis
19

The man
with 25 titles
In modern basketball, it’s not easy to find examples
like that of Fragiskos Alvertis, who played
his whole career in the same club. Eternal love between
Alvertis and Panathinaikos Athens lasted
for 19 seasons – from 1990 to 2009 – and continues
today because the legendary captain is still close
by, as team manager, ready to join in the celebration
of a new title.
Born on June 11, 1974, in Glyfada, an Athens suburb,
Alvertis is one of the most-crowned players ever
in basketball. With Panathinaikos, he won 25 titles,
among them five EuroLeagues. Only one player, Dino
Meneghin, has won more EuroLeague titles and only
two others, Clifford Luyk and Aldo Ossola, have won as
many. No player has won more than Alvertis in the Final
Four era that began in 1988. With five titles and eight
Final Four appearances between 1994 and 2009, he is
living history of the competition. In his trophy case we
can also find 11 Greek League titles, eight Greek Cups
and an Intercontinental Cup from 1996.
Start with a silver
Only the best basketball connoisseurs will remember
that the name of Fragiskos Alvertis – Frankie to his
friends – was already in many scouts’ notebooks at the
1991 EuroBasket for cadets, played in his native Greece.
In that tournament’s title game in Thessaloniki, Italy beat
Greece by 106-91 as Andrea Meneghin – son of Dino –
led the winners with 18 points. But the Greeks had many
reasons to be happy. Apart from the silver medal, players
like Giorgos Maslarinos, Panagiotis Liadelis, Sotiris
Nikolaidis and, especially, Alvertis had blossomed. His
scoring average was 13.1, lower than Maslarinos (19.0),
but Alvertis was much more promising. He was a tall kid
with long hands and he was good at rebounding. But
what drew the most attention was his shot. Due to his
team’s needs, he played close to the rim, but he used
every chance he got to move away from the basket, look
for the corner of the court – his favorite spot – and drop
his three-point bombs. His shooting technique, launching
the ball from behind his head and with a high arc, was
very difficult to defend. At 2.06 meters, he was more of
a small forward than a power forward, but his versatility
was one more advantage for him.
At 17 years old, Alvertis had already made his debut
with the first team of Panathinaikos, a club that at the
start of the 1990s was under the shadow of eternal
rival Olympiacos and the two Thessaloniki teams, Aris
and PAOK. Little by little, with some great signings
(Nikos Galis, Alexander Volkov, Stojko Vrankovic...)
PAO – the nickname by which fans and media know
the team – started a revival, until reaching its first Final
Four in 1994 in Tel Aviv. In an all-Greek semifinal, the
Greens lost 72-77 to Olympiacos and Alvertis scored
his first 2 points in a Final Four. In the third-place game
against Barcelona, a 100-83 victory for PAO, Galis had
30 points, Volkov 29 and Vrankovic 14, but next in line
was Alvertis with 9 points. The following year, in the
Zaragoza Final Four, history repeated itself: Olympiacos
was better than PAO in the semis (58-52) and
Alvertis stayed at 3 points. But in the battle for third
place against Limoges (91-77) he scored 29 points,
which would remain his best personal mark in European
competition.
Fragiskos Alvertis
101 greats of european basketball
A

Vladimir Stankovic
European and intercontinental champ
Finally, the third time was the charm for Alvertis
and the Greens. At the 1996 Final Four in Paris, Panathinaikos
defeated CSKA Moscow in the semis 81-77
with 35 points by Dominique Wilkins and 13 by Alvertis.
Barcelona was waiting in the final. In dramatic fashion,
Panathinaikos won 67-66 in a game that is part of
the history books. Alvertis shined with 17 points and
almost perfect shooting: 6 of 8 two-pointers, 1 of 2
three-pointers plus 3 rebounds in only 23 minutes. He
became a European champion at 21 years old. Galis had
retired and Alvertis’s 1995-96 teammate Panagiotis Giannakis
would do so imminently. Greek basketball was
in need of a new face in its star system, and Alvertis
appeared at just the right moment.
In the big year of 1996, Panathinaikos completed
a great run by also winning the Intercontinental Cup in
September. The opponent was Olimpia BBC of Argentina,
the South American champ, and that year the cup
was played as a best-of-three playoff series. The first
game was played in Rosario, Argentina on September
4. Olimpia won 89-83 with an interesting team featuring
Lucas Victoriano, Jorge Racca and Andres Nocioni. Alvertis,
with 21 points, was the best man on Panathinaikos,
together with John Amaechi (23 points). In Athens on
September 10, Panathinaikos won by five, 83-78, with 30
points from Alvertis. In the third game, on September
12, Panathinaikos won 101-76 with Byron Dinkins as best
scorer, with 24 points, while Alvertis added 8.
The Obradovic era
In order to play in the Final Four again, Alvertis would
have to wait for the arrival of coach Zeljko Obradovic.
At the 2000 Final Four in Thessaloniki, Panathinaikos
got rid of Efes Pilsen in the semis by 71-81 with Dejan
Bodiroga (21), Zeljko Rebraca (15), Alvertis (11) and
Johnny Rogers (9) as scoring leaders. In the final, which
marked the start of a great rivalry at the turn of the 21st
century, Panathinaikos beat Maccabi Tel Aviv by 82-74.
Rebraca (20) and Oded Kattash (17) starred, but Obradovic
kept Alvertis on court for 35 minutes. His 4 points
and 3 rebounds seemed discreet, but Obradovic had
discovered a great defender in Alvertis. His long hands
and his speed contributed things that no stat sheet
could reflect.
The following year – in the season of “two EuroLeagues”
due to the ULEB-FIBA conflict – Panathinaikos
defeated Efes Pilsen 74-60 in their semifinal, but lost
to Maccabi 67-81 in the title game of the FIBA Supro-
League in Paris. The following year, with a re-united
competition, Panathinaikos again reached the Final
Four, in Bologna. First it defeated Maccabi 83-75 with
an outstanding Alvertis scoring 11 points while missing
only one shot. In the title game, the Greens shocked
host Kinder Bologna by 89-83 with Ibrahim Kutluay
(22), Bodiroga (21) and Alvertis (11) as protagonists.
In Moscow 2005, Panathinaikos suffered a rare
semifinal loss to Maccabi (82-91) and defeated CSKA
Moscow for third place (94-91). By 2007, however, the
team was back to the top, this time on its home floor in
Athens. Panathinaikos defeated Tau Ceramica 67-53 in
the semifinals and outlasted CSKA Moscow 93-91 in a
thrilling championship game. Alvertis lifted his fourth
title. His fifth and last EuroLeague trophy arrived two
years later in Berlin, even though he was semi-retired.
He played at the start of the season, enough to be considered
part of the roster of the champions despite not
appearing in the Final Four. By lifting his 25th trophy
overall, he retired as one of the all-time greats.
Zeljko Obradovic had big confidence in him, and
20
21

for good reason. Alvertis was a very stable player
who never – or hardly ever – played a bad game. If he
didn’t stand out, he was at least a decent player who
always contributed good things to Panathinaikos. If he
didn’t score, then he pulled rebounds or guarded the
most dangerous forward of the opponents. He always
showed his character. He was the extended hand of
the coach on the court. Obradovic has said many times
that Alvertis was “the best captain I ever had.”
While he triumphed with his club, he didn’t win any
trophies with the Greek national team, whose jersey he
wore 155 times. He played at EuroBasket in 1995 and
1997. He then missed the 1999 one due to injury after
having averaged 18.1 points in the qualifying tournament.
He was back in 2001 and 2003 and he also played
the World Championships of Athens in 1998, but the
Five titles and eight Final
Four appearances between
1994 and 2009, he is living
history of the competition.
In his trophy case we can also
find 11 Greek League titles,
eight Greek Cups
and an Intercontinental Cup
from 1996.
best he did was three semifinals and three fourth places:
at EuroBasket in 1995 and 1997, and at the worlds in
1998. His last great competition was the 2004 Olympic
Games in Athens. He retired from the national team at
30 years old. If he had waited one more year, he would
have won the European gold medal in Belgrade in 2005
and in two more summers he would have had the world
silver medal from Japan in 2006.
It’s a shame, too, because Alvertis deserved some
of that success. All the sweat and suffering from his
hard work over the previous years were a big part of
those two triumphs. However, despite being winless
with the Greek national team, Fragiskos Alvertis will
always have a place in the history books of Greek and
European basketball.
Fragiskos Alvertis
101 greats of european basketball
A

Joe
Arlauckas
23

The record man
If a visiting team shoots 0-for-11 from the threepoint
arc, probably the last thing you’d expect is
that it won the game by 19 points, scoring a total
of 115. You’d probably expect even less that one of
this team’s players made history in a competition
by scoring... 63 points! That’s exactly what happened
on February 26, 1996 in a EuroLeague game in
Bologna between Kinder and Real Madrid.
The Spanish team won by 96-115, scoring 58 points
in the first half, 57 in the second. Power forward Joe Arlauckas
spent 39 minutes on court to score 63 points by
making 24 of 28 two-pointers and 15 of 18 free throws.
He also pulled 11 rebounds, dished 2 assists and had
4 steals for a total performance index rating over 80!
In the official stats sheet we are only missing the fouls
drawn figure, but if he shot 18 free throws, he received
at least 9 fouls, and he committed only 2. It was one
of those unforgettable nights of offensive fireworks,
even though both Pablo Laso and Jose Miguel Antunez
missed 3 attempts from the arc each (although Laso
finished with 9 assists), Ismael Santos missed 2, Santi
Abad, Zoran Savic and Arlauckas himself also missed 1
three apiece for Madrid’s 0-for-11 total.
With 63 points, Arlauckas is still far away from the
99 that Radivoj Korac scored in the same competition in
1965, but he is still way above the modern Turkish Airlines
EuroLeague record of 41 shared by Alphonso Ford,
Carlton Myers, Kaspars Kambala and Bobby Brown.
Great night in Bologna
“It was an incredible game,” Zoran Savic, the second-best
Real Madrid scorer in that game with 16 points,
remembers of that great night for Arlauckas. “Joe missed
one or two of his first attempts from the field, but after
that, he just scored everything. He played at ease and
nobody even realized that he had scored so many points.
We were all kind of surprised after the game, looking at
the stats sheet. Joe was a natural-born offensive player,
with a great four-meter jump shot and amazing timing
for both shooting and rebounds. He knew how to play
both facing the basket and with his back to it. He had
many resources on offense and was a great teammate.”
Of Lithuanian heritage, Joseph John “Joe” Arlauckas
was born on July 20, 1965, in Rochester, New
York. He had basketball running through his veins, but
baseball was his sport of choice in his youth. He played
basketball at Jefferson High School but in his first years
at Niagara University he didn’t think the sport would
become his profession. His last two seasons there
were pretty good (17.4 points), so his size (2.04 meters)
and his good fundamentals opened a door for him to
the 1987 NBA draft. The Sacramento Kings picked him
number 74 in the fourth round. He would share a locker
room with Otis Thorpe, Harold Pressley, Joe Kleine,
Ed Pinckney and Lasalle Thompson, all of them power
forwards or centers, his position. He even scored 17
points in one game, but that was not enough for him to
stay. He was released in December of 1987 after only
nine games, with 34 points and 13 rebounds total.
His new destination would be Europe. He joined
Snaidero Caserta of Italy, where he would fill in for
Georgi Glouchkov, the first European to ever play in
the NBA. There, he would coincide with a super scorer
like Oscar Schmidt and the great Italian prospect Ferdinando
Gentile. In the Italian Cup final, against Varese,
Arlauckas won his first title. Caserta won by 113-100
Joe Arlauckas
101 greats of european basketball
A

Vladimir Stankovic
after two overtimes. Arlauckas contributed 13 points
but before the end of the regular season he was cut for
the second time in his career. In 12 games he averaged
10.7 points and 4.7 rebounds.
Re-birth in Spain
The new era in Arlauckas’s career would start in
Spain. He landed in Malaga to join Caja de Ronda. At the
beginning, he didn’t match well with coach Mario Pesquera,
but little by little he started to adapt better and
formed a great duo with center Ricky Brown, a former
European champion with Milano. After beating Estudiantes,
Joventut and Barcelona on the road, with 45
points by Joe against Barça, everyone realized that
the Spanish League had a new star. In his two years in
Malaga, he averaged 21.6 points and in 1990 he moved
to Baskonia. The American coach Herb Brown, the
restless scout Alfonso Salazar and president Josean
Querejeta were the people behind that great signing.
During three years in Vitoria, he averaged 22.0 points.
With Pablo Laso, he formed a great guard-power forward
tandem while the pair of big men was completed
by Ramon Rivas of Puerto Rico. Before the Barcelona
Olympics in 1992, the Lithuanian basketball federation
tried to get Arlauckas to play for the national team because
of his Lithuanian heritage, but he didn’t accept.
However, he would play a bit later with Arvydas Sabonis
in Real Madrid.
In the Korac Cup, Europe discovered a great scorer.
In two duels against Zadar, he scored 79 points (40 and
39). Against Banik of Czechoslovakia, he outdid himself
with 87 points and 32 rebounds in two games. In the
Korac Cup of 1992-93, he finished with an average of
32.0 points and 11.7 rebounds. As good as it gets.
Three great seasons in Vitoria opened the doors
of Real Madrid to Arlauckas, where he would meet his
“fellow countryman” Sabonis. Despite some problems
at the beginning to understand each other, details were
tweaked with a little bit of time. After that, simply put,
they were one of the best combinations of power forward
and center ever in European basketball. For the
1994-95 season, a still-young Zeljko Obradovic landed
on Real Madrid’s bench to become the new coach. He
already had two European crowns with Partizan (1992)
and Joventut (1994). Nowadays, Arlauckas says that
the coach he learned the most from was Obradovic. In
return, the coach only has good words to say about one
of his favorite players ever:
“He was a killer in the most positive sense of the
word,” Zeljko said. “I am very proud of having had him
as a player and as a person. The wins and the points get
forgotten with time, but you never forget about good
people and Joe was one of the best.”
With amazing memory, Obradovic quickly pinpoints
the result against Kinder. He remembers the game as if
it happened yesterday: “I was considered to be a coach
who loved basket-control, low scoring, slow pace... Then,
we had the game in Bologna with a true festival by Joe.
He scored everything with great ease. He was a complete
player, he had it all. He could shoot, rebound, he
was fast, he had the technique, he was courageous... He
was one of the best players I ever coached in my career.”
Zaragoza, 17 years later
That same season of the great night for Joe Arlauckas,
Real Madrid would become the European champion.
The most-awaited title since 1978 arrived on April 13 of
1994 in the Final Four played in Zaragoza. In the semifinals,
Real Madrid got rid of Limoges by 62-49 as Arlauckas
scored 12, while in the title game, Los Blancos
24 25

Five titles and eight Final
Four appearances between
1994 and 2009, he is living
history of the competition.
In his trophy case we can also
find 11 Greek League titles,
eight Greek Cups
and an Intercontinental Cup
from 1996.
Joe Arlauckas
defeated Olympiacos by 73-61. Joe had 16 points and
4 rebounds while Sabonis led the team with 23 points
and 7 boards.
One of the biggest assets for Arlauckas was his
ability to play alongside bigger stars than him with no
problems or envy at all. Except with Schmidt in Caserta,
he always formed great tandems with all the stars he
played with. After Sabonis left for the NBA, the new star
in Real Madrid was Dejan Bodiroga, with whom Arlauckas
also had a great understanding. In the 1997 Saporta
Cup final against Mash Verona, won by Madrid 78-64,
the list of best scorers for the winners was: Alberto
Herreros 19, Joe Arlauckas 18 and Dejan Bodiroga 17.
After five years in Real Madrid, Arlauckas went to
Greece to join AEK Athens. The change of country, environment
and the basketball style was really hard for him.
He had a discreet season (13.8 points) and the following
one in Aris Thessaloniki was a little bit better (17.4), but
his best years were already in the past and in Spain.
After retiring he went back to the United States
but his love for Spain led him to return to Madrid. His
experience helped him land a commentator spot with
EuroLeague.TV. But his real desire would be teaching
big men what he knows about basketball.
And he knows a lot.
101 greats of european basketball
A

Mike
Batiste
27

The star who found
his second home
October 18, 2000. The first round of
the newly-founded EuroLeague. Two
days after the opening game between
Real Madrid and Olympiacos
Piraeus – Dino Radja scored the first
basket in that game – host Spirou
Charleroi defeated the St. Petersburg Lions by 80-68.
Mike Batiste, totally unknown in Europe, scored 16
points and pulled 8 rebounds for the winners. It was
the start of a brilliant European career for him.
Batiste finished that season with averages of 16.1
points and 9.2 rebounds, more than enough for some
teams from stronger leagues to put their eyes on him.
Biella was not a huge team in Italy by any means, but
the Italian League was surely a step up in competitiveness
from the Belgian one. In Italy, he put up 12.4 points
and 7.2 rebounds on average. That’s when Batiste was
offered the chance that he didn’t get after his college
years at Long Beach and Arizona State – the NBA called
through the Memphis Grizzlies. He didn’t hesitate to
accept the offer and played 75 games there with solid
numbers: 6.4 points and 3.2 rebounds.
Rebirth in Athens
Up to that point, Michael James Batiste (born November
21, 1977, in Long Beach) was a good player with
notable talent, but somehow he had not taken off. He
had to travel back to Europe, this time to Panathinaikos
Athens, to take that leap of quality in his career. The
coach of the Greens, Zeljko Obradovic, had already won
two European crowns with the team in 2000 and 2002.
He was looking for a versatile big man who could score
under the rim, shoot from mid-range and pull rebounds.
He set his eyes on Batiste, who from a physical point of
view was a ‘copy’ of Corny Thompson, the big man who
Obradovic had coached in Joventut Badalona in the
1990s and the hero of that club’s EuroLeague title team
in 1994, thanks to one of his three-point shots.
Thompson stood at 2.03 meters, only one centimeter
shorter than Batiste, and he had great touch and
great rebounding abilities. Obradovic found a similar
style of player in Batiste. The numbers he had during his
first season were not that spectacular: 7.9 points and
3.2 rebounds, but Obradovic was happy. In 2004-05
Batiste raised the bar to 11.4 points and 4.8 rebounds
and then he did the same thing the following campaign
(13.3 points, making 65.7% on two-pointers and 36.4%
on threes, plus 6.6 rebounds).
Titles in the Greek League and Greek Cup kept stacking
up, but the fans wanted another EuroLeague title,
and that arrived in the 2006-07 season, with a Final
Four in Athens, to boot, and a championship game for
the ages against CSKA Moscow that the Greens won
93-91. Batiste contributed 15 points and 12 rebounds
in the semis against Tau Ceramica (67-53) and then
12 plus 5 against CSKA in one of the best EuroLeague
championship games ever. Together with Dejan Tomasevic,
Kostas Tsartsaris and Robertas Javtokas, Batiste
was part of a wall that Obradovic had built on defense,
but which also contributed many points on offense.
Batiste was not your typical center. His physical
attributes would probably put him more at the power
forward position, but thanks to his rebounding
abilities, his timing and the sixth sense that told him
101 greats of european basketball
Mike Batiste
B

Vladimir Stankovic
where the ball would go, he was really useful under the
rims. He was also pretty good at offensive rebounds,
which always is a great asset to minimize your own
team’s mistakes. His lack of height was made up for
by his basketball IQ, technique, high shot and speed.
His build, at first sight, did not intimidate opponents
much, but they all realized soon enough that they
were facing one of the most dangerous and smart big
men in Europe.
After an off year in 2008, when they missed the
playoffs, Batiste and Panathinaikos won another EuroLeague
title together in Berlin in 2009, with a great
big-man duo that Batiste formed with Nikola Pekovic.
The Greens defeated archrival Olympiacos Piraeus in
the semis (84-82), where Pekovic had 20 points and
2 rebounds and Batiste 19 points and 6 boards. In
the title game, again against CSKA Moscow (73-71),
neither of them was as efficient (6 points apiece), but
the greatness and the variety of resources available to
Coach Obradovic proved that the team could adapt to
any kind of game. During that game, the leaders were
Vassilis Spanoulis (13 points), Antonis Fotsis (13),
Sarunas Jasikevicius (10) and Drew Nicholas (7), all of
whom contributed to great accuracy from the arc (13
of 27, 48.1%).
Two years later, in Barcelona, Mike Batiste lifted his
third EuroLeague crown. He nailed 16 points and pulled
6 rebounds in just 22 minutes against Montepaschi
Siena in the semis. He didn’t miss a shot, going 5 for
5, and was one of the key players. In the title game
against Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv, Batiste shined again
to lead his team to the title with a 78-70 win. In 24 minutes,
he scored 18 points on 7 of 10 two-pointers plus 6
rebounds. In the last minute, with a 69-64 scoreboard,
he received the pass from Dimitris Diamantidis to score
the bucket that would break the game open for the
Greens.
Away and back
Batiste was a much-loved player by the fans, teammates
and the media. His popularity was huge in Athens,
to the point that there was a book published in
Greek about his life and professional career. And the
feeling, from his own perspective, was mutual. “Just
growing up as a little boy, seeing the neighborhood
I grew up in, all the different distractions – gangs,
drugs, all types of violence – I’d never thought in a million
years I’d be in this position, let alone make it out of
the circumstances I grew up in. So, it has brought me a
lot of joy,” Batiste said in a EuroLeague.TV interview after
winning his three EuroLeague titles. “And I’m very
happy with the decisions I’ve made to keep coming
back here to play every year for an organization like
Panathinaikos, but also to live in a country like Greece.
It’s very enjoyable here. My players and the people of
Panathinaikos treat me as family. Also the people in
society. I’ve embraced it. I’ve adjusted. And I can really
call Greece a second home.”
Nowadays, when it’s not rare to see players switching
teams season to season, Batiste’s case is rather
extraordinary, deserving of respect. He stayed eight
seasons in Panathinaikos. He became a symbol of the
club much like Juan Carlos Navarro for FC Barcelona,
Felipe Reyes for Real Madrid, Derrick Sharp for Maccabi
or even Diamantidis himself for Panathinaikos.
“Growing up, I never thought I’d be around guys
from Greece, guys from Lithuania or other parts of the
world,” Batiste said. “And it’s really a special feeling to
look at the next man like, that’s my brother right there,
man. We would do anything that is necessary to win for
28
29

one another. Even off the court, if there’s a personal
issue, there’s always an ear to listen to you. You can call
one of the guys here, go to dinner. We’re always there
for one another, man. That’s the thing about this family
here. It starts from the coach all the way down to the
last player, and I think that’s the main reason we have
so much success here, because we do whatever it takes
for one another, to make sure you come in here, work
hard and can be successful.”
At the end of the 2011-12 season – after eight seasons
winning eight Greek Leagues titles, five Greek
Cups and three EuroLeagues – the then 35-year-old
Batiste decided to sign for Fenerbahce, which came as
a surprise to many. I am guessing it was a monetary
issue, because when he went back to OAKA to play
against his former team and former fans, Batiste didn’t
feel well. He admitted that it was strange “running on
the other side of the court”. Despite wearing the Fenerbahce
jersey, he was received with honors and a standing
ovation. Maybe that was the day when he decided
to “get back home.”
During the 2013-14 season, Batiste wore the Panathinaikos
jersey once again. This time he wasn’t one of
the team’s main contributors (3.5 points, 1.5 rebounds).
His last EuroLeague game was Game 5 of a playoff series
against CSKA Moscow, but it was no game to remember
as Panathinaikos lost in Moscow by 74-44. Mike just
played 2 minutes and didn’t score any points, but one
game cannot erase the preceding 236 that left his lasting
imprint on the EuroLeague.
In Greece, Batiste won another domestic league
and cup, which, together with a Turkish Cup, raised
his number of national trophies to 17, to go with those
three EuroLeague crowns. At an individual level, apart
from being weekly and monthly MVP several times, he
was also chosen for the All-EuroLeague First Team in
2010-11 and for the second team the following season.
His EuroLeague career highs were a 35 performance
index rating against Unicaja Malaga in 2009, 31 points
against Cibona Zagreb with Charleroi in 2000, 15 rebounds
against Benetton Treviso in 2006 and 6 assists
against Maccabi in 2012.
For Batiste, a new stage in his career has started in
his native United States. He was the assistant coach of
Spanish boss Jordi Fernandez at Canton Charge of the
D-League, a team affiliated with the Cleveland Cavaliers.
And he has since worked as a player development
assistant with the Brooklyn Nets. This much is sure: the
big men on any team where Batiste is around will surely
enjoy a top-notch teacher.
For Batiste, a new stage in
his career has started in
his native United States.
He was the assistant
coach of Spanish boss
Jordi Fernandez at Canton
Charge of the D-League,
a team affiliated with the
Cleveland Cavaliers. And he
has since worked as a player
development assistant with
the Brooklyn Nets.
101 greats of of european basketball
Mike Batiste
B

Alexander
Belov
31

The “three-second”
man
There are great players and great careers
marked by a single basket, a single game,
a single detail. Sometimes that’s unfair,
but it’s just inevitable. A man who belongs
to this club of the world elite is Alexander
“Sasha” Belov, the late Russian
player who died on October 3, 1978, at age 27. That’s
too short for a single life, but more than enough to
leave a mark on basketball.
His basket against the USA in the Munich Olympics
title game in 1972, which the Soviet Union won 51-50,
is part of the history of the Olympic Games and this
sport. It’s an immortal play, unique in the last century, a
basket that was worth a gold medal under strange circumstances:
the repetition of a play; the famous three
fingers in the air by FIBA secretary general William
Jones, meaning that the last three seconds had to be
repeated; the anger of the Americans who later refused
to accept the silver medals.
Born on November 9, 1951, in Leningrad (currently
St. Petersburg), Sasha Belov started playing basketball
in his native city. He stepped onto the international
stage at age 17, when he played in the European junior
championships in Vigo, Spain in 1968. His average of 7
points didn’t hint at a future star, but he won his first gold
medal. In the final, the USSR defeated a powerful Yugoslavia
with Slavnic, Jelovac and Simonovic by 82-73. A
year later, he was already playing with the senior team
at EuroBasket in Italy. He also had discreet numbers
(4 points) but he was not yet 18 years old. In 1970, he
played another junior European junior championships,
this time in Athens, and he won a new gold medal. His
average rose to 8.5 points, but his best moments were
yet to come. Before that, he lost his first final at club
level. His team, Spartak, had reached the Saporta Cup
final, but after two games, Simmenthal Milan was the
better of the two. Belov scored 16 in his team’s home
win, 66-56, but the Italians won the second game by
71-52 despite his 14 points.
Unforgettable Munich
National team coach Vladimir Kondrashin, his coach
also in Spartak, trusted Belov. He was a modern forward
despite standing just 2.01 meters. He had long
hands, broad shoulders and great rebounding skills.
He was a nightmare for players guarding him. He was
fast and agile, had good technique, and scored with
ease. In Munich, on a star-filled team (Sergei Belov,
Modestas Paulauskas, Anatoli Polivoda...) he was the
best scorer with 14.4 points per game. Truth be told,
however, that high average was due to his 37 points
against Puerto Rico (100-87). Against Senegal, Yugoslavia
and Cuba he scored 14 points each game, but
his best moment was in the big final against the United
States. He scored 8 points and pulled 8 rebounds,
but his last basket made history. Curiously enough,
it was a basket that made him as popular in the USA
as in the USSR. Some fan clubs emerged and a young
American woman traveled to Leningrad to ask Belov
to marry her. But the love of his life was Aleksandra
Ovchinikova.
At the Saporta Cup final in 1973 in Thessaloniki,
Spartak defeated Jugoplastika by 77-62 as Belov was
the MVP with 18 points. Two years later, in Nantes, he
101 greats of european basketball
Alexander Belov
B

Vladimir Stankovic
repeated the feat in a 63-62 win against Crvena Zvezda.
He scored 10 points but his title collection was already
impressive. I saw on TV the two games that the USSR
played against Yugoslavia in the 1969 EuroBasket, with
a Yugoslavia win in the group phase (the first one in an
official game against the USSR) and a USSR win in the
final, but I admit that I do not remember Belov. He didn’t
shine in the World Championship of Ljubljana in 1970
(6 points) but in the Essen EuroBasket (8.5) he was already
one of the pillars of the Soviet team. Then came
Munich and his life would change.
At the World Championships in San Juan in 1974,
he won another gold medal, achieving the triple crown:
Olympics, World Championships and EuroBasket. Aleksandr
Salnikov was the best scorer in the USSR with
17.6 points, especially thanks to his 38 points against
the Americans and 32 against the Cubans. Belov’s average
was 14.6 points.
I saw Belov live for the first time in 1975 at the Belgrade
EuroBasket. He was not in his best shape, but
his talent and potential were unquestionable. In the
title game, his fight with Cosic and Vinko Jelovac, the
Yugoslav centers that were way bigger than him, was
impressive. That same year, he was drafted in the NBA
by Utah with pick number 161 in the 10th round. The following
year, at the Montreal Olympics, he played again
at an elevated level, with 15.7 points, 5.2 boards and
4.7 assists, but he suffered one of the few disappointments
in his career: the USSR ended up third, but he
still won one more medal. He also had a triple-double in
that tournament against Canada (100-72) as he scored
23 points, pulled 14 rebounds and dished 10 assists.
Only he and LeBron James, who would match the feat
many years later, hold the distinction of recording triple-doubles
in the Olympics.
32
33

In January of 1977, I had the chance to see Belov
in his native city, with the jersey of his team, Spartak.
Radnicki Belgrade was playing the Saporta Cup there in
the same group as Spartak. At home, the Soviets won
easy, 99-84. I don’t remember how many points Belov
scored, but I do remember he was the best man on the
court. I have a picture with Coach Kondrashin, who talked
to me about the importance of Belov for the games
of Spartak and the national team. Alexander Gomelskiy
also said that Belov was “the pearl of Soviet, but also
European, basketball.”
Accused of smuggling
Some days later, on January 23 of 1977, before a
Spartak trip to Italy, Belov was accused of smuggling
orthodox icons, which were highly valued antiques in
the West. He lost all his acknowledgments and medals
and was expelled from the national team. There are
several versions about what happened, from his own
mistake to a setup to avoid his signing for CSKA. Some
even said it was a trap to make Spartak a weaker team.
This change turned him upside down. Some say that
even before this incident, he complained about chest
pains, but that doctors never found anything. In August
of 1978, he was called to the national team again by
Alexander Gomelskiy, who wanted him to help defend
in Manila the golden medal from San Juan. Belov made
it to the national team camp, but after just a few days,
he had to leave because he didn’t feel well. Two months
later, he died of cardiac sarcoma. He wasn’t even 27
years old and he still had a good career in front of him.
However, he had also accomplished a lot of things for
us to remember him as a great player, a humble and
calm man off the court, but a lion on it.
DATE | Sunday, November 2, 2014
Some days later, on January
23 of 1977, before a Spartak
trip to Italy, Belov was
accused of smuggling
orthodox icons, which were
highly valued antiques in
the West. He lost all his
acknowledgments and
medals and was expelled
from the national team.
There are several versions
about what happened, from
his own mistake to a setup to
avoid his signing for CSKA.
Alexander Belov
101 greats of european basketball
B

Sergei
Belov
35

Officer and
gentleman
In 1991, FIBA published the results of a survey
of their own about the best player in the history
of FIBA basketball. The name at the top of the
list was Sergei Belov, the great captain of CSKA
Moscow and the USSR national team. Today, the
result would probably be different, but nobody
can deny that Belov is among our sport’s greatest
ever. The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame
in Springfield recognized this fact by inducting Belov
in 1992 as the first European player ever to be included
there.
I had double luck: first I followed him as a player from
1967, the year of his debut with the USSR at the World
Championships in Uruguay, until he retired after the
1980 Olympics in Moscow. I saw him in his most glorious
moment, as the last carrier of the Olympic flame to
light the torch at Lenin Stadium in Moscow, and also in
his last games with the national team. After that, I met
Belov as a head coach. We have spoken many times,
but never like we did during EuroBasket 2007 in Madrid,
where he gave me an interview for EuroLeague.net that
caught many people’s attention all over Europe.
From a difficult childhood to glory
Sergei Aleksandrovich Belov was born on January
23, 1944, in the village of Nashekovic, region of Tomsk.
Before giving birth to Sergei, his mother survived the
famous siege of Stalingrad with her elder brother. The
father, an engineer, worked far from home and the family
got back together in 1947. The gift for the small child was
a football, something scarce and valuable at that time.
Sergei wouldn’t part with his favorite toy. He was a goalkeeper,
but he also was into athletics, specifically the
high jump. However, his quick growth to 1.90 meters decided
his future. He started to play basketball and didn’t
stop until the end of a brilliant career. His first coach was
Georgiy Josifovitch Res. In the summer of 1964, while in
Moscow to study, Belov was seen by Aleksandar Kandel,
the coach of Uralmash in the city of Sverdlovsk, and he
called Belov for his team. The promising teenager accepted
and in the 1964-65 season debuted in the Soviet
first division. In the summer of 1966, Belov made his
debut with the USSR national team and in 1967 he was
already a world champion in Uruguay with an average of
4.6 points. He scored a total of 32 points in the tourney,
with a high of 11 against Japan.
In 1968, another key moment in Belov’s life took
place – he signed for CSKA Moscow. For the following
12 years, he would be the best player of the Red Army
team under colonel Alexander Gomelskiy on the bench.
Belov, like other players, was also an officer in the army,
even though his only profession was playing basketball.
In 1969, in Barcelona, he won his first European crown
against Real Madrid. In an unforgettable game that CS-
KA won after double overtime (103-93), with big man
Vladimir Andreev as the main star, getting 37 points
and 11 rebounds. Both Belov and Andreev played the
entire 50 minutes. Belov finished with 19 points and
10 rebounds. The following year CSKA lost the final in
Sarajevo against Ignis Varese 79-74 with 21 points by
Belov. However, in 1971, the Red Army team won the
title back after beating Varese in Antwerp 67-53. Belov
scored 24 points, but he also acted as a coach due to
some problems for Gomelskiy at the Russian border.
101 greats of european basketball
Sergei Belov
B

Vladimir Stankovic
In 1973, he played his last final with CSKA, of course
against Varese, and lost in Liege 71-66 despite scoring
34 points.
Three seconds in Munich, 1972
Sergei Belov was a player ahead of his time. He was a
shooting guard, but also capable of playing point guard
or small forward. Just like Dragan Kicanovic, Mirza Delibasic,
Manuel Raga, Bob Morse, Walter Szczerbiak and
other shooters from the era, they had to play without
three-pointers, which were introduced by FIBA during
the 1984-85 season. He was unstoppable in one-onone
situations and after the dribble, you could count on
an assist or a precise shot, many times with only one
hand. He was also a great rebounder, but his best quality
was his cold blood, his 100 percent concentration
in crunch time. His teammates always looked for Belov
for the last play or the last shot. He was a leader who
transmitted security and confidence to the rest of the
players and true fear to some rivals. He was a player respected
by all, because of his qualities and his behavior.
He was a true officer and gentleman.
With the USSR he won 18 medals: Four Olympic
medals (gold in 1972, bronze in 1968, 1976 and 1980);
six in World Championships (two golds – 1967 and
1974 – three silvers and one bronze); eight at European
Championships (four golds, two silvers and two bronzes).
In total, he won seven gold medals, five silvers
and six bronzes in the most important international
competitions. His only Olympic gold was from Munich
against the USA in what was a famous final because of
the last three seconds were repeated under the orders
of William Jones, then the secretary general of FIBA. In
September 2007, Belov told me the story of the most
famous three seconds in basketball history:
“Jones’s decision was totally fair and correct to me.
See, when Doug Collins scored to put his team ahead,
50-49, there were three seconds left and the scoreboard
showed 19:57. Ivan Edeshko put the ball into play
and I was close to midcourt, the table was behind my
back. I got the ball and right away, the horn from the
table stopped the game. But it was not the end, there
was a mistake because the clock showed 19:59. There
was one second left, but we protested a lot because
it was clearly a mistake. The time had to start running
when I touched the ball and not when Edeshko threw
it in. After what to us seemed a never-ending moment,
Jones lifted his three fingers and said we had to repeat
them. The rest is well known. This time Edeshko
made a long pass to Sasha Belov, who faked between
two Americans, who in turn jumped at the same time
almost clashing one against the other, and he scored
the basket that was worth a gold medal.”
Disappointment at home, 1980
If his most glorious moment was that 1972 gold
at the Olympics in Munich, I am sure that his biggest
disappointment was the Olympic Games played in
Moscow in 1980. Playing at home, the USSR lost first to
Italy in the group stage and later against Yugoslavia after
overtime, and so missed the title game. Some days
later, he received an offer that was, in fact, an order:
“I got a call from the USSR Sports Minister, Sergei Pavlov,
and he literally said, ‘From this moment, you are the
USSR national team coach.’ And I rejected it on the spot.
The minister insisted and he repeated his offer constantly.
Gomelskiy found out about the issue and, through his
connections, he made it that the KGB wouldn’t allow me
to leave the country for several years... I was an officer in
the Soviet army and it was easy to do that. Those were
36
37

The darkest period in his
life also coincided with the
comeback from Brazil of
a USSR emigrant, a friend
of his. Sergei greeted him
at home and this was a
suspicious act for what he
called “the usual services”.
Sergei Belov
the worst years of my life and now I can say that for five
years I even feared for my life!”
The darkest period in his life also coincided with
the comeback from Brazil of a USSR emigrant, a friend
of his. Sergei greeted him at home and this was a
suspicious act for what he called “the usual services”.
His problems lasted until 1988, when he returned to
CSKA as coach. In 1990, he coached Italy and in 1993
he was back in Russia, where he became president of
the Russian Federation until 2000. He was also the
national team coach for the World Championships of
Toronto in 1994 and Athens in 1998, where Russia
won silver medals, and also for the 1997 EuroBasket
in Barcelona, where it won the bronze. From 1999, Belov
joined Sergei Kushchenko as general manager and
president, respectively, to build a great team in Perm,
Ural Great. Their team broke the dominance of CSKA
Moscow, won domestic titles and played the new EuroLeague
in 2001-02 as the first Russian team in the
competition. Belov lived in Perm until he passed away
in 2013 at age 69.
He never had doubts that he, as well as other talents
of his generation like Kresimir Cosic, Drazen Dalipagic
or Dragan Kicanovic, could have played and triumphed
in the NBA, just like Arvydas Sabonis did, getting there
at 31, or Pau Gasol, Tony Parker, Dirk Nowitzki, Vlade
Divac and so many other Europeans who showed that
good basketball and good players are not an American-only
privilege.
101 greats of of european basketball
B

Miki
Berkowitz
39

The man of
the last basket
Every time that Maccabi Tel Aviv visits Pionir
Arena in Belgrade, I remember April
7, 1977. That day, Maccabi and Mobilgirgi
Varese played the final of the competition
we now know as the EuroLeague, the first
one I ever saw live. Two years earlier, Israel
had been part of the EuroBasket played in Yugoslavia,
but it didn’t make the final phase. To be honest, I don’t
remember much about the five qualifying games, after
which Israel finished seventh with an average of
20 points from Miki Berkowitz.
But that club final in 1977 was a dramatic game decided
in the last moments. With 7 seconds to go, and
with a 78-77 lead for Maccabi, a doubtful call for traveling
on Lou Silver allowed Varese a chance to win the game.
But great defense by Maccabi managed to maintain
that score and allowed the Israeli squad to lift its first
European crown ever. That was the first time I saw Miki
Berkowitz play. He was the great star of Maccabi. He was
only 23 years old, but he was already known as one of
the best European players. I remember his name from
the under-18 EuroBasket played in Zadar in 1972, where
a great Yugoslavia team (formed by Dragan Kicanovic,
Mirza Delibasic, Dragan Todoric, Rajko Zizic and Zeljko
Jerkov, among others) won the gold medal. However,
the best scorer of that tourney was one Miki Berkowitz.
Thanks to him, especially, Israel finished fourth.
The stands at Pionir that night in 1977 were yellow
and full of Maccabi fans despite the fact that Italy was
much closer than Israel. Also, Yugoslavia and Israel
didn’t have a diplomatic relationship back then, but
the Yugoslav government allowed the Maccabi fans to
enter the country without a visa. That was also the first
time that a jumbo jet landed in Belgrade. That night,
Berkowitz scored 17 points in his first big final. He was
the second-best scorer for Maccabi, behind only Jim
Boatwright (26). On the other side, stars such as Dino
Meneghin (21 points), Bob Morse (20) and Randy Meister
(7) couldn’t win against the big heart of Berkowitz
and his teammates.
History against Washington
One year later, on September 8, 1978, Maccabi entered
the history books by becoming the first European
team to beat an NBA team. And not just any team.
Maccabi won 98-97 against the Washington Bullets,
the previous NBA champion, a team featuring players
like Wes Unseld and Elvin Hayes as big stars and Dick
Motta on the bench. Miki Berkowitz scored 26 points in
that game.
Berkowitz was a connoisseur of American basketball.
He spent one year at the University of Nevada at
Las Vegas and had offers to sign for the New Jersey
Nets and the Atlanta Hawks, which would have made
him the first European player to enter the NBA. But
Maccabi had his rights and he had to go back to Tel Aviv.
In the 1979 EuroBasket, with an average of 23.6
points, he led Israel to the silver medal, which is still the
biggest international success of the country’s national
team. Against France and Spain he scored 33 points,
against Italy he had 31, but his most important basket
was the last one in a duel against Yugoslavia, which was
then both the European and World champion, with its
golden generation. Israel won 77-76 and sent Yugosla-
101 greats of european basketball
Miki Berkowitz
B

Vladimir Stankovic
via to the fight for the bronze while Israel entered the
great final, which it lost to the USSR 76-98.
During most of his career, Berkowitz played without
the existence of three-point baskets, which were introduced
only in the fall of 1984. That surely makes his
numbers lower, even though shooting was not his main
weapon. I remember him most for his drives, his quickness,
his hands stealing a lot of balls, his sixth sense
to find the right spot for the rebound... Miki was also
a great defender. He was a complete player and most
of all, a winner like he says in his autobiography “Born
to Win.” The last shot or the decisive play was always
set for him. He liked challenges and didn’t know the
meaning of the word “fear.” He decided many games,
and many of them were really important.
In the 1981 final of the EuroLeague, in Strasbourg
against Virtus Bologna (80-79), he scored the last 5
points for his team. First, with the game tied, he made it
78-75 with a basket-plus-free throw combination. Then
he made it 80-77 in the last offensive play by Maccabi.
He finished with 20 points, more than Aulcie Perry (18),
Earl Williams (17) or Jim Boatwright (14). He took part in
another three finals, but Maccabi would lose all of them:
1982 against Cantu (80-86, 16 points); 1987 against
Milano again (69-71, 9 points); and 1988 against Milano
again (84-90, 3 points) in the first Final Four of the modern
era, played in Ghent, Belgium.
In 1984, in a tourney in Tel Aviv with Hapoel Tel Aviv,
the New Jersey Nets and the Phoenix Suns, Maccabi
repeated the heroism of six years before. The first day
it beat the Nets 104-97 with 26 points by Berkowitz
and 23 by Kevin Magee, and in the final Maccabi defeated
the Suns 113-98 with 36 points by Magee, 28
by Lee Johnson and 20 by Berkowitz. Thanks to him,
Israel played in its only World Championship in 1986,
winning the qualifying tourney in the last game against
Czechoslovakia 92-90, with his basket on the last
offense. In the Worlds that followed in Spain, Miki averaged
16.8 points. In his seven EuroBaskets between
1973 and 1985, only in the first one (6.4 ppg.) and the
last one (15.3 ppg.) did Berkowitz average below 20
points.
Israeli Legend
Apart from being considered the best basketball
player of all time in Israel, Miki Berkowitz is among the
most famous people ever in that country. A survey on
the Ynet portal once put him in 35th place in a list of
the 200 most popular figures of the history of Israel. He
was even named “King of Israel” by the local press. He
handled his fame naturally, as he was always a humble
and kind man.
A role model.
His two sons followed the tradition and even managed
to play in the Israeli first division, but the Berkowitz
last name was more a curse than a blessing and
their performances were always compared to those of
their irreplaceable father.
I can offer you some more numbers on Berkowitz:
• Second best scorer of all time in the Israeli League
with 8,465 points, behind only Doron Jamchy.
• 3,588 points for Maccabi in 211 EuroLeague-level
games.
• 2,842 points in 165 games with the Israeli national
team.
• Best scoring performance in an Israeli League
game was 42 points.
• Best scoring performance with the Israeli national
team was 44 points against Turkey in the 1975
EuroBasket.
40
41

Miki Berkowitz
At the end of his playing career – he retired in 1995
– Berkowitz played with his great friend Motti Aroesti
in Maccabi Rishon and also in Hapoel Jerusalem and
Hapoel Tel Aviv. He was also the owner of the Ramat
HaSharon club and general manager at Ironi Nahariya.
Though Berkowitz wore number 9 on his back, he
was a 10 as a player!
Apart from being
considered the best
basketball player of
all time in Israel,
Miki Berkowitz is among
the most famous people
ever in that country.
101 greats of european basketball
B

Dejan
Bodiroga
43

‘White Magic’
In October of 1989, in the first issue of ‘Kos’ (“Basket”)
magazine in the former Yugoslavia, we published the
rosters of all the teams that played the next-to-last
Yugoslav League championship, in a country which
that summer had won its fourth EuroBasket title in
Zagreb. In KK Zadar, you could find names like Darko
Pahlic, Petar Popovic (father of Marko), Stipe Sarlija,
Aleksandar Trifunovic, Arijan Komazec, Ivica Obad,
Sven Usic... and the coach was Slavko Trninic.
Apart from the players with a jersey number, on the
“new arrivals” column for that team, the name of Dejan
Bodiroga (born March 2, 1973) appeared. In parentheses,
you found the following – (16, 197) – his age and his height.
Another piece of info there indicated that he was coming
from Servo Mihalj of Zrenjanin. That was probably the first
time I ever heard – or better, read – the Bodiroga name,
which is pretty rare in the former Yugoslavia. I had no
idea how a kid from Zrenjanin, 70 kilometers away from
Belgrade, ended up in Zadar on the Dalmatian coast of
Croatia, and not in Belgrade or Novi Sad, the two big cities
close to his hometown. One or two years later, when everybody
already talked about a great talent called Dejan
Bodiroga, we found out that the great Kresimir Cosic, then
Zadar’s sports director, had seen Bodiroga in a cadets
competition and saw right away that he would be a great
talent. He went to Klek, a town next to Zrenjanin, where
the Bodiroga family – which had Herzegovinian origins,
an important detail which will be explained below – lived.
Cosic talked to his parents and, thanks to his authority
as the great player and beloved person that he was, convinced
them to allow Dejan to sign for Zadar.
From Klek to glory
The town of Klek has some 3,000 inhabitants, most
of them Serbians of Herzegovinian origins who arrived
from the Vojvodina region in a massive colonization after
World War II. The origin of the family was from a town
with the same name, Bodiroga, close to Trebinje, today
in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Klek is probably the most famous
town in Serbia and the former Yugoslavia because
it produced 13 international players in several sports,
especially volleyball, who together with 12 more coming
from Zrenjanin who competed in Olympic Games, turned
this land into an eternal source of great sportsmen. For
instance, the brothers Vladimir and Nikola Grbic, Olympic
champs in Sydney 2000 with the Yugoslav volleyball
team, are neighbors of the Bodiroga family. Their father,
Ceda Grbic, won the first medal (bronze) for Yugoslavia
in the European championship of 1975 in Belgrade.
“I read some reports from the Italian press in that
tournament and in one article I found a comparison
that seemed way out of line: someone wrote that this
Yugoslav kid, Dejan Bodiroga, was the ‘white Magic
Johnson’,” coach Bogdan Tanjevic said. “I didn’t believe
that but, curious as I am, in the preseason I took the
chance to visit a tournament close to Trieste, where I
used to live, to go see Zadar. The big star of the team
was Komazec, but I soon noticed that the boss of that
team was the young kid, Dejan Bodiroga.”
Tanjevic would become, after Cosic, the most important
person in the career of Dejan Bodiroga. In the
1990-91 season, the last full one of the former Yugoslavia,
Bodiroga was already a protagonist on the first
team of Zadar. However, political issues influenced his
career. Even though Bodiroga had no personal issues in
Zadar, as a Serbian in Croatia on the brink of a horrible
war, staying was not an option. Cosic, his protector and
101 greats of european basketball
Dejan Bodiroga
B

Vladimir Stankovic
mentor, together with Dejan’s elder brother, Zeljko, and
Nedeljko Ostarcevic – a former Zadar player already
living in the United States – went to Trieste to try to
convince Bogdan Tanjevic to sign Dejan.
“They put a lot of pressure on me, but I was a bit skeptical
because regulations only allowed for two foreigners
then, and normally you would sign Americans,” Tanjevic
recalled. “I asked, ‘How can I sign an 18-year-old kid as a
foreigner?’ Then, my good friend Cosic told me, ‘Don’t be
a Bosnian fool. Sign him and you won’t ever regret it.’ But
there was an added problem, his documentation. Dejan
was under contract and Zadar would not release him. Despite
all that, I decided to sign him. He spent one season
practicing with Stefanel Trieste without playing, but after
just two practices I realized what a diamond I had.”
Three finals lost
The debut of “White Magic,” a player standing 2.05
meters tall but with the ability to play all five positions, was
finally ready at the start of the 1992-93 season. Tanjevic
believes that of his four years in Italy, Bodiroga played his
best that first season. “He was an unbelievably mature
player for his age. He was a very generous man, always
worried about the team. He had no selfishness in him. I
remember he never took his first shot before minute 7 of
any game, because first he wanted to see how the team
was doing. Against Reggio Calabria, with a great Michael
Young, who would later lead Limoges to the EuroLeague
title, Bodiroga scored 51 points. Against the veteran but
still great player Michael Ray Richardson, he scored 38
points on 10 of 10 field goals. He was a very mature player,
versatile, who could score, pass, pull rebounds, guard...
It was a privilege to have him on my team.”
In the next three seasons in Trieste, Bodiroga lost three
Korac Cup finals. First in 1994 against PAOK Thessaloniki,
second against ALBA Berlin in 1995 and third against Efes
Pilsen in 1996. The reward arrived at the end of the 1995-
96 season with the triumph of Stefanel, which had moved
from Trieste to Milan, in the Italian League and Italian Cup.
The double crown was a prize for four years of hard work,
but it also marked a moment for change.
Bodiroga was almost guaranteed to be in the plans
of Yugoslav national team head coach Dusan Ivkovic for
the Barcelona 1992 Olympics. However, international
sanctions didn’t allow the team to take part in those
games. He would have to wait for three years for his official
debut on the national team. And he did it in style:
a gold medal at the 1995 EuroBasket in Athens with
12 points and 5 rebounds on average. The following
year, at the Atlanta Olympics, he won the silver medal
and confirmed to me there that the rumor was true: he
would join Real Madrid, coached by Zeljko Obradovic.
Even though he played really well and was chosen
MVP of the Spanish League in the 1997-98 season, the
results of the team those two years were rather poor.
There was, however, a Saporta Cup win, 78-64 against
Mash Verona in Nicosia, Cyprus, with 19 points by Alberto
Herreros and 17 points plus 9 rebounds from Bodiroga.
It was his first European trophy at the club level.
Cousin of Aca and Drazen Petrovic
On the eve of a game between Caja San Fernando
and Real Madrid, I published a story in the Spanish
newspaper El Mundo Deportivo that surprised many
people. Serbian Dejan Bodiroga and Croatian Aleksandar
Petrovic, then the coach at Caja San Fernando, were
close cousins. Of course, Aleksandar is the brother of
the late Drazen Petrovic, an icon of European basketball
history, which made Bodiroga a cousin of an all-time
great. The genealogical tree didn’t leave any doubts: De-
44
45

jan’s grandmother, Gospava, was a Petrovic when single
and the grandfather of Aca and Drazen was her brother
in a big family. Jole, the father of Aca and Drazen, was a
policeman in the former Yugoslavia who was assigned
to Sibenik, where he met his future wife, Biserka, while
Vaso Bodiroga, Dejan’s father, moved to Vojvodina. It
was a curious story of two cousins, Drazen and Dejan,
both superstars who played in Real Madrid. While in Real
Madrid, Bodiroga won his second straight gold medal,
at the 1997 EuroBasket in Barcelona. The following year,
in the Athens World Cup, Yugoslavia was champion and
he was chosen MVP at 25 years old. His national coach
in Atlanta, Barcelona and Athens was Zeljko Obradovic,
who was his coach at Real Madrid, as well. After two years
with Benetton Treviso, Obradovic joined Panathinaikos
Athens in the summer of 1999. The first thing he asked
was to sign Dejan Bodiroga. Before coming together
again at Panathinaikos, they also coincided at the Sydney
Olympics, where Yugoslavia fell in the quarterfinals
to Canada, led by a great Steve Nash.
A three-time European champion
Together again, Obradovic and Bodiroga started the
golden decade of Panathinaikos. The 2000 Final Four
was played in Thessaloniki and Panathinaikos made it
there without problems. In the semis, it defeated Efes
81-71 with 22 points by Bodiroga. In the title game, the
victim was Maccabi Tel Aviv by 73-67, with great games
by Zeljko Rebraca (20 points, 8 boards), Oded Kattash (17
points) and Bodiroga (9 points, 4 rebounds). In the spring
of 2001, the year of the “two EuroLeagues”, Maccabi
won the SuproLeague Final Four in Paris against Panathinaikos,
81-67, despite Bodiroga’s great game of 27 points
and 8 rebounds. That same summer, at the Istanbul EuroBasket,
he was champion again with Yugoslavia, this
time under the command of Svetislav Pesic, the fourth
important man in his career. In the first Final Four of the
modern EuroLeague, played in Bologna in 2002, the big
favorite was Ettore Messina’s Kinder Bologna, not only for
playing at home, but also because it had a great team with
players like Manu Ginobili, Marko Jaric, Alessandro Frosini,
Andersen, Rashard Griffith, Alessandro Abbio, Sani
Becirovic, Antoine Rigaudeau... However, after defeating
Maccabi in the semifinal by 83-75, Panathinaikos rolled
into the championship and surprised Kinder by 89-83
with a great Bodiroga, who scored 21 points and pulled 7
rebounds. Of course, he was named MVP.
Just as Obradovic had done when he joined Panathinaikos,
Svetislav Pesic did one thing just after arriving as
head coach at FC Barcelona: he asked for Dejan Bodiroga
to be in the team for his new project. In August of 2002, at
the World Cup in Indianapolis, Pesic coached Yugoslavia’s
star-studded team with Bodiroga, Jaric, Vlade Divac, Peja
Stojakovic, Igor Rakocevic, Milan Gurovic, Dejan Tomasevic,
Milos Vujanic... and won the gold medal. In Barcelona,
Pesic and Bodiroga had the challenge to turn a dream – to
make Barcelona, finally, a EuroLeague champ – into reality.
And they did. At the Final Four, played at Palau Sant Jordi
in Barcelona, the hosts first defeated CSKA Moscow by
76-71. In the title game, they downed Benetton Treviso
76-65 with 20 points by Bodiroga, who was chosen as
Final Four MVP for the second year in a row.
He was a versatile player with a lot of talent. But he
was also a sportsman who set an example and was
always polite to his rivals, referees, fans and the press.
As a player, Dejan Bodiroga owns a prominent place in
the memory of all basketball lovers.
Dejan Bodiroga
101 greats of european basketball
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Kamil
Brabenec
47

The Czech
scoring machine
The roster of future stars coming from the
1970 junior EuroBasket in Athens was
not bad at all. Several great players came
from several teams. Alexander Belov and
Valery Miloserdov from the USSR, Luis
Miguel Santillana and Rafa Rullan from
Spain, Pierluigi Marzorati and Fabrizio Della Fiori from
Italy, Srecko Jaric and Goran Rakocevic (the fathers
of Marko Jaric and Igor Rakocevic) in Yugoslavia,
and Kamil Brabenec (Brno, December 4, 1951) from
Czechoslovakia.
There, in Athens, Brabenec averaged 16 points per
game in starting what would be a brilliant international
career. He was a natural scorer who, at the start of the
21st century, was chosen as the second best Czech
player of all time, behind only Jiri Zidek Sr. After Brabenec,
the list of Czech basketball greats also includes
Ivan Mrazek, Jiri Zednicek and Frantisek Konvicka.
Just a year after his breakout in Athens, Brabenec
was already playing with the senior national team at
the 1971 EuroBasket in Essen, Germany. In 1972, he
competed in the Munich Olympics, in 1973 it was the
EuroBasket in Barcelona, and in 1974 he made his debut
at the World Cup. Brabenec was at the forefront of
international basketball for nearly two full decades until
EuroBasket 1987 in Athens, the same city that saw him
take his first international steps. But that was only the
end of his career with the national team. He played at
the club level until 1995, when he hung up his shoes
at age 45. He left behind a record 11,029 points in the
national league, a record 403 games with the national
team, a EuroBasket silver medal from 1985 and a pair of
bronze medals from 1977 and 1981.
Brabenec was selected the domestic league player
of the year after the 1975-76 season and chosen to the
all-league team some 11 times. He also won six titles.
And all of this happened due to a childhood medical
prognosis that resulted in doctors not allowing him to
play his favorite sport, ice hockey. Luck would have it
that he then chose basketball.
Behind the numbers and the biographical data,
there’s the person and, in this case, a great player. He
was a natural scorer, a shooting guard by the book,
even if, at 1.90 meters, a little short by today’s standards.
But in his time, he was tall enough. Plus, with
his technique, speed and shot, he never had problems
overcoming taller defenders. He was a great player and
I agree with his very own words: “If I had played basketball
today, I would be playing in the NBA.”
In fact, he was not even far from that in his own time,
when the Detroit Pistons took an interest in him. He
even visited the club’s headquarters, but then he preferred
to go back to his native country because, during
the 1970s, signing for an NBA team meant renouncing
your spot on the national team, and that was a high
price that he did not want to pay.
If I am not mistaken, I saw Brabenec for the first time on
TV, during the 1972 Olympics in Munich, when Yugoslavia
defeated Czechoslovakia 66-63. The player I remember
the most was Zidek, who with his 18 points, drove Kresimir
Cosic, Vinko Jelovac, Zarko Knezevic and Milun Marovic
crazy around the court. Brabenec scored 4 points. One
year later, at the Barcelona EuroBasket, Yugoslavia defeated
Czechoslovakia on its way to the title, 91-76. Zidek (22
101 greats of european basketball
Kamil Brabenec
B

Vladimir Stankovic
points), Jiri Pospisil (20) and a still-young Brabenec (14)
were the resistance. At the 1974 World Cup in San Juan, his
average had already gone up to 17.7 points, only 0.3 less
than Zidek. Against Argentina, he scored 41 points.
A lost final
In the 1973-74 season, Zbrojovka Brno reached the
Saporta Cup final. The final was played on April 2, 1974,
at Primo Carnera Arena, named after the famous boxing
champ. After some great years in Italy, “Professor”
Aleksandar Nikolic was Zvezda’s coach, and on the other
side was Frantisek Konvicka, who had been the star
of Spartak Brno for many years and played the 1964
EuroLeague final against Real Madrid.
Zvezda won 86-75 behind 23 points from Dragan
Kapicic, 20 from Zoran Slavnic and 19 from Ljubodrag
Simonovic. Jan Bobrovsky led Zbrojovka with 20 points,
while Brabenec added 14. It was his only European final
at the club level.
At the 1975 EuroBasket in Belgrade, I saw Brabenec
live. He was not a superstar yet, but he was on the right
path. Aside from his undisputable technical qualities,
he had what sets apart the good players from great
ones: character. You could feel his self-confidence and
he was willing to take responsibility; he would never
hide. Yugoslavia, which won its second gold medal, defeated
Czechoslovakia 84-68, but Brabenec’s 18 points
hinted at him being a future star.
At the Montreal Olympics, Brabenec was the fifth-best
scorer of the tourney with 18.7 points, only 0.1 less than
the USA’s Adrian Dantley, but still far from Australia’s Eddie
Palubinskas (31.3 ppg.) and Mexico’s Arturo Guerrero
(27.8 ppg.). Brabenec scored 35 against Italy and then
netted 24 against the eventual champs from America.
In May of 1977, Brabenec was chosen to play with
the European selection against Jugoplastika for a
farewell to its captain, Rato Tvrdic. The coach was the
late Antonio Diaz Miguel from Spain. The team also featured
the likes of Pierluigi Marzorati, Fabrizio Della Fiori
and Gianni Bertolotti from Italy; Juan Antonio Corbalan,
Rafa Rullan and Manolo Flores from Spain; and Atanas
Golomeev from Bulgaria, among others. Team Europe
won 116-108. My next appointment with Brabenec was
at EuroBasket 1977 in Belgium. In the last group stage
game in Ostend, Belgium, his Czechoslovakia beat
Yugoslavia 111-103 with Brabenec shining to the tune
of 32 points – and only 2 of them from the free-throw
line. Despite the loss, Yugoslavia managed to win its
third straight title, but Czechoslovakia won another
medal eight years later after taking bronze in Naples.
The key player was Brabenec, who scored 29 points in
the third-place game. He was also the top scorer for his
team with 23.7 points and finished second in the tournament,
behind only Kees Akerboom of Holland (26.4).
Again in the European selection
In July of 1978, Brabenec received another great recognition
on being selected for the European team that
would face Real Madrid in the farewell game for Clifford
Luyk. For many years, until the late 1990s, FIBA had this
nice custom of paying homage to big stars when they
retired with a game against a European team of great
players. But of course, there were more available dates,
fewer trips and more centralized power back then. Diaz
Miguel, the Spain coach for many years, coached Team
Europe again and called upon Brabenec, Luis Miguel
Santillana, Dino Meneghin, Renzo Bariviera, Tal Brody,
Micky Berkowitz, Drazen Dalipagic, Dragan Kicanovic,
Mirza Delibasic and Zeljko Jerkov. On the other side, a
great Real Madrid coached by Lolo Sainz featured Luyk,
48
49

Corbalan, Rullan, Wayne Brabender, Carmelo Cabrera,
Vicente Ramos, Walter Szczerbiak and John Coughran.
Madrid won 119-102 and the game was officiated by
Obrad Belosevic (father of current EuroLeague official
Ilija) and Piet Leegwater. Luyk scored his last 2 points,
but Brabender (32) and Szczerbiak (28) shined against
the European team; Brabenec scored just 2 points.
During the autumn of that year, most of those players
participated in the World Cup in the Philippines, where Brabenec
(26.9 points per game) was the top scorer. Against
Puerto Rico, he scored 44, against China, 41. The championship
was a festival of great scorers: Oscar Schmidt,
Dalipagic, Kicanovic, Marcel de Souza... Czechoslovakia
placed fourth at the 1979 EuroBasket in Italy and lost the
bronze to Yugoslavia despite Brabenec’s 28 points. The
following year, at the Moscow Olympics, he averaged 17.6
points, but only good enough to share 10th place among
top scorers. The second bronze medal came at home in
Prague, at the next EuroBasket. In the third-place game
against Spain, Brabenec netted 28 points and Stanislav
Kropilak helped with 25 for the win. Against Italy earlier in
the tourney, Brabenec had scored 40.
Silver in Stuttgart
At 34 years of age, Brabenec, then playing for BC
Brno, didn’t even think about retiring. Despite being the
oldest player on the team (14 years older than Leos Krejci
and 12 more than Otto Maticky) he was its best player
and top scorer (17.9 ppg.). Yugoslavia went to the 1985
EuroBasket with the idea of regaining the supremacy
lost in Nantes two years before, but in the quarterfinals
the team clashed against a great Czechoslovakia and
a great Brabenec, who netted 32 of 102 points for his
team. Aside from being the top scorer, Brabenec was key
on defense. Drazen Petrovic, already a star, scored 25
points, but in the first half, when Czechoslovakia managed
to run away, 51-34, he had only 6. The winners were
congratulated by the Spaniards, as they thought they
would defeat Czechoslovakia easier than Yugoslavia, but
Brabenec and company also defeated Spain, 98-95.
A super powerful USSR was waiting in the title game
and it was just too strong. Valdis Valters scored 27 points,
Rimas Kurtinaitis had 24, Arvydas Sabonis 23 and Aleksandr
Volkov 18 to lead the USSR to a convincing 120-89
victory. In that game, Brabenec scored 21 points.
It wasn’t his last EuroBasket, however, as he also
played the following one in Athens and averaged 11.5
points at 36 years old. He also demonstrated that there
are no old and young players, but excellent, good, mediocre
and bad ones. He was one of the first, excellent
ones. That was not the end of his career, either. At 38 he
finally left his country, but didn’t go too far to join Debreceni
of Hungary, where he played for two seasons.
At age 40, he went back home to play for humble Zdar
nad Sazavou first, and then to spend his last two active
years until 1995 at Usti nad Labem, his boyhood club.
If that was not enough, the Brabenec name is still
a reference in Czech sports. His own son is a very famous
ice hockey player and his daughter Andrea was
an international player in basketball, the daughter of a
basketball scoring machine.
Jiri Zidek senior, the best Czech player of the 20th
century, and a teammate of Brabenec’s in the national
team, said the following about Brabenec:
“The greatest skill Kamil had was his shooting ability.
His trademark scoring move was the jump shot after the
dribble. He could create his own shots in one-on-one
situations, played small forward, and used screens well
to get open, receive the ball and play one-on-one,” Zidek
recalled.
Kamil Brabenec
101 greats of european basketball
B

Bill
Bradley
51

Senator between
the hoops
The death in 2011 of Cesare Rubini, a great
legend in Italian sport, reminded me of
the first triumph of an Italian team in the
European Cup, the forerunner to today’s
EuroLeague. It happened in the 1965-66
season in Bologna, in what was the first
Final Four ever, although that format lasted only two
seasons at that time, not to be reinstated again until
1988.
The Final Four teams in 1966 were eventual champs
Simenthal Milano, Slavia Prague, CSKA Moscow and
AEK Athens. Rubini was the boss of the Milano team
that would win the title. In the semifinals, the Italian
team defeated CSKA by 68-57, and in the title game,
played on April 1, Milano stopped Prague by 77-72.
Duane “Skip” Thoren scored 21 points, Gabriele
Vianello 21, Sandro Riminucci 10, Gianfranco Pieri 4,
Massimo Masini 3, Giandomenico Ongaro 4 – and Bill
Bradley 14.
Bill Bradley... Without a doubt, he is one of the best
Americans to ever play in Europe, but his life and his
two careers, sports and politics, deserve a story of
their own. William Warren Bradley was born on July
28, 1943, in Crystal City, Missouri. In high school,
he was already a national-level star in basketball.
He scored 3,068 points and received scholarship
offers from 75 universities! At the beginning, he had
chosen legendary Duke University, but during the
summer of 1961, he broke his leg playing baseball.
Thinking about his future outside of basketball, he
finally chose Princeton, even refusing a scholarship
promised by Duke. Already in his first season as a
freshman, he scored more than 30 points per game
and made 57 free throws without a miss. As a sophomore,
he was already a starter on the team and in
1963 he made the all-American first team. Even then
there was word that Bradley was ready to play in the
NBA, but he wanted his degree first. He earned his
spot on the U.S. national team for the 1964 Olympics
in Tokyo, where he would become the best player. In
the semifinals against Puerto Rico (62-42), he scored
16 points and in the title game against the USSR (73-
59) he scored 10. In his last season with Princeton,
as team captain, he took the team to the NCAA Final
Four. They lost in the semifinal but in the game for
third place Bradley scored 58 points and was named
MVP of the tourney.
Day-a-week champion
Bradley finished at Princeton with 2,503 points for a
30.2 average. In 1965, he won the James Sullivan prize,
the highest accolade in American amateur sports. He
was the first basketball player to ever win the award.
He was the most desired player for NBA teams and,
according to the rules of the time, as a territorial pick,
the New York Knicks selected him in the draft. But pro
basketball was not in Bradley’s plans just yet. He had
also won a prestigious Rhodes Scholarship to attend
Oxford University in England for post-graduate studies.
And this is where Simmenthal Milano comes into the
story. The club offered Bradley a good economic deal
and also some terms that would be almost impossible
today. Bradley only had to play in the EuroLeague
games. He didn’t even practice regularly with the team,
101 greats of european basketball
Bill Bradley
B

only from time to time if flight connections allowed
some extra time before the game. But it really looked
like Bradley didn’t need the sessions. In the games, no
one could notice any lack of integration with his team.
He was a scoring machine. For instance, against Racing
Malines in the quarterfinals group, he scored 43 points
in Belgium and 33 at home. His contribution to the first
Italian team to win the European club title was huge.
The captain of the Simmenthal team in 1966, Gianfranco
Pieri, remembers Bradley on the Olimpia Milano
official website:
Vladimir Stankovic
Rubini, the prophet
“I have vivid images of our first game,” Pieri writes.
“We were at the 1960 Olympics in Tokyo. Rubini wanted
to sign Bradley and he told me to go talk to him. We
talked for a while and after that, we exchanged a couple
gifts. Two years later we were teammates in Olimpia,
me as a captain and him as the star of the European
Cup. At that time he was studying in Oxford and every
Tuesday he traveled to play with us.”
Rubini, the prophet, had said: “He is a phenom. He
plays like God, and on the side, he studies to become
president of the United States.”
A Bradley presidency almost happened, in fact,
but that was many years later. Bill Bradley had a brilliant
career as a professional player. After serving six
months in the US Air Force, he finally signed for the
New York Knicks in December of 1967. In his third year,
1969-70, the Knicks won their first NBA championship
and repeated again in 1972-73, when Bradley took part
in his only all-star game. It was his best season, as he
averaged 16.1 points and 3.4 assists. When he retired
in 1977, he left behind 742 games and 9,217 points, a
12.4-point average.
52
53

Second career
While he was a pro player, Bradley also was also getting
ready for a second career, in politics. He excelled as
a social worker. He taught in Harlem, talked a lot with
businessmen, students, politicians and the press. The
basketball community honored him in the highest manner
possible by inducting him into the Hall of Fame in
1982. The Knicks also retired his jersey with number 24
in 1984. The only other players so honored before him
were Willis Reed, Walt Frazier and Dave DeBusschere.
His political career took place with the Democrat
Party but, as an independent thinker, he once broke
that discipline and backed a Republican president,
Ronald Reagan, on certain issues. When he retired as a
player in 1977, he ran for the U.S. Senate in New Jersey.
He beat his rival, conservative Jeffrey Bell, with the 56%
of the vote. In 1984, he repeated in the spot with 65% of
the vote and he was proposed for the presidential election,
but he declined. Later, after retiring from the Senate,
he decided to run for the Democratic nomination
for president in 2000, against Al Gore, who was then
the vice president of the United States. In March of that
same year, seeing that Gore had more support inside
the party, he decided to step out of the race. In January
of 2008, Bradley gave public support to Barack Obama.
To this day, Bradley is considered a progressive among
American thinkers. And in Italy, the Olimpia Milano fans
still remember him with a special kind of love for bringing
them Italy’s first European basketball trophy.
Bill Bradley, a senator and a Lord of the Rims.
Bill Bradley
101 greats of european basketball
B

Wayne
Brabender
55

An atypical star
The personal ID card of Wayne Brabender
says that he was born on October 16,
1945, in Montevideo. The first association
would be Uruguay, but he is not from
that country’s capital. In the state of
Minnesota, in the United States, there is
another Montevideo which probably would have never
entered sports history without Brabender.
When he was just 7 years old, his first coach, Terry
Donay, taught Brabender his first steps in a sport
called basketball. That decided the future of the blond
and thin kid who, judging by his physical attributes,
probably shouldn’t have had a bright career in a sport
normally reserved for bigger and stronger men. However,
since the very dawn of his career, Brabender was
just a different kind of player. With good technique,
solid jumping ability, great defense and, most of all, an
excellent shot, he would become the best player on his
high school team.
At 22 years old Brabender was already a physical
education teacher, but his immediate future would be
involved with basketball, no doubt. In the 1967 NBA
Draft, the Philadelphia 76ers picked him at number
145. Destiny, however, would have different plans for
the young Brabender.
Pedro Ferrandiz, the visionary
The legendary coach of Real Madrid, Pedro Ferrandiz,
was a pioneer in many things, and especially in
bringing good American players to Europe. Ferrandiz
just didn’t trust anyone. If he heard rumors about a
player being good, he had to go see for himself. Then,
he would make sure to check out a few more players in
order to make the trip worthwhile. No middlemen, no
agents, no videos, which didn’t exist: Don Pedro just
packed up his suitcase and toured the USA. More often
than not, he came back to Madrid with a future star.
When he saw Brabender he had no doubts about
him. That was the player he needed to fill the spot of
the second foreigner in the EuroLeague. According to
legend, when Ferrandiz knocked on the door of Brabender’s
house, Wayne himself opened the door and
Ferrandiz asked him if he had an older brother because
the young man seemed even smaller off the court than
on it. After working out the misunderstanding, one of
the better and most profitable contracts in Real Madrid’s
history was put to paper.
On August 26, 1967, young Wayne Brabender landed
in Madrid and started his Spanish adventure, which has
now lasted 50 years and counting. Everyone in Madrid,
from the club itself to the media, was surprised by the
looks of the new American, because normally Ferrandiz
brought back big men. Also, Real Madrid already had
Miles Aiken for the Spanish League, so it was planned
that Brabender would only play in the EuroLeague, on
which the team placed such high aspirations. It wasn’t
easy at all for Brabender to play only in EuroLeague
games or practice all alone on the weekends, while the
team was elsewhere playing in the domestic championship.
But Brabender dealt with it all and the club also
showed patience with him.
In the traditional Real Madrid Christmas tournament
of 1967, the American rookie exploded with 30 points
while showing great qualities on offense. His outside
shot was perfect, and he was a great complement to
the inside game of Aiken and Clifford Luyk. Right off the
101 greats of european basketball
Wayne Brabender
B

Vladimir Stankovic
bat, Ferrandiz, backed by manager Raimundo Saporta,
realized that Brabender could be an enormous addition
to the team. So they proposed to him the possibility of
getting a Spanish passport. Brabender accepted the offer,
and soon Spain gained a great player. The fact that
Brabender still lives in Spain today proves that this was
a case of true nationalization.
On May 10, 1969, Wayne Brabender made his debut
with the Spanish national team in Badalona against Cuba,
playing 90 seconds. A little later, playing against Belgium
in a EuroBasket qualifying tournament in Mataró,
Spain, he suffered a knee injury and had to be sidelined
for 10 months. But he persevered and returned to Real
Madrid and the national team. At the 1973 EuroBasket
in Barcelona, Brabender helped Spain win a silver medal,
the country’s first in men’s basketball since another
a silver at the original EuroBasket, back in 1935 in Geneva.
In that 1973 title game, Spain fell to Yugoslavia, who
won its first continental title, 67-78. But Brabender’s 20
points – a little over his 19.3 average in the tourney –
confirmed that Spain had a great new star.
I saw Wayne Brabender countless times on TV, but
I think the first time I saw him live was at the 1975 EuroBasket
in Belgrade. I saw him also two years later in
Belgium and again at the 1980 Olympics in Moscow,
where Spain finished fourth. I still remember his incredible
game of 30 points against Yugoslavia, the future
Olympic champ, who struggled but won 95-91. Chicho
Sibilio added 23 points for Spain while on the other side
there was the great duo of Dragan Kicanovic (25 points)
and Drazen Dalipagic (24).
Non-stop titles
Brabender played 190 games with the Spanish
national team, but it was Real Madrid who took more
advantage of his qualities. During his 16 years with Los
Blancos – which looks like an eternity today, when players
change clubs so often – he won 13 Spanish Leagues
(10 of them in a row, from 1968 to 1977), seven Spanish
Cups, three Intercontinental Cups (1976, 1977 and
1978, each time scoring more than 20 points in the
final), and four EuroLeagues. Real Madrid was, without
a doubt, the strongest team in Spain back then, and it
didn’t need much to win national titles. But to compete
with Ignis Varese, CSKA Moscow or Maccabi Tel Aviv, the
latter of which was starting to show great ambitions in
the early 1970s, Real Madrid needed a great player like
Brabender.
Real Madrid’s first European title with him on the
team came in 1968 in Lyon, France against Spartak Brno
of Czechoslovakia, with a 98-95 final-game victory
thanks to 26 points from Aiken and 22 from Brabender.
The next European crown would arrive on April 11,
1974, in Nantes against Varese in a very balanced game
that finished 84-82. Brabender once again scored 22
points, Walter Szczerbiak and Luyk had 14 each, while
on the other side, the “magnificent trio” of Dino Meneghin
(25), Bob Morse (24) and Manuel Raga (17) kept
hopes alive for their team until the final moment.
Four years later, in 1978, the same rivals met again in
the Munich final. Real Madrid won 75-67 with 26 points
by Szczerbiak and 16 by Brabender. His last European
title was on May 27, 1980, in Berlin as Madrid defeated
Maccabi 89-85 behind 27 points by Rafa Rullan and 12
by Brabender.
He played at Real Madrid until the end of the
1982-83 season and put an end to his brilliant career
with Caja Madrid, playing two more seasons. When
Brabender retired in 1985 he was 39-and-a-half years
old. His Spanish League stats hardly reflect the impact
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57

Wayne Brabender
that Wayne Brabender had on Spanish basketball. The
league started in 1983 at the twilight of his career. Only
the press archives from the 1970s and the memories
of those lucky enough to have seen him play offer actual
testimony about this great player and person, who
could set an example in just about anything.
Brabender was an atypical star, especially because
of his modesty. He was a person beloved by his teammates
and respected by rivals. I remember some
conversations that I had with the late Mirza Delibasic
about the friendship that he had with Brabender and
his family, and how they helped Delibasic adapt when
he signed for Real Madrid.
After his great career as a player, Brabender stayed
in basketball as a coach. He worked at Real Madrid, CB
Canarias, Forum Valladolid and CB Illescas. His son, David,
was born in Madrid in 1970 and also played in the
Spanish League for 12 years. The Brabenders, especially
Wayne, have left their imprint on Spanish basketball.
101 greats of european basketball
B

Tal
Brody
59

Israeli basketball
history
While preparing this article, I
asked my friend Yarone Arbel, a
one-time columnist on Euroleague.net,
for some data about
Tal Brody. He sent me an e-mail
with some figures and details,
but what caught my attention was a sentence that
read: “Here, in Israel, when talking about basketball,
there is a before and after Tal Brody.” It’s impossible
to say more in fewer words about this historical
player, a great figure with so much meaning for Israeli
basketball. There is no doubt that Maccabi Tel Aviv
has showcased better players than Brody, but his
merit was being the first great signing of the club and
the key piece in an ambitious project of converting
Maccabi into a great Israeli ambassador.
Talbot “Tal” Brody was born in Trenton, New Jersey,
on August 20, 1943, into a Jewish family. His grandfather
and his father emigrated to the United States in
the 1920s after having lived in Palestine and Eastern
Europe. At 8 years old, Tal started playing basketball
at the Trenton Jewish Community Center, as well as at
the local Boys Club and his school. Even then, he knew
that he wanted to be either “a pro basketball player or
an FBI agent.”
Brody stood out in high school (15.3 points, 4.0
rebounds) and received scholarship offers to play
basketball at more than 40 colleges. He chose the
not-so-powerful University of Illinois, aware that he
would probably have more of a role there. With him
at the point – with his excellent court vision, great
assists and precise shot – Illinois won the famous Big
Ten Conference championship. Tal Brody was the top
scorer and the best passer. He was named to the prestigious
All-American team with players like Rick Barry,
Bill Bradley and Billy Cunningham, who years later
would re-write NBA history. In 1965, Brody finished his
degree in physical education and was selected 12th
overall in the NBA Draft by the Baltimore Bullets. Everything
pointed to a brilliant NBA career.
The trip that changed his life
Until he finished his studies, Brody had never traveled
outside the United States. In the summer of 1965,
which would be so important in his life, he was invited
to join an American selection of players to compete
at the quadrennial Maccabiah Games. His quality as a
player and his Jewish origins made him the perfect candidate
to be on the team. He was the best player on the
team that easily took the trophy. His great talent caught
everyone’s attention and before traveling back to the
States, Brody received an interesting offer – to stay in
Israel and play for Maccabi Tel Aviv.
It is said that Moshe Dayan, the legendary Israeli
general and minister of defense, who by then was the
minister of sports, personally tried to persuade Brody
with talk of his leadership in a project called “Great Maccabi.”
Until then, the club had never advanced beyond
the first rounds of European competitions, but there
were plans to convert Maccabi into a powerful team
that would be “the pride of Israel.” Brody didn’t stay
that year, though, and headed back to the U.S. to take
some masters courses to complete his studies. But in
1966, instead of playing with the Atlanta Hawks, who
101 greats of european basketball
Tal Brody
B

Vladimir Stankovic
had traded for his rights, Brody decided to go back to
Israel.
First final for Maccabi
In the 1966-67 season, Maccabi played in the Saporta
Cup. After defeating Aris, Joventut and BK Botev
of Bulgaria in the semifinals stage, Maccabi reached
the final. On the other side awaited Ignis Varese. It
was the first final for two future greats of European
basketball, to be played over two games. In Varese,
on April 7, 1967, Ignis won 77-67 despite Brody’s 27
points, which made him the top scorer in the game. Six
days later, in the Tel Aviv game, Brody scored 26, but
Maccabi could only win by a point, 68-67, and the title
ended up in Italy.
The following year, Brody was already the best
sportsman in Israel. Maccabi games, especially the continental
ones, became socio-political events, with the
permanent presence of government members. Head
coach Ralph Klein started to build a great team with
Brody as the centerpiece. During the 1967 Six-Day War,
the United States government sent Brody a telegram
telling him to abandon Israeli soil. Instead, he decided
to stay and even worked with Israeli army soldiers on
the Jordanian border.
As an American citizen, he came back to the United
States in 1969 to fulfill his military service and came
close to ending up in another war, in Vietnam. Fortunately,
Brody was called for the USA team that played
the 1970 World Cup in Ljubljana. That was the first time
I saw Tal Brody. On a pretty modest team, with Bill Walton
as a future star, but too young at the time to have
a prominent role (3.7 points), Brody was the third-best
scorer with 10.4 points, behind only Kenny Washington
(11.8) and Mike Silliman (11.7). Brody scored 19 points
against Australia and 17 against Czechoslovakia as the
Americans placed fifth.
After the Ljubljana tournament, Brody decided to
go back to Israel to live there and play basketball. He
became an Israeli citizen, which meant he had to do
military service again!
Unforgettable Belgrade
Tal Brody would play with Maccabi until 1980. He
won 10 Israeli Leagues titles, six national cups and – as
the icing on the cake – the EuroLeague title in 1977 in
Belgrade against the club’s greatest rival of those years,
Varese. Exactly 10 years after the defeat in the Saporta
Cup, Maccabi exacted revenge by winning the European
title 78-77. I can clearly remember the atmosphere at
the legendary Pionir Arena, with 5,000 Maccabi fans
having come from Israel and all over Europe. At that
time, Yugoslavia didn’t have diplomatic relations with
Israel, but basketball opened the borders. Several charter
flights landed in Belgrade, even the first jumbo jet in
the history of the airport. At the break, Maccabi held a
39-30 advantage, but Varese had a last chance to win
with the final possession of the game and 7 seconds
to go. Good Maccabi defense stopped a play between
Aldo Ossola and Bob Morse, however, and Maccabi
won its first continental crown. Jim Boatwright led the
winners with 26 points and Miki Berkowitz added 17.
Brody, the team captain, contributed 9 points and was
the protagonist of a historic photo, receiving the trophy
from the hands of FIBA President Borislav Stankovic.
Mission accomplished.
The return home was an experience to behold. More
than 150,000 people welcomed the new European
champs as national heroes. It was the first international
title for any Israeli team in any sport.
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61

Prior to winning that final, Maccabi had to get past
great rivals like Real Madrid, Spartak Brno and CSKA
Moscow. The game against CSKA took place on neutral
ground in Belgium because the Soviet authorities would
not allow CSKA to play in Tel Aviv, nor would they grant
Maccabi players visas to play in Moscow. After beating
CSKA 91-79, Brody uttered the words on Israeli TV that
would go down as one of the most famous sayings in
Israeli culture – sports or otherwise: “We are on the
map and we’re staying on the map. Not only in sports,
but in everything!”
The 1976 pre-Olympic tournament was played in
Edinburgh, Scotland. There Brody led the Israeli team
with 15 points. I remember his great game against Yugoslavia:
he scored 22 points, but Israel lost 123-103.
All told he scored 1,219 points in 78 games wearing
the Israel national jersey. For Maccabi, in European
competitions, he scored 1,378 points in 81 games. In
the national league, Brody tallied 4,049 points. Despite
these numbers, the fact remains that his contributions
cannot be measured by just points or assists. The true
measure of his greatness comes through Brody’s mere
presence and historical role.
Over the years, Brody received many recognitions in
Israel, among others the “Israel Prize” – the top civilian
honor awarded by the state – in 1979. He was inducted
into the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in
1996 and into the United States National Jewish Sports
Hall of Fame in 2011. Two years later, his No. 12 college
uniform was retired by the University of Illinois Fighting
Illini. For a short time, Brody was an assistant coach
with Maccabi, but his current activities focus more
on politics. However, as a recognized philanthropist,
he is always eager to help kids and to perform some
basketball tricks. Brody owns an insurance company
and dabbled in politics as a candidate for the Knesset,
the country’s Parliament, but he was not elected. Since
2010, he has been a Goodwill Ambassador for Israel.
But when talking about sports, like Yarone Arbel says,
there was a “before and after Tal Brody” in Israeli basketball.
101 greats of european basketball
Tal Brody
B

Marcus
Brown
63

A champ in
six countries
When a player – in this case, Marcus
Brown – sees his scoring
numbers increase from 8.9
points to 18.1 to 22.4 and finally
to 26.4 points during his college
years, one would expect that
he’d have a good chance in the NBA, to say the very
least. When Portland picked Brown 46th in the 1996
NBA Draft out of Murray State University, everything
seemed to be going as planned.
Standing at 1.93 meters, Brown, who was born
April 3, 1974 in West Memphis, Arkansas, was a classic
shooting guard, a very coveted species. But he would
not be the first or the last rookie to have a rather unfortunate
stint in Portland. (I can remember Drazen
Petrovic, for instance). He played just 21 games and averaged
3.9 points, even though his shooting percentages
were acceptable: 39.5% on two-pointers and 40.6%
on threes. One of his few good experiences there was
interacting with The Tsar, Arvydas Sabonis. “Sabas”
showed a young Brown that there were great players in
Europe and good basketball there.
Very few people have the mental strength to turn disappointment
into opportunity. After the bad experience
in Portland and a frustrated chance with the Memphis
Grizzlies, where he didn’t play a single game, at the end
of the 1997-98 season Brown decided to cross the pond
and look for his opportunity in Europe. With his low
numbers in Portland, Brown could not look for a super
contract from the best European teams. But Brown was
smart, so he searched instead for a chance to shine, to
play a lot of minutes, and to show what he could do. He
signed for Pau-Orthez of France and in six games he was
already averaging 20.5 points. His team won the French
League title, thanks especially to him, but in the last game
of the final series, he suffered a serious knee injury.
After a year-long recovery, Brown tried to get back into
the NBA, this time with the Detroit Pistons, for the 1999-
2000 season. He had played just six games and averaged
1.7 points when he received an offer from Limoges. Brown
didn’t hesitate to travel back to France. Time would prove
that it was one of the best decisions of his career.
Triple crown in Limoges
Limoges had signed Dusko Ivanovic as head coach,
and with Brown as its star, everything turned out great.
Limoges won the French Cup, the French League and
also the Korac Cup. Brown was the top scorer (16.4
points in the national league, 20.9 in the Korac Cup) on
a great team completed by the likes of Yann Bonato,
Stephane Dumas, Harper Williams, Frederic Weis and
Carl Thomas.
Brown was decisive in the Korac Cup. In 10 games, he
scored between 21 and 28 points as many as five times.
But he saved his best for the title game against Unicaja
Malaga. In the first game, played in Limoges on March
22, the hosts beat Unicaja 80-58 thanks to Brown’s 31
points on almost-perfect shooting: 6 of 8 two-pointers,
5 of 8 threes and 4 of 5 free throws, plus 3 assists and
4 steals. With an advantage of 22 points, Limoges had
no problem lifting the trophy. Unicaja won by just nine
at home (60-51) and Brown was the top scorer again for
his team with 18 points, including 3 of 4 threes. It was his
fourth trophy in Europe. But that was only the start.
101 greats of european basketball
Marcus Brown
B

Vladimir Stankovic
His high level with Limoges caught the attention of
several European teams, and the fastest one to act was
Benetton Treviso. Brown signed for the Italian team that
also had Marcelo Nicola, Riccardo Pittis, Denis Marconato,
Massimo Bulleri, Petar Naumoski, Bostjan Nachbar
and Jorge Garbajosa. With that roster, the goal could
only be the title of the newly-founded EuroLeague. But
Benetton could only reach the quarterfinals, falling to
AEK Athens 2-1 in the series. Brown did what was expected
of him, scoring 20.3 points per game (42.4% on
threes), but the team couldn’t advance.
After three seasons with three different teams,
Brown started a series of two-year contracts with his
signing for Efes Pilsen of Turkey in 2001-02. At Efes, he
delivered as a scorer with 19.6 and 18.7 points, respectively,
but the Turkish team, despite its ambition and effort,
wasn’t able to fulfill Brown’s goal: to contend for titles
with the best in Europe. When CSKA Moscow called
him for the 2003-04 season, it looked like Brown’s time
had finally come. The Russian team was experiencing a
huge expansion, with an expert coach in Dusan Ivkovic,
a strong structure and economic stability envied by all
its rivals. It was a big project designed to win the Euro-
League, a title that the Red Army team had not lifted
since 1971 when Aleksandar Gomelskiy, the president
of the club in 2003, was coach of the team.
Two frustrated attempts
During the 2003-04 season, CSKA lived up to its role
as favorite. The Russian team rolled to an 11-3 record in
the regular season and then a 5-1 record in the Top 16.
On a powerful team with J.R. Holden, Victor Khryapa,
Victor Alexander, Theo Papaloukas, Dragan Tarlac,
Mirsad Turkcan and Sergey Monia, Brown was the top
scorer with 18.7 points per game. However, in that
year’s Final Four in Tel Aviv, CSKA had to play against
the host, Maccabi, which also had a super team, with
Sarunas Jasikevicius, Anthony Parker, Maceo Baston,
Derrick Sharp, Nikola Vujcic, Yotam Halperin, David
Bluthenthal and Gur Shelef, plus the great Pini Gershon
on the bench. Maccabi won 93-85 with 27 points
from Parker, while Brown had 23 of his own. It was an
unforgettable duel between two of the best shooters
ever in the EuroLeague. In the third-place game, Brown
scored 27 against Montepaschi Siena with 12 of 12 free
throws, 4 rebounds and 5 assists for a performance
index rating of 36 in a 94-97 win for CSKA.
The second attempt for Brown and CSKA came the
following season, 2004-05, with the Final Four coming to
Moscow. CSKA mopped the floor in the regular season
with a perfect 14-0 record, including pairs of victories
against such teams as Benetton, Panathinaikos and
Tau Ceramica. In the Top 16, CSKA suffered a single loss
against FC Barcelona, but its impressive overall record
of 20-1 and the fact that it was hosting the Final Four
made CSKA the undisputed favorite to take it all. But,
once again, basketball had a surprise up its sleeve. In the
semifinals, CSKA faced Tau Ceramica, coached by Dusko
Ivanovic – Brown’s old mentor at Limoges. Luis Scola,
Pablo Prigioni, Travis Hansen, Arvydas Macijauskas (23
points), Jose Manuel Calderon, Sergi Vidal, Tiago Splitter,
Kornel David and Andy Betts surprised the hosts by
winning 75-85. Marcus Brown played one of the worst
games I can remember from him, with “only” 12 points.
It was a hard blow, but Brown still had hopes of
becoming a EuroLeague champion. In the summer of
2005, Brown moved to Spain and joined Unicaja. Sergio
Scariolo, then the coach in Malaga, talked to me about a
detail that was unknown, at least to me:
“Marcus was like a gift from the skies. He was a
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65

complete player. But besides his unquestionable qualities
on the court, what fascinated me about him was
his mental strength. This is something difficult to learn.
You either have it inside your head and your soul, or you
don’t. If I had to list the players I coached with the strongest
minds, Brown would be among the top three or
four. The others: Sasha Djordjevic, Juan Carlos Navarro
and Pau Gasol. A strong mind is what makes a champion
complete. Brown was unbelievable in practice. He
was capable of punishing himself to repeat something
a thousand times until he managed to get it how he
wanted it. He helped me a lot with the youngsters by
setting this example. And on top of everything, he was
very humble.”
Indeed, his effort in third-place games was more
evidence of Brown’s incredible pride. After winning
the first consolation game in 2004, he and CSKA lost
the second in Moscow after double-overtime to Panathinaikos.
He scored 21 points, the most for CSKA, in
that game. In the 2007 third-place game with Unicaja,
Brown’s driving layup with 1.2 seconds left beat Tau
Ceramica 76-74 and assured that Unicaja went home
with at least one victory from its first, and still only,
Final Four.
Last stop, Zalgiris
From season to season, Brown increased the
amount of points he scored in the EuroLeague. Even
if he was lacking a team title, the individual accolades
kept piling up. He was weekly MVP several times and in
the 2003-04 season he was part of the All-Euroleague
First Team with Jasikevicius, Dejan Bodiroga, Turkcan
and Sabonis. He was on the second team in the 2002-
03 and 2004-05 seasons. At 33 years old, he was still a
coveted player.
Sabonis, his teammate in Portland, and later president
at Zalgiris, convinced Brown to move to Kaunas.
His scoring average decreased to 12.4 points, but it was
enough for Maccabi to call him. He played in Tel Aviv
during the 2008-09 season, and he put up 12.6 points
per game. For 2009-10, Brown was back to Zalgiris and
averaged 11.1 points at 36 years of age. He retired at
the end of that season, and on November 17, 2001, the
Euroleague paid him a well-deserved tribute in Kaunas.
Seven years after retiring, Brown is still the sixth-best
scorer ever in the EuroLeague with his 2,739 points in 179
games. Just nine players to date have scored more than
2,500 points, and each of the other eight played at least
29 games more than Brown. In terms of scoring average,
only two EuroLeague players this century have done better
than Brown’s 15.3 points per game in more than 100
appearances – Keith Langford (17.4) and Nando De Colo
(16.4). Despite many more games being played these
days, Brown is still ranked 10th in three-pointers made
all-time, having connected on 327 of 827 attempts, for
39.54%. Only Langdon has made more three-pointers at
a higher percentage (42.7%). Brown was a shooter but
his good technical foundations allowed him also to play
point guard and dish assists, 458 in all, ranking him 28th
all-time. He also ranks 23rd in steals, with 185, and was
both a solid defender and rebounder.
Brown was a driving force behind every team with
which he won 19 national, regional or international
league and cup titles in six different countries – France,
Turkey, Russia, Spain, Israel and Lithuania – a variety
that is unmatched. In a few words, he was a player who
wrote his own page in the European basketball story.
Marcus Brown
101 greats of european basketball
B

Juan Antonio
Corbalan
67

A doctor among
the baskets
If someone in a country with a long basketball
tradition like Spain’s is known as the best point
guard of all time and its most-decorated player,
he certainly deserves a guaranteed spot among
the legends. All of those accolades apply to Juan
Antonio Corbalan, who retired in 1991 wearing the
jersey of Valladolid, putting an end to a brilliant career.
In his last active season, playing at 36 years old,
he appeared in 15 games and averaged 6.5 points and
2.8 assists in 25 minutes per game.
The strange thing is that Corbalan returned to playing
again after a two-year break. He had already retired
after 17 years on the court – from 1971 to 1988 – with
his life-long club, Real Madrid. But then came an interesting
call from Gonzalo Gonzalo, the president of the
club in Valladolid, the team that had signed Arvydas
Sabonis. The Lithuanian giant had suffered injuries but
wanted to show, at 27 years old, that he still had some
good things to offer to basketball. Sabonis was having
a hard time adapting to this new chapter in his life. On
the basketball court, he needed a great and – more to
the point – experienced point guard by his side. The idea
of Gonzalo to convince Corbalan to come out of retirement
proved the perfect solution.
Thus ended the great career of Corbalan, the best
Spanish point guard of all time. But what about the
beginnings of this man born in Madrid on August 3,
1954? In the book “The King of Europe,” by Luis Miguel
Gonzalez Lopez, dedicated to the basketball section
of Real Madrid, Corbalan himself talked, as a junior,
about his future: “I am not a future genius of basketball.
Those are things that have to be proven by facts, and
I still haven’t even started. The only thing on my mind
now is playing. I hear people talking about me and they
say that I took a big step forward, but I still have many
things to do.”
Indeed, besides his game, if anything was characteristic
of Corbalan, it was his modesty. He was an exemplary
sportsman in everything: his behavior on and off
the court, his fair play, and his respect for teammates,
opponents and referees. On top of that, Corbalan was
a brilliant student of medicine, a very difficult degree
to obtain for an elite sportsman. But he got his MD on
both fronts: in school and on the court. In fact, after retiring
he became a prestigious cardiologist with many
ideas that linked his two passions: sports and health.
Corbalan founded and directs the La Salle Institute
of Functional Rehabilitation and Applied Science to
Sports, which is located in the Aravaca district of Madrid.
However, we are here to talk about Corbalan the
basketball player.
Free throws in Nantes
When Real Madrid reached the title game of the Euro-
League in Nantes in 1973-74, Corbalan already had two
Spanish League titles from the two previous seasons,
even though his contribution to the team, due to his age,
was not yet major. But little by little he was getting more
playing time and more confidence from his coach, Lolo
Sainz. For instance, on the way to the final against Sandro
Gamba’s Ignis Varese, Corbalan scored 23 points
against Heidelberg of Germany even though he went
scoreless against Radnicki and Berck. But then came the
final against Varese, the archrival of Real Madrid in that
101 greats of european basketball
Juan Antonio Corbalan
C

Vladimir Stankovic
era. In a close game, Real Madrid was in trouble when,
though leading 78-74, Carmelo Cabrera fouled out after
having scored 16 points and directed the game perfectly.
Lolo Sainz looked down the bench and threw young
Juan Antonio Corbalan to the lions. The kid made good
use of his minutes on the court to score four free throws
for four golden points. Real Madrid won 84-82 and lifted
its fifth continental crown after having waited six years
since the fourth one.
In the years 1978 and 1980, Real Madrid would win
two more EuroLeague titles, the first against Ignis Varese
in Munich (75-67) and the second against Maccabi
Tel Aviv in Berlin (89-85). But in a conversation I had
with him, Corbalan admitted that of the three titles he
won with Real Madrid, the one he remembers with the
most joy is the one from 1974 in Nantes.
That April day in 1974 was the start of the brilliant
international career of Juan Antonio Corbalan. At the
end of the 1987-88 season, his last with Real Madrid, his
titles amounted to three EuroLeagues, one Saporta Cup
(1984 against Olimpia Milano, 82-81) and one Korac Cup
(against Cibona 102-89 and 93-94, with 47 points by Drazen
Petrovic in Zagreb); 12 Spanish Leagues, seven Spanish
Cups and a Spanish Supercup; three Intercontinental
Cups (1976 and 1977 against Varese in the final and 1978
against Brazil’s Obras Sanitarias), a club world championship
(1981), and a European Supercup. Corbalan was
also chosen seven times as a member of the European
Selection all-star team, more than any other player.
I remember perfectly the first time I saw Corbalan
play. It was February 7, 1974, at the old Hala Sportova
in New Belgrade, the Serbian basketball temple of that
time. Radnicki Belgrade, the surprising champ of the
strong Yugoslav League the previous season with a
great generation of players led by coach Slobodan Piva
Ivkovic, defeated Real Madrid 95-87. Corbalan didn’t
play much and he didn’t score any points, as Real Madrid
was well covered in that area with Wayne Brabender
(37), Walter Szczerbiak (29) and Carmelo Cabrera
(25). But Corbalan could not hide his talent despite the
few minutes he played. It was the exact opposite.
Silver in Nantes and Los Angeles
Corbalan made his debut with the Spanish national
team in an international competition at a qualifying tournament
in the Netherlands for the 1972 Munich Olympics.
His average of 8.8 points was a highlight for the team. He
also helped the team advance through a second filter, the
world qualifying tournament, for the same Olympics. But
Corbalan didn’t manage to earn his place on the team for
the 1973 EuroBasket in Barcelona. He was back on the
team for the 1974 World Cup in Puerto Rico and he would
not leave the team until his last big international competition,
the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.
Nantes is probably Corbalan’s favorite city because
nine years after his first big triumph with Real Madrid,
Spain took a silver medal there, too, at the 1983 EuroBasket.
That was a great Spanish team, with Juan
Antonio “Epi” San Epifanio averaging 20.0 points and
playing with Chicho Sibilio (17.1 points), Fernando Martin
(13.8), Corbalan (11.3), and Andres Jimenez (10.7).
In a 95-94 semifinals win against the USSR, Corbalan
was his team’s third-best scorer, with 16 points, after
Sibilio (26) and Epi (25). However, Spain lost the title
game 106-95 against Italy. One year later, at the Los
Angeles Olympics, that great Spanish generation defeated
Yugoslavia in the semis 74-61 before losing in
the gold-medal game by 96-65 against a team of college
students from the United States with great names
like Jordan, Ewing, Perkins, Mullin, Alford and Klein.
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“Those are two medals that have a special place
in my memories,” Corbalan told me. “At that time, the
USSR and Yugoslavia had better teams than us, but
we managed to eliminate them in the semis of two big
competitions. People following basketball nowadays
must know that in those years, the first three spots
were almost the exclusive property of Yugoslavia, the
USSR and the USA.”
And now a writer, too!
For some years now, Corbalan has been a doctor
only. From time to time he writes interesting columns in
Madrid’s sports media. But not so long ago, he caught
my attention with the title of his book: “Conversations
with Mirza”. My first guess was that Corbalan transcribed
some of the talks he had with his great friend
and teammate on Real Madrid between 1980 and 1982,
Mirza Delibasic. However, his book is a novel, a metaphor
about Mirza and his home city Sarajevo, whose
fate – like his own – was a sad one. Every word uttered
by Corbalan about Delibasic gives off deep respect,
love and feeling. About his basketball and his enormous
talent Corbalan simply says, “He was a genius.”
And I totally agree.
They first met at the U16 European Championship
in Gorizia, Italy, in 1971. Mirza Delibasic was the best
player for Yugoslavia, the eventual champ. They also
interacted at the 1972 U18 European Championship in
Zadar, with the same protagonist role for Mirza. After
that, they crossed each other’s paths several times in
big competitions and even were together twice in the
European Selection all-star team. In the 1979-80 season,
during the two games between Bosna Sarajevo,
defending champion and Real Madrid, future champion,
Delibasic showed to the fans in Madrid what Corbalan
had known since 1971.
In Sarajevo, Bosna defeated Real Madrid 98-96 without
a big contribution from Delibasic. But in the second
game in Madrid, played on February 21, 1980, Delibasic
drove the home team’s defense crazy with 44 points
despite Madrid’s 95-93 win. Fortunately for the Spanish
team, Real Madrid signed Delibasic at the end of that
season and then the relationship between two great
players and great people became bigger than friendship.
That relationship ended due to the early death of
Delibasic on December 8, 2001.Thanks to his friend,
Dr. Juan Antonio Corbalan, Delibasic is somehow still
among us again and in the hearts of the readers of the
book “Conversations with Mirza”.
Juan Antonio Corbalan
101 greats of european basketball
C

Kresimir
Cosic
71

A player ahead
of his time
Kresimir Cosic was one of those sensational
players who changed the history of our
sport. Unfortunately, he died on May 25,
1995 in Baltimore, USA, at just 47 years
old. Still, he had a past – both sporting and
human – that only the most exceptional
men can claim, whether they live long or short lives.
For those who were not fortunate enough to see
Cosic on the court – even if they can find a few games
or plays of his on the internet – I’d define him a bit like
Arvydas Sabonis, except 10 centimeters shorter, a lot
lighter and of a different body type.
Cosic was a 2.10-meter thin man who nonetheless
had great rebounding ability. He was officially a center,
but he could play at almost any position. He was a
modern player, way ahead of his time, because he was
capable of dishing assists like the best guards; shooting
from mid-range like the best forwards; or blocking
shots like the great big men. Cosic was the first center
who started coming out of the paint, and it was not
strange to see him in the high post, dribbling with one
hand and telling his teammates what to do on the play.
He didn’t do that because some coach said so. It was
just his way of understanding basketball. Whatever he
did, he had a reason for doing it – and that reason made
sense. His was the logic of a smart man.
Cosic was the extension of his coaches on the
court – a description often reserved for point guards
– because basketball ran through his veins. He was a
huge talent. All of his teams – from when he debuted
with Zadar at age 16 in 1964 to his retirement at 35 with
Cibona in 1983 – had a huge advantage by having him
on the roster.
Kreso Cosic was an impulsive player, sometimes
too much so, and his nerves could betray him on occasion.
He would explode on court, angry at himself, his
teammates or – more often – the refs, but he was calm
again in no time. He had big hands and great timing for
rebounds. Many times, he could just pull the ball out of
the air with one hand, like an octopus, and launch fastbreaks
with a long pass. Cosic played with his head, using
his excellent technique to overcome stronger rivals
like Dino Meneghin or Vladimir Tkachenko. He was no
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, but Cosic could also score with
a precise sky hook. In one-on-one situations, he had a
jump shot that was always good because the ball left
his hands when the rival was coming down after biting
on Cosic’s first fake.
In 2011 in Milan I bought a book, “Dino Meneghin,
Passi da Gigante”, the autobiography of the great Italian
center. On page 80 we can read:
“The best Yugoslav players were extra-classy, but
also gentlemen. I am thinking specifically about Kreso
Cosic. And I say that with love because he has not been
among us for a few years. I admired him and I confess
he was my weak spot. On the court, he was like a chip
on your shoulder, a player who could do anything and
everything. To me, he was the first player ever, including
in the NBA, who could play all five positions. He was
a center with the brain of a playmaker. He played like
an assistant point guard, or like a small forward at 2.11
meters. In a team, there are engineers and workers. He
was an engineer. A generous man, loyal and kind, Kreso
opened in me a universal world in terms of personality
101 greats of european basketball
Kresimir Cosic
C

Vladimir Stankovic
and human values, something that was not possible
with other rivals.”
Natural-born talent
Cosic was born in Zagreb on November 26, 1948.
However, he grew up in Zadar, a Croatian city on the
Dalmatian coast with a great basketball tradition. People
in Zadar have a saying: “God created man and Zadar
created basketball.” Zadar produced many great
players, but the most famous two were Josip Gjergja
and Kresimir Cosic. When Cosic, at 16 years old, started
in Zadar’s first team, Gjergja was the star, an international
player for Yugoslavia and an idol of the fans.
The guard-center connection worked flawlessly and
Gjergja helped Cosic, who at 18 became a member of
the national team and won his first silver medal at the
1967 World Cup in Uruguay. The following year, at the
Mexico Olympics, he also won the silver medal. With
Zadar, he won three Yugoslav Leagues: 1965, 1967
and 1968. In the summer of 1968, Cosic was on a European
team with Veikko Vainio from Finland and their
meeting changed his life. Vainio, a student at Brigham
Young University, told him about life in college and
the life of Mormons. Cosic, who until then was sort of
an enfant terrible, a long-haired smoker and “lover of
life”, accepted the invitation and moved to the United
States in 1969.
That’s why Ranko Zeravica, the coach who called
Cosic to the national team at age 17, said the following
words on March 6, 2006, when Cosic’s No.11 became
just the second jersey, after Danny Ainge’s, to be retired
at Brigham Young: “Yugoslavia had problems with
Cosic before he came here because he was underdeveloped
as a person and a player. But he returned to
Yugoslavia a complete man and player. He came back to
Yugoslavia as a well-respected man. He brought back
from BYU an outstanding way of behaving.”
In three years at BYU, always wearing number 11,
Cosic averaged 19.1 points and 11.6 rebounds. He was
an idol for the fans, the man who made it possible for
a new arena with a capacity of more than 20,000 spectators
to be built. He was the first non-American ever
chosen to the All-American team and a strong candidate
for the NBA. He was chosen by Portland with pick No.
144 in the 10th round of the 1972 draft, the year that
the number one and two picks were LaRue Martin and
Bob McAdoo, respectively. Curiously, Cosic was drafted
again the following year by the Los Angeles Lakers with
the 73rd pick, but he never played in the NBA. He was
too patriotic to give up his club of origin and his national
team, with which he soon started winning everything.
After two silver medals at the 1969 and 1971 EuroBaskets,
Yugoslavia finally won its first gold medal in 1973
in Barcelona with Mirko Novosel on the bench. Novosel’s
merit was his introduction of young talent to the team,
including Dragan Kicanovic, Drazen Dalipagic and Zoran
Slavnic. But the soul of that team was Cosic. He would
lead Yugoslavia to EuroBasket titles in 1975 and 1977, a
World Cup silver in 1974 and a gold in 1978, Olympics
silver at Montreal in 1976 and gold at Moscow in 1980.
His international career with Yugoslavia ended with
14 medals. Only Sergei Belov of the Soviet Union has
more medals than Cosic. In 305 games (an absolute
record) with the Yugoslav team, Cosic scored 3,180
points, ranking him third, after Dalipagic with 3,700 and
Kicanovic with 3,300.
Back to European club ball, respecting all the rules of
his new Mormon religion, Cosic won two more Yugoslav
League titles with Zadar, in 1974 and 1975. From 1976
to 1978, he was player-coach with Olimpija Ljubljana.
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In 1978, he joined Synudine Bologna and he turned
the team into a double-champ in Italy overnight as he
averaged 35 minutes per game with 16.9 points, 9.9 rebounds
and 1.6 assists. When Novosel started to build
his great Cibona team in Zagreb in the early 1980s, he
saw Cosic as the key piece. On March 16, 1982 in Brussels,
Cibona won the Saporta Cup against Real Madrid
after overtime, 96-95, with 22 points by Cosic. Cibona
would also win its first Yugoslav League title and in
1982-83 the team made its debut in the top European
competition. It was Cosic’s last season and the team
had an awful record in the competition, at 0-10, but Novosel
was looking into the future. When he managed to
sign Drazen Petrovic in the summer of 1984, the future
was secured despite not having Cosic on the team. The
mission had been accomplished.
Believing in youngsters
Once retired, Kreso Cosic dedicated his life to his
passion: coaching. He was named coach of the Yugoslav
national team. He made his debut at the 1985
EuroBasket in Germany with a solid team (Drazen
Petrovic, Zoran Cutura, Stojan Vrankovic, Zoran Radovic,
Andro Knego, Mihovil Nakic, Borislav Vucevic
and Boban Petrovic) but finished seventh. To the World
Cup in 1986 in Spain, Cosic brought an 18-year-old kid
named Vlade Divac. During the 1985-86 season, he
traveled several times to Kraljevo, the city of Divac’s
club, to spend a week or 10 days practicing individually
with the young center. Divac never forgot this and he
never missed a chance to remember the great Cosic.
In the semifinal against the USSR with the score 85-82
for Yugoslavia, Divac fumbled a ball that allowed Valdis
Valters to make a three-pointer that forced overtime
and ultimately led to Yugoslavia’s loss. After the game,
Divac made up his mind to abandon the sport because
he was clearly not made for it. The following day, in the
game for third place, the starting center was Vlade Divac.
The message from Cosic was loud and clear: “I believe
in you.” For the 1987 EuroBasket in Athens, Cosic
called young prospects like Toni Kukoc, Dino Radja and
Aleksandar Djordjevic to join Divac, Zarko Paspalj and
Goran Grbovic. The bronze medal they won was a prize
for a team full of talent, the great vision of Kreso Cosic.
I was lucky enough to not only follow many of Cosic’s
games but also to meet him personally and even collaborate
with him during his last stint as national head
coach. I was a member of a “press commission” of the
Yugoslav Federation, an earlier version of today’s press
officers. But since I was the only one of the three members
living in Belgrade, most of the practical duties fell
to me. I talked to Cosic many times because he was a
perfectionist and always wanted to improve things.
He was a super kind man with a wide smile. He used to
call people with the phrase “Stari” (meaning, old man).
Almost every one of his conversations started with his
famous, “Listen, old man...”
He spent the last years of his life in the United States
as a Croatian diplomat. He has a statue in Zadar and
a new arena there bears his name. The Croatian Cup
tournament is also named for him: Kresimir Cosic Cup.
He was buried at the Mirogoj cemetery in Zagreb, a few
meters away from another basketball legend, Drazen
Petrovic.
Kresimir Cosic, an unforgettable man on the court –
and even more so off the court.
Kresimir Cosic
101 greats of european basketball
C

Zoran
Cutura
75

A great from the
shadows
There was a time when European basketball
was being played in Syria, which even hosted
the 1979 FIBA U16 European Championship.
In the title game played in Damascus,
Yugoslavia defeated Italy 103-100 and the
hero of the game was one Zoran Cutura
(CHUH-tu-rah), who scored 41 points. Antonello Riva
and Alberto Tonut starred for Italy. Earlier in the tournament,
against a strong Spain squad led by Fernando
Martin and Andres Jimenez, Cutura scored 30 points
in an 89-88 win. His average for the tourney was an
impressive 23.9 points. Cutura was the best scorer and
the MVP, even though not officially. Some other very
good players who came out of this generation were Nebojsa
Zorkic, Srdjan Dabic and Marko Ivanovic, but the
only high-profile star was Cutura himself.
Born in Zagreb on March 12, 1962, Cutura started
playing basketball in school, where the physical education
teacher noticed his height (2.02 meters) and sent
him to the Industromontaza club, where he started
taking basketball more seriously. The flawless scouting
system run by the Yugoslav federation never let any
talents slip from their sight. That’s the only explanation
for how a kid from a second division team became the
leader of the national team. Cutura played in Industromontaza
for three years, between 1978 and 1981. He
then signed for the Cibona team of Mirko Novosel, who
had just started building the finest opus of his career as
a coach: the Great Cibona.
“Few people know that Cutura had a deal with Zadar.
Fortunately, I managed to stop him from leaving. I convinced
him that he had to stay home and be a part of my
project,” the legendary coach recalled in 2014.
Novosel put his team together step by step, as if
building a mosaic. The key piece at the start of a long
journey was the arrival of Kresimir Cosic, already a
veteran, but always a genius. From Dubrovnik arrived
Andro Knego; from Sibenik came Aleksandar Petrovic
first and then his brother Drazen. Ivo Nakic came from
Rijeka and Branko Vukicevic from OKK Belgrade. The
culmination of the process would be Cibona’s back-toback
European crowns in 1985 and 1986. But even before
that, Cutura’s career experienced other important
moments.
Triple crown in the first season
Cutura competed at the first FIBA U19 Basketball
World Cup in Brazil in 1979. A good Yugoslav team with
Zeljko Obradovic, Goran Grbovic, Zoran Radovic and
Cutura (18.3 points) finished fourth. The following year,
at the 1980 FIBA U18 European Championship in Celje,
Yugoslavia was second behind the USSR. Cutura was not
just a name anymore, but a quality player. Against Italy, he
scored 29 points and he averaged 22.8 for the tourney.
“Zoran always had a sixth sense for getting the ball,”
Novosel explained. “He was not a tall man, he was not
athletic. He had the height of a small forward, but he
somehow sensed where the ball would go and he also
had great timing for rebounds. At the start of his career,
he practiced a lot at two-on-two and ‘three, three, three,’
even on street playgrounds. And that helped him a lot.”
In his first season with Cibona, Cutura started winning
titles. Cibona defeated Bosna Sarajevo, the reigning
European champ that year, in the Yugoslav Cup final,
Zoran Cutura
101 greats of european basketball
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Vladimir Stankovic
68-62. In the Saporta Cup, Cibona reached the final. On
March 16, 1982 in Brussels, Real Madrid – armed with
Fernando Martin, Juan Antonio Corbalan, Mirza Delibasic,
Wayne Brabender, Juanma Iturriaga and Fernando
Romay - was the clear favorite, but the talented Croatian
team managed to prevail. After trailing 50-40 at
the break, Real Madrid managed to force overtime, 88-
88, but in the extra session it fell behind and lost 96-95.
Only five players scored for Cibona in that game: Knego
34, Cosic and Aca Petrovic 22 each, Damir Pavlicevic 12
and Mihovil Nakic, 6. The young Cutura, just like Rajko
Gospodnetic and Adnan Becic, was scoreless.
The Yugoslav League also presented, for the first
time and with its share of criticism, a playoffs system.
Partizan finished first and Cibona second. The first
game of their playoff series was played at the old Sports
Hall in New Belgrade. It is still one of the best games
I can remember at the club level. Three overtimes,
drama in the final seconds, and in the end, a 112-108
Cibona victory. The final series was best-of-three and at
home Cibona won easily and claimed its first title.
Two-time European champ
Cibona won the Yugoslav Cup in 1983 and won the
Yugoslav League title again in 1984, which allowed the
team to return to the EuroLeague. The team had a great
roster but it was lacking a superstar, a leader. Novosel,
smart as always, took the lead and won the battle, over
several other teams, for the young Drazen Petrovic.
After a great season, with 12,000 fans attending all
its home games, Cibona reached the continental title
game. The opponent: Real Madrid. The site: Peace and
Friendship Stadium in Piraeus, Greece. The referees:
Yvan Mainini, the future FIBA president, and Costas
Rigas, the future Euroleague Basketball director of referees.
The date: April 3, 1985.
Cibona won 87-78 behind 36 points from Drazen
Petrovic, but Cutura also played 33 minutes and scored
16 points as one of the key men for his team. Novosel,
following the Yugoslavian school method, didn’t make
many changes. Aca Petrovic and Nakic played 40 minutes
each, Drazen 39 and Knego 37. Real Madrid had a great
team with the Martin brothers, Fernando and Antonio,
Corbalan, Iturriaga, Rafa Rullan, Wayne Robinson and
Brian Jackson, but it could not match Cibona’s talent.
Cibona ended the season with another triple crown
because it won the Yugoslav Cup (against Jugoplastika
104-83) and the domestic league title, as well. Cutura also
fulfilled another dream as he made his debut with the
senior national team at the 1985 EuroBasket in Germany.
In the midst of a generation change, Yugoslavia finished
seventh, but Cutura managed to average 9.2 points.
With the same roster, Cibona started to defend its
EuroLeague title in 1985-86. On April 3, 1986, the team
reached the championship game in Budapest, where it
would meet Zalgiris with Arvydas Sabonis. Again, the
ref was Costas Rigas, but this time with Vittorio Fiorito
of Italy. Cibona managed to defeat Zalgiris 94-82. Danko
Cvjeticanin scored 24 points, Drazen 22, Cutura 16
(with 2 of 2 free throws and 7 of 12 field goals). Sabonis
scored 27 points and had 14 rebounds, but was ejected
from the game in the 31st minute.
Cutura’s role was, as usual, not that of a visible star,
but that of the crucial player for his coaches and teammates.
He was a team player and a star who maybe
didn’t shine too bright, but never dimmed either. He
was constant.
In the summer of 1986, Cutura put a new medal
around his neck as Yugoslavia won the bronze at the
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World Cup in Spain. His contribution was 10.4 points
per game. The following year he also won trophies.
First, in March, Cibona defeated Scavolini Pesaro 89-74
in Novi Sad to claim the Saporta Cup.
Cosic, by then the Yugoslav national team coach,
didn’t call Cutura for the 1987 EuroBasket in Athens,
which saw the debut of Toni Kukoc, Vlade Divac, Dino
Radja and Sasha Djordjevic. In 1988 Cibona won its last
title in Yugoslavia. In the Yugoslav Cup final in Rijeka,
the Zagreb team defeated Boza Maljkovic’s Jugoplastika
82-80. Looking back on the end of the game, my
friend Novosel shared a few thoughts:
“The clock showed 20 seconds left and we had possession.
I called for a timeout and I showed a play for
Cutura. They expected Drazen to take the shot, which
was logical, but I trusted Zoran. After good ball circulation,
Zoran was left open and with a perfect shot, he
gave us the win.”
Cutura was the man of the game with 21 points and
the game-winning shot. Drazen scored 15 points. On
the other side, Dusko Ivanovic netted 15 and Kukoc 14.
For the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, coach Dusan
Ivkovic called Cutura back to the team. Yugoslavia
won the silver medal, behind only the USSR, with 8.2
points and 3.5 rebounds coming from Cutura. In 1989,
he enjoyed EuroBasket at home, in front of his fans.
Yugoslavia was back on top with uncontested superiority.
With Drazen Petrovic as its absolute leader, the
rest of the team was Divac, Kukoc, Radja, Zarko Paspalj,
Jure Zdovc, Predrag Danilovic, Zoran Radovic, Mario Primorac,
Stojan Vrankovic and Zradko Radulovic. Cutura
contributed 5 points per game.
World champion
The following summer, almost the same team besides
the injured Radja went on to win the World Cup in
Buenos Aires with authority. Cutura was a part of that
team too, the last of Yugoslavia as a unified country.
In the 1990-91 season, Cutura played his last Yugoslav
League because, after the breakup of the country,
Slovenians and Croatians did not play the Yugoslav
championship anymore. His 10 years in the first division
ended with 269 games, 3,425 points and an average of
14.7 points. His best scoring seasons were 18.5 points
in 1983-84 and 19.1 in the 1989-90 season.
At age 30, he still had a lot to say on the court, but he
didn’t make the Croatian national team for the Barcelona
Olympics in 1992. In 1991-92 he played for Cibona in the
first EuroLeague with more than one team per country.
Because of the war in Croatia, Cibona played its home
games in Spain. With Radulovic, Danko Cvjeticanin, Veljko
Mrsic, Knego, Franjo Arapovic and Cutura, it was a
solid team. Cutura did not play the 1993 EuroBasket in
Germany either. That year, after 12 seasons with Cibona,
Cutura decided to move to Split. In 1994 he won his last
trophy, the Croatian Cup, before retiring in 1995.
After his impressive run in Cibona, Split and the
national team, Cutura had won 17 titles, a silver medal
and two bronzes. He is one of the few greats from
the former Yugoslavia who never played abroad. He
explained several times that he had the chance to do
so, but that his kids were in school and he didn’t want to
leave without his family.
After his career, Cutura became a colleague of mine.
He is a well-known journalist, well respected because of
his basketball knowledge and clear and direct style. He is a
perfect analyst, with the right words about any situation.
Zoran Cutura
101 greats of european basketball
C

Drazen
Dalipagic
79

The sky jumper
The history of Drazen Dalipagic is not
your typical one, in which a great young
talent has a brilliant junior career, then
explodes later as a senior and meets all
expectations. Simply put, Dalipagic was
always a senior because at the age when
Kresimir Cosic, Dragan Kicanovic, Zoran Slavnic,
Mirza Delibasic and the rest were exploding into basketball
and well before he would join them and form a
great Yugoslavian national team, Dalipagic was playing
... football. His nickname precisely comes from his
football days. A central defender of FC Velez Mostar
was called Prajo – and for some reason, Dalipagic also
took that name, which in Belgrade would later become
“Praja” (pronounced, pra-ya).
Dalipagic, who was born on November 27, 1951 in
Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina, came into basketball
by chance. But with a talent for all ball sports, he soon
became the best player in Lokomotiva, the local team
from Mostar. His talent took him to the Bosnia-Herzegovina
national team, with whom, in a tourney played
in Zvornik of his native country, he destroyed Serbia in
front of Ranko Zeravica, then the coach of Yugoslavia
and the future Partizan coach starting in 1972. What
Zeravica saw in Dalipagic was already known among
Yugoslav scouts. Everybody wanted to sign him. Jugoplastika
took the lead in that race and the young player
even got some advance money from the deal. But Partizan
persevered. At the end of the 1970-71 season, Partizan
descended into the second division, but thanks to
a change in the competition system, the team got back
to the first division for the start of the next one because
the second division had been played through the summer.
Djordje Colovic, a smart Partizan man, convinced
Dalipagic to travel to Belgrade by telling him about the
club’s big plans to build a great team with Zeravica on
the bench. Dalipagic would only accept under one condition:
that Partizan was back in the first division. When
Partizan met its side of the deal, Dalipagic did the same,
even though breaking his agreement with Jugoplastika
cost the player a six-month suspension from the Bosnian
federation. He made his debut on the road against
Zadar with only 3 points. But in the debut in front of his
own fans, against Lokomotiva Zagreb (the future Cibona),
he scored 21. That was the start of a brilliant career
that would end at Crvena Zvezda in the 1990-91 season
with the legendary Praja at 39 years of age.
Shoot and jump
Praja was not as talented as Cosic, as imaginative
as Kicanovic, as elegant as Delibasic or as smart on the
court as Slavnic. But he had two things that turned him
into one of the best scorers ever. He could shoot and rebound.
Or jump and shoot. Two inseparable elements.
He jumped to grab the ball, he jumped to take a shot,
especially from the corner, his favorite spot. We can add
a third element, related to rebounds: dunks. His were
spectacular, a combination of strength, quickness, confidence
and, also, a great understanding with Dragan
Kicanovic, who dished special assists to make Praja’s
alley-oops easier. The press in Belgrade nicknamed him
“The Sky Jumper”.
After the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, Zeravica
left the national team to build a great Partizan. Dalipagic
was the first piece of the puzzle. In 1973, Kicanovic
joined the team, and one of the best Yugoslavian
101 greats of european basketball
Drazen Dalipagic
D

Vladimir Stankovic
basketball duos ever was born. The successor to Zeravica
for the national team bench was Mirko Novosel,
his assistant. For the 1973 EuroBasket in Barcelona,
Novosel started a revolution: aside from the veterans
like Cosic, Rato Tvrdic, Damir Solman, Vinko Jelovac
and Nikola Plecas, he called Dalipagic, Kicanovic, Zeljko
Jerkov, Dragan Ivkovic, Zoran Marovic and Slavnic, already
a veteran at 24 whom Zeravica had not counted
on. The outcome was spectacular: Yugoslavia’s first
gold medal in a EuroBasket and the start of an era that
would peak with the gold medal at the 1980 Olympics
in Moscow. The core of this brilliant team was formed
by Cosic (born in 1948), Slavnic (1949), Dalipagic (1951)
and Kicanovic (1953). As can be seen, they were not
from the same generation, but they connected on the
court. They played in four different positions and they
only needed a fifth man to form an unstoppable starting
five. Usually, the fifth man was center Zeljko Jerkov.
Owner of 12 medals
When distributing roles, Praja had always the toughest
one: scoring as much as possible. He started in Barcelona
in 1973 with an average of 8 points per game. In
Belgrade 1975 he had 12.1. Then came Montreal 1976
(18.2 ppg.), Belgium 1977 (19.8), Manila 1978 (22.4) and
Turin 1979 (14.0), Moscow 1980 (24.4), Prague 1981
(17.0), Columbia 1982 (18.1), Nantes 1983 (18.3), Los
Angeles 1984 (21.9) and Madrid 1986 (16.2). During
his 13 years with the national team, in the three great
competitions – EuroBasket, the World Cup, and the
Olympic Games – he won 12 medals: 5 golds, 3 silvers
and 4 bronzes. He played 246 games and scored 3,700
points, 400 more than second-in-line Kicanovic and
520 more than the third-best scorer, Cosic. Only Cosic,
with 14, has more medals than Dalipagic. His scoring
high for the national team was 46 points against Romania
in 1976, the second-best mark ever on the team,
surpassed only by Drazen Petrovic’s 47 points against
the Netherlands in 1986.
In his 10 years at Partizan, Dalipagic played a total
of 305 games, scored 8,278 points (27.1 per game)
and won two national leagues, one domestic cup and
one Korac Cup, in 1976. He also played in Italy for
Venezia, Udine and Verona, totaling 241 games with
7,993 points and 47.1% three-point shooting. He was
top scorer in Italy three times, with averages of 30.8,
36.5 and 36.3 points per game. On January 25, 1987,
playing for Venezia against Virtus Bologna (107-102) he
scored ... 70 points! In Venezia, in the second division,
his average for the 1981-82 season was ... 42.9 points!
In the 1982-83 season, he played for Real Madrid, but
only in the EuroLeague. In that team, he met fellow Bosnian
Mirza Delibasic.
At 39, Dalipagic accepted the call from his great
friend Moka Slavnic, coach of Crvena Zvezda, for the
1990-91 season and he didn’t disappoint. He scored
321 points and his three-point accuracy was 38%. The
esteemed players who achieved more than him that
season are: Arian Komazec of Zadar was the best scorer
(645), Zarko Paspalj of Partizan second (576), Toni
Kukoc third (438). The best shooters from downtown
were Zeljko Obradovic of Partizan (58.5%) and Velimir
Perasovic of Jugoplastika (50%).
Dalipagic could have been the first European in
the NBA. After the Montreal Olympics in 1976, where
Yugoslavia lost the final to the USA, the Boston Celtics
called Praja. He spent two weeks in their summer camp
and convinced everyone. But signing for an NBA team
would mean losing his “amateur” status, which would
deprive him of playing with Yugoslavia in FIBA competi-
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81

After all, he was named the European player of the year
three times - in 1977, 1978 and 1980!
After his great playing career, Praja coached Gorizia
of Italy for several years, and then was sports director
from some humble teams of Belgrade. More recently, he
has been living away from basketball. His son Davorin
followed his footsteps and was a pro in Portugal, Italy,
Cyprus and even played for Partizan for a short stint.
But the weight of his name was too big despite him being
a fine player.
Because his father was too great.
Drazen Dalipagic
tions. It was too big a sacrifice for such a patriotic player.
I think that, because of his playing style, his physical
strength, his scoring and rebounding abilities, he would
have been able to play in the NBA without a doubt. The
European pioneers (Sarunas Marciulionis, Vlade Divac,
Alexander Volkov, Drazen Petrovic) confirmed the European
potential some 10 years later. His greatness was
recognized when Dalipagic was inducted into the Naismith
Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on September
10, 2004. FIBA did the same on September 12, 2007.
101 greats of european basketball
D

Ivo
Daneu
83

The first great
Slovenian
He never won a European cup. In fact,
he didn’t even play in any finals. He
didn’t win any other titles since they
didn’t even exist in his playing years.
But believe me, Ivo Daneu was one of
the greats. Daneu, who was born on
October 6, 1937, in Maribor, was the first Slovenian
basketball superstar. Slovenia is a small country,
with hardly two million people. But it has a long basketball
tradition and many greats played alongside
Daneu and after him. From the generations of Bors
Kristancic, Vital Eiselt, Miha Lokar, Marjan Kandus,
Bogdan Miler, Matija Dermastija, Borut Basin and Alosa
Zorga, continuing with Peter Vilfan and Jure Zdovc,
and leading us to modern stars like Rasho Nesterovic,
Primoz Brezec, Erazem Lorbek, Jaka Lakovic, Bostjan
Nachbar, Sasha Vujacic, Goran Dragic and, the latest,
Luka Doncic.
However, before all of them was Ivo Daneu, a
1.84-meter guard who offered whatever skill his team
needed. If the team needed points, he scored them. If
his teammates were in need of assists, he delivered in
spades. If he had to guard the other team’s best scorer,
there he was. He was one of those players who makes
his teammates better, even above their real potential.
In the old Yugoslavia, the name Daneu was quickly
matched with Radivoj Korac. Almost from the same
generation (Korac was born in 1938), they formed the
greatest duo of early Yugoslav basketball and they
were key cogs in the rise of that country’s basketball
from mediocrity to elite.
In his hometown of Maribor, which he had to leave
when his family was thrown out by the Germans, like
many other Slovenians, Daneu’s first love was tennis.
After that, he tried football until, as luck would have it, a
basketball hit him in the face. He was walking out of the
stadium and not paying any attention. So he stopped
by the basketball court, picked up the ball and scored.
He never thought of any other sport again.
His great talent didn’t go unnoticed at his local Maribor
club, Branik. Several first-division teams wanted to
sign him. Partizan Belgrade offered him “coal and food”
– a common remuneration in those years. But Ljubljana
was closer. He signed for Olimpija in 1956, and the
following year he led the team to its first title! With
Maribor, he was already on the national team, but it was
when he was with Olimpija that he was called – together
with teammates Marjan Kandus, Boris Kristancic, Bogdan
Miler and Matija Dermastija – by coach Aleksandar
Nikolic to be in the 1957 EuroBasket squad in Istanbul.
Yugoslavia finished sixth, and the scoring average of a
20-year-old Daneu was 6.5 points. But Nikolic knew he
had a leader for years to come.
Real Madrid wanted him
With Olimpija, Daneu won six Yugoslav League titles
between 1957 and 1970, but there is no reliable statistical
data. He took his team several times to the gates
of the European final. At the 1967 Final Four in Madrid,
together with Borut Basin (who scored 32 points), he
drove the Real Madrid defense crazy, even though the
Whites won 88-86. Santiago Bernabeu, the Real Madrid
president, gave an order: “Sign this number 10 immediately.”
No. 10 was, of course, Daneu. However, it was
101 greats of european basketball
Ivo Daneu
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Vladimir Stankovic
impossible for him to get out of Yugoslavia and even
more difficult to sign for a team from Spain, a country
with whom Yugoslavia didn’t have diplomatic relations.
In the 1963 eighthfinals against Alsace Bagnolet of
France, Daneu was the unwilling protagonist of a scandal.
Daneu was in the military service in Belgrade, and
without him, Olimpija lost 80-61. For the second game,
the club moved heaven and earth to try to get Daneu to
play. Permission arrived at the last minute and he left
in his car at about noon. It was a 635-kilometer drive
to Ljubljana and at that time it took about eight hours
due to bad roads and, especially, the snow. Olimpija
waited for Daneu and delayed the start of the game for
almost two hours. The French protested, but the game
didn’t start until news reached the arena that Daneu
was stranded in the middle of the snow. Without him,
Olimpija won 128-94. The French team signed an official
protest to FIBA, who didn’t even want to hear about it.
What is for sure and from what I saw, on television
or in person – taking into account that I started working
in the spring of 1967 – is that Daneu was Olimpija’s best
player by far: a creator, a game director, the soul of his
team. Unlike the lack of data on his league appearances,
there is a lot of information from his national team
years. At the 1959 EuroBasket in Sofia, with Korac by
his side, Daneu averaged 8.1 points. In the Rome Olympics
he was up to 9.9 and at the Belgrade EuroBasket,
where Yugoslavia got its first medal, he reached 12.2.
At the 1963 World Cup in Rio, he averaged 11.9 points
with a decisive basket for a win over the United States.
He averaged 13.6 at the Poland EuroBasket after that.
At the Tokyo Olympics he scored 12.1 points and in
1965 EuroBasket in Moscow he had 12.4. He reached
15.0 points at the 1967 World Cup in Montevideo. At
that championship – where his team won a silver medal
– Daneu was chosen MVP of the event. When we talk
about his scoring numbers, we must remember that
he was not a natural scorer. He was all about smarts,
game vision, assists and a secure hand for the last
shot. His specialty, like Clifford Luyk, was the hook shot.
He always dribbled to the right corner and, after leaving
his rivals behind, he shot his sky hook from the corner,
parallel to the backboard.
For the 1967 EuroBasket in Helsinki, Yugoslav coach
Ranko Zeravica wanted to inject young blood into the
team and left out some veterans like Daneu and Korac.
But after the failure of that team (ninth place), both were
called again for the 1968 Olympics in Mexico. Daneu
responded with brilliant play. His scoring average was
13.9 points, but all the plays started in his hands, all
the possessions were his first. In a dramatic semifinal
against the USSR, with Yugoslavia trailing 58-57, a great
assist from Daneu led to a foul on a young Kresimir
Cosic, who scored both free throws. Petar Skansi, after
a failed attack by the Soviets, increased the lead to 61-
58. Anatoli Povidola scored for the rivals, but then, the
most famous three seconds in Yugoslavian basketball
took place: another pass from Daneu to Vladimir Cvetkovic,
who was fouled. All of Yugoslavia stopped in front
of the TV screen. Daneu walked up to Cvetkovic and told
him: “Take it easy, you will score both.”
And Cvetkovic did. The final basket, by Sergey Belov
to make it 63-62, was not very useful. In the final, Yugoslavia
lost to the United States, led by Spencer Haywood
(21 points) and Jo Jo White (14), by the final score
65-50. Only Daneu, who scored 16, stood out against
the Americans.
World champion
After winning another silver medal at the 1969 Euro-
84
85

Basket, the 1970 World Cup arrived with the final stage
in Ljubljana. Olimpija had won the league in 1970, but in
the final games two things happened: Daneu suffered a
serious muscle injury in a game against Crvena Zvezda,
and there was a conflict between him and his national
teammate Cvetkovic. Coach Zeravica faced a tough dilemma.
He needed both, but he knew he could only take
one. He chose Daneu because of his experience and
the fact that the tourney would be played in Ljubljana in
front of his fans. The injured Daneu didn’t play much. He
only played in two games and scored only 8 points. But
in the decisive game against the USA (70-63) he scored
4 important points down the stretch and led Yugoslavia
to its first world title. It was the pinnacle of his brilliant
career. In 2010, to celebrate the 40th anniversary of that
win, Daneu himself called upon his teammates from the
team that won that historic gold medal to gather once
again. Trajko Rajkovic and Cosic had since passed on.
The rest spent three unforgettable days together.
The record books show Daneu with 202 games
played for the national team and 2,214 points scored
(11.0 ppg.) to make him the seventh-best scorer of the
team after Drazen Dalipagic, Dragan Kicanovic, Cosic,
Korac, Drazen Petrovic and Vinko Jelovac. On 32 occasions,
he was the high scorer on the team and he scored
10 or more points in 105 games. He won eight medals
– a World Cup gold, six World and EuroBasket silvers,
and a EuroBasket bronze. In 1967, he was chosen as the
best Yugoslav sportsman. On September 12, 2007, he
was inducted into the FIBA Hall of Fame.
And here is one unbelievable piece of data by today’s
standards: During the whole length of his brilliant
career, Daneu was a working man from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.,
until he retired. Sometimes he had problems taking
days off so he could play. It was another era, but also
with great players. His son, Jaka, was also an important
player in Olimpija, but not quite at his father’s level. Ivo,
Jaka, and Jaka’s sons were promoters for the 2013 EuroBasket,
which took place in Slovenia, a small country
size-wise, but a great one in terms of basketball.
101 greats of european basketball
Ivo Daneu
D

Richard
Dacoury
87

Professional
winner
The best way for me to start this story,
which is dedicated to – if not the best,
then the most decorated French player of
all time (not including active players) – is
a detail that Boza Maljkovic, the boss of
Limoges in the early 1990s, told me in
October 2012.
“When I arrived to Limoges, I had to build a new
team from scratch,” Maljkovic said. “For different reasons,
of the eight players that finished that season,
only one was expected to stay for the following season,
Richard Dacoury. He was a player I liked a lot because
of his physical potential, his willingness to work, his
strong winning character and a personality that is always
welcome in any locker room. Also, he spoke good
English, which was important to interact with Michael
Young and Jure Zdovc, our foreigners back then.
“One day, I was told that we had to go to some
school that was to take the name of Richard Dacoury
because he had decided to ... retire! It was hard for me to
convince him not to do that. He was about 32 years old
and thanks to his physical condition, he still had some
basketball years in him. Plus, he was a key man in my
defensive schemes. He was probably the best athlete I
ever coached in my career. Fortunately, I convinced him,
and he is thankful to me for that even today!”
The biggest consequence of that decision happened
on April 15, 1993, in Athens, at Peace and Friendship
Stadium. Limoges was crowned European champion by
beating Toni Kukoc’s Benetton Treviso 59-55. Two days
before, in the semis, Limoges beat the other favorite:
Arvydas Sabonis’s Real Madrid by the score of 62-52.
I was there, at one of the 20 out of 24 Final Fours that I
have attended, and I still think that was the biggest surprise
in the EuroLeague to date! Nowadays, many people
don’t give Maljkovic enough credit because of his
style of “basket control” – or even “anti-basket” – which
was based on few points and a slow pace. However, if
the goal in sports is winning, especially in pro sports,
what Maljkovic did with that “team of miners,” as he
called his squad, is something to be studied through
a technical, tactical and psychological point of view. It
was the recipe of how a coach must adapt to the players
he has in order to get the best out of them. Even
Dacoury himself, on occasion of the 50th anniversary
of European club competitions, celebrated at the 2008
Final Four in Madrid, agreed.
“Our coach did a huge psychological job on us,”
Dacoury told EuroLeague.net. “I saw that later, but now
I can say it: He did the best work ever on our confidence.
He was so relaxed, especially if you compare him to the
rest of season until that point. He smiled, laughed. We
had no pressure. He told us that it was only pleasure.”
Before surprising Real Madrid and Benetton, Limoges
played the preliminary round to eliminate the Guildford
Kings (with a tie in London!), while in the group
stage it finished second behind PAOK Thessaloniki with
a 7-5 record and on top of teams like Scavolini Pesaro,
Knorr Bologna, Joventut Badalona, Cibona Zagreb and
Maccabi Tel Aviv. In the quarterfinals, Limoges got rid
of Olympiacos with a 2-1 series win, making good use
of the home-court advantage.
As the captain of that team, Dacoury lifted the EuroLeague
trophy, the first title ever in a top continental
101 greats of european basketball
Richard Dacoury
D

Vladimir Stankovic
competition for a French team in any sport. One month
later, Olympique Marseille also won football’s European
Cup, but the honor of being first will always belong to
Limoges CSP. The full cover of the newspaper L’Equipe,
with Dacoury lifting the trophy, is history itself. Curiously,
Dacoury was wearing a yellow jersey – even though
the official color of the team the previous years had
been green. Maljkovic had managed to change the color
– because yellow was fashionable and successful (think
Jugoplastika Split, Maccabi Tel Aviv and Aris Thessaloniki)
– and it worked! The No. 7 jersey of Dacoury hangs
retired in the rafters of the Limoges arena, and it has
both colors, the classic green and the yellow, which
gave the club its most important title.
The symbol of Limoges
Even though he started his career in Lyon (from
1976 to 1978) and finished it with Racing Paris (1996
to 1998), winning his ninth French League title, the
bulk of Richard Dacoury’s career was tied to Limoges.
He wore the club’s jersey from 1978 to 1996, winning
eight French Leagues, five French Cups, two Korac Cups
(1982 and 1983), a Saporta Cup (1988) and the EuroLeague
(1993). He was never a born scorer. His specialties
were defense, rebounds, fighting, sacrifice and being
the extension of the coach on the court. However, if the
team needed points, he would happily provide them.
His best numbers in the French League came in the
1984-85 season, with 18.7 points per game on 55.9%
field goal accuracy, 5 rebounds and 3 assists. In 1986-
87 he averaged 18.2 points. During his 20-year career,
only in the last three did he average below 10 points.
In total, he played 495 games with an average of 12.6
points.
Dacoury made his debut with the French national
team in Orleans on May 5, 1981, scoring his first 4
points in a friendly game against Cuba (108-117). The
last time he wore the blue jersey was on June 26, 1992,
in Granada against Switzerland (108-65), saying goodbye
with 22 points. He played 160 games with France,
totaling 2,230 points (13.9 per game).
I remember well the first time I saw Richard Dacoury
play, in Korac Cup final that took place on March 18,
1982, in Padua, Italy. Limoges faced Sibenik of Croatia,
which had a young talent named Drazen Petrovic
(19 points) and a golden veteran like Srecko Jaric (16
points), Marko Jaric’s father. Limoges won 90-84,
thanks to Ed Murphy’s 35 points. Dacoury contributed
12 points, but you could see an enormous potential
in him. One year later, on March 8, 1983, in Berlin, the
same matchup took place in the same final and Limoges
won again, 94-86. Murphy shined again with 34
points, but Dacoury was already the star of the team
as he scored 16 points. Looking through the data of the
game, I discovered that the second-best scorer of the
Dalmatian team was Predrag Saric (22 points), father of
Dario Saric. The father and son sagas still go on.
Dacoury’s third continental trophy also arrived on
neutral ground, on March 16, 1988, in Grenoble, where
Limoges defeated Joventut Badalona of Spain in the
Saporta Cup final by 96-89. Dan Collins was the big star
with 28 points, but the fact that Dacoury played 33 minutes
makes it clear that his contribution was way more
than the 8 points he scored that night.
From the court to the microphone
I personally met Dacoury at the 1983 EuroBasket
played in Limoges. It was his second continental tournament.
After that, we met each other again several
times, including at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los
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89

Richard Dacoury
Angeles. I was at his official farewell game in Limoges,
one day after the 1999 EuroBasket in Paris. We also
saw each other again in London 2012, where he was
there as a commentator for French television. Since
his retirement, he has become the “voice of basketball”
in France, where he is really popular due to his
understanding of the game and because of the way
he explained what was happening on the court. When
I told him that I would be writing about him in my series
dedicated to the past legends of the game, he only told
me: “It will be an honor for me to be among the great
players that appear in your series.”
It’s also an honor for me to have known for so many
years a player and person such as Richard Dacoury.
With the ball or the microphone, his profession is still
the same: being a winner.
101 greats of european basketball
D

Predrag
Danilovic
91

Simply a champ
It happened on the Serbian mountain of Zlatibor
in the summer of 1986. Zeljko Obradovic, at that
point a player for Partizan, was taking a course to
become a basketball coach. It was a mandatory
session for the students and Zeljko was a good
pupil. His gift for this profession showed from the
first minute. There was a group of kids around 15 and
16 years old in a basketball summer camp, and Zeljko
spotted one of them who was tall and thin. The player
caught his attention. Obradovic gave him a Partizan
jersey and, once back in Belgrade, he told his head
coach, Dusko Vujosevic: “Listen, I just saw a kid from
Sarajevo that we have to sign right now. His name is
Predrag Danilovic and he plays with Bosna Sarajevo.”
He didn’t have to tell Vujosevic twice. The coach started
pulling strings and the 16-year-old arrived in Belgrade
shortly thereafter – but without documents. Bosna
didn’t approve of the transaction because it also saw
that it had a diamond in its hands. With the support of
his parents and his own will, Danilovic arrived in Belgrade
with the intention of waiting as long as it would take to
play for his favorite team.
Two years inactive
With the rules on its side, Bosna toughened up and
didn’t give permission for the move. Young Danilovic spent
a full year just practicing. Vujosevic dedicated a lot of time
to him, with loads of individual practices, and that’s when
a great friendship was born. It lasts to this day.
When at the beginning of the 1987-88 season Bosna
stood its ground, it was clear that Danilovic was going to
miss another year. Then, Partizan decided to send him
to a high school in the United States to finish school and
learn English. He played basketball in Cookeville, Tennessee,
but he says that he didn’t learn anything new
because he was the best player in the school, by far.
Finally, in the summer of 1988, he was back in Belgrade
as a Partizan player. His brilliant career started with the triumph
of Yugoslavia at the FIBA U18 European Championship
in 1988, played in Srbobran in the Vojvodina region.
The coach was Vujosevic, and he had a powerful team:
Arijan Komazec, Zan Tabak, Rastko Cvetkovic, Dzevad Alihodzic
and, of course, Danilovic. In the title game, which I
saw live in the small gym, Yugoslavia defeated Vincenzo
Esposito’s Italy by the score of 84-75. Big man Alihodzic
had 23 points, shooting guard Komazec 20, and young
Sasha had 14 with 4 of 4 free throws. His average for the
tournament was 9.4 points. That was the first gold medal
of his career, which truly started on that day.
In the 1988-89 season, Danilovic made his debut
with Partizan’s first team and ended with 123 points in
21 games for a modest average of 5.6 points. But, by
playing next to Zarko Paspalj, Vlade Divac, Sasha Djordjevic
and his mentor, Obradovic, Danilovic gained valuable
experience and also two trophies: the Yugoslav
Cup, against a great Jugoplastika team of Boza Maljkovic
that won that year’s EuroLeague, and the Korac Cup,
in a great final against Cantu. In the first game of that
Korac Cup final, played in Italy on March 16, 1989, Cantu,
coached by Carlo Recalcati, won 89-76 as Kent Benson
starred with 24 points and Antonello Riva scored
19. The Italians arrived in Belgrade as clear favorites for
the second game, on April 22. In the old gym of New
Belgrade, which was packed to the rafters with 7,000
fans, Partizan won 101-82 with 30 points by Divac, 22
by Paspalj, 21 by Djordjevic and 10 by Danilovic.
101 greats of european basketball
Predrag Danilovic
D

Vladimir Stankovic
At the end of the season, national team head coach
Dusan Ivkovic called young Danilovic for EuroBasket
1989 in Zagreb – at 19 years old and after only one
season in the first division! The kid played alongside
Drazen Petrovic, Toni Kukoc, Divac, Paspalj and Dino
Radja. He finished the tournament with an average of
8.2 points and he even scored 4 points in the title game
against Greece, which Yugoslavia won 98-77. Not a bad
start: four titles in four different competitions!
The following season he only played 11 games due
to a serious injury, but his numbers had increased to
14.3 points per game. He missed the 1990 World Cup in
Argentina because of the injury. In the 1990-91 season,
he scored 13.9 points in the domestic league and won
a new gold medal with Yugoslavia at the 1991 EuroBasket
in Rome with 9 points in the title game against Italy.
Miracle in Istanbul
In the 1991-92 season, the Yugoslav League was
already being played without Croatian and Slovenian
teams, due to the war. Partizan won the cup and the
league as Danilovic averaged 21.8 points. In the EuroLeague,
his average was 19.4 points. Because of the war,
Partizan had to play its EuroLeague home games in Fuenlabrada,
Spain. The team made the Final Four in Istanbul,
where it performed two miracles. First, in the semis, and
for the third time that season, it defeated Philips Milan.
Then, in the title game, on April 16, it defeated Joventut
Badalona with the famous three-pointer by Djordjevic.
However, the MVP of the final was Danilovic, who scored
25 points – making 7 of 12 two-pointers, 2 of 4 threes
and 5 of 6 free throws – and pulled 5 rebounds in 32 minutes.
Djordjevic added 23 points on 6-for-7 three-point
shooting. They worked as a great duo.
The Istanbul heroes continued their careers in Italy.
Djordjevic signed for Milano while Danilovic chose Knorr
Bologna – or maybe Bologna chose him! – with young
Ettore Messina on the bench. In three years, they won
three Italian League titles. During the McDonald’s Open
of 1993 in Munich, the New York Times wrote an article
saying that Danilovic was the new Kukoc for the NBA.
“The next Toni Kukoc, perhaps, is a shooting forward
for an Italian team sponsored by a non-alcoholic beer.
On Thursday night, his uniform was as black as his hair,
bringing out the dusk around his eyes. Predrag Danilovic
is a hard worker, which explains his surly expression
and the joy of his efficient release. ‘He is an NBA
shooter – not scorer, but shooter,’ said Hubie Brown,
the former National Basketball Association coach.”
A dunk over ... Sabonis
Before trying his luck in the NBA, Danilovic won his third
gold medal at the 1995 EuroBasket. In an unforgettable
final, the best one I have ever seen, Yugoslavia defeated
Lithuania 96-90 with 41 points from Djordjevic (9 of 12
threes) and 23 by Danilovic, who was the undisputed protagonist
of the game by dunking over ... Arvydas Sabonis!
In that play, you can see the character of Danilovic: courage,
fight, desire, ambition, ability. Only somebody who is
sure of himself would even try, at hardly 2.01 meters, to
dunk against a wall standing 2.21 meters tall:
“I saw there was some free room and, out of intuition,
I went for the dunk. I knew that I had Sabonis in
front of me, but I thought that, at least, I would be able
to get a foul from that. The play turned out well,” he recalled,
as if it was just another of his many great plays.
Some character! It was his third European crown and
by the end of the season, he was chosen best player in
Europe by FIBA.
Hubie Brown was right: Danilovic was a shooter. In his
92
93

75 NBA games wearing Miami and Dallas jerseys, he averaged
12.8 points while making 37.9% of his three-pointers.
His stellar moment arrived in a game against New
York in which he scored 21 points on 7 of 7 threes! He
told me that he had better games, with 30 or 35 points,
but that playing at Madison Square Garden was special.
Despite playing solid basketball and being well regarded,
Danilovic didn’t like the NBA or the American
lifestyle so much. On February 1, 1997, I got a scoop:
Sasha Danilovic was heading back to Europe. Not many
people believed it, but it was confirmed in the end.
Before coming back, not to leave America empty-handed,
he played with Yugoslavia at the 1996 Olympics in
Atlanta. Danilovic averaged 16.8 points as Yugoslavia
took home the silver medal.
Magic moments
In the summer of 1997, back in Europe, Danilovic won
his fourth EuroBasket title in Barcelona – four for four!
He contributed 15.0 points on average and had 10 in a
61-49 title-game win over Italy, which was coached by...
Messina. For the 1997-98 season, Danilovic was back
again with Bologna and played a brilliant season. First,
in April 1988, Kinder won its first EuroLeague title in the
Final Four played in Barcelona. In the title game, Kinder
defeated AEK Athens 58-44 with Antoine Rigaudeau as
its best scorer, with 14 points. Danilovic added 13 points
plus 5 boards. There were also Savic, Hugo Sconochini,
Alessandro Abbio, Augusto Binelli, Alessandro Frosini
and, of course, Ettore Messina. Danilovic’s averages in the
EuroLeague were 17.5 points, 3.8 boards and 3.2 assists.
But the best was yet to come. In the finale of the Italian
League playoff finals, with 16 seconds to go in Game
5, Kinder’s archrival Fortitudo Bologna was ahead by 4
points. Done deal, right? For everyone else, maybe, but
not for Sasha. In a dream play, he shot from 8 meters
and hit the three-pointer. But Dominique Wilkins, a
former NBA star with more than 20,000 points in the
league, put his hand where he was not supposed to. He
fouled Sasha on the shot and Danilovic got the extra
free throw. Of course, he made the shot and overtime
was in order. Danilovic shined in the extra session with
2 points, an assist for Binelli, another for Radoslav
Nesterovic, then a three-pointer. Danilovic played 43
of the 45 minutes and, with 20 points, was the hero of
the game that Kinder won 86-77. Danilovic was chosen
MVP of the season.
In the following season, 1998-99, Danilovic didn’t
win anything with Kinder, but with Yugoslavia he won
his fifth medal at the 1999 EuroBasket in France – this
time a bronze. There, in France, he gave me a long interview
in which he told me that he would not play for
much longer. I admit I didn’t believe it because he was
only 29 years old. But, after losing one of the few finals
in his career – the Saporta Cup against AEK Athens on
April 11, 2000, by the score of 76-83 – and after the fall
of Yugoslavia in the quarterfinals of the 2000 Sydney
Olympics against Steve Nash’s Canada, Danilovic decided
to retire. At 30 years old!
Kinder organized a big farewell to Danilovic by playing
his last game against Partizan. I had the pleasure and privilege
to attend the event as a EuroLeague representative.
His character and qualities are explained here by
Zoran Savic, his teammate with Kinder and the Yugoslav
team:
“Sasha was the man for the big games! The finals
and the decisive games were his thing and inspired him
in a special way. He was an unbelievable fighter.
Predrag Danilovic
101 greats of european basketball
D

Mike
D’Antoni
95

The NBA’s first
“European”
head coach
As you know, that title is not 100 percent
accurate because Michael Andrew
“Mike” D’Antoni is American by birth,
since he was born May 9, 1951, in Mullens,
West Virginia, United States. But
it’s also not a mistake to say that he is
the first European head coach in the NBA. After all, he
also holds an Italian passport.
Plus, his having played in Italy with Olimpia Milano
between 1977 and 1990 and started his coaching career
in the same country between 1990 and 1997, at
Olimpia Milano and Benetton Treviso, left some traces
in D’Antoni’s development as a coach. I am sure his
American foundations, which started with his father,
a long-time coach, were at least influenced by the
European school of basketball. When he went back to
the United States to join the Denver Nuggets in 1997,
getting promoted to the head of the bench for the
strike-shortened 1998-99 season, D’Antoni was a rookie
coach in the most powerful league in the world. But
his formation, skills and knowledge of the sport made
him eligible to work in the NBA without a doubt. Only a
few years later, D’Antoni was named the NBA’s Coach of
the Year in 2005, because of his great season with the
Phoenix Suns. However, this is a story dedicated to the
player in D’Antoni, one of the best Americans to ever
grace European courts.
After having played at Marshall University, D’Antoni
was drafted in 1973 by Kansas City. He played there for
two seasons and nine games of a third one. He spent
the rest of that third season with the St. Louis Spirits
of the ABA and then returned to the NBA for the next
one with the San Antonio Spurs, but played little. When,
in the summer of 1977, he landed in Milan to play with
Olimpia, D’Antoni was literally unknown in Europe.
His arrival was all due to the fact that Olimpia general
manager Cesare Rubini and coach Filippo Faina - both
backed by president Dr. Adolfo Bogoncelli - had positive
reports of this player, who by then was 26 years old.
Dan Peterson memories
Dan Peterson, the famous American coach who
worked with D’Antoni during many years in Milan, had
this memory of his first time meeting Mike:
“The first thing I did when I took over Olimpia Milan
in 1978 was confirm Mike D’Antoni as one of my two
allowed foreign players. I was still coaching Virtus Bologna
in 1977-78 and Olimpia came in and beat us by
15 points in Bologna, 104-89, as Mike D’Antoni stopped
my top scorer, John Roche, and just simply tore us
apart with his play-making ability, his quick hands, his
defense, his steals, his leadership. That was a guy I
wanted on my basketball team.”
Peterson’s wish was granted fast. Olimpia Milan
called Peterson to coach in 1978-79 and he stayed
there until 1987. If anyone can describe Mike D’Antoni
best, it’s Peterson:
“We were together all nine years I coached Olimpia,
1978-87. He was, as they say, a ‘coach on the floor’. I
designed the offense so that Mike could run it without
calling hand signals or voice signals, using only ‘automatics’
to ‘indicate’ the play. This let him dribble with-
Mike D’Antoni
101 greats of european basketball
D

Vladimir Stankovic
out any concerns. I also put in the ‘L’ play (Pick & Roll)
to use his great dribbling-passing skills. Finally, I put in
our ‘3’ defense, the 1-3-1 half-court zone trap, which
became Mike’s ‘signature’. Mike led us to a historic era
of success and I conferred with him often, off the court,
during timeouts or at halftime.”
As Peterson mentions, Mike D’Antoni was always
an extension of his coaches on the floor. He was one of
those players with a natural gift for seeing the game,
reading the plays, improvising, and getting the best out
of his teammates because he always fed them the ball at
the right moment or ran plays that made it easier for his
team to score. He was not a natural scorer, but if points
were what the team needed, he was there to score 20
or more. In 1990, he was chosen as the starting point
guard on a hypothetical all-time Italian League team.
Two-time European champ
As a player, D’Antoni won five Italian Leagues (1982,
1985, 1986, 1987 and 1989), two Italian Cups (1987,
1988), one Korac Cup in 1985 and one Intercontinental
Cup against Barcelona (102-91) in 1989. However, his
biggest moments were the two European titles he won:
in 1987 against Maccabi in Lausanne (71-69) and one
year later in Ghent, Belgium in the first Final Four of the
new era, once again against Maccabi, 90-84.
In Lausanne, Peterson was coaching the team. In 36
minutes on the floor, D’Antoni contributed 7 points, 6
rebounds, 4 steals and 1 assist. In charge of scoring
were Roberto Premier (23), Bob McAdoo (21 plus 9 rebounds)
and Ken Barlow (18). A super team. In Ghent,
D’Antoni played all 40 minutes. He scored 17 points
with no two-point shots, making 4 of 11 threes and 5
of 6 free throws. He added 2 rebounds, 2 steals and 2
assists. He formed a great duo, again, with McAdoo (25
points).
“The big thing was it being the first Final Four,” D’Antoni
told Euroleague.net on occasion of the 50 Years of
European Club Competitions celebration in 2008. Of
course, he was among the 35 best players of all time in
Europe, as chosen by a panel of experts put together by
Euroleague Basketball. “There was a lot of excitement.
We played the Greeks from Aris in the first game, and
they had been our rivals for a long time. That was an
exciting game, as was the final with Maccabi. The new
format made it exciting and a good atmosphere. The
kinks still had to be worked out. The floor was bad, the
dressing rooms horrible. But they had it in Belgium, as
I recall, because they wanted to promote basketball
there. Of course, a lot has changed since then.”
I can’t exactly pinpoint the first time I saw Mike D’Antoni,
but I am sure it was on TV. I’d say it was in the EuroLeague
in 1987-88. In Belgrade, Partizan won 92-85.
I also saw D’Antoni in the 1989 EuroBasket in Zagreb.
At some point before that, using his Italian heritage, he
obtained an Italian passport and accepted playing for
the national team. The Zagreb EuroBasket, with only
eight teams, was rather short. In the semis, Yugoslavia
(the eventual champ) beat Italy 97-80 with D’Antoni
being held scoreless. His career in the blue jersey of the
national team didn’t last long. He only played 11 games
and scored 27 points. His numbers in the Italian League
were radically different though: 452 games and 5,573
points. That averaged out to 12.3 points per game to
go with 2.9 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game. He also
had good shooting percentages: 45.7% on two-pointers
and 40.0% on threes.
As a coach, first in Milan (1990 to 1994) and later
in Benetton (1994 to 1997), D’Antoni won two Italian
Leagues, one Italian Cup, a Saporta Cup and a Korac
Cup. He had 212 wins in 306 games (69.2%) to rank
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97

as his father, Lewis, won the West Virginia high school
state championship with Mullens HS in 1955. Then,
his older brother, Danny, was a successful high school
coach at Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. But, most of all,
I knew Mike had a genius quality about him. In fact, his
super-fast play with the Phoenix Suns was the subject
of a book, ‘Seven Seconds or Less’. So, his success in
the NBA, Coach of the Year in 2005, came as no surprise
to me. I knew all this back in 1978.”
Mike D’Antoni, a great player pre-destined to be also
a great coach.
Mike D’Antoni
among the best coaches all-time in the Italian League.
He was an assistant coach to Mike Krzyzewski for Team
USA at the World Cup 2006 in Japan, winning a bronze
medal, and also at the 2012 London Olympics, winning
the gold.
To end this entry, I’d like to quote once more Dan
Peterson, who gives us some more details and insight
into D’Antoni:
“Yes, I knew Mike was going to be a successful coach.
For one thing, he came from a family of great coaches,
101 greats of european basketball
D

Mirza
Delibasic
99

The last
romantic
To start this entry, I want to say that the
title of this post is not original. It is mine,
however. I wrote it first for the website of
the Spanish League. And I cannot imagine
anything better to define, in just a few
words, the basketball genius of Mirza
Delibasic, who was born on January 9, 1954, in Tuzla
and died on December 8, 2001, in Sarajevo.
From the first time I saw him at the U16 European
Championship in 1971 in Gorizia, Italy, and then at the
U18 European Championship in1972 in Zadar, he was
my favorite player, he and his great friend and teammate,
Dragan Kicanovic. Together, they walked the
same path from cadet European champs in 1971 to
world champions in 1978 to Olympic gold medalists in
1980, as well as EuroBasket winners in 1975 and 1977.
Before becoming a great basketball player, Delibasic
was a great tennis talent. He began a promising tennis
career in his hometown of Tuzla and was even a Bosnia-Herzegovina
champion in youth categories. However,
when his tennis coach decided to take his own son
to a championship instead of Mirza, Delibasic started
thinking about changing sports. That was basketball’s
good fortune.
Talent and elegance
Delibasic had supernatural talent and elegance.
Every move he made on the court seemed so easy, so
natural, that he made it look like there was nothing easier
on Earth than scoring baskets, dribbling or making
good passes. In the former Yugoslavia, with a well-organized
network of scouts, it was practically impossible
for a talent to go unnoticed. Mirko Novosel, who was
the national coach of youth categories, called him for
the U16 European Championship in 1971 in Gorizia,
where Yugoslavia won the gold medal by defeating host
Italy 74-60 in the final. Mirza finished the tourney as
the best scorer, with 99 points – 9 more than Kicanovic.
One year later, at the U18 European Championship in
Zadar, Delibasic led Yugoslavia to another gold medal
with 144 points, again ahead of Kicanovic (90). That
same summer, Mirza signed for Bosna Sarajevo, and
perhaps not even head coach Bogdan Tanjevic, a great
architect of the game, knew yet that he had found the
key piece of his opus.
When Novosel was in charge of the national team,
he gave Kicanovic his first major opportunity. Delibasic
traveled to the World Cup 1974 in Puerto Rico as the 13th
player, to observe and learn. He would have to wait until
EuroBasket 1975 in Belgrade and the Mediterranean
Games to become a fixture on the first team. From the
EuroBasket in Belgrade to the World Cup 1982 in Spain,
Delibasic won eight medals at major competitions:
two EuroBasket golds (1975 and 1977), a silver (1981)
and a bronze (1982). He was world champion in 1978,
an Olympic champion in 1980 and an Olympic finalist
in 1976. With the Yugoslavia national team, Delibasic
played 176 games, with 147 wins and just 29 defeats.
He scored 1,759 points for an average of 10 points per
game. He ranks as the 10th best scorer in the history of
the former Yugoslavia’s national team. I had the privilege
to witness his best scoring night. It took place at the Balkans
Championship in Skopje in 1977, when he scored
36 points against Bulgaria during a 96-90 victory.
101 greats of european basketball
Mirza Delibasic
D

Standing 1.97 meters, Delibasic played small forward,
but he could play shooting guard and even the point. He
had great game vision and a sixth sense for assists. I think
he invented the bounce pass: instead of giving the ball
directly to a teammate, he liked to pass the ball by bouncing
it off the floor, sometimes up to 10 or 15 meters away.
Coming off the bounce, the ball got into the hands of the
teammate in an ideal position and with fewer chances of
traveling. It was a pass that was Made in Mirza.
Vladimir Stankovic
Leader of the great Bosna
In the national team, surrounded by aces like Kreso
Cosic, Drazen Dalipagic, Zoran Slavnic and Kicanovic,
Delibasic was an important player, but just one of
a great group. At his club, Bosna, he was the boss
because of his talent and versatility. His Bosna team
was an example of something we cannot see anymore
today because nobody has the patience to wait
and see how a team can grow and develop. Tanjevic
started with Bosna in the second division and called
Svetislav Pesic from Partizan to become his starting
point guard. He also signed Delibasic, discovered the
“golden hand” of Zarko Varajic, and waited for Ratko
Radovanovic to develop from an anti-talent into a crucial
big man. In seven years, that team went from the
second division to the peak of European basketball.
The culmination of that masterpiece occurred on April
5, 1979, in Grenoble, France. In that season’s EuroLeague
title game, Bosna defeated the great Emerson
Varese, playing its 10th straight final, 96-93 in an unforgettable
offensive festival. That was the night that
Varajic scored 45 points, setting a scoring record for
continental title games that still stands today. But Delibasic
also played a great game, with 30 points, and
the pace of the Bosna team was always in his hands.
Bosna was, in fact, the first Yugoslav team ever to win
the top European competition.
When Delibasic signed for Real Madrid in 1981, he
received the treatment he deserved as a true star.
When he left, two years later, under his own will and
with a year remaining on his contract because “the
club needed a center”, he departed as an idol. Delibasic
sacrificed himself and freed up a foreigner’s spot
on the roster so that the team could be even better
with that needed big man, who would have to be
signed from outside Spain. Delibasic instead signed
for Indesit Caserta, where he got together again with
his favorite coach, Tanjevic. However, midway through
the season, he suffered a brain hemorrhage. Delibasic
survived, but at age 29, he had to say goodbye to
basketball.
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I am very proud of having been able to take him to
Madrid in October 2000 for the inaugural game of the
new EuroLeague between Real Madrid and Olympiacos.
Delibasic was a golden guest at the event and received
a standing ovation from the Real Madrid fans. His son
Danko, then 15 years old, was with him and experienced
it all with wide eyes. What he had heard before that, that
his father was a Real Madrid legend, was more than a reality.
That was Delibasic’s last visit to his beloved Madrid.
He died in Sarajevo on December 8, 2001.
But the legend of the last romantic of European basketball
remained.
In August 1983, basketball bid farewell to the “last
romantic” as Delibasic was forced to retire. Nobody understood
the game like he did – as a perfect mixture of
sports, competition, passion, beauty and, in some way,
art. His main weapon was elegance and meaningful –
but always beautiful – moves.
Aside from the illness that took him away from the
courts too soon, Mirza lived the last years of his life
under tough conditions. The war in Bosnia caught him
in Sarajevo and he never wanted to leave the city. He
stayed with his family and friends, suffering like the rest.
He was the national team coach and after that a sports
director for Bosnia-Herzegovina. With his melancholic
look and his philosophy that “you only live once,” Delibasic
did not look after himself much. His health went
from bad to worse, but Delibasic lived the life he chose.
Mirza Delibasic
101 greats of european basketball
D

Dimitris
Diamantidis
103

A diamond
on the court
For many years, the great duo in the Greek national
team that won the 2005 EuroBasket
was formed by Vassilis Spanoulis and Dimitris
Diamantidis. They also played together
for Panathinaikos Athens before Spanoulis
would end up with arch-rival Olympiacos
Piraeus. Both are symbols for Greek basketball and
icons in the sports capital of Athens, but not everyone
knows that neither of them is from that city.
Spanoulis started playing in Larissa, a town between
Athens and Thessaloniki, while Diamantidis took
his first basketball steps at 14 years old in Kastoria, located
in the north of the Macedonian region of Greece,
prior to signing, five years later, for Iraklis Thessaloniki.
The key moment for Diamantidis was the EuroBasket
won by Greece in 1987. Funny enough, his idols were
not Nikos Galis nor Panagiotis Giannakis, the two big
aces of Greek basketball back then. He explained that
at the beginning he had no idols, but later he liked Fanis
Christodoulou a lot “because he could do many things.”
The home of his parents Maria and Tomas, in Kastoria,
was right next to a school that had a basketball
court where a young Diamantidis spent days and nights
practicing, even in the summer, when he needed to ask
for the keys so that he could open the locked doors to
get on the court. In 1999-2000 he signed for Iraklis at
age 19. His club of origin, Kastoria, would later put his
name on its arena. Diamantidis stayed in Iraklis, where
he started with humble numbers (1.8 points in only 9
games played), until 2004. Those numbers truly hid the
future star: 16 points in 9 games, only 29.4% accuracy
on two-point shots, 0-for-3 in triples, and just 6 assists.
More than one person said he would be a mediocre
player.
After five seasons in Iraklis, he moved left Thessaloniki
with vastly different numbers: 14.8 points, 51.9%
in two-point shots, 33.3% in threes, 6.3 rebounds and
1.4 assists. He also earned 2003-04 MVP honor in
Greece. In the 2004 Mediterranean Games, he made
his debut with the national team. Watching at a distance
was the Panathinaikos head coach at the time,
Zeljko Obradovic, who signed him for the next season.
In an interview with Frank Lawlor for EuroLeague.
net in 2011, Diamantidis explained the changes he went
through when he joined Panathinaikos:
“When I was young, I watched basketball because I
liked it. I didn’t follow any particular players. When you
are so young, you cannot understand some elements
of the game, how the game is really played. You watch
the game and you simply enjoy watching it. I believe
that I picked up more elements of my game from my
coaches and not from other players. When I first came
to Panathinaikos, my coaches showed me that basketball
can be played in a different way than the one I knew
until then. They showed me that there are other things
that can be done and showed me the way to do them. I
saw a different kind of basketball, which I liked.”
Obradovic took notice of his defensive skills more
than his talents on offense. In his first season with the
Greens, Diamantidis improved his percentages (59.3%
twos, 35.8% threes), doubled his average in assists,
and also performed great invisible jobs not always seen
in the statistics.
The best opposing scorers had real nightmares when
101 greats of european basketball
Dimitris Diamantidis
D

Vladimir Stankovic
dealing with Diamantidis, but when the team needed
points, his left hand was also a reliable source. His height
(1.96 meters) allowed him to play at point or shooting
guard, even small forward if the situation required. At
100 kilos, he had a strong body that could take contact.
However, his best weapons were his fast hands and
his court vision. He collected many steals and he was
a sure thing when dribbling the ball. Two seasons after
his retirement, he is still the EuroLeague’s historic steals
leader with 434 (1.56 per game). His total performance
index rating (PIR) of 3,806 stands behind only Juan Carlos
Navarro, who had 3,890, although played a lot fewer
games. His total assists, 1,255, follows only Spanoulis,
who has 1,275 – and counting. Diamantidis was the first
player to reach 1,000 assists in the EuroLeague, which
happened against Fenerbahce – with Obradovic now on
the opposing bench – on October 14, 2014, in front of his
home fans in Athens.
However, Diamantidis always had a talent that was
invisible to the stats sheets but crucial for Panathinaikos:
his leadership. During his 12 years at Panathinaikos, 11
of them with Obradovic on the bench, Diamantidis was
always the extension of the coach’s hand on the court,
the player who would always have the ball in money
time. He had the freedom to choose whether to pass,
shoot or penetrate. It’s not easy to count all his titles and
accolades with the Greens and the national team, but I
will try listing, let’s say, the most important ones:
With Panathinaikos:
• 3 EuroLeague titles: 2007, 2009 and 2011
• 9 Greek League titles
• 10 Greek Cup titles
• Six-time best EuroLeague defender
• EuroLeague MVP in 2011
• EuroLeague Final Four MVP in 2007 and 2011
• All-EuroLeague First Team: 2007, 2011, 2012, 2013
• EuroLeague assists leader: 2011 and 2014
• Six-time Greek League MVP
• Two-time Greek Cup final MVP
With the Greek national team:
• EuroBasket champion in 2005 in Belgrade
• Member of the all-tournament team in 2005
• 2005 EuroBasket assists lead (5.0 per game)
• Silver medal, 2006 World Cup in Japan
I remember each of his EuroLeague titles for
something. In Athens in 2007, the final between Panathinaikos
and CSKA Moscow (93-91) was one of the
best games I can remember. Diamantidis, after being
discreet in the semis against Baskonia (67-53), shined
in the title game with 15 points. In Berlin 2009, his mate
Spanoulis was the MVP, but Diamantidis played more
minutes and only needed 5 shots for his 10 points (1
of 2 twos, 2 of 3 threes and 2 of 2 free throws), plus he
had the highest PIR in his team. In 2011 in Barcelona, he
dished 9 assists each in the semis against Montepaschi
Siena (79-77) and in the final against Maccabi (78-70).
He also added 16 points in the final. He had the huge
quality of playing for the team at all times, but also taking
over and scoring if that what was needed most.
His personal records in the EuroLeague are 43
minutes against CSKA in 2005, a PIR of 34 against
Maccabi in 2012 (in a one-point victory in Game 5 of the
playoffs), 26 points against FC Barcelona in 2011 (also
in the playoffs), and 11 assists against Milan in 2014.
His points average in 278 EuroLeague games is 9.0, but
even if numbers can tell a great deal about basketball,
with Diamantidis I think that personal opinions are way
better. The eyes could see what the stats missed because
his real influence was many times not reflected
on a scoresheet. One could even say that stats were
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105

against him many times, but luckily for us, there are videos
of his feats that can show us his class. Of course,
after retiring in 2016, he was named a Euroleague Basketball
Legend.
I followed Diamantidis all his years in Panathinaikos,
but in my memory, there’s a special place for a game
he played with Greece. In semifinals against France at
that 2005 EuroBasket, his team was losing 64-66 with a
few seconds to go, but Greece had the last possession.
Everyone among the 19,000 fans at the Stark Arena,
home of the Final Four in 2018, knew that the last shot
would be for Dimitris Diamantidis. And it was. And he
nailed the three for a 67-66 win that would put Greece
in the final that it won, 78-62, against Dirk Nowitzki’s
Germany.
The next summer, when Greece defeated the United
States team with LeBron James, Dwayne Wade, Chris
Paul and Dwight Howard in the semifinals of the 2006
World Cup in Japan, Diamantidis had 12 points, 5 assists,
3 rebounds and 2 steals. Many thought that was proof
that he could play in the NBA. I honestly think that he
would have played well there, but he chose to stay in his
country and play a leading role always. He wore the national
jersey 124 times and scored 760 points. He played
in three EuroBaskets (2003, 2005 and 2007), two world
championships (2006 and 2010) and two Olympics
(2004 and 2008). He was the idol of the Panathinaikos
fans, who gave him an original nickname: 3D. They were
not wrong, either, as he was a multi-dimensional player.
He was also called The Octopus and Spiderman, because
of his long arms and sticky hands for steals.
In 2016 he was voted the most popular player in the
Greek League. That same year, Panathinaikos retired his
jersey number 13 in a spectacular tribute. The tourney
named Diamonds are Forever, in his honor, has seen
teams like CSKA, Maccabi and Barcelona participate.
In the Panathinaikos vs. CSKA game on September 16,
2016, the action stopped 13 seconds before the break
to honor Diamantidis.
For many people, number 13 means bad luck, but
Diamantidis showed that many times luck depends
on your hard work, your talent, sacrifice, ambition...
He admitted that it was the only free number when he
joined Iraklis, but he also said he’s not superstitious. In
Kastoria, he had worn number 5.
Diamantidis was a real diamond on the court. In
real life, he was almost an anti-star. He was always shy
and humble and stayed away from the spotlight. He
didn’t like the attention of the media, he hated official
appearances because he had to wear a suit and tie, and
he didn’t like to deliver speeches. He was, one could
say, a very disciplined ascetic who always took care of
himself. He hardly drank alcohol, for instance. He was a
true example for young people.
When EuroLeague chose the All-Decade Team between
2001 and 2010, it was clear that Diamantidis
had to be there. He was joined by Dejan Bodiroga, J.R.
Holden, Sarunas Jasikevicius, Trajan Langdon, Juan
Carlos Navarro, Theo Papaloukas, Anthony Parker, Ramunas
Siskauskas and Nikola Vujcic. All of them are in
this book except for Navarro, because he is still playing
at this very moment, and the profiles are for retired
players only.
Diamantidis was the last of the other nine to retire.
He was almost singular as a player who could dominate
basketball games literally from any place on the floor
and come up with every kind of big play, offensive or
defensive, to win them.
Dimitris Diamantidis was truly a diamond, rare and
unique.
101 greats of european basketball
Dimitris Diamantidis
D

Vlade
Divac
107

An icon without
a ring
Just seeing his number of titles or medals in
the Olympics, World Cup and EuroBasket,
there is no doubt that Vlade Divac, who
was born on February 3, 1968, in Prijepolje,
Serbia, is one of the most-crowned players
in basketball. What’s more, he had a great
NBA career. But despite his 20 years in basketball’s
elite, he is missing something: an NBA title, although
that’s something that almost happened for him, too.
In the 2001-02 season, his Sacramento Kings were
the NBA’s team of the moment, with a style of play
that was joyful, fun and attractive. In that season’s
Western Conference finals, the Kings were tied 3-3 in
their best-of-seven series with the Los Angeles Lakers.
Having won their division, the Kings played Game
7 at home, but lost 112-106. The Lakers qualified for
the NBA finals and erased the New Jersey Nets 4-0,
the same as Sacramento would have done if it had
reached the finals.
But even without an NBA ring, Vlade Divac is still
one of the greatest Europeans to have played in that
competition, in addition to being one of its European
pioneers. From 1989 to 2005, he played 16 seasons
with the Lakers (1989-1996, 2004-05), Charlotte
(1996-98) and Sacramento (1998-2004). He appeared
in 1,134 games, 979 of them as a starter, collecting
13,398 points (11.8 on average), 9,326 rebounds (9.2),
1,631 blocks (1.4). He earned one all-star appearance,
in 2001.
Pure talent
Of all the players in this series, if I have to choose
one who I knew best and have seen play hundreds of
times, it’s Vlade Divac. I can remember his first great
game, the one in which he showed that he was a future
star.
It was the first week of the Yugoslav League of
1985-86. Crvena Zvezda played against Sloga Kraljevo
at the Pinki arena in Zemun, a suburb of Belgrade on
the banks of the Danube River. Crvena Zvezda won,
but had to suffer to do so because of an unknown kid
named Vlade Divac, author of 27 points that day and
owner of a game that left no doubt about his enormous
potential. The previous season, at 16 years old, Divac
had debuted as a pro with Sloga. But his 22 points in 20
games were nothing more than a sign of how his coach,
Milan Bogojevic, believed in him.
In fact, Bogojevic is to “blame” for Divac’s great
career. As a kid, Divac left his hometown of Prijepolje
and the home of his parents to live with his maternal
grandmother in Kraljevo. One day, Bogojevic saw him
in the street and immediately fixated on Divac’s height.
He invited Divac to a Sloga practice, and that’s how it
started. During the summer of 1984, while they were
watching a game of the Olympics basketball tournament
from Los Angeles, Bogojevic made a bold prediction,
telling Divac: “Look, if you work a lot, you will play
in the next Olympics in 1988 in Seoul.”
Many times since then, Divac has said that those
words from Bogojevic that day seemed like “science
fiction”. But when four years later he returned from
Seoul with a silver medal, Divac hung it around the neck
of Milan Bogojevic.
Divac’s pure talent for basketball never went unrecognized.
The coaches of the Yugoslav federation, with their
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Vladimir Stankovic
perfect scouting program, were well aware of all available
talents. In the summer of 1985, for the U16 European
Championship in Ruse, Bulgaria, Divac was selected for
the team by Svetislav Pesic, who was then the coach of
Bosna Sarajevo. Together with Divac were Toni Kukoc,
Nebojsa Ilic, Radenko Dobras, Slavisa Koprivica and
Zoran Kalpic, all of whom would become European junior
champions two years later in Bormio, Italy. Yugoslavia
won the gold medal with Divac averaging 11.7 points.
In his second season with Sloga, Divac was the
team’s top scorer with 17.6 points per game and
equally dominant at rebounds. All the major teams in
Yugoslavia now wanted him, but Partizan Belgrade had
a big advantage: already playing there was Aleksandar
“Sasha” Djordjevic, the country’s most-promising point
guard. Divac, who was smart, knew that he needed a
great point guard, and so decided to join Partizan.
During the 1985-86 season, Divac had the privilege
to work individually with the great Kresimir Cosic, who
was then the Yugoslav senior national team coach. A
few times, Cosic spent up to a week in Kraljevo showing
the young Divac the secrets of playing center. The result
of their collaboration was Divac forming part of the
Yugoslav men’s team at the World Cup of 1986 in Spain.
There, in Madrid, during the semifinal against the Soviet
Union, a historic anecdote unfolded: Yugoslavia
was winning by 9 points with 40 seconds left, but the
Soviets, led by Arvydas Sabonis, tied the game with 3
three-point shots, forced overtime, and won the game.
Before the last three-pointer from Valdis Valters that
led to overtime, the young Vlade Divac had committed
a turnover. Of that night, Divac has said: “I wanted to
quit basketball.” But the next day, against Brazil in the
bronze medal game, Cosic put Divac in the starting five.
The message was clear: I believe in you.
On his return home, Divac went directly from the
airport to training camp for the U18 European Championship
in Gmunden, Austria. Waiting for him were
his teammates from Ruse, Djordjevic and Dino Radja.
Little by little, Pesic had completed a great team that
that would triumph the next year at the U19 World Cup
in 1987 in Bormio, Italy. But before that would happen,
some nice things occurred in Divac’s life.
The great year of 1987
In his first season with Partizan, that of 1986-87, Divac
won two important titles. First came the Korac Cup,
after two great battles with Cantu of Italy. In the first
game, Cantu won at home 89-76 with 24 points from
Kent Benson, 19 from Antonello Riva and 9 from Pierluigi
Marzorati. Partizan had 28 points by Divac and 22
by Djordjevic, then went home to Belgrade with some
hopes for the rematch. In the second game, on March
22 in the old arena at New Belgrade, we saw a great
game featuring an explosion of talent from the young
Partizan team. The trophy stayed in Belgrade thanks to
a 101-82 victory behind 30 points by Divac, 22 by Zarko
Paspalj and 21 by Djordjevic. An excellent Riva, with 36
points, wasn’t enough for Cantu to avoid defeat.
In June 1987, the young Divac played at the senior
EuroBasket in Athens together with his junior national
teammates Radja, Kukoc and Djordjevic, and they returned
with the bronze medal. They crowned their great
year at the U19 World Cup in Bormio, where Yugoslavia
became champion with seven wins, two against a great
USA team, as Divac averaged 12.6 points and formed a
great team with Kukoc, Djordjevic, Radja, Ilic, Koprivica,
Teoman Alibegovic, Luka Pavicevic, Samir Avdic and
Miroslav Pecarski.
At the end of the 1986-87 club season, Partizan
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had beaten Crvena Zvezda 2-0 in the Yugoslav League
playoff finals, winning the right to play the next EuroLeague,
the first with a new format of an eight-team group
phase leading to a Final Four. Partizan finished first in
the group after beating Barcelona twice, as well as Aris
and Maccabi. But at the Final Four in Ghent, Belgium,
they lost in the semifinals against Maccabi and finished
third after beating Aris.
In 1988, Divac won the silver medal with Yugoslavia
at the Olympics in Seoul. In 1989, Partizan won a triple
crown with the Yugoslav League, Yugoslav Cup and
Korac Cup titles. Then the Yugoslav national team became
EuroBasket 1989 champion in Zagreb. That same
year, Divac was taken 26th in the NBA Draft by the Los
Angeles Lakers. In record time, Divac had gone from
unknown to famous, from Kraljevo to Los Angeles,
from a more-than-modest team in Sloga to the bestknown
team in the world, the Lakers. All thanks to his
enormous talent.
By his stature, 2.12 meters, Divac was a center. But
in terms of skills, he was a small forward who shot
three-pointers. When it came to assists, he was like a
point guard. He had the timing of a shot-blocker and he
was a fighter. What’s more, he was always well loved, a
leader in the locker room, a joker with a thousand and
one stories. In Los Angeles, Divac had the luck of playing
with the great Magic Johnson and others who brought
“Showtime” to the Lakers. And he had the opportunity
to learn from the recently retired Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
The rest is history. World champion with Yugoslavia
in 1990 and 2002; Olympics silver medalist in 1988 and
1996; European gold medalist three times – in 1989,
1991 and 1995 – plus a bronze in 1999; NBA all-rookie
team member in 1989-90; his No. 21 retired by Sacramento;
a member of the FIBA Hall of Fame since 2008;
candidate for the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of
Fame this year. It was a brilliant career – even without
an NBA ring.
Together with his wife, Snezana, Divac has a foundation
that bears their names and has helped many refugees
in the ex-Yugoslavia, as well as other needy people
around the world. His humanitarian effort is huge and
perhaps Divac’s brightest medal of all.
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Giuseppe-Pino
Gjergja
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A Bob Cousy clone
In this series of the best players from the past in European
basketball we normally see men who have
won at least one European title. But, since every rule
has an exception, for this entry I want to write about
a basketball maestro who never won the crown, but
who was, indeed, a great player: Giuseppe Gjergja
– better known as “Pino” to his friends and all the
basketball family. About the spelling of his name, it is
something difficult to solve. In the official page of his
life-long club, KK Zadar, they spell it Giuseppe Giergia.
But some other sources spell it as Gjergja. The spelling
problem exists because his family is of Albanian origin
and his ancestors moved to Zadar, the city on the Dalmatian
coast, where they settled an area called Arbanasi,
currently a suburb of the city.
Giuseppe Gjergja was born on November 24, 1937,
when Zadar belonged to Italy. That’s where the Italian version
of his name – Giuseppe – comes from. After World War
II, when Zadar joined Yugoslavia, he was re-named Josip. In
the FIBA webpage, his entry goes under Josip Djerdja. I saw
him play and later knew him as Josip Djerdja, so I will stick to
this one, which is surely more phonetic than orthographic.
However you choose to spell his first or last names, one
thing remains true: he was a great player.
A gift from the USA
Basketball arrived in Zadar in 1929, but its true development
occurred after the war. Djerdja had an aunt in the
United States who in 1955 sent him a very original gift: a
16mm film about the Boston Celtics and, especially, their
leader Bob Cousy. Djerdja was already a basketball player,
but when he managed to see the film by getting time in a
local cinema during the morning, when nobody was there,
he realized that he hardly knew how to play the game. He
fell in love with Cousy, his technique, his way of handling
the ball, his passes, his dribbling, his court vision. He
decided that he would “play like Cousy” and dedicated
months and months to individual work. Whenever he
could, he saw the film again to study Cousy’s technique,
and he discovered that the secret was “the extended
hand”. That technique let Cousy avoid the ball coming in
contact with the legs or the body. Little by little, Djerdja
became a master with the ball. Even though he was rather
short, at 1.76 meters, he was a good rebounder. That,
matched with his fighting character, turned him into an
attractive option for any team.
Radivoj Korac of OKK Belgrade was a great scorer,
Ivo Daneu of Union Olimpija Ljubljana a very complete
player, but I agree with those who saw that a third man
should be included in a “Trio of Saints”. And that man
was Djerdja. Already in 1958, Djerdja made the Yugoslav
national team for the 1960 Olympics in Rome and was
an important piece in the first success of the team (sixth
place). In Rome he got a chance to see Oscar Robertson,
another American basketball magician. His style was different
and attractive. He was a showman who did almost
everything in the air. He was always there for rebounds;
hardly ever shot with his legs on the floor; his penetrations
were unstoppable; and his solutions against much
bigger men were unbelievable. With a strong character,
Robertson was always ready to fight with rivals, referees
or even the crowds. He was a player hated by many fans
but respected because of his enormous talent.
Waiting for Cosic
In the late 1950s and early ‘60s, the Yugoslav League
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Giuseppe-Pino Gjergja
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Vladimir Stankovic
was dominated by Korac’s OKK Belgrade and Daneu’s
Olimpija. Between 1957 and 1964 they won four titles
each. In 1965, the title went to Zadar for the first time.
Djerdja was back from the military service and the team
had the likes of the Marcelic brothers, Bruno and Mile,
Duro Stipcevic, Milan Komazec (Arian’s father), Miljenko
Valcic, Jure Kosta, Marko Ostarcevic (known in Spain as
the husband of artist Norma Duval) and a young boy
named Kresimir Cosic. He was less than 17 years old, but
his enormous talent could be seen from afar. He was thin,
no muscles, but with great intelligence and talent. Zadar
finished first, with an 18-4 record, two losses fewer than
Olimpija. The best scorer was Korac with 695 points
(34.8). Djerdja was sixth in total points (478) but since he
had played 19 games, his average was 25.2, second best
in the leage. The most important thing, however, was the
birth of a great duo formed by Djerdja and Cosic. Djerdja
was 11 years older, but the following 10 years they were
an unbelievable duo that could win titles by themselves.
It was the perfect combination of point guard and center.
But Cosic was no ordinary center. He was way ahead of
his time. He was Arvydas Sabonis 20 years earlier and
with 10 centimeters less. He was the first center to play
far from the basket, had great court vision and was a
generous passer, but also a great rebounder with big
hands. Djerdja was the opposite: small but with excellent
technique. He hardly ever turned the ball over and scored
many points. If I had to compare him to a current player, I
would say he was the Tony Parker of his time.
Djerdja was a World Cup 1963 runner-up with Yugoslavia
in Rio de Janeiro (8.8 points) and took part in the
1964 Olympics in Tokyo (9.9 points), the 1965 EuroBasket
in Moscow (silver, 10.3 points) and the 1967 World Cup
in Montevideo, where he paired up with the young Cosic.
They won the silver medal, but together they brought happiness
to Zadar fans. They were Yugoslav League champs
in 1967 (Cosic 21.2, Djerdja 17.3), 1968 (Cosic 21.3, Djerdja
17.4), 1974 (Cosic 23.1, Djerdja 18.9) and 1975 with a 25-1
record (Cosic 24.1, Djerdja 14.3 at 38 years old). In 1970
they won the Yugoslav Cup against Jugoplastika by the
score of 64-60 playing in Split. Djerdja scored 23 points,
including the last 6 after a 57-57 tie, and Cosic added 19. I
guess it was in those days that the famous sentence was
born: “God created man and Zadar created basketball.”
Rivalry with Real Madrid
Zadar never won the EuroLeague of the time because
it was unlucky enough to have faced the great Real Madrid
teams of Pedro Ferrandiz a number of times. Zadar
reached the semifinals several times, but Real Madrid
was a better team. Madrid eliminated Zadar in 1967,
1968, 1969 and 1975, in two unforgettable games. The
first game, played in Madrid on March 20, the hosts
won 109-82 with a great Walter Szczerbiak, who scored
45 points, while Cosic stayed at 17 and Djerdja 8. Seven
days later in Zadar, in front of 6,000 fans who created
a great atmosphere, Zadar thought that it could come
back from minus 21. To do that it didn’t hesitate to do
anything it could, including manipulating the clock. The
second hand ran so slowly that one second on the clock
lasted for two real seconds. Real Madrid had already
experienced a similar trick against OKK Belgrade on
March 21, 1965, when the game lasted for 113 minutes.
Zadar’s clock was even slower: the game finished after
131 minutes. Ferrandiz’s complaints were useless in
front of the indifference of referees Topuzoglu of Turkey
and Anheuser from Germany and the commissioner,
Lambeaux of Belgium. At the break, Zadar was winning
by three (68-65!) but in the end, quality prevailed
over lack of sportsmanship and Real Madrid took the
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never-ending game by 117-130. The great Wayne Brabender
scored 41 points, followed by Szczerbiak with
26, Clifford Luyk with 25 and Rafa Rullan with 18. The
duo of Cosic (31) and Djerdja (24) did its part, but Real
Madrid had two more men: Camilo Cabrera (12 points)
and Juan Antonio Corbalan (8). I remember the game,
watched it on TV. So many masters of the game deserved
to be remembered because of their talent, not
because of the unsportsmanlike attempted swindle.
With his 18 seasons in Zadar, “Pino” Djerdja shares
the record – with Bogdan Muller of Olimpija – for the
longest tenure with one team in the Yugoslav League.
With 6,640 points in 315 games (21.1) he is the third
best scorer of the Yugoslav League after Vinko Jelovac
(Olimpija) and Radmilo Misovic (Borac Cacak). Between
1968 and 1970, Djerdja played two seasons in humble
Gorizia of Italy and helped the team reach the first division,
but after that he was back to his Zadar.
In the summer of 1966, he was about to play in Italy
for Cantu. The coach of the team was Borislav Stankovic,
the future FIBA secretary general, who knew Djerdja
well. Stankovic’s idea was to try to convert Djerdja into
an Italian player using the fact that Zadar was Italian
when Djerdja was born. The rules only allowed for only
one foreigner and Stankovic had already signed American
center Bob Burgess.
“Djerdja was a great player, atypical,” Stankovic
remembered. “He was an unbelievable mix of an individualist
and a team player. His plays were unpredictable.
He had great technique and imagination with no
limits. He was a great leader. He spent the winter with
us because the Yugoslav League was played during the
summer. He played some tourneys and friendly games
but to obtain the Italian nationality he had to reject the
Yugoslav one, and he didn’t want to do it.”
Both Djerdja and Stankovic, among others, are
protagonists of a great documentary with the title “We
Were World Champions”, dedicated to the development
of Yugoslav basketball from 1945 to 1970, the year of
the World Cup in Ljubljana.
After putting an end to his brilliant career, Djerdja
stayed in basketball as coach of Zadar, PAOK Thessaloniki
and Livorno. He was national team coach of Yugoslavia
at the 1983 EuroBasket but finished seventh because
the Golden Generation was in its twilight (Cosic,
Slavnic, Kicanovic, Dalipagic) while the youngsters
like Drazen Petrovic had just started. With Croatia, he
won the bronze medal at World Cup 1994 in Toronto,
Canada with a great generation led by Toni Kukoc and
Dino Radja. Djerdja’s son Dario (who, by the way, goes
by Gjergja) is the current coach of Telenet Ostend,
while his other son, Roko, also played basketball. “Pino”
Djerdja still lives in Zadar. He is willing, at 80 years old,
to challenge anyone older than 40 to play a game of
one-on-one.
Basketball still runs through his veins.
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Aleksandar
Djordjevic
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“Alexander
the Great”
In the 1971-72 season, Crvena Zvezda won the
Yugoslavian League with a powerful team formed
by veteran Vladimir Cvetkovic, two young talents
who were world champs already in 1970, Ljubodrag
Simonovic and Dragan Kapicic, the great guard
Zoran Slavnic and his substitute, Goran Rakocevic
(father of Igor Rakocevic), the useful big man Dragisa
Vucinic and many others. The coach of that team was
Bratislav “Bata” Djordjevic, and behind the bench
there used to be a curious kid who always had a ball in
his hands. That was Aleksandar “Sasha” Djordjevic,
born August 26, 1967, in Belgrade, the eldest son of
the Zvezda head coach. It was impossible to foresee
that Sasha would be a great player, but it was clear
that he was interested in the ball.
The career of this future great guard in European basketball
started in the youth categories of Crvena Zvezda
and Radnicki Belgrade. But he had to go to Partizan to develop
his great talent. In the 1983-84 season, at 16 years
old, he made his debut with the first team, but in his first
five games, he only scored 2 points. The following season
he was already better, with 89 points in 22 games. Curiously
enough, Svetislav Pesic, national team coach for
the Yugoslav youth categories, never called Djordjevic for
the 1985 U16 European Championship in Ruse, Bulgaria.
In a team with Toni Kukoc, Vlade Divac, Neboja Ilic and
others, the guards were Zoran Kalpic and Nenad Trunic.
Djordjevic had similar numbers in the 1985-86 season
with Partizan – 80 points in 21 games – showing his potential
while he had already become a staple on the junior
national team. In the 1986 U18 European Championship
in Gmunden, Austria, he won a gold medal after seven
victories, the last of them by 111-87 against USSR in the
final. It was a great team with Djordjevic, Luka Pavicevic
and Teoman Alibegovic as the main newcomers on a
team that would have its best moments one year later at
the U19 Basketball World Cup in Bormio.
Duo with Divac
In the summer of 1986, Vlade Divac left Sloga Kraljevo
and joined Partizan at 18 years old. At that time,
and because of stupid childish reasons, he didn’t talk
to Djordjevic. But as smart as he was, Divac thought to
himself: “I am a center and I need a great point guard,
and the best is Djordjevic, so I am going to Partizan.”
Said and done. That was the birth of a great duo that
didn’t last long in Partizan, as Divac went to the Los
Angeles Lakers in 1989. But on the Yugoslav national
team, the tandem still had a long way to go.
Since his childhood, Djordjevic showed he was leadership
material. Smart by nature, he was a boss on the
court, with authority to understand basketball better
than his teammates thanks to having a personal coach
at home. Sasha was the first violin in a great Partizan
generation that sports director Dragan Kicanovic would
build little by little. Djordjevic drew attention because
of his impeccable technique, his great court vision, his
excellent shot, and his courage to take responsibility
when it mattered. I remember a game against Crvena
Zvezda in Hala Pionir when he was still a junior. He
came off the bench and in successive possessions hit 4
three-pointers to turn the game upside down.
His first Yugoslav League title with Partizan arrived
in 1987. That same summer, Kreso Cosic, a great vi-
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Vladimir Stankovic
sionary, called him and three other future stars – Divac
(who had already played the 1986 World Cup in Spain),
Toni Kukoc and Dino Radja – for the 1987 EuroBasket in
Athens. Djordjevic, coming off the bench, would score 8
points to help Yugoslavia win the bronze medal against
Spain, 98-87. After Athens, the four youngsters went
to the junior national team coached by Pesic to play the
U19 Basketball World Cup in Bormio, Italy. On August
5, as team captain, Djordjevic lifted the trophy after a
great win in the final against an excellent USA Team.
The following season, Djordjevic would lead Partizan
with 16.7 points per game on its way to the first Euro-
League Final Four in Ghent, in 1988. In 1989, that great
Partizan generation first won the national cup against rival
Jugoplastika and then lifted the Korac Cup. After losing
to Cantu 89-76, despite great games by Divac (28) and
Djordjevic (22), the chances to recover in the second game
were scarce. But Partizan made it, winning the second and
last game 101-82 after the great duo scored 51 points (30
by Divac, 21 by Djordjevic) plus 22 by Zarko Paspalj. It was
enough to overcome a great night by Antonello Riva, who
scored 36 points. After not having made the national team
for the World Cup 1990 in Argentina, Djordjevic was back
with it for the 1991 EuroBasket in Rome, where Yugoslavia,
complete for the last time (save for Jure Zdovc, who left
the team under Slovenian government orders on the eve
of the semifinal), won the gold medal with great authority.
Miracle in Istanbul
The 1991-92 season has a privileged spot in the
memory of all Partizan fans. It was the year of the triple
crown: national league, national cup and EuroLeague
titles, the latter won on an unforgettable final played in
Istanbul against Joventut Badalona. With 8 seconds to
go, Tomas Jofresa scored a tough basket for a 70-68
Joventut advantage. Instantly, Djordjevic got the ball
from Slavisa Koprivica and raced upcourt to launch a
shot almost on the buzzer for an amazing three-pointer
that meant the only continental title ever for Partizan.
Djordjevic finished the game with 23 points.
At 25 years old, he moved to Italy to join Philips Milan,
with whom he won his second Korac Cup, this one
against Virtus Roma. In the first game in Rome, Milan
won 95-90 with 29 points by Djordjevic. Back at home,
Milan won again, 106-91, as Sasha hit 38 points, including
6 of 11 threes, to go with 7 assists and 5 rebounds
– in other words, a total fireworks display. However, one
of the best games in Djordjevic’s career was in the title
game of the 1995 EuroBasket in Athens against Lithuania.
Yugoslavia won 96-90 with 41 points by Djordjevic,
including 9 of 12 triples, while on the other side Sarunas
Marciulionis shined with 32 points. It was the best Euro-
Basket final I have ever seen. Djordjevic was enormously
popular. The fans called him “Sale Nazionale” – with Sale
being a nickname for Sasha – while the press christened
him “Alexander the Great”.
After two years in Milan, Sasha spent two more
with Fortitudo Bologna, When, in the summer of 1996,
he decided to try his luck in the NBA with the Portland
Trail Blazers, he left behind four years in Italy with 218
Italian League games played in which he averaged 18.2
points and hit 44.7% of his shots from downtown. Sasha
Djordjevic was a great passer, but he was a scoring
playmaker, thanks to his great outside shot. Above all
of his many qualities, he had a strong character. He was
a natural-born winner, a fighter who never gave up. He
had the thing that only great champions have: self-confidence
to take responsibility, to shoot the last ball and,
on top of that, to score it.
Before starting in Portland, Djordjevic won the sil-
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ver medal at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996. After that,
his NBA adventure began, but it only lasted for a few
months with modest numbers. In 8 games he scored
25 points, averaging 7.6 minutes, but from the threepoint
arc, he made 5 of 7 shots. In late December, he
decided to come back to Europe and chose FC Barcelona.
When he landed, with the character of a champ, he
said: “I am the leader that Barça needs.” He made his
debut on January 3, 1997, in Granada with an 85-90
Barça win. Of his first 13 points in a Barça uniform that
day, he scored 8 of them in money time, enough for the
headline in the sports newspaper El Mundo Deportivo
to read: “Djordjevic wins”. Two days later, against Caja
San Fernando, an 84-90 victory, he scored 17 points
and dished 11 assists. With Barcelona, he would win
his first Spanish League title. That same summer, also
in Barcelona, he would win a new gold medal with Yugoslavia
at EuroBasket. Before beating Italy in the final,
in the group stage in Badalona, Djordjevic hit a similar
three-pointer to the Istanbul one: with 4 seconds to
go, Croatia was winning by 2, but Djordjevic crossed
the court again, pulled up and shot over Slaven Rimac
for a three that gave Yugoslavia the victory. Djordjevic
would eventually be chosen as MVP of the tournament.
He stayed in Barcelona two more years and won his
third Korac Cup against Estudiantes in 1999, with 20
points in the game in Madrid and then 18 in Barcelona.
But in April of 1997, he lost his second EuroLeague title
try, against Olympiacos in Rome, in what was probably
his worst game in a final. He only scored 7 points while
on the other side, his direct opponent David Rivers
shined with 23 points. At the 1998 World Cup in Athens,
despite recovering from a recent knee injury, Djordjevic
helped Dejan Bodiroga and Zeljko Rebraca lead Yugoslavia
to another world crown.
In the summer of 1999 Barcelona decided not to renew
his contract. He then signed for Barça’s archrival,
Real Madrid. He played three seasons there and he
took a Spanish League title in 2000, winning Game 5 of
the final series in Barcelona against his old team. After
Madrid, he played three more years in Italy (Scavolini
Pesaro and, again, Milan) where he put an end to his
brilliant career in June of 2005.
He started his coaching career in Milan in the 2006-
07 season and has since worked his way up, between
other club jobs, to national team coach. In that role, he
has lifted Serbia to silver medals at the 2014 World Cup
in Spain, the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro and the
2017 EuroBasket in Istanbul.
It remains to be seen – only because he can’t take
the last shots himself anymore – whether Djordjevic’s
medal collection as a coach will someday exceed his
vast one as a player.
101 greats of european basketball
Aleksandar Djordjevic
D

Juan Antonio
San Epifanio
119

A Spaniard with
a Yugoslav wrist
Juan Antonio San Epifanio, better known as
Epi, is a Spanish basketball legend who for
several reasons never managed to win the
European crown. Just like life, sports are
sometimes unfair. But despite not holding
the top trophy in continental basketball,
there’s no denying that Epi was a huge player on the
court and a gentleman off it. It has been almost 25
years since FIBA organized a great homage to Epi
for his retirement. That day, a selection of European
players defeated FC Barcelona 118-92, but the score
was the least important thing. Some 8,000 fans
packed Palau Blaugrana in Barcelona to show respect
to a player who had been their hero for 19 years. Juan
Antonio Samaranch, then the president of the International
Olympic Committee, bestowed upon Epi the
Olympic Order of Merit. The full board of directors for
FIBA was also at the game, led by general secretary
Borislav Stankovic and his closest collaborators, including
Raimundo Saporta.
In a very emotional appearance, Epi played for just
5 minutes and missed both of his last 2 shot attempts,
but he was already a retired player and dressed in his
uniform only for this special occasion. His last official
game had been played at the end of the 1994-95 season,
in the Spanish League playoffs. On May 25, in the
fifth game of the final series against Unicaja, Barcelona
beat the team from Malaga 73-64 to win the league.
Thus, Epi retired with his seventh national title for Barcelona.
He only played the last 26 seconds, enough to
score 2 free throws, the last 2 points of the game, and
more than enough for a long standing ovation. It was
the end of a brilliant career for a one-of-a-kind player, a
star on the court and a humble man on the street.
Tagging along with his brother
Epi, born on June 12, 1959, was the youngest of
three brothers of a family living in Zaragoza. The two
elder brothers played basketball and Juan Antonio
followed in their footsteps. But he suffered a big blow
when the coach of Helios, the club where he played in
the youth categories, left him off the team because of
his “lack of talent.” Epi didn’t despair and didn’t waste
the second chance he was offered, at 15 years old,
thanks to his brother Herminio. Barça had set its sights
on Herminio, but he had one condition: that the club
also sign his brother, Juan Antonio. Barcelona, though
not convinced, accepted and made one of the best
signings in the history of the club. After two years in
the youth categories, Epi would become a hero to the
Barcelona fans for 19 years. A man who never tired of
scoring more and more points, he was without a doubt
the most profitable signing ever for the club.
I can’t exactly remember when I first saw Epi play, but
I do know when I heard his name for the first time. After
the U18 European Championship in 1976 in Santiago
de Compostela, Spain – where Yugoslavia (Aleksandar
Petrovic, Predrag Bogosavljev, MVP Rade Vukosavljevic)
won its third straight gold medal – Yugoslav
coach Bogdan Tanjevic was talking about outstanding
players. He spoke about Vladimir Tkachenko, but also
about Juan Antonio San Epifanio, as future stars. As
almost always, he was right. Spain finished third in that
tournament with a great generation that gave a lot of
101 greats of european basketball
Juan Antonio San Epifanio
E

Vladimir Stankovic
good things to Spanish basketball: Epi, Joaquin Costa,
Nacho Solozabal, Fernando Romay, Juan Manuel López
Iturriaga and Josean Querejeta, among others.
If not before, I am sure that I saw San Epifanio at the
1980 Olympic Games in Moscow. He was among the
youngest players, but he finished the tourney as second-best
scorer on the Spanish team, with 18 points
per game, including 25 against Cuba, 22 against eventual
champ Yugoslavia and 21 against the USSR. You
could see at first sight that he had an incredibly easy
time shooting the ball. Epi was a 1.98-meter forward
and a natural attacker with skills to score from anywhere.
His favorite spot was the corner, but he scored
just the same from mid-range, on the fastbreak or penetrating
to the rim. He was young enough to play before
the three-point shot was adopted, though from 1984 it
would become his main weapon.
After Moscow 1980, I saw Epi many times, including
at the 1983 EuroBasket in France, where Spain won the
silver medal thanks to one of his baskets against the
USSR in the semis; and at the 1984 Olympics in Los
Angeles, with a silver medal for the ages for Spain, with
Epi averaging 18.9 points. After that, I saw him also at
the 1989 and 1991 EuroBaskets, the 1990 World Cup
and the 1992 Olympic Games. And from the autumn of
1991, I also saw him play in many Spanish League and
Spanish King’s Cup games, as well as with the Spanish
national team. Once I told him that, in Yugoslavia, after
one of his scoring fests, his surname was spelled as
“Epifanich”. He laughed and took it with good humor –
and as a compliment, because the Yugoslav shooters
of the 1970s (Kicanovic, Delibasic, Dalipagic, Solman,
Plecas, Simonovic, Vilfan) were among Europe’s and
the world’s best. Epi really was a natural at shooting,
with a level of skill that you can improve, but you can’t
learn. It’s that famous combination of natural talent,
hard work, sacrifice and personal ambition.
A career with 25 trophies
Starting with his debut on Barcelona’s first team
in 1976-77, at only 17 years old, Epi set many records.
He won 22 trophies at the club level: seven national
leagues, 10 national cups, 2 Saporta Cups, 1 Korac Cup,
1 Intercontinental Cup. Then, he also took the bronze
and silver medals with the national team at the 1983
and 1991 EuroBaskets, plus an Olympic silver in 1984.
His numbers grew year after year:
1976/77 – 6.6 points, 2.0 rebounds
1977/78 – 9.6 ppg., 3.1 rpg. – Cup
1978/79 – 12.0 ppg., 2.5 rpg. – Cup
1979/80 – 13.1 ppg., 4.0 rpg. – Cup
1980/81 – 15.6 ppg., 3.6 rpg. – League, Cup
1981/82 – 19.3 ppg., 2.1 rpg. – Cup
1982/83 – 24.1 ppg., 2.7 rpg. – League, Cup
From 1983, when the Spanish League as we know it
started, he played 421 games and scored 7,028 points
(16.7 ppg). His last great season was in 1991-92, with
18.6 points and 3.4 rebounds. He played less in the following
two campaigns, but he still had decent numbers
(10.9 and 9.9 points, respectively) to finish his career at
age 36 with 2.9 points and his seventh league title.
With the Spanish national team, Epi played 239
times and scored 3,358 points. His career with the national
team lasted for 15 years, 3 months and 19 days.
There was no one like Epi. On October 10, 1993, in Malaga,
he played his 222nd game with the national team
against the Czech Republic and matched the record
of Francesco “Nino” Buscato. But after that Epi played
in the 1994 World Cup in Toronto and stretched his
brilliant career for 15 more games. He played several
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times with a European selection of players and L’Equipe
named him the best European player of the 1980s.
His most emotional and glorious moment came on
July 25, 1992. He was the last bearer of the Olympic
torch in his city, Barcelona, 12 years after Sergei Belov,
another basketball player, had the same honor at the
Moscow Olympics. With the torch flame, Epi lit an arrow
that was then shot by Paralympic athlete Antonio
Rebollo to ignite the Olympic cauldron, which was to be
the symbol of the Games until August 9.
On five occasions, Epi and his Barça teams tried to
win the European crown. In 1984, they lost their first final
to Banco di Roma (79-73) despite Epi’s 31 points. In
1990 and 1991, Barça lost twice in the title game (72-67
and 70-65) to the great Jugoplastika. Barça also went
to two more Final Fours – in Munich in 1989 and Tel
Aviv in 1994 – only to fall in the semis. But, even without
this title on his résumé, Juan Antonio San Epifanio
remained a Barcelona legend who always justified his
popular nickname: “Super Epi”!
Juan Antonio San Epifanio
101 greats of european basketball
E

Gregor
Fucka
123

Not your
typical star
I
remember a scene that took place after the 1999
EuroBasket in Paris. After Itay’s 64-56 victory
over Spain in the final, the press conference was
attended by coach Bogdan Tanjevic and the MVP
of the tournament, Gregor Fucka. A few moments
after they finished talking, the two hugged each
other wholeheartedly, and Tanjevic said:
“Grega, we did it.”
Life was writing another novel. Tanjevic, of Montenegrin
origins, and Fucka, who was born on August 7, 1971
in Kranj, Slovenia, had triumphed in their new country,
Italy. But their relationship had started exactly 10 years
earlier. Tanjevic, a EuroLeague club champion with Bosna
Sarajevo in 1979 and a European runner-up with Yugoslavia
in the 1981 EuroBasket in Prague, had already
been in Italy for eight years – first in Caserta and later in
Trieste, where he had started a long-term project with
the blessing and patience of Giuseppe Stefanel, a local
businessman who happened to love basketball.
Before winning the Italian double in 1995, Trieste
would have to hit rock bottom in the third division. But
Tanjevic knew what he wanted and one of the players
he desired for his team was Gregor Fucka, a young Slovenian
talent who was already playing at Union Olimpija
Ljubljana. In the 1988-89 season, Olimpija coach Vinko
Jelovac gave young Fucka his first minutes on the court.
Fucka had an atypical physique, at 2.15 meters and
about 80 kilos, he was very skinny and he didn’t look
too promising at first sight. He played alongside Jure
Zdovc, Peter Vilfan, Slavko Kotnik, Radislav Curcic, Zarko
Djurisic and Veljko Petranovic. In 10 games he scored
his first 6 points with the big boys, but Tanjevic’s great
eye already saw the talent in him. Trieste and Ljubljana
are only 90 kilometers apart, which allowed Tanjevic to
keep a close eye on Fucka. When he discovered that the
player had Italian origins, Tanjevic started moving the
mechanisms to sign him. I remember that the Yugoslav
press criticized Tanjevic for stealing away such a young
talent, but he only made the best of the situation for the
club that was paying him.
Olimpija and the Yugoslav federation wouldn’t give
their consent. After spending a year out of basketball,
but with daily individual work overseen by Tanjevic,
Fucka made his debut with the Italian junior national
team at the U18 European Championship in 1990 in
Groningen, the Netherlands, before making his debut
with Stefanel Trieste. In the national team tournament,
Fucka stood out with 11 points per game. After that, his
first season in Trieste, with 8.7 points and 3.9 boards
over 34 games, made it quite clear that Tanjevic had a
diamond in his hands, just like he had before with Mirza
Delibasic and Ratko Radovanovic in Sarajevo or Oscar
Schmidt and Nando Gentile in Caserta.
At the U19 World Cup 1991 in Edmonton, Canada,
Italy ended up second after losing to the USA 90-85 as
Fucka scored 20 points to average 15.1 for the tournament.
In Edmonton, Fucka interacted with Dejan Bodiroga,
who was playing for Yugoslavia, in what was the
start of a friendship between the two. They would play
together again in the future – also thanks to the courage
and vision of Tanjevic – and they would experience
unforgettable moments.
From the very first steps he took on a basketball
court, Fucka was a different player. He had many cen-
101 greats of european basketball
Gregor Fucka
F

Vladimir Stankovic
timeters and few kilos, a difference that is normally
not recommended for basketball players. Standing at
2.15 meters, it was just natural that he played against
big men. But weighing in at 80 kilos or 90 later (he
never reached 100), Fucka was a coveted target for big
centers. As such, he had to find his place between the
small and power forward positions. Tanjevic worked a
lot on Fucka’s long-range shot, and it paid off. Fucka got
out of the paint and shot from mid or long range, but
by the time that opponents took note of the danger, it
was already too late. That or Fucka simply changed his
position and got closer to the rim. He was also good
with assists, and it was not rare at all to see him driving
the ball like a point guard. In other words, he was a
versatile player who could play at several positions and
always, or almost always, play at a similar level. In his 14
seasons in Italy, only in his first one, when he was very
young, and his last two, at 37 and 38 years old, did his
scoring average fall below 10 points. His total averages
in 490 Italian League games reflect his profile: 27.1 minutes,
12.7 points, 6.2 rebounds. His best season was
1996-97 with Trieste, when he put up 18.7 points and
7.5 rebounds per game.
Three lost finals
In the summer of 1991, listening to the advice of his
friend, Zadar sports director Kresimir Cosic, Tanjevic
signed another Yugoslav star, Dejan Bodiroga of Serbia.
Bodiroga arrived from Zadar, a team he had ended up
with when his talent slipped under the radar of Partizan
and Crvena Zvezda scouts, but not from under Cosic’s.
The start of the war in Yugoslavia forced Bodiroga to
leave his team, but Cosic convinced Tanjevic to sign the
18-year-old, who became the youngest foreigner ever
in the Italian League.
Due to bureaucratic problems, Bodiroga could not
play in 1991-92, but he became a star the following
season with 21.2 points per game. Aside from Tanjevic,
his host in Trieste would be Gregor Fucka. The
Slovenian spoke fluent Serbian and helped Bodiroga
in his adaptation to everything. Their friendship would
get stronger and would culminate 10 years later in
Barcelona.
However, before enjoying basketball glory, both had
to endure bittersweet moments with their clubs and
national teams. For instance, Trieste lost three straight
Korac Cup finals, a trophy that the three protagonists
in this story – Fucka, Bodiroga and Tanjevic – wanted
to win for personal reasons. Tanjevic played at OKK
Belgrade with Radivoj Korac, while for any kid from Yugoslavia,
the name of Korac and his friend Ivo Daneu
simply meant basketball. In the 1994 two-game final,
Trieste fell to PAOK Thessaloniki; in 1995 it lost to ALBA
Berlin; and in 1996 – now playing as Stefanel Milano –
the three saw their dream dashed by Efes Pilsen. Those
were three big disappointments, but Bodiroga found
some consolation in 1995 with Yugoslavia winning EuroBasket
1995 in Athens. In 1996, Stefanel Milano won
the Italian League and Italian Cup with the two friends
being a key part of that success. Those were their first
two titles after so many years of hard work and sacrifice.
Bodiroga completed a great season with a silver
medal in the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, but at the 1997
EuroBasket in Barcelona, Fucka and Bodiroga became
rivals. Italy beat Yugoslavia 74-69 in the group stage,
but Yugoslavia got the ultimate revenge, beating the
Italians 61-49 in the final. Bodiroga, who was already
playing with Real Madrid, scored 14 points and his
friend Fucka 12. The following year, at the 1998 World
Cup in Athens, Yugoslavia won the gold medal but lost
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to Italy in the group stage, 61-60, with 16 points and 6
boards from Fucka.
Triumphs in Paris and Barcelona
In the summer of 1996, the friends got separated,
with Bodiroga going to Real Madrid and Fucka staying
in Trieste one more season. But in 1997, Fucka also
left and joined Fortitudo Bologna. Fucka and Bodiroga
met again as rivals at the 1999 EuroBasket in Paris. In
a dramatic semifinals game, Italy was ahead by 20 but
Yugoslavia managed to tie the score. In the end, Italy
prevailed 72-61. As coincidence would have it, both
Fucka and Bodiroga ended up with 17 points. In the big
final, Italy defeated Spain 64-56 with Fucka posting a
double-double of 10 points and 10 boards. He was MVP
of the tournament. The all-tournament team featured
Carlton Myers, Andrea Meneghin, Alberto Herreros,
Dejan Bodiroga and Gregor Fucka. Ten years after starting
their relationship, Fucka and Tanjevic, coach of that
EuroBasket-winning team, were at the top of European
basketball. Not with their club, but their Italian national
team success was just as remarkable.
Fucka stayed in Bologna until 2002, when another
coach from the Yugoslav school, Svetislav Pesic, called
both Fucka and Bodiroga for his new project in FC Barcelona.
The two great friends were in their prime, and they
arrived highly motivated to Barcelona. Bodiroga had
already won two EuroLeague titles with Panathinaikos
Athens, but Fucka was still missing the continental
crown at the club level. Barcelona worked its way to the
Final Four, which was held in its own city, at Palau Sant
Jordi. In the semifinal, on May 9, 2003, Barcelona got
rid of CSKA Moscow by 76-71 with 21 points by Fucka,
his best total all season! His shot was almost perfect
that night: 6 of 8 twos, 1 of 1 from at the three-point
arc, and 6 of 6 free throws to go with 9 rebounds in
29 minutes. His friend Bodiroga scored 17 points. The
title game two days later, against Benetton Treviso,
saw the two stars exchange roles: Bodiroga scored 20
and pulled down 8 rebounds while Fucka had 17 points
plus 6 rebounds for a 76-65 Barcelona win and another
dream fulfilled.
After four years in Barcelona, Fucka and Pesic met
again in Girona where, in the 2006-07 season, they
won the FIBA EuroCup. The final, played in Girona, saw
Akasvayu Girona defeat Azovmash Mariupol by 79-72.
Together with Fucka on the court were Fernando San
Emeterio, Marc Gasol, Victor Sada, Arriel McDonald,
Darryl Middleton and Bootsy Thornton – a great team.
After five good years in Catalonia, Fucka returned to
Italy. He played in Rome and for his old club, Fortitudo,
where before putting an end to his brilliant career in
2011, at age 39. He has remained in Bologna, where he
currently has a basketball school.
Apart from Tanjevic, there’s no better person to talk
about Gregor Fucka than Dejan Bodiroga himself: “A
great friend, a great man and a great player. He helped
me a lot in my first months in Trieste. It was a pleasure
to play alongside him and to spend some time with him
off the court. He was not a typical player. He was really
smart and his versatility allowed him to play the three,
four or five positions. His best weapons were his big
hands. He was one of the players who made a difference.
We are still in touch nowadays. Our friendship is
forever.”
101 greats of european basketball
Gregor Fucka
F

Nikos
Galis
127

A scoring machine
In the history of European club competitions, there
have been several great players who, despite brilliant
careers, are missing an important title: the EuroLeague.
One of them is the legendary Nikos Galis,
one of the biggest figures in European and world
basketball of the 1980s. If I had to define Galis in a
few words, it would be easy: a scoring machine. I have
seen many great scorers, and it is hard to choose one
of them as “The Best”. However, in any quick selection
of the greatest that I have seen, I would surely include
Radivoj Korac, Nikola Plecas, Drazen Petrovic, Oscar
Schmidt, Drazen Dalipagic, Dragan Kicanovic, Manuel
Raga, Bob Morse, Juan Antonio San Epifanio and, of
course, Nikos Galis.
Compared to the rest of players on this list, Galis had a
big disadvantage: his height. He was only 1.83 meters tall,
which in theory is very short, even for point guards. But
for most of his career, Galis was an unstoppable shooting
guard! It was unbelievably easy for him to score and he
could do it in every imaginable way. He could shoot from
mid-range or behind the arc. He could penetrate, run the
fastbreak or even jump higher than taller opponents. His
specialty was shooting with contact, with the hand or the
whole body of a defender on his right wrist. He was almost
always shorter than his defenders, but he was also
always stronger and better prepared physically. He could
play 40 minutes with no problems and could jump high
enough to always launch clean shots.
From the ring to the court
Nikos Galis was born in New Jersey, USA, on July 27,
1957, as Nikolaos Georgallis. His parents, Georgios and
Stela, were Greek emigrants with roots on the island of
Rhodes. Nikos’s father was an amateur boxer. He thought
that boxing was ideal for his short, strong son. Until age
15, Galis also boxed, but constant pressure from his
mother led him to switch sports. He tried American football,
but he soon turned to basketball, and in no time became
the best player on his high school team, as a point
guard. In 1975, he entered Seton Hall University, where
coach Bill Raftery changed his position to shooting guard.
The results were mind-blowing. In the 1978-79 season,
Galis finished as the third best scorer in the NCAA with
an average of 27.5 points per game, behind only Larry
Bird (28.6) and Lawrence Butler (30.1). His scoring average
over four years of college was 20.3 points. In April
1979, he played in the college basketball all-star game
in Hawaii and everything pointed towards a great future
in the NBA. However, his agents seemed to be more focused
on managing singer Diana Ross and Galis slipped
to the fourth round, where he was selected by the Boston
Celtics. He had to go through the summer camps and
fight with several other players for one or two free spots
on the team. An injury kept him sidelined, and when he
returned, the Celtics’ roster was already closed, so coach
Bill Fitch wished him better luck for the following year.
It’s difficult to know whether Boston, with this decision,
lost a great player. But there is no doubt that European
basketball, especially Greek basketball, got the
better side of the deal. A neighbor in New Jersey who
was also of Greek origin tried to convince Nikos to go to
Greece to play for Panathinaikos. But Nikos didn’t want
to go far from home and also refused an offer from
Olympiacos. The clubs only offered him long contracts
and he wanted a one-year deal so the next summer he
could try for the NBA again. The third club that tried to
101 greats of european basketball
Nikos Galis
G

Vladimir Stankovic
sign Nikos Georgallis was Aris Thessaloniki. The president
of the club, Menelaos Hagigeorgiu, traveled to
New Jersey, and with his sincere words he convinced
Nikos’s parents and, after them, Nikos himself. But the
deal was for one year only, until the end of the season.
His arrival in Thessaloniki brought about many
doubts, especially because of his physical stature. Instead
of a shooting guard or a tall forward, here was a young
kid whose body didn’t promise especially good things. He
spoke Greek poorly and could not express himself well
or understand what was wanted from him. But from the
first practice, and later when the games started, the “little
American” shut everyone’s mouths. He scored with unbelievable
ease. Defenses would do everything against him,
but nobody could stop the rain of points.
His official debut came on December 2, 1979, against
Iraklis. Galis finished the game with 30 points. At the beginning
of 1980, a new coach arrived to the Aris bench:
Dusan Ivkovic, the Serbian coach who had led Partizan
to the Yugoslav League title in 1979. He saw Galis’s enormous
potential on the spot. Galis soon became the idol of
the fans – and not only Aris’s. He finished the season as
the third-best scorer in the league, averaging 33.0 points.
But there was a player who scored more than him, Panagiotis
Giannakis of the small Athens club, Ionikos, with 36.5.
Already in 1980, Galis made his debut with the Greek
national team against Sweden and scored his first 12
points. From then on, he enjoyed life in Greece and
decided to forget about the NBA and signed again with
Aris. He finished the next season with an average of 43.9
points (!) and, against Ionikos, set a Greek League record
with 63 points. However, Aris finished third behind
Panathinaikos and Olympiacos in the standings. In the
1983-84 season, Aris lost the title in a tiebreaker against
Panathinaikos played on the island of Corfu. New coach
Giannis Ioannidis was also becoming an important part
of Galis’s career, but there was still something missing.
When the club directors managed to sign Giannakis
from Ionikos, and 2.17-meter big man Dimitris Kokolakis,
all the pieces of the puzzle were in place.
In their first season, the Galis-Giannakis duo worked
perfectly. Aris won the Greek League with only one
defeat and Galis was the best scorer with an average
of 34.0 points. They key was that Galis and Giannakis
switched between point guard and shooting guard as
they pleased. It was the birth of one of the best duos
ever in European basketball.
Miracle in Piraeus
For the 1986-87 season, a playoff was introduced
in the Greek League. Aris won the title again – this time
with no losses – and Galis scored a total of 808 points for
an average of 40! To top it off, Galis then led the Greek
national team to the EuroBasket title in 1987 in Athens.
Galis was already a well-known and respected player
in Europe. At EuroBasket in both 1981 and 1983,
he had been named to the all-tournament teams. He
also had been the top scorer at the 1986 World Cup in
Spain, with 33.3 points per game. There, with his personal
best of 53 points against Panama, Galis for the
first time outscored Oscar Schmidt in an international
competition, averaging 33.7 points.
Now, playing at home in the 1987 EuroBasket, the
victims of Greece and Galis before the final were Romania
(Galis, 44 points), Yugoslavia (44), Spain (35), USSR (31),
France (34), Italy (38) and Yugoslavia, again, in the semis
(30). But his big day was on June 17, 1987. In front of 17,000
fans, Nikos Galis scored 40 points against the USSR and,
thanks to him, Greece claimed the title in overtime, 103-
101. His average was 37.8 points. He committed just 7
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fouls throughout the tourney. He was chosen MVP of the
tournament and was also named the best player in Europe
through a survey in the Italian newspaper Gazzetta dello
Sport. Galis was for a long time the only 1,000-point scorer
in EuroBasket history and his career average of 31.2 points
is by far the best ever in that tournament. He also owns the
highest career scoring average in the World Cup, with 33.7
points over his 10 games played in that event.
He was a great scorer, but also a generous player.
In FIBA competitions, his 23 assists in a Saporta Cup
game in 1990 are still the record. But that historic game
against the USSR marked a before and after in Greek
basketball. Galis became the most popular sportsman
ever in Greece. He was an idol, a sports icon and a symbol
of national pride. Thanks to him, the Greek Federation
saw the number of registered basketball players
go from 92,731 in 1987 to 163,000 in 1991!
The first European millionaire
All the European greats wanted to sign Galis, but he
loved Thessaloniki. He used his genius on the court and
his popularity to make a lot of money. Prior to the 1987
EuroBasket, he played for $150,000 a year. After that,
he improved his salary to $700,000, and not much later
Galis became the first European player with a contract
higher than $1 million, apart from his many publicity contracts.
In Greece, he was considered to be the player who
earned the most money until then, but nobody could
deny that he earned every penny. The fact that over
12 seasons he only lost 6 games and appeared in 97%
of them (including 99 in a row) says everything about
his professionalism. He won eight Greek League titles
and seven Greek Cups. He was top scorer in the Greek
League 11 times. He was the best passer four times and
was European champion with his national team.
With Aris, Galis went to three straight Final Fours:
Ghent 1988, Munich 1989 and Zaragoza 1990. But despite
his points, Aris always lost in the semis. At the 1989 EuroBasket,
Greece won the silver medal and Galis finished
with an average of 35.6 points. He was also a member
of the all-tournament team with Drazen Petrovic, Zarko
Paspalj, Vlade Divac and Arvydas Sabonis. Galis, like the
legendary Korac, was the top scorer in four EuroBaskets.
At the 1991 EuroBasket in Rome, Galis scored his 5,000th
point for Greece against Czechoslovakia and FIBA allowed
the game to be stopped so everybody could pay tribute to
the legendary scorer. His international career ended with
167 games and 5,130 points (30.5 per game).
In the 1991-92 season, Galis lost the scoring throne
despite posting 31.0 points per game. Paspalj, the new
Olympiacos star, beat him. For the first time since 1985,
Aris did not win the Greek title and was third behind PAOK
and Olympiacos. His golden years at Aris were coming
to an end. For the 1992-93 season, Galis finally left Thessaloniki
and joined Panathinaikos, who used him as the
answer to Olympiacos bringing in Paspalj. Galis finished
with 23.6 points and 6.7 assists in the league as the
Greens won the cup. The following year, he improved his
numbers to 24.1 points and reached his fourth Final Four
in Tel Aviv, but Panathinaikos lost in the semis against
arch-rival Olympiacos. Galis finished his career at age 37
during a 1994-95 season in which he posted averages of
22.5 points and 3.6 assists.
In September of 2007, Galis entered the FIBA Hall of
Fame, and in 2008 he was chosen by Euroleague Basketball
as one of 35 players to be honored among the 50
Greatest Contributors of the first 50 years of European
club competitions. The Naismith Hall of Fame in Springfield
opened its doors to Galis in 2017.
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Panagiotis
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The Greek Dragon
In the history of basketball, there are many cases
in which the names of two players go hand in hand
as if they were one. For instance, Kicanovic and
Dalipagic at Partizan; Slavnic and Kicanovic on the
Yugoslavia national team of the 1980s; Solozabal
and Epi in Barcelona; Marzorati and Meneghin with
Varese; Corbalan and Luyk in Real Madrid; and Gjergja
and Cosic in Zadar. And one of the most outstanding
cases of this phenomenon is, without a doubt, the
duo that saw action in the Greek national team and
Aris Thessaloniki during the 1980s: Nikos Galis and
Panagiotis Giannakis.
Neither of them is from Thessaloniki, but that’s
where the most important part of their careers took
place. Galis, who is 18 months older than Giannakis,
was there first. The son of Greek emigrants to the United
States, he made his debut on December 2, 1979, and
finished the season with an incredible average of 33.0
points per game. However, he was not the best scorer
in the Greek League that year. That honor belonged
to a player from the small Athens-based club, Ionikos
Nikaias, for whom Panagiotis Giannakis finished with a
36.5-point average! Giannakis was already a relatively
well-known player. I saw him for the first time in Split
during the Mediterranean Games, where in the final, he
led Greece to victory over a solid Yugoslavia team 85-
74. That Yugoslav team had names like Mirza Delibasic,
Mihovil Nakic, Rajko Zizic, Andro Knego, Ratko Radovanovic,
Ivica Dukan, Misko Maric and Boban Petrovic, but
the Greeks were better. Thanks especially to 34 points
from the hands of Giannakis.
Curiously enough, Giannakis recorded his best scoring
performance in the Greek League – 73 points! – in
a game against Aris in 1981. That was just one more
reason for Aris to sign him. Some years later, Aris managed
to get Galis and Giannakis together, and that was
the birth of one of the most famous duos in the history
of European basketball. Once they were together, the
dominance of Aris in Greece started right away and led
the team to seven straight titles. In Europe, which began
using the Final Four to decide the champion starting
in 1988, Aris reached the final stage three straight
times. But they never made it to the title game, finishing
fourth twice and third once. Defeats in Ghent in 1988
against Milano and Partizan were frustrating. One
year later the same thing happened in Munich, where
Maccabi was better in the semis despite 25 points by
Galis. In the game for third place, Aris beat Barcelona
88-71 with 36 points from Galis and 22 by Giannakis.
The third time wasn’t a charm either, in Zaragoza in
1990. First, Aris lost to Barcelona and later to Limoges,
despite 43 points from Galis.
Consolation in Turin
This great duo finished their career together in Aris
without any international titles. Galis decided to join
Panathinaikos in 1992, but Giannakis stayed with Aris
one more year. In that 1992-93 season, he managed
to win with Aris the Saporta Cup, FIBA’s secondary trophy
at the time, by beating Efes Pilsen 50-48. The final
was played on March 16 in Turin, Italy, in front of 7,000
mostly Aris and Efes fans. At the time, the diplomatic relationship
between Greece and Turkey was not healthy
and the game turned into one of the biggest scandals in
the history of European basketball. There was a battle
in the stands, with seats being turned into weapons.
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Vladimir Stankovic
Four Efes players and even the FIBA delegate wound up
in the hospital. In a tense and ugly game, Efes was close
to victory, but in the final minutes the experience of Roy
Tarpley (19 points, 18 rebounds) and Giannakis himself,
despite only 2 points, allowed Aris to take the win.
Galis, meanwhile, was not lucky with Panathinaikos
either. He managed to play in the 1994 Final Four in
Tel Aviv, but in the end, he retired without fulfilling his
dream of winning the continental crown. Giannakis was
a bit luckier. He followed Galis’s footsteps and signed
for Panathinaikos in 1994, after a season with Panionios.
His first attempt at the Final Four with Panathinaikos,
in Zaragoza in 1995, ended like the others with
Aris. But on the second try, in Paris in 1996, Giannakis
finally managed to lift the EuroLeague trophy. In a
dramatic and historic game, marked by some serious
mistakes by the referees and the officials’ table, Panathinaikos
won 67-66. Giannakis, at 37 years old, played
38 minutes and scored 9 points. His dream came true.
That same summer he played at the 1996 Olympics in
Atlanta and then retired. Behind him were 351 games
with the Greek national team and 5,309 points, which
remains the record. In the Greek League, he scored
9,291 points, the third-best mark of all time.
A miracle in Piraeus
What Galis and Giannakis didn’t manage to do with
Aris, they accomplished with the national team at Euro-
Basket 1987. It was played in the then-new Peace and
Friendship Stadium in Piraeus. Giannakis had played his
first EuroBasket in 1979 in Turin and finished with a solid
average of 7.8 points. Two years later in Prague, his
average was already 10.2 points, and in 1983 in Nantes,
he climbed to 15.3. In the 1986 World Cup in Spain, he
had 17.3 points per game. Giannakis’s most brilliant
moment occurred on June 14, 1987, when Greece, in
the game known as “The Miracle of Piraeus”, managed
to defeat the USSR in overtime 103-101 to claim the European
title. Galis played all 45 minutes and scored 40
points, but the leadership, vision, assists and security
that Giannakis gave to his teammates turned him into
the other hero of the game. Two years later, in Zagreb,
Greece again reached the EuroBasket final but lost to
Yugoslavia. At the 1990 World Cup in Argentina, Giannakis
averaged 26.0 points, in the 1991 EuroBasket
he scored 19.8 and in the 1993 EuroBasket, it was 19.3.
Giannakis was a point guard, so by definition, he
was supposed to be a player that helped the others. But
his great abilities turned him into a great scorer. Since
Galis could also play point without problems, often they
switched positions during a game, causing confusion
for the opponent. Giannakis stood taller than Galis, had
a good outside shot, penetrated well and was also a
solid rebounder. But most of all, Giannakis was a leader.
In decisive moments, his teammates turned to him
because his hands were like a safe around the ball, and
he could also score. He was a life insurance policy for
his teammates and coaches. He was also a sportsman
of true excellence, without a single stain in his résumé,
a player loved by all, even by rivals, who respected his
professionalism.
EuroBasket history-maker
Panagiotis Giannakis is the only man in basketball
to have been European national champion both as a
player and coach. Svetislav Pesic did it at the club level
with Bosna in 1979 as a player and with Barcelona in
2003 as a coach. However, at the international level,
only Giannakis has EuroBasket titles as a player (1987
Piraeus) and as a coach (2005 Belgrade).
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next stop would be Maroussi, but in 2004 he was back
on the national team bench for the 2004 Olympics in
Athens. Greece finished fifth, but the following year, in
Belgrade, it won the European title. In 2006, Giannakis
led Greece to a historic semifinal victory over Team USA
at the World Cup in Japan but had to settle for the silver
medal after falling to a great Spain team in the final.
From 2008 to 2010, Giannakis coached Olympiacos
and reached the EuroLeague Final Four twice. In 2009
the Reds fell to Panathinaikos in the semis in Berlin, and
in 2010 Olympiacos lost against Barcelona in the title
game in Paris. He also helped the Reds snap a long title
drought at home with the 2010 Greek Cup.
In 2008, Giannakis was rightfully selected by Euroleague
Basketball among the 50 Greatest Contributors to
the first 50 years of the European club competitions. He
is Panagiotis Giannakis, the dragon of Greek basketball.
Panagiotis Giannakis
After putting an end to his brilliant playing career,
Giannakis turned to coaching the Greek national team
and already at EuroBasket 1997 in Barcelona, he led
the team to the semifinals. He did the same one year
later at the 1998 World Cup in Athens. After that, he
coached Panionios and stayed there until 2002. His
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Atanas
Golomeev
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Bulgarian legend
In the second edition of the U18 European Championship,
played in Italy in 1966, a lot of future stars
emerged: Dino Meneghin, Marino Zanatta and
Giulio Iellini of Italy; Kresimir Cosic, Damir Solman,
Ljubodrag Simonovic and Aljosa Zorga of Yugoslavia,
who would become the 1970 world champion;
Zdenek Dousa of Czechoslovakia and Aleksandar
Boloshev of Russia. However, the top scorer of the
competition was from Bulgaria.
His name was Atanas Golomeev, who was born in
Sofia on July 5, 1947. He averaged 17.6 points, including
34 points against France and 32 against Spain. Only
two years later, at 19 years old, he made his debut in the
senior EuroBasket in Naples and his 5.5-point average
didn’t hint at a future scoring champ. However, at the
1971 EuroBasket in Germany, Golomeev was already
averaging 18.6 points. And by the 1973 EuroBasket in
Barcelona, he was the top scorer, with 22.3 points per
game, above Wayne Brabender, Sergei Belov, Tal Brody,
Jiri Zidek, Kresimir Cosic and Modestas Paulauskas.
Golomeev also made the all-tournament team with
Nino Buscató and Brabender of Spain, Belov of the USSR
and Cosic of Yugoslavia. As a man of habit, Golomeev
also became the top scorer at the 1975 EuroBasket in
Belgrade, with 23.1 points, again ahead of many superstars.
In 1977, at EuroBasket in Belgium, Golomeev
again scored a high average (20.1) in what was his last
big competition.
I was lucky to follow him live in Belgrade and Belgium
and I have no doubts that he was one of the finest
centers of his era. And, mind you, he was playing
against Cosic, Meneghin, Zidek, Clifford Luyk, Vladimir
Andreev, Vinko Jelovac, Vladimir Tkachenko, Alexander
Belostenny and others. It’s funny that Golomeev
was shorter, standing at 2.02 meters, more of a power
forward than a center. But thanks to his physique and
especially the needs of his teams, he normally played
at the center position. He had good rebounding skills
and a sixth sense of knowing where the ball would fall,
making up for his lack of centimeters.
This was a brief history of the appearances in
EuroBasket of one of the best Bulgarian players ever.
However, his complete story, both personal and professional,
qualify him to belong in this series dedicated to
the best players of the past.
It all started with the Universiada World University
Summer Games played in 1961 in Sofia. Atanas Golomeev,
“Nasko” to his friends, received by chance some
free tickets to go see the basketball tournament. As
he said, he fell in love with the game by watching the
attractive Brazilian players and the better Bulgarian
players like Ljubomir Panov and Viktor Radev. The man
who discovered Golomeev’s talent in 1964 at the Todro
Minkov school was Ventsi Yanev. Nasko was a natural
born talent for many sports. He was a goalkeeper on
the school football team, in athletics he did the high
jump and discus. He was also a good swimmer, but Yanev
saw clearly that Golomeev had been born for basketball.
He took Golomeev to the Spartak school and
then he signed for CSKA Sofia at 18 years old, while in
the military service.
Explosion in ... Canada
At 20 years old, Golomeev already stood out, but
who knows how his career would have evolved if his
father had not been sent to Montreal, Canada as a rep-
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Atanas Golomeev
G

Vladimir Stankovic
resentative of the Chamber of Commerce of Bulgaria.
Golomeev studied at the prestigious McGill College,
founded in 1821, and he quickly earned a reputation as
the best player on the basketball team.
“They called me last year,” Golomeev recalled a few
years ago from Torremolinos, Spain, where he spends
his winters playing golf. “On April 12, they wanted to
celebrate something because some of my records are
still standing after 35 years! My average of 37.5 points
is still untouchable, as well as the 57 points I scored
in a game that we played as visitors. Such a shame I
couldn’t make it, but I am happy that they still remember
me.”
His games at McGill caught the attention of several
NBA teams, specifically New York, who was seriously
interested in signing the Bulgarian player. But the idea
of becoming a professional basketball player never,
ever crossed Golomeev’s mind. Interestingly, another
Bulgarian, Georgi Glouchkov, became the first European
player ever in the NBA, in 1986. But that’s another
story. It was almost impossible for Golomeev due to
the nature of his father’s job and because of the rules
back then. The Bulgarian federation would never have
granted him permission to play in the NBA because
that would have meant that Golomeev could no longer
participate in the national team.
He chose to go back home, but this time he signed
for Akademik. In the 1969-70 EuroLeague season, the
Spanish giants Real Madrid saw his potential in their
quarterfinals duel. Madrid won at home, 97-83, and
Golomeev scored 19 points, but lost the duel against
Luyk (34). However, one week later, his revenge was
complete as Akademik won 101-86 and Golomeev
nailed 38 points!
“The only thing I remember from that game was the
helplessness of my players in trying to stop Golomeev,”
Pedro Ferrandiz, the legendary Real Madrid coach, told
me once. “He scored when and how he wanted. He beat
us by himself. He was a false five, he lacked height, but
he had great technique and great shooting. Yes, he was
a great player.”
After six years with Akademik, from 1970 to 1976,
Golomeev signed for Levski-Spartak, where he played
until 1981. In a game against Slavia Sofia, he scored 63
points, the standing record in Bulgaria. He was a fighter
willing to battle against anybody to win. He had the reputation
of having a bad attitude because of his constant
replies to referees on the court, and he was called for
many technical fouls. But outside the court Golomeev
was kind and well-mannered. At 34 years old, he entered
the Bulgarian history books as the first player ever with
legal permission to play abroad. He signed for Adana of
Turkey, who had just won the second division. Of course,
he was the best scorer in the league, and teams like
Efes Pilsen, Fenerbahce and Besiktas lost in Adana that
season. There is no reliable data about his averages,
but Golomeev says that he hardly ever scored less than
30 points. It was just not fair that such a great player as
Golomeev never had the chance to play for a great European
club. But life isn’t always fair.
After his great performance at the 1973 EuroBasket
in Barcelona, rumor had it that Golomeev had an offer
to play in Spain. In an interview published in “Rebote”
magazine in Barcelona after the tourney, Golomeev
himself said that “two Spanish teams wanted to sign
me”. He said he could not reveal the names, but that
“one was from Catalonia”. Many years later, with a smile
on his lips, he confirmed everything:
“Yes, Barcelona had new directors and they wanted to
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sign me, but it was impossible,” he said. “I was 26 years
old and I wasn’t allowed to play abroad until I was 34.”
In the FIBA Hall of Fame
When he returned home from Turkey, Golomeev
played two more years for Levski-Spartak and put an
end to his career in 1985, at 38 years old. After the
1987 EuroBasket in Greece, a farewell game for Atanas
Golomeev was played on June 21 between Bulgaria and
an all-European team with Drazen Petrovic and Stojan
Vrankovic (Yugoslavia), Nikos Galis and Panagiotis
Giannakis (Greece), Antonello Riva and Walter Magnifico
(Italy), Mickey Berkowitz and Doron Jamchi (Israel),
Richard Dacoury (France), Stanislav Kropilak (Czechoslovakia)
and Rik Smits (Netherlands). The coach was
Pavel Petera (Czechoslovakia) and Europe won 129-82.
It was the last game of the great Atanas Golomeev.
He remembers his great rivals, especially Kreso
Cosic who, aside from being tall, was smart and with
great court vision and great assists.
When FIBA, on occasion of the basketball centennial,
chose the 50 best players ever, it could not forget
about Golomeev. It was a recognition for 25 years of a
brilliant career that could have been even better if not
for political circumstances. Golomeev was a Bulgarian
club champion 12 times, 10 as a player and two as a
coach. From 1991 to 1993, he was president of the
Bulgarian federation. He was also a member of several
FIBA committees, but his passion eventually changed
from the “big ball” to the smaller one of golf.
Mihail-Misha Delev, a prestigious Bulgarian journalist,
together with Lilia Yankova and Hari Latifyan, wrote
two volumes on the history of Bulgarian basketball and
has this opinion about Golomeev:
“I cannot categorically say that Golomeev was the
best Bulgarian player ever, but with Ilia Mirchev, Viktor
Radev and Georgi Glouchkov, he was definitely among
the best four big men ever in Bulgaria. He could score
with impressive ease.”
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Alberto
Herreros
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A three-point
professional
If an elite sportsman has a dream, it probably revolves
around scoring the last goal, the last shot
or the last point so that his team wins an important
title. Alberto Herreros was lucky enough to live
that moment. It was June 26, 2005, and the finals
of the Spanish League playoffs between Real Madrid
and Tau Ceramica had reached the fifth and final
game. Both finalists had won a road game in the series,
but Game 5 was being played in Vitoria because
Tau had the home-court advantage. The Tau Ceramica
fans were expecting the win and the title. In the final
minute, with their team ahead 69-61, they started to
celebrate.
A three-pointer for the ages
It was then that one of those miracles that only can
happen in basketball occurred. Without any apparent
reason, the hosts started committing mistakes: Luis
Scola and Jose Manuel Calderon missed free throws;
Pablo Prigioni and Tiago Splitter turned the ball over.
Real Madrid got within 2 points, 67-69, but the title was
still in Tau’s hands. Herreros didn’t play much in the
series, but after a disappointing performance by Louis
Bullock, the best scorer for Madrid then (he fouled out
with 11 points after making just 2 of 9 three-pointers),
head coach Boza Maljkovic decided to go with the experience
of Herreros. His only shot during the 3 minutes
he was on the court happened 6 seconds before the
final buzzer. Herreros got the ball in the right corner,
his favorite position. He pulled up, took the shot and
hit nothing but net. It was the 1,233rd triple of his
Spanish League career, a difficult-to-beat record. But
this three-pointer meant a title for his team, Real Madrid.
Officially, Herreros didn’t know it would be his last
game. But at 36 years old and with a basket like this, he
could not find a better way to say farewell to the courts
after 17 seasons in the elite, with 654 games and 9,759
points, the most ever scored in the Spanish League.
Basketball had been fair to Herreros, a great scorer and
a modern forward with a privileged shooting hand. In
just a moment, basketball gave it all back to him after
so many years.
From Estudiantes to Real
Alberto Herreros, who was born on April 20, 1969,
in Madrid, started playing for local club Estudiantes.
But like many others (Fernando and Antonio Martin,
Alfonso and Felipe Reyes, Juan Antonio Orenga and
Jose Miguel Antunez) he moved on to Real Madrid. His
only trophy with Estudiantes was a Spanish King’s Cup
in 1992. Estudiantes had last won that trophy 29 years
earlier. In the quarterfinals, Estudiantes eliminated
Real Madrid 82-80 as Herreros scored 19 points. In
the semis, they beat Joventut Badalona 78-77 with 13
points from Herreros. In the final game, Estu defeated
CAI Zaragoza 61-56 as Herreros and Rickie Winslow
had 16 points apiece and John Pinone was named
MVP in his eighth season with the team.
In 1996, after eight years with Estudiantes, Herreros
made the decision to switch teams in the Spanish
capital. The Estudiantes fans never forgave him for
that, but it was a rightful ambition on his part: to
evolve and win titles, a great player needed to be on
a big team. With Real Madrid, he won two league titles
101 greats of european basketball
Alberto Herreros
H

Vladimir Stankovic
(2000 and 2005) and a Saporta Cup. The Saporta Cup
final was played in Nicosia, Cyprus, on April 15, 1997.
The opponent was Scaligera Basket Verona. Real
Madrid, coached by Zeljko Obradovic, and with Dejan
Bodiroga as the best scorer in the competition (20.2
points), won 78-64. Herreros scored 19 points with
great numbers: 5 of 5 two-pointers, 2 of 3 triples and
3 of 3 from the stripe. It was his only European title at
the club level. Real Madrid had a powerful team, with
Bodiroga, Herreros, Joe Arlauckas, Alberto Angulo
and Juan Antonio Orenga. But it had failed to make the
EuroLeague that year.
In the EuroLeague, the closest Hererros came to a
title was in the1991-92 season. Estudiantes took part
in the Final Four in Istanbul that year but fell in the semis
to Joventut Badalona in an all-Spanish game. Joventut
was led by Jordi Villacampa with 28 points and the final
score was 69-91. Curiously, Estudiantes had defeated
Partizan Belgrade twice in the group stage, 75-95 and
75-72, as the Serbian team had to play its home games
in Fuenlabrada, Spain – near Madrid – under FIBA orders
due to the war in the former Yugoslavia. However,
Partizan would win the final against Joventut thanks
to the famous three-pointer by Sasha Djordjevic in the
last seconds. Such is basketball.
Estudiantes had a great team in its first participation
in the EuroLeague that year, under a new format,
with three representatives from the most powerful
countries in the sport. We must not forget that FIBA
applied this formula one year before UEFA did it with
the Champions League in 1992-93. The averages for
Winslow were 18.5 points, Herreros had 18.0, Pinone
had 14.3 and Orenga 11.2. Estudiantes was the first
team to debut in the competition and make the Final
Four the same season.
Even without winning titles, Alberto Herreros left
his imprint on European competitions. His personal
record of 42 points was achieved on December 7,
1993, in a 97-81 loss against Reggio Emilia. He was
almost perfect: 10 of 11 two-pointers, 5 of 7 threes,
7 of 7 from the line. His thing was scoring. A lot. But
once, against Bayer Leverkusen in the Korac Cup, he
pulled down 10 rebounds. Not bad for a player just
1.99 meters tall!
EuroBasket, World Cup top scorer
Alberto Herreros made his debut for the Spanish
national team in 1990 against Czechoslovakia, scoring
his first 11 points. Until 2003 he would be a major
factor on the team, an important scorer in all competitions.
His average in FIBA events was 12.5 points, from
the 10.5 at the 1990 World Cup in Argentina to the 3.3
at the 2003 EuroBasket in Sweden. His best moments
with the team were, without a doubt, silver-medal finishes
at the 1999 and 2003 EuroBaskets. In the latter,
in Paris, his average was 19.2 points. He was the best
scorer and a member of the all-tournament team with
Carlton Myers, Andrea Meneghin, Dejan Bodiroga and
Gregor Fucka.
Herreros’s best average in a World Cup had happened
a year before in Athens. Spain finished fifth in
1998, but Herreros, with 17.9 points, was the top scorer
over Mohamed Acha of Nigeria (17.5), Arturas Karnisovas
of Lithuania (17.1), Shane Heal of Australia (17.0),
Andrew Gaze of Australia (16.9) and Puerto Rico’s Jose
“Piculin” Ortiz (16.5).
Herreros was a born scorer with a great wrist, a fast
man who could score a lot on the break, but his best
weapon was his shot. He didn’t care if he launched
two- or three-pointers. Whenever he had the minimum
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NBA even though the Indiana Pacers took an interest
in him. But his world was European basketball for Real
Madrid and the Spanish national team. Since his retirement,
he has been working as sports director for Real
Madrid.
Alberto Herreros
space, he took the shot – and succeeded most of the
time, which is most important. His personal high in the
Spanish League was 38 points against Leon.
On December 29, 1998, he played in a FIBA all-star
game in Berlin. He was a starting member of the West
team, who lost to the East 104-98 in one of his last
events of this kind. Herreros was never drafted into the
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H

Jon Robert
Holden
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The golden Russian
The case of Jon Robert “J.R.” Holden is not
the first nor the last to confirm a rule of
life: it’s not how you start, but how you
finish. What’s also true is that his pro
career was unusual because of many
things. His path to glory was neither fast
nor easy. Holden, who was born on August 10, 1976,
in Pittsburgh, had to go step by step, from third-level
clubs to the elite; from countries with no basketball
tradition to a world power in the sport, which he led to
a new European crown after a long wait.
After four years in Bucknell University, where he averaged
17.8 and 18.1 points in the last two, Holden was not
drafted into the NBA. In fact, his future looked unlikely
to involve basketball at all. But as often happens, chance
would change his life. A Finnish agent offered Holden a
tryout with ASK Broceni Riga, a team that existed for just
10 seasons total, between 1992 and 2001. Many years
later, when remembering the start of his European adventure,
Holden admitted he had problems locating Latvia
on a map. He had no clue about the country, and he
went there for 400 dollars a week. He is still grateful to
Larry Daniels, who also played for Riga, and who helped
him a lot during his first days there. In the 1998-99 season,
ASK Broceni played in Belgrade against Partizan and
won 89-87 with 18 points and 4 assists from Holden.
After winning the Latvian League title, Holden switched
countries and signed for Telindus Ostend in Belgium.
In the 2000-01 FIBA SuproLeague, he would again play
Partizan in Belgrade. This time, Partizan prevailed 89-80
thanks to 38 points by Miroslav Beric. But Holden netted
30 points, confirming the impression he had left the previous
season. He was a talented player who deserved to
play on a more powerful team.
Explosion in AEK
After a couple of conversations with Vlade Divac,
who then was a player for the Sacramento Kings but also
the president of Partizan, Holden was really close to
signing for the team, but eventually he would stay one
more season at Ostend. In the summer of 2001, after
winning the Belgian League and Belgian Cup, his next
stop was Athens, Greece, but the club was the humble
AEK. Humble? Maybe because of the budget, especially
if compared to Panathinaikos or Olympiacos, but not
for its history and a group of excellent players Holden
found there. Head coach Dragan Sakota had with him
Dimos Dikoudis, Michalis Kakiouzis, Nikos Chatzis,
Nikos Zisis, Jim Bilba, Andy Betts and Holden, a huge
Holden. The result? AEK won the Greek League, the
only title that Panathinaikos didn’t win between 1998
and 2011. Coach Sakota tells us about what happened:
“We had not played against Holden; his signing was
the result of general scouting. We looked at several
players and I concluded that Holden would be the one
who would contribute more. Officially, the MVP of the
season was Dikoudis, but Holden was the most consistent
player. He was irreplaceable.”
Sakota highlights a feature by Holden that not many
people know.
“He was a relentless player. At the beginning of the
season, some people criticized me for having him 35 to
40 minutes on the court, but his body just didn’t need
any rest. He was able to play at the same intensity all
the time. In a technical sense, his best weapon was his
speed and, after that, his fighting character. He was not
101 greats of european basketball
Jon Robert Holden
H

Vladimir Stankovic
such a big deal with long-range shooting or assists, but
he was correct in everything and with his huge speed,
everything looked much better. I knew we would not be
able to keep him for the following season.”
The kid who played his first season in Europe for some
6,000 dollars per year signed for the powerhouse of CS-
KA Moscow just four years later, with a multi-million-dollar
deal at the start of a big project meant to take CSKA to the
top again. CSKA’s last EuroLeague title was more than 30
years before that, in 1971. During Holden’s first season in
Moscow, CSKA reached the EuroLeague Final Four, played
in Barcelona. The seven following years, Holden and CSKA
would become regular guests at the end-of-season event
in the top European competition.
Due to the restrictions on foreign players in the Russian
League, Holden was offered a Russian passport so
that he could play as a national in the league, and he
accepted. On October 20, 2003, under the signature of
president Vladimir Putin, Jon Robert Holden became a
Russian citizen. It was a decision that changed his life,
but also the history of basketball. As the USSR, the
country had been European champ 14 times and won
three silvers and four bronzes, as well. But as Russia,
it had only a silver medal from the 1993 EuroBasket in
Munich. But that would soon change.
History in Prague and Madrid
However, before winning the 2007 EuroBasket in
Madrid with Russia, Holden took CSKA Moscow to the
top again, 35 years after its last EuroLeague crown.
After a 10-4 record in the regular season, a 5-1 run
through the Top 16 and a 2-0 sweep of Efes Pilsen in
the playoffs, CSKA reached the Prague Final Four – its
fourth in a row – with a great desire to finally triumph after
three consecutive semifinals defeats. The first rival
was FC Barcelona, whom CSKA defeated 84-75, led by
the great duo of Holden and Theo Papaloukas. Each of
them scored 19 points, but Holden played 35 minutes,
controlling the tempo of the game. In the title game
against Maccabi Tel Aviv, Holden didn’t shine as against
Barcelona, but coach Ettore Messina kept him on the
floor for 36 minutes and CSKA won 73-69. Points were
provided by Papaloukas (18) and David Vanterpool (16).
Holden got stuck at 6 points and 4 assists, but his averages
for those two games also showed 2.5 steals and
just 1.5 turnovers in more than 35 minutes, plus 12.5
points with 45.5% two-point accuracy and 41.7% on
three-pointers. As always, his defense on the ball was
impeccable and the basis for CSKA’s league-leading
points-against average. The title, won after 35 years,
was dedicated to the father of Russian basketball, Alexander
Gomelskiy, who had died a few months earlier.
In 2007, at the Athens Final Four, CSKA lost in the
title game against Panathinaikos, 93-91, in an unforgettable
game. But some months later, Holden lived one
of the best moments in his sports life with what is the
dream of any player: winning an important title with a
basket by him on the last play of the game.
His sweet moment took place on September 16,
2007, at the Palacio de los Deportes in Madrid, during
the EuroBasket final between Russia and Spain. The
hosts were the world champions at the time and big
favorites. During halftime, the organizers even handed
out invitations for the Spanish title celebration. But Holden’s
Russia didn’t agree to that. A slight Spain advantage
was reduced to only two points at the start of the final
quarter with a triple by Holden at 51-49. The game would
remain close until the last 43 seconds, when Spain led
59-58 and had the ball. But the hosts didn’t get a shot off
on that possession because Holden stole the ball from
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Pau Gasol. The ball stayed in his hands until, with a little
over 2 seconds left, Holden rose on the right wing to
shoot over Jose Manuel Calderon. The ball hit two sides
of the rim and then high off the backboard before falling
in. A timeout by Spanish coach Pepu Hernandez was
useless even though Gasol managed to take a final shot
that missed by a hair. Russian basketball was back with a
new title, thanks to Holden’s shot.
The coach for Russia in 2007, David Blatt, told me
about the game and that last play:
“When Spain missed its play, I didn’t have another
timeout, so I just shouted to J.R. to wait a little and finish
off the play by himself. What he did reminded me a little
of that famous play by Michael Jordan in the sixth game
of the NBA Finals in 1998. Holden almost did the same.”
About Holden’s general features, Blatt said: “He was
a leader but also a team player, with lots of self-confidence
and trust in his teammates. His path to glory was
slow, but more than deserved.”
Madrid was now a good-luck city for Holden. In the
spring of 2008, he celebrated his second EuroLeague
title with CSKA on the same stage where he had become
the Russian hero the previous summer. In the Final Four,
CSKA defeated Tau Ceramica in the semis by 83-79 with
15 points by Holden, while in the title game against Maccabi
it was a bit easier, 91-77, with J.R. scoring 14 points.
After the triumph in Madrid, Holden played in the
2008 Olympics in Beijing, fulfilling another dream. Although
Russia didn’t prosper and finished ninth, Holden
played really well, with 17.6 points and 4.8 assists
on average. It was his last appearance with the Russian
national team.
Holden would play four more seasons for CSKA,
where he retired in 2012 at 36 years old. He left behind
two EuroLeague crowns, a EuroBasket gold medal with
Russia, plus six national league and five cup titles won
in Latvia, Belgium, Greece and Russia. He also earned
a spot on the EuroLeague all-decade team for 2000
to 2010. One of Holden’s most remarkable feats he
shares with Papaloukas, his former backcourt partner:
eight consecutive Final Four appearances, a record that
will be hard for anyone to break. All of this for a player
who literally played his first season in Europe for a fistful
of dollars.
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Jon Robert Holden
H

Dusko
Ivanovic
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I
Dusko Ivanovic
Montenegro’s
Holy Hand
At the end of the 1982-83 season, the
list of the top scorers in the powerful
Yugoslav League was: Dusko Ivanovic
of Buducnost Podgorica, 603 points
(27.4 ppg.); Drazen Petrovic of Sibenka,
561 points (25.5 ppg.); and Peter Vilfan
of Olimpija Ljubljana, 535 points (25.4 ppg.). Granted,
Petrovic was barely 18 years old, but he was already
a star in the making and that same summer he made
his debut with the Yugoslavia national team at the
1983 EuroBasket in Limoges and Nantes.
Dusko Ivanovic, born in Bijelo Polje, Montenegro, on
September 1, 1957, was almost 26 years old and was one
of the players who stood out in the league. However, he
was stuck with the reputation of being “a good player, but
only for smaller teams.” Nothing could be more wrong,
but he was not the only player who wore that label.
The story of Dusko Ivanovic the player starts at the
end of the 1960s in his native Bijelo Polje. Just a few meters
from where he lived with his parents and his older
brother Dragan there was a basketball court. But the key
moment occurred when some plastic backboards were
installed to replace the old wooden ones. Following in
the footsteps of Dragan, who was a couple of years older,
little Dusko started to shoot the ball into the basket.
From the very first practices in the street to his first
basketball lessons at local club Jedinstvo, the best attribute
of the young Dusko was his shot. He had a great
touch and it didn’t go unnoticed. He was only 16 years
when he made his debut in the first team for coach Bratko
Ilic, who realized the great talent he had and took a leap of
faith with him. At age 17, Dusko was already in the starting
five; at 18 he was already on the radar of many big teams
in Yugoslavia. At 19 years old, Ivanovic decided to try his
luck with Crvena Zvezda, but during the preseason, at
Zlatibor mountain, Dusko decided to leave the team:
“I didn’t like the atmosphere in that team,” Ivanovic recalled
much later. “There was no camaraderie. Everyone
did his own thing and I wasn’t very well received. I decided
to move to Podgorica, so I could study law, even though
coach Bratislav Djordjevic tried to convince me to stay.”
Ivanovic signed for Buducnost, where he played with
his brother Dragan, who had just come back from OKK
Belgrade. The beginning was not easy, as coach Nikola
Sekulovic didn’t trust young Dusko much. One day, a
confident Dusko approached his coach. “I proposed a
deal to him. He would put me on the court for 30 minutes
during a game. If I didn’t play well, I would leave.”
Said and done. In the game against Mornar Bar, in
the second division, Dusko scored 35 points and never
left the starting five during the following nine seasons.
That was the career-starter for this great shooter, one
of the best in the former Yugoslavia.
Scoring lawyer
When Buducnost reached the Yugoslav first division,
in his first season with the elite, Ivanovic finished
with an average of 24.1 points. In his second season,
the one mentioned at the start of this post, he was the
best scorer in the league with 27.4 points. The following
four years he posted 22.6 points, 10.4 points (a season
in which he didn’t play much due to military service),
26.8 points and, in his last wearing the Buducnost jersey,
27.8 points per game.
101 greats of european basketball

Vladimir Stankovic
Despite spending much of his time training for basketball,
Dusko Ivanovic was a good law student. He finished
his degree in the expected time, four years, and then
started working for the Podgorica town council. For three
years, he was a player and a public worker. In 1986 he married
Ljiljana, a medical student, and in 1987 his son Stefan
was born. Everything pointed to a future in Podgorica.
When Ivanovic tried to play for Partizan, the club
from Belgrade replied that it was not interested. Then
came the call from Olimpija Ljubljana. Dusko went to
the meeting alone, without an agent – something totally
unheard of then in Yugoslavia. The club made an offer
and Dusko explained his demands for a radical change
in his life, but the sides did not agree, and he went back
to Podgorica. He then got the call from Boza Maljkovic,
who was at the start of a great project in Split with a
Jugoplastika team full of talent.
“I saw a team with loads of talent, but too young. I
was looking for an experienced player, a leader, an authority
for the players, but also for the referees,” Maljkovic
told me many times. “I chose Dusko and, luckily,
he accepted. He was a key piece in the building of the
great Jugoplastika.”
Maljkovic didn’t convince Ivanovic with money – Dusko
himself says that it was “less than half of what Olimpija
offered” – but rather with a splendid future. Both were
aware that they had an extraordinary group of players
on their hands. The first season, 1987-88, Jugoplastika
played the Korac Cup and finished third in the group, tied
with Cantu, but with a worse point differential. In Split,
Jugoplastika defeated CAI Zaragoza 87-83 behind 18
points from Toni Kukoc and 15 from Ivanovic.
Jugoplastika won the 1987-88 Yugoslav League
with overwhelming authority. Its regular season record
was 21-1 and Dusko was its best scorer with 418 points
(19.9 per game), in front of Dino Radja, Kukoc and Velimir
Perasovic. In the playoffs, the team defeated Sibenka
and Olimpija 2-0 and in the final series, the victim was
Partizan, 2-1. With 139 points (19.8 ppg.), Ivanovic was
again the top scorer on the team. Maljkovic had hit a
home run as Ivanovic was the piece that made all that
talent jell as a team.
In autumn of 1988, Jugoplastika was back in the EuroLeague,
but nobody gave any chance to such a young
team. It was, however, one of those times when talent,
ambition and hard work defeated money to create a
sporting miracle. The fact that Jugoplastika reached the
Final Four in Munich was already a surprise and it certainly
arrived as an outsider. In the semifinal, its victim was FC
Barcelona with Juan Antonio “Epi” San Epifanio, Nacho
Solozabal, Audie Norris, Ferran Martinez and company.
The score was 87-77 thanks to 24 points from Kukoc and
20 from Dusko. Maccabi Tel Aviv was waiting in the title
game and was also the big favorite, but Jugoplastika prevailed
again, 75-69. Radja shined this time with 20 points,
Kukoc added 18 and Ivanovic had 12. What Dusko Ivanovic
meant to this team is explained by the fact that he was the
team captain in only his second year there.
The following year, the same thing happened. Jugoplastika
first won the national cup, then the EuroLeague
in Zaragoza, and in the end, the Yugoslav League for a
triple crown. In the national league, Ivanovic was “only”
the team’s third-best scorer, behind Kukoc and Radja,
two diamonds that had grown a lot at Dusko Ivanovic’s
side. In the Zaragoza Final Four, Jugoplastika defeated
Limoges in the semis 101-83 behind 24 points by Perasovic
and 20 by Ivanovic, while in the title game the victim
was, again, Barcelona. A 72-67 score gave Jugoplastika
another title as Kukoc netted 20 points and three players
contributed 12 apiece: Ivanovic, Radja and Perasovic.
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I
Dusko Ivanovic
Going abroad
After 10 seasons in the first division – a total of
226 games and 4,551 points (23.3 ppg.) – Dusko Ivanovic
was the 10th best scorer all-time in the Yugoslav
League. With two EuroLeague crowns under the belt,
his last chance to play somewhere else was approaching.
Dusko was already 32, an age which is the end, or
the beginning of the end, of many careers. But for him,
it was just the start of the third phase of his career:
playing abroad.
Since his law career had been set aside, he decided
to continue with what he did best: scoring points. Ivanovic
didn’t have many offers; the best one was from
Valvi Girona, a humble team in Spain.
Not much time went by when it could be seen that
the team from Girona had signed an excellent shooter. If
Oscar Schmidt is the Holy Hand for his fellow Brazilians,
Dusko Ivanovic was the same for Montenegro, a country
that gave birth to many great players: Zarko Paspalj, Nikola
Pekovic, Nikola Vucevic and Nikola Mirotic, among
many others. He scored from everywhere with good
numbers, he ran the breaks and he was a professional
who set an example in every sense. On November 11,
1990, Girona won in Manresa 67-87 as Ivanovic netted
43 points! He made 20 of 25 two-pointers and 3 of 3
free throws. His performance index rating was 44. He
finished that season with an average of 27.0 points and
only Walter Berry was in front of him.
Curiously enough for such a great shooter, in Ivanovic’s
first season in Spain, he didn’t shoot many
threes and he wasn’t very accurate at that, 2 of 22. The
following season, his numbers “plummeted” to 19.7
points per game, but his shooting percentage from
behind the arc increased to 45% (34 of 76).
A back injury and surgery threatened to put an end
to his career and Valvi did not renew his contract, so at
the start of the 1992-93 season, Ivanovic was left without
a team. He was about to turn 35 when an old friend
called him up. Boza Maljkovic, already at Limoges, offered
him a chance. Yes, it was a temporary contract to
fill in for the injured Jure Zdovc, but Ivanovic used his
chance. In six French League games, he averaged 16.4
points with good shooting percentages. Valvi decided
to call Dusko back and his numbers were more than
decent, 16.5 points. But Dusko himself admits that he
was not the same player as before the operation.
The final stop
For the 1994-95 season, Ivanovic was offered a contract
in Fribourg, Switzerland, where at 37 years old he
played a great season. He then came back to Girona to
become the assistant coach of Quim Costa at Valvi, but
he wasn’t renewed at the end of the season, so it was
back to Switzerland. He became a player/coach at Fribourg
and averaged 18.8 points. The Holy Hand was still
in good shape. Of course, Fribourg won the league, and
did so again the following two seasons, but with Ivanovic
as only its head coach now. He was also the coach of the
Swiss national team between 1997 and 2000.
In the summer of 1999, Ivanovic took another important
decision in his life: he accepted an offer from Limoges
to be the head coach there. It was not an easy decision.
His wife, a doctor, had a job in Fribourg, the kids went to
school there and they had formed a circle of friends. But
he knew that if he wanted to become a good head coach,
he would have to leave. Ivanovic spent only one year in
Limoges and won the French Cup, the Korac Cup and the
French championship. It was then when he got the call
from Baskonia in Vitoria, a team with a strong project.
The rest of the story is well-known.
101 greats of european basketball

Sarunas
Jasikevicius
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Mr. Basketball
A
famous Brazilian footballer, Waldyr
Pereira, also known as Didi, who was
a world champion in 1958 and 1962,
had “Mr. Football” as his nickname. I
am going to paraphrase that because
for Sarunas Jasikevicius, I cannot find
anything better. Mr. Basketball. Those two words explain
what he was – and is – all about: his greatness,
his huge talent, his character, his basketball IQ, his
shot, his genius assists and the joy he spread to
teammates, fans and sometimes even opponents.
Sagadin, the discoverer
The story of Sarunas Jasikevicius could start in many
ways. But I think that the first graphs belong to the man
who discovered Saras for European basketball: Zmago
Sagadin. The Slovenian coach, a former boss of Union
Olimpija and the Slovenian national team, told me about
his decision to bring Jasikevicius to his Olimpija team.
“My sources in the United States, where Sarunas
played, told me about his talent and sent me a few videos,
and it is true that I liked him on the spot. I also had
some reports from Lithuania but decided to see him
live in France at EuroBasket 1999. I spent 10 days following
Sarunas, but he didn’t play much, not enough to
convince me. I had to trust the videos and my instinct.
I decided to sign him, and I can safely say it was one
of the best decisions of my life. Sarunas was a brilliant
player. He had it all: talent, technique, character, leadership.
He was also a hard worker. For me, he’s among the
top 10 players ever in European basketball.”
Sagadin highlights the final game against Olympiacos
Piraeus of their 1999-2000 EuroLeague playoff series,
which was tied at 1-1. The decisive game was played
in Ljubljana, where Olimpija won 85-67 as Jasikevicius
netted 30 points and made 7 of 7 three-pointers.
“He played a flawless game,” Sagadin said.
Olimpija had a good team, with Marko Milic, Sani
Becirovic, Primoz Brezec, Slavko Kotnik and Jure Zdovc.
In the quarterfinals, FC Barcelona ousted Olimpija 2-1
but struggled to do so and advance to the Thessaloniki
Final Four. However, Coach Aito Garcia Reneses laid
his eyes on Jasikevicius and asked his club to sign the
guard as a top priority.
Signing for Barcelona in the summer of 2000 was a
key step in the career of Jasikevicius. He was already
24 years old, the perfect moment to clear the doubts
about whether he was just another strong Lithuanian
talent or a top-class player who could play on great
teams to achieve great things.
I can say that Jasikevicius is one of the players that I
have seen the most in person. I saw him at EuroBaskets
in 1997, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2007 and 2011. Also, at the
Sydney Olympics in 2000, Athens in 2004, and London
in 2012. I saw him in all of his Final Fours and, especially,
in the four seasons that Saras spent in Barcelona. I can
also say that it has been a privilege to enjoy his game.
Sports roots
Rita Jasikeviciene, the mother of Sarunas Jasikevicius,
was an important handball player in her day and
a member of the USSR national team that won medals
at the world championships in the early 1970s. But she
would skip the 1976 Olympic Games in order to give
birth to Sarunas, who arrived on March 5 of that year.
Igor Turcin, the team’s head coach, was mad at Rita
101 greats of european basketball
Sarunas Jasikevicius
J

Vladimir Stankovic
because her absence disrupted his plans for the first
Olympics with women’s handball. He never called Rita
to the team again.
Rita gave preference to his motherhood over her
sports career. Many years later, she told her son that he
“owed her an Olympics.” In Sydney 2000, Saras bought
two tickets for his parents. His father Linas was a table
tennis player. Sarunas for sure didn’t lack for sports
genes. His parents say that he was a lively kid, always on
the move. His worst punishment was having to be still
and sitting down. When he started playing basketball,
his coach Feliksas Mitkevicius quickly saw his talent, but
Sarunas wasn’t sure his future was in basketball and at
12 years old, he decided to switch to tennis.
Mitkevicius went to the Jasikevicius’ household to
explain that Saras had a huge talent and a bright future
in basketball. The three of them convinced Saras
to stay in basketball, even though he has admitted
that he didn’t see himself in basketball until he was 14
years old. The first calls to the cadet Lithuanian national
team sparked his ambition and his competitiveness.
Little by little he realized that he played well, that it was
easy for him and that he had fun. This last one, his joy
for the game, would become his career trademark. In
1994, when he won the U18 European Championship
with Lithuania in Tel Aviv (73-71 against Croatia and
two years later 85-81 against Spain in the U22 World
Championship), his future was decided.
At 17 years old, Jasikevicius moved to the United
States to study at Solanco High School in Quarryville,
Pennsylvania. The next logical step was college. He
chose the University of Maryland, but when four years
later the NBA showed no interest, he moved back home
and signed his first pro contract with Lietuvos Rytas for
$50,000. He went from Vilnius to Ljubljana and then
from Slovenia to Barcelona, where he started rewriting
basketball history as the point guard for the club’s first,
long-awaited EuroLeague title. He would continue later
in Tel Aviv, Istanbul and Athens and then, to finish
his career, in his native Kaunas. After winning his first
EuroLeague with Barcelona in 2003 at Palau Sant Jordi
against Benetton Treviso in the final, he signed for
Maccabi and they won back-to-back European crowns.
Since the days of the great Jugoplastika, there had been
no players with three consecutive titles. He entered a
select list with Toni Kukoc, Velimir Perasovic, Zoran Sretenovic,
Luka Pavicevic and Zan Tabak. His fourth title
arrived in 2008-09 with Panathinaikos. Nobody except
him has ever won the EuroLeague with three different
teams.
Exhibition in Sweden
I was a direct witness to his four continental club
crowns, but I think that the one that brought him even
more happiness was a fifth one, won with Lithuania at
EuroBasket 2003 in Sweden, where his national team
lifted the trophy for the first time in 64 years. In the
big final, Lithuania defeated Spain, 93-84. Jasikevicius
ended up with 14.0 points and 8.2 assists per game.
In the final he scored 10 points but dished 9 assists. It
was his great moment. In May that year he had won his
first EuroLeague trophy with Barcelona, and months
later his first EuroBasket. Lithuania had a great team:
Ramunas Siskauskas, Saulius Stombergas, Arvydas
Macijauskas, Eurelijus Zukauskas, Mindaugas Zukauskas,
Ksistof Lavrinovic, Darius Songaila and Donatas
Slanina. They averaged over 90 points in six games at
the tournament. It was an offensive display of happy
basketball, with imagination and improvisation that
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could only come with huge talent. The tournament
MVP? Of course, it was Jasikevicius.
One year later at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, I saw
the victory of Lithuania over the United States, 94-90,
one of the best in his career. In 32 minutes, he scored 32
points with 7 of 12 threes and 4 assists. It was his particular
revenge for the semifinal defeat in 2000 Sydney
Olympics (83-85), in which the Lithuanians missed the
last shot. The bronze medal was a good consolation.
It’s not easy to count all the titles he has won. If I am
not mistaken, he was a champ nine times in five different
national leagues: Greece (3), Spain (2), Israel (2),
Turkey (1) and Lithuania (1). He won 10 national cups in
five countries: Olimpija (1), Barcelona (3), Panathinaikos
(3), Maccabi (2) and Fenerbahce (1). His individual accolades
ask for a lot of space. One of the biggest accolades
off the court has been the naming of one of the
meeting rooms at Euroleague Basketball headquarters
in Barcelona after him. This is how the stars that leave
their mark in the competition should be respected.
In 2015, Jasikevicius was honored as a Euroleague
Basketball Legend before the Top 16 game between
Zalgiris Kaunas and Real Madrid. Before a long, standing
ovation from his hometown fans, a video was shown at
Zalgirio Arena in which some of his best moments appeared,
along with statements from former teammates
like Juan Carlos Navarro, or his coach in Panathinaikos,
Zeljko Obradovic.
I am happy to see him on the Zalgiris bench now. It
was the club of his dreams, in his native city. With basketball
in his blood, it was only a matter of time before
we saw him become a head coach, too.
If somebody must teach how basketball is played,
then it is Mr. Basketball, Sarunas Jasikevicius.
Sarunas Jasikevicius
101 greats of european basketball
J

Arturas
Karnisovas
155

King without
a crown
I
remember perfectly when I saw Arturas Karnisovas
play for the first time. It was at the 1992
Olympics in Barcelona. However, more than his 17
points against Puerto Rico, 15 against Brazil or his
average of 11.2 throughout the games, I remember
a scene that I had never witnessed before or since.
In the game between Lithuania and the United States,
Karnisovas only played for 13 minutes, but he scored 10
points. In the final minutes, he was sitting on the bench
and somehow pulled a small camera from somewhere,
sat down by the basket closest to his team’s bench and,
like a photographer, recorded some unforgettable moments.
His native Lithuania, in its first appearance after
regaining independence, was playing against the first
and unrepeatable Dream Team, the American team that
took the courts by storm. The U.S.A. team won 127-76,
Michael Jordan finished with 21 points, Karl Malone had
18. Meanwhile, young Karnisovas took pictures of the
American stars but also of his own teammates: Arvydas
Sabonis, Sarunas Marciulionis, Voldemaras Chomicius
and Rimas Kurtinaitis – all of them Olympic champs
four years prior in Seoul with the USSR stars – as well as
Sergejus Jovaisa, Gintaras Krapikas and Gintaras Einikis.
Lithuania won the bronze medal, the first important
trophy in Karnisovas’s career. He was the youngest
member of the team. He was 21 years old, 15 years
younger than Jovaisa, 12 years younger than Chomicius
and seven years younger than Sabonis. However,
those Olympics were not his international debut. At 16,
he was selected to play with the USSR in the U16 European
Championship of 1987 in Hungary. The USSR finished
third, beating Spain 84-76 in the duel for bronze.
A star in Seton Hall
With an obvious talent, Karnisovas, who was born in
Klaipeda, Lithuania on April 27, 1972, left behind his beginnings
in Stayba Vilnius and in 1990 he moved to the
United States to study at Seton Hall and play basketball.
Both things turned out well. His studies in economics
were no problem for him while in his four basketball
seasons his numbers pointed towards a future star:
11.2 points and 4.5 rebounds in 1990-91; 17.3 plus 4.2
in 1991-92; 14.8 plus 6.0 in 1992-93; and 18.4 plus 6.8
in 1993-94. His numbers almost guaranteed a draft pick
that summer, but he was not chosen. His height was that
of a power forward, 2.04 meters, but he lacked muscle
and weight. So maybe those were the reasons why the
NBA teams didn’t trust him, apart from the fact that
there was not the same kind of confidence there is nowadays
when signing a European player.
While the criteria of the NBA teams could be understood,
it is harder to wrap one’s head around the fact
that no major European team grabbed Karnisovas. He
had to sign for humble Cholet in France, but he was
looking for a platform. And he found it. Karnisovas
ended up the 1995-95 season with 20.5 points and 6.5
rebounds on average. In the Korac Cup, those numbers
were even better (22.2 and 4.8). On November 30 of
1994, Cholet faced off against Fortitudo Bologna and
won 83-79. The duo formed by Antoine Rigaudeau (27
points) and Karnisovas (21) defeated the one on the
other side formed by Vincenzo Esposito (26) and Djordjevic
(18). Not long afterward, Djordjevic and Karnisovas
would be teammates in Barcelona.
101 greats of european basketball
Arturas Karnisovas
K

Vladimir Stankovic
That same season, playing with Lithuania in the 1995
EuroBasket qualifiers, Karnisovas averaged 24.5 points, 6
rebounds and 4 assists. A star was born. In the 1995 EuroBasket
in Athens, where Lithuania won the silver after
falling to Yugoslavia in the final (96-90) in an unforgettable
game, Karnisovas averaged 19.8 points, 5.1 rebounds
and 2.1 assists. He was his team’s third-best scorer
behind Sabonis (23.7) and Marciulionis (22.0). All the big
teams in Europe tried to sign him, but Barcelona was
fastest. On July 3, one day after the Athens final, the Catalan
club announced the signing. In the summer of 1995,
then, Karnisovas returned to the city where he was first
noticed, three years earlier. His debut was exceptional: 30
points on 7 of 8 three-point shooting. His coach then, Aito
Garcia Reneses, remembered Karnisovas in this way:
“Arturas was very fast, ran the fastbreak well and penetrated
well from both sides. He was also a good shooter
and correct in everything else. I remember his first game
with Barcelona in Vitoria, in the opening game of the
Spanish League, where he left everybody watching in
awe. After that, his game was hurt by the tendency of the
refs to call him for traveling, especially on breakaways.”
Two lost finals
In his first season with Barcelona, Karnisovas won
the Spanish League while averaging 20.9 points, but
the big goal of the club was winning, at last, the Euro-
League. Barcelona reached the Final Four in Paris with
ambition, boosted by having defeated the Real Madrid
of Zeljko Obradovic in the semifinals 76-66 after trailing
by 4 points at the break. The man of the comeback was
Karnisovas, who netted 24 points and pulled down 6
rebounds in 36 minutes. In the final, the rival was Panathinaikos,
coached by Boza Maljkovic, the former coach
of Barcelona. The game ended with a 67-66 win for the
Greens, but with great controversy. The Catalans still
consider that the title was stolen from them due to an
illegal block by Stojko Vrankovic on Jose Montero when,
in the last seconds, he was running alone to the basket
for a bucket that was worth a title. I saw the game live
and I think the same now as I did then: the block was
illegal. But the whole play itself was also illegal because
the official clock was stuck at 5.4 seconds. Why the clock
had stopped is another story, unforgivable in such a big
game, but that’s the way it happened. Dominique Wilkins
was the MVP, but there is no doubt that if Barca had won,
the MVP would have been Karnisovas, who netted 23
points plus 8 rebounds and 6 assists in 38 minutes.
The spring of that season I had the pleasure of telling
Karnisovas that he had been elected MVP of the
season by FIBA Basketball, the official magazine those
days for the international organization. He gave me a
good interview for that magazine. Since then, we have
had a very good relationship.
In the summer of 1996, Arturas won his second Olympic
bronze with Lithuania, this time in Atlanta. His contribution
was 16.3 points and 5.1 rebounds as he was the
second-best scorer of the team, after Sabonis (16.9).
Midway through the 1996-97 season, Barcelona
inked Sasha Djordjevic and together he and Karnisovas
formed one of the best foreign duos ever seen in European
basketball. The two players, previously rivals with
their former clubs and especially national teams, established
an excellent relationship. On the court, they just
understood each other and in private they had a good
friendship. Barcelona reached the Rome Final Four with
no problems. In the semis, the team defeated ASVEL
Villeurbanne 77-70 with 17 points from Djordjevic, 16 by
Jimenez and 9 by Karnisovas. Olympiacos awaited in the
final, but Barcelona experienced another Greek tragedy.
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Olympiacos won 73-58 led by an excellent David Rivers,
who scored 26 points.
Gone and back
Another failed attempt at the EuroLeague forced a
new coaching change in Barcelona, with Manel Comas
arriving. The club made a bold move and let Karnisovas
go. The Lithuanian chose Olympiacos. He played the
McDonald’s Open with the Reds in Paris and scored
19 points (10 of 10 free throws) plus 3 boards and 4
assists against the Chicago Bulls of Michael Jordan (27
points). That was the proof that he had a place in the
NBA, but his ambition to play there had faded. Karnisovas’
third attempt at the European crown was not the
charm either as Olympiacos fell in the quarterfinals
to Partizan and was out of the Barcelona Final Four in
1998. Karnisovas was the best scorer on the team with
17.1 points plus 5.2 rebounds, but he didn’t win any
titles that season.
At the 1998 World Cup in Athens, Lithuania finished
seventh. Karnisovas scored 17.1 points and was the
third-best scorer of the tournament behind Alberto
Herreros (Spain) with 17.9 and Mohamed Acha (Nigeria)
with 17.5. Karnisovas also added 5 rebounds per game.
His next go at the EuroLeague was in Italy with Fortitudo,
but he didn’t win it the next two seasons either. In
the Munich in 1999, he played his third Final Four but his
team fell in the semis against local archrival, Virtus Bologna,
62-57. In 1999-2000, Fortitudo lost its quarterfinal
series with Maccabi Tel Aviv 2-1 and didn’t reach the Final
Four. The team did, however, win the Italian League.
At the turn of the century, Karnisovas decided to
go back to Barcelona, something not very usual in the
history of the club. In the last 20 years, only Zoran
Savic, Juan Carlos Navarro and Sarunas Jasikevicius,
apart from Karnisovas, have managed to play two different
stints at the club. His last two attempts to win
the EuroLeague were with Barcelona, but he was not
successful back there either. In 2000-01, Barcelona
stepped down to Benetton Treviso in the eighth-finals,
2-0. The following season, the team finished the Top 16
with a 4-2 record, just like Benetton, but with a worse
point differential, so it didn’t make the Final Four again.
In those two seasons, Karnisovas showed a solid level
in the EuroLeague, 13.9 points, with similar numbers
in the Spanish League, where against Cantabria Lobos
he established his personal high of 40 points scored.
In 2001, he won the Spanish King’s Cup and again the
league in 2002, but at 31 years old, he decided to retire.
That was the end of a great career with many national
titles and several medals with the national team, but
without a EuroLeague title. He was a king without a
crown, but his name stayed in conversations reserved
only for the greats.
I was fortunate to follow his games during his four
seasons in Barcelona, the Olympics in Barcelona and
Atlanta, the EuroBaskets of 1995 and 1999, and the
1998 World Cup. That was more than enough to confirm
that Karnisovas was a great player, especially a
great shooter. He was able to run the fastbreak but also
to grab many rebounds. He was a smart player, complete
and always an example of fair play.
His former coach, Aito, comments:
“If I had to find a flaw in him, it would have been his
overall understanding of the game. That’s why it surprised
me later that he worked as a scout for the NBA
and how well he did it. Nowadays, he shows magnificent
criteria and reading of players, and he has a good analysis
of team play. All of which means that he has kept
maturing personally and gaining more knowledge.”
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K

Oded
Kattash
159

The King of Israel
Life was unfair to the sporting career of Oded
Kattash. Due to serious knee injuries, he
had to retire at age 26. Despite such a short
career, he had great accomplishments. He
left his imprint forever not only on Israeli
basketball but also in Europe. He was the
best scorer at the 1997 EuroBasket in Barcelona and a
European club champion with Panathinaikos in 2000.
Kattash, who was born on October 10, 1974, in the
Tel Aviv suburb of Ramat Gan, started his career with
Maccabi Tel Aviv. At the 1991 U16 European Championship
in Greece, where some important players of the future
– like Andrea Meneghin of Italy, Ibrahim Kutluay of
Turkey, Fragiskos Alvertis of Greece and Jose Antunez
of Spain – started to shine, Oded Kattash and his 11.6
points per game were not the highlight of the Israeli
team. But his 25 points against Bulgaria and 21 against
Czechoslovakia caught the eye of many. Gur Shelef was
the top scorer on that Israel team, with 15.7 points,
but Kattash showed enough talent to foretell a bright
future. The following year, at the 1992 U18 European
Championship in Hungary, his numbers dipped (8.7
ppg.) but he stood out against Spain with 20 points.
Kattash debuted at the senior level while on loan from
Maccabi Tel Aviv to Maccabi Ramat Gan. At the U22
World Cup in Spain in 1993, he left no doubts. The young
shooting guard, who could easily play point guard, ended
up as the fourth-best scorer of the tourney with 16.7
points per game. He was behind the untouchable Moon
Kyung-Eun of Korea (29.4 ppg.), Rogerio Klafke of Brazil
(19.8) and Oscar Racca of Argentina (18.9), but in front
of Marcelo Nicola of Argentina (16.6), Yann Bonato of
France (16.3) and Gregor Fucka of Italy (15.3).
Kattash played the following season, 1994-95, again
on loan, this time at Hapoel Galil Elyon, and proved himself
as one of the Israeli League’s top young players. In
1995, Kattash was back to Maccabi and his real rise to
glory began. Those were tough years for the popular
Tel Aviv team, as it was far from reaching the final stages
in the EuroLeague. Little by little, however, Kattash
started earning the fans’ admiration.
Too good for Maccabi
My friend Yarone Arbel, a direct witness of the
growth of Kattash, remembers those years:
“When Mickey Berkowitz was the hero of Yad Eliyahu,
the fans had a song for him. In Jewish tradition, there’s a
very famous song for King David. The fans changed the
lyrics from David to Mickey and sang to him that he was
The King of Israel. Nobody else had that honor until Oded
showed up. Oded was the new king. He was the face of
a team that wasn’t very good. Those were dark years
for Maccabi. The mid-1990s is a period when Maccabi
never managed to make the Final Four and didn’t even
make the quarterfinals. Year after year, they lost in the
eighth-finals. They were years when Yad Eliyahu wasn’t
sold out every night, except the die-hard fans who always
showed up and loved that team because of Oded
and [Doron] Sheffer and [Nadav] Henefeld. But Kattash
was … the king,” Arbel remembered. “Maccabi didn’t
have the money to fight the elite of Europe. In those
years, the Greeks and Italians and Turks were spending
huge money that Maccabi didn’t have. Maccabi president
Shimon Mizrahi said after one home loss on TV that Maccabi
can’t fight with those teams in the current situation.
It was clear: Oded was ‘too good’ for Maccabi.”
Oded Kattash
101 greats of european basketball
K

Vladimir Stankovic
At the 1997 EuroBasket in Barcelona, Israel fell in the
eighth-finals against Russia, 87-69, but Kattash ended
up as the top scorer with 22.0 points, ahead of Ainars
Bagatskis of Latvia (21.8 ppg.), Nenad Markovic of Bosnia-Herzegovina
(21.4) and Arturas Karnisovas of Lithuania
(20.7). Kattash was hardly off the floor, as he averaged
38.4 minutes of play. After three great years in Maccabi,
Kattash was on the agenda of the big clubs of Europe and
also several NBA teams tried to sign him. The New York
Knicks were fastest and, in the summer of 1998, Kattash
was about to become the first Israeli ever in the NBA.
However, the NBA season did not open on time due to the
lockout, no signings were allowed, and there was even
talk of the season being canceled. Kattash grew tired of
waiting and returned to Maccabi. He finished the season
with averages of 16.1 points, 5 assists and 2.3 rebounds.
His next stop would be Athens, where Panathinaikos
signed him along with new coach Zeljko Obradovic.
The Greens started the 1999-2000 season strong.
They finished first in the group stage with a 9-1 record,
the only loss coming at home to ALBA Berlin, 72-70. In
the second phase, Panathinaikos also ended up on top
(13-3 overall). In the eighth-finals, the Greens eliminated
Buducnost 2-1 and got rid of Cibona in the quarterfinals,
2-0. The first goal was accomplished: the team
was on its way to the Final Four in Thessaloniki. It wasn’t
home, but almost.
Unforgettable Thessaloniki
In the semifinal against Efes Pilsen, Panathinaikos
won 81-71, but Kattash probably played his worst
game of the season. He only scored 5 points with
awful shooting percentages: 0 of 3 two-pointers, 1 of
4 threes and 2 of 2 free throws plus 2 rebounds and
3 assists. However, Obradovic kept him on the court
for 21 minutes. Dejan Bodiroga (22 points) and Zeljko
Rebraca (15) saved the day for Panathinaikos that night.
Maccabi Tel Aviv was waiting in the title game.
Zeljko Obradovic has told me many times: “On the
eve of the final, Oded told me ‘Coach, I did not play well
against Efes, but the final will be my game. I know them
very well and I know they cannot stop me. We will win.
For sure.’ I have never seen a player so convinced that
victory could not slip away from him.”
I was in Thessaloniki and I remember the final well.
Maccabi was winning 36-29 before the break, but a
7-0 run by the Greens allowed them to tie the score at
intermission, 36-36. A great start to the second half
by Panathinaikos, led by Antonis Fotsis and Kattash,
allowed them to build an 11-point margin, 57-46. In
money time, when Maccabi pulled within 3 points, one
of their own, Kattash, broke the game open in favor of
Panathinaikos. He replied with a three-pointer to give
his team some air, and then he made 4 of 6 free throws.
He finished the game with 17 points (0 of 1 twos, 2 of
3 threes and 11 of 14 free throws). His famous penetrations
could only be stopped with fouls by Maccabi’s
players, and Kattash had a good night from the stripe.
What I did not remember, because I had not seen it,
was what Yarone Arbel relates: “The scenes from the
ceremony were amazing. The TV caught him right after
the buzzer. All he said to the camera was ‘It’s the happiest
and the saddest day of my basketball career.’ All the
Maccabi fans were hugging him. He didn’t really know
how to celebrate. He looked so confused.”
The following day, Yarone was also a privileged witness
to a scene in the Thessaloniki airport: “I was lucky
to be there. Panathinaikos arrived at the Thessaloniki
airport to take the flight back to Athens. In the airport
were already thousands of Maccabi fans waiting for
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their charter flight back to Israel. Panathinaikos thought
that Oded was in danger. They thought the fans would
attack him. At first, they didn’t leave the bus. They
called for heavy security. When Oded understood
what was going on, he told Panathinaikos not to worry,
that the fans wouldn’t harm him. When he entered the
airport all Maccabi fans started to celebrate with him.
They took him on their shoulders, danced with him and
with the cup as if they had won it.
“Back then for Maccabi fans to be in the Final Four was
amazing, so it wasn’t such a bad feeling to lose the cup –
as much as losing isn’t that bad for Maccabi – since their
king won it. It was an amazing scene. Kattash on their
shoulders carried around the airport in celebrations of
yellow and blue. I was standing next to two Panathinaikos
players. One of them was Greek and he told the
other player, ‘This is amazing. If it was the other way and
I’d won the EuroLeague for Maccabi over Panathinaikos,
the Panathinaikos fans would have killed me.’”
Kattash himself, in an interview for Euroleague.net
dedicated to all the Final Fours, explained his feelings
in Thessaloniki: “So many things ... Everything around
me was so confusing. It was like being part of a movie.
Emotionally, those days were extremely hard to take. I
was very excited because on one hand, I got to the European
final for the first time in my life. That’s the kind
of moment you dream about. On the other hand, I had
to play against Maccabi.
“I knew how important this game was to Maccabi
fans and to the guys of Panathinaikos. I felt very lonely.
I couldn’t get connected to Panathinaikos fans because
they were afraid I might give the game to Maccabi. They
were not sure I would be able to play good enough under
these circumstances. Also, I could not be seen with Maccabi
fans, since I was their enemy at least for one night.”
Unfortunately, that great game was Kattash’s last
one in the EuroLeague. In 32 Greek League games that
season, 24 in the regular season and eight in the playoffs,
before getting injured, he averaged 9.1 points, 3
assists and 1.7 rebounds. An awful knee injury during
the playoffs caused him to miss the entire following
season. He underwent surgery several times, but there
was no way to fix it. A brilliant career was stopped suddenly,
at 26 years old. He was a guard that could be a
playmaker, with a great shot and excellent penetration,
his two main weapons. His favorite play was the oneon-one,
dribbling and penetration. The opponents
knew how he played, but most of the time they could
do nothing against him because he was faster, smarter
and more talented. Also, it was unpredictable as to
whether he would penetrate or use his excellent shot.
“He was a player with loads of self-confidence,” remembers
Obradovic. “A born winner.”
Kattash could not continue his career as a player but,
fortunately, basketball didn’t lose him. He continued as
a coach and did well. He led Hapoel Galil Elyon to a second-place
Israeli League finish in his first season, 2004-
05. He spent three seasons there and, shortly after losing
to Maccabi in the 2007 semifinals, his former club hired
him as head coach. Sadly, for both sides, the marriage did
not end well and after a string of poor results, Kattash resigned
midway through the season. But he returned the
following season to Hapoel Galil Elyon, with whom he won
the 2010 Israeli League by defeating Maccabi in the final.
His subsequent club teams were also called Hapoel –Jerusalem,
Eilat and Tel Aviv – and he has also been named the
Israeli national team head coach.
However, for the Maccabi Tel Aviv fans, he remains
“The King of Israel”.
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Oded Kattash
A

Dragan
Kicanovic
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The Cacak genius
Probably the last thing that Zeljko Obradovic
and Vladimir Androic thought about
in the mid-1970s, when over a four-year
period they shared rooms on road trips
as Borac Cacak players, was that one day
they would coach against each other in the
Turkish Airlines EuroLeague. Androic and Obradovic
are much more than two former teammates from a
humble team. They are close friends and best men
at each other’s weddings, a relationship that is very
important to Serbian people. Behind many technical
decisions made by Obradovic, there has been a
lot of advice sought from Androic. They have spent
summers together and engaged in long talks about
basketball.
The matchups in the 2011-12 EuroLeague between
these two men from Cacak – Obradovic on the Panathinaikos
bench and Androic on that of KK Zagreb – brought
to mind a true genius of the game who was born in the
same city and was also very important in the life of Obradovic.
That is none other than Dragan “Kicha” Kicanovic.
To me, he is one of the best three players from the
former Yugoslavia that I have ever seen – the other two
being Kresimir Cosic and Drazen Petrovic.
Kicha and Mirza, Gorizia 1971
Kicanovic was born on August 17, 1953, but before
him, Cacak had another huge star, scoring ace Radmilo
Misovic. His fame never crossed many borders, however,
because Misovic, due to his character, always stayed
close to home, close to Cacak. He liked to go fishing in
the Morava River and keep his quiet life rather than sign
for a big team in Belgrade or elsewhere. Misovic was
the Yugoslav League’s top scorer five times: 1968 (29.2
ppg.), 1969 (28.4), 1971 (29.3), 1972 (30.0) and 1974
(31.7). He played in Borac while Kicanovic started with
the other team from the city, the smaller and humbler
Zeleznicar. Like a diamond in the rough, Kicanovic was
selected by cadet national team coach Mirko Novosel
for the first U16 European Championship, played in
1971 in Gorizia, Italy. Along with him, the team had
other future stars, like Mirza Delibasic, Rajko Zizic and
Dragan Todoric. Yugoslavia became champion by defeating
Italy in the final 74-60. It was the first trophy
for Kicha. He finished as the team’s second-best scorer
with 90 points, behind only his friend Delibasic, with 99.
That same year, not yet of legal age and still a member
of a second-division team, Kicanovic made his debut
on the senior national team at the Mediterranean
Games in Izmir, Turkey. He played alongside world
champions like Damir Solman and Vinko Jelovac, as
well as with other future staples of the national team
Zarko Knezevic, Milun Marovic, Miroljub Damjanovic
and Dragi Ivkovic. Kicanovic scored his first 40 points
for the national team and won his second gold medal.
All the big teams wanted to sign him, but in Cacak
they managed to put Misovic and Kicanovic together.
“Kicha” signed for Borac and the 1971-72 season stays
in my memory because of the brilliant displays by
those two geniuses: one was a veteran, the other was
just starting his brilliant career. In the summer of 1972,
Kicanovic’s age group played the fifth U18 European
Championship in Zadar, another symbolic city for basketball.
Novosel was the coach of that team and – together
with Kicha, Mirza, Zizic and Todoric – new names
came on board: Zeljko Jerkov, Branko Macura and
101 greats of european basketball
Dragan Kicanovic
K

Vladimir Stankovic
Cedomir Perincic. The results were seven wins in seven
games and a gold medal. Delibasic had 114 points, Kicanovic
90, Perincic 68.
Kicha and Praja in Belgrade
When landing in Partizan, Kicanovic was greeted by
Ranko Zeravica, the former coach of the national team
and the best pupil of the famous Professor Aleksandar
Nikolic. One year earlier, in 1971, Zeravica had managed
to sign Drazen Dalipagic, who had played football until
he was 15. Dalipagic’s nickname, Praja, came from a local
defensive player of the football team in Velez. That’s
how, in the summer of 1972, the best duo on the court
that I have probably ever seen, Kicha and Praja, was
born. They were never close friends. There was always
some kind of rivalry issue between them. But as the two
smart men that they were, they connected instantly on
the court. Simply put, they needed each other.
Dalipagic was a strong forward, great shooter and
spectacular jumper. Kicanovic was a super-smart guard
who could play at point for the full 40 minutes. He was
unstoppable in one-on-one situations and had great
court vision and shooting. There was no Partizan game
without some spectacular alley-oops by Dalipagic from
Kicanovic’s assists. They were the two idols who helped
Partizan win their first Yugoslav League title in 1976.
But they helped the national team even more. When
Mirko Novosel took the reins of the team for the 1973
EuroBasket in Barcelona, Spain, he called up several
young players. Of course, Kicanovic was among them.
So were Dalipagic and Zoran “Moka” Slavnic, who made
his debut at 24 years old. With the added experience
of Cosic, Rato Tvrdic, Nikola Plecas and Damir Solman,
Yugoslavia won its first European title. The following
year, Yugoslavia was second at the World Cup in Puerto
Rico. Kicanovic was the best player and best scorer on
the team with 139 points (19.9 per game), including 34
against Canada and 26 against the USA.
Kicha was a complete player, technically perfect. But
what makes the difference between a great talent and a
great player is the character. Kicanovic was a born winner
and a fighter; he didn’t like to lose at anything. He
had strong character and was willing to fight for victory,
no matter the circumstances. He didn’t fear hostile
atmospheres, either. His winning character could be
seen at the EuroBasket 1975 final at the legendary Pionir
Arena in Belgrade. The game was against the USSR
and after 39 tight minutes, Yugoslavia led 86-84. The
ball reached Kicha, who drove past, if memory serves,
Aleksander Salnikov. He pulled up and with his perfect
shot decided the game with his 22nd point of the night.
At the 1976 Olympics in Montreal, Kicanovic won the
silver medal. In 1977 he made it a three-peat with Yugoslavia
by winning the EuroBasket final in Liege against
the USSR. That game featured a famous “volleyball”
passing scene between Kicha and Slavnic, in which they
tapped the ball back and forth to each other a few times
without either actually catching or holding it, to fool the
defense. In the 1978 World Cup in Manila, he and Dalipagic
led Yugoslavia to another title. Praja finished with
an average of 22.2 points and Kicha with 18.2.
At the club level, after winning its first Yugoslav
League title in 1976, Partizan also took its first European
trophy on March 21, 1978, after an unforgettable Korac
Cup final in Banja Luka against Bosna Sarajevo. The game
ended 117-110 after overtime. The end of regulation time
showed a 101-101 score. It was an offensive festival,
with 48 points by Dalipagic, 33 by Kicanovic and 21 by
Misko Maric. For Bosna, Mirza Delibasic had 33 points,
Zarko Varajic 22, Ratko Radovanovic 20 and Svetislav
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Pesic 14. That season Bosna won the domestic league
and the following year it took the EuroLeague crown. In
1979, Partizan also won the Korac Cup, defeating Arrigoni
of Italy 109-98 in the final played at Pionir Arena. The
hero was, of course, Kicanovic, who scored 41 points
despite playing injured and covering for the also-injured
Dalipagic. Pionir gave a standing ovation to Kicha for a
great win against a great rival, led by the American duo
of Cliff Meely (30 points) and Willie Sojourner (29), alongside
Roberto Brunamonti (12 points).
Olympic champion
At the 1980 Olympics in Moscow, without no U.S.
team, Yugoslavia won the gold medal with Kicanovic
and Dalipagic as leaders. In 1981 and 1982, Gazzetta
dello Sport of Italy elected Kicha as the player of the
year in its prestigious survey. In 1981, he won the Yugoslav
League with Partizan and the silver medal with
the national team at EuroBasket in Prague. When the
summer of 1981 arrived, Kicanovic accepted the call
from Petar Skansi, an assistant to Professor Nikolic
with the national team in 1978 in Manila and the head
coach at the 1979 EuroBasket. As a result, Kicanovic
joined Scavolini Pesaro in Italy, a team that also signed
his national teammate Zeljko Jerkov. He played two
seasons there, averaging 23.4 points, 3.4 assists and
2.8 rebounds in 72 Italian League games. At the 1982
World Cup in Colombia, Kicanovic won the bronze medal.
He then won the Saporta Cup with Scavolini against
ASVEL in a 111-99 final, scoring 31.
That same year, after a seventh-place finish for
Yugoslavia at the EuroBasket in France, and a big fight
with Italy, Kicanovic decided to leave that country. He
signed for Racing Paris, but in the spring of 1984, at 30
years and 8 months old, he decided to retire. It was a
shame because he could have surely played well for
longer, but it was a personal choice. Behind him, he left
216 games with the Yugoslav national team and 3,330
points (which ranked second after Dalipagic, with 3,700,
although Kicanovic player fewer years. He collected 10
medals – five gold, three silver and two bronze – with
the national team. At Partizan, he played 167 games
and scored 4,699 points (28.1 ppg.).
After retiring, Kicanovic was the sports director
at Partizan, where his masterpiece was the European
crown of 1992. To reach that goal he worked hard for
many years and signed players like Vlade Divac, Zarko
Paspalj, Goran Grbovic, Ivo Nakic and Zeljko Rebraca. He
had the patience to nurture the talents of Djordjevic and
Predrag Danilovic. He convinced his friend Zeljko Obradovic
to put an end to his playing career at 31 years old
and become a head coach almost overnight. As in the
game itself, Kicha had great vision. In his life after basketball,
during a brief stint, he was Minister of Sports in Serbia
and for eight years was the president of the Serbian
Olympic committee. He was inducted into the FIBA Hall
of Fame and deserves to be in the one in Springfield, too,
where Dalipagic, his great teammate for Partizan and the
Yugoslav national team, already is.
On a personal note, it remains a regret of mine that
Dragan Kicanovic was not included in the list of 35 players
that were recognized by Euroleague Basketball to
celebrate the competition’s 50th anniversary. The jury
was more than qualified, but the genius of Kicanovic
escaped their decision. It’s true that he didn’t win any
EuroLeague titles, that he didn’t play for any big teams
in Europe, and that he retired young. But he was one of
the Greats, with a capital G.
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Dragan Kicanovic
K

Radivoj
Korac
167

The legend
that lives on
The basketball world, especially the older
generations, knows the sporting history
of the great player Radivoj Korac, whose
humble character was the opposite of
his on-court greatness. He was the best,
but for Korac, there was no such thing
as “me”. All the praise he received – from the press,
the crowds, his teammates – he always handled with
incredible modesty and almost as if it didn’t have anything
to do with him. He was very kind, generous and
always surrounded by friends.
Korac was a well-mannered man with many interests.
There was no theater premiere in Belgrade at
which he was not present. His circle of friends included
actors, singers and artists of all kinds. His record
collection was the biggest and best in Belgrade as he
always brought new records with him after every trip
abroad. Thanks to him in fact, a music show at Radio
Belgrade was able to play The Beatles for the first time
ever, and his comment was: “This band will be huge.”
He was a lover of movies and literature, and his favorite
writers were James Joyce, Norman Mailer, George
Bernard Shaw and William Faulkner. His other passion
was ... jerseys. He had hundreds of them, of all colors.
He only wore a suit on very special occasions. He was
a good student of electrical engineering, even though
he never got his degree. He nearly finished it but left
the finishing touches “for later, when I am done with my
career”. Unfortunately, his life ended sooner.
Some records are simply not meant to be broken,
and in European basketball, the most prestigious one
– single-game scoring – belongs to Korac. Playing for
the club he grew up with, OKK Belgrade, Korac set an
incredible scoring mark that still stands as the most
points scored in the history of the EuroLeague. In an
eighth-finals game against Alvik BK Stockholm of Sweden,
played in Belgrade on January 14, 1965, he scored
an incredible 99 points – in 40 minutes, with no threepoint
shot or shot clock, and without knowing his point
total as the game progressed. OKK won by 155-57
(after having led by 60-17 at the break). The game was
the stage for several other records apart from Korac’s
99 points: in the second half OKK scored 95 points;
the team’s total of 155 points was also a new record,
as was the final victory margin of 98 points. Amazingly
enough, in the first game between the teams, played
exactly one week earlier in Sweden, OKK Belgrade had
won by 90-136 as Korac scores 71 points. Combining
them, the legendary left-hander had an incredible 170
points – an average of 85 – in a single two-game series!
A scoring machine
Korac himself said once that his first meeting with
basketball came in the early 1950s in Karlovac, Croatia,
where his parents – Zagorka and Bogdan – visited
relatives. He started playing in Belgrade at a late age
by today’s standards. He was 16 years old, but he was
the tallest kid in class and played center. Korac played
the same position for the OKK Belgrade juniors in 1954,
despite being only 1.93 meters. From the start of his
career, he wore number 5 on his jersey; he viewed it as
good luck because he was born on November 5, 1938.
Aside from boasting a great sense for scoring from any
spot on the floor – something that he taught himself
101 greats of european basketball
Radivoj Korac
K

Vladimir Stankovic
– his great weapon was rebounding. Korac was able
to fight for the ball with men taller than himself. The
official stat sheet of the Yugoslav national team shows
that Korac shares the top spot with Kresimir Cosic in
this category; each averaged 7 rebounds per game.
Korac’s best friend and godfather, Dragutin Tosic, a
school friend and teammate at OKK, told the story that
in his first game as a junior, they defeated Pancevo 33-
28 as Korac scored ... 33 points! In 1956, Korac made his
debut in the OKK first team and over the following eight
years he was the league’s leading scorer seven times. His
averages were quite impressive: in 1957 - 29.1 points; in
1958, 35.2; in 1960, 37.0; in 1962, 30.5; in 1963, 34.5; in
1964, 26.3; and in 1965, 31.6. With OKK, Korac won four
Yugoslav League titles and three domestic cups. His first
coach at the junior level was Dragutin Glisic, and in the
first senior team, his coach was Borislav Stankovic, the
future secretary general of FIBA.
Korac also played football – his brother Djordje, a
sculptor, was the goalkeeper at Radnicki Belgrade –
handball and athletics, where he excelled in the high
jump. Korac’s great goal was to jump higher than his
own height, 1.93 meters – and accomplished that.
During his military service, Korac was the champion
in that discipline. He was also the best chess player
among his mates. His coaches and teammates always
said that at first sight, Korac seemed like a slow and
clumsy player, like he was not interested in what was
happening around him. This impression fooled many
of the players that guarded him because he was the
opposite: fast with the ball, strong, left-handed, a good
jumper. His famous left hand was precise, but he shot
his free throws in a very peculiar manner by that era’s
standards and virtually non-existent today: “granny
style”, underhand, with both hands down. He held the
ball between his legs, one hand on each side. And he
hardly missed.
Free throws: 100 of 100 on TV
After leaving Yugoslavia, Korac played in Belgium,
where he was the star of national champion Standard
Liege. In a live television interview in French – a language
he learned in three months – they asked him how many
free throws he would make out of 100 attempts. His
answer was “about 80.” The host of the show asked immediately,
“Can you prove that?” When Korac said that
he could, a curtain opened and a real basket appeared.
Korac accepted the challenge, took off his jacket and
shirt, and with his dress pants and shoes on, started
scoring – 10, 25, 47, 62, 88, 99 ... and 100! No misses!
During his time in Belgium, the president of Standard
gave him a car, a new model Volkswagen. Korac
loved to drive, even though it’s been said that he was
not very good behind the wheel. In the summer of 1969,
after spending a season playing for Arqua Petrarca in
Italy, where of course he was the best scorer in the
league, Korac drove to Belgrade in this car. The national
team had a friendly game scheduled in Sarajevo and he
wanted to make the trip in his car. On June 1, 1969, Yugoslavia
beat Bosnia and Herzegovina 131-93 behind
35 points by Korac. Nobody would have even imagined
that those were his last points. The following day, June
2, after breakfast, two cars started for Belgrade from
Sarajevo. The first one was occupied by Coach Ranko
Zeravica and his wife Zaga, the second by Radivoj Korac.
Just a few kilometers outside of Sarajevo, near the
town of Kamenica, Korac tried to pass another car while
driving uphill. The other car wouldn’t let him. In the opposite
lane, a truck appeared. Ranko and Zaga Zeravica
saw the collision in their rearview mirror. They were the
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first ones to try to help him. While Ranko drove to the
hospital, Korac spent the last moments of his life in the
backseat with Zaga. He died a few hours later. On June
3, a line of mourners more than two kilometers long
said goodbye to Korac in Sarajevo. He was later laid to
rest in the “Alley of Distinguished Citizens” at the Novo
Groblje cemetery complex in Belgrade. He was the first
sportsman to be buried there among politicians and
other celebrities.
I attended his funeral as a young journalist, with
only a few months on the job under my belt, but I would
have been there anyway as a fan of basketball. Radivoj
Korac was an icon for us. Two years later, under a proposal
from the secretary general of FIBA then, William
Jones, the third club competition in Europe was named
in Korac’s memory. When the competition disappeared
in 2001, the Serbian Federation rescued the name for
its national cup. A street in Belgrade was also named
for Radivoj Korac in the neighborhood where he lived.
In 2012, the City of Belgrade unveiled a plaque to mark
“Radivoj Korac Corner”, at the foot of Knez Mihailova
Street in the town center, near the café where he had
his friends met daily.
Korac was not an elegant player, but he was rational.
For him, the best players he saw were Oscar Robertson,
Wilt Chamberlain and Jerry Lucas. Among the
Yugoslavs, he considered his best friend Ivo Daneu,
Nemanja Djuric and Trajko Rajkovic to be the greatest.
With the Yugoslav national team, Korac won six
medals: silver at EuroBasket in 1961 and 1965, bronze
in 1963; silver at the 1963 and 1967 World Cups; and an
Olympic silver medal in Mexico City in 1968. He was the
best scorer at EuroBasket in 1961, 1963 and 1965, and
at the Rome Olympics in 1960. With 3,107 points, he is
the fourth-best scorer in the national team behind only
Drazen Dalipagic (3,700), Dragan Kicanovic (3,330) and
Kresimir Cosic (3,180), all of them with many more than
his 146 games played. His average was 21.3 points per
game, more than even Drazen Petrovic (21.0 ppg.). His
best marks with the team were 42 points scored against
Israel and 40 against Peru. According to a calculation
based on minutes played, he was the best performer in
the history of the national team. Second was Petrovic
and third was Vlade Divac. After them, Kukoc, Dalipagic,
Kicanovic, Radja, Rebraca, Bodiroga and Cosic. What a
brilliant lineup! Korac was the top scorer in a game 91
times; he scored more than 20 points 83 times and four
times scored more than 30.
In 1963, when during an OKK tour of Italy, they made
it to Padua, the signs advertising the game boasted
“Petrarca vs. Korac!”
A few years ago, 4,000 spectators filled the Sava
Centar in Belgrade to capacity for the official premiere
of a film about Korac. Directed by Goran Matic, the title
is “Ginger” – the English translation of his nickname,
“Zucko”, or red-head. It is a documentary with reenacted
scenes from his life based on the testimonials of his
friends and rivals. The movie has won several awards at
international festivals.
Radivoj Korac, the legend that lives on.
101 greats of european basketball
Radivoj Korac
K

Toni
Kukoc
171

The Pink Panther
of basketball
It was April of 1991.The final series of the Yugoslav
League between the great Jugoplastika Split and
its biggest rival those years, Partizan Belgrade.
After winning the first game in Split, 85-74, Jugoplastika
also won the second game in Belgrade by
the score of 95-91. The third game was also played
in Belgrade but Jugoplastika didn’t wait to celebrate
the title at home. With an 86-64 victory, Jugoplastika
swept the series and lifted its fourth straight trophy.
With 4 minutes and 18 seconds left in the game, Split
coach Zeljko Pavlicevic decided to sit Toni Kukoc. Then
something unforgettable happened: the Partizan fans,
even if hurt by the tough defeat of their team, rose to
their feet and gave Kukoc a one-minute-long standing
ovation. It was a gesture of admiration towards a basketball
genius, but also with a feeling that that would
be the last time that Kukoc would play in Belgrade.
Even though in June of that year the Croatian players
would be on the Yugoslav team that won EuroBasket
1991 in Rome, the political climate was very tense already.
The basketball world was already making plans
for a united league the following season under the direction
of YUBA, a recently formed club association. However,
it was pretty clear that the third game of that final
series was to be the last of the history of the Yugoslav
championships, and that Jugoplastika would be the last
champion of a country that gave so much to basketball.
I don’t know if Djordjevic still feels the same way
about that, but I do know people who would agree with
every word that he said 22 years ago. Bozidar Maljkovic,
the coach and builder of the great Jugoplastika, doesn’t
compare Kukoc to players from other eras, but he does
say: “Toni Kukoc is the best player I ever coached. Huge
talent, versatile, able to play all five positions. He also
won all the important titles.”
Signed at the beach
If genes have something to do with a career as a
sportsman, Toni Kukoc was somehow destined for
sports because of his father, Ante, who had been a
goalkeeper on the teams of Nada and Split and was
crazy about any sport. Since he was a child, Kukoc, who
was born on September 18, 1968, showed a talent for
all sports, but basketball would enter his life rather late.
First, there was table tennis. Radojka, Toni’s mother,
was happy to enroll him in table tennis because practices
took place in Gripe pavilion, just a hundred meters
away from the Kukoc family apartment.
Soon enough, Toni showed a great talent for the
sport and at just 10 years old, he was champion of Dalmatia,
a coastal region of Croatia. However, his true love
was football and, like any kid in Split, his dream was one
day wearing the jersey of the famous local club Hajduk.
With the support of his father, Kukoc passed the texts
at 11 and joined the Hajduk cadet team. He was good,
some even say very good, but problems started when
he began growing fast. At 13 years old he was already
1.90 meters, but he was very thin, too, and that earned
him the nickname “Olive” – after Popeye’s girlfriend in
the comic strip.
Kukoc kept playing football until he was 15. In the
summer of 1983, Igor Karkovic – a young talent scout
for Jugoplastika – saw a group of young kids playing
several sports on a beach close to Split. His attention
101 greats of european basketball
Toni Kukoc
K

Vladimir Stankovic
was caught strongly, however, by a very tall kid with
great movements and coordination who was also a
great swimmer. Karkovic was surprised when the kid
told him that he didn’t play basketball at all. So Krakovic
invited him to a tryout, to which Toni agreed. He
practiced football and basketball at the same time for
a while, but – fortunately – basketball won.
That was the start of a brilliant career. He was a
starter soon after that, but in his first final, against
Cibona for the Croatian title, he suffered his first disappointment,
a loss at home in front of all his people. He
felt some consolation with the Yugoslav championship
played in Kraljevo (Serbia) where Jugoplastika dominated
strong opponents like host Sloga – who had a
pair of future NBA big men like Vlade Divac and Milos
Babic – or Buducnost Podgorica, with Zarko Paspalj,
Zdravko Radulovic and Luka Pavicevic.
In the summer of 1985, coach Svetislav Pesic called
Kukoc for the U16 European Championship in Ruse,
Bulgaria, where Yugoslavia won the gold medal in what
was only the first step of a great generation, with Divac,
Nebosja Ilic, Slavisa Koprivica, Radenko Dobras, Emilio
Kovacic and Zoran Kalpic. Jugoplastika coach Slavko
Trninic included Kukoc in the first team at 16 years old.
He made his debut in Podgorica against Buducnost. In
the 1985-86 season, he played 20 games, totaling 52
points (2.6 ppg). In Ruse, Kukoc had a scoring average of
5.5 but he already increased that number to 12.6 in the
summer of 1986 for the U18 European Championship in
Gmunden, Austria. More new players came to the team,
like Pavicevic Dino Radja, Sasha Djordjevic, Teoman
Alibegovic, Pavicevic and Samir Avdic. The following
season, with Zoran “Moka” Slavnic on the Jugoplastika
bench, Kukoc scored 317 points in 22 league games
(14.4) and 46 more in three playoff games.
The great summer of 1987
For the 1987 EuroBasket in Athens, Yugoslav coach
Kresimir Cosic called four kids to the team: Divac, Radja,
Djordjevic and Kukoc. They won the bronze medal and right
after that, they joined the expedition of the junior team
to the U19 World Cup in Bormio, Italy. Pesic put together
a great team that won all of its six games, including two
against a powerful American team with Larry Johnson,
Gary Payton, Stacey Augmon, Kevin Pritchard, Lionel Simmons,
Scott Williams, Dwayne Schintzius, Brian Williams
and Larry Brown as coach. The scoring average of that
team was 112 points per game! The showdown against
the Americans in the first stage ended 110-95 with Kukoc
in a state of grace: 37 points on 11 of 12 three-pointers!
“Never, ever, in my career would I get even close to
those numbers,” Kukoc told me much later. “The high
for me in a game for triples was five or six, but that day
everything was going in. I felt extremely comfortable.”
In the final game, the Americans’ attention went to Kukoc
but the heroes of the game would be the big men: Divac
scored 21 points and Radja had 20 as Yugoslavia won 86-76.
Toni Kukoc’s career skyrocketed after that. In 1988,
he won his first Yugoslav League title with Jugoplastika.
On April 6, 1989, a very young team for Jugoplastika
surprised everyone at the EuroLeague Final Four in Munich
by defeating FC Barcelona in the semis and then
Maccabi Tel Aviv in the final, 75-69, with 18 points by
Kukoc. At the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, he won the silver
medal with Yugoslavia after losing the final to the
USSR. At the 1989 EuroBasket in Zagreb, Yugoslavia
rolled to the gold just as they did at the 1990 World Cup
in Buenos Aires, where Kukoc was named MVP of the
tournament. I remember the ovation he got in the final
against the USSR, a few minutes before the buzzer. A
man by my side rose up and yelled: “Thank you, skinny!”
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Before Buenos Aires, Jugoplastika repeated the
double crown with the Yugoslav League and the EuroLeague
titles – the latter against FC Barcelona in the final
in Zaragoza by the score of 72-67, with 20 points from
Kukoc. The same thing would happen again in 1991
even though Dino Radja, Dusko Ivanovic and coach
Boza Maljkovic were no longer with the team. However,
the genius Kukoc stayed and was backed by Velimir Perasovic,
Zoran Savic, Luka Pavicevic, Zan Tabak, Zoran
Sretenovic, Aramis Naglic and Petar Naumoski. At the
Paris Final Four the victim was, once more, FC Barcelona,
in a 70-65 Jugoplastika win with 14 points from
Kukoc – and with Maljkovic coaching Barça.
In his last three Yugoslav League seasons, Kukoc’s
numbers were almost identical: 411 points (11.6 average)
in 1988-89; 413 (18.7) in 1989-90 and 438 (19.9) in 1990-
91. But more than his points, he was admired by everything
he displayed on the court. If I had to choose only
one word to describe his game, I would say “elegance”.
He made everything seem so easy, so natural. Like there
was nothing easier than scoring a basket, pulling down a
rebound or dishing an assist. Because of his basketball
genius, his moves with the ball, his long hands and his thin
body, he earned the nickname of Pink Panther. We can also
thank him for a great basketball quote: “A basket makes
one man happy while an assist makes two men happy.”
In the summer of 1991, Kukoc had a problem with
his future. The Chicago Bulls – who had chosen him with
the 29th pick in the NBA Draft – and Benetton Treviso,
coached by Split legend Petar Skansi, were knocking on
his door. Kukoc went to Italy, so the NBA could wait. In
two years in Italy, he won a league title and a cup title
playing a total of 68 games with averages of 19.8 points,
6.0 rebounds and 5.2 assists. After so many successful
years, Kukoc had a great disappointment at the 1993
Final Four in Athens. Benetton was the favorite to win
against Boza Maljkovic’s Limoges, but the Italian team
– could not defeat the French team, with Michael Young
and Jure Zdovc, losing 59-55.
Triumph in the NBA
Before leaving for the NBA, Kukoc was part of the
Croatian “Dream Team” with Drazen Petrovic, Dino
Radja, Stojan Vrankovic, Danko Cvjeticanin, Velimir Perasovic,
Arijan Komazec and company at the 1992 Olympics
in Barcelona. Kukoc would add a new silver medal
to his already impressive collection. His numbers were
11.5 points, 3.1 boards and 6.0 assists. He would win
more medals with Croatia: bronze at the 1994 World
Cup and 1995 EuroBasket. But his true triumphs after
that would come in the NBA. He got there right when
Michael Jordan retired, but since the legend was back
two years later, Toni could fulfill his dream of playing
alongside the best. Kukoc is a proud owner of three
NBA championship rings from 1996, 1997 and 1998.
We know almost everything about his NBA career.
In 15 years playing in Chicago (7 seasons), Philadelphia
(2), Atlanta (2) and Milwaukee (4) he played 846 games,
scored 9,810 points (11.6), grabbed 3,550 rebounds
(4.2) and dished 3,118 assists (3.7). Until Dirk Nowitzki,
Kukoc was the most relevant European player in the
NBA. One detail explains it all: on May 13, 1994, in the
third game of the Eastern Conference Finals against the
New York Knicks, with the score tied 102-102 and 1.8
seconds to go, coach Phil Jackson designed a play in
the timeout for Toni Kukoc. Afterward, Scottie Pippen
remained on the bench mad at the coach and refused
Jackson’s orders to get back on the court. Jackson insisted
on the play and Kukoc scored the basket to give
Chicago the victory. A true champion.
101 greats of european basketball
Toni Kukoc
K

Trajan
Langdon
175

The Alaskan
Assassin
I
saw Trajan Langdon for the first time at the 1998
World Cup in Athens, but I admit I don’t remember
him there. His numbers justify my lack of memory.
They were below the 4 he wore on his jersey: 2.9
points, 0.9 rebounds and 0.4 assists. However, due
to the NBA players’ strike, he ended up on a national
team that took a bronze medal, his first important
trophy.
Three years earlier, on the same Athens stage, a
young Langdon had taken part in the U19 World Cup
1995 with the USA. That team recorded four wins and
four losses, and the Americans finished eighth. More
was certainly expected from a team with Stephon Marbury
(17.5 points), Vince Carter and Langdon himself
(8.5 points). His shooting was far from perfect: 48%
on two-pointers, 30.8% on threes. Although his two
experiences in Greece didn’t set the tone for his future
career in Europe, it would be that way in his three years
in the NBA.
After finishing East High School in Anchorage in
his native Alaska, where he scored 2,200 points and
earned his nickname “The Alaskan Assassin”, Langdon
chose to play college basketball at prestigious Duke
University. He finished his career there with averages
of 14.5 points and 2.9 rebounds, plus a school record in
three-pointers made. Standing at 1.92 meters, he was
the typical shooting guard, but he also had solid rebounding
skills. His numbers in the NCAA were enough
for Langdon to be picked 11th overall in the 1999 NBA
Draft by the Cleveland Cavaliers. As a side note, Langdon
had already been drafted in 1994 into another
pro sport, baseball, but continued playing basketball
instead. He stayed in Cleveland for three seasons with
discreet numbers: 5.4 points and 1.3 rebounds. It was
not enough for an ambitious player who was right in
thinking he could do more. It was then that Langdon
decided to come to Europe.
Treviso, Istanbul, Moscow
At the time, Benetton Treviso was a standard-bearer
in Italian basketball, with Ettore Messina on the
bench and Maurizio Gherardini in the front office.
They signed Langdon and were right once again. In
his first season there, Langdon won the Italian League
and Italian Cup double. He played 46 games, scored
703 points (15.3 per game) with 52.1% two-point and
44.7% three-point shooting. The team reached the
EuroLeague Final Four in Barcelona in 2003, but after
defeating Montepaschi Siena in the semis 65-62, FC
Barcelona was better than Treviso in the final and won
76-65. Treviso’s mistake was signing Langdon for only
one year. His season caught everyone’s attention. Efes
Pilsen made its move and Langdon moved to the Bosphorus,
where he also won the Turkish League with
similar numbers: 14.3 points per game. Efes couldn’t
keep him either, however, as an offer for the next
season from Dynamo Moscow was better. He moved
to the Russian capital without even thinking that he
would stay there for six years and, in fact, finish his
career there. He didn’t do that with Dynamo, but rather
at CSKA Moscow, the most powerful club in Russia.
After another good season at Dynamo (14.4 points),
CSKA signed Langdon for a new project.
Ettore Messina, who had become CSKA’s head coach
Trajan Langdon
101 greats of european basketball
L

Vladimir Stankovic
by then, shared with us some details about the signings
made in the summer of 2005, just after he landed:
“Trajan was, together with Matjaz Smodis and David
Vanterpool, the signings I put as a condition for me to
jump on board. I thought that with them, I could try to
win the EuroLeague. Trajan had an unbelievable work
ethic. Everybody remembers the shooter, but I also
took notice of his great defensive fundamentals. On
offense, he was an old-school shooter. He was able to
play and shoot after contact, a feature of the greats.
Also, he was a very well-educated man, with a great
college formation. I think he had finished two degrees,
math and history.”
Langdon’s education was a family thing. His father,
Dr. Steve Langdon, was an anthropology professor
at the University of Alaska Anchorage. Trajan went
with his father on many of his trips around Alaska.
His name Trajan comes from the Roman emperor
(98-117 BC), known as the man who stopped chasing
the Christians. Langdon’s father helped him a lot between
the ages of 8 and 13, getting him ready for the
life of an elite sportsman. When his father was sure
that his son was ready for the top, he sent a letter
in the spring of 1992 to Tommy Amaker, an assistant
coach for Mike Krzyzewski at Duke. Once there, Langdon
started his true career, which would make him
into one of the best Americans to play in Europe in
the 21st century.
Shooters are, in most cases, a bit selfish, but Messina
assures us that Langdon was not your usual shooter
in that way:
“He was always a team player, with a strong personality
in the locker room, but always by the coach’s side.”
In the final stretch of Langdon’s first season in CS-
KA, the team made the 2006 EuroLeague Final Four
in Prague. It was another attempt at the crown, to try
to win it for the first time since 1971. In the semifinal
against Barcelona, which CSKA won 84-75, Langdon
was not the best man on the court, but he scored 13
points as great support for J.R. Holden (29 points) and
Smodis (17). The big final against Maccabi Tel Aviv was
waiting. CSKA won 73-69 and Langdon ended up with
11 points, but Messina gives us more insight into Langdon’s
performance:
“In the final game he hardly took any shots during
the second half, but when Maccabi erased our advantage
and even jumped ahead by a point with six minutes
left, I called for a play for Trajan. He answered with
a three. We never lost the lead again and we won that
game. Without trying to take credit from anyone else, I
think that was the basket of the game.”
Final Four MVP of 2008
Trajan Langdon won his second European crown
two years later, in Madrid in 2008, on the 50th anniversary
of European club competitions that had started
in 1958. CSKA won 83-79 in the semifinal against
Tau Ceramica and Langdon scored 9 points. But in the
final, he scored 17 points, making 4 of 5 threes, and
went on to claim Final Four MVP honors. His performance
index rating of 33 was the second best in any
single-game final this century. He was also selected
for the All-EuroLeague First Team in 2007 and 2008,
after having been on the second team in 2006. His
personal records in the EuroLeague are 45 minutes
played against Partizan on May 9, 2010, in the thirdplace
game at that year’s Final Four. He also matched
his career high with 32 points in that game and had an
index rating of 37, his best ever and the best seen in
any Final Four game this century.
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great technique, flawless fakes, and an ability to escape
and receive the ball to shoot. The hands of players guarding
him were never an obstacle. He was one of those
players who rarely played bad games. You could always
expect a high standard from him, at the very least. That’s
why he was always among his coaches’ favorites.
Trajan Langdon
Langdon stayed in Moscow with CSKA until he announced
his retirement on June 18, 2011. He was 35
years old and left behind a great career. He said that
the first Final Four he won in Prague has a special place
in his memory:
“I had lost a Final Four at college and another with
Benetton. It was my third chance to win an important
tourney. And we did it against all odds. The second EuroLeague
was a gift for my newborn son.”
Even though Messina highlights his defense, Langdon’s
main weapon was his shot. He had a steady hand,
101 greats of european basketball
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Mieczyslaw
Lopatka
179

The Polish legend
Who was the top scorer at the
World Cup 1967 in Montevideo,
Uruguay? A question like that in a
trivia contest would test even the
most knowledgeable experts in
world basketball history.
The answer is Mieczyslaw Lopatka, a Polish forward
considered to be the best scorer of all times in his country.
In Montevideo, he scored 177 points for an average
of 19.7 per game. His Polish national team finished fifth,
but it also had the tournament’s second-best scorer,
Bogdan Likszo, with 19.3 points per game. Finishing as
the eighth-best scorer was Radivoj Korac (at 14.6 ppg)
and 10th-best was tournament MVP Ivo Daneu (14.0
ppg) – both of Yugoslavia. In the All-Tournament Team
with Daneu were Lopatka, Luiz Claudio Menon of Brazil,
Korac and Modestas Paulauskas of the Soviet Union.
Lopatka, who was born on October 10, 1939, in
Drachowo, Poland, was a star of European basketball
in the 1960s. Poland, at the time, was one of the best
national teams and won medals at the European championships.
It’s true that Poland never took the top step
on the medals podiums, but its principal star, Lopatka,
has three European medals: silver from EuroBasket
1963 in Wroclaw, and bronzes from EuroBasket 1965 in
Moscow and EuroBasket 1967 in Helsinki.
Before becoming an outstanding basketball player,
the young Mieczyslaw practiced various sports. He
started with field hockey, continued as a soccer goalkeeper,
but abandoned that sport after giving up nine
goals in one game. Lopatka started to train as a boxer,
but when his engineer father heard about it, he had to
give that up. Then he discovered handball, where coaches
saw in him a great player, due to his size, 1.96 meters
and 95 kilos. But it was a physical education teacher,
Alexander Kwiecinski, who discovered Lopatka’s talent
for basketball.
Lopatka needed few games to become a key part
of his school team. In one game, his team scored 150
points and Lopatka had 130 by himself! Soon, in 1955,
he began to play for Kolejarz Gniezno, in a small town
near the village where he was born.
Eyes open in Rome
The best Polish clubs fixated on the young Lopatka,
who, despite not reaching 2 meters, played center
thanks to his strength and excellent rebounding. In 1958,
he was signed by Lech Poznan and two years later participated
in the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome. It’s true that
Lopatka was on the Polish national team as a substitute
for the injured Wlodek Pawlak, who was hurt in practice
crashing into a teammate. But Lopatka’s average of 8
points wasn’t bad at all for the young player. Just like other
European players, Lopatka returned home from Rome
enamored with the basketball played by the American
“Dream Team” of that time, with Oscar Robertson, Jerry
West, Walt Bellamy, Jerry Lucas and others. It was another
kind of basketball the Polish had not seen before,
and it motivated Lopatka to work harder.
In 1961, Lopatka for the first time became the top
scorer in the Polish League with 582 points. He would
repeat that feat three more times: in 1963, 1966 and
1967. In the 1962-63 season, playing for Slask, he
scored 77 of his team’s 96 points in a game against AZS
Gdansk. That remained the league record until seven
years later, when Edward Jurkiewicz scored 84, to be
101 greats of european basketball
Mieczyslaw Lopatka
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Vladimir Stankovic
later topped by Mieczyslaw Mlynarski’s 90 points in
1975. With Slask, Lopatka was national club champion
twice, in 1965 and 1969, when he was also chosen MVP
of the competition for the second time.
By the time that Poland hosted EuroBasket in 1963
in Wroclaw, Lopatka was already a player of reference
who had to be on the national team. Poland started
with a respectable 64-54 loss against the USSR, but
proceeded to string together six consecutive victories
and qualify for the semifinals, where the runner-up
from the 1961 EuroBasket, Yugoslavia, was waiting. In
a game that earned a place in Polish basketball history,
the hosts won 82-73. Lopatka was his team’s top scorer,
with 18 points, followed by Likszo (13) and Janusz
Wichowski (12). The silver was assured. In the final, the
USSR won again 61-45 behind 17 points from the giant
Janis Krumins, 14 from Gennadi Volnov and 13 from
Aleksandar Petrov. Radivoj Korac was the top scorer of
the tournament with 26.4 points per game, while Lopatka
finished seventh at 15.9. His best games were 26
points against France and 14 against Czechoslovakia.
In an interview a few years ago, the principal hero of
that silver medal recalled the prize the team won: “They
had given 20 dollars to each of us. Such were the times
that our other prizes were a radio (that didn’t work), a refrigerator
(without ice) and some tickets to buy suit fabric.”
Lopatka’s second Olympic Games were in Tokyo in
1964, where he scored 9.7 points per game. In 1965, he
was for the first time Polish League player of the year
and also won the bronze medal with Poland at Euro-
Basket in Moscow, scoring 13 points per game. In 1967,
in addition to shining in the World Cup at Montevideo,
Lopatka won the European bronze at Helsinki.
In 1968, Lopatka should have continued his career
outside Poland, something that was not easy at the time
for sportsmen from countries in the Soviet bloc. Standard
Liege of Belgium wanted to sign him to form what
would have been a fearful duo with the recently-arrived
Korac. The signing deadline was August 31. Lopatka had
a promise that he could leave his country due to his merits
as a sportsman, but the passport was delivered to
him on … September 1. He didn’t blame anyone, but he
knew, as everyone did, that it was a bureaucratic means
of preventing his departure to “the capitalist world.”
Lopatka had to stay home, and in October of 1968,
he participated in his third Olympic Games, in Mexico
City, where he again was among the top performers
with 19.2 points per game. In autumn of 1969, he received
a great recognition by being chosen for the European
selection that played in Belgrade against Yugoslavia
to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Yugoslav
Basketball Federation.
In that game, after many years or watching Lopatka
on TV, I finally had the opportunity to see him in person.
It was a great European all-star team, with Paulauskas,
Volnov, Sergei Belov (who had 25 points) of CSKA Moscow,
Clifford Luyk and Emiliano Rodriguez of Real Madrid,
Francisco Nino Buscato of Joventut Badalona, Jiri
Zednicek of USK Prague and Robert Mifka of Zbrojovka
Brno, among others. They defeated Yugoslavia – with
veterans like Daneu, Vladimir Cvetkovic, Nemanja Djuric
and Trajko Rajkovic, plus young lions like Ljubodrag Simonovic,
Dragan Kapicic, Nikola Plecas and Vinko Jelovac
– by the score of 93-90.
Ahead of his time
Buscato, a great point guard from the Spanish national
team of the 1960s and ‘70s, played in that game
in Belgrade with Lopatka. But he also knew Lopatka well
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same hotel, we had the chance afterward to chat about
the games. Off the court, he was very nice, open and
well-mannered.”
At age 33, Lopatka participated in his fourth Olympic
Games in Munich in 1972. That ended his national
team career after 13 years. He finished with 236 games,
3,522 points and an average of 14.9 points per game.
When he returned from Munich, he finally received permission
to play abroad. He went to France to become
player-coach with third division Montbrison. Lopatka
returned home in 1976 and began to work as a head
coach, and did not do badly at all. In 10 seasons with
Slask Wroclaw, he was Polish League champion eight
times. His son Miroslaw was taller than his father, at
2.13 meters, but was far from being as dominant.
Eventually, Mieczyslaw Lopatka was awarded the
status of adopted son in the town of Gniezno, where
his pro career started. But no matter how you look at it,
his impact on the courts applies to the whole country.
Mieczyslaw Lopatka is a legend in Polish basketball.
Mieczyslaw Lopatka
from their battles in the EuroBaskets. He remembered
Mieczyslaw Lopatka like this:
“He was a great player, a ‘four’ height-wise, but a
‘five’ for his body and rebounding capacity,” Buscato
told me. “He played excellently facing the basket, shot
with both hands and moved well. He formed a great
tandem with Likszo, who was tougher; Lopatka was
smarter. The game of the Polish team depended on
those two players, but more on Lopatka. He had what
the great champions have – a winning character. In the
1960s, he was one of the big players in Europe, and
ahead of his time. Since our teams usually stayed in the
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Clifford
Luyk
183

The first great
naturalized player
Among the many good things that Pedro
Ferrandiz did for Real Madrid, one
of the best was signing Clifford Luyk.
It happened in the summer of 1962,
when having American players was
still something rare among European
teams and far before it turned into something normal
and later, even, almost mandatory.
After losing the EuroLeague final in 1962 against
Dinamo Tbilisi of the USSR 90-83 in Geneva, Ferrandiz
decided to leave the bench to Joaquin Hernandez, while
he became what later would be known as the general
manager or sports director. To make the dream of the
Real Madrid fans finally a reality and make the basketball
section of the club a European champ – something
that the football players had already achieved five times
between 1955 and 1960 – Ferrandiz knew he needed a
couple of excellent American players. In his tour of the
United States, in a preseason game between the New
York Knicks and the Boston Celtics, he set his eyes on
a not-so-tall center (2.02 meters), but a big man with
a strong body, solid scoring ability and almost perfect
technique. In 3 minutes he scored 8 points for the
Knicks. Ferrandiz asked for his name and the answer
was: Clifford Luyk, born in Syracuse on June 28, 1941,
and a student at the University of Florida. Led by his
instinct, Ferrandiz decided to sign Luyk, and he managed
to also sign center Bob Burgess, as well. That’s
how the great duo, just what the team needed for the
1962-63 season, was born. The roster was completed
with Emiliano Rodriguez, Carlos Sevillano, Lolo Sainz,
Lorenzo Alocen and others. Luyk and Burgess weren’t
the first American players at Real Madrid, but they were
definitely the best to that point.
Red Army in Madrid
At the end of the season, July 23, 1963, was a date
that made the history books as the one on which “the
Red Army entered Madrid”. To everyone’s surprise,
Spain’s General Franco allowed the CSKA Moscow
team into Spain and Real Madrid to travel to Moscow.
In previous years, these games were played on neutral
ground or Real Madrid simply refused to play. In the
first game, Madrid won 86-69 with 26 points by Sevillano,
24 by Emiliano, 21 by Burgess and 14 by Luyk. The
second game, played seven days later at Lenin football
stadium in front of 20,000 people, was won by CSKA
91-74 despite 22 points by Luyk.
The aggregate score after the two games was tied
and according to the rules at the time, a third game was
forced to be played in the same place. On August 1, CS-
KA won 99-80. The dream of Real Madrid would have
to wait another year. The Spanish team won its first
EuroLeague crown in 1964 by beating Spartak Brno in
the final behind 18 points by Luyk. However, the title
didn’t feel complete somehow because that year CSKA
Moscow didn’t play because it wanted to concentrate
on the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo. Finally, in 1965,
Real Madrid got its revenge. After losing by 7 points in
Moscow, 88-81, with Luyk’s 30 points, the Whites won
76-62 in Madrid. Emiliano scored 24 and Luyk and Burgess
had 18 and 16 points, respectively.
Little by little, Luyk won over everybody’s heart in
Madrid. Apart from his great performances on the
101 greats of european basketball
Clifford Luyk
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Vladimir Stankovic
court, his personality was liked by everyone around
him. He adapted to the Madrid life quite easily to the
point in which, during a trip, he told club president Raimundo
Saporta, that he wouldn’t mind at all getting a
Spanish passport. Luyk’s wish was really convenient for
Saporta, especially since the Spanish League, in 1965,
decided to play with no foreigners. Saporta’s famous
sentence was, “If Luyk and Burgess cannot play as foreigners,
they will play as Spaniards.” He didn’t fulfill his
word to the letter because Burgess refused a Spanish
passport, but Luyk was more than enough. The following
year, in a non-official world championship in Chile,
Luyk made his debut with the Spanish national team
against the United States.
Real Madrid’s long domination in the Spanish
League is owed a lot to Luyk. From his arrival in 1962
until his retirement in 1978, Real Madrid won 14 league
titles, 10 national cups, six EuroLeague titles and three
Intercontinental Cups. He also played with the Spanish
national team until 1975 and won a silver medal at the
1973 EuroBasket in Barcelona, where he averaged 9.3
points. His best numbers with the national team were
in the 1968 Mexico Olympics (20.2 ppg.), the 1969
EuroBasket in Italy (17.9 ppg.), the 1971 EuroBasket in
West Germany (17.6 ppg.) and the 1972 Olympics in
Munich (16.0 ppg.).
The man of the finals
From childhood, Luyk was a natural sportsman. At
eight years old he played tennis, basketball and swam.
But most of all, his favorite sport was baseball. At 12
years old, and already quite tall, he finally chose basketball.
After a fine high school career, Luyk received many
offers from prestigious colleges. His choice surprised
everyone: Florida. He said that he wanted to go as far
away from home as possible to become independent.
Also, he liked the life in the South, which was a much
more laid-back lifestyle. Later in Madrid, he would say
that a big factor in his quick adaptation to the new
country was the time he spent in Florida.
Luyk had that feature that only the true greats have:
stability. It seemed impossible that he would ever play
a bad game. On his worst days, he always helped the
team. If he didn’t score his usual amount of points, he
would grab more rebounds or he would draw more
fouls to eliminate rivals. Simply put, his mere presence
on the court gave more security to the coach, his teammates
and the fans.
Luyk’s special shot was the hook. The shot that was
perfected by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was something few
in Europe could execute as well as Luyk. He had an almost
perfect mid-range shot, a great nose for rebounding and
the instinct to play even better in important games. In
the years when Real Madrid won the EuroLeague, his
contribution was always paramount. He scored 18
points in 1964, 30 and 18 in 1965, 17 in 1967, 24 in 1968,
20 in 1969 and 14 in 1974. Luyk didn’t play the 1978 final,
but during that season he had played several games.
The word “pressure” simply did not exist for him, and
even less the word “fear”. He was a tough player, rocky
and aggressive. He liked contact because his speed and
technique were always an advantage over his rivals,
even if they were taller and/or bigger.
In 1967, Real Madrid signed Wayne Brabender,
who was four years younger than Luyk, and who had
followed in the footsteps of his fellow countryman. Brabender
picked up a Spanish passport and played 190
times for the Spanish national team. He also stayed
in Real Madrid until 1983. Brabender won 13 Spanish
Leagues titles, seven cups, four EuroLeagues and three
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had as a superstar, he had an even greater reason to
stay: Paquita Torres, Miss Spain of 1968. Their marriage
was on the cover of many newspapers and raised a lot
of interest back in the day.
After his great career as a player, Luyk would start another
as a coach. He worked from 1978 to 1981 with the
Real Madrid junior team and during that stint, his team
never lost a game. After that, he was an assistant coach
for Lolo Sainz during six seasons (1983 to 1989) and
for another year with George Karl (1989-90). Luyk left
Real Madrid to be the coach of Atletico Madrid Villalba
in 1990-91 and Murcia in 1991-92. He came back to Real
Madrid as head coach and won two Spanish Leagues,
a national cup and a Saporta Cup. What he had won so
many times as a player, the European crown, he would
lose in 1993 to Limoges in Athens, in a game marked
by low scoring (59-55). Points that, on a good day, Luyk
would have scored by himself as a player.
Clifford Luyk
Intercontinental Cups. The two naturalized Americans
formed a great duo and set an example for everyone.
Luyk’s performance in Europe caught the attention
of several teams in the NBA and the ABA, especially
after a friendly game in 1968. Luyk scored 26 points
against the Cincinnati Royals, but the attempts to take
him back to the States always clashed with Luyk’s desire
to stay in Madrid. Apart from all the privileges he
101 greats of european basketball
L

Kevin
Magee
187

A mythical
figure lacking
only titles
If a player loses four finals in European competitions
– three of them at the top level – maybe
someone could wonder what that player is doing
in a series dedicated, basically, to the greats of the
past, stars who normally lifted trophies in the best
continental competitions. But the case of Kevin
Magee is the exception that confirms the rule.
Also, the title of this entry is not perfectly accurate
because even if Magee didn’t win any European trophy,
he did win a national one with CAI Zaragoza, the Spanish
King’s Cup in 1983. Nonetheless, when surveys are
taken to name the best foreigner ever to play at Maccabi
Tel Aviv, Kevin Magee’s name always deserves strong
consideration. From a personal point of view, I didn’t
see Magee often in person, but a couple games live plus
many on television are enough for me to consider him
one of the greats.
A mistake by Phoenix
After his brilliant years in high school and at Saddleback
Junior College (29.3 points in the 1979-80
season), Kevin Magee – who was born in Gary, Indiana
on January 24, 1959, and died in Amite, Louisiana on
October 23, 2003 – followed his coach Bill Mulligan to
University of California-Irvine. Magee had excellent
scoring averages: 27.5 points per game in 1980-81 and
25.2 in 1981-82. His 46 points against Loyola Marymount
and 25 rebounds against Long Beach State were
school records. After his first year at the university,
Magee was chosen for the USA team at the University
Games in Bucharest. In the final, the USA defeated the
USSR 91-87 thanks to 27 points from Magee, who also
led the team with 7.1 boards per game.
In the 1982 NBA draft, Magee was selected by the
Phoenix Suns with the number 39 pick, but after the
summer camp the club could not offer him a guaranteed
contract until September. He didn’t want to wait
to start playing and he accepted an offer from Italy that
he could not refuse. He would play with Varese, a multiple
European champion which was then looking for
someone to fill in for a living legend, Dino Meneghin,
who had moved to Milano two seasons prior. Magee’s
debut could hardly have been better: 28 points and
17 rebounds against the European champion, Ford
Cantu.
After a great season in Italy, Magee wanted back in
the NBA. But in October of 1983, the Suns made the
same mistake for the second time: they cut Magee and
forced him to go back to Europe. This time he would go
to Spain, where he joined modest CAI Zaragoza, a club
that was growing season after season. For the 1983-
84 season, the city of Zaragoza was awarded with the
organization of the Spanish King’s Cup tourney, which
was to feature a Final Four format for the first time.
However, unlike now, the host team had to earn its way
into the final phase. The key game was against Real Madrid.
Only three days after his arrival to Zaragoza, Magee
helped Zaragoza with 14 points and 14 rebounds to
defeat Real Madrid for the first time, 83-82. In the Final
Four, played on November 30 and December 1 of 1983,
Zaragoza defeated Joventut Badalona 87-83 in the first
game, with 36 points, 17 rebounds and 2 blocks by
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Kevin Magee
M

Vladimir Stankovic
Magee. Against FC Barcelona in the title game, it was
even closer, but Zaragoza won 81-78 with 19 points by
Magee and 18 by Jim Allen, with whom Magee formed
a great duo.
That same season, CAI Zaragoza played the Korac
Cup and reached the semifinals. Magee shined, with 34
and 23 points against Tours, 23 and 37 against Trieste,
26 and 30 against Sibenka. But in the semifinal, despite
Magee’s 28 and 27 points and Zaragoza’s 108-87 victory
at home in the first leg, Crvena Zvezda eliminated
them with a 130-100 triumph in Belgrade, which was
the first time I saw Magee live.
An idol in Tel Aviv
Despite its ambition and growth, it was clear that
CAI Zaragoza would not be able to retain such a big
star. Enter Maccabi Tel Aviv from Israel, which appeared
on the scene with a superior offer. The media at the
time talked about $250,000 for Kevin Magee and Lee
Johnson, a dream duo that had to put Maccabi back to
the top in Europe.
During the next six years, Maccabi won six national
league titles and five Israeli cups. But the most coveted
title, that of the EuroLeague, it never got back. In three
straight finals, Maccabi was always the loser: 1987 in
Lausanne against Tracer Milan (71-69), 1988 in Ghent
against the same opponent (90-84), and 1989 in Munich
against Jugoplastika Split (75-69). I saw Magee
twice in the 1987-88 season, first in Belgrade where
Maccabi fell to Partizan with young Vlade Divac by
85-77, and later in Tel Aviv with a 98-84 Maccabi win,
although both teams had already qualified for the first
Final Four.
Magee was not a tall player – officially he was 2.03
meters – but his rebounding abilities were immense.
He was a strong player, and he liked contact because
his physical potential granted him superiority over the
opponent. But he also had a good mid-range shooting
touch. He normally reached double-doubles, meaning
he was like life insurance for his team. Maybe he
wouldn’t have his best day sometimes, but that didn’t
mean he was having his worst day, because he was
never below a certain standard.
In the EuroLeague of the time, Magee scored 2,081
points for Maccabi, a total that ranks among the club’s
best. Magee was an idol among Maccabi fans and
nobody even blinked when, in a survey long after his
departure from Tel Aviv, he was still chosen by fans as
the best foreigner to have ever played in Maccabi, even
ahead of Earl Williams.
A tragic accident
For the 1990-91 season, Magee was back to Spain
to play with his CAI Zaragoza again. In a new attempt to
win a continental trophy, he led his team to the Saporta
Cup final against PAOK Thessaloniki, played on March
26 of 1991 in Geneva. It was a shameful game because
of the violent behavior of the Greek fans. On the court,
Zaragoza was a better team for 30 minutes, but with
2 minutes to go the score was 72-72. Some mistakes
down the stretch cost Zaragoza the final win.
For Magee, not even the fourth time was the
charm. He finished the season with 406 rebounds,
the best rebounder in the Spanish League, and then
he moved back to Italy to play with Reggio Emilia. In
his two Spanish League stints, he played 57 games,
averaging 24.6 points and 12.1 rebounds, while in
the Italian League he played 65 games and averaged
23.8 points and 14.1 rebounds. His next stop would
be Racing Paris, where he also earned honors as the
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was involved in a car crash against which not even the
big fighter like him had a chance, and he died. For we
who were lucky enough to know him through his great
points and rebounds, there remains the memory of a
great player who maybe lacked titles, but was still one
of the greats.
Kevin Magee
best rebounder in the French League. His last team
would be Maccabi Rishon in Israel in1993-94. Magee
retired at 36 years old and moved back to the United
States where, in 1996, the University of California-Irvine
retired his jersey.
After that, he was dedicated to his business and his
family, as he had three kids. In the summer of 2003, his
family moved from California to Louisiana. There, while
driving back home from work on October 23, Magee
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M

Fernando
Martín
191

A pioneer gone
too soon
Under the name of Fernando Martin,
there are not many numbers in the
NBA data storage. He played 24 games
with the Portland jersey for a total
146 minutes and had 22 points and
28 rebounds. Looking only at those
numbers, it’s difficult to call the man behind them a
“pioneer in the NBA”, but the case of Fernando Martin
is justified when we look at the year we are talking
about: the 1986-87 season.
Martin, who was born March 25, 1962, in Madrid and
died December 3, 1989, was just the second European
player in the NBA. Nowadays, only the veteran connoisseurs
of European basketball and the NBA know that
the honor of being the first belongs to Georgi Glouchkov
of Bulgaria. In the summer of 1985, Glouchkov
signed a guaranteed contract with the Phoenix Suns for
two years, thus making the history books.
Fernando Martin was the next one but had double
bad luck. First, a constant flurry of injuries prevented
him from playing at his best and, second, he suffered
from a total lack of trust for European players on the
part of his coaches. That is something that many
others like Vlade Divac, Alexander Volkov, Sarunas
Marciulionis and Drazen Petrovic suffered later, too,
even though they got more opportunities to show
their skills.
The signing of Martin by Portland changed the way
the NBA was treated in Spain. Until then, newspapers
published very little content about the league, television
didn’t even air games and the best-known NBA
players were nobodies in Spain. With Fernando Martin,
everything changed.
A star in Damascus in 1979
I remember the name of Fernando Martin well because
I heard it for the first time at the U16 European
Championship 1979, which took place in Damascus,
Syria! The Middle East was then part of FIBA Europe.
Luka Stancic, the Yugoslav head coach, led his team
to victory in the final against Italy by the score of
103-100. However, Stancic talked to me about “some
Fernando Martin,” the big man of the Spanish team
which, coached by Aito Garcia Reneses, won the bronze
medal. In the first game, which Yugoslavia won by only
one point, 89-88, Martin scored 23 points and overwhelmed
all the big men of the Yugoslav team. With
a total 123 points (17.6 average), Martin was the best
Spanish scorer and one of the outstanding players in
the tourney that gave European basketball other greats
such as Antonello Riva (Italy), Valeri Tikhonenko (USSR),
Uwe Blab (Germany), Zoran Cutura (Yugoslavia) and
Andres Jimenez (Spain).
One year later, at the U18 European Championship
in Celje, Slovenia, I could see the enormous potential
of Martin with my own eyes. In the first game
against Israel, he scored 37 points, against Belgium
18, against France 11, against Czechoslovakia 34,
against Bulgaria 25, against the USSR 33. He would
put up 30 points against Bulgaria in the game for the
bronze medal that Spain lost 96-90. He was a dominant
center despite being just 2.05 meters tall. His
broad shoulders, long hands and rebounding abilities
made him play bigger than his height. His phys-
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Vladimir Stankovic
ical power went hand in hand with good technique,
a solid mid-range shot and, most of all, his winning
character. He was a natural-born fighter, a man who
never surrendered and never acknowledged a loss
before the final buzzer.
Born and raised in Madrid, Martin started playing in
the Estudiantes basketball school, which has produced
so many other great players. He was one of those kids
with a talent for just about any sport. He excelled at
handball, table tennis and swimming. In 1980, he made
his debut on the Estudiantes first team and starting in
1981 he was a staple in the starting five. It was clear
that Spanish basketball had its new jewel. Many clubs
put their eyes on him. It is normally said that he had a
pre-agreement with Joventut Badalona, but an offer
from Real Madrid together with the fact that he would
be able to stay in Madrid made him sign for the Whites
in the end.
He made his debut with the Spanish national men’s
team, coached by Antonio Diaz Miguel, on May 13,
1981, in Bordeaux against France and scored his first
2 points with the red jersey that he would wear a total
of 86 times. After playing in the World Cup 1982
in Colombia (13.1 points per game), Martin was also
a very important man in the Spain team that won the
silver medal at EuroBasket 1983 in France. I saw him live
there once again, as I did at the Los Angeles Olympics in
1984, where Spain won the silver again and where Martin
averaged 16.6 points. That summer, in the qualifying
tournament for the Olympics, played in France, Martin
led his team with 23.6 points. As always, he played
each and every game with maximum effort, fighting
with much bigger men than him. He was a coach and
a fan favorite. He was an example and a leader on the
court. In the 1985 EuroBasket in Germany, Martin also
had good numbers (16.6) as he did in the 1986 World
Cup in Spain (15.3).
With Drazen, against Drazen
During his first stint with Real Madrid, Fernando
Martin won four Spanish League titles, two Spanish
King’s Cups and one Saporta Cup. The latter came in
1984 in Ostend, Belgium against Dino Meneghin’s Simac
Milano by the score of 82-81, with Martin posting
12 points and 10 rebounds. On April 3, 1985, he played
his only EuroLeague final against Cibona Zagreb, but
Madrid lost 87-78. Drazen Petrovic was the executor in
that game with 36 points, while Martin had 14.
After a year in Portland, Martin went back to Real
Madrid in 1987 and in the Korac Cup final, a two-game
series, Real Madrid got some revenge against Cibona.
In Madrid, the Whites won 102-89 and in Zagreb they
lost 94-93 (47 points by Petrovic), but Martin did not
play the games due to a serious injury that had him
away from the courts for a long time. One of the few
games he played that year was in Belgrade, against
Crvena Zvezda, in February of 1988. Madrid won 89-82
with 11 points from Martin.
In the summer of 1988, Real Madrid signed Drazen
Petrovic and the old rivals became teammates. In
November of that year, Real Madrid won the Spanish
King’s Cup. In the quarterfinals, it defeated Huesca
easily 88-64 with Martin’s 17 points. In the semis,
against Joventut, Real Madrid won by 26 points, 90-74,
as Martin scored 11. In the title game, the victim was FC
Barcelona by the score of 85-81. Martin scored another
11 points and Petrovic led the way with 27.
The highlight of that year was a win in the Saporta
Cup final against Snaidero Caserta in Athens on March
14, 1989. It was the same stage on which Martin lost
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Nobody could imagine that was the last trophy Fernando
Martin would lift.
On December 3, 1989, Fernando Martin left his
house to drive to a home game against CAI Zaragoza
– a game which, by the way, he was not going to play in
due to some back problems he had been dealing with
for some time. On the M30 highway that circles Madrid,
he lost control of his Lancia in the middle of the afternoon
and he died in the accident. Martin was only 27
years old and still had a long career ahead of him. The
game was suspended, and his funeral drew the presence
of many big names in Spanish sports, including
his on-court rivals like Epi and Audie Norris. Real Madrid
retired his jersey number 10 and in 2007 he was inducted
into the FIBA Hall of Fame.
The Martin name was present for a few more years
in Spanish basketball through Antonio, Fernando’s little
brother, who followed his footsteps in Estudiantes, Real
Madrid and the Spanish national team. Also, Jan Martin
played for a few years in Estudiantes, Real Madrid and
Fuenlabrada. Jan, the son of Fernando and Petra Sonneborn,
an Israeli model, also played in several clubs in
his mother’s country.
So, the Martin saga lives on – if not on the courts,
then surely in the memories of all of us who were lucky
enough to enjoy the game of Fernando Martin.
Fernando Martín
the European crown to Petrovic in 1985. It was an unforgettable
game that Madrid won 117-113, with overtime
included after the fourth quarter ended 102-102. In an
offensive festival, Petrovic shined with 62 points (8 of
16 threes in 45 minutes) while on the other side, Oscar
Schmidt had 44 points in 44 minutes (6 of 11 threes).
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Bob
McAdoo
195

NBA and
EuroLeague champ
There are players who have won the NCAA
and the EuroLeague, such as Jiri Zidek Jr.,
color commentator for Euroleague TV.
There have also been players who first
won the EuroLeague title and then that of
the NBA, like Zan Tabak, Toni Kukoc and
Manu Ginobili. But I really can’t recall anyone like Bob
McAdoo, who first won the NBA and later the EuroLeague!
The brilliant career of McAdoo, who was born in
Greensboro, North Carolina on September 25, 1951,
started at Vincennes Junior College of Indiana, where
he played from 1969 to 1971. It was then that he moved
on to the University of North Carolina and during the
1971-72 season took his team to third place at the
NCAA Final Four. His great season, with averages of
19.5 points and 10.5 rebounds, made McAdoo one of
the most desired players around. In the NBA draft held
on April 10, 1972, the Buffalo Braves (today’s LA Clippers)
chose McAdoo as the second overall pick.
NBA top scorer three-peat
McAdoo won the Rookie of the Year award for
the 1972-73 NBA season with 18.0 points and 9.1 rebounds
per game. In his sophomore season as a pro,
he averaged a double-double, with a league-leading
30.6 points and 15.1 rebounds. Since then, no player
has averaged 30 and 15 in a single season. His field
goal accuracy, 54.7%, was also great. Obviously, he
was selected to the all-star game, something he would
repeat four more times. After the 1974-75 season,
McAdoo was named MVP and finished as the league’s
top scorer with an average of 34.5 points, in addition
to 14.1 rebounds and 2.1 blocks per game. He also
shot 51.2 percent from the field and 80.5 percent on
free throws. That year he was the top vote-getter for
the all-star game with 98,325 votes. In the 1975-76
season, still in Buffalo, his average was 31.1 points,
leading the league in scoring for a third consecutive
season.
After the Braves, McAdoo joined the New York
Knicks from 1976 to 1979 and later played for the Boston
Celtics (1979), Detroit Pistons (1979-1981), New
Jersey Nets (1981), Los Angeles Lakers (1981-1985)
and Philadelphia 76ers (1986). With the Lakers, he was
part of the great team formed by Magic Johnson, Kareem
Abdul-Jabbar and James Worthy. Together, they
won NBA championships in 1982 and 1985. McAdoo’s
brilliant career in the NBA came to an end with 18,887
points (22.1 ppg.), 8,048 rebounds (8.4 rpg.) and 1,147
blocks (1.5 bpg.).
When, in the summer of 1986, McAdoo signed for
a Tracer Milano, which was then coached by Dan Peterson,
he was almost 35 years old and many doubted
his ability to play at a high level. The start of the European
season confirmed the doubts. On October 30,
1986, Tracer lost in Thessaloniki to Aris by 31 points,
98-67. Nikos Galis destroyed the team with 44 points.
Aris already led by 60-34 at the halftime break. In the
rematch, played on November 6 in Milan, one of the
biggest comebacks ever in European competitions
took place. Tracer won 83-49 to take the two-game,
home-and-away series. After a quiet first half, McAdoo
led his team with 21 points and 9 rebounds. When it
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Vladimir Stankovic
finished, McAdoo told his coach that it had been the
most intense game of his career.
Second youth in Italy
After that miracle, Tracer Milano marched towards
the EuroLeague final ... and won it! The rival in the final –
played on April 2, 1987, in Lausanne, Switzerland – was
Maccabi Tel Aviv. Tracer won 71-69 and McAdoo was
the second-best scorer on his team (21 points), after
Roberto Premier (23), and the best rebounder with 9
boards. The team from Milan was European champion
again after 21 years.
The following year, with Franco Casalini as head
coach, Tracer repeated the victory in the first Final Four
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of the modern era. (Two experimental Final Fours had
taken place back in 1966 – won by Milano – and in 1967
– won by Real Madrid). After a round-robin phase with
eight teams, Partizan – with Vlade Divac, Sasha Djordjevic,
Zarko Paspalj and Zeljko Obradovic – reached the
Final Four in Ghent as leaders with 10 wins and 4 losses.
Galis and Panagiotis Giannakis took Aris to 9-5 to
finish second in a tiebreaker over Tracer Milano – with
Mike D’Antoni, Dino Meneghin, Rickey Brown, Premier
and McAdoo. Maccabi, led by Miki Berkowitz, Doron
Jamchy, Kevin Magee and Ken Barlow, finished fourth
with an 8-6 record. In the semifinals, Maccabi defeated
Partizan 97-82 and Tracer defeated Aris by the same
score. In the big final, a brilliant McAdoo (25 points, 12
rebounds) led Tracer to another win over Maccabi.
McAdoo played in Milan until 1990. The following
two years, he played in Forli with averages of 31.7 points
and 9.6 rebounds. He put an end to his career with
Teamsystem Fabriano in 1992-93 at 42 years old. Over
seven seasons in Italy, he played 201 games, scored
5,427 points (27.3 ppg.) and averaged 9.0 boards per
game. He won the Italian League twice, the Italian Cup
once and one Intercontinental Cup – all with Milano.
Bob McAdoo was not very tall. At 2.06 meters, he
was more of a power forward than a center, and sometimes
he played small forward because he had good
shooting skills, including from three-point range. He
was also a great rebounder, showing skills that nobody
had seen until then.
Many believe that the NBA was not fair when, for the
league’s 50th anniversary, McAdoo was left out of its
list of the 50 greatest players. In 2000, he was inducted
into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in
Springfield. And in 2008, when celebrating the 50th
anniversary of European competitions, Euroleague
Basketball chose him among the 35 players to have
contributed most to the game on the Old Continent. On
that occasion, McAdoo said:
“Being here is a fantastic honor. When I heard about
it, I jumped off my chair because I remember my time in
Italy as fantastic. As a matter of fact, I loved my Italian
stay probably better than my NBA stay for 14 years.
It is a great honor for me and I am proud to be here. I
remember the two European Cup championship games
against Maccabi Tel Aviv, they were very tough games.
The evolution of European basketball has been tremendous
since I last played here. For instance, when you
look at the last Olympics, the Italian national team got
the silver medal. A lot of European players make major
contributions in the NBA these days, too.”
McAdoo later won three more NBA titles – in 2006,
2012 and 2013 – as an assistant coach with the Miami
Heat, a position he held for 18 years.
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Sarunas
Marciulionis
199

The Lithuanian
machine
It was August 28, 1982, the day of the final of the
junior European Championship, played in Bulgaria.
In the big game, the finalists were the USSR
and Yugoslavia. On one side, Jose Biriukov, Igors
Miglinieks, Valeri Tikhonenko and Sarunas Marciulionis;
on the other, Drazen Petrovic, Velimir
Perasovic, Danko Cvjeticanin, Stojko Vrankovic. The
Soviets won 97-87 after a great first half (55-35).
One year later, in Palma de Mallorca in the final of
the second junior World Cup, the USSR lost to the
United States 82-78 even though it had a stronger
team with Arvydas Sabonis (29 points), Alexander
Volkov, Tiit Sokk, plus Tikhonenko, Marciulionis and
Miglinieks. The Americans also had a solid team with
Kenny Walker (22 points) and Scott Skiles (15).
Those were the first two finals, the first two medals,
in the successful career of Sarunas Marciulionis, who
was born in Kaunas, Lithuania on June 13, 1964. He remains
one of the greatest Lithuanian players ever and
one of the European pioneers in the NBA. While it’s true
that in Bulgaria, Marciulionis didn’t have a starring role,
by 1983 his influence on the Soviet team was starting
to get noticed.
From Kaunas to Vilnius
As a kid, until he was 10, Marciulionis played tennis
in his native Kaunas. But after growing 11 centimeters
in one year, he was kicked out of the sport for being
“too big.” The next stop was the basketball court.
Left-handed, strong and with evident talent, he progressed
quickly, but it wasn’t easy to earn a spot in
Zalgiris, the cradle of so many Lithuanian talents.
After talking to his parents, he decided to move
to Vilnius to join the rival Statyba – today known as
Lietuvos Rytas – where he played from 1981 to 1987.
In September of 1987, he finally got to wear the jersey
of Zalgiris. In that year’s Intercontinental Cup, played
in Milan, Marciulionis was invited to reinforce the team
due to the fact that Sabonis was injured. It didn’t help
much, however, because Zalgiris finished last, eighth,
while the Tracer Milan team with Mike D’Antoni and
Bob McAdoo defeated the FC Barcelona by the score
of 100-84.
In June of 1987, Marciulionis experienced both disappointment
and great joy in succession. In the title
game of EuroBasket in Athens, Greece defeated the
USSR overtime 103-101 thanks to 40 points by Nikos
Galis. Marciulionis scored 16 points, Valdis Valters 23
and Tikhonenko 17, but it was not enough to stop one
of the biggest surprises ever in EuroBasket. Only eight
days later, in the NBA draft, Marciulionis was chosen by
the Golden State Warriors with pick number 127 in the
seventh round.
Gold in Seoul and NBA debut
Before leaving for the NBA as one of the European
pioneers, Marciulionis put the icing on the cake of
his European career with the gold medal at the Seoul
Olympics in 1988. The foundation of that great USSR
team was formed by the big four Lithuanians – Marciulionis,
Sabonis, Rimas Kurtinaitis and Valdemaras
Chomicius – in addition to Volkov, Tikhonenko, Sokk,
Miglinieks, Alexander Belostenny and Sergei Tarakanov.
After losing to Yugoslavia in the first stage, 92-79,
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Sarunas Marciulionis
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Vladimir Stankovic
the teams met again in the final. The USSR was not
the favorite but won by a clear 76-63 score with 21
points by Marciulionis in 36 minutes. He made 7 of 11
two-point shots, 3 of 6 three-pointers and 4 of 4 free
throws to go with 3 rebounds and 6 assists. Sabonis
added 20 points, but Marciulionis was the soul of that
team.
On November 3, 1989, Marciulionis made his NBA
debut. And he did so in style despite his team’s 136-
106 loss to Phoenix. The starting five for Golden State
was Chris Mullin (24 points), Mitch Richmond (8), Tim
Hardaway (0), Rod Higgins (15) and Uwe Blab (2) from
Germany, while off the bench they had Marciulionis (19
points in 24 minutes), Terry Teagle and Manute Bol.
Thus, started the NBA career of one of the best
Europeans to ever play in the league. Although interrupted
by several serious injuries, Marciulionis played
seven seasons with the Warriors, Seattle SuperSonics,
Sacramento Kings and Denver Nuggets for a total of
363 games. He scored 4,631 points for an average of
12.8. His career high was 35 points against the New
Jersey Nets in 1992.
At 1.96 meters, Marciulionis was a shooting guard
but he could play point easily thanks to his solid technique.
His physical power also allowed him to grab
a lot of rebounds. In the NBA, he pulled 9 rebounds
several times while his assists record was 10. If I had
to choose one element of his game to highlight, it
would be his precise shooting. His fighting character
was another thing that helped him become a great
player.
At the 1989 EuroBasket in Zagreb, Marciulionis, Sabonis,
Chomicius and Kurtinaitis played for the USSR for
the last time, winning the bronze medal. Marciulionis,
coming off his first NBA season, was that team’s best
scorer, with an average of 18 points. Their dream of
playing for a Lithuanian national team came true three
years later, at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona. Lithuania
had previously been European champion in 1937 and
1939, prior to losing its independence. Now, after going
through the Olympics qualifying round in Zaragoza,
the Lithuanians won the bronze medal for their again
independent country. Marciulionis and Sabonis – who
had been born the same year in Kaunas – led the way to
that historic medal. Marciulionis averaged 23.4 points
and Sabonis 23.9.
In a surprise, however, Lithuania failed to qualify for
the 1993 EuroBasket in Germany. Without Sabonis, who
was injured, and with Marciulionis not at 100 percent,
the team couldn’t get through the Wroclaw preliminary
phase. Much later, I interviewed Marciulionis and he told
me that Wroclaw was the worst moment of his career.
He shouldn’t have traveled in the first place because he
was injured. Once there, although he had committed to
helping in any way he could, he was physically unable
to do much.
The great final in 1995
I have been following basketball for more than 50
years, watching an average of three or four games per
week. If you were to ask what my favorite game was in
all that time, I would have a hard time finding an answer.
I won’t even bother trying. But I am sure that among the
best five I ever saw was the 1995 EuroBasket final in
Athens between Yugoslavia and Lithuania. Yugoslavia
won 96-90 in an offensive festival and a great show put
on by stars on both sides.
It was the game of a lifetime for Sasha Djordjevic
of Yugoslavia, who finished with 41 points on 9-for-12
three-point shooting. But on the other side, there was
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Lithuania found some consolation with a new bronze
medal after beating Australia 80-74 behind 30 points
from Sabonis, 21 from Karnisovas and 16 from Marciulionis.
The following year, after a season in Denver, Marciulionis
retired. In 2014, Marciulionis was honored by
being inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball
Hall of Fame, and one year later, he was given the same
distinction by the FIBA Hall of Fame.
Sarunas Marciulionis, the Lithuanian machine.
Sarunas Marciulionis
Marciulionis, with 32 points on 8 of 9 two-pointers and
3 of 5 threes. That was also the famous game in which
Predrag Danilovic dunked over Sabonis; the game in
which Sabonis scored 20 points and pulled 8 rebounds,
one less than Vlade Divac; and the game in which a
young Dejan Bodiroga confirmed his great talent with
12 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists, as did Arturas Karnisovas,
with 19 points for Lithuania. Yes, it was a great
final, with the added spice of controversial refereeing
decisions.
The following year, at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta,
Yugoslavia won their battle in the semis, 66-58, but
101 greats of european basketball
M

Pierluigi
Marzorati
203

A Cantu legend
When Bennet Cantu rejoined the
EuroLeague for a couple of seasons
earlier this decade and I
saw again the great atmosphere
in the arena there, it was time
to remember the greatest star
ever for that club, Pierluigi Marzorati.
A historic club from a small town near Milan, Cantu
has 12 international trophies – two EuroLeagues Cups,
four Saporta Cups, four Korac Cups and two Intercontinental
Cups – not to mention three Italian Leagues
and four Italian Cups. If someone only looks at the list
of the winners of the old European competitions, he
could become confused by the variety of names beside
Cantu: Forst, Squib, Ford, Gabetti, Clear. But all of them
refer to the same club, Pallacanestro Cantu. The glory
of this humble club, founded in 1936, started with its
first Italian League trophy in 1968. Borislav Stankovic,
the future Secretary General of FIBA, was on the bench
and Carlo Recalcati was the best player. The following
season, at only 17 years old, a youngster named Pierluigi
Marzorati arrived to the team. He was considered a
great prospect for Italian basketball, and with his arrival,
a golden era of Cantu basketball was ready to begin.
Twelve titles
Behind a skinny body, 1.87 meters tall, one could
find in Pierluigi Marzorati, who was born on September
12, 1952, a scorer with great technique and a passer
with heavenly court vision. Marzorati was one of those
point guards who could score 25 points if necessary or
just a couple if, on those nights, his teammates needed
only to follow his perfect floor generalship and assists.
Upon arrival in Cantu, Marzorati formed a lethal guard
duo with Recalcati. Over the next years, many good
foreigners arrived to help build the great Cantu, but
that Marzorati-Recalcati tandem, backed by several
more good Italian players, was the key to success. The
foreigners came and went, but Marzorati and his Italian
teammates were always there.
The first big success for the humble club was the
1973 Korac Cup. Under the name Forst Pallacanestro,
the team from Cantu beat Maes Pils of Belgium in two
games, with Recalcati (30 points) and Bill Drozdiak (24)
as the stars, but Marzorati was already an important
player. The following season, Forst defended the title
by beating Partizan Belgrade in the final. In Cantu, they
won 99-86 and in Belgrade, Cantu prevailed again 75-
68. That was the first time I saw Marzorati live. In 1975,
Forst took its third straight Korac Cup, this time against
FC Barcelona, winning 71-69 in Barcelona, with 16
points from Marzorati, and then by 110-85 at home as
the great guard scored 27 points. That same year, at the
EuroBasket played in Yugoslavia, I saw Marzorati with
the Italian national team and I remember a close, 69-
65 defeat to the USSR despite his 14-point effort. I saw
him again in March 1977 on neutral ground in Palma de
Mallorca, Spain, when Forst won its first Saporta Cup,
beating Radnicki Belgrade 87-86 despite a great game
by Srecko Jaric, the father of Marko Jaric, who scored
30 points. Radnicki’s second-best scorer in that game
was the late Milun Marovic (29 points), an engineer like
Marzorati, who died in 2009 in a car accident in Libya.
We met again at the 1977 EuroBasket in Liege,
Belgium, where Italy reached the semis; at the 1980
Olympics in Moscow (the final was an 86-77 Yugoslavia
101 greats of european basketball
Pierluigi Marzorati
M

Vladimir Stankovic
win over Italy); and at the 1981 EuroBasket in Nantes
(Italy’s first win against Spain by the score of 105-96
featured 12 points from Marzorati). Between 1977
and 1981, Cantu – under the names Forst, Gabetti and
Squib – played five Saporta Cup finals and won four of
them, losing only to its archrival, Varese, by 90-88 after
overtime. In all of those finals, Marzorati had a protagonist’s
role, together with Recalcati, Antonello Riva,
Fabrizio Della Fiori, Renzo Bariviera, John Newman,
Tom Boswell and Bruce Flowers. In the 1981 final, Cantu
defeated the Barcelona team of Juan Antonio San Epifanio,
Joan Creus, Nacho Solozabal, Chicho Sibilio, Jeff
Ruland and Mike Phillips.
But the best years for Cantu were yet to come. After
a first failed attempt in 1975-76, when the team reached
the semifinals but lost to its nemesis Varese, and after
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having just lifted its third Italian League trophy, Cantu
managed to win the EuroLeague in 1982 by beating
Maccabi Tel Aviv in the final 86-80 on March 25 of that
year. Charles Kupec and Bruce Flowers were the best
scorers, with 23 and 21 points, respectively, but the
man of the game was Marzorati, who scored 18 points
and won his particular duel with Maccabi playmaker
Motti Aroesti.
In the 1982-83 season, Ford Cantu played the EuroLeague
as the defending champion. Milano had won
the Italian League that year, so two Italian teams were
in the competition and they happened to meet in the title
game. After a 40-minute drama, Cantu escaped with
a 69-68 victory after a missed shot by Franco Boselli
with 3 seconds to go and a legendary block by Jim
Brewer on Vittorio Gallinari after his own offensive rebound.
Cantu was the back-to-back continental champion.
Cantu’s list of trophies was completed with two
Intercontinental Cups, in1975 and 1982. The pictures
of the great captain Marzorati with the trophy have a
privileged spot in the club offices nowadays.
Comeback at 54 years old
Pierluigi Marzorati played with Pallacanestro Cantu
from 1969 to 1991. He won 12 trophies, played 692
games and scored 8,659 points. He also scored 2,209
points in 278 Italian national team games. Looking at
the calendar, he played for the club of his life during
four different decades. In October of 2006, for the 70th
anniversary of the club, Marzorati came back to play
against Benetton Treviso at the age of 54. He spent less
than 2 minutes on the court, but Cantu won 70-69 and
its gesture to the great captain remains as a curiosity
for the history books.
After his retirement, Cantu had suffered a lot and
even descended into second division in 1994. The recovery
was slow, but eventually, Bennet Cantu managed
to reach two finals in Italy and earned the right to return
to the EuroLeague. Marzorati blamed the problems of
Cantu on the Bosman ruling and the excessive number
of foreign players, which closed the door for many
national talents. When I spoke to him not long ago, he
had no doubt that the best players of his era could have
played in the NBA with no problems. He didn’t want to
give me any names, but he highlighted his great rivals
Dragan Kicanovic and Juan Antonio Corbalan. While he
was still playing, Marzorati finished his degree in engineering.
Upon retirement, he formed his own company.
He did not have any role in the club, but he never misses
a Cantu game, if he can help it.
Perluigi Marzorati, a Cantu legend.
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Dino
Meneghin
207

The eternal
champion
In a hypothetical quiz of European basketball history
knowledge, these could be 10 questions:
1. What player spent 28 years in a very competitive
league?
2. What player won 10 European trophies?
3. What player reached 10 straight EuroLeague finals
and won five of them?
4. What player won four Intercontinental Cups?
5. What player played against his son in a league game?
6. What player and his 16-year younger son played together
and became European champions with their
national team?
7. What player and his son were national club champions
with the same club?
8. What player was the first European to be chosen in
the NBA draft?
9. What player was a member of the national team, a
national team manager and president of his country’s
federation?
10. What Italian player is featured both in the Springfield
and FIBA Halls of Fame?
I could add some more to the list, but the answer
would always be Dino Meneghin. His brilliant career
cannot be compared to anyone or anything. He is an
unprecedented example in the history of our sport and
probably of any sport. Nobody, be it as a player or as a
director, has ever lasted so long and given so much to
basketball as Dino “Nacionale”.
Debut at 16 years old
The sporting career of a young, tall and strong Dino
Meneghin started in the late 1950s, when the young
man was with his older brother Ren-zo on the athletics
track at Varese stadium. Renzo was a middle-distance
runner while Dino, because of his physical build, was
to choose between the shot put and discus. But destiny,
as so many other times, changed a life forever. In
1963, there was a basketball tournament among a few
schools in Varese. The physical education teacher at Dino’s
school was Nicola Messina, who also happened to
be collaborating with Ignis Varese, the local basketball
club. As he was looking for players for the team to play
in the tournament, Messina took a long look at Dino, a
tall kid with broad shoulders.
“Have you ever played basketball before?” was the
question from Messina to Dino. “No, never” was the
answer. “Run back and forth and do some moves,” the
coach’s said next. A couple of sprints were enough for
Messina to recognize a talent. His next words were:
“Come to practice tomorrow with a pair of basketball
shoes.”
In his autobiography, “Passi da Gigante”, Meneghin
joyfully recalls how he went to his mother to ask for
“scarpe da basket” (basketball shoes) and the answer
he got from his mom was: “Dino, what is basketball?”
Only three years later, on November 20, 1966, in a
game between Ignis Varese and Cassera Bologna that
his team won 76-54, Dino Meneghin’s name appeared
for the first time on a box score. He was 16 years and 11
months old. Not even Dino himself could have imagined
then that a brilliant career that would last 28 years and
earn him 36 trophies was just beginning.
Dino Meneghin is not, by any means, the biggest
natural talent that I have ever seen. But nobody ever
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Dino Meneghin
M

Vladimir Stankovic
earned so much respect due to his professionalism,
sacrifice, desire to win, character, charisma, leadership
or indisputable authority. At “only” 2.04 meters, he
was not a pure center, not even during his time, but he
always played close to the boards and battled against
men bigger than him. His body was like the statue of a
Greek god: broad shoulders, long hands and a natural
strength that allowed him to fight and prevail over bigger
rivals.
The long list of records
If I remember correctly, I saw Meneghin for the first
time in the 1969 EuroBasket, played in Caserta and
Naples. He was younger than team-mates Aldo Ossola,
Carlo Recalcati, Enzo Bariviera, Massimo Masini, Marino
Zanatta, Giuseppe Brumatti and Ivan Bisson. But the
first game I vividly remember with him was between
Italy and Yugoslavia at the World Cup 1970 in Ljubljana.
It was the first game, very tense, and only decided on
the final plays thanks to the genius Kresimir Cosic, who
authored 27 points and 22 rebounds. Meneghin finished
with 10 points in his first duel with Cosic, who was
two years older. Their rivalry would last for another 13
years, until the final of the 1983 EuroBasket in Nantes,
France, with a win for Italy, 91-76. But above everything,
there was always the maximum respect between the
two big men, the best of their era. It’s not by chance
that Meneghin remembers with respect and love his
biggest rival, Kresimir Cosic.
In the same year of 1970, Dino Meneghin also became
the first Europe-an player to be selected in the
NBA draft. Yes, he was chosen in the 11th and final
round by the Atlanta Hawks, but he never played in the
NBA because, at the time, that meant giving up playing
for the national team. Dino’s world was Europe and
for many years he played in his first club, Ignis Varese.
From his debut in 1966 until 1980, he played there
and won seven Italian Leagues, four Italian Cups and
five EuroLeagues while reaching an unprecedented 10
consecutive finals in the top European competition.
There were also three Intercontinental Cup and a pair of
Saporta Cup titles, too. Truth be told, Meneghin did not
play the 1975 final against Real Madrid, a 79-66 win for
Varese, because he broke his hand one week before the
big game, but the win was also his. In the nine EuroLeague
finals he played with Varese, he scored more than
20 points six times.
When Dino decided to sign for Olimpia Milano in the
1980-81 season, he was already a veteran. However, in
the following nine years he would extend his résumé by
winning five more Italian Leagues, two Italian Cups, two
EuroLeagues, another Intercontinental Cup, and his
first Korac Cup. In 1990, at age 40, he accepted the call
from Bogdan Tanjevic, then the coach of Stefanel Trieste,
who was starting to build a great team by signing
future stars like Gregor Fucka, Claudio Pilutti and Alessandro
de Pol. All that was missing was an expert hand,
and Dino Meneghin, despite his age, was the perfect
solution. The following year Tanjevic would also have
Dejan Bodiroga on the team, and a great team finally
jelled to win the double crown in Italy – the league and
the cup – in 1995-96. Dino did not play on that team,
having retired at the end of the 1994-95 season, but
the triumph had a lot to do with him, too.
Behind him were 28 Italian League seasons spanning
836 games, 8,560 points (10.3 per game) and
5,588 rebounds (6.7 per game). For the Italian national
team, he played 271 and scored 2,947 points. Only the
great shooter Antonello Riva scored more. I was lucky to
see Meneghin’s biggest successes with Italy: a bronze
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medal in the 1975 EuroBasket in Belgrade; a silver
medal at the 1980 Moscow Olympics; and, most of all,
the gold medal at the 1983 EuroBasket in Nantes. He
was part of a great Italian team that year with Pierluigi
Marzorati, Marco Bonamico, Ario Costa, Renato Villalta,
Antonello Riva, Romeo Sacchetti, Roberto Brunamonti,
Alberto Tonut and Renzo Vecchiato. Meneghin finished
in the tourney with 11.3 points per game, but he was a
player whose real importance could never be revealed
by stats alone. He was a leader and an authority for his
teammates, rivals, fans and even the referees.
The most emotional moment of his career was probably
on November 15, 1990, when, playing for Trieste,
he had to face his former Varese team, where Andrea
Meneghin, a 16-year old kid, was playing. It was a fatherand-son
duel. The father won 93-89 as Dino scored 6
points and pulled down 4 boards while Andrea didn’t
score in 7 minutes on the court. Andrea made his debut
in the first team at the same age as his father did and
scored 15 points when Varese won the Italian League
title on May 6, 1999, with a 77-71 victory against Benetton
Treviso. That same year, Italy won its second gold
medal in a EuroBasket in France, with Andrea Meneghin
playing a key role, averaging 11.2 points in more than
30 minutes per game. Dino was on the bench as the
team manager and the coach was Tanjevic, an important
man for the two Meneghins.
In 2003, Dino Meneghin entered the Naismith Memorial
Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield and thus
became the second Italian to achieve that honor, after
Cesare Rubini. In 2010 Meneghin was inducted into the
FIBA Hall of Fame. He has also served as president of
the Italian Basketball Federation in an effort to take Italy
back to the level it had been at when he was playing,
when he was as great as a basketball Dino-saur!
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Dino Meneghin
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Bob
Morse
211

The legend
of Varese
In modern European basketball, there are few cases
of foreign players who stay with the same team
for more than two or three seasons. However, 30
or 40 years ago, it wasn’t that unusual to see players
wearing the same jersey for five or even more
years. One of the cases that stood out most was
that of Robert “Bob” Morse, the great American scorer
who rejected an NBA career – he was drafted by the
Buffalo Braves – to chase glory in Europe. Morse was
born on January 4, 1951, near Philadelphia and, after
standing out in high school, the next logical step for
him was entering the University of Pennsylvania.
With a height of 2.03 meters, Morse was a power
forward with the shooting touch of a small forward
and the rebounding skills of a classic center. He was a
natural scorer, with a steady hand from all distances.
His last three years in college with the Penn Quakers,
from 1969 to 1972, are still considered the best in the
long history of the school, which dates back to its first
game against Yale on March 20, 1897. It is a fact that
the only time that Penn reached the NCAA Final Four
was in 1979 in Salt Lake City, where they were stopped
by the Michigan State squad led by the legendary Magic
Johnson. But the longest period of steady quality coincided
with the Morse’s time on the team. There were
also good players like Dave Wohl, Steve Bilsky and
Corky Calhoun, but the leader was Bob Morse. He finished
his college days with 1,381 points after being the
team’s top scorer for three seasons. The team’s record
in those years was 25-2 (1969-70), 28-1 (1970-71) and
25-3 (1971-72).
While everyone expected a good NBA career out
of Morse, he surprised many with the decision to play
in Europe. He was going to Varese, a place most of his
teammates would have a hard time locating on a map
of Italy. But this small town had a great basketball team,
which was already a double European champ (1970,
1972) and had a great coach, Aleksandar Nikolic, who
insisted on his signing. As a result, Morse became the
key man on the team in his new European adventure.
Aca Nikolic’s influence
On the occasion of the celebration of 50 Years of European
Competitions at the 2008 EuroLeague Final Four
in Madrid, Morse, who was elected by a board of experts
among the 35 best players during that period, had this
to say about coach Nikolic in a EuroLeague.net interview:
“I got to know the city of Varese, the team members
and our coach, Aleksandar Nikolic, especially. He was
impressed enough to sign me to a two-year contract.
My real education came when I first arrived for training
camp. We didn’t go to Varese, but instead to a bunch
of exhibition tournament games, which were mostly
outdoors at the time, 10 or 11 on the road at different
resorts around Italy. I was impressed by Nikolic’s
coaching. He was really strong on physical conditioning
and had a special coach for that, which at the time was
unusual. I think that was the key for me that first season,
in which we won the EuroLeague, the International
Cup in Brazil, as well as the Italian League and Italian
Cup, and I won the Italian League scoring title.”
Morse continued: Nikolic was also big on shooting,
which was my forte already. But he did some things that
I had never experienced in the U.S. He was big on funda-
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Vladimir Stankovic
mentals, both individual defense and team defense, help
and recover. He had us get up on Sunday morning before
games for exhaustive team meetings, more than an hour,
with scouting reports for each opposing player, telling us
their tendencies, what to expect, their weak points and
strong points, how to shut them down. He was an amazing
tactician, too, and just really understood the game of
basketball. He was very adamant that we had to play the
way he wanted. If we ran a play, we had to run it the way
it was drawn. He wasn’t big on individual improvising. He
was certainly a great coach who deserves his place in the
Hall of Fame. I had good coaches in college, one of which
was Chuck Daly, a great people manager and motivator.
But in terms of tactics and the technical side of the game,
I don’t think anyone surpassed Nikolic, in my opinion.”
The start was not easy at all. Morse arrived in a city that
already had a foreign idol, Manuel Raga, the “Flying Mexican”.
The two could play together in the EuroLeague, but
not in the Italian League, which only allowed one foreigner.
So Nikolic chose Morse over Raga. In the first game, according
to Morse himself, he felt pressure and missed the
first 6 shots he attempted. The fans in the stands started
chanting Raga’s name. Things changed when he made
the next 10 shots he took. A new star was born.
Real Madrid, the eternal rival
His first season featured a great finale. First, Varese’s
third European crown arrived after a victory over
CSKA Moscow in the final, played on March 22 in Liege,
Belgium. Raga scored 25 points, Morse 16 and the team
held on to win 71-66 despite 34 points from the great
Sergei Belov. After that, Varese won the Italian Cup and
Italian League titles, too. It would become not only a
triple-crown season, but the year of four titles because
Varese also won the Intercontinental Cup in Brazil by
defeating the local team of Sirio.
While CSKA Moscow was Varese’s main opponent
in the early 1970s, starting in 1974 the number one
enemy for the Italian team would be Real Madrid. In
the 1974 European final, played on April 3 in Nantes,
France, Madrid won 84-82. Wayne Brabender led the
Whites with 22 points in a good team effort, while on
the Varese side Dino Meneghin had 25 points, Morse
24 and Raga 17. The following year, Madrid and Varese
met again for the title in Antwerp, Belgium, on April 10.
Real Madrid entered the game as the favorite, especially
because of the absence of Meneghin with a hand
injury. However, Varese won 79-66 with a huge effort
by Morse, who played 40 minutes, scored 29 points
on 12 of 19 two-point shooting and 5 of 6 free throws,
and pulled 14 rebounds. What’s more, on defense he
played as a center!
On April 1, 1976, in Geneva, Switzerland, Varese and
Madrid played their third straight European final and
the Italians won again, 81-74, behind 28 points from
Morse (13 of 19 two-point shooting in 40 minutes) and
23 by Meneghin. Varese was also in the 1977 final, but
this time the rival was Maccabi Tel Aviv. In a final full
of drama, which I witnessed live at Pionir Arena in Belgrade,
Maccabi won its first European crown 78-77. The
duo of Morse (20 points) and Meneghin (21) didn’t let
anyone down, but the Israeli team had an unstoppable
Jim Boatwright (26) and a star in the making, Miki Berkowitz
(21). Varese and Real Madrid squared off once
more in the 1978 final, on April 6 at the Olympiahalle in
Munich. Madrid won 75-67 thanks to the great duo of
Walter Szczerbiak (26) and Brabender (16), while Morse
and Meneghin had 12 and 23 points, respectively.
On April 5, 1979, Varese set a record that will be diffi-
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cult to top by playing in its 10th straight European final.
The great novelty this time was the rival. It was not the
usual Real Madrid, CSKA Moscow or even Maccabi Tel
Aviv, but rather a young and ambitious Bosna Sarajevo.
Led by the great Mirza Delibasic on the court and young
coach Bogdan Tanjevic on the bench, the team had gone
from the Yugoslav second division to the continental final
in just seven years. Bosna took the title 96-93 in an offensive
festival. Zarko Varajic scored 45 points – an individual
final-game record still standing to this day – while Delibasic
had 30 and Ratko Radovanovic scored 18. A guard on
that team who didn’t play much due to injury was a young
Svetislav Pesic. Morse had his usual numbers, with 28
points, and Charlie Yelverton had 27, but the 75 points
scored by the duo of Delibasic and Varajic was too much.
Eleven years later, I met Morse at the 1990 World
Cup in Buenos Aires, where he was working with an organization
for players shorter than 2.00 meters. During
our talk in Luna Park, Varajic, who was then a member
of the Yugoslav national team, walked by at a distance. I
asked Morse whether he knew who that “tall man” was.
He was not sure. I told him: “That is Zarko Varajic, the
guy who scored 43 points against you in the final.”
“No, he scored 45,” Morse corrected me, proving
that he had not forgotten that day.
Morse’s stint in Varese ended like it had started,
with a triumph. In the 1980 Saporta Cup final in Milan,
an Italian duel between Varese and Cantu – two teams
with a collection of European and national trophies over
the previous decade – took place. Varese won 90-88 in
overtime. Bruce Seals scored 26 points and Morse 22.
From Italy to France and back
During nine seasons in Varese, Morse won four
Italian Leagues titles (1973, 1974, 1977 and 1978), one
Italian Cup (1973), three EuroLeague titles (1973, 1975
and 1976), an Intercontinental Cup (1973) and a Saporta
Cup (1980). He was the best scorer in Italy for six years
with a total average of 26.5 points over 259 games. His
personal record of 62 points took place in a 108-86 win
over Napoli. With 9,785 points, he ranks fourth in Italian
League history, though his 302 games played are
far fewer than the players above him – Antonello Riva,
Oscar Schmidt and Carlton Myers.
For the 1980-81 season, Morse decided to not only
switch teams, but also switch countries. He joined
Olympic Antibes of France. Curiously, in a league theoretically
inferior to the Italian one, Morse never won the
award as the top scorer despite similar numbers from
his Italian days. With 23.0 points in the first year, he
was the seventh-best scorer. The following year he improved
to 24.7 and was fourth. In his last season there,
1983-84, he averaged 26.9 points but was third as Ed
Murphy (32.3 ppg.) of Limoges won the scoring title.
After that season, Morse decided to travel back to
Italy and signed for Pallacanestro Reggiana. He was just
in time to score the first three-pointer ever in the Italian
League following the regulation change established by
FIBA that season. At the end of that season, he became
the first three-point shooting leader ever in Italy with impressive
numbers – 46 of 77 (59.7%)! He was also great
on free throws – 100 of 108 (92.6%). Can you imagine
Morse’s numbers with three-pointers from 1979, when
they were introduced by the NBA, instead of 1984? His
main weapon was his shot from anywhere and he was
a nightmare to guard, but a joy for basketball lovers
to watch. Today he is an Italian teacher, a language he
learned, one could say, in Varese’s locker room.
Bob Morse, the Varese legend.
101 greats of european basketball
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Carlton
Myers
215

The 87-point man
Forum Valladolid was never one of the big
clubs in Spain. It never won any titles, but
it has the honor of having had on its roster
three of the greatest players in European
basketball: Arvydas Sabonis, Oscar Schmidt
and Carlton Myers. The “Lithuanian Tzar”
and the “Brazilian Holy Hand” were perhaps better
known than the Italian shooter with Jamaican origins,
but he was nearly as prolific. Carlton Ettore Francesco
Myers was born on March 30, 1971, in London, where
his parents worked. When he was 10 years old, the
family moved to Rimini, a small Italian city on the
Adriatic coast where, until he turned 17, nobody saw
Carlton as a future basketball star.
Trading in the flute
Carlton’s father was a musician, a saxophonist, and it
was logical that his son would follow his footsteps, even
though he chose the flute. In between school and music
lessons, young Myers played basketball. But before turning
17, it was only a hobby. Little by little, however, basketball
started taking over and ended up defeating the flute.
Carlton Myers dropped music school, convinced that his
future was in basketball. From 1988 to 1992 he played in
the Italian second division for Mar Rimini. He started out
scoring 2.5 points in the 1988-89 season, and in the next
one, he improved to 5.9 points. His true explosion came
in 1991-92, when he averaged 26.8 points! After shining
in the Italian second division, he signed for Scavolini Pesaro
as the great prospect of Italian basketball. During his
first season, in 39 games, he averaged 16.8 points while
shooting 33.5% from the arc, his biggest weapon in the
decade that was about to follow.
In a story published in Spanish newspaper Mundo
Deportivo during the holiday break of 1992, his Scavolini
teammate Haywoode Workman explained Scavolini’s
playing system: “It’s pretty simple. It’s about giving
the ball to Carlton so that he decides what to do with it
at the right time.”
That’s the same recipe used by all coaches who
were fortunate enough to have Myers on their team.
Standing at 1.92 meters, he was a natural-born shooting
guard, but his talent had much more in store. His
shot, especially from downtown, was his lethal weapon,
but many times he was the best passer or rebounder
on his team, too.
Index rating 94!
During his second season with Scavolini, Myers’
scoring average was already 25.1 points and he was
shooting 40.7% on threes. For the 1994-95 season, he
went back to Rimini, in the second division, where he
scored 29.6 points per game. On January 26, 1995, he
etched his name in the history books of Italian and European
basketball by scoring 87 points against Udine,
the most ever at the Italian professional level. His previous
personal high was 51 points with Scavolini in the
first division. Against Udine, Myers had an incredible
shooting night: 14 of 22 two-pointers, 9 of 19 threes
and 32 of 35 free throws. His final index rating was 94!
As far as I know, nobody in the modern era of European
basketball has reached those numbers, even though
Myers did it in the Italian second division. Nikola Mirotic
of Real Madrid had an index rating of 84 at the Euroleague
Basketball ADIDAS NEXT GENERATION TOURNA-
MENT Ciutat de L’Hospitalet tournament in 2008.
101 greats of european basketball
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Vladimir Stankovic
Those 87 points by Myers are not a European record,
however. The world record at the professional
level belongs to Erman Kunter, who managed to score
153 points, 81 in the first half, with Fenerbahce in the
Turkish League against Hilaspor in 1988. Other great
performances include Radivoj Korac scoring 99 points
against Alvik Stockholm during the 1965 EuroLeague;
Drazen Petrovic destroying the Union Olimpija junior
team (sent to the game by the club’s decision after a
sanction) with 112 points in the first game of the 1985-
86 season; and Zdenko Babic of Zadar tallying 144
points against Apoel of Cyprus in a Korac Cup game a
week later. But in the last 25 years in Europe, nobody
has touched Carlton Myers’ mark. What is true about
Myers’ performance is that, after three quarters, the
coach and his teammates realized it could be a historic
milestone and they looked for Myers on each play.
EuroLeague record
Between 1995 and 2001 Myers played with Fortitudo
Bologna, before playing the following three seasons
with Virtus Roma and then spending the first half of
the 2004-05 season with Montepaschi Siena and the
second half in Spain with Forum Valladolid (21.3 points
in 28 games). After that, Myers went back to Italy and
Scavolini and then, in 2010, he put an end to a brilliant
career with Riviera of Rimini. Behind him were 637 Italian
League games with an average of 19.5 points. Over
those many games, he had made 39.4% of his threepoint
shots, 51.4% of his two-pointers and 85.2% of his
free throws. Myers was Italian champ with Fortitudo in
2000 and also won the Italian Supercup and Italian Cup
with the same team in 1998, being named MVP of the
final. He was named MVP of the Italian League twice, in
1994 and 1997, and he was the top scorer of the EuroLeague
in 1997. But one can see that he is still missing
a European title at the club level. He tried several
times, but he never went farther than the semifinals.
However, Myers still holds a EuroLeague record: his 41
points against Real Madrid on March 7, 2001, is still – together
with Alphonso Ford, Bobby Brown and Kaspars
Kambala – the best scoring mark in the modern-day
EuroLeague since 2000. In that game, which Fortitudo
won 88-70, Myers had also a performance index rating
of 45, his highest.
Crown in Paris
However, Myers’ results with the Italian national
team made up for his lack of international titles with
clubs. He made his debut in blue during the 1993 Euro-
Basket in Germany and did well, scoring 14.3 points per
game. After missing the 1995 EuroBasket in Athens,
he was back for the following one in 1997 in Barcelona
and he won the silver medal after Italy fell to Yugoslavia
in the final 61-49. Myers was the top scorer in that
final, with 17 points. In the group stage, Italy defeated
Yugoslavia 74-69 thanks to 24 points from Myers, but
in the title game, Yugoslavia was better with Predrag
Danilovic at the helm. The rivalry between Myers and
Danilovic had moved from Bologna – the former with
Fortitudo, the latter with Virtus – to the international
stage. At the 1997 EuroBasket, Carlton Myers’ final
figures were 15.8 points, 1.2 rebounds and 2.6 assists.
The best was yet to come, though. In the 1999 Euro-
Basket in France, Myers led Italy all the way to the gold
medal. His 16.3 points, 3.0 assists and 1.6 rebounds in
30 minutes per game were key for the Italian triumph. In
the title game against Spain, a 64-56 victory, he scored
18 points. He nailed 22 against Turkey, Russia and Bosnia-Herzegovina
and then had 20 points against the
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Carlton Myers was recognized by the Italian Olympic
Committee, too, as he was chosen to be the Italian flag
bearer during the Parade of Nations at the Opening
Ceremony.
Myers scored 40 or more points 17 times in the Italian
League, however, his feats did not always result in a win.
“Scoring more than 40 points and losing the game
kills me,” he said many times. “It’s just a useless performance
and the truth is that it makes me feel bad
because we didn’t reach the main goal, which is winning
the game.” An example was him scoring 41 points in
the fifth game of the final series of the Italian League in
1997 with Fortitudo against Benetton Treviso. His team
lost the game, and the title, by the score of 84-82.
When Myers retired, at 40 years old, the then president
of the Italian basketball federation, legend Dino
Meneghin, said about him:
“I hope that young players today can watch and
study the videos to see how he played. Carlton Myers
was an example for everyone.”
I agree 100 percent. If young players want to see
how a great shooting guard should do his job, I also
recommend watching Carlton Myers videos.
Carlton Myers
Czech Republic. Coach Bogdan Tanjevic had a kind of
life insurance with Carlton Myers, the man who scored
when the team needed it most. He scored many points
from the foul line because he kept drawing fouls when
shooting or penetrating. However, fouling him was not a
very good idea because he hardly ever missed from the
line. Over his career, Myers made 85% of his free throws.
At the Sydney Olympics in 2000, the great career of
101 greats of european basketball
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Mihovil
Nakic
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An octopus
under the rims
When speaking about basketball
in Zagreb, the first associations
are normally Cibona, KK
Zagreb, lately Cedevita and,
of course, some great players
from there. But few people
know that the Croatian capital also has a small club
that produced two world champions and one Olympic
gold medalist, plus several silver and bronze
medalists in great national competitions. And
these three players are the owners of seven continental
titles at the club level, as well. This small club
is Mladost, which translates to “Youth”, and those
three players are Nikola Plecas, Damir Solman and
Mihovil Nakic.
The first two won gold medals with Yugoslavia at the
1970 World Cup in Ljubljana. Two years earlier, they had
won the silver medal at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico
City, too. Nakic was an Olympic champion at Moscow
in 1980 and has an Olympic bronze from Los Angeles
in 1984. All three of the players won several medals
at EuroBaskets: Solman and Plecas gold at Barcelona
in 1973 and Belgrade in 1975, plus silver at Naples in
1969; and Nakic has a bronze from Turin in 1979. At the
club level, Nakic was a EuroLeague champion with Cibona
in 1985 and 1986 and a Saporta Cup title-winner in
1982 and 1987; Solman won two Korac Cup titles, with
Jugoplastika in 1976 and 1977; and Plecas was the first
winner in that competition, in 1972, with Lokomotiva
Zagreb.
From Orleans to Moscow
Mihovil Nakic, who was born on July 13, 1955, in
Drnis, Croatia, was also a gold medalist at the 1974
European Championship for Junior Men in Orleans,
France. Yugoslavia won all of its nine games and in the
final defeated Spain by the score of 80-79. Nakic averaged
5 points, with a high of 14 against Greece. That
was also the first time we saw the gigantic Soviet center
Vladimir Tkachenko (2.20 meters). The best scorer of the
tournament was Polish player Eugeniusz Kijewski (27.2
points). For Italy, there was Renato Villalta, while France
had a good generation with Eric Beugnot (the second
best scorer, with 19.7 points) and Herve Dubuisson.
The Yugoslav team, coached by Bogdan Tanjevic, then
the young coach of Bosna Sarajevo, featured among
others Branko Skroce (best scorer with 17.7 points),
Rajko Zizic, Andro Knego, Ratko Radovanovic and Nakic.
Six years later, the five of them were Olympic champs
in Moscow. Except for Skroce, a left-handed guard and
great shooter, the rest were big men. The shortest one
was Nakic, but despite being only 2.03 meters he had a
great rebounding ability. Many times he ended games
as the best rebounder.
Nakic, known in the world of basketball as “Nik”,
was not a big media star. He was not a player who drew
attention because of his elegance or brilliant technique,
but he was a great player – life insurance, if you will, for
his coaches. Points were not his thing, even though
he would score more than 20. He was the key man on
defense: rebounds, blocks, guarding the best opposing
big man regardless of his height. His big hands, rebounding
ability and great timing for rebounds made
101 greats of european basketball
Mihovil Nakic
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Vladimir Stankovic
his defensive game easier. With his long arms and long
hands, Nakic sometimes looked like an octopus that
grabbed everything within reach. On offense, he used
his jumping ability and had a very precise hook shot. He
was a team player and many times the key man for his
teams, although he also had the privilege to play alongside
fellow legends like Kreso Cosic, Drazen Petrovic,
Dragan Kicanovic and Drazen Dalipagic. In a certain
way, that led him to have less presence in the media.
At 18 years old, Nakic left Mladost, which normally
played in the second or third division, to move up to the
first division with Industromontaza, which at the beginning
of the 1970s was the second team in Zagreb. After
three years, he went to the United States and signed
for Brigham Young University, the same school where
Cosic also studied and shined. But Nakic stayed there
for only six months. He was back home in 1977 to sign
with Cibona. He spent the next 12 seasons there, except
for one with Udine of Italy, in 1987-88, and another in
military service, in 1982-83. It was the golden age of the
team built by head coach Mirko Novosel. With Cibona,
Nakic won 12 titles, ranking him third in the club’s history
in trophies won. He played 414 games and scored
4,830 points and is the sixth-best scorer in club history.
Nakic made his national team debut with Yugoslavia
in 1977 and kept going until 1985. Along the way,
he played 75 games as an international, as well as 25
more with the Yugoslav B team. He scored 133 points
and played under several coaches. He made his debut
with “Professor” Aleksandar Nikolic before winning the
bronze medal at EuroBasket 1979 in Italy with Petar
Skansi. Ranko Zeravica was the coach when Yugoslavia
became the Olympic champion in 1980. With Novosel,
Nakic won the bronze at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles
and he played at the 1985 EuroBasket under Cosic.
Just 10 years after winning his first international trophy,
the Korac Cup in 1972, with only eight participants,
Cibona won its second European trophy in 1982. In the
Saporta Cup final, played in Brussels in 1982, Cibona
defeated Real Madrid 96-95 in overtime after an 88-88
tie through four quarters. Andro Knego was the hero
of the game with 34 points, while Cosic added 22 and
Nakic had 6 points.
Unforgettable Piraeus
One of the happiest days in Nakic’s brilliant career
was April 3, 1985. At the final of the EuroLeague, again
it was Cibona vs. Real Madrid. At Peace and Friendship
Stadium in Piraeus, Greece, some 14,500 fans witnessed
a great game. Cibona won 87-78 with Drazen
Petrovic as the star with 36 points. Nakic played 40
minutes, scored 7 points and pulled down 11 boards –
officially, although he thinks it was 21! He also blocked
8 shots and grabbed 3 steals. Aleksandar Petrovic also
played 40 minutes while Drazen Petrovic played 39,
Knego 37, Zoran Cutura 33 minutes and three other
players combined for 11 minutes (Sven Usic 7, Branko
Vukicevic 3 and Adnan Becic 1). In other words, there
were no rotations for Novosel.
Just a year later in Budapest, Cibona won its second
straight EuroLeague final, 94-82 against Zalgiris
Kaunas, whose star center Arvydas Sabonis was disqualified
midway through the second half for punching
Nakic. In his usual 40 minutes, Nakic scored 7 points,
grabbed 6 boards, blocked 4 shots and stole 2 balls.
There were others in charge of scoring for Cibona, like
Danko Cvjeticanin (23 points), Sven Usic (23) and Drazen
Petrovic (22).
In the 1987-88 season, Cibona could not defend
the EuroLeague title, but it didn’t skip a beat in winning
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others. At the final of the Saporta Cup in Novi Sad, on
March 17, 1987, Cibona defeated Scavolini 89-74 as
Petrovic scored 28 points and Nakic had 17 points and
9 boards.
After a solid season in Fantoni Udine (13.7 points,
8.7 rebounds), Nakic was back to Cibona and after the
1988-89 season, he put an end to his career. His number
4 was eventually retired by the club, joining Drazen
Petrovic’s 10 and Knego’s 11. Nakic went on to serve as
Cibona’s sports director. Just as he was admired as a
player, Nakic was respected as a director for being always
keen on new ideas to improve basketball.
Mihovil Nakic
101 greats of european basketball
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Petar
Naumoski
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The Macedonian
pearl
If someone were to ask me who was the best Macedonian
player of all time, my initial debate would be
between Blagoja Georgijevski and Petar Naumoski.
The former was the leader of a great Rabotnicki
team during the 1970s. He played in the Olympics
twice with Yugoslavia (1972 and 1976) and was also
the all-time top scorer for Rabotnicki (4,500 points
in the national league).
Naumoski, meanwhile, had a great career at the club
level, played for several great teams in Europe and won
five European trophies. He also participated in several
FIBA all-star games. If I had to choose, I would probably
go with Naumoski, because of his international success
and his 24 titles won in Yugoslavia, Turkey and Italy.
Maljkovic, the prophet
Petar Naumoski – Peca for his friends – was born on
August 27, 1968, in Prilep, a town located in southern
FYROM, some 130 kilometers away from the capital,
Skopje. At 16 years old he was already playing with
Rabotnicki Skopje, the best Macedonian team in the Yugoslav
League for many years. Standing at 1.94 meters
in the younger categories, he used to play both guard
positions as well as small forward. His natural place
was playmaker, however, because of his ball control and
court vision. He could also play shooting guard easily,
thanks to his great shot. He was a natural talent, one of
many to come out of Yugoslavia, but he never played on
the cadet or junior national teams.
Boza Maljkovic arrived in Split to build the great Jugoplastika
teams based on the talent of Toni Kukoc, Dino
Radja, Zan Tabak and others, but from the start, he
knew he’d have to go fishing in waters away from Split.
That’s how Dusko Ivanovic of Buducnost Podgorica
arrived with his experience, and how Zoran Sretenovic
from Crvena Zvezda and Luka Pavicevic from Cibona
Zagreb came to play point guard. Later came Zoran
Savic from Zenica and Aramis Naglic from Rijeka. They
all played right away, but Maljkovic was always looking
ahead and took note of youngsters who had promising
futures and would be called to take over eventually.
That’s how Split welcomed a young forward from Montenegro,
Velibor-Borko Radovic, and a young guard
from Macedonia named Petar Naumoski.
The two youngsters’ names appear in the Jugoplastika
roster that won the EuroLeague in 1990 and 1991,
both times against FC Barcelona in the final, but their
contribution was merely symbolic. From the bench,
they enjoyed the play of their teammates, gained experience
and got ready to step in a couple years later.
Naumoski’s discoverer, Maljkovic, told me that Peca
was a unique case:
“I told him: ‘You will be practicing hard, almost eight
hours a day, but you will not be playing.’ And he just agreed
to it,” Maljkovic says. “I never knew of a similar case, a
player willing to work hard without playing. But Naumoski
was self-confident and he took the situation as an investment.
In practice, he was fantastic. He won all one-on-one
situations, had a great shot, and I just knew he would be
one of the best point guards in Europe. I am proud that I
could see his talent when he was an unknown young kid.”
Then, during the autumn of 1991, the war broke out
in former Yugoslavia. Jugoplastika, as a multi-ethnic
team, just disintegrated. Players from outside Croatia,
101 greats of european basketball
Petar Naumoski
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Vladimir Stankovic
save for Sretenovic, left the club. Savic signed for Barcelona,
Pavicevic for Radnicki Belgrade, while Radovic and
Naumoski went back home to Buducnost and Rabotnicki,
respectively. In the 1991-92 Yugoslav League, without
teams from Croatia and Slovenia, Naumoski shined
for Rabotnicki. After his discreet numbers during two
years in Split (39 games, 73 points, 1.9 points per
game), Naumoski scored 388 points in 22 games (17.6
average). I remember a game of his in Belgrade against
Partizan (the eventual EuroLeague champion that season)
that Naumoski practically won alone. He finished
the season as the ninth-best scorer of the league with
tough competition like Boban Jankovic, Predrag Danilovic
and his former teammates Pavicevic (third with
464 points) and Radovic (eighth with 390). Rabotnicki
reached the semifinals and lost to Crvena Zvezda.
Breakthrough in Efes and triumph in Benetton
After that great season, Efes Pilsen of Turkey took
notice of Naumoski and managed to make one of the
club’s best signings ever. After Naumoski’s arrival,
Efes started its rise in Europe. On March 16, 1993,
Efes became the first Turkish team ever to reach a
continental final, the Korac Cup. The brain of that team
was Naumoski. He played 31.2 minutes per game,
averaged 17.0 points and 3.0 assists, and made 25 of
52 three-pointers (48.1%). However, that year’s Korac
Cup title game against Aris Thessaloniki in Turin will not
be remembered because of the play on the court, but
rather for a disgraceful battle between fans from both
sides in the stands. The game ended with a 50-48 win
for Aris, but four Efes players ended up in the hospital.
At the end of that season, Efes won the Turkish
League and Naumoski had a main role, of course. The
following season, Efes won the Turkish double crown
and that was enough for Benetton Treviso to call Naumoski.
He signed, moved to Italy and had a great season
there, too, as Benetton reached the 1995 Saporta Cup
final. The opponent was Taugres Vitoria of Spain and
the game was played at Abdi Ipekci Arena in Istanbul,
Naumoski’s former home court. The same teams had
already met in a quarterfinals group, with each winning
its home game, Taugres by the score of 80-71 in Vitoria
and Benetton 99-89 in Treviso. In the final, Benetton
was the better team and won 94-86 with Naumoski and
Orlando Woolridge as a lethal duo, scoring 26 points
apiece. Naumoski made 5 of 5 two-point shots, 2 of 5
threes and 10 of 11 free throws to go with 2 rebounds
and 5 assists. He played all 40 minutes. On the other
side was Velimir Perasovic, his former teammate in
Jugoplastika. It was Naumoski’s third European trophy,
but this time he was in the spotlight. His average for the
competition was 20.8 points. He had the most points
for his team (353 points) although Woolridge had a better
average (22.5) playing three fewer games.
In the Italian League, Naumoski averaged 18.3
points, 2.9 rebounds and 2.8 assists. His three-point
shooting was over 50% as he made 95 of 189 attempts.
With those percentages, he led the ranking ahead of
players like Sasha Djordjevic (47.2%), Henry Williams
(47,1%) and Arijan Komazec (46,8%). Naumoski was
also the fifth-best assist-maker that season. Benetton
featured a terrific team (Riccardo Pittis, Riccardo Esposito,
Ken Barlow, Stefano Rusconi, Alberto Vianini,
Denis Marconato, Andrea Gracis, Woolridge.) but lost
the Italian League finals against Buckler Bologna 3-0.
Nonetheless, the team managed to take the Italian Cup
against Trieste by 81-77 with 16 points from Naumoski.
In Turkey, Efes Pilsen realized that losing Naumoski
had turned them into a whole different team. The club
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made a big effort and managed to bring him back to
Istanbul. In March, Efes Pilsen advanced to the Korac
Cup final again, this time facing a Milano team that had
monster talent: Dejan Bodiroga, Nando Gentile, Gregor
Fucka and Rolando Blackman. In the first leg of the
two-game series, in Istanbul, Efes won 76-68 behind a
brilliant Naumoski, who poured in 31 points. He made
8 of 10 two-pointers and 5 of 11 threes to go with 3
rebounds and 10 assists in 40 minutes. Despite being
behind by 8 points before Game 2, Milano remained the
favorite, but only managed to win by 7 at home, 77-70,
with 20 points from Fucka, 15 by Gentile and 14 by Bodiroga.
By a single point, the title went to Efes, and the
man of the game was, once more, Naumoski, with 26
points on 3 of 5 two-pointers, 4 of 8 threes and 8 of 8
free throws. It was his fourth European trophy.
That same month, Naumoski got his Turkish passport
with the name Namik Polat, but he never would
play with the Turkish national team. His dream was
to wear the Macedonia jersey in a big competition.
His golden years at Efes went on: the double national
crown in 1997 and the Turkish Cup and President’s
Cup in 1998. He would stay at Efes until 1999 and that
summer he managed to fulfill his dream of playing EuroBasket
with Macedonia in France. The team featured
Naumoski, Vrbica Stefanov and a young Vlado Ilievski
in a great backcourt, but at the same time lacked big
men and experience. FYROM could only come home
with 13th place out of 16 teams. Naumoski was the top
scorer of the team at 15 points per game.
Return to Italy
At the end of the 20th century, Naumoski was voted
best Macedonian player of the millennium. For the
2000-01 season, he went back to Italy, joining Benetton
again. He was still on good form, with 16.9 points on
average, and still posted high percentages from the arc
(130 of 273, or 47.3%). He made his debut in the new
EuroLeague with 16.2 points for the season. For the following
one, he signed with Montepaschi Siena and won
his fifth European trophy, the Saporta Cup. In the final,
played in Lyon, Siena defeated Valencia by the score of
81-71. The MVP, you ask? Why, of course, it was Petar
Naumoski, who netted 23 points, including 5 of 8 triple,
and had good help from Vrbica Stefanov, who scored
17. Naumoski stayed in Italy for two more years, but
this time in Milano, averaging 17.9 and 15.1 points while
shooting 45.1% and a 42.6% from the arc, respectively.
At 35 years old, he was able to score 48 points against
Virtus Bologna. In 2003-04, at almost 36, he played his
last EuroLeague season, averaging 11.5 points.
It wasn’t time to retire yet, however. He was back to
Turkey to join Ulker and won the Turkish Cup, his last trophy.
He played in Italy again, this time with humble teams
like Pallacanestro Guido Rossi and Derthona Basket, but
he decided to put an end to his brilliant career in Macedonia
with the MZT Skopje jersey. In 2011 he played the
national cup final against Rabotnicki, his team of origin,
but lost 74-69. The circle closed where it had started, in
Skopje, with more than 25 years in between.
Naumoski was a playmaker but maybe “basket-maker”
is a term that would suit him better. He scored a lot
of points as one of those old-school point guards who
could really shoot. He used the backboard a lot, too,
with a double intent: more security and a guaranteed
basket if the rivals touched the ball. He was a complete
player, smart and with a winning character. He always
triumphed wherever he played.
Petar Naumoski, the Macedonian pearl.
101 greats of european basketball
Petar Naumoski
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Audie
Norris
227

Barcelona’s
adopted son
With so many great players who
have worn the Barcelona jersey
over the years, I cannot be 100%
certain that Audie Norris was
the best foreign player ever on
that team. But if there was ever
a poll to determine the most beloved foreigner by the
Barcelona fans, I am sure he would win by a lot.
As appreciated and admired as Norris was – and, in
fact, still is – that can only be achieved with the ultimate
mix of sporting and humane qualities. Audie had both
to spare. He was an excellent player and a great human
being. During his six years in Barcelona, he became the
biggest idol at Palau Blaugrana, the club’s classic arena.
Today, whenever Norris comes to the gym to see a
game – which he often does because of his great love
for the club and the city – the fans still rise and give him
an ovation.
A mistake for Real Madrid
Audie James Norris, who was born on December
18, 1960, arrived in Europe as a well-known player.
After an excellent college basketball career at Jackson
State University, the NBA team of his native Portland,
the Trail Blazers, selected him with the 37th overall
pick in the 1982 draft. But after three years and 187
games, during which he averaged 4.4 points and 3.8
rebounds per night, Norris decided to try playing in
Europe. He chose to start with what, at the time, was a
humble Benetton Treviso team in Italy. Known later as
a perennial contender for European trophies, Benetton
then was mostly fighting just to stay in the Italian first
division. He enjoyed a brilliant debut season with 21.2
points and 10.1 rebounds per game. Of course, big
clubs began to eye the “Atomic Dog”, as he had been
nicknamed by Mychal Thompson because of his physical
attributes.
Norris landed next in the Spanish capital and everything
pointed to an imminent deal with Real Madrid, but
a contract difference of $10,000, according to Norris,
torpedoed the deal. Neither side was willing to budge
even a single dollar, the negotiations fell apart and, in
the end, Benetton won, as it was able to extend Norris
for another season. Norris shined again with 20.1
points and 10.6 rebounds per game. He deservedly
won the award for the best foreign player in the Italian
League that season.
In the summer of 1987, several teams fought again
to sign Norris. Something that had not happened
before, and has not happened since, took place. According
to the excellent book “Foreigners in the ACB”,
Barcelona and Bologna agreed to share the services
of Norris. He would play two years in Barcelona and
then go to play in Bologna. In the end it didn’t happen,
of course, because Norris, with his performances and
behavior, practically forced Barcelona to break the
agreement - and pay for it.
Aito Garcia Reneses, who was the Barcelona coach
at that time, had seen Norris play for Portland in the
San Diego summer league and from the first moment
he knew that he wanted that player for his Barça. It finally
happened three years later. Norris went on to stay
in Barcelona for six seasons, winning three Spanish
Leagues (1988, 1989 and 1990) and two Spanish King’s
101 greats of european basketball
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Vladimir Stankovic
Cups (1988 and 1991). But his career is a clear example,
and quite a rare one in sports, that results do not always
define the image of a player.
The Euroleague was always missing in Norris’s trophy
case, as it was during so many years for Barcelona,
which back then had only lost one final still, in 1984
against Roma. The second chance arrived in Munich in
1989, but a young Jugoplastika Split led by Toni Kukoc
and Dino Radja on the court and Boza Maljkovic – who
would later coach Norris in Barcelona – on the bench,
surprised everyone by beating Barça in the semis, 87-
77, and later beating Maccabi Tel Aviv in the final, 75-69.
Norris scored 15 points in that semifinal, but Kukoc
was huge for Jugoplastika (24), which also got contributions
from Dusko Ivanovic (21) and Radja (18). The
following year in Zaragoza, Barça and Jugoplastika met
again – this time in the final – and Jugoplastika won
again, 72-67, despite 18 points and 10 boards from
Norris. The third consecutive duel between the teams
took place in the 1991 final in Paris, this time with Mal-
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jkovic coaching Barcelona. Nevertheless, Jugoplastika
won it again behind the brilliant Zoran Savic (27 points),
who would also be a future teammate of Norris in
Barcelona. Norris scored 8 points and pulled down 3
boards, but he was playing after a long hiatus due to a
shoulder injury.
Injuries, the worst enemy
During Norris’ career, his weak spot was injuries,
especially his knees. He missed many games and spent
weeks and even months with Toni Bove, Barcelona’s
physiotherapist, but always came back. In the Spanish
League, where he averaged 14.2 points and 7.6 rebounds
over six years, his duels with the late Fernando
Martin of Real Madrid are greater than legend. He also
fought in the paint with Arvydas Sabonis in his prime
as well as great stars and legends like Dino Meneghin,
Radja, Vlade Divac and Panagiotis Fasoulas in European
contests. Norris stood only 2.06 meters, but he looked
bigger because of his big body and long arms.
Jose Luis Galilea, one of his teammates in Barcelona
in the early 1990s, defined Norris in an article for Solo
Basket magazine:
“An old school big man who created from the low
post. An excellent passer thanks to his great understanding
of the game and huge hands, which made the
ball look like a handball. And great character. He was a
man who, despite being a star, was close to anybody
who would approach him. He treated with the same
respect and love the cleaning ladies at Palau Blaugrana
and the President of the Generalitat (the regional government
of Catalonia), the veteran player or the junior
rookie. He was loved by all, even by people who didn’t
follow basketball closely. He was generous in his game
and the way he related to everyone else, on and off the
court. He was a mentor for the youngest ones like Santi
Abad, Lisard Gonzalez, Roger Esteller, Angel Almeida ...
even myself. Young kids that were starting out and trying
to find our place in the professional world. He even
taught me, together with Piculin Ortiz, to speak English.”
I personally met Norris during his last season in Barcelona.
He made for an excellent duo with Savic. Today
it’s always a pleasure running into the man at the Palau
or any place. He continues hosting basketball camps in
and around Barcelona and the kids that attend will get
a chance to learn about basketball and more from one
of the best.
Audie Norris, the idol of Palau.
101 greats of european basketball
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Fabricio
Oberto
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Hard-working star
I
remember seeing Fabricio Oberto for the first time
at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, but I admit that in a
tournament full of stars, I didn’t pay much attention
to an Argentina squad that finished ninth. It was easy
to miss the talent of a kid on a national team that was
not yet what it would become. However, Oberto, who
was born on March 21, 1975, in Las Varillas, Argentina,
did not need much time to prove that he was worthy of
sharing the stage with the game’s greats.
Only one year later, at the McDonald’s Open in Paris
– in my opinion the best of those events in the 1990s –
the all-tournament team was made up of Michael Jordan
(Chicago Bulls), Eric Struelens (Paris Saint Germain),
Arturas Karnisovas (FC Barcelona), Dragan Tarlac (Olympiacos)
and Oberto (Atenas de Córdoba). Aside from
the aforementioned clubs, the other participant was
Benetton Treviso, with the likes of Riccardo Pittis, Zeljko
Rebraca and Denis Marconato, plus Zeljko Obradovic on
the bench. FC Barcelona had stars such as Sasha Djordjevic,
Rafa Jofresa, Andres Jimenez and Marcelo Nicola;
Olympiacos featured Johnny Rogers and Panagiotis
Fasoulas; PSG had Stephane Risacher, Richard Dacoury
and Alfonso Reyes; and the Bulls had names like Toni
Kukoc, Ron Harper, Steve Kerr and Luc Longley.
The opening game was on October 16, 1997, between
Benetton and Atenas. It proved to be the first upset, 87-
78 for the Argentinians. With veterans like Hector Campana
(33 years old), Marcelo Milanesio (32) and Diego
Osella (28), a 22-year-old Oberto looked like a young kid
on the Atenas team. But his 22 points and 11 rebounds
against Benetton started his road to glory. In an 89-86
loss against Olympiacos, Oberto scored 16 points and
added 6 rebounds and 3 assists, which is probably when
Dusan Ivkovic, then coach of the Reds, decided to sign the
2.08-meter Argentinian big man. Oberto’s game, at first
sight, might have looked simple, but that is a hard thing to
achieve in any sport: doing things as second nature, as if
anyone could do them. If I had to define his game in one
word it would be “efficiency”. When he got the ball, he won
position with ease and played well with his back to the
basket and so hardly ever missed when close. If we add
rebounding, good defense and solid passing, we have a
complete player with simple but efficient solutions.
From Atenas to Athens
In the summer of 1998, after winning the league title
and being elected MVP in Argentina, Oberto changed
addresses from Atenas to Athens, where he joined Olympiacos
in Greece. Before making his Olympiacos debut,
he played for Argentina at the 1998 World Cup in Athens.
I would say that the great Argentina we came to know,
which six years later won the Olympic gold medal in the
same city, started its golden generation that year. You
had the experience of Milanesio – who was Oberto’s idol
during his childhood – Juan Alberto Espil (30), Esteban de
la Fuente (30), Diego Osella (29), Marcelo Nicola (27), Hugo
Sconochini (27), Carlos Simoni (27), Alejandro Montecchia
(26) and Ruben Wolkowyski (25) as well as young players
like Manu Ginobili (21), Pepe Sanchez (21) and Oberto
(23). Yugoslavia won the title, but its most difficult game
was in the quarterfinals against Argentina. On August 7,
1998, Yugoslavia won 70-62, but for some 30 minutes,
Argentina was the better team. This was also the first time
that Dejan Tomasevic (10 points, 11 boards) and Oberto
(6 points, 8 rebounds) – a great duo later at Tau Ceramica
and Valencia – would play against each other.
101 greats of european basketball
Fabricio Oberto
O

Vladimir Stankovic
After taking ninth place in Atlanta, Argentina placed
eighth in Athens and Oberto finished the tournament
with 8.3 points and 3.6 rebounds, enough to expect a
good season with Olympiacos. But that didn’t happen.
His adaptation to European basketball was slower than
expected and Ivkovic didn’t give him much playing time.
In 22 EuroLeague games, Oberto averaged 5.3 points
and 3.9 rebounds over 16 minutes. Olympiacos reached
the Final Four in Munich but lost in the semifinal against
eventual champion Zalgiris, 87-71, and defeated Fortitudo
Bologna for third place, 74-63, with Oberto contributing
9 points and 8 rebounds in 20 minutes.
My friend Alejandro Perez, a Buenos Aires-based
journalist and a connoisseur of South American basketball,
told me the story of how once, in the summer
of 1999, a disappointed Oberto told him that he was
thinking of going back home. But then the offer that
changed his life arrived. Dusko Ivanovic of Tau Ceramica
called him. In his first season in the Spanish League,
Oberto improved his numbers to 9.5 points and 7.0
boards even though Tau would fall to eventual champ
AEK Athens in the Saporta Cup. Oberto missed a few
games in the Spanish League due to injuries.
Oberto’s second season in Vitoria, 2000-01, was
much better. He played all 34 regular season Spanish
League games plus nine in the playoffs and amassed
9.0 points and 6.2 rebounds. Tau fell in the semifinals
to Real Madrid 3-2 but reached the finals of the first
edition of the modern EuroLeague, where it lost 3-2
to Kinder Bologna. Oberto posted 10.9 points and 7.3
rebounds in the EuroLeague.
24 seconds in Indianapolis
The arrival of Tomasevic to Vitoria in the summer
of 2001 triggered the birth of a great duo of big men.
They both had the same height (2.08 meters), they
shared some attributes (scoring, rebounding, a sense
for assists, high basketball IQ) and a winning mentality.
In their first season together, they first won the Spanish
King’s Cup at home. Tau Ceramica worked hard to defeat
Joventut Badalona 74-72, topped Unicaja 83-72 and
then edged Barcelona in the final against 85-83. Tomasevic
was named MVP of the tournament, but Oberto
was also a main contributor. Tau had a great team with
Sconochini, Luis Scola, Andres Nocioni, Elmer Bennett,
Laurent Foirest, Chris Corchiani and Sergi Vidal. A few
months later they would also win the Spanish League
title against Unicaja, sweeping the finals 3-0.
When the season ended, the big news in Spain was
that both Tomasevic and Oberto were moving together
to Pamesa Valencia. However, before the start of that
season, the two friends had a new commitment, the
2002 World Cup in Indianapolis. Argentina and Yugoslavia
reached the title game, the former with great authority
and the latter after struggling in the first phase,
but with a great win over host USA in the quarterfinals.
A brilliant Oberto (28 points, 10 boards) had his team
on the brink of the gold medal with 24 seconds to go.
However, two threes by Dejan Bodiroga and questionable
defense by Vlade Divac on Sconochini on the last
play forced overtime, in which Yugoslavia was better
and won, 84-77.
Together again, Oberto and Tomasevic led Pamesa
Valencia all the way to the club’s first European title, the
2002-03 EuroCup, in the first edition of the competition,
which was then called the ULEB Cup and organized
by Euroleague Basketball. On April 15, 2003, Valencia
defeated KRKA, on the road in Novo Mesto, by a score
of 78-90 behind 14 points and 7 rebounds from Oberto.
Seven days later, at home in Valencia, the win was clos-
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er, 78-76, but the title stayed in Spain. The duo formed
by Oberto (13 points, 8 rebounds) and Tomasevic (28
points, 11 rebounds and MVP honors) shined again.
As EuroCup champ, Valencia earned the right to
play in the EuroLeague the following season, making its
debut in the top European competition. The team had
a good season and reached the Top 16 but missed a
Final Four appearance. Valencia was tied with Maccabi
Tel Aviv in their Top 16 group with a 4-2 record but lost
the tiebreaker to reach the Final Four. Maccabi had won
their first game in Valencia by a 74-89 score, and then
Valencia suffered a 20-0 defeat in the rematch for refusing
to travel to Tel Aviv.
In the summer of 2004, Argentina soared in the
Athens Olympics. The key game was in the semifinals
against the USA. Argentina, led by Ginobili with 29
points, won 89-81. In the final against Italy, the team had
no problems and cruised 84-69 to claim the gold medal,
even though Oberto had to miss the game due to injury.
The ring in San Antonio
In the summer of 2005, Oberto decided to leave
Valencia and try his luck in the NBA. He left behind 219
games in the Spanish League, with averages of 11.0
points, 5.8 rebounds and 1.7 assists. At 31 years old, he
became the San Antonio Spurs’ oldest rookie ever, but
head coach Gregg Popovich trusted Oberto. His role
was helping the second team and he delivered. In the
2006-07 season, in the first two games of the Western
Conference Finals, he played 31 minutes and averaged
14.0 points, way above his usual numbers, which were
between 4 and 5 points. The Spurs would go on to win
the title, Oberto’s crowning moment in five NBA seasons.
At the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, Oberto won his
second medal, a bronze, after an 87-75 win over Lithuania.
After four years in San Antonio, where he played
alongside his friend Ginobili, he played one season in
Washington and a few games of another in Portland.
Oberto then suffered some heart problems and had to
stop playing. In November of 2011, he announced his
retirement. He had played 336 regular season games
in the NBA (3.2 points and 3.5 boards) and 46 playoff
games (4.2 points and 3.9 rebounds).
When he had recovered, Oberto played once more
with his first club, Atenas Cordoba, and even with the
national team in the pre-Olympic tournament of 2012
in Mar del Plata.
Alejandro Perez pointed out that Oberto had traveled
to the 1993 World Cup in Toronto as the 13th player,
not to play, but to gain valuable experience early in
his career. I remember Mirko Novosel having done the
same thing 20 years earlier, with Mirza Delibasic in the
World Cup in Puerto Rico.
“I am the result of hard work. I don’t have the talent.
Everything I ever did was because I practiced hard. I
practiced in my career what others would need three
lives for. That’s the number of hours I spent in the gym,”
Oberto said.
Once retired for good, Oberto lived in Cordoba and
worked as a music journalist with his own radio show,
something he had done for fun in Valencia. Oberto also
appeared on a TV show doing exclusive interviews with
well-known people from Ginobili to Eva Longoria. He
also owned a winery with a friend that produced some
400,000 bottles a year. He plays guitar, enjoys rock and
roll and spending time with his daughter. He once said:
“I prefer that Wikipedia says about me that I was a better
person than a player.”
Why not both? The great player he was and the great
person he is.
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Aldo
Ossola
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Von Karajan of
Italian basketball
On May 4, 1949, Italian sports suffered
a great tragedy. A plane crashed on
the hill of Superga, near Turin. Among
the 31 victims were 18 players from
the great football team Torino, the
best Italian team at the time and winner
of five league titles and one national cup between
1942 and 1949. There were no survivors, but two
great names from that tragedy would be passed on
to resurrect Italian sports. One of the crash victims,
Valentino Mazzola, was the big star of Torino and the
Italian national team, just like his son Sandro Mazzola
would become in the 1970s for Inter Milan and the Italian
national team. Another victim, Franco Ossola, had
a little brother, Aldo, who was only 4 years old at the
time of the tragedy. Aldo would grow up to triumph in
another sport, basketball, while another brother, Luigi,
also chose football and played in the first division
with Varese, Roma and Mantova.
Aldo Ossola’s case is not typical. He starred at basketball
without thriving at what is for many the most
important part of the game: shooting. Scoring was not
his strong point, even though he knew how to surprise
his teammates and rivals alike from time to time. His
strengths were organizing the game, vision, passing,
great defense and leadership. He was a tall guard, at
1.92 meters, which allowed him to be a solid rebounder,
too. In Italian, there is a word that defines his role
perfectly: “regista”. Ossola was a great guard and a
great floor director who earned his nickname – the
Von Karajan of Italian basketball – because he could
orchestrate a basketball game like the world-famous
classical music conductor of that time, Herbert Von
Karajan.
Ten finals in a row
Ossola was like the director of an orchestra, the
great Ignis Varese of the golden era, between 1969 and
1979. The team played an unprecedented 10 consecutive
finals in the EuroLeague, winning five and losing
five. The secret was great balance between great foreign
players like Manuel Raga, Ricky Jones, John Fultz,
Bob Morse, Charlie Yelverton and Randy Meister, with
great Italians like Ossola himself, Dino Meneghin, Dodo
Rusconi, Marino Zanatta, Ottorino Flaborea, Ivan
Bisson and Giulio Iellini. That’s not to forget their great
coaches, Aleksandar Nikolic, Giancarlo Primo and Sandro
Gamba.
This unbelievable run began on April 9, 1970, in
Sarajevo, where Ignis defeated the reigning champ,
CSKA Moscow, 79-74. The stats show that Meneghin
scored 20 points and Raga 18, but Ossola’s contribution
was much greater than his 4 points. He the
brain of his team, a leader, a great guard, a man with
the confidence of his coach, the legendary Professor
Nikolic. He wore number 10 and he was a 10 as a
player. The following year, in Antwerp, CSKA paid back
Varese with interest, 67-53. Ossola was stuck at 4
points again. In his third straight final, 1972 in Tel Aviv,
Ignis defeated Jugoplastika by the score of 70-69 with
21 points by Meneghin and 20 by Raga and, again, 4
points from Ossola.
In another final against CSKA, 1973 in Liege, Varese
won 71-66 behind 25 points by Raga and 6 by Ossola.
101 greats of european basketball
Aldo Ossola
O

Vladimir Stankovic
But in 1974 in Nantes, where they lost 84-82 to Real
Madrid, Ossola was back to his customary 4 points.
The next year the final was a rematch in Antwerp, where
Varese prevailed, 79-76, of course with 4 points coming
from Ossola in 37 minutes on the floor. His fifth and
last title came in 1976 in Geneva, again against Real Madrid,
81-74. But for that one, Ossola set his best scoring
mark in a final: 9 points. Morse (28) and Meneghin (23)
shined for the champs. Over the next three years, Ossola
and Varese would play as many continental finals,
but lost to Maccabi, Real Madrid and Bosna Sarajevo,
respectively. Ossola’s sixth European trophy came in
1980 in Milan against Gabetti Cantu, 90-88 in overtime,
in the Saporta Cup.
“He was a great playmaker, but he had no shot,”
Borislav Stankovic, ex-secretary general of FIBA,
remembered of Ossola. In 1968, Stankovic became
Italian champion with Orasonda Cantu, thus becoming
the first foreign coach to win the title. “He lacked a shot
but made up for that with game vision, speed, aggressiveness
on defense. He was the soul and spirit of that
team. He reminded me of Moka Slavnic, but without the
shooting.”
Luca Chiabotti, the prestigious former La Gazzetta
dello Sport basketball expert, also recalled Ossola’s
scoring ability: “In the third game of the Italian League
finals of 1978 against Synudine Bologna, with Dan Peterson
on the bench, Ossola, already 33, was always
free because the rivals never thought he could shoot.
The stats were on their side: in 27 previous games, he
had totaled 52 points, less than 2 per game. But in that
decisive duel, he scored 11, a huge amount for him and
he was a key player to take the title.”
Another thing, almost unthinkable today: during
his whole career Ossola worked a day job at a family
business of jewelry and opticians. In 2005, he played
again in an official game at the age of 60 with his son
Emanuele, who was born in 1970. The Italian federation
had to change some rules to allow Ossola play at this
age, but his great friend Meneghin, then the president
of the federation, said, “For Aldo, we will even change
the constitution”. The doctors green-lighted the issue
because, thanks to his lifestyle, Ossola was in great
health.
A title collector
Ossola’s family may have had a jewelry shop,
but he had one of his own stuffed with medals and
trophies. Aside from the five European crowns and
the Saporta Cup title, Ossola won the Italian League
seven times, the Italian Cup four times and Intercontinental
Cups twice, in 1970 and 1973, for a total of 19
major titles. He has said that he won “everything that
can be won.”
While Ossola triumphed in Varese (plus a brief
stay at Onesta Milano from 1965 to 1968), he had
less luck with the Italian national team. He played the
1969 EuroBasket in Naples with a discreet 1.8 points
per game. He only played 25 games with the national
team. When Italy started winning titles, Coach Giancarlo
Primo preferred Pierluigi Marzorati and Giulio
Iellini. But despite lacking titles at the international
level, Ossola has one of the most complete careers
ever of an Italian player together with Dino Meneghin.
In fact, Ossola and Meneghin formed a duo that, for
many, is still the best guard-center combination ever
in Italian basketball.
Of course, when Euroleague Basketball chose in
2008 to identify the 35 best players during the celebration
of 50 years of European club competitions,
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Ossola was among the names. Sandro Gamba, one of
his coaches during the great Varese dynasty, defined
Ossola in statements he made to Corriere della Sera
in 2005: “He always saw the game as something fun.
That’s why he never wasted his physical strength. To
me, he was the best Italian point guard of all time.”
Aldo Ossola
101 greats of european basketball
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Theodoros
Papaloukas
239

MVP off the bench
On his ID you can see that Theo Papaloukas
was born on May 8, 1977,
in the Neo Psychiko neighborhood
of Athens. However, his basketball
birthday was a little more than a decade
later, on June 14, 1987. That day,
Papaloukas was, as all of Greece, glued to the television
screen watching the EuroBasket 1987 final played
at Peace and Friendship Stadium in Piraeus. Greece
beat the USSR 103-101 in overtime with 40 points by
Nikos Galis. After that historic win, the streets of Athens
turned into a huge party. A young Papaloukas, 10
years old, was amongst the hundreds of thousands
of euphoric fans, together with his younger brother
Costas. The direct consequence of that day was Theo
Papaloukas saying: “I am going to play basketball.”
The fact that his parents’ home was only 20 meters
away from the Ethnikos Ellinoroson court made things
easier. That’s where the career of this future Greek and
European superstar started. Witnesses from those
days say that even then Papaloukas had more fun
making assists than scoring points. That generosity
would become his trademark during a brilliant career.
His progress was immense, and he kept rising through
categories despite his one physical flaw: he was too
skinny. The next step was signing for Ampelokipoi,
where in the 1995-96 season he played nine games and
scored the same amount of points, his first ever in the
Greek League. In his second season, now in the Greek
second division, he played many minutes as a small
forward, which completed his technical formation. In
fact, when he was 20 years old and signed for Dafni, he
was already a complete player capable of playing point
guard, shooting guard and small forward.
Assists were always Papaloukas’s best quality, but
he had many more: his speed and lightning-fast hands
allowed him to make many steals, while he could also
run fastbreaks, penetrate, shoot and even rebound,
due to his 2.0-meter height. After two seasons in Dafni,
Papaloukas signed for Panionios where he played for
two seasons. In the second one, 2000-01, his coach was
Slobodan Subotic, who put a lot of trust in him and gave
him a lot of playing time. Papaloukas ended the season
with 14.5 points, 5.5 assists and 2.1 steals per game.
Olympiacos noticed his qualities and signed him for the
2001-02 season. It was his rookie season in the EuroLeague
and he finished it with 8.4 points, 4 assists and 2.9
steals per game, but due to a shock overtime home loss
to previously winless Union Olimpija in the fifth game of
the Top 16, it was eternal archrival Panathinaikos who
made that year’s Final Four from their group instead of
Olympiacos – and won it!
Papaloukas didn’t stay in Piraeus, however. Dusan
Ivkovic was starting a big project in CSKA Moscow, and
as a true expert on Greek basketball, he asked his new
club to sign Papaloukas, a key player in his plan.
Eight consecutive Final Fours
If he failed to make his first shot at a Final Four a
reality, Papaloukas became a familiar face at the event
after that, with eight straight appearances, a record he
shares with his long-time back-court mate, J.R. Holden!
In their first three seasons with CSKA Moscow, they
reached the Final Four all three times. But in each of
them, they were defeated in the semis: against Barcelona
in 2003 and Maccabi in 2004 – both host teams
101 greats of european basketball
Theodoros Papaloukas
P

Vladimir Stankovic
who went on to win those titles – but also against Tau
Ceramica in 2005, which hurt the most as that Final
Four was played in Moscow.
Finally, in his fifth attempt, Papaloukas went all the
way. In the 2005-06 season, with Ettore Messina now
on the bench, CSKA Moscow won its first EuroLeague
title in 35 years by defeating Maccabi Tel Aviv in the final
73-69 at the Sazka Arena in Prague. Papaloukas shined
in the game with his 18 points and 7 assists. He was also
chosen as Final Four MVP with a scoring average for the
weekend of 18.5 points, way above his season average.
Crowned MVP in his hometown
A year later, in Papaloukas’ native city, CSKA lost the
EuroLeague title game against Panathinaikos, 93-91, in
one of the greatest finals ever played, an electric night of
back-and-forth brilliance between the dominant teams
of the moment. The night before that loss, however,
something unique in basketball history happened as
Papaloukas was voted the MVP for the EuroLeague season.
He had started only three EuroLeague games that
season and just four of his 134 EuroLeague games in a
CSKA uniform until that night. He would be a starter in
just three more EuroLeague games in six more seasons
after that.
As such, Papaloukas was the first nearly full-time
substitute to be voted MVP of an elite competition like
the EuroLeague. Some might have wondered why, when
his averages that season were a more-than-solid but
not spectacular 9.8 points, 5.4 assists, 3.2 rebounds
and 1.7 steals. They were not wondering 24 hours later,
however, as Papaloukas had a brilliant game on the biggest
stage of all: 23 points and 8 assists while missing
just 2 shots – a two-pointer and free throw – as a visiting
player on one of the hottest courts in history, with
18,500 Panathinaikos fans making more noise than
you could imagine. His performance index rating in that
game, the same 28 he had while being named MVP the
year before, is the second-best by a losing player in a
title game, behind only Manu Ginobili of Kinder Bologna
(34) in 2002.
One year later, however, CSKA and Papaloukas got
their title back. As the EuroLeague celebrated the 50
Years of European club competitions in Madrid, they
climbed to the top of the podium again with a 91-77 win
in the title game, again over Maccabi, with 12 points
and 4 assists by Papaloukas. Together, Papaloukas and
CSKA had come one three-point shot short of three
EuroLeague titles in a row.
Homeward bound
After seven great seasons in CSKA, Papaloukas returned
to Greece and Olympiacos, but he didn’t drop
the habit of being in the Final Four. In Berlin 2009, Panathinaikos
was better in the semis than Olympiacos,
while in Paris 2010, Barcelona was better in the title
game. Papaloukas would miss his first date with a Final
Four in nine years in 2011, when Panathinaikos won
in Barcelona. Olympiacos had fallen in the playoffs to
Montepaschi Siena 3-1 despite having won their first
game 89-41! That’s basketball.
If at the beginning of his career he had to play in
humble teams, at the peak of his career Papaloukas
wore only the jerseys of the great teams. He played
the 2011-12 season with Maccabi and won the Israeli
League, Israeli Cup and the Adriatic League, but the
team was eliminated in the EuroLeague Playoffs by
Panathinaikos in a dramatic series that ended 3-2 for
the Greens and 86-85 in the fifth game.
Semi-retired, Papaloukas didn’t start the 2012-13
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season, but when in mid-December he got the call from
“his” CSKA, he didn’t hesitate. He helped the team
reach the London Final Four, but in the semifinals, they
fell to his other club, Olympiacos, 69-52, on its way to
the title.
The duel against FC Barcelona for third place, a 74-
73 win, was the last important game in the long and
brilliant career of Theo Papaloukas. After those last 40
minutes as an active player, Papaloukas said:
“I am fortunate because my career started in a team
from the Athens regional league, Ethnikos Ellinoroson,
and I have been able to live all the basketball experiences
with the Greek national team, CSKA, Olympiacos and
Maccabi. A career like that is a blessing and a privilege
for any player. It is a very emotional moment for me. I
try to control myself and it’s not easy. My family is here
with me. It was a beautiful moment and I am happy it
ended up with a win.”
Triumph in Belgrade
When Papaloukas took to the streets of Athens at
10 years old to celebrate Greece’s title, the last thing
that could have crossed his mind was that he would repeat
the feat at EuroBasket 2005 with a win in Belgrade.
In the title game, Greece defeated Germany and its star,
Dirk Nowitzki, by a score of 78-62 with a great team effort.
But the key man was Papaloukas, with 22 points on
almost perfect shooting (6 of 10 twos, 3 of 4 threes and
1 of 2 free throws), 6 assists, 4 rebounds and 3 steals.
He committed only 1 turnover in 34 minutes, the same
playing time as Nikos Zisis. The win was in the hands of
the guards, especially Papaloukas. The all-tournament
team was formed by Papaloukas, Diamantidis, Nowitzki,
Juan Carlos Navarro and Boris Diaw.
One year later, the golden generation of Greece also
made it to the 2006 World Cup title game in Japan after
knocking off the favorite, Team USA, in the semis by
a 101-95 score. Spanoulis was the top scorer with 22
points, follows by Kakiouzis with 15, Sofoklis Schortsanitis
with 14 and Diamantidis with 12. But Papaloukas,
who scored 8, was pulling all the strings, dishing 12
of Greece’s 19 assists and pulling 5 rebounds – second-best
on the team – in 33 minutes. Alas, in the final,
Greece fell big to a great Spain with a painful loss, 70-
47, but those silver medals were more than well earned.
At the end of that year, FIBA Europe chose its Player of
the Year: Theo Papaloukas.
Final Four records
I was fortunate enough to follow Papaloukas for
many years. I saw him in all his Final Fours, in the EuroBaskets
of 2001, 2003, 2005 and 2007, the Olympic
Games of 2004 and many EuroLeague games. I was
always fascinated by his way of playing: everything he
did looked easy, natural, logical. He was a very smart
player and his ideas were as fast as his passes. His
shooting was lethal for the rivals, and his penetrations
with changes of direction were unstoppable.
Of course, the EuroLeague All-Decade Team for
2001 to 2010 could not be imagined without Papaloukas.
He is there alongside Dejan Bodiroga, Dimitris
Diamantidis, J.R. Holden, Sarunas Jasikevicius, Trajan
Langdon, Juan Carlos Navarro, Anthony Parker, Ramunas
Siskauskas and Nikola Vujcic.
He would have gladly come off the bench for that
team, too, but more likely than not – even in that superstar
company – Theo Papaloukas would have been on
the court at the end of any important game, as he was
at all the big moments of his unique career.
101 greats of european basketball
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Anthony
Parker
243

Two-time
EuroLeague MVP
The number of American players who
played in Europe is, at this point, almost
unimaginably huge, but we can count on
one hand the ones who won three Final
Fours. There are now three of them:
Anthony Parker with Maccabi Tel Aviv
in 2001, 2004 and 2005, Mike Batiste with Panathinaikos
in 2007, 2009 and 2011; and Kyle Hines with
Olympiacos in 2012 and 2013, plus CSKA Moscow in
2016. As good as the others have been, only Parker
can claim to have been votes as a full-season Euro-
League MVP two times, the only player to have that
distinction so far.
Basketball in the genes
Parker, who was born on June 19, 1975, in Naperville,
Illinois, was an excellent shooting guard. With a
father who played basketball at the University of Iowa,
a mother who was a basketball cheerleader, a brother,
Marcus, who also was a player, and a sister, Candace,
who became a star in the WNBA, there’s no doubt that
Anthony had basketball in his veins.
As all future stars, Parker already stood out in his
high school years in his hometown, and even more at
Bradley University, where he averaged 11.0 points and
4 rebounds in his freshman year. However, a couple of
years later he was already putting up 18.8 points, 6.5
rebounds and 3.5 assists per game. His best weapon
was his three-point shot (42%). You could see he was
a great shooter from the beginning. In 1996, he was a
member of the U22 USA team together with Tim Duncan
and Paul Pierce. In the title game against Canada for
the Americas Championship, he scored 19 points and
helped the USA advance to the 1997 World Championship
for Junior Men.
In the 1997 NBA draft, Parker was selected by the
New Jersey Nets with the 21st pick of the first round
and immediately traded to the Philadelphia 76ers. However,
his NBA dream didn’t become reality because of
injuries and other circumstances. After spending three
seasons between the NBA and the Continental Basketball
Association, Parker made the best decision of his
sports life: He moved to Europe. Likewise, the Old Continent
was fortunate enough to see the arrival of one of
the finest Americans ever to play here.
Parker managed to adapt little by little and produced
a very good season with Israeli League and national cup
titles. But the big achievement was winning the 2000-
01 FIBA SuproLeague in that season of two top-level
competitions on the continent. In the Israeli League,
Parker averaged 14 points (48% three-point shooting),
4.1 rebounds and 2.7 assists. In the SuproLeague he
had similar numbers: 14 points and 5.3 rebounds. The
FIBA Final Four was played in Paris with Maccabi, Panathinaikos,
CSKA Moscow and Efes Pilsen. In the semis,
Maccabi defeated CSKA 86-80 with 17 points from Nate
Huffman and 14 by Parker. In the final, Maccabi beat
Panathinaikos 81-67 in the start of a rivalry that would
mark the start of the 21st century. Huffman and Arriel
McDonald scored 21 apiece, while Parker had 13 points.
Tel Aviv to Rome to Tel Aviv
Parker took a break for the start of the 2002-03 season
to be with his wife for the birth of their first child.
101 greats of european basketball
Anthony Parker
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Vladimir Stankovic
Midway through that season, he decided to return to action
and accepted an offer from Virtus Roma. He played
27 games there, with his usual numbers: 14.5 points,
5.6 rebounds and 2.4 assists. To everyone’s surprise, at
the end of that season, he returned to Maccabi, where
he would become a key player in the coming years, a
true star. I remember a talk with Dusan Ivkovic, coach of
CSKA between 2002 and 2005, in which he admitted to
me that it was a mistake of his not signing Parker, who
had been offered to the Russian club. Parker was a player
that could turn any contender into a champion.
In the 2003-04 season, Maccabi and Zalgiris faced
off in the final game of the EuroLeague Top 16 with a
spot in the Final Four at stake. The game was in Tel Aviv
but Maccabi won 107-99 after Derrick Sharp’s miracle
three-pointer forced overtime. Zalgiris legend Arvydas
Sabonis, who was back to his boyhood club at 40 years
old, was brilliant, and he admitted in his published
memoirs that it was one of the toughest losses of his
career. Maccabi entered the 2004 Final Four in Tel Aviv
as the big favorite, and it lived up to the expectations.
In the semis, Maccabi won 93-85 against a very strong
CSKA team with 27 points from Parker, who had great
shooting accuracy: 7 of 12 twos, 2 of 3 threes and 7 of 8
free throws to go with 6 rebounds and 2 assists. In the
title game, the record-setting 118-74 rout of Skipper
Bologna, Parker scored 21 points in 29 minutes. There
was no doubt about the Final Four MVP: Anthony Parker.
Of course, Parker made the All-EuroLeague First
Team after having averaged 16.0 points, 5.7 rebounds
and 3.5 assists. There would be no season-long MVP
award until the following year, or else Parker might have
won that, too. His career highs in the EuroLeague were
a performance index rating of 47 against ASVEL Villeurbanne
on November 18, 2004, and 33 points in the same
game, plus 10 assists early that year against Zalgiris. It
was a pleasure to see him in action. He had elegance,
technique, shooting, rebounding, passing, blocks and
fighting spirit. Parker was an all-around player, someone
who, even if not winning by himself, could change the
course of a game, set the rhythm and find the path to
victory for his team. And Pini Gershon, his coach those
years, knew how to use those qualities very well.
The 2004-05 season was a copy of the previous one:
a double crown in Israel and another EuroLeague title. At
the 2005 Final Four in Moscow, Maccabi defeated Panathinaikos
in the semis 91-82 with 20 points by Sharp, 14
by Maceo Baston and 13 each by Sarunas Jasikevicius
and Parker. In the championship game, on May 8, Maccabi
outplayed a powerful Tau Ceramica 90-78. Tau,
coached by Dusko Ivanovic, featured Jose Manuel Calderon,
Arvydas Macijauskas, Travis Hansen, Luis Scola,
Pablo Prigioni and Tiago Splitter. However, there was a
great team on the other side: Jasikevicius (22 points in
the final), Baston (18), Nikola Vujcic (13), Nestoras Kommatos
(13), Parker (12 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists), Tal
Burstein (8) and Sharp. With two titles in as many years,
Maccabi became the first team capable of repeating as
EuroLeague champion since Jugoplastika Split had won
three in a row from 1989 to 1991. Although Jasikevicius
was the Final Four MVP, Parker was chosen as the Euro-
League’s first full-season MVP.
In the 2005-06 season, Maccabi just fell short of
matching Jugoplastika’s three-peat. The team reached
the championship game again at the Final Four in
Prague, but CSKA Moscow managed to win that night by
73-69 for its first continental crown in 35 years, a title
that was dedicated to legendary head coach Alexander
Gomelskiy, who had died a few months earlier. Parker,
however, claimed his second full-season EuroLeague
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MVP award in a row for another spectacular campaign.
He remains the only player in that award’s first 13 years
to win it twice, let alone back to back.
A brilliant NBA return
For the 2006-07 season, Parker, at 31 years old,
returned to the NBA. But in some ways, we could say
that he had signed for the Toronto Raptors on October
16, 2005. Maccabi, as EuroLeague champion, was on
a North American tour. It’s true that the Raptors were
in the middle of the preseason, but nobody in Toronto
expected such a tough game and such a tough loss.
With 11 seconds to go and the score tied at 103-103,
the 17,281 fans in the Raptors’ arena saw the best of
Anthony Parker. The ball was in his hands on the right
side of the court and it was clear that he would take it
one-on-one. Morris Peterson’s defense looked good,
but Parker used a side-step move to pull up for a favorite,
high-arced shot of his. It was an impeccable shot,
as if taken from a manual, one that youngsters should
study to see perfection on an individual play. And, of
course, it was good. Parker finished the game with 24
points and said after, “It was really fun, it’s fun to be
part of history.”
It was the first loss by an NBA team at home against
a team from Europe and the first such defeat, home or
away, in more than 20 years since Maccabi itself had
beaten Phoenix and New Jersey two nights apart in
Tel Aviv during the 1984 preseason. Previously, Maccabi
had also beaten the NBA defending champion
Washington Bullets 98-97 in Tel Aviv in September of
1978. The big Jewish community in Toronto celebrated
the magnificent win for Maccabi and was even happier
when they learned that Parker would play with the Raptors
in 2006.
At Maccabi, he wore number 8 and in Toronto, he
wore 18, the Hebrew number symbolizing life. Soon, he
was in Toronto’s starting five, earning the respect of his
teammates, the media and opponents. He averaged
12.4 points, 3.9 rebounds and 1.3 assists. He was the
team leader in three-point accuracy (44.1%) and ranked
fourth in the league. Call it a coincidence or not, but
that season Toronto was a division champion for the
first time and was back in the playoffs after a four-year
absence.
In three seasons in Toronto, Parker played 243 regular
season games out of the possible 246 and shot
44.1%, 43.8% and 39.0%, respectively, from threepoint
distance. After the third season, he would go
back home to the United States on a three-year deal
with the Cleveland Cavaliers. He lowered his scoring
numbers (7.3, 8.3 and 7.2) but he shot his threes just
as well: 43.4%, 39.9% and 36.2% in his last active season,
2011-12. In two stints, he had totaled nine seasons
in the NBA with 494 games, averaging 9.1 points and
shooting 40.4% on threes. In 22 playoff games, (11 with
Toronto in two seasons and 11 more with Cleveland in
one) Parker shot 43.4% on threes and averaged 10.9
points. His highest scoring game was 27 points against
the Chicago Bulls in 2007. He announced the end of his
playing career on June 27, 2012, and shortly thereafter
signed with Orlando as a scout.
Anthony Parker was a great player who shined in
Europe, Canada and – eventually – at home.
101 greats of european basketball
Anthony Parker
P

Zarko
Paspalj
247

The man who
changed the Greek
League
Greece became the 1987 European national
champion in Piraeus and during
that decade discovered its biggest
star in Nikos Galis, who arrived from
the United States to give a big boost to
Greek basketball. However, experts may
debate whether the big explosion of the Greek League
started with the arrival of Zarko Paspalj. Simply put,
he was the first foreign superstar to play in the league.
After him, many followed, and Greek teams have since
won the EuroLeague title eight times. But someone
had to be the first to show the others the way.
Paspalj coming to Olympiacos in September of 1991
was the first stone of a big project that sought to turn
the Greek League into one of the best in Europe. I was a
direct witness to Paspalj’s arrival. Back then, I was the
director of Kos, a basketball magazine in Belgrade, and
I was invited to his presentation in Athens. I traveled together
with Zarko and his wife Milka. Not even he knew
what was in store for him. In the old Athens airport, in
the Glyfada area, thousands of fans were awaiting their
new idol. The famous trumpet with the well-known
melody of the Olympiacos fans welcomed the new star.
The official act was also spectacular. Without scoring
a single point or even wearing the jersey, Paspalj was
already a superstar.
It’s true that Paspalj came to Olympiacos, at 25 years
old, with an already successful career. He was a member
of the great Yugoslav national team; he had played
in a more-than-talented Partizan club; and he had been
among the European pioneers in the NBA. A highly-rated
player, Paspalj was a modern forward, a player ahead of
his time. With a height of 2.07 meters, he was a forward
by definition, but he was very versatile and fast, with
big hands. He was left-handed, which always made it a
little more difficult for defenders. He had a good shot,
but his speed allowed him to get quick fastbreak points. I
already lost count of the times I saw, in both Partizan and
the Yugoslav national team, Vlade Divac take a rebound
and fire a long pass to his great friend Paspalj, who was
already on his way to the opponent’s basket. His talent
would serve to revolutionize basketball in Greece.
“He is one of the most important foreign players in
the history of Greek basketball, and many people here
think that Paspalj has to be ranked No. 1 for everything
he has done for his teams and the whole Greek
basketball system,” my colleague, the eminent Greek
basketball journalist Vassilis Skountis, told me. “But it
was not only his basketball class and his special style as
a left-hander and a point-scoring machine. The fans fell
in love with him because of his personality, dedication
and great character.”
From Podgorica to Belgrade
Zarko Paspalj is Montenegrin, born on March 27 of
1966 in the small town of Pljevlja, like the great coach
Bogdan Tanjevic. When he was 10 years old, his family
moved to Podgorica, where Zarko started playing for
the youth categories at Buducnost. There, he met Luka
Pavicevic and Zdravko Radulovic, two future stars of
Yugoslav basketball. Paspalj made his debut in the first
division at only 17 years old, in the 1983-84 season,
101 greats of european basketball
Zarko Paspalj
P

Vladimir Stankovic
thanks to an unusual situation. Due to some administrative
problem, Buducnost had to play a game in Belgrade
without its starters, and coach Cedomir Djuraskovic was
forced to take some kids with him, Zarko among them.
After that game, Paspalj never left the first team again.
He was already on the radar of the flawless scouting
system of the Yugoslav federation. In the 1983 European
Championship for Cadets, which took place in
Ludwigsburg, Germany, Paspalj was a player who stood
out amidst a very good generation of players. Branislav
Prelevic, Jure Zdovc, Miroslav Pecarski, Ivo Nakic, Ivica
Mavrenksi, Pavicevic, Paspalj and the rest were crowned
champs after winning the final against Spain, with Juan
Antonio Orenga, Antonio Martin and Rafa Jofresa, after
two overtimes. The score had been 70-70 after regulation
time and 78-78 after the first extra session. It ended 89-
86 as Paspalj contributed 13 points, going 5 for 6 on free
throws in the overtimes. It was his first important title.
From that moment on, Paspalj was on the agenda
of the best Yugoslav teams. In 1986, he was about to
sign for Bosna Sarajevo, like Radulovic. He was already
in Sarajevo, in fact, when Partizan, in a turning of the
tables worthy of a movie script, managed to “kidnap”
him and take him to Belgrade, where he signed for Partizan.
The reason for his “kidnapping” was the project
to build a great team. Partizan already had players like
Sasha Djordjevic, Slavisa Koprivica, Milenko Savovic
and Goran Grbovic, but in that same summer of 1986,
sports director Dragan Kicanovic managed also to sign
Vlade Divac, Ivo Nakic, Zeljko Obradovic and Paspalj.
There is no doubt that his stint at Partizan was key to
Paspalj’s career. He was a member of the men’s national
team at the 1987 EuroBasket and won a bronze medal
while averaging 10.6 points. He averaged the same 10.6
points in taking a silver medal at the 1988 Olympics in
Seoul. For his first European national title, won in Zagreb
the next summer, his scoring rose to 13.8 points
per game. The following year, Yugoslavia was the 1990
World Cup champion in Argentina with Paspalj averaging
13 points. And at the 1991 EuroBasket in Italy, where
Yugoslavia played with all its players for the last time, he
averaged 9.4 points. Paspalj played the same position
as Toni Kukoc, but for coach Dusan Ivkovic it was a real
luxury to have two modern and versatile players like Toni
and Palja, as Paspalj was nicknamed by his friends.
A god in Greece
While at Partizan, Paspalj won a Yugoslav League
title (1987), a national cup (1989) and a Korac Cup
(1989), against Cantu. The team was also in the first
EuroLeague Final Four in Ghent in 1988, where they finished
third. The final of the Korac Cup was played in two
games. In Cantu, the hosts were led by Kent Benson (24
points), Antonello Riva (19) and Pierluigi Marzorati (9) in
defeating Partizan 89-76 despite Divac’s 28 points, 22
by Djordjevic, 11 by Paspalj and 10 by Predrag Danilovic.
In the second game, the old arena in New Belgrade was
a full-on party. A 101-82 win for Partizan featured 30
points by Divac and 22 by Paspalj.
In 1989, together with Divac and Petrovic, Paspalj
started his NBA adventure. He signed for the San Antonio
Spurs, but after 28 games he was back at Partizan.
Paspalj had averaged only 6.5 minutes and 2.6 points
in the NBA. Those were different times and European
players still didn’t have the trust of American coaches.
Petrovic underwent similar problems while in Portland
and he had to wait until he moved to New Jersey to
show his real level.
After another solid season in Belgrade, Paspalj accepted
the offer from Olympiacos and, apart from having
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signed with Partizan in 1986, made the best decision of
his career. In Greece, he became a real god on the court.
Olympiacos had finished the previous season in eighth
place, and so to build a new team with high ambitions, the
best thing to do was to sign a great player. Paspalj obliged
with a brilliant season. He was the best scorer in the country,
with an average of 33.7 points, and took Olympiacos
to the Greek League finals, although PAOK Thessaloniki
won the title. In his second year with the Reds, he led the
team to its first league title in 15 years. Paspalj was the
best player on a great team with Walter Berry, Dragan Tarlac,
Panagiotis Fasoulas, Giorgos Sigalas and Milan Tomic.
Against Aris, Paspalj scored 44 points, but his Greek
League record was 56 points against Dafni.
In the 1993-94 season, Olympiacos reached its first
Final Four, in Tel Aviv. In the all-Greek semifinals, Olympiacos
defeated archrival Panathinaikos by the score of
77-72 with 22 points by Paspalj and 21 by Roy Tarpley. In
the title game, Olympiacos fell to Joventut Badalona 59-
57. Paspalj, who scored 16 points, probably is not fond
of remembering that game because he missed 2 free
throws and a subsequent shot off the offensive rebound
that would have forced overtime. A few weeks earlier, he
had made 23 of 23 free throws in a Greek League game.
Maybe it was this game that caused him to switch
teams to ... Panathinaikos! It was a shocking decision,
but Paspalj took on the challenge and played a good
season that had a happy ending for him. Yugoslavia,
after three years of sanctions, was back on the international
scene and continued where it had left it off
in 1991, with a gold medal at the 1995 EuroBasket in
Athens. In the unforgettable final game against Lithuania,
which Yugoslavia won by a score of 96-90, Paspalj
scored 5 points, below his tournament average of 8.0
plus 2.7 rebounds, but he was happy anyway.
The following year, after having a very good season
with Panionios, where he played for Dusan Ivkovic, his
favorite coach, Paspalj almost opened the NBA doors for
himself again at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. In the final
against a very powerful Team USA (Gary Payton, Reggie
Miller, Scottie Pippen, Hakeem Olajuwon, John Stockton,
Penny Hardaway, Charles Barkley, David Robinson,
Shaquille O’Neal), Paspalj scored 19 points, 16 of them in
the first half, after which the Americans were leading by
just 5 points, 43-38. The Atlanta Hawks invited Paspalj to
their summer camp, but since he was not offered a guaranteed
contract, he remained in Europe. He signed with
Racing Paris and helped the team lift the French League
title for the first time in 43 years. His last trophy, the Greek
Cup, he won with Aris in the 1997-98 season. Paspalj put
an end to his career at Kinder Bologna in 1998-99 with a
humble average – by Paspalj’s standards –of 5.4 points
and 3.7 rebounds. He retired at 32 years old.
In his last seasons, his shooting was not what it
had once been, as if something had happened to his
body. Maybe it was a sign that his health was not in top
condition. In March of 2005, he suffered a heart attack
and was hospitalized. After that, he underwent several
more crises and had to undergo surgery to have a pacemaker
installed.
Between 2003 and 2005 he was the director of the
Yugoslavia national team coached by Zeljko Obradovic.
From 2009 and 2017, Paspalj served as the vice president
of the Serbian Olympic Committee, presided over
by his friend, Divac. He lives in Belgrade. Paspalj is a
joyful person, loved by everyone around him. Those
who have not seen him play should look for some videos
on the Internet. They will see a true superstar who
changed the Greek League.
101 greats of european basketball
Zarko Paspalj
P

Modestas
Paulauskas
251

The first
Lithuanian “king”
It was early April 1964. FIBA had just inaugurated
its first European Championship for Junior Men
in Naples, Italy. Only eight teams took part in
that tourney – Spain, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia,
Bulgaria, Italy, France, Poland and the USSR
– and in the title game, the Soviet team defeated
France 62-41. The first player to receive the trophy
was number 10, Modestas Paulauskas, who was
born in Kretinga, Lithuania on March 19, 1945. He
had just scored 14 points in the final that would
make the USSR the first junior champ in Europe.
It was a lot less than his average of 21.2 points –
against Yugoslavia, he had scored 36 and against
host Italy, 26 – but enough to be chosen, unofficially,
as the MVP of the tourney.
Ranko Zeravica, at the helm of the Yugoslav team,
said when he got back home that he had just seen
“a phenomenal player.” From that USSR generation,
aside from Paulauskas, there would be another
player to leave a strong mark in basketball, Zurab
Sakandelidze. But at the same tournament, there
were other interesting players and future superstars,
like Aldo Ossola and Carlo Recalcati for Italy,
Jiri Zednicek of Czechoslovakia, Bogdan Tanjevic of
Yugoslavia (even though he would become better
known as a coach), and Vicente Ramos and Juan
Martinez for Spain.
Many years later, Paulauskas revealed that it was
fate that drove him to this title. The Soviet team, for
some reason, missed the flight that was to take them
to the tournament. That plane crashed and left no survivors.
The young players avoided the tragedy and also
won the European Championship. Only a year later, at
the 1965 EuroBasket for men, Paulauskas was already
a big star. In the final, a 58-49 win over Yugoslavia, he
was the top scorer of his team with 16 points. He was
named MVP of the tournament with an average of 13.8
points. He was just 20 years old. He was a shooting
guard by size (1.94 meters) but he was able to play
point guard or, due to his great rebounding skills, small
forward. It was clear that the USSR had a true star for
the future.
Unforgettable Munich
In the next nine years, the USSR would win three
more EuroBasket golds (1967, 1969, 1971) and a
bronze medal (1973) with Paulauskas, as well as the
World Cup gold (1974, Puerto Rico) and bronze (1970,
Ljubljana) medals, an Olympic gold (1972, Munich) and
an Olympic bronze (1968, Mexico City). Paulauskas
lacks titles at the club level because he spent his entire
career, from 1962 to 1976, with Zalgiris Kaunas,
which was always behind CSKA Moscow and Spartak
St. Petersburg in those years. However, his wish was
to stay with the club he started with, and so he did. “I
had offers from CSKA and Spartak, but I didn’t want to
leave my club or my city,” he said many times. “It was
my choice and I don’t regret it.”
If he was short on titles with Zalgiris, he had no
room for more with the national team. He shined in
each and every tournament that he played. In the
final of the 1967 EuroBasket in Helsinki, against
Czechoslovakia, an 89-77 victory, he scored 19
points, even though the MVP was Jiri Zednicek, his
101 greats of european basketball
Modestas Paulauskas
P

Vladimir Stankovic
peer from that first junior tournament in 1964. In the
final of the 1969 EuroBasket in Naples, his favorite
city, the USSR beat Yugoslavia by the score of 81-72,
with 20 points from Paulauskas and also 20 by big
man Vladimir Andreev, even though the MVP of the
tourney was Sergei Belov, another great. After a dip
at the 1970 World Cup in Ljubljana, where the USSR
“only” took the bronze (11.4 points for Paulauskas),
at the next EuroBasket, in Essen, Germany, the USSR
beat Yugoslavia again in the final game, 69-64, with
12 points by Paulauskas and 16 by Alzhan Zharmukhamedov.
The all-tournament team was formed
by Belov, Paulauskas, Edward Jurkiewicz of Poland,
Kreso Cosic of Yugoslavia and Atanas Golomeev of
Bulgaria.
At the Mexico City Olympics of 1968, the USSR
lost to Yugoslavia in the semis and took the bronze
with an average of 16 points by Paulauskas. But four
years later, at the 1972 Olympics in Munich, the gold
would go to the Soviets. The final against the United
States will always be infamous for the last three
seconds being replayed on orders by FIBA secretary
general William Jones due to a mistake by the official’s
table. The USSR turned an apparent 50-49 loss
into a 51-50 victory thanks to a basket by Alexander
Belov. Paulauskas only scored 3 points that day, on
3 of 4 free throws, but he was one of the team’s best
rebounders at 3.9 per game during the tournament.
Even though he normally puts all his triumphs and
medals at the same level, Paulauskas admits that
Munich does have a privileged spot in his memories:
“Because of the circumstances, its importance, the
rival... basically because of everything implied by
beating the United States in an Olympic final, Munich
1972 is something unforgettable,” Paulauskas
said in an interview with a Lithuanian newspaper in
2005.
Best sportsman seven times
For Lithuanian basketball connoisseurs today, the
basketball stars from that country are Arvydas Sabonis,
Sarunas Jasikevicius, Arturas Karnisovas, Sarunas
Marculionis, Valdemaras Chomicius and Rimas
Kurtinaitis. But for those with older memories, the first
great Lithuanian was Modestas Paulauskas, a complete
player. For coaches, he was like life insurance,
a player who never let you down. Of course, he could
not always play at the highest level, but he never went
down to a point that he was not recognizably himself
on the court. His averages in big competitions were
always similar, the minimum was 11.1 points in Munich
1972 and the maximum was 17.0 points at the 1969
EuroBasket. His average in FIBA competitions was
13.7, just like in most of the tournaments he played.
His popularity in Lithuania was huge. He was named
the best sportsman in Lithuania seven times between
1965 and 1972, only missing the distinction in 1968.
The first “king” of Lithuanian basketball retired at just
32 years old because he felt that “the batteries had
run dry”. He stayed in basketball as a coach, but far
from the spotlight. “Maybe destiny had it for me to be
a player and not a coach,” Paulauskas said. “Just as it
decided that we did not catch that plane in 1964.”
In 1991, FIBA chose Paulauskas among the best 50
players of all time. In that list (until 1991, of course)
there are 12 names from the former Yugoslavia and
10 from the USSR: Sergei Belov, Alexander Belov, Stepas
Butautas, Otar Korkia, Sarunas Marculionis, Anatoly
Myshkin, Modestas Paulauskas, Arvydas Sabonis,
Alexander Volkov and Viktor Zubkov.
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As the first of the three most important things
in his life, Paulauskas highlights the fact that he was
raised in a sports family, with elder brothers and one
of his sisters having been athletes as well. In second
place, he names his club, Zalgiris, and in third, his family.
He was once asked, if it was really a second religion
in Lithuania, who was the god of basketball? His answer:
“Many, but today I would say Arvydas Sabonis. I
admire his talent and I even feel a little envy.”
Paulauskas had his childhood idols in Stepas
Butautas and Stasys Stonkus, the best Lithuanian
players in the early 1960s. Talking about talent, Paulauskas
believes that nowadays in basketball “there is
more desire than talent.” He thinks that a sportsman,
to succeed, aside from talent, has to be hungry and
ready to sacrifice himself.
And if anybody wants to see a very talented player,
versatile, able to play as many as four positions, try to
track down a video of Paulauskas in his prime. One of
the greats.
Modestas Paulauskas
101 greats of european basketball
P

Velimir
Perasovic
255

The professional
scorer
In the history of European cups, there are few players
who can say that they played in six finals and
won four of them. One such player is Velimir Perasovic,
who was born on February 9, 1965, in Stobrec,
Croatia. He was a triple EuroLeague champ
with Jugoplastika (1989, 1990, 1991), a Saporta
Cup champ in 1996 with Taugres Vitoria, and also a
finalist in the latter competition in 1994 and 1995. If
we add his titles with the Yugoslav and Croatian national
teams, and his individual marks with his teams
in Yugoslavia and Spain, we have the story of one of
the most-crowned players in the history of European
basketball.
In a brilliant career that lasted for 24 years, Perasovic
was always an outstanding scorer, a killer in whom
his coaches always showed the utmost confidence. He
played alongside other great scorers, like Toni Kukoc
and Dusko Ivanovic in Split, or Drazen Petrovic, Zarko
Paspalj, Sasha Djordjevic, Predrag Danilovic and Danko
Cvjeticanin on the national teams. But many times, the
last shot was for Perasovic. He had an excellent shot, a
wonderful touch. Curiously enough, of the hundreds
of baskets by him that I saw live or on TV, the one that
I remember the most is a triple that beat the buzzer...in
the first half. In the 1990 EuroLeague final in Zaragoza,
Jugoplastika was always ahead but the difference was
slim, and it always looked like FC Barcelona could come
back at any given moment. With seconds left in the first
half, Jugoplastika was winning 37-36, but Barcelona had
the ball and the chance to hit the locker rooms ahead on
the scoreboard. But they missed their shot, and the ball
made it to Perasovic’s hands. He ran a few meters and,
from mid-court, shot and hit the three-pointer for a 40-
36 lead at the break. It was one of those shots that affect
opponents psychologically. In the second half, Barcelona
was always behind and, in the end, lost 70-65.
Alongside Drazen
The great Drazen Petrovic was only three months
older than Perasovic. Drazen was born in October of
1964 and Peras, as almost everybody calls him, in the
winter of 1965. They belonged to the same generation.
In some ways, this worked against Perasovic because
Petrovic was a true star on the court and also a media
reference point. But, while they played together for 11
years on the national teams of Yugoslavia and Croatia,
Peras earned his place in the basketball history of both
countries.
If I remember correctly, we heard the name Perasovic
for the first time when the Yugoslav federation
announced the list of players for the 1981 European
Championship for Cadets in Athens. The names were
Drazen Petrovic, Stojko Vrankovic, Zoran Sretenovic,
Sasa Radunovic and Velimir Perasovic, among others.
Drazen wowed everyone by averaging 32.4 points, and
he surpassed 40 points three times. But Perasovic averaged
13 points and he caught everyone’s attention, too.
Despite being a great team, Yugoslavia finished fifth.
In the 1981-82 season, Perasovic made his debut with
Jugoplastika’s first team, but in the Yugoslavian second
division. In 1982, the same generation of players plus
Cvjeticanin and Goran Sobin won the silver medal at the
1983 European Championship for Junior Men. Perasovic
took part in the 1983 World Championship for Junior
Velimir Perasovic
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Vladimir Stankovic
Men in Spain (13.9 points) and in 1984 he still played at
the European Championship for Junior Men in Sweden,
alongside Jure Zdovc, Zarko Paspalj, Ivo Nakic and Miroslav
Pecarski, among others. They won the silver medal
and Perasovic had an average of 24.7 points. On his club
team, Jugoplastika, he was already a steady starter with
17.5 points per game in 1984-85 and 25.5 in 1985-86.
Mastered by Maljkovic
The arrival of Boza Maljkovic to the Jugoplastika
bench was key, not only for the club but also for most
of its young players. Signing Dusko Ivanovic to have an
expert player on a very young team, Maljkovic achieved
the balance he was striving for between the enormous
talent he had seen – in Toni Kukoc, Radja, Peras, Sobin
and the others – and their lack of experience. But, before
turning his pupils into stars, the players had to
suffer and work hard. Perasovic himself, in an interview
for the official website of the Spanish League at the end
of his career in 2004, remembered the beginnings of
his relationship with Maljkovic:
“We had Boza sitting on our bench. Without a
doubt, he was the best coach I ever had and the one
who left the biggest impression on me. But, mind you, I
hated his guts because he mistreated me sports-wise.
I had many sleepless nights thinking he had something
against me. However, he was only trying to get the best
out of me. He said I had blood in my eyes and that he
should be able to control it. I don’t know what he does
today, but then he didn’t allow for the slightest mistake.
He was very tough, and he always got the best out of
us. I learned a lot from him.”
The fruits of that work with Maljkovic arrived soon:
four straight Yugoslav League titles (from 1988 through
1991), two Yugoslav Cups (1990 and 1991) and three
EuroLeague titles (1989 to 1991). In four years, they
won nine top trophies. Perasovic was not the hero in
any of the three European finals – against Maccabi in
1989 he scored 1 point; against Barcelona in 1990, he
had 12; and in 1991 he had 6 points – but on such a great
team that was logical. Kukoc, Radja, Ivanovic, Zoran
Savic, Sretenovic, Luka Pavicevic, Sobin, youngsters
Zan Tabak and Petar Naumoski formed a great team
that dominated Europe for three years, something that
has not been matched since then.
The competition to make the Yugoslav national
team was tough, and Perasovic was left off the 1988
Olympics runner-up roster in Seoul and the title-winning
1989 EuroBasket team in Zagreb. But coach Dusan
Ivkovic could not leave Peras out for the 1990 World
Cup in Buenos Aires. The backcourt, formed by Petrovic,
Zdovc, Zeljko Obradovic and Perasovic, worked
flawlessly. They came back as world champs and Peras
averaged 8.4 points per game. The following year, he
would add the EuroBasket champions’ title in Rome
to an already impressive résumé, scoring 9 points per
game in the last competition of the great Yugoslavia
teams. Before wearing the Croatia jersey, Perasovic
had played 62 games with Yugoslavia (plus 43 in youth
categories) with a total 669 points.
Scoring king in Spain
During the 1991-92 season, due to the war in Yugoslavia,
FIBA made Partizan, Cibona and Slobodna Dalmacija
(the new name of Jugoplastika) to play outside of
their countries. The three of them chose Spain. Slobodna
played in La Coruña, Cibona in Puerto Real and Partizan
in Fuenlabrada. In the duel against Cibona – they
were in the same group – Perasovic scored 45 points, his
personal record in Europe! Against Caserta, he scored
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37. Perasovic finished that season with 25.8 points on
average. He was the last of the Mohicans from the great
Jugoplastika. Before leaving Split, he played with Croatia
in the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona and won the silver
medal (7.9 points) together with Petrovic, Kukoc, Radja,
Vrankovic, Cvjeticanin and Arijan Komazec. A humble
Spanish team, Breogan, had a better sense than some
big European clubs and signed Peras in his prime, at 27
years old. At the end of the season, after his 24.5-point
average made him the Spanish League’s top scorer, many
noticed the diamond in their midst. His good season
ended at the 1993 EuroBasket in Germany with a bronze
medal for Croatia, thanks to his 19.1 points per game.
The smartest team was Taugres Vitoria. Coincidence
or not, in the same season that it signed Perasovic, the
team reached its first European final. In Lausanne on
March 15, 1994, the Saporta Cup final between Union
Olimpija and Taugres took place. Olimpija won, 91-81
thanks to some unbelievable three-point accuracy,
especially by Roman Horvat, who scored 33 points
including 9 of 14 threes. He was well accompanied by
Dusan Hauptman with 27 points. On the other side,
Ken Bannister scored 32 points and Peras had 22. I was
at that game and what impressed me the most was the
love of the Vitoria fans for their team despite the loss.
In March of 1995, Peras and Taugres won their first
trophy, the Spanish King’s Cup. In the final tourney,
played in Granada, the team from Vitoria defeated Joventut
96-89 in the quarterfinals. In the semis, the team
dealt with the Real Madrid of coach Zeljko Obradovic and
Arvydas Sabonis – the same team that three months
later would be EuroLeague champ – by the score of 86-
79 with a nearly perfect Perasovic: 34 points with 6 of 8
two-pointers, 4 of 4 threes and 10 of 11 free throws in 40
minutes. In the final, Taugres defeated CAI Zaragoza 88-
80. Perasovic and Marcelo Nicola had 17 points apiece,
Pablo Laso added 11. The MVP of the tournament, you
ask? Well, of course, it was Velimir Perasovic.
On March 12, 1996, in Vitoria, I was a witness to the
first European trophy for Baskonia. The third final was
the charm. At home, with its great fans, Taugres defeated
PAOK Thessaloniki with a great game by Ramon
Rivas, who scored 31 points. Nicola added 19 points
and Perasovic had 17. Branislav Prelevic shined for the
Greek team with 34 points and young Peja Stojakovic
confirmed his talent with 20 points. It was Perasovic’s
sixth European final and his fourth title at the club level.
With Croatia, he won the bronze medal in the 1995
EuroBasket in Athens, scoring 10.5 points on average.
At the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, his contribution was a
modest 2.7 points and Croatia finished seventh. Back
at the 1997 EuroBasket in Spain, his average rose again
to 12.0 points, but Croatia dropped to 11th place. That
year, at 32 years old, he signed with Fuenlabrada. He
was like good wine: he improved with age.
In the 1998-99 season, he was again the Spanish
League’s top scorer with 22.5 points per game. He repeated
that award in 2000-01 and 2001-02 with 22.9
and 22.4 points, respectively. In 2002, he signed for
Lucentum Alicante, where he put an end to his brilliant
career two years later after having averaged 17.9 points
at 37 years old. In his 11 seasons in the Spanish League,
Perasovic put in 7,387 points and still ranks ninth all-time
in total scoring. He averaged 20.9 points over 354 games
and played more than 12,000 minutes. He is the fourth
best three-point shooter with 882 made, after Alberto
Herreros Juan Carlos Navarro and Alex Mumbru – all of
whom played at least 300 more games than Peras.
As a player, he was a natural born scorer. As a coach,
Velimir Perasovic is a winner.
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Velimir Perasovic
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Drazen
Petrovic
259

An unfinished
symphony
It was in the fall of 1979 when I heard the name of
Drazen Petrovic for the first time. The one who uttered
it, before a group of journalists at a game in
Belgrade, was Zoran “Moka” Slavnic, who by then
was a player-coach at Sibenka. “In Sibenik there
is a kid who will be better than me or Dragan Kicanovic,”
Slavnic said. “He is a natural-born talent and
he also has a great work ethic. He is very ambitious
and does unbelievable things. His name is Drazen
Petrovic. Remember this name.”
And I did remember. Some months later, in a game on
December 29, 1979, between Sibenka and OOK Belgrade,
Drazen Petrovic scored his first points in the Yugoslav
first division. Slavnic had left the court and substituted
himself with the kid who would become a legend. With his
first basket, Petrovic showed his character to everyone.
He crossed the paint, found 2.01-meter big man Rajko
Zizic in the way, and with a combination of courage and
easiness – the virtues of the greats – Petrovic dropped a
hook shot. He was 15 years, 2 months and 7 days old.
At the 1981 European Championship for Cadets in
Greece, despite being part of a strong class of players
– Velimir Perasovic, Stojan Vrankovic, Zoran Sretenovic,
Sasa Radunovic and others – Drazen was already the
undisputed leader. There was no TV at the tournament,
but we could follow his records through the press: 31
points against Finland, 41 against Spain, 42 against
Israel, 37 against France and 43 against Greece. He totaled
227 points, averaging 32.5. A star was born.
That was the launch of a brilliant career that, unfortunately,
lasted for just 14 years. On June 7, 1993, a car
accident on a German highway put an end to the life of
a great basketball player. Petrovic was only 28 years old
and still had many brilliant seasons ahead of him. As a
matter of fact, the 1992-93 season had been his best in
the NBA, as he played 70 games with the New Jersey
Nets, averaging 22.3 points and securing a spot on the
All-NBA team. That season he also had great numbers
from beyond the arc – 75 of 167 for an accuracy of 45%.
He was about to sign a new contract.
His job: winner
His talent exploded in the 1981-82 season, which he
finished with a 16.3-point scoring average in the Yugoslav
League. The next season, he went on to become the
clear leader of Sibenka, with an average of 24.5 points.
Unfortunately, that great 1982-83 season finished with
a scandal in the finals between Sibenka and Bosna. The
third and final game of the series was played at Sibenka,
the regular season champion. In the final minutes,
and after losing a 19-point advantage because of Drazen’s
scoring, Bosna was only one point ahead, 82-81,
and the last possession was for the hosts. With 2 seconds
to go, young Petrovic got the ball, pulled up and
... missed the shot. The end? No, because the referee
called a foul on Sabit Hadzic, sending Drazen to the foul
line. With the roar of the crowd in the stands and after
a long timeout, Petrovic, as the champion that he was,
hit both attempts to give himself 40 points and win the
game, 83-82. The champion received his trophy and
the city of Sibenik celebrated all night long.
Early the next morning, an emergency meeting of
the executive body of the basketball federation concluded
that, due to a “the clear mistake by the referee,”
101 greats of european basketball
Drazen Petrovic
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Vladimir Stankovic
the final result was nullified and the game had to be
replayed one week later on neutral ground in the city
of Novi Sad. It was one o’clock in the afternoon and the
Petrovic family still had not awoken from the previous
long night when I told them the bad news. First, I told
Biserka, and after her, Drazen. His answer was fast and
sure: “I am not going to Novi Sad, and I don’t think the
rest of the team will either. We are the champions and
nobody will take this title away from us. “
Said and done. Sibenka never appeared in Novi Sad
and Bosna was declared champion without even playing
the game.
The coach of Sibenka those days, Vlado Djurovic, explained
Petrovic’s winning character some years later
when he told me some details about that famous final.
“During the timeout before the free throws, I begged
Drazen to score only the first one and miss the second
so that we could play overtime. We had the feeling that
there would be trouble, and we were convinced that
we would win easily in the extra period. But no. Drazen
didn’t want to miss a free throw on purpose.”
With Sibenka, Petrovic lost two Korac Cup finals,
both against the same rival, Limoges of France. My
guess is that he wanted revenge on the French team
and that’s why on January 23, 1986, in a Cibona vs.
Limoges game in the EuroLeague, he did everything he
could. In minute 13, with a score of 43-27, things looked
bad for Cibona, but then Drazen had one of his unforgettable
moments. He scored 7 straight three-pointers
on 7 straight possessions! Cibona ended up winning,
116-106. Drazen finished with 51 points after shooting
70% from the field, but he also had 10 assists.
Drazen’s Cibona team won the EuroLeague twice
and then also won a Saporta Cup. Every home game he
played drew 12,000 fans. Those were the years when
my Italian colleague Enrico Campana, from La Gazzetta
dello Sport, called him “Mozart” for the first time. Soon
after, Drazen gave his café-bar in the Cibona arena the
name “Amadeus”.
Collector of records
In 1988, after the Olympic Games in Seoul, Petrovic’s
cycle in the former Yugoslavia came to an end after 197
games with Sibenka and Cibona. He had combined for
5,113 points between them, an average of 26.0 points
per game. Drazen was searching for new challenges
and Real Madrid of Spain became his destination. He
played a great season with impressive numbers (28.2
points in 36 regular-season and 11 playoff games). But
one of his best games ever came in the final of the Saporta
Cup in Athens, against Snaidero Caserta of Italy.
He scored 62 points to win a direct duel with Oscar
Schmidt, one of the best shooters ever in world basketball.
Drazen’s personal scoring record was 112 points
for Cibona against Olimpija Ljubljana, even though it’s
worth noting that Olimpija was sanctioned to play that
game with junior players.
I was a witness to Petrovic’s debut with the Yugoslav
senior national team at the 1983 EuroBasket in Limoges
and Nantes, France. He was the youngest player on
the team. On one side, there were legends in the sunset
of their careers – Kresimir Cosic, Dragan Kicanovic or
erstwhile coach, Slavnic – and on the other Drazen, the
new star. His debut did not end very happily because
Yugoslavia finished seventh. The following year, at the
1984 Los Angeles Olympics, Yugoslavia won the bronze
medal after having lost to Spain in semis. It was his first
big trophy if we ignore the “lost” league title of 1983.
At the 1986 World Cup in Spain, where Yugoslavia
won the bronze medal, Petrovic was already an
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international star. It was the same as at the 1987
EuroBasket in Athens (bronze) or the 1988 Olympics
(silver). Finally, the gold arrived at the 1989 EuroBasket
in Zagreb, on the court where he had starred from
1984 to 1988, winning everything that could be won
with Cibona. His EuroBasket scoring average was 30
points. The following year, at the 1990 World Cup in
Buenos Aires, he won the gold again – and it would be
his last one. Drazen had landed at the tournament as
an NBA player already, after a not-so-happy debut with
the Portland Trail Blazers, where coach Rick Adelman
never trusted him.
After seven years with the Yugoslav national team,
Petrovic had played 135 games and had scored 2,830
points. Ahead of him, with many more games played,
were only Drazen Dalipagic, Dragan Kicanovic, Kresimir
Cosic and Radivoj Korac. But if we add up all Petrovic’s
points in all categories of the national team, Drazen is
the top scorer with 3,979 points. His 47 points against
the Netherlands in Spain in 1986 are still his best individual
mark. He scored more than 30 points 27 times
and more than 20 points 75 times. Of his 135 games
with the national team, he was the top scorer on 79
occasions. He was a truly relentless scoring machine.
Starting in 1992, he played a total of 40 games for
the Croatian national team and scored 1,004 points
(25.1 per game). He won the silver medal at the 1992
Olympics in Barcelona, a great prize for him and his
teammates.
Legacy left too early
His last game with the Croatian team was in Wroclaw,
Poland, on June 6, 1993, in a qualifying tournament for
EuroBasket in Germany later that summer. There he
scored his last 30 points, against Slovenia. The following
day, destiny led Petrovic to make a fateful decision.
Instead of going back to Zagreb with his teammates, he
decided to spend a couple days off in Germany with a
friend, where he died in that tragic car crash.
What kind of person was Drazen Petrovic? I would
say that there were two personalities inside him. On the
court, he was a lion who didn’t fear anything or anyone.
But in his private life he was quiet, well-mannered and
kind. Basketball was his life. Maybe he took practices
too far, but that made him happy. Coaches helped him
with the technical work, but most of what he accomplished,
he did on his own. When it was time to practice,
he never seemed to get enough. Starting in his junior
years in Sibenik, he maintained an unbelievable pace.
He arrived at 7 in the morning, before going to school,
taking several hundred free throws every day.
What kind of player was Drazen Petrovic? He was an
individualist, great at going one-on-one, with a perfect
shot, speed and strength, especially in his final NBA
years. He played primarily as a playmaker and did so
very well, even though he preferred being the shooting
guard. He was the classic killer who could almost beat
a team by himself. Was he also arrogant, egocentric
and selfish? Maybe in some moments, but only when
the game called for it and the atmosphere made him
take flight. But if we take a look at his number of assists,
especially with the national teams, we find another Drazen,
the one who made the Toni Kukoc observation a
reality: “A basket makes one player happy, but an assist
makes two players happy.” Petrovic brought happiness
to all basketball lovers with his game. His way of understanding
life was apparently – only apparently – simple:
“Today, I want to improve more than yesterday, but less
than tomorrow.”
And he did so, until that tragic day of June 7, 1993.
101 greats of european basketball
Drazen Petrovic
P

Ratko
Radovanovic
263

Mind over matter
On most of the biographies that one
can find on the internet about Ratko
Radovanovic, who was born on
October 16, 1956, in Nevesinje, Bosnia-Herzegovina,
it states that he
played at Bosna Sarajevo between
1977 and 1983. But he really started his brilliant career
way before that. In October 1972, when Bosna
was in the second division, a tall and slim kid of 2.07
meters and barely 80 kilos left his parents’ home in
Niksic, Montenegro, and landed in Sarajevo with a
suitcase and dreams of being a basketball player.
Bogdan Tanjevic, his coach during the following decade
and his basketball father, recalled the first steps
of Radovanovic in Bosna:
“Vukasin Vukalovic, Bosna’s sports director, informed
me that he had found a kid that I had to see.
I remember his first game with the junior team. He
scored 13 points, but he showed incredible intelligence.
He was very thin, but he was also very smart. Also, in
practices he showed a lot of character, desire to work
hard, to learn, to evolve. Already in the 1972-73 season,
I put him on the first team. You could notice his talent
and I was sure he would be a great big man.”
I must admit, I didn’t get that impression when I saw
Radovanovic for the first time in 1973-74 at the old arena
in New Belgrade. Granted, he had what, according
to Americans, you cannot teach: height. But he was so
thin that his jersey was too loose on him. He had long
hands, but you could see more bone than muscle on his
fragile body. But that is why I am not a coach and Tanjevic
is what he is: a great discoverer of talent like Mirza Delibasic,
Nando Gentile, Dejan Bodiroga and Gregor Fucka.
Nevesinje is a small town in Herzegovina, a region
that has given the world a lot of basketball talent. Milenko
Savovic, Dejan Bodiroga, Zoran Savic, Milan Gurovic,
even the father of Aco and Drazen Petrovic – all were
born in towns of this region. Radovanovic’s parents
moved to Niksic, where due to his height, he started
playing basketball in 1969. His ultimate motivation
came when Yugoslavia won the gold medal at the 1970
World Cup in Ljubljana. Partizan wanted to sign him, but
he followed his family’s advice and went to Sarajevo to
be closer to home.
The title collector
In the summer of 1973, Radovanovic was already selected
for the FIBA European Championship for Cadets
in Italy. His contribution was discreet (2.2 points) but
after playing 17 games and scoring his first 43 points
in the Yugoslav League in 1973-74, he was already an
important player at the following 1974 FIBA European
Championship for Junior Men in France. Yugoslavia,
with Tanjevic as the coach, won the gold medal. Radovanovic
contributed 13.8 points on average and netted
24 against Greece. Branko Skroce, Mihovil Nakic, Andro
Knego, Rajko Zizic and Radovanovic were the most important
players. Skroce was the top scorer (17.7) and
Radovanovic was second.
At Bosna, Radovanovic’s status with the team increased
with every game. Delibasic and Zarko Varajic
led the team and were in charge of scoring most of
the points, but little by little that duo became a trio.
And even nowadays, those three great players remain
among the top five scorers ever for Bosna: 1. Delibasic
4,901 points, 2. Varajic 4,625, 3. Predrag Benacek 3,517,
101 greats of european basketball
Ratko Radovanovic
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Vladimir Stankovic
4. Radovanovic 2,906, 5. Boro Vucevic (Orlando Magic
star Nikola Vucevic’s father) 2,331 points.
With those three pillars and several good players
(Benacek, Bosko Bosiocic, Svetislav Pesic, Ante Djogic
and Sabit Hadzic) Tanjevic lived a fairy tale, taking his
team from the second division to the top of Europe in
just seven years – with the same group of players and
with the same enthusiasm. Radovanovic’s progress
was obvious. In the 1974-75 season, his scoring average
increased to 5.8 points. In July of 1975, he made his
debut with the senior national team, against Canada
(97-87) at the Intercontinental Cup. I was at that game,
played at Pinki Arena in Zemun (a part of Belgrade), but I
had to go to my notes to see that Radovanovic netted 7
points including 3 of 4 free throws. He played alongside
Dragan Kicanovic, Zoran Slavnic, Drazen Dalipagic, Delibasic,
Zeljko Jerkov and Varajic.
In the 1975-76 season, Radovanovic’s scoring went
up to 13.3 points per game. I don’t have the data for
rebounds, but he was already an important center who
played at the same level as Olimpija’s Vinko Jelovac,
Jugoplastika’s Zeljko Jerkov, Cibona’s Andro Knego,
OKK’s Rajko Zizic or Radnicki’s Milun Marovic. Despite
playing a great season, Radovanovic missed the Montreal
Olympics in 1976 and that, thinking about it today,
feels like an injustice. Despite being disappointed by
that, he never lost his desire to work hard – just the opposite.
After another great 1976-77 season with 14.6
points per game, his inclusion among the 12 chosen
for the 1977 EuroBasket in Belgium was unavoidable.
Coach Aleksandar Nikolic had two great centers, Kresimir
Cosic and Jelovac, but the help of Radovanovic, especially
in the title game against Vladimir Tkachenko of
the USSR, was very important. Radovanovic averaged
7.3 points per game.
Radovanovic’s second golden year was 1978. Bosna,
finally, won the Yugoslav League and also the national
cup, while the national team won the gold medal
at the 1978 World Cup in the Philippines. Radovanovic
was one of the main players on the team. The duo of
Dalipagic (22.4) and Kicanovic (18.0) was unstoppable,
but the third-best scorer was Radovanovic at 12.3
points per game. He even started improving his free
throw percentage, a weak spot of his for many years. In
Manila, he reached 69% and some years later he would
even reach 80% – more proof that desire and hard work
can overcome any weaknesses.
Bosna, European champion
The best was yet to come. In the 1978-79 season,
Bosna started its first adventure in the EuroLeague –
and won it! As the first Yugoslav team to do so, as well.
It was a huge, but well-deserved, surprise. In the title
game, the opponent was a Varese team playing its 10th
straight continental final! A great game by Varajic (45
points, still the record in a title game) and Delibasic (30
points) is in the history books. But the unsung hero of
the game was Radovanovic.
“On the eve of the final, the team doctor told me that
Rasha had a fever, more than 39 degrees. I knew that
without him we could not win,” Tanjevic remembers.
“Varese had Dino Meneghin and Radovanovic was
the man who would have to stop him. Not even I could
imagine the game that Varajic and Delibasic would play,
but Radovanovic appeared and added 10 points, the
same as Meneghin. His sacrifice was huge, but he was
just that way. He was a great fighter, a very smart man
who tricked his opponents with technique and speed,
scoring with both hands and running the breaks. It was
a pleasure to work with him, to help him grow and be-
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come one of the best big men in the history of the game
in Europe. He had what only the greats have: the ability
to play even better when the team needs it the most.”
Svetislav Pesic, who was a Bosna teammate of Radovanovic’s
until 1979, and later his coach, says this:
“He was pure talent. He achieved a lot through hard
work, but without the talent that he had in his veins, he
would never have reached those heights. He was a very
fast player for his height; his legs resembled those of a
boxer in the lighter categories. Also, he didn’t know the
meaning of the word ‘fear’.”
Radovanovic was a staple in the national team. He
won bronze at the 1979 EuroBasket, then gold at the
1980 Olympics, silver at the 1981 EuroBasket and
bronze at the 1982 World Cup. He finished seventh
at the 1983 EuroBasket in France as Yugoslavia’s top
scorer (21.6 ppg) in front of Dalipagic (18.3), Kicanovic
(14.8) and Drazen Petrovic (13.4). Radovanovic came
back home from the 1984 Olympics with a new bronze
medal, then missed the 1985 EuroBasket, but was back
for the 1986 World Cup in Spain, where he won bronze
with 12 points per game. He also finished third, too, at
the 1987 EuroBasket in Athens with 9.4 points on average.
He was 31 years old and was now playing with
Vlade Divac, Dino Radja, Toni Kukoc and Sasha Djordjevic,
the inheritors of the previous golden generation.
Radovanovic was a bridge between those two great
generations of the Yugoslav national team. Altogether,
he won nine medals at major competitions.
With Bosna, Radovanovic won two more domestic
league titles, 1980 and 1983. At 27 years old he signed
with Stade France of Paris, where he played with Kicanovic.
Thanks to those two masters, a humble team
managed to finish in fourth place in France, but at the
end of the season, Kicanovic decided to retire at 31
years old! Radovanovic stayed for two more seasons,
and in 1984-85 his average was 20.7 points plus 8 rebounds
and 2.1 assists. In 1985-86, he averaged 18.1
points plus 6.3 rebounds. At 30 years old, he signed his
best contract with Reyer Venice. In four seasons there,
Radovanovic played 105 games and averaged 21.8
points and 7.1 rebounds. His individual highs were 35
points against Stefanel Trieste and 22 boards against
Varese. In Venice, he played with another teammate
from the national team, Dalipagic.
At 34 years old, Radovanovic retired and started a
business in Sarajevo, but then the war started. In 1972,
he arrived with a suitcase, and in 1992, he left with almost
nothing, but he held no grudge. He is a rich man
in his memory, proud of his career. He lives in Belgrade,
where he owns a café bar. He was sports director for
FMP Zeleznik for many years and became an important
figure in the growth of the small team of the industrial
suburb of Belgrade. He has stayed away from basketball
lately, but he will be back. Basketball needs him.
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Nikola
Plecas
267

Saint Nikola
If someone were to ask me who were the best
players ever from Zagreb, my answer would be Nikola
Plecas (PLEH-chash), Mihovil Nakic and Zoran
Cutura – in that order. Surprised? Where is Drazen
Petrovic? And I would agree with you, but the catch
is I am talking about players who left a big mark
and were born or raised in Zagreb. Plecas was born
on January 10, 1948 in Bruvno and arrived in Zagreb
at age 6. He started his brilliant career there and, in
fact, he still lives there, even if he is not very involved
in basketball anymore. He’s from my generation and
I admit a certain subjectivity towards him, but I do
believe that the facts, numbers and witnesses justify
his presence among the great players of the past.
To introduce Plecas to the youngsters who were not
lucky enough to see him in action, let me tell you a story
about the first Korac Cup final in the 1971-72 season. FI-
BA had established this competition to honor the great
Serbian scorer Radivoj Korac, who passed way in a car
crash on June 2, 1969. Only eight teams signed up: two
from Spain (Manresa and Picadero JC), two from France
(Olympique Antibes and Caen), two from Yugoslavia
(Lokomotiva Zagreb and OKK Belgrade, Korac’s club of
origin), and one each from Germany (USC Munich) and
Belgium (Standard Liege). The first final featured the two
Yugoslav teams, and the format was a home-and-away
two-game series. I was at the game played in the old
Sports Palace of New Belgrade on February 29, 1972.
OKK won 83-71 despite 29 points scored by Plecas for
Lokomotiva Zagreb, the guests. On March 7, the second
game was played in Zagreb. At the break, OKK was
ahead, 48-40, which added up to a 20-point aggregate
advantage with the 12 from the first game. Basketball is a
collective sport, but that game turned into evidence that
a single player can win a game by himself. Lokomotiva
ended up winning the game, 94-73 (54-25 in the second
half) and took the trophy! Plecas finished the game with
40 points, most of them in the second half.
Pero Zlatar, a prestigious Croatian journalist and
president of Lokomotiva in the 1970s – before the
club changed its name to Cibona, by the way – was the
man who set the foundations of what would be one of
the great clubs in Europe in the following years. Zlatar
wrote an article about Plecas in which he said:
“At the break in the final against OKK Belgrade,
aside from trailing by 8 points, Lokomotiva was about
to fall into the abyss because Plecas already had four
fouls. Despite all that, he stepped on the court like a lion
and in just a few minutes, Lokomotiva scored 21 points,
most of them by Plecas, and allowed only 1. Plecas
made each and every shot, from every position. It was
unforgettable.”
Zlatar also assures us that during the 1970s, Nikola
Plecas was the most popular sportsman in Zagreb, ahead
of the aces from other sports – football included. He was
an idol for the fans, who dubbed him “Saint Nikola”.
Duo with Solman
There may have been no humbler club in the world
than Mladost of Zagreb, which produced two world
champions and an Olympic champion, who also won
several European titles at the club and national team
levels. I am referring to Mihovil Nakic, Damir Solman
and Nikola Plecas. The latter two played together there,
as they were the same age, and together they caught
the attention of the big clubs.
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Nikola Plecas
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Vladimir Stankovic
Lokomotiva wanted to sign both, but Jugoplastika offered
Solman terms that the Zagreb club could not match,
and therefore he went to Split. (That’s why he’s not on my
Zagreb list, because he played most of his career in Split).
Plecas decided to accept Lokomotiva’s offer, but Mladost
wouldn’t release his papers. He had to spend 10 months
without playing, but in the end the federation gave the
green light, and Plecas was registered by Lokomotiva at
noon on July 12, 1967. That same night he made his debut
against Crvena Zvezda. He starred with 26 points. The Yugoslav
League was still played during the summer, then,
but would start to be played in arenas the following year.
Lokomotiva won 106-96 against a strong Crvena Zvezda
team with veterans Vladimir Cvetkovic and Sreten Dragojlovic,
plus youngsters like Ljubodrag Simonovic, Dragan
Kapicic and Dragisa Vucinic. Soon, in the Yugoslav Cup
final, Lokomotiva defeated Olimpija 78-77 for what would
become Plecas’s first big trophy.
Although it was his debut in the league that year,
Plecas was already an established talent. The flawless
scouting service of the Yugoslav federation had all the top
talents on file. Solman had made his debut in the national
team in 1964 and Plecas did the same one year later, in
the Balkans championship in Kraljevo, Serbia. Yugoslavia
ended up second despite playing at home because it lost
to Bulgaria. However, Coach Ranko Zeravica had four players
on the team who, only five years later, would be world
champions with him still on the bench. They were Plecas,
Simonovic, Kapicic and Aljosa Zorga. Bogdan Tanjevic, a
future great coach, was also there. Talk about vision.
Zeravica took some youngsters to the 1967 EuroBasket
in Helsinki, but not Plecas, whose debut on the great
international stage was postponed until the 1968 Olympics
in Mexico. He returned from Mexico with a silver
medal around his neck, contributing 9 points per game.
Triumph in Ljubljana
Plecas’s career lasted until the late 1970s, but his
peak came at the 1970 World Cup in Ljubljana. At only
22 years of age, he became a world champion with
players like Kreso Cosic, Kapicic, Solman, Zorga and
Simonovic, who was one year younger. In the decisive
game against the United States, a 70-63 victory, Cosic
netted 15 points, Petar Skansi scored 14 and Plecas
had 12 points on 8-of-10 free throw shooting. He could
always be identified by his moustache, but the following
day, he honored a bet and shaved it off completely.
The following year, Plecas got a call from Aleksandar
Nikolic, the coach at Ignis Varese, the European champ
at the time. The offer was for $60,000 per season to
play at the Italian club, a lot of money back then, not at
all comparable to what he was getting at Cibona. But
he could not leave. The regulations of the federation
said that players had to be at least 28 years old to play
outside the country.
Plecas played with the national team until 1975. He
won gold medals at the 1973 EuroBasket in Barcelona
(the first for Yugoslavia) and the 1975 EuroBasket in
Belgrade. He had previously one two EuroBasket silver
medals, in Naples in 1969 and in Essen in 1971, then
added a silver at the 1974 World Cup in San Juan.
Plecas also took part in the 1972 Olympics in Munich,
where the team finished fifth. In the meantime, he was
also a starter for his team every year. He broke countless
records – in one game against Partizan, he scored
67 points – and he was the league’s top scorer twice, in
1969-70 (30.9 points per game) and 1974-75 (33.1). In
between, the top scorer for the 1972-73 season was his
friend Damir Solman for Jugoplastika (31.0).
In researching data on Plecas, I found an interesting
figure: between 1957 and 1982 – that’s 25 years – the
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top scorers of the Yugoslav League averaged below 30
points, and then by a small margin, just three times!
Those three times were all by Radmilo Misovic of Borac
Cacak, with 29.5 points in 1967-68, 28.2 points in 1968-
69 and 29.4 points in 1970-71. That league featured
some true scoring aces, ranging from Korac (38.0 ppg.
in 1958) to Misovic, Solman and Plecas and finally to
Dragan Kicanovic and Drazen Dalipagic.
On the eve of the 1976 Olympics in Montreal, Plecas
was pulled from the national team for a reason that
would seem incomprehensible today. He was kicked out
for “violating the principles of amateurism” because he
had featured in a commercial for tea! In the federation,
they were worried about the possible reaction by the
International Olympic Committee with American Avery
Brundage, who was very conservative, at the helm. Plecas
was convinced that it was some sort of scheme to
free one place for another player.
Over seven years, Plecas had been a fixture on the
national team, playing 215 games and scoring 1,315
points. After that, his relationship with Mirko Novosel, the
coach of the national team and, starting in the fall of 1976,
Cibona, got worse. After 10 years, 204 games and 5,404
points (26.5 per game!) in the Yugoslav League, Plecas
decided to leave Cibona. He signed for modest Kvarner Rijeka
and played at his usual level the first season, averaging
28.9 points. But in his second season there, he played
just nine games, and at 30 years old practically vanished
into thin air. With 6,192 points scored, he ranks seventh all
time and his scoring average is sixth all time.
Plecas was a scoring machine. Standing at 1.87 meters,
he was a shooting guard who could also play the
point because of his technique. He was a natural scorer
with a privileged touch. His shooting percentages were
always high and his numbers, impressive ... and without
three-pointers! With those, Plecas would have scored
even more. He was also a good rebounder, but his main
weapons were his shot and his penetration. He was able
to drive through the forests of arms and legs to find the
spot to score. Also, he was a fighter with strong character.
His special play was what they would call today the
Euro-step. Plecas patented that shot on the third step,
using the backboard a lot. He says that many coaches
tried to correct his “irregular shot” but Marijan Katineli,
his coach at Mladost and later at Lokomotiva, saw it as
an advantage and encouraged him to perfect it.
Ivica Dukan, who was a forward at Jugoplastika
Split for 11 years and has been with the Chicago Bulls
as assistant general manager for the last 20 years, told
me: “I agree with your list of best players from Zagreb.
Plecas was number one, a great player. I played against
him and I remember that it was very hard to stop him
because of his atypical shot, on the third step, without
any balance and from impossible angles.”
Plecas explained that he never lifted weights and
that his practices were always with the ball. He says
that in his era, offensive plays lasted from 7 to 11
seconds and now they take about 20 seconds. When
teams score 55 points, he says, everybody talks about
“good defense” and not about bad offense. His idols
were Ivo Daneu of Olimpija (because of his perfection
and vision), Miodrag Nikolic of OKK Belgrade (because
of his technique) and Pino Djerdja of Zadar (because of
his will, desire, hustle and leadership). Daneu was the
captain of the great Yugoslav team with whom Plecas
won the 1970 World Cup. But through his game, his
points and his artful baskets, Nikola Plecas earned a
place forever in the memories of those who were fortunate
enough to see him play.
It was a true privilege.
101 greats of european basketball
Nikola Plecas
P

Manuel
Raga
271

The Flying Mexican
In a hypothetical quiz about basketball knowledge,
I doubt there would be a lot of correct answers
if the first question were: “Who was the first
non-American player ever drafted by an NBA
team?” I am guessing most people would point
to some European legend, but the right answer is
Manuel Raga Navarro of Mexico. This unforgettable
player was born on March 14, 1944, in Villa Aldama,
in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas. He was chosen
by the Atlanta Hawks with pick number 167 in the
10th round of the 1970 draft. In the following round,
the 11th, the first European was picked, big man Dino
Meneghin of Italy, also by the Atlanta Hawks. But the
first non-American was always Raga.
Marty Blake, the general manager in Atlanta, had
seen that Raga and Meneghin were a great duo at Ignis
Varese, the European champion at that time, and both
were capable of playing in the NBA. But that was a different
time and teams in the United States didn’t trust players
developed outside of the country. Maybe that’s the
reason why the Hawks didn’t want to pay the $35,000 to
free Raga from Varese. The Italian team didn’t even want
to hear about a buyout for Meneghin, who would be its
undisputed star throughout the next decade.
Key part of the great Ignis Varese
The name of Manuel Raga is found for the first
time in a major competition at the 1963 World Cup in
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He was only 19 years old, but
he was already a regular for his national team. Mexico
finished that competition in ninth place, but the young,
1.88-meter guard caught everybody’s attention. He finished
the tourney with 12.3 points per game, with highs
of 24 points against Canada and 20 against Uruguay.
Four years later, at the 1967 World Cup in Uruguay, Raga
increased his numbers to 15.6 points and sank Italy
with 31 points. However, the decisive moment in his
career came at the 1968 Olympic Games in his home
country of Mexico. The Mexican team, coached by
American Lester Lane, an Olympic champ from Rome
1960, finished fifth thanks to two excellent players: Raga
and Arturo Guerrero. At the same time, Ignis Varese
president Alberto Tedeschi had asked his club’s director,
Giancarlo Gualco, to renew the team. But instead of
bringing in a well-known American, Gualco brought in a
rather unknown Mexican player. Shortly after his arrival
in Varese, Raga earned the nickname Indian, but shortly
afterward it was changed for two others: The Flying
Mexican and The Phenomenon.
Already in his first season in Italy, in 1968-69, Raga
earned the respect of all his colleagues, the admiration
of the audience and the kudos of the press. Despite
being short, he jumped like nobody else (an estimated
1.1 meters from a standing position). It was said that
he could touch the rim with his elbow. Ignis Varese won
the Italian League with 418 points by Raga, an average
of 19.0 over 22 games, enough to finish eighth in the
top scorers’ list of the league in which the leader was
ace scorer Radivoj Korac with an average of 26 points
even though his Padova team was relegated to the second
division. Raga was also the third-best rebounder of
the team, with 98 boards, only 5 fewer than Meneghin,
while the leader on the team was Ottorino Flaborea
with 136. Winning the league, Ignis earned the right to
play the EuroLeague, and on April 9, 1970, in Sarajevo’s
new Skenderija Arena (which now bears the name of
101 greats of european basketball
Manuel Raga
R

Vladimir Stankovic
the legendary Mirza Delibasic), Varese beat CSKA Moscow
79-74 and won its first continental crown.
That began a golden decade in which Varese would
play 10 straight finals, still a record. Raga scored 19
points, one fewer than Meneghin. On the other side,
the legendary Sergei Belov scored 21 points and Aleksandr
Sidjakin posted 18. Before beating CSKA in the
title game, both teams had met before in a quarterfinals
group. In Moscow, CSKA took the win by the score
of 83-60 despite 26 points by Raga, and Varese won
on its own court 79-59 with 17 points by Raga. Both
teams advanced, and in the semifinals CSKA got rid of
Slavia Prague while Varese outlasted Real Madrid 90-
86 in Madrid (Raga with 22 points, Ricky Jones 29) and
108-73 in Varese (Raga 18 points, Jones 36).
Love in Sarajevo
The 1970 title game in Sarajevo was also a turning
point in the private life of Raga. It was there where he
met Esma Smais, a player at the local Zeljeznicar club,
and shortly thereafter they got married. They had
two children, Fidel and Manuel Jr., the latter of whom
would become an outstanding player at Lugano of
Switzerland and played in the EuroLeague in 2000-01.
Lugano was also the city where his father put an end
to his career.
The following season, 1970-71, Varese repeated
the national club title with Raga as the second-best
scorer in the league, averaging 25.6 points, behind
only Elnardo Webster of Gorizia’s 26.9 per game. In
the EuroLeague, Varese and CSKA repeated the title
game, this time in Antwerp, Belgium. The Soviet champ
took revenge with a 67-53 win, possibly because Raga
scored just ... 3 points! The following season Varese lost
the Italian championship to Simmenthal Milano. Raga
was the best scorer on the team and the fourth-best
in the league (22.7 average). In the EuroLeague, Varese
reached the final again, this time against Jugoplastika
Split in Tel Aviv, and won its second continental crown
by a single point, 70-69, with 21 points from Meneghin
and 20 from Raga.
For the 1972-73 season, the coach of Varese, professor
Aleksandar Nikolic, decided to sign a new American,
Bob Morse, and for the Italian League he had to
sacrifice Raga, as only one foreigner was allowed to
play. But in Europe, Morse and Raga were a lethal pair.
Ignis won the Italian title back with no problems and in
the next EuroLeague final, on March 22 in Liege, Belgium,
the Italian team faced archrival CSKA Moscow
again. Varese won 71-66 with 25 points from Raga
and 20 from Morse. That was Raga’s third and last
European title with Varese. In 1973-74 he also played
in European competition only, and Ignis reached its
fifth straight final but lost in Nantes, France against
Real Madrid by the score of 84-82. The trio formed by
Meneghin (25 points), Morse (22) and Raga (17 points)
did its job, but Real Madrid shared the points better
with Wayne Brabender (22 points), Carmelo Cabrera
(16), Walter Szczerbiak (14), Clifford Luyk (14) and Rafael
Rullan (14) all scoring in double figures under the
masterful floor generalship of Juan Antonio Corbalan.
In 1974-75 Varese was not the Italian champ, but
it was European champ again. It got revenge against
Real Madrid in Antwerp with a 79-66 victory but did so
without “The Flying Mexican” Raga, who had moved to
Lugano. But before that, during the summer at the 1974
World Cup in Puerto Rico, Raga was the tourney’s top
scorer with 155 points (25.8 points per game). He the
Philippines with 38 points and scored 29 against both
the USSR and Argentina. In four years at Lugano, Raga
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won two league and two cup titles. His last big competition
was the Olympic Games in Montreal in 1976.
Honorary citizen, hall of famer
Raga returned to Europe thanks to a great initiative
by Euroleague Basketball during the 2008 Final Four
in Madrid. There, the 50th anniversary of European
competitions spawned a voted list of the 50 biggest
contributors to our sport during all those years. Of
course, Manuel Raga could not miss being on that list.
In Madrid, he was moved by the recognition and he
managed to meet many old teammates and rivals to
reminisce about the golden years. He also returned to
Varese on March 12, 2010, to receive the recognition as
an honorary citizen of that city in front of 2,500 people.
Varese had not forgotten about its idol during the
1970s, a great player who could jump like a big man and
had an extraordinary fadeaway jumper as he waited for
the rival to fall first to the floor. He was incredibly fast
and capable of flying over rivals and playing above the
rim, which inspired Enrico Campana, then a journalist at
La Gazzetta dello Sport, to call him the Helicopter Man.
In 1991, Raga was an assistant coach on the Mexico
national team that won the silver medal at the Pan
American Games in Havana, Cuba. He lives now with
his second wife, a former volleyball player from Cuba,
Lucia Urgelles. He works at the Sports Department of
Tamaulipas, where a gym bears his name. In 2016, he
was inducted into the FIBA Hall of Fame.
On March 2, 1997, Horacio Llamas made history
by becoming the first Mexican to ever play in the NBA
with the Dallas Mavericks. But 30 years earlier a fellow
Mexican could have done so with no problems as the
first non-American in the league. European basketball
should be grateful to the Atlanta Hawks for not spending
those $35,000, because if they did, we would not
have been able to enjoy the genius abilities of The Flying
Mexican.
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Dino
Radja
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The legend of Split
In the world of basketball there are many players
who share the name, but among the greats – if I am
not mistaken – there are just two who are called
Dino. One is Meneghin, the other, Radja. Both are,
oddly enough, centers. When Dino Radja came into
the world in Split, Croatia on April 24, 1967, Meneghin
was already a pro player, a major prospect for
Ignis Varese and Italian basketball. Because Meneghin
had such a long career, the Dinos had time to face
each other in club domestic, EuroLeague and national
team competitions, in part due to Radja spending
three seasons in the Italian League before leaving for
the NBA to play with the Boston Celtics.
From the beginning of the 1960s until the mid-1990s,
Split was a great basketball center. The yellow jersey of
Jugoplastika has been worn by many greats over several
generations. The first great team there, coached by
Branko Radovic – who is considered the father of basketball
in Split – was formed by Petar Skansi, the three Tvrdic
brothers – Rato, Lovre and Drazen – Damir Solman,
Zdenko Prug and Mihajlo Manovic. After that, they had
Zeljko Jerkov, Duje Krstulovic, Ivica Dukan and Goran
Sobin. They led up to the generation of the likes of Radja,
Toni Kukoc, Zan Tabak, Velimir Perasovic and the others
who won three EuroLeague crowns in a row from 1989
to 1991, the first two of which came under the orders of
Boza Maljkovic, the creator of that great team.
When talking about the great Jugoplastika, the
names of Kukoc and Radja were almost always pronounced
together as the two main pillars on which the
success of that team was based. Radja is one year older
than Kukoc. He started playing at the humble KK Dalvin
club in Split, but as a junior he already made the jump to
Jugoplastika. By the 1983-84 season, he had played his
first minutes on the first team for Kreso Cosic, a great
former player and a not-so-great coach, but one who
had the courage and the eye to promote young talent
into the sport. Radja scored his first basket on December
15, 1984, in Belgrade against Partizan. After Cosic,
the Jugoplastika bench saw other names like Slavko
Trninic and Pino Grdovic (together) and later Zoran
Slavnic, who, true to his style, said: “Dino Radja will be a
miracle player.” Slavnic had said something similar, and
he had been absolutely right, a few years earlier about
a certain Drazen Petrovic, whom he trained in Sibenik.
Slavnic was right again.
The young center Radja progressed with giant steps.
His talent opened the doors of the national team, even
though he didn’t make the cut to be at the 1985 European
Championship for Cadets in Ruse, Bulgaria. There,
Vlade Divac, Kukoc, Nebojsa Ilic, Slavisa Koprivica and
Radenko Dobras started a path that would culminate
two years later at the 1987 U19 Basketball World Cup in
Bormio, Italy. Before that, however, for the 1986 European
Championship for Junior Men tourney in Gmunden,
Austria, Radja formed a duo with Divac as a key piece
of the team coached by Svetislav Pesic. Yugoslavia was
an even stronger team then – with new faces like Radja,
Aleksandar Djordjevic, Luka Pavicevic and Teoman
Alibegovic – and won another title. For the 1987 Euro-
Basket in Athens, Cosic called the four great prospects:
Kukoc, Divac, Djordjevic and Radja. They came back
home with the bronze medal and then, in August, went
back to their junior team for the U19 World Cup in Bormio.
There, they won the gold medal by twice beating
a great USA Team, coached by Larry Brown, with Kevin
101 greats of european basketball
Dino Radja
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Vladimir Stankovic
Pritchard, Larry Johnson, Gary Payton, Scott Williams,
Stacey Augmon, Dwayne Schintzius, Brian Williams
and Stephen Thompson. In the group stage game – a
110-95 victory – Kukoc shined with 27 points, including
11 of 12 triples, while in the title game, Pesic changed
the strategy and went for the inside game, where Divac
and Radja shined with 21 and 20 points, respectively.
Title after title
Since 1987, Dino Radja was a must in all the plans
for the Yugoslav national team and for Jugoplastika,
which by then had Maljkovic on the bench. In 1987-88,
Jugoplastika would win the first of four domestic titles
in a row. Then, at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, Radja
won a silver medal after losing his first big final with the
national team against the USSR. In 1989, Jugoplastika
would win its first EuroLeague crown at the Final Four in
Munich. In the semis against FC Barcelona (87-77), Radja
scored 18 points, and in the final against Maccabi Tel
Aviv (75-69), he collected 20 points and 10 rebounds. He
was named MVP of the Final Four. That same summer,
after he was selected 22nd by the Boston Celtics in the
1989 NBA draft, he triumphed with Yugoslavia at the
1989 EuroBasket in Zagreb with an average of 9.0 points.
In the summer of 1989, Radja wanted to try his
luck with the Celtics in the NBA. However, in a curious
case, Jugoplastika won a trial in London against the
mighty NBA franchise by proving that Radja still had
a valid contract and could not leave without the club’s
permission. Boston accepted the administrative defeat
and Radja stayed one more year in Split, winning
both the Yugoslav cup and league and, once again, a
EuroLeague crown, this time in Zaragoza, Spain. In the
semis, Jugoplastika defeated Limoges by the score of
101-83 as Radja had 10 points. In a 72-67 victory in the
final against FC Barcelona, Radja had 12 points. Later
that year, because of an injury that he had suffered at
the Goodwill Games in Seattle, Radja missed the 1990
World Cup in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where Yugoslavia
won the gold medal.
Radja was a modern center. He was tall (2.10 meters)
and strong enough, but also fast, with good fundamentals,
rebounding skills and a great shot close to the rim.
He played equally well facing the basket or with his back
to it. He was normally faster than his defenders and
that allowed him to score many points. He was always a
reliable contributor for his team and his coaches.
Rome instead of Boston
In the summer of 1990, Radja could finally leave
Jugoplastika and the country, but in a surprise move,
he chose Il Messaggero of Rome. At the same time, the
club signed Rick Mahorn, a former NBA star. Rome’s offer
to Radja was way higher than the one from Boston.
Over the next three years, Radja would average 18.1,
20.2 and 21.5 points with more than 10 rebounds per
game in each season.
It was also on Italian soil where Radja won his last gold
medal with Yugoslavia. The 1991 EuroBasket was played
in June, while the war started in Slovenia, which forced
Jure Zdovc to leave the team before the semifinals.
That was the last time that the great Yugoslavia played
together, and it won the gold medal with no opposition.
Radja’s average was 18.0 points. With Messaggero,
he won the Korac Cup in 1991-92 despite a first-game
tie at home against fellow Italian club Scavolini Pesaro
as Radja had 34 points and 9 rebounds. His team won
the second and final game 99-86 in Pesaro with a big
double-double from Radja, 17 points and 13 rebounds.
That was his third European trophy. The following year,
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he played another Korac Cup final against another Italian
team, Olimpia Milano, but this time Radja and his teammates
could not succeed despite his two good games,
especially in Rome (30 points, 11 rebounds). On the other
side there was Djordjevic, who had 29 points in Rome
in Game 1 and then 38 points in Milan.
In 1992, Radja fulfilled one of his dreams, playing
with Croatia in the Barcelona Olympics, winning the silver
medal after losing in the final to the real USA Dream
Team. It was a great Croatian team with Petrovic, Kukoc,
Perasovic, Danko Cvjeticanin and Stojan Vrankovic,
among others. Radja averaged 18 points and 6.9 rebounds,
and he scored 23 points in the final.
The next three years, Radja would win bronze medals
with Croatia at the EuroBaskets of 1993 in Germany (17.1
points) and 1995 in Greece (13.9 points and 5.7 rebounds),
and also at the 1994 World Cup in Toronto (22.4 points
and 8.5 rebounds). He also played at the 1996 Olympics
in Atlanta and the 1999 EuroBasket in France but could
not come home with any hardware from those events.
Radja finally played with the Boston Celtics between
1993 and 1997. In his first season, Radja averaged 15.1
points and 7.2 boards, enough for him to make the
all-rookie second team. He totaled 224 games with 16.7
points and 8.4 rebounds in the NBA. In the summer of
1997, he was traded to the Philadelphia 76ers, but the
doctors there doubted that his knees could take four
games per week, so nobody opposed it when Radja
asked to come back to Europe. His new destination was
Greece, where he joined Panathinaikos, the team that
had won its first EuroLeague title the previous season
with his old coach, Boza Maljkovic. But by the time Radja
got there, Maljkovic had already left. He played two years
with the Greens and won two Greek Leagues. For the
1999-2000 season, he was back to the Dalmatian coast,
not with KK Split (the former Jugoplastika), but rather
with KK Zadar, whom he helped win the Croatian League.
The first basket in the new EuroLeague
The following year Radja was back in Greece, but this
time he signed for Olympiacos. In the opening game
of the new EuroLeague on October 16, 2000, against
Real Madrid, Dino Radja became the player to score the
first basket in the new competition organized by the
clubs themselves and the ULEB. Real Madrid won 75-
73 and Radja finished the game with 13 points and 17
rebounds against a Real Madrid that included Jiri Zidek,
Sasha Djordjevic, Raul Lopez, Marko Milic, Eric Struelens
and Alberto Angulo. It was a historic game with a
historic shot by Radja.
After a year in Olympiacos, Radja was back in Croatia
and during a brief period of the 2001-02 season and
played with Cibona. But he played his final season with
Split and helped a lot, too, as the team won the Croatian
League with the help of Zdovc and Josip Sesar for Petar
Skansi on the bench. With the win, Split broke Cibona’s
streak of 11 consecutive titles. Radja celebrated by
smoking a cigar “Red Auerbach-style”.
It was the perfect moment to retire. Radja was 36
years old, had won almost everything, and had come
full circle back to Split. He had also fulfilled almost all his
dreams. It was time to start a different career. For more
than 10 years, Radja served as president of KK Split.
During that time, Radja was honored among the 50
Greatest EuroLeague Contributors to the first-half-century
of European club competitions at a ceremony organized
by Euroleague Basketball for the 2008 Final Four
in Madrid. In 2018, Radja became the eighth European
player ever to be chosen for induction into the Naismith
Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
101 greats of european basketball
Dino Radja
R

Igor
Rakocevic
279

A killer
on the court
Goran Rakocevic was a truly solid point
guard who played for Crvena Zvezda
in the 1970s, but who had the bad
luck of being on the same team as
Zoran Slavnic, a genius floor general
who limited Rakocevic’s playing time
at Zvezda and closed the national team doors to
him. Goran played for Zvezda from 1969 to 1979
for a total of 190 games, scoring 1,229 points (6.5
per game). With Zvezda, Rakocevic won the Yugoslav
League title in 1972 and lifted the Saporta Cup
trophy in 1974, downing Spartak Brno 86-75. His
friends, however, joke about the fact that the best
thing he ever did for the club was to take his little
son Igor to the outdoor courts at Kalemegdan Fortress,
where Zvezda was born in 1945 and still has
its home.
A peculiar way of training
Young Igor Rakocevic, who was born in Belgrade
on March 29, 1978, had Michael Jordan as his idol. He
dreamed of flying like Mike, of shooting and jumping like
him, and he was willing to work hard to become a wellknown,
respected player. Due to his height, 1.91 meters,
Igor became a shooting guard who could also play
point guard. But if you look at his stats, you see that he
rebounded a lot, too. He told me his “secret” not long
ago: as a kid, he lived on the 18th floor of a building in
New Belgrade, but he rarely used the elevator. He would
walk up and down the stairs several times a day. That
very peculiar practice strengthened his legs, which
improved the lift on his jump shot and his rebounding
skills a lot. Years later, he was admired for his dunks and
spectacular jumps.
Igor had the complete package: natural talent, work
ethic, physical skills, “Yugoslav” touch, speed and good
moves. Since his first-team debut with Zvezda in the
1995-96 season, you could tell he would be a top player.
At age 19, the next season, he was already a starter, averaging
12.9 points per game and shooting a really high
percentage (45.5%) from beyond the three-point line. Of
course, he was a key player for the Yugoslav junior team.
After the 1996 U18 European Championship in France,
all the scouts returned home with Rakocevic’s name
marked in red. He averaged 25.4 points, 3.6 assists
and 1.7 rebounds and came back with a bronze medal,
his first achievement. He had 35 points against Russia,
22 against Croatia, 28 against Belgium and 27 against
Italy. In the summer of 1997, he helped Yugoslavia win
a bronze medal at the U22 World Cup, played in Melbourne,
Australia, but his triumphant year was 1998.
First, he won the Yugoslav League title with Zvezda (averaging
12.9 points) and in summer, Yugoslavia won the
gold medal at the U22 European Championship with a
powerful team: Rakocevic, Marko Jaric, Dejan Milojevic
and Jovo Stanojevic. Rakocevic had a stellar role, averaging
21.1 points, 1.9 rebounds and 1.2 assists. As with
the true greats, his best game came in the final against
Slovenia. He scored 37 points in 34 minutes, hitting 6 of
11 two-point shots, 4 of 5 three-point shots and 13 of
15 free throws! Slovenia also had a great team, led by
Jaka Lakovic and Primoz Brezec, but Yugoslavia had an
unstoppable Rakocevic. Of course, he was the MVP of
that tournament, a trophy which nowadays, after so ma-
101 greats of european basketball
Igor Rakocevic
R

Vladimir Stankovic
ny years and a brilliant career, still holds a special place
for him.
A dream come true
From the start of his career, Igor knew that his main
goal was playing in the NBA. Every step he took was
making sure he got closer to realizing his dream. After
the 1999-00 season, still with Crvena Zvezda, he
spent the pre-draft camp with the Washington Bullets,
but once the draft arrived, it was Minnesota that drafted
him with the 51st pick. That very same summer,
Rakocevic played with Yugoslavia at the 2000 Olympic
Games in Sydney, Australia without much success.
Canada, led by Steve Nash, eliminated his team in the
quarterfinals. Rakocevic signed a one-year contract
with Minnesota but terminated it before the start of
the season and returned to Yugoslavia. However, he
did not go back to Zvezda. Instead, he joined Buducnost
Podgorica. Signing with the Montenegrin team
allowed him to make his debut in the newly-found
EuroLeague. In his first season, Rakocevic averaged
14 points.
The following summer, he made another dream come
true, winning the gold medal with Yugoslavia at EuroBasket
2001. The following season, he averaged 17.7 points
in the EuroLeague and in August of 2002, he added the
World Cup title to his personal roll of honors. Rakocevic
helped Yugoslavia become 2002 world champions in
Indianapolis with a great team that also featured the
likes of Vlade Divac, Predrag Stojakovic, Dejan Bodiroga,
Milan Gurovic, Marko Jaric, and Milos Vujanic.
Rakocevic helped Buducnost win two Yugoslav
League titles and added a Yugoslav Cup trophy in
2001. Finally, Rakocevic made his NBA dream come
true in the 2002-03 season, signing for the Minnesota
Timberwolves. He played 42 games before being
sidelined in spring due to an ankle injury. His numbers
were quite different than those he put up in Europe
(1.9 ppg.), but at least his biggest wish had come true.
Rakocevic still dreamed about the NBA and played the
2003 summer league with Minnesota, then another
one with San Antonio, but ended up signing with ...
Zvezda!
Spain, a second home
Putting away his NBA plans, Rakocevic had looked
for an opportunity to sign a good contract in Europe.
Instead, he returned to his original club and took that as
a second-chance possibility, making the most out of it.
He averaged 19.3 points in the 2002-03 EuroCup, 23.2
points in the Adriatic League and 22.6 points in the
Yugoslav League, more than enough for some teams
to keep an eye on him. Valencia Basket offered him a
one-year contract and he didn’t hesitate to sign. He was
sure that playing in one of the best domestic leagues
in Europe was just what he needed. He averaged 18.6
points in the next season’s EuroCup and 21 points on
47% three-point shooting in the Spanish League. At
that point, Rakocevic getting a call from Real Madrid did
not surprise anyone.
Things did not go too well for him in the Spanish
capital, even though his numbers and shooting percentages
(14.8 ppg., 40% 3FG) were not bad. He missed
a good part of the season and was sick with parotitis
(mumps) in the playoffs. Apparently, the club did not
have confidence in his physical condition, unlike Tau
Ceramica, which offered him a three-year contract. Rakocevic
accepted, and it happened to be a great move.
Rakocevic says now that he spent the best three years
of his professional career in Vitoria.
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Playing for Tau, Rakocevic won the EuroLeague’s
Alphonso Ford Top Scorer Trophy twice, was chosen to
the 2008-09 All-Euroleague First Team and was chosen
as the weekly and monthly MVP several times. In Spain,
he helped Tau to lift the Spanish League trophy in 2007-
08 and the King’s Cup title in 2008-09. His personal
EuroLeague scoring record is 31 points and his highest
performance index rating was 36, both marks coming
against Virtus Rome in 2009. He also had 8 rebounds
in that game.
Once he parted ways with Tau, Rakocevic played
four more seasons – two with Efes Pilsen, one with
Montepaschi Siena and the final one, 2012-13, back at
Zvezda. His five years in Spain, however, were the best
in his career. He also played at the 2007 and 2008 Final
Fours with Tau, averaging 12.3 points in four games.
EuroLeague top scorer record
Rakocevic may have changed countries, but not
habits. With Efes, je won his third Alphonso Ford Top
Scorer Trophy, one more than any other player in the
award’s first 14 years. All told, he won national cup titles
in Yugoslavia, Serbia, Spain, Italy and Turkey; was a
league champ in Yugoslavia, Spain and Italy; and lifted
several supercup trophies. The only failure in his career
was the 2005 EuroBasket, played in Serbia & Montenegro.
Rakocevic and the host team were expected to win
the gold medal but ended up being eliminated in the
Play-off stage by France, with Tony Parker and Antoine
Rigaudeau as leaders.
Rakocevic played a total of 159 EuroLeague games
over nine seasons and finished with a scoring average
of 14.6 points. Only one player has played more than
150 EuroLeague games this century with a higher scoring
average: Marcus Brown (179 games, 15.3 ppg.).
For some people, Rakocevic was selfish sometimes,
but I don’t know any great scorers without a little bit
of selfishness. Those who shoot best and score more
always have had the right to shoot more and even
miss some shots because their points help teams win
games many more times than their mistakes cost their
teams losses.
Teammates often look for the best player to take
responsibility – and Igor Rakocevic was always there
to take the big shot. That was Igor Rakocevic as a
basketball player: a natural-born winner, a killer on
the court and an ambitious all-around player. He was
a shooter above all but could offer many other things
to his teams.
101 greats of european basketball
Igor Rakocevic
R

Zeljko
Rebraca
283

Blocks master
The year was 1987. The place was Pula, on
the coast of Croatia’s Istria peninsula.
The event was a FIBA youth camp. The
main teaching guest was the great Sergei
Belov. The protagonists were young
talents from all over Europe. Current
Philadelphia 76ers scout Marin Sedlacek, one of the
coaches at that camp and a long-time coach of the
World Select Team at the annual Nike Hoop Summit,
highlighted two kids from the class of 1987: Zeljko
Rebraca and Dragan Tarlac.
“I cannot say for sure that back then if you could
clearly see that they would be future European and
world champs, or players that would end up in the NBA,
but it was clear they had good predispositions,” Sedlacek
told me later. “Tarlac caught everyone’s attention
more because he was stronger, while Rebraca was
pretty thin and his body didn’t show that he could do
big things in basketball. But with years of great work,
he managed to earn his place in basketball. Back then,
at 15 years old, he was taller than 2 meters and had a
knack for blocking shots. I was impressed with the ease
with which he blocked the shots of stronger rivals. He
had great timing for when to jump and long hands.”
Zeljko Rebraca, who was born April 9, 1972, in Prigrevica,
Serbia, was not an unknown player at 15 years
old. He played in OKK Apatin and his first coach was
Vlado Tasevski. When he turned 16, Rebraca moved to
Novi Sad to try his luck on bigger teams. Talent scouting
in the former Yugoslavia worked well, so it was unusual
that good talent went unnoticed. For the FIBA European
Championship for Junior Men in 1990, in the Netherlands,
coach Dusko Vujosevic gathered a solid team,
including Dejan Bodiroga, Velko Mrsic, Nikola Loncar, Roman
Horvat, Mladjan Silobad, Rebraca and Tarlac, among
others. The team finished fifth, with losses against
Romania with Gheorghe Muresan, Spain with Alfonso
Reyes, and Poland with Maciej Zielinski. But most of all it
gained players, especially Bodiroga, Tarlac and Rebraca,
three future European and world champions. The same
coach used almost the same team the following year to
play the 1991 FIBA World Championship for Junior Men
in Edmonton, Canada. Yugoslavia would finish fourth as
Rebraca raised his numbers from 5.9 points in the Netherlands
to 9.1 points per game in Canada.
During the 1990-91 season, Sasha Djordjevic, the
point guard for Partizan and the national team, served in
the military in Novi Sad. From time to time he practiced
with the NAP team, a humble club at which two future
world champs took their first steps: Rebraca (in 1998)
and Milan Gurovic (2002). With the great nose of a future
coach, Djordjevic sensed the huge potential in Rebraca
and secretly took him to two practices with Partizan –
Novi Sad is only 70 kilometers from Belgrade – and recommended
that the club sign him. Said and done.
“One day, without permission from the military authorities,
I escaped by car from Novi Sad with Rebraca,”
Djordjevic recalled to me. “We sent a message to his
coach saying he was sick. I was sure he was a future star.”
In that summer of 1991, Rebraca, who was just 19
years old, signed with Partizan. Nobody expected a lot
from him because of his young age and his inexperience,
but a debut coach – Zeljko Obradovic – and a legend
who happened to be his consultant – Aleksandar
Nikolic – saw a future superstar in the thin kid. Rebraca
soon made it into the starting five with Djordjevic, Pre-
101 greats of european basketball
Zeljko Rebraca
R

Vladimir Stankovic
drag Danilovic, Ivo Nakic and Slavisa Koprivica. In April
of the next spring, together with Silobad, Loncar, Vladimir
Dragutinovic, Zoran Stevanovic and Dragisa Saric,
this would win the 1992 EuroLeague title, Partizan’s
first and only continental crown. In the semis, Partizan
defeated Olimpia Milano, and in the final, Djordjevic and
his famous three-pointer on the run near the buzzer
snatched the title from Joventut Badalona.
In the career of Rebraca, nothing after that happened
suddenly. His way was slow but steady. His progression
coincided with the development of his body. With each
kilo he gained and each muscle that got bigger, that body
shouted “superstar”. His specialty was, of course, blocking
shots. His super-long arms terrified opponents, while
the rest of his game, both on defense and offense, was
like life insurance for his coaches. He was one of the rational
players: high shooting percentages, secure from the
line, good rebounder and excellent blocker. Coaches knew
it for sure: it was just a matter of time before he exploded.
Rebraca was still green, especially in the physical aspect,
when he entered the 1994 NBA Draft and ended up being
picked 54th. Before even entering the NBA, his draft rights
were traded to a number of teams, going from Seattle to
Minnesota to Toronto and then Detroit – the last of those
moves coming in 2001. But the NBA would have to wait.
three years of isolation due to international sanctions.
The team returned in Sofia in a qualifying tournament that
FIBA created after the country missed the 1992 Olympics
in Barcelona, the 1993 EuroBasket in Germany and the
1994 World Cup in Canada. Yugoslavia advanced and
made the 1995 EuroBasket in Athens. With its own version
of the Dream Team – Djordjevic, Danilovic, Bodiroga,
Vlade Divac, Zarko Paspalj, Zoran Savic, Sasa Obradovic
and Dejan Tomasevic, Rebraca was too young to have an
important role, but his 4.8 points and 3.6 rebounds were
still part of the gold medal won by his team. In the title
game against Lithuania, Rebraca only scored 1 point and
grabbed 1 rebound, but he played 14 minutes, meaning
that coaches Dusan Ivkovic and Zeljko Obradovic counted
on him. The following year, his worth was re-confirmed as
Yugoslavia won the 1996 Olympics silver medal in Atlanta
with Rebraca contributing 10.6 points and 3.8 rebounds.
In Treviso, Rebraca started working with coach Mike
D’Antoni. In the 1996-97 season, the team won the
Italian League after a dramatic final series. Benetton
defeated Teamsystem Bologna 3-2. Rebraca shined,
especially in the fourth game, which Benetton won 79-
67 at home in overtime. Rebraca scored 32 points and
pulled 12 rebounds in 41 minutes. Benetton also won
Game 5 with 6 points and 8 rebounds by Rebraca.
To Italy with D’Antoni
After four years, 110 games, 1,292 points, two domestic
league titles, two cups and one EuroLeague crown
with Partizan, the time came for Rebraca to take a new
step in his career. Maurizio Gherardini, then the general
manager of Benetton Treviso, with his impeccable eye
for young talent, decided to sign Rebraca in the summer
of 1996. Before moving to Italy, Rebraca made his debut
with the Yugoslav national team, which reappeared after
Again with Obradovic
The summer of 1997 saw Yugoslavia repeat the
continental title at the Barcelona EuroBasket. Rebraca
was the third-best scorer on his team, after only Danilovic
and Djordjevic, with 11.1 points, and was its top
rebounder with 5.0 rebounds per game. The coach was
Zeljko Obradovic, who would leave Real Madrid that
summer to sign with Benetton. Right off the bat, the
team won the Italian Supercup against Kinder Bologna,
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78-58, with 12 points from Rebraca. In the 1997-98
EuroLeague, Benetton reached the Final Four played
in Barcelona but fell to AEK Athens in the semis 69-66.
Getting third place by beating Partizan 96-89 was no
big consolation. The following year, Benetton lost the
Italian Cup final to Kinder 73-55, but Rebraca’s empty
season at the club level was compensated with a Yugoslavia
win at the 1998 World Cup in Athens. Even though
the MVP of the tourney was Bodiroga, many believed
that Rebraca deserved the accolade because he averaged
13.1 points and 9.1 rebounds. In the final, a 64-62
win against Russia, Rebraca was the key man with 16
points and 11 rebounds. The all-tournament team included
Rebraca, Bodiroga, Vasily Karasev, Alberto Herreros
and Gregor Fucka. At the end of the year, at a FIBA
all-star event in Berlin – where he had 14 points and 10
rebounds and was MVP of the game – Rebraca received
the award for best European player of the year, chosen
in a survey of the magazine FIBA Basketball Monthly,
which gave the award an official status.
In Rebraca’s third season, Benetton ended up with a
triumph in the Saporta Cup. On April 13, 1999, in Zaragoza,
Spain, Benetton defeated Pamesa Valencia 64-60 with
6 points and 5 rebounds by Rebraca. It was his second
European trophy, again with Obradovic on the bench.
After four years, 143 games, 2,029 points (14.3 per
game) and 6.5 rebounds in Treviso, Rebraca moved
with Obradovic to Panathinaikos, where he played with
his friend and national teammate Dejan Bodiroga. At
the 2000 Final Four in Thessaloniki, Panathinaikos defeated
Efes Pilsen in the semifinal, 81-71, with 22 points
from Bodiroga and 15 from Rebraca. In the title game,
the Greens overcame Maccabi Tel Aviv, their biggest
rival at the turn of the century, by the score of 82-74.
Rebraca was brilliant, with 20 points and 8 rebounds in
30 minutes. He made 5 of 6 field goals and 10 of 14 free
throws. Of course, he was chosen MVP.
That season, Panathinaikos also won the Greek
League and Greek Cup, with Rebraca being voted MVP
of the league. His big dream was winning the gold medal
with Yugoslavia in the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, but Steve
Nash and Canada ended that dream in the quarterfinals.
Going to the NBA
Eventually, in the summer of 2001, at 29 years old,
Rebraca decided to try the NBA. He spent more than six
seasons there, suffering several injuries that kept him
sidelined. He played for Detroit, Atlanta and the Los
Angeles Clippers for a total 215 games, averaging 5.9
points and 3.2 rebounds. As in Europe, his main asset
was that you could always count on getting what you
expected from him. He was not a star in the NBA, but
he was a solid player.
I was a direct witness to almost all of Rebraca’s
successes in Europe. The trophies he won in Istanbul,
Zaragoza and Thessaloniki, the gold medals at the
1995 and 1997 EuroBaskets, the Olympic silver in Atlanta
1996, the World Cup gold in 1998. But I also saw
his disappointments in Sydney 2000 and, especially,
the Belgrade EuroBasket in 2005. Obradovic was back
to the bench of the national team after five years away,
just like Rebraca. It was to be the perfect goodbye at
home to Bodiroga, Tomasevic and Rebraca. But in one
of the biggest upsets in EuroBasket history, Yugoslavia
was eliminated in the Play-Off stage by the Tony Parker-led
France 74-71.
He now lives in Apatin, his childhood town, away
from basketball. He loves the Danube River and family
life. He has three kids, two girls and a boy, and many
nice memories from his career.
101 greats of european basketball
Zeljko Rebraca
A

Carlo
Recalcati
287

Owner of two
European threepeats
It was in 1963 when somebody at FIBA had a great
idea: organizing continental tournaments for the
junior category. The first edition of the FIBA European
Championship for Junior Men was in 1964 in
Naples, Italy with only eight teams: USSR, France,
Yugoslavia and Spain in Group A, and Bulgaria, Italy,
Poland and Czechoslovakia in Group B. From that
first edition came many future stars: Modestas Paulauskas
and Zurab Sakandelidze (USSR), Jiri Zednicek
(Czechoslovakia), Aldo Ossola and Carlo Recalcati
(Italy) and Vicente Ramos (Spain). The Yugoslav team
included a future prominent head coach, Bogdan Tanjevic,
just like Recalcati would also become.
The top scorer of that tournament was Paulauskas
with 21.2 points, including 36 points against Yugoslavia.
The first champ was the USSR, a 62-41 winner
against France in the final. Italy won the bronze against
Bulgaria, 73-72. Recalcati’s point column was empty in
that game and his biggest contribution was in the game
against the USSR, with 8 points.
That first tournament was played in early April. Carlo
Recalcati, who was born on September 11, 1945, was
18 years old and had a bright future ahead. He was a
shooting guard who, standing 1.84 meters, could also
play at point guard, depending on his team’s needs. He
started in Pavia and at 14 years old he was already in
Cantu with a clear idea of making a living in basketball.
He was taken to Cantu by Gianni Corsolini, one of the
three men whom Recalcati himself considers most important
to his career as a player.
The other two men are coaches Arnaldo Taurisano
and Borislav Stankovic. In an article written by Recalcati,
he explained that he learned “technical things” from
Taurisano, “political things” from Stankovic and “the relationship
with teammates” from Corsolini. Stankovic,
the future FIBA secretary general, had been a Yugoslav
champion coach with OKK Belgrade, starring Radivoj
Korac, and had reached the semifinals of the EuroLeague.
In 1967-68, Stankovic coached Orasonda Cantu
and became the first foreign coach to win the Italian
League title. Cantu won 18 games and only lost four,
and it had a balanced team. Recalcati was its top scorer,
with 18.5 points, 10th best in the league. When I spoke
to him 47 years later, Stankovic had these memories of
that season and of Recalcati:
“It was a team that won the league with, essentially,
six players. There were more, but six played all the time:
Recalcati, [Antonio] Frigerio, [Carlos] D’Aquila, [Alberto]
De Simone, [Bob] Burgess and [Alberto] Merlati. Carlo
was a confident shooter. He didn’t waste too many possessions.
He was a very ‘economical’ player, with high
precision. He was lacking a bit in the physical aspect
and a couple more centimeters would have helped him
become a superstar. But despite all that, he was a great
player.”
Stankovic says that back then, he could not see the
coaching potential in Recalcati:
“He showed interest in basketball. He liked to discuss
the theory of the game, but I never realized he
wanted to be a coach. But he was very young. He would
play for 10 more years and discovered his talent for the
bench a little further down the road.”
101 greats of european basketball
Carlo Recalcati
R

Vladimir Stankovic
The legendary Stankovic was very proud of that title
in Italy:
“Cantu was a small town and our title was a big sensation.
However, it established the foundations for a great
team in a small town that would later become European
champion. We played with three big men – Merlati, Burgess,
who had arrived from Real Madrid, and helped us a
lot on defense, and De Simone – and that was new. The
Italian press called these three players the ‘Cantu Wall’.
In the backcourt were two smaller men, one of them always
Recalcati, who ran a lot. And it worked.”
The league title in 1968 was the first in a successful
career for Carlo Recalcati. Before he retired in 1981, he
would win eight more: another league crown in 1975,
three Korac Cups, three Saporta Cups, and the Intercontinental
Cup of 1975. With seven titles in international
cups, he is one of the most decorated players in
European history.
Before that unforgettable 1967-68 season, Recalcati
had made his debut with the Italian senior national
team as well. On May 13, 1967, he played his first game
in Naples against Poland. That same year he played at
his first World Cup, in Uruguay, and scored his first 3
points with the national jersey against Mexico. He ended
up with an average of 7 points in that tournament.
That fall, still in 1967, he played the EuroBasket in Helsinki
(9.1 points) and in 1968 he represented Italy in the
Olympics in Mexico (9.1 points). In 1969 he was back to
Naples to play another EuroBasket (10.0 points) already
as a national team leader.
Recalcati’s career in the national team came to
an end in 1975 after 166 games and a total of 1,239
points. He had won two bronze medals, in the 1971
and 1975 EuroBaskets, and played in the 1970 World
Cup in Ljubljana. I am sure I had seen Recalcati during
those EuroBaskets or the Mexico Olympics, but my first
memory of him is from that Ljubljana tournament. In
a tense game between Italy and Yugoslavia, the latter
won 66-63 thanks only to the genius of Kresimir Cosic,
who had 27 points and 22 rebounds. Recalcati shined
for the Italian team with his 22 points including 4 of 4
free throws. His average in Ljubljana was 11.2 points.
Three-peat in the Korac Cup
After a discreet EuroBasket in 1971 (2.3 points but
with a bronze medal) Recalcati won his first international
trophy, the Korac Cup, in 1973. In a two-leg final,
Cantu defeated Maes Pils of Belgium 106-75 at home
with 21 points by Pierluigi Marzorati and 20 from Recalcati.
In the second game, the Belgian team won by just 9
points, 94-85, as Recalcati netted 30 points.
The following season, Cantu reached the final again
in the same competition, and this time the opponent
was Partizan Belgrade, coached by Ranko Zeravica,
with Dragan Kicanovic and Drazen Dalipagic as its main
weapons. It was a great showdown between probably
the best duos in Europe at that moment: Marzorati and
Recalcati against Kicanovic and Dalipagic. In the first
game, Cantu won at home 99-86 with 24 points by Recalcati,
22 by Bob Lienhard, 20 by Fabrizio Della Fiori and
18 by Marzorati. Kicanovic led Partizan with 24 points
and Dalipagic added 22. In the second game, Partizan
won 75-68, but it just couldn’t make up the point difference.
Dalipagic (25) and Kicanovic (22) were not enough
as Cantu had a better team and distributed points more
evenly: Marzorati and Antonio Farina had 18 points each
while Recalcati and Lienhard both scored 12.
The Korac Cup three-peat for Cantu and Recalcati
came in 1974-75. The opponent in the final was FC Barcelona,
with Zeravica on the bench. In Barcelona on March
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18, Cantu defeated Barça by the score of 71-69 with 20
points by Lienhard, 18 by Della Fiori and 16 from Marzorati.
Recalcati got stuck at 4 points in that game. The
second game in Cantu turned into an offensive festival for
the hosts, who won 110-85. Marzorati led the way with
27 points, Lienhard had 18 and Recalcati contributed 14.
Golden year
The year 1975 was golden one Recalcati and Cantu.
After winning that third Korac Cup, their second league
title followed. Cantu and Ignis Varese were tied with
22-4 records after the regular season, but in the phase
for the title, Cantu was best. Recalcati, already 30 years
old, was the top scorer of his team with 19.7 points.
In the 1975 EuroBasket in Belgrade, Italy won the
bronze medal, the second in Recalcati’s career, as he
averaged 6.0 points. To top that year off, Cantu was
also Intercontinental Cup champ. In a six-team tourney,
Cantu was the host. The decisive game was on the
fourth day against Real Madrid. After 40 minutes, the
score was tied at 86-86. In overtime, Cantu won 96-94.
Despite having lost to Varese in the previous game,
Cantu became champ by defeating Madrid, with whom
it shared a 4-1 record, in their direct duel. Marzorati
scored 21 points, Lienhard had 13 and Recalcati added
10. The 1976 Olympics in Montreal was Recalcati’s last
big competition at the international level.
Luca Chiabotti, a prestigious journalist at La
Gazzetta dello Sport in Italy, highlighted Recalcati’s
offensive style as follows:
“Carlo was an offensive player, a shooter, a natural
scorer. He had good technical foundations. His style
resembled that of the Americans in the 1960s and the
1970s. On top of that, he understood the game and you
could see he could be a great coach.”
Three-peat in the Saporta Cup
In the 1976-77 season, Cantu played the Saporta
Cup, the second European competition, reaching the
final in Palma de Mallorca, Spain. The opponent was
Radnicki Belgrade, whose golden generation had been
Yugoslav champion in 1973. I was at this dramatic
game, which Cantu won 87-86 thanks to 21 points by
Recalcati and 18 by Marzorati. On the other side, Srecko
Jaric – the father of Marko Jaric –nailed 30 points and
big man Milun Marovic had 29. On a negative side, I
remember also having to write from Palma about the
tragic airplane accident that occurred two days before
that final on another Spanish island, Tenerife, where
a collision between two planes on the runway caused
more than 500 deaths.
The following year, Cantu repeated the Saporta Cup
title by beating Synudine Bologna in the final 84-82.
Della Fiori (26 points) and Recalcati (14) were the top
scorers. The three-peat occurred in 1979 against Den
Bosch of the Netherlands in the coastal town of Porec
in Croatia. Cantu won 83-73 with a team that still had
Marzorati (6 points) and Recalcati (2), but already with
new names like Renzo Bariviera (16 points) and Americans
Johnny Neumann and David Batton, each with 20
points. It was the sixth European trophy for Recalcati.
Cantu would go on to win two EuroLeague crowns, in
1982 and 1983, but by then Recalcati was no longer on
the team, having left in 1979 and then retired in 1981
from Pallacanestro Parma. He had scored 6,396 points
in the Italian first division. He is still among the top 50
scorers of all time in the competition.
The same year he retired, 1981, Recalcati started his
brilliant career as a coach.
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Antoine
Rigaudeau
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“Le Roi”
The 1990 European Championship for Junior
Men, which was played in Groningen,
the Netherlands, was quite a harvest of
talent. On the Italian team, which won
the trophy, there were Gregor Fucka and
Flavio Portaluppi; the runner-up Soviet
Union team had Vasily Karasev and Igor Kudelin;
fourth-placed Romania featured Gheorghe Muresan
and Constantin Popa; while fifth-placed Yugoslavia
included Dejan Bodiroga, Zeljko Rebraca, Veljko Mrsic
and Nikola Loncar; and seventh-placed France’s
squad was highlighted by Yann Bonato (the team’s top
scorer with 19.4 points per game), Stephane Risacher
and Antoine Rigaudeau, who was not yet 19 years old,
having been born on December 17, 1971, in Cholet. But
Rigaudeau was already considered the biggest talent
in French basketball.
Rigaudeau had debuted for Cholet’s professional
team shortly after turning 16, in the 1987-88 season. He
played only four games averaging less than a point that
season, moving up to six games and 1.8 points in the
next one. But by the 1989-90 season, he was a regular,
playing 33 games and averaging 11.5 points. By 1991,
he was already on the senior national team for EuroBasket
in Rome, on a solid squad with names like Richard
Dacoury, Frederic Forte, Philippe Szanyiel, Stephane
Ostrowski, Hugues Occansey, Didier Gadou and Jim Bilba.
France finished fourth despite a record of 1-4! That’s
because only eight teams participated, and France took
advantage of a better point difference against Czechoslovakia
and Greece to reach the semifinals with a 1-2
record. Antoine Rigaudeau was by then a recognized
scorer, putting up 10 points against Czechoslovakia and
18 against Greece. In the semis against eventual champion
Yugoslavia, he scored 5 points, and in a 101-83
bronze-medal game loss to Spain, he had 18.
I believe that is when I first saw Rigaudeau play,
against Yugoslavia and Spain. He had an unusual style:
when he rose to shoot, Rigaudeau seemed not to have
good balance, but his shot was impeccable nonetheless.
By his height, 2.00 meters, he was more of a small
forward than a shooting guard, but for most of his career,
he played point guard. In other words, he was an
all-around player, an insurance policy for his coaches,
able to score but also to play for the team.
After eight seasons in Cholet, Rigaudeau signed
in 1995 for Pau-Orthez. In the summer of that year, he
played for France at the 1995 EuroBasket in Athens,
where the team finished eighth and he averaged 13.3
points. At the end of the 1995-96 season, he achieved his
first important title as Pau-Orthez was proclaimed French
League champion. Rigaudeau put up 18.2 points and 3.2
rebounds per game. After one more season averaging
14.1 points in the French League and 20.1 points in the
EuroLeague for Pau-Orthez, Rigaudeau signed in 1997
with Kinder Bologna, coached by Ettore Messina. Behind
him he left 218 games and 3,259 points, 14.9 points per
game, in the French League, where he was named MVP
five times: in 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994 and 1996.
Two-time champion of Europe
Messina had sought a final piece to complete the
mosaic of a team that could, finally, win the EuroLeague,
and Rigaudeau had the same goal – to play on a
team that was capable of winning Europe’s top prize.
Combined with the return of Predrag Danilovic from the
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Vladimir Stankovic
NBA, Messina had formed a potent team that included
Alessandro Abbio, Augusto Binelli, Alessandro Frosini,
Hugo Sconochini, Zoran Savic and Radoslav Nesterovic.
They lost just three of 16 games in the EuroLeague’s
first two phases. In the eighth-finals, Kinder eliminated
Estudiantes of Spain 2-0 and in the quarterfinals topped
its archrival Teamsystem Bologna 2-0, as well. As such,
Kinder arrived at the 1998 Final Four in Barcelona as the
favorite. And it met those expectations. In the semifinal,
Kinder beat Partizan Belgrade 83-61 with Rigaudeau
scoring 12 points. In the final, Kinder topped AEK Athens
58-44. Rigaudeau had 14 points, not only the most in the
game but double anyone on the losing team. Two dreams
had come true, Rigaudeau’s and Kinder Bologna’s.
The team went on to win the Italian League in 1998
and the Italian Cup the next year. Rigaudeau averaged
15.5 points in the 1999 EuroBasket in Paris and in 2000
he won the Italian league-cup double before contributing
12.2 points per game to the French silver-medal
team at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney.
In those years, the best of his career, Rigaudeau
was nicknamed “Le Roi” (The King), much like the soccer
legend Pele was called “O Rei” in his day. In sports,
there are lots of nicknames for great stars, but few are
called kings. Antoine Rigaudeau was one of them. And
in 2000, he received the highest recognition from his
country, the Legion of Honour.
In the 2000-01 season, Kinder was a protagonist
in the new EuroLeague, organized by the clubs themselves.
Kinder finished the first phase with a 9-1 record
and in the eighth-finals again eliminated Estudiantes
2-0. In the quarterfinals, the victim was Union Olimpija,
also with a 2-0 sweep. In the semifinals, another bestof-three
series, Kinder again beat its archrival Teamsystem
2-0. As such, Kinder qualified for the first final of
the new era of the EuroLeague. Its opponent was Tau
Ceramica of Vitoria, Spain. In this first year of the new
EuroLeague, there was no Final Four, but rather a bestof-five
final series played in Bologna and Vitoria.
In Game 1, Kinder lost at home 78-65 to Tau.
Rigaudeau, who was held to just 4 points, stayed in the
shadow of Tau’s own Frenchman, Laurent Foirest, who
scored 20. In the second game, the tables were turned:
Kinder won 94-73 at home with 23 from Rigaudeau,
while Foirest had 2 points. In Game 3 in Vitoria, Kinder
showed all its potential, winning 80-60 with Manu
Ginobili as its star (27 points), while Rigaudeau (15),
Matjaz Smodis (13), Abbio (11 points) and Marko Jaric
(7 points, 7 rebounds) all made solid contributions. Tau
tied the series at two wins each with a 96-79 victory in
Game 4, with Rigaudeau scoring 14 points. So the series
returned to Bologna for a fifth game to decide the title.
Kinder won 82-74 behind 18 points from Rigaudeau.
The MVP was Ginobili, but Rigaudeau was a major part
of the championship victory after leading Kinder that
season with 56% shooting from the three-point line
and 88.1% on free throws.
Ettore Messina, his coach at Kinder, once described
his ex-student to me this way:
“Antoine was a very serious person about his work,
with a maniacal attention to detail and a strong sense
of team. At the same time, he gave importance to the
need for all players to win their individual duels with
their direct rivals so that the team could win the game.
The year we won the EuroLeague, Italian League and
Italian Cup with Kinder, in 2001, he was very intelligent,
because while we left the role of starting point guard
to Jaric, so that he would gain confidence, at the same
time Rigaudeau played ‘point forward’ – which is to say
that from his small forward spot, he helped with his
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wisdom to mature Ginobili, Jaric, Smodis and David
Andersen, who at that time were all very young.”
And, Messina concluded about Rigaudeau: “He was
a gentleman both on and off the court.”
Medal in Belgrade
Before the 2001 EuroBasket in Turkey, Rigaudeau
announced his retirement from the national team. He
stayed two more seasons with Kinder and after 181
games in the Italian league, averaging 13.4 points, 2.5
rebounds and 1.7 assists, he decided to go to the NBA.
He was 32 years old then and it was a last chance to try
his luck. He signed with Dallas but didn’t find his place.
After playing in just 11 games and scoring 17 points with
Dallas and Golden State, he decided to return to Europe.
Rigaudeau’s next stop was Valencia, where he
signed for three seasons. He returned to the EuroLeague
in 2003-04 because the previous season, Valencia
had won the Eurocup. In 19 games, Rigaudeau
contributed as always: 14.8 points, 2.3 assists, 1.8
rebounds. In the regular season against ALBA Berlin,
he scored 25 points. In the Top 16 against Zalgiris, he
scored 21. Over two years in the Spanish League, his
average through 49 games was 13.4 points. 2.6 assists
and 1.8 rebounds.
Rigaudeau surprised everyone by deciding to return
to the French national team for the 2005 EuroBasket in
Belgrade, Serbia.
I was in Novi Sad for what was the biggest upset of
the tournament: Serbia & Montenegro 71, France 74.
Zeljko Obradovic’s “Dream Team” – with Bodiroga, Darko
Milicic, Vladimir Radmanovic, Igor Rakocevic, Marko
Jaric, Zeljko Rebraca, Nenad Krstic, Dejan Tomasevic,
Milan Gurovic, Dejan Milojevic and Vule Avdalovic –
crashed out against the French team with Rigaudeau
(14 points), Tony Parker (13), Mickael Gelabale (12), Boris
Diaw (10), Mickael Pietrus (8), Cyril Julian (6), Florent
Pietrus (5) and Frederic Weis (4). Rigaudeau’s average
for the tournament was 7.9 points, just the fifth-best
scorer for France. But in that decisive battle in Novi Sad,
he played brilliantly, with good shooting as well as 5
rebounds and 2 assists in 28 minutes. Later in the tournament,
France beat Spain for the bronze medal, taking
its first place on a EuroBasket podium in 46 years.
On October 30, 2005, despite having a year left on
his contract with Valencia, Rigaudeau announced his
retirement. “Voices inside me advised me that I should
stop,” Rigaudeau said. A decade later, in 2015, he was
recognized for his great career with induction into the
FIBA Hall of Fame. Later that year, after a short stint of
coaching at Paris Levallois, Rigaudeau decided that the
bench was not for him. As such, European basketball
still awaits the return of “Le Roi”.
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Antonello
Riva
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The Italian bomber
It was April 9, 2000, a game between Bipop Reggio
Emilia and Canturina Cantu. The hosts won 97-80
but that date went into the record books of Italian
basketball because that’s the day when Antonello
Riva, who was born on February 28, 1962, in Rovagnate,
scored 19 points to surpass Oscar Schmidt
and become the leading scorer of all time in the Italian
League. That day, Riva reached 13,965 points, 8 more
than “Holy Hand” Schmidt, but he ended up finishing
with a total of 14,397 points. The game was interrupted
due to a standing ovation from the home crowd,
which lasted for two full minutes! It was a great and
deserved homage. Riva played 25 seasons in five different
first-division teams. He added two more seasons
at humble Rieti in the lower divisions, and when
he was already 40 played with son Ivan, who then was
19. Antonello Riva finally retired on November 21,
2004.
It was the final period of a brilliant career that broke
many records in Italian basketball, both in the league
and with the national team. Riva wore the Italian senior
national team jersey 213 times while scoring 3,795
points (17.6 average), more than 900 points higher
than the second-best scorer, legend Dino Meneghin.
A born scorer
Valerio Bianchini, the legendary Italian coach, said
that the great talent of Antonello Riva could already be
seen in his junior years in Cantu. What drew the most
attention was Riva’s physical potential and his excellent
shot. By height (1.96 meters) he was a shooting guard,
but as the great shooter he was, he could play any position
in the backcourt. His body allowed him also to fight
for rebounds inside, too, but he liked to stick to shooting
– from any distance or spot on the court. He needed only
minimal space or a momentary loss of concentration by
the player guarding him to shoot and score.
Sometimes, his defenders did everything well, but
Riva was still able to shoot over them, even while being
fouled. He was one of those shooters who are almost
impossible to stop. Bianchini highlighted Riva’s physical
and mental strength, his cold blood in crunch time, and
the courage he had in taking responsibility. “Already, at
17 years old, he had a perfect jump shot,” remembers
Bianchini.
Luca Chiabotti, the prestigious Italian journalist
and basketball director at La Gazzetta dello Sport, described
Riva as follows: “Using football talk, Riva was a
‘9’, a pure center forward. At just 19, he exploded in Cantu
with Bianchini, and he was a great novelty in Italian
basketball. He was a fast shooting guard, very strong
and superior in one-on-one situations. And of course,
his shot. He shot threes when they didn’t even exist in
Europe. He didn’t have great ball-handling, he was not a
great passer, but he was a great finisher backed by his
exceptional physique, which allowed him to play until he
was 40. He was the perfect professional, always concentrated
and obsessed with points, but through the
years his defensive game improved a lot. His explosion
coincided with two EuroLeague titles for Cantu and
the Italian gold [at EuroBasket 1983] in Nantes. As all
the great scorers, he needed a good playmaker by his
side and he had that in Pierluigi Marzorati, forming an
almost flawless duo. In Milan, after his record buyout,
he didn’t find a partner of that level.”
I have seen Riva many times, among them his best
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Antonello Riva
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Vladimir Stankovic
moments with the Italian national team, at the 1983
EuroBasket in Nantes (gold), the Los Angeles Olympics
in 1984 (where he was chosen for the all-tournament
team) and the 1991 EuroBasket in Rome (silver). However,
I like to think of him at the 1989 EuroBasket in Zagreb
because of the offensive festival held there by five great
scorers. Nikos Galis of Greece finished the tourney with
35.6 points per game. Drazen Petrovic of Yugoslavia
averaged 30.0, Stephane Ostrowski of France poured
in 24.4, Riva had 23.3 and France’s Richard Dacoury
averaged 22.0.
In Italy, Riva was nicknamed Bomber and also Nembo
Kid, an Italian version of Superman. Both are accurate
because he “flew” over the court and “bombed”
the rim of the rival.
His first trophy, even if he did not take part in the
final, was the Saporta Cup of 1978, won by Cantu in Milan
on March 23 against Virtus Bologna, 84-82. Riva’s
name is on the deep roster but still without a jersey
number. One year later, in the title game of the same
competition in Porec, Croatia, he didn’t play in an 83-73
win against Den Bosch of the Netherlands, either, but
he was already wearing his number 12. In the summer
of 1979, Riva took part in the first FIBA World Championship
for Junior Men in Brazil together with Walter
Magnifico, Alberto Tonut, Denis Innocentin and Ario
Costa. Italy finished sixth, but the 13.4 points averaged
by Riva showed signs of a great future.
His first great season was 1980-81. He and Cantu
won a third consecutive Saporta Cup in Rome, beating
FC Barcelona 86-82. Riva had 16 points and Barcelona’s
Juan Antonio San Epifanio scored 28. Some months
later, Cantu also won the Italian League title by defeating
Billy Milano in the final series 2-1. On March 3, 1981,
Riva made his debut with the Italian national team in an
exhibition game of Italy vs. Italian all-stars, but his first
official game in blue was on April 20 in Rimini against
Germany. He had a scoreless debut in a 68-62 defeat,
but after that he went on to win many games and scored
those 3,785 points, starting with 16 in Tel Aviv against
Israel on May 12, 1981.
Unforgettable Nantes
The following year, 1982, Riva won the EuroLeague
with Squibb Cantu against Maccabi Tel Aviv in Cologne
by the score of 86-80. Riva scored 16 points, Marzorati
had 18, Bruce Flowers scored 21, CJ Kupec tallied 21
and Innocentin chipped in 6 points in a game in which
the starting five of Cantu scored 84 of the team’s 86
total points. The other 2 were scored by Giorgio Cattini.
Fausto Bargna played but was scoreless. Cantu won
using seven players. In October of that same year, Cantu
won the Intercontinental Cup against Nashua Den
Bosch (70-68) with 22 points from Riva. However, I am
sure that the favorite year in his memories is 1983. That
year, his son Ivan was born and he repeated the EuroLeague
title with Ford Cantu, this time against Billy Milan
in Grenoble, 69-68. Riva scored 18 points. The culmination
of that golden year came at the 1983 EuroBasket in
Nantes as Italy defeated Spain in the final game 105-96
with Riva hitting for 8 points.
From then until 1992, Riva never skipped a beat with
the national team and he always had good numbers.
At the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, he averaged
23.4 points to be on the all-tournament team, together
with Michael Jordan and Drazen Petrovic. At the 1986
World Cup in Spain, Riva scored 19.2 points per game.
He averaged 26.8 points at the 1987 EuroBasket in Athens,
while in the 1989 edition in Zagreb he posted 23.3
points per game. Riva averaged 30.2 points at the 1990
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His only trophy not won with Cantu came with
Philips Milan, the team he joined in 1989 after 12 years
in Cantu. Riva was the most expensive transfer in the
history of Italian basketball at the time. With Milan, he
won the 1993 Korac Cup in Rome, against Virtus Bologna,
by the score of 95-90. Milan had a great trio with
Riccardo Pittis (31 points), Sasha Djordjevic (29) and
Riva (18 points). One year before that, Milan and Riva
had been at the 1992 EuroLeague Final Four in Istanbul
but lost in semis to eventual champ Partizan Belgrade,
led by Djordjevic and Predrag Danilovic. In the domestic
league, Milan lost the fifth game of the final series in
1991 against Caserta, 88-97, despite playing the decisive
game at home.
After Milan, Riva played two years in Scavolini Pesaro
and two more in Pallacanestro Gorizia before going
back to Cantu from 1998 until 2002. After that, he went
to Rieti. Since retiring, Riva has more time for his family
and his passions: mountain climbing, motorbikes, movies,
books, skiing...
Antonello Riva, the Italian bomber.
Antonello Riva
World Cup in Argentina and then scored 14.0 points a
game at the 1991 EuroBasket in Rome before tallying
22.1 points at the 1992 Olympic Qualifying Tournament.
If you talk about Antonello Riva, you have to talk
about points and records. He set many records and
some of them are still standing today. For instance,
both his 797 games in the Italian League and his 23,269
minutes played are still records.
101 greats of european basketball
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David
Rivers
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The man of the final
Everything pointed to a splendid future in
the NBA for David Lee Rivers. He spent four
brilliant years at the University of Notre
Dame, where he was the fourth-best scorer
all-time with 2,058 points and second in
assists with 586. And he was picked by the
Los Angeles Lakers in the first round of the 1988 NBA
Draft. All this despite a car accident that could have
put an end not only to his career, but to his life, two
years earlier.
After several operations, Rivers, who was born on
January 20, 1965, in Jersey City, New Jersey, managed
to overcome every single obstacle. The fact that he was
selected by one of the best teams in the NBA did have a
bad side though: he would have strong competition. At
his position was none other than Magic Johnson, which
meant that Rivers would not play many minutes. But
under Pat Riley’s command, he practiced alongside the
likes of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, James Worthy, Orlando
Woolridge, A.C. Green, Byron Scott, Michael Cooper,
Jeff Lamp and Mychal Thompson. Rivers finished the
season with 1.9 points and 2.3 assists. A little frustrated,
he decided to switch teams but stayed in the same
city. He signed for the Los Angeles Clippers, where he
managed to improve his figures the following season,
though not by a lot: 4.2 points and 3.0 assists. Between
injuries and rehabilitation, he chose another team, Tulsa
of the Continental Basketball Association, and he
got his confidence back with 16.1 points and 7.6 assists
per game. He even improved his averages in La Crosse,
another CBA team, with 20.3 points and 11.8 assists.
But it was not what he wanted, nor what he deserved.
Europe, his new kingdom
In one of those decisions that can change one’s
life, Rivers took an offer from Antibes of France. In that
country, he discovered another kind of basketball, another
culture, another lifestyle. He adapted easily and
quickly to it because his qualities allowed him to be a
team leader. Soon enough he was the idol of the fans. In
his first season in Europe, in 1992-93, he averaged 16.9
points and 6.6 assists, but he got better the following
campaign. Antibes won the French League title and he
was MVP with 22.4 points and 7.0 assists. The big clubs
of Europe started noticing David Rivers.
The fastest team to act with a more concrete offer
was Olympiacos Piraeus of Greece. In his first season in
Greece, Rivers won the 1995-96 domestic league title
with decent numbers, 13.6 points and 4.3 assists. But
the fact that Panathinaikos that year became the first
Greek team to win the EuroLeague was a sting that created
an urge for an answer among the Reds. The 1996-
97 season would see veteran coach Dusan Ivkovic put
together a strong roster, but the start of the campaign
didn’t look too promising.
In the EuroLeague, Olympiacos finished fifth with
a 5-5 record in the same group with Fortitudo, Estudiantes,
Cibona, ALBA Berlin and Charleroi. The Reds lost
twice to ALBA and once to Estudiantes, Cibona and
Fortitudo. The team was only saved by the competition
system: all 24 teams continued, mixing up the first
three teams in each group with the last three of the other.
In the second phase, Olympiacos got better playing
against Olimpia Milano, CSKA Moscow and Maccabi Tel
Aviv. It won 4 games and lost 2 for a total record of 9-7
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Vladimir Stankovic
to finish third in the group and advance to the playoffs.
But its opponent in that playoff, Partizan Belgrade, had
the home-court advantage for having taken second
place in its own group.
In Belgrade, despite a great game by Predrag Drobnjak
of Partizan, with 19 points and 14 rebounds, Olympiacos
won 81-71. However, the Reds went home and
lost the second game, 61-60. The series was decided
in the third game, once more with the legendary Hala
Pionir packed by more than 7,000 fans. Olympiacos, led
by Rivers with 21 points and 5 assists, won 74-69.
In the quarterfinals, it would come to a showdown
against Olympiacos’s archrival and the defending EuroLeague
champion, Panathinaikos. At home, in front
of 15,000 fans, Olympiacos won 65-57 with 12 points
by Rivers. The advantage was not too large, but in the
second game, we got to see one of the biggest shows
ever by a team in a derby of this magnitude. Against
18,000 Panathinaikos fans, Olympiacos won 49-69.
Rivers played 40 minutes and had good numbers: 2 of 6
two-pointers, 2 of 2 triples and 7 of 7 free throws for 17
points plus 5 assists. Olympiacos had advanced to the
Final Four, where it would join Olimpija Ljubljana, ASVEL
Villeurbanne and FC Barcelona.
Two rhapsodies in Rome
The main feature of great players is playing better
when it matters the most. David Rivers made that
assertion ring true in Rome in 1997. In the semifinal
against Union Olimpija – which had Rasho Nesterovic,
Marko Milic, Arriel McDonald, Vladimir Stepania, Roman
Horvat, Marko Tusek, Jaka Daneu and the rest – Rivers
scored 28 points, his season high, for a 74-65 win. In
the other semifinal, Barcelona defeated ASVEL 77-70
with Sasha Djordjevic as its best scorer with 16 points.
The big final was played on April 24, 1997, at the
Olympic Arena in Rome. It was a much-anticipated final
between the two favorites, a battle that was to be
marked by the individual duel between Djordjevic and
Rivers, the best two guards in Europe at that moment.
Halfway through the season, Djordjevic had left Portland
of the NBA and joined Barcelona, becoming an
immediate star and the leader of the team. He formed a
great duo with forward Arturas Karnisovas.
After a bad start to the game, falling behind 9-2,
Olympiacos rallied behind 10 points from Rivers for an
18-18 tie. Once the Reds stepped ahead, there was no
turning back. They won 73-58 with Rivers as MVP. He
scored 27 points, grabbed 6 boards, dished 3 assists
and had 3 steals in 39 minutes. Dragan Tarlac, the other
hero of the Greek team, had 11 points and 14 rebounds.
On the other side, Djordjevic scored only 6 points, very
far from the 13.9 points he had been averaging up to
that game. It wasn’t the first duel between the two
guards. In the 1993-94 Korac Cup quarterfinals, when
Djordjevic played for Olimpia Milano and Rivers for Antibes,
the Italian team won the first game 98-85 but the
individual duel was a tie, 23 points for each. In the second
game, Antibes won 95-88, but Djordjevic finished
with 31 points and Rivers had 20.
Many years after the Rome duel, Djordjevic told me
from Milano about Rivers:
“I knew him since he was at Notre Dame. One summer
a group of friends that included Jure Zdovc, Slavko
Kotnik and Vlada Dragutinovic played against him, Ken
Barlow, Tim Kempton. Right then and there, I already
saw what was confirmed later in European basketball:
he was a great player. He was one of the best, if not the
best, American guards that ever played in Europe. His
game was like poetry. He had explosive legs, fast hands
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and ideas, solutions. He had talent in every part of his
body.”
Vassilis Skountis, the prestigious Greek journalist,
remembers that there were many doubts about Rivers’
contribution, but after the “two rhapsodies in Rome”
everything changed. In 23 games in Europe, Rivers
averaged 37.9 minutes of play. After the win in Rome,
Olympiacos won the double crown in Greece, the league
and the cup. Rivers was MVP of the season and the best
player of the year according to FIBA. He was 32 years
old, but for Ivkovic he was the key man, the extension
of his hand on the court. Rivers was pure security for
his coaches: a scoring guard, typical of the American
school. He had it all: court vision, excellent technique, a
good shot, leadership qualities and, most of all, speed –
both in his head and in his body – on the court. There is
a video of him racing coast-to-coast in 3 seconds!
Trophies in Italy and Turkey
After achieving glory with Olympiacos, Rivers
accepted an offer from Teamsystem Bologna, which
was trying to build a great team and had attracted
Dominique Wilkins from Panathinaikos, as well. Both
veterans helped the team win the Italian Cup in the
final against Benetton Treviso, 73-55. Wilkins scored
21 points, but the MVP was Carlton Myers. Rivers’ next
destination would be Tofas Bursa of Turkey, where in
two seasons he won two league crowns and one cup. In
2000-01, he was back with Olympiacos and at 37 years
old still scored 10.3 points and dished 2.3 assists.
In May of 2009, Rivers received a well-deserved
tribute in Piraeus. He received his red jersey with number
15 and, most of all, the love of the fans who did not
forget what he did for the club. David Rivers was one
of the best and most successful Americans who ever
played in Europe. He was champion in all four countries
where he played, and in three he also won the national
cup. He was MVP of the season in France and Greece,
as well as MVP of the Final Four, and he played in the
FIBA all-star game in 1997 and 1998. That was more
than enough to make up for a frustrated career in the
NBA, where it was not because of his abilities that he
did not triumph, but for being at the wrong place at the
wrong time.
101 greats of european basketball
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Emiliano
Rodriguez
303

The Great Captain
In the long and successful history of a great club
like Real Madrid, with so many stars and historic
players, it’s impossible to choose one over the
others to say who was the best. However, if we
were to limit ourselves to choosing just Spanish
players, I think that most observers – those with
long enough memories, that is – would probably
choose Emiliano Rodriguez as the best. After a brilliant
career as a player for Real Madrid from 1960 to
1973, he remains part of the club as the president of
the association of former players and the honorific
president of the basketball section. His service to
Real Madrid has lasted for more than half a century.
He is one of the biggest legends at a legendary club.
Born on June 10, 1938, in San Feliz, Leon, Rodriguez
started playing in the humble Escolarios Bilbao,
and his first pro team was Aismalibar Barcelona from
1958 to 1960. Rodriguez was already an international
player (he made his debut with the national team in
1958) when he signed for Real Madrid. He immediately
became the new hero for the Madrid fans. He had a
great ability to score thanks to an extensive repertoire:
a good jump shot; something he learned at the start
of his career; good ability to penetrate; and his specialty,
running fastbreaks. Rodriguez was super fast
and always the first in line to convert a pass from a
teammate into an easy basket. Above all, he displayed
a charming character. He was very enthusiastic and
always optimistic, which are all valuable traits on any
sports team.
On January 18, 1961, Emiliano made his debut in
the EuroLeague against EK Engelmann of Vienna and in
two sizeable Real Madrid wins he contributed 20 and
24 points. The next victim was Antwerp of Belgium,
against whom he nailed 37 and 15 points. Madrid’s
path was stopped at neutral courts in Paris and Prague,
in the semifinals against the dominant ASK Riga, the
team that took the first three European titles in a row.
Historic win in 1964
Rodriguez’s second attempt at the European crown,
in 1962, was also cut short, this time in the title game
against Dynamo Tbilisi in Geneva, a 90-83 defeat in
which Emiliano scored 21 points. The following year
Madrid was in the title game once again, but this time
lost to CSKA Moscow in the tiebreaking game, played
in Moscow like the second one. In three those three
games, Rodriguez scored 24, 18 and 21 points, respectively.
Eventually, in 1964, Real Madrid became the first
team from western Europe to win the title and break
the domination of the Soviet teams. Spartak Brno won
in Prague 110-99 despite Rodriguez’s 31 points, but
at home, Madrid won handily, 84-64, and Rodriguez
shined again with 28 points.
I believe that I saw Emiliano Rodriguez for the first
time in Belgrade in March 1965, in a never-ending
game against OKK Belgrade. Madrid had won the first
game at home 84-61 with 18 points from Rodriguez,
but the Yugoslav champ thought that it would be able
to come back in the second game. To do so, they used
all the tricks in the book, especially manipulating the
clock to make each minute last for two full minutes.
Radivoj Korac scored 56 points, but it was not enough.
After 113 minutes – 47 minutes in the first half and 66
in the second – OKK Belgrade had to admit it was an
impossible mission, despite winning 113-96. The best
101 greats of european basketball
Emiliano Rodriguez
R

man for the Whites was Rodriguez, of course, with 25
points.
Vladimir Stankovic
Rivalry and friendship with Korac
That wasn’t his first duel with Korac, who by then
was the best scorer in Europe. Rodriguez and Korac met
for the first time at the 1959 EuroBasket in Istanbul,
and after that at the 1960 Olympics in Rome, the 1961
EuroBasket in Belgrade and the 1963 EuroBasket in
Wroclaw, Poland. In that 1963 edition in Poland, Korac
was again the best scorer of the tournament, with 26.6
points, but Rodriguez averaged 20.3 and was chosen
as the first MVP of the competition. He received 132
votes from the journalists, 26 more than Aleksandr
Petrov of the USSR, who was second. Rodriguez himself
acknowledged Korac as a great player; while focusing
on Spain, he liked Clifford Luyk and Nino Buscato. At the
1960 Olympics, Rodriguez had the chance to see players
like Oscar Robertson, Jerry Lucas and Jerry West.
The latter was his favorite.
At the 1965 and 1967 EuroBaskets, Rodriguez also
had high scoring averages – 21.6 and 21.8 points – but
his problem was a mediocre Spain team that finished
11th and 10th, respectively, among 16 participants. At
Real Madrid, Rodriguez had the help of great players
who made it easier to win four EuroLeague crowns and
take part in several more finals. In 1965, Real Madrid
defended the title against old rival CSKA Moscow. Madrid
won 88-81 as Rodriguez had 11 points in Moscow
and 84-64 at home behind his 24 points. The third title
came in 1967 at home against Simental Milano, 91-83,
as the great Rodriguez scored 29 points. The fourth title
followed the next year in Lyon against Spartak Brno, 98-
95. Rodriguez only scored 6 points in that final, but was
an important figure for the team. In 1969, in Barcelona,
one of the most dramatic EuroLeague finals ever took
place. Real Madrid and CSKA Moscow played for 50
minutes and CSKA won thanks to big man Vladimir Andreev,
who played the game of a lifetime with 37 points.
Rodriguez scored 18, Wayne Brabender and Luyk had
20 apiece, and Miles Aiken led Madrid with 24 points,
but it was not enough to stop Andreev and Sergei Belov
(19 points), who played all 50 minutes.
Emiliano Rodriguez played the 1971 EuroBasket in
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In a brilliant career, Rodriguez won 12 Spanish
Leagues, nine Spanish Cups, four EuroLeague crowns,
two titles as the Spanish League’s best scorer (1963
and 1966) and two EuroBasket MVP titles (1963 and
1969). He was also honored six times on the European
selection of players and scored more than 20,000
points in a Real Madrid jersey. For the Spanish national
team, Rodriguez played 175 games and scored 2,834
points. In September of 2007, he was among the first
players inducted into the FIBA Hall of Fame.
Hats off to Emiliano Rodriguez, the Great Captain.
Emiliano Rodriguez
Germany (7.4 ppg.) and one more season in Real Madrid.
In 1973, on the eve of the Barcelona EuroBasket,
where Spain finally won the silver medal after losing to
Yugoslavia in the final, he put an end to his career as
a player. Justice would have been served if Rodriguez
would have taken part in this tournament to finish his
great career with a deserved medal, but even without
the trophy, he has a privileged spot in the history of
basketball in Spain and Europe.
101 greats of european basketball
R

Johnny
Rogers
307

A champ by any
measure
When in the summer of 1988 he
decided to move to Europe to
have more playing time, Johnny
Rogers probably never imagined
that he would only be back to his
native California occasionally to
visit his family and friends. He would live in Europe for
a quarter of a century after that between Spain, Italy
and Greece. He played in all three countries, got married
in Spain, and represented the Spanish national
team at the Sydney Olympics in 2000.
Since 2004, the year he retired, Rogers has remained
involved with basketball in other ways. He
worked as an NBA scout while also becoming a color
commentator on EuroLeague.TV. He hosted a shooting
camp in Valencia for young players. Most recently, he
has been the Director of Pro Player Personnel for the
NBA’s Los Angeles Clippers.
After a good run at Stanford University and University
of California-Irvine (21.7 and 20.7 points plus 7.4
and 8.6 rebounds, respectively, in his last two years),
Rogers was selected in the second round of the 1986
NBA draft by the Sacramento Kings. In his rookie season
with Sacramento, he averaged 10.5 minutes and
4.2 points. His second year, after being traded to Cleveland,
he played in 24 games for 7 minutes on average
and scored 2.4 points. With a strong will to play, Rogers
crossed the Atlantic Ocean and decided to try Europe.
An offer from Real Madrid was good enough for him to
start his European adventure.
The year with Drazen
His first season in Spain started early because of
national cup games. Curiously enough, the final of the
cup tournament for 1989 was played in 1988. Eight
teams played the tourney in several towns in the Galicia
region, with Real Madrid eliminating Magia Huesca in
the quarterfinals, 88-64, and Joventut Badalona in the
semis, 99-74. That led to the dream final, Real Madrid
vs. FC Barcelona, being held in La Coruña. It was a clash
of titans, a game that half of Spain stopped to watch.
Rogers still remembered many details decades later:
“We got to the arena one and a half hours before
the game and the stands were already full,” he recalled
to me. “There was an unbelievable atmosphere. Barcelona
had the lead for a long time, but in the end, we
prevailed 85-81. It was my first trophy.”
The media of that time highlighted Rogers as the
man of the final. Drazen Petrovic, who had recently arrived
from Cibona, scored 27 points. But Rogers had 23
points on 7 of 11 two-pointers, 1 of 1 threes and 6 of 6
free throws, plus 6 rebounds. He was decisive in his 40
minutes on the court.
That same season, on March 14, 1989, Rogers won
his second trophy – and first at an international level –
with Madrid in Athens. In an unforgettable title game
of the Saporta Cup, Real Madrid beat Juventus Caserta
117-113 in overtime. The epic game had been 60-57 for
Madrid at halftime and was tied 102-102 at the end of
regulation. The game was marked by an unbelievable
performance by Petrovic, who scored 62 points. For
Caserta, there was the “Holy Hand” of Oscar Schmidt,
who scored 44. Rogers contributed 14 points in 21 min-
101 greats of european basketball
Johnny Rogers
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Vladimir Stankovic
utes. It was the European final with the most points,
230. With its 117 points, Madrid matched the record of
Partizan against Bosna in the 1978 Korac Cup final, but
that was broken later when Maccabi Tel Aviv scored 118
points in the 2004 EuroLeague championship game.
“It was an impressive game, an offensive feast, a
true show,” Rogers recalled. “Fernando Martin played
slightly injured and Drazen had to pull the wagon and
he did it in unforgettable fashion. Some criticized him
for being egocentric, but he did what he had to do. Drazen
was a great player, a natural-born winner. We beat
a great opponent that had a great team, not only Oscar.
Nando Gentile also hit 34 points that night.”
Despite his good year with Los Blancos, Johnny
Rogers didn’t stay in Madrid. His next stop would be
Pamesa Valencia. After a good season there (20.5
points) he played little in the following campaign due to
an injury. At the end of the season he signed for Philips
Milan and there, with Mike D’Antoni as head coach, Rogers
changed positions. Until then, he had played small
forward, making use of his excellent outside shot to
hurt rivals. But D’Antoni’s idea was to get Rogers closer
to the rim. Rogers was a modern player, versatile, capable
of running, jumping and scoring, almost the ideal
player for any coach. He also had a fighting character
and never played bad games. You could always expect
something from Rogers: points, rebounds, big shots,
fastbreaks and, many times, a good combination of all
of the above.
In the 1991-92 season, Philips had a good team –
Antonello Riva, Darryl Dawkins, Riccardo Pittis, Davide
Pessina and Rogers – and reached the EuroLeague Final
Four in Istanbul. But in the semifinals, it lost to Partizan
for the third time that season, although that was not
the biggest disappointment in Rogers’ career. After two
more years in Italy with Varese and Forli, and three more
in Spain with Murcia, Caceres and, again, Valencia, in
the summer of 1997 and with the title of “best Spanish
player of the season”, he joined the European champs.
He flew to Greece and signed with Olympiacos. He was
34 years old, but the best was yet to come.
Two titles with Panathinaikos
At Olympiacos, Rogers met Dusan Ivkovic and his
assistant, Milan Minic, the most important coaches,
together with Zeljko Obradovic, that Rogers would have
by the end of his career:
“I learned something from each coach I had, but
these three, together with my father Clifford, who
played college ball and was a coach after that, were the
ones that helped me the most,” says Rogers.
It was during his time at Olympiacos, from 1997 to
1999, that Rogers has the memory of his most painful
loss, which came in the fifth game of the final playoffs
series of the Greek League against archrival Panathinaikos.
Olympiacos was playing at home in front of its
fans, who were preparing a big celebration, but it was
not to be.
At 36 years old, when most players think about putting
an end to their careers, Rogers received an offer
from ... Panathinaikos! Obradovic, who had recently
arrived from Benetton Treviso, had started to build a
team to win the EuroLeague and reached the conclusion
that he needed an experienced player at power
forward. He wanted someone who could contribute
without needing a lot of minutes, a role that Johnny
Rogers fit perfectly.
“In Panathinaikos, I met many players whom I had
played against throughout my career: with Gentile I had
fought in that final in Athens; against Zeljko Rebraca
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with Partizan in 1992; with Dejan Bodiroga in our duels
in Italy; with Oded Kattash and Michael Koch in several
European duels,” Rogers said. “It was a great group of
people, people who spoke several languages but understood
each other perfectly. Friendships were born
in that team that last to this day. Also, we fulfilled the
dream of the Greens as we won the crown in Thessaloniki
against Maccabi 73-67.”
It was April 20, 2000, the last chance to win a continental
crown in the 20th century – and Rogers took it at
36 years old. He played 27 minutes, scored 4 points and
grabbed 2 boards. Just what Obradovic expected from
him. The following year, in the season of the two Euro-
Leagues, due to the conflict between FIBA and ULEB.
The only three powerful teams who chose FIBA over
ULEB were Panathinaikos, Maccabi and CSKA Moscow,
even though the Russian champ was not as powerful
in those days as it has been since. The three of them,
together with Efes Pilsen, reached the SuproLeague
Final Four in Paris, where Maccabi, led by Nate Huffman
and his 21 points, got revenge over Panathinaikos for
the previous year’s loss despite 27 points by Bodiroga.
Maccabi won 81-67.
For the 2001-02 season, all the best teams in Europe
got together again to play a single competition, the
EuroLeague. The Final Four that year – the first for the
new EuroLeague after a playoff series that Kinder Bologna
won over Tau Ceramica 3-2 decided the previous
year’s title – would be played in Bologna. Panathinaikos
reached the Final Four, but it wasn’t the favorite for the
title. Not even close. Things changed after its unexpected
83-75 win over Maccabi in the semifinal. However,
Kinder was waiting in the title game. The home team
was coached by Ettore Messina and had several stars.
It is true that many of its best players were still very
young – like Manu Ginobili, Marko Jaric and Matjaz Smodis
– but one could see a bright future for all of them.
The game started badly for Panathinaikos and at
halftime, Kinder was winning 48-40. But in the second
half, several Panathinaikos players took their turns
starring for the team. Young center Lazaros Papadopoulos
had 12 points, veteran Rogers added 7, and the
full orchestra was conducted by Ibrahim Kutluay with
22 points and Bodiroga, with 21. In the end, the Greens
won by the score of 89-83. Rogers, at 38 years old, was
European champ for the second time. The Greens also
won the Greek League, his first national league title.
It was a perfect time to retire, but Rogers still relished
more battles. He signed for Lleida, where he did
more than well in the Spanish League and the ULEB Cup
for two years. When he retired in 2004, he left behind
267 Spanish league games, averaging 16.6 points, 5.8
rebounds and an index rating of 15.6. His accuracy from
the arc was impressive, at 42%. He also made 56% of his
two-pointers and 85% of his free throws – no bad for a
2.08-meter big man. In the Italian League he played 113
games with averages of 20.2 points and 7.5 rebounds.
At Olympiacos, with whom he had reached another
Final Four in 1999, his averages were 15.5 points and
8.6 boards. At Panathinaikos, in his late 30s, he was
still able to score 10.0 points and pull down almost 4
rebounds per game
Johnny Rogers was a great player, but all of those
who know him would tell you he is an even better person,
a great teammate and a true friend in every situation,
a champion in every sense of the word.
101 greats of european basketball
Johnny Rogers
R

Arvydas
Sabonis
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The Lithuanian Tsar
At the 1983 EuroBasket in Nantes,
France, I came across Arvydas Sabonis
in a nearby mall. At that time, he was
the young center of the USSR team. It
was his second competition at a senior
level because, with his enormous talent,
he basically skipped the junior period in his career.
After having played at the FIBA European Championship
for Cadets in 1981 in Greece, where the USSR
was crowned champion behind his 17 points per game,
Sabonis was already a great talent. One year later, while
his generational peers – Sarunas Marciulionis, Valery
Tikhonenko, Jose Biriukov, Igors Miglinieks and others
– played in the FIBA European Championship for Junior
Men, Sabonis was at the World Cup 1982 in Colombia with
the seniors, alongside Sergei Tarakanov, Valdis Valters,
Vladimir Tkachenko, Anatoly Myshkin, Aleksandar Belosteny,
Sergejus Jovaisa and Valdemaras Chomicius.
Sabonis was less than 18 years old at the time, having
been born on December 19, 1964, in Kaunas, Lithuania.
The USSR became world champion by beating the USA
95-94 with Sabonis going scoreless, even though his
talent had helped his team reach the title game. For instance,
he scored 28 points against the hosts, Colombia.
Let me go back to my encounter with Sabonis. We
had a cup of coffee, he was very kind. We talked only a little,
but enough for me to put together a short interview
with the future superstar of world basketball. From our
conversation, I only remember a single sentence: “I will
never play for CSKA Moscow.” When I was back home,
looking through the pages of the Borba newspaper, of
which I was sports chief then, I could not find the interview
with Sabonis. When I asked my co-workers what
had happened, they told me: “We didn’t have much
space those days, and since he is an unknown player...”
Shortly thereafter, interviews with Sabonis were
world exclusives. My newspaper peers had made the
typical mistake of a coach who fires a young player
from a club because he has “no talent” – and then he
becomes a superstar. Years later, fortunately, I had the
chance to know Arvydas a little better, to make several
interviews with him and to talk several more times in a
casual way. Most of all, though, I enjoyed his game.
Pure talent
Arvydas Sabonis was one of a kind. In my almost 50
years following basketball, I have never seen a player
like him. There were taller players, more celebrated
players, but never did someone with his height (2.20
meters) have that much talent. I couldn’t even mention
what aspect of the game was his strongest point: rebounds,
shooting, assists, court vision, leadership. He
was a natural-born talent, a giant born to play basketball
and do big things in this sport.
If I had to compare Sabonis to someone I can only
think about Kresimir Cosic, the great Croatian center
of Zadar and the Yugoslav national team. Even though
both played center, they didn’t look like each other
physically, but their games had many similar attributes.
Cosic was a visionary, the first big man to ever play
at all positions. He had great court vision, went to the
perimeter to deliver assists like a playmaker, and mainly
understood basketball like nobody else. His main
weapon was his basketball IQ. Sabonis was like his
pupil, but with even a few more qualities in him: he was
10 centimeters taller, had a stronger body and a better
101 greats of european basketball
Arvydas Sabonis
S

Vladimir Stankovic
long-range shot. Both changed basketball, were icons
of their respective eras, and led their club teams and
national teams to the top.
After missing the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles due
to the USSR boycott, Sabas was back on the big stage
at the 1985 EuroBasket in Stuttgart, where the USSR’s
domination was overwhelming and he was chosen MVP.
In the final, Czechoslovakia fell 120-89 with 23 points
and 15 rebounds from Sabonis. His scoring average
was 20 points. The all-tournament team included Valdis
Valters (USSR), Drazen Petrovic (Yugoslavia), Detlef
Schrempf (West Germany), Fernando Martin (Spain)
and Arvydas Sabonis (USSR). Some starting five! That
same year, on March 19, his club team, Zalgiris Kaunas,
reached its first European final. It was the Saporta Cup
against FC Barcelona in Grenoble and Zalgiris lost 77-73
despite Rimas Kurtinaitis’s 36 points. Sabonis had one
of his usual double-doubles, 14 points and 16 rebounds.
The following year, Zalgiris, as the USSR domestic
champion, represented the country in the EuroLeague
and reached the title game, where it had to square off
against Cibona Zagreb, the defending champ that had
beaten Real Madrid the previous year in Athens. The
game was played in Budapest on April 3 and didn’t end
well for Sabas. His team lost 94-82 after referees Costas
Rigas of Greece and Vittorio Fiorito of Italy disqualified
Sabonis, who until that point had 27 points and 14 rebounds.
In the first minute of the fourth quarter, Sabonis
punched Mihovil Nakic in the face as his answer to a
provocation. Sabonis’s European dream at the club level
would have to wait.
Olympic gold
In the middle of the 1980s, Sabonis started to suffer
injuries, which would become his biggest enemies
throughout his career. Ankles, knees and especially his
tendons started to suffer the consequences of such an
effort made by such a big man. After missing almost all
of 1987, he was back for the 1988 Olympics in Seoul,
South Korea. His start was not that promising, however,
as the USSR lost in the first game against Yugoslavia,
92-79. But after beating the USA in the semis 82-74 with
his 13 points and 11 boards, the Soviets prevailed in
the final against Yugoslavia 83-76 thanks to 20 points
and 15 rebounds from Sabonis. His dream was fulfilled.
Also, after several political changes during the Perestroika
era of Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev, the
doors were opened for the best players of the country
to show their talent in other places.
At the 1989 EuroBasket in Zagreb, Sabonis and
his Lithuanian teammates (Marciulionis, Chomicius
and Kurtinaitis) would win the last medal (bronze) for
a multi-nation USSR with Ukrainians Alexander Volkov
and Belosteny, Latvian Gundars Vetra, Estonian Tiit
Sokk, and Russians Tikhonenko and Valery Goborov.
At the 1990 World Cup in Buenos Aires, the Lithuanian
players would already not be around, as their dream of
playing for Lithuania was coming soon.
As a kind of prize for the 1988 Olympic gold, the
best USSR players obtained legal permits to leave the
country. Sabonis went to Spain to play with Forum Valladolid.
The surprise was big: one of the best players in
the world was signing for a humble team in Spain. The
reason was that the biggest teams in Europe were not
that confident in Sabas’s physical condition.
Sabonis was not in top form when he arrived, because
of the injuries, but a great job done by the medical
services of the club made a sports miracle easier.
In his debut, a friendly game against Real Madrid, he
scored 27 points and pulled down 10 boards despite
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his team’s loss (95-81), but he made it clear that Spain
was in for a real treat with a new superstar. In the following
three seasons, he would play 37, 37 and 36 games,
averaging 23.6 points, 13.0 rebounds and 1.9 assists,
taking Valladolid to the playoffs for three straight years
and in 1992-93 to the Korac Cup semifinals, where the
team lost to a strong Il Messaggero Roma team, with
Dino Radja, Roberto Premier and Rick Mahorn.
EuroLeague crown with Madrid
In the summer of 1992, after three brilliant seasons
in Valladolid, two important things happened in
the life of Sabas. First, he signed with Real Madrid for
three seasons. Second, he won the bronze medal with
Lithuania, already an independent country, at the 1992
Olympics in Barcelona. Sabonis’s averages in Barcelona
were 23.9 points, 13 rebounds and 1.8 assists. He
was 28 years old and in his prime.
With his arrival at Real Madrid, Sabonis’s main goal
was winning the European crown. But before doing that
in 1995, he suffered another disappointment. At the
1993 Final Four in Athens, Real Madrid lost, unexpectedly,
against Limoges – the eventual surprise champ – by 62-52
in the semis. The arrival of Zeljko Obradovic to the bench
of Real Madrid would be the start of a great collaboration
between a player and a coach that evolved into a great
friendship between two men who have given a lot to basketball.
On April 13, 1995, in Zaragoza, Spain, the basketball
giant Arvydas Sabonis fulfilled his dream: winning the
EuroLeague crown and also being named MVP of the Final
Four in the process. In the semis, Real Madrid got revenge
against Limoges with a 62-42 victory, while in the title
game, the Spanish team defeated Olympiacos Piraeus.
The Lithuanian Tsar had 23 points and 7 rebounds.
At 31 years old, Sabonis was leaving the Spanish
League after 235 games and averages of 20.3 points,
12.4 rebounds and 2.0 assists in 33 minutes on court,
to take the next important step in his career: signing
for the Portland Trail Blazers of the NBA. The club also
fulfilled its dream of bringing Sabas to the USA almost
a decade after having chosen him in the 1986 draft with
pick number 24.
At 31, when some players retire, Sabonis showed
the world that he still knew how to do a lot of things.
Never did such a veteran rookie attract as much media
attention as he did, but Sabas justified it all. He won
Player of the Week awards, was part of the all-rookie
team, was Best Sixth Man, and was Rookie of the Year
runner-up. In seven NBA seasons averaging more than
24 minutes per game, he averaged 12 points (32% on
threes) and 7.3 rebounds.
After fulfilling all of his dreams, at 39 years old, Sabonis
decided to have his biggest wish granted: dressing
again in the jersey of his Zalgiris. He literally played for
his own team, since he had just bought most of the
stock in the club. He signed for the club of his heart
and immediately became a EuroLeague star again: in
the 2003-04 season, he was named MVP of the regular
season and the Top 16, playing 28 minutes per game
with 16.7 points, 10.7 rebounds and 26.3 index rating
averages. At 40 years old.
In Lithuania, he remains a national idol. He has been
president of the Lithuanian basketball since 2011, the
same year that was chosen for the Naismith Hall of
Fame. One year earlier, he had become a member of
the FIBA Hall of Fame, as well. His three sons play basketball,
with one of them, Donatas, having followed his
father into the EuroLeague and the NBA. But they have
a great handicap: the Sabonis name is a great burden in
the basketball world.
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Zoran
Savic
315

The title collector
During the 1988-89 season, the impeccable
scouting of the great Jugoplastika
team coached by Boza Maljkovic followed
closely an unknown center who
played in Celik Zenica of Bosnia-Herzegovina,
on what was then a second-division
team. The reports were positive and in the summer
of 1989 the club from Split, the defending EuroLeague
champion, announced the signing of one Zoran Savic,
who was born on November 18, 1966, in Zenica. Savic
was a center who was almost 23 years old, but few
could have imagined that Jugoplastika had just made a
great signing and even fewer that Yugoslav basketball
had just added a new name to its list of greats.
The first game of the 1989-90 Yugoslav League,
which I saw on TV, had Jugoplastika as the visiting
team, I don’t remember against whom, but perhaps
Cibona Zagreb. What I do remember, however, was that
alongside those great players that had surprisingly
won the European crown in Munich the previous season
– Toni Kukoc, Dino Radja, Dusko Ivanovic, Velimir
Perasovic, Luka Pavicevic, Zoran Sretenovic and Goran
Sobin – a rookie wearing number 13 stood out. Defensive
rebound, two points, offensive rebound, assists,
another rebound, fastbreak, foul drawn, free throw
made. As Bogdan Tanjevic perfectly defines it: “Talent
is like a shorter leg. You can see it right away.”
That’s how Zoran Savic started his career, in style.
He was not a young talent who had starred on youth
teams of a great club in the old Yugoslavia. In fact, until
he was 16 years old, Savic didn’t even play basketball.
His path was slow, with obstacles, and most of all, with
lots of hard work. At that age, he was sent on loan to Capljina
Borac where he played with Jasmin Repesa – with
whom he later won the Italian League title at Fortitudo
Bologna. But life was fair to Savic. His great will to work
paid off with the chance given to him by Maljkovic – and
Savic used it. In his first season playing elite basketball,
he played more like a veteran than a rookie. The first
title arrived in February, when Jugoplastika defeated
Crvena Zvezda 79-77 in the Yugoslav Cup final played
in Dubrovnik. On April 19, in Zaragoza, Jugoplastika
won its second straight European crown by defeating
FC Barcelona in the final 72-67 with 4 points and 7 rebounds
from Savic. In May, Jugoplastika won its third
straight Yugoslav League title and coach Dusan Ivkovic
called Savic among the candidates for the Yugoslavia
team at the 1990 World Cup in Argentina.
A rookie world champion
Against tradition and custom, Savic made his debut
in the top national team at 24 years of age. He stayed
with the team until he voluntarily retired after the 1997
EuroBasket in Barcelona. Yugoslavia, first as a united
country including all its regions, and later in a reduced
version only with Serbia and Montenegro, always had
talented players with world fame like Drazen Petrovic,
Vlade Divac, Toni Kukoc, Sasha Djordjevic, Predrag
Danilovic, Zarko Paspalj or Dejan Bodiroga. But in all its
schemes and systems, first with Coach Ivkovic and later
with Zeljko Obradovic, there was a key piece: Zoran
Savic.
Year after year, Savic improved his technique and
his physical strength, and with a great work ethic he became
a very useful player. He lacked height, but he had
everything else: rebounds, good shooting, assists and
101 greats of european basketball
Zoran Savic
S

Vladimir Stankovic
broad shoulders to keep taller, stronger opponents at
bay. Also, he was very smart, because he understood
the game like few big men. He came back from Buenos
Aires in 1990 as a world champion, having averaged 8.6
points and 2.7 boards. He was the fourth-best scorer
on a very powerful team, after Petrovic (18.4), Kukoc
(16.5) and Paspalj (13.0), but ahead of Divac (8.2). In the
semifinals against a good Team USA, playing against
Alonzo Mourning, Savic scored 14 points and added 5
rebounds.
Half a year later, on April 18, 1991, in Paris, Jugoplastika
won its third straight continental final, once
again beating FC Barcelona, which was now coached
by Maljkovic. The Split team, with Zeljko Pavlicevic now
at the helm, won by the score of 70-65. The MVP of
the tourney was Kukoc, but the man of the final was
Savic, who scored 27 points and added 4 rebounds.
That’s still the scoring record of a Final Four championship
game, shared with a few other players. In the
summer of that year, at the 1991 EuroBasket in Rome,
Savic won the gold medal with a complete Yugoslavia
for the last time (even though Slovenian Jure Zdovc
had to leave the team before the semifinals). With the
start of the war in Yugoslavia, Savic left Split and in
October of 1991 signed for FC Barcelona. Two years
later he moved to Greece to play with PAOK Thessaloniki.
Those are the “empty” years of his career, as he
did not add any titles. With PAOK, in 1994, he won his
third European trophy, the Korac Cup, after two wins
over Stefanel Trieste. In the game in Thessaloniki,
a 75-66 victory, Savic contributed 15 points and 10
boards while in Trieste, a 100-91 win, he had 8 points
and 2 rebounds. In his second PAOK season, Savic
won the Greek Cup. Due to international sanctions, he
could not play at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona with
Yugoslavia, the 1993 EuroBasket in Germany or the
1994 World Cup in Toronto.
Success in 19 of 21 finals
Yugoslavia was back for the 1995 EuroBasket in
Athens and was back in style: taking the gold in an
unforgettable title game victory, 96-90 against a Lithuania
team with Arvydas Sabonis, Sarunas Marculionis,
Rimas Kurtinaitis, Valdemaras Chomicius and Arturas
Karnisovas. On the other side were Divac, Bodiroga,
Djordjevic (41 points, 9 of 12 threes), Danilovic, Paspalj,
Dejan Tomasevic and Savic. For the tournament, Savic
averaged 11 points and 4 rebounds.
After his great tournament, Zeljko Obradovic, the
national team coach, took Savic to Real Madrid with
him. He played a solid season (16.4 ppg) but in the 1996
Final Four in Paris, Real Madrid lost to FC Barcelona in
the semifinals. Savic’s next stop was Italy as he signed
for Kinder Bologna under Ettore Messina. In the summer
of 1996, Savic took a silver medal with Yugoslavia
at the Atlanta Olympics, but he missed the title game
against the USA due to a twisted ankle from the semis
against Lithuania.
Savic’s first year in Bologna ended up blank, but
he found some consolation at the 1997 EuroBasket in
Barcelona as Yugoslavia won the gold medal, Savic’s
sixth, to go with an Olympic silver, plus a Korac Cup and
a Greek Cup. In the 1997-98 season, he won the triple
crown: EuroLeague, Italian League and Italian Cup with
Kinder. He won his third European crown at Palau Sant
Jordi in Barcelona, just where he had started his international
career years earlier. He played alongside Danilovic,
Augusto Binelli, Hugo Sconochini, Alessandro
Abbio and Radoslav Nesterovic to defeat AEK Athens in
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etired, the numbers said the between clubs and the
national team, he had won 19 of the 21 finals he played,
a rate of 90.5%! Indeed, Savic was a title collector. If we
add in two Yugoslav Supercups he has 20 titles and an
Olympic medal, though “only” a silver.
After his great career as a player, Savic worked as
the general manager of Fortitudo Bologna from 2002
to 2005, reaching the 2004 EuroLeague title game and
winning the 2005 Italian League alongside head coach
Jasmin Repesa, his old teammate at Capljina. Savic held
the same position at FC Barcelona later, when the club
won a Spanish King’s Cup title and reached the 2006
EuroLeague Final Four in Prague. Since 2010, he is a
founding member and owner of the Invictus Sports
Group, representing players and some coaches like
Xavi Pascual, Simone Pianigiani and Zan Tabak.
Zoran Savic
the final 58-44, after which Savic was chosen MVP. His
trophy collection had reached the double figures.
Later in 1998, Savic started his Turkish adventure,
signing with an ambitious Efes Pilsen, but a serious injury
had him sidelined most of that year. Despite that,
he added a new title, that country’s President’s Cup. In
the 2000-01 season, at 34 years old, Savic went back
to Barcelona and won the Spanish King’s Cup plus the
Spanish League. He played one more year in Bologna,
this time on the other side, with Fortitudo. When he
101 greats of european basketball
S

Chicho
Sibilio
319

The Dominican
shooter
At the end of a recent Spanish League
regular season, some breaking news
emerged: Alberto Corbacho of Blusens
Monbus had established a new record
with an average of 3.21 three-pointers
made per game. Corbacho put an end
to the reign of Chicho Sibilio and his record from 1986-
87 of 3.14 threes per contest – a record that lasted 26
years. I am sure that some of the younger fans are
wondering who Chicho Sibilio is.
This is the story of a great player who arrived from a
small country in the Caribbean that did not have a powerful
national team but featured some interesting players
and a great star: Cándido Antonio Sibilio Hughes,
who was born on October 3, 1958 in San Cristobal,
Dominican Republic, and is simply known as “Chicho”
by the basketball world.
In a great story about him in “Informe Robinson”,
a show on Spanish TV hosted by Mike Robinson, the
player himself said that the great Serbian coach Ranko
Zeravica “fell in love” with him in the mid-1970s. I talked
to Zeravica and he told me an interesting story about
Chicho:
“Through several sources, we got word that in the
Dominican Republic there was a very interesting player.
A shooting guard with NBA potential, whose name
I don’t remember now. So, with Eduardo Portela, then
with FC Barcelona, we set up a tour of the Dominican
national team with the idea of watching that other player
and signing him if he convinced us. It so happened
that I saw a slim small forward who had the touch of
the very best shooters. I told Portela right away that
I wanted this forward and that we had to sign him no
matter what. That’s how we signed Chicho Sibilio at 17
years old.”
That was the start of a brilliant career that ended
in 1993, after 13 years in Barcelona and four more in
Taugres Baskonia of Vitoria. Sibilio played 348 Spanish
League games in which he averaged 28 minutes, 17.3
points on 42% three-point shooting, 58% accuracy on
two-pointers and 79% on free throws. But behind the
numbers we find a versatile player whose 2.00-meter
height allowed him to play every position except point
guard and center. “He was a smart player and he learned
fast, he was willing to work,” explained Zeravica. “However,
his main weapon was always his shooting. Too
bad that triples arrived only in 1984. He spent almost
half of his career without three-pointers.”.
With the arrival of Sibilio, Barcelona formed a lethal
duo of forwards completed by legend Juan Antonio
“Epi” San Epifanio. With a great floor general in Nacho
Solozabal, Barcelona had the core of a great team for
many years. With that team, Sibilio won five Spanish
Leagues (1981, 1983, 1987, 1988 and 1989), eight
Spanish King’s Cups (1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982,
1983, 1987 and 1988), two Saporta Cups (1985, 1986),
one Korac Cup (1987) and one Intercontinental Cup
(1985). In 1992, Sibilio scored his 650th triple and on
April 4, 1993, he became the first Spanish League player
with 6,000 career points.
No EuroLeague crown
Realizing the rough diamond that it held in its
hands, FC Barcelona managed to get a quick nation-
101 greats of european basketball
Chicho Sibilio
S

Vladimir Stankovic
alization for Sibilio, which also benefitted the Spanish
national team. Sibilio made his debut at the 1980
Olympics in Moscow. He played 87 games with the red
jersey, scoring 1,324 points and winning a silver medal
at EuroBasket 1983 in Nantes. His last big tourney
with Spain was the 1987 EuroBasket in Athens. Over
the course of those years, Sibilio averaged 16.7 points
per game in FIBA competitions, from the 21.6 at those
Moscow Olympics in 1980 to 10.0 at the 1987 Euro-
Basket.
I think I saw Sibilio live for the first time in Moscow in
1980. After that, our paths crossed at several EuroBaskets
and other competitions. I still remember how the
ease with which he shot caught everyone’s attention.
He needed minimal space to create his shots, which
were true bombs that formed a high arc and almost
always went in! His moves and sixth sense to choose
the best spot for a shot would be a valuable lesson
nowadays in any school for shooters.
Sibilio was also a fast player who was able to run
the break and was a good rebounder. As sometimes
happens with shooters, he was often called out for not
caring much about defending his man, but I always say
it is easier to find or create a defensive specialist than a
great shooter.
Ultimately, throughout his great career, there was
something missing, as has happened with other greats of
European basketball: a EuroLeague title. Sibilio was close
two times, but on both occasions the trophy slipped away.
Barcelona played the 1984 final against Banco di Roma
and lost 79-73 despite Epi’s 31 points. Chicho was not at
his best with only 4 points and poor 2-for-10 shooting that
night. His second chance came in 1989 in Munich, but in
semifinals, Jugoplastika Split, the eventual champ, won
87-77 with the great trio formed by Toni Kukoc (24 points),
Dusko Ivanovic (21) and Dino Radja (18) outdueling Epi
(16), Audie Norris (15) and Chicho (15). In the aftermath of
that defeat in Munich, Sibilio left the team. He then signed
for Baskonia where, with less pressure, he played four
good seasons before retiring at age 35.
There were also other European competitions, of
course. In 1981, Barca lost the Saporta Cup final against
Squib Cantu with just a symbolic contribution by Sibilio
of 3 points. In 1985, in the same competition, Barcelona
defeated Zalgiris Kaunas with Arvydas Sabonis (14
points, 16 rebounds), Rimas Kurtinaitis (36 points) and
Valdemaras Chomicius in the final. Sibilio scored 29
points on great shooting: 8 of 16 twos, 3 of 3 threes
and 4 of 4 free throws. That same year, Barcelona won
the Intercontinental Cup against Monte Libano of Brazil
(93-89) with 39 points by Epi and 27 by Sibilio. Marcel
de Souza had 38 for the opponents. It was a celebration
of three great shooters.
One year later, Barcelona repeated the Saporta
Cup title, this time beating Scavolini Pesaro 101-86 as
Chicho scored 25 points and Epi 20. Sibilio’s trophy
case was completed with the 1987 Korac Cup after a
double win over Limoges as Sibilio totaled 33 points in
the two-game series.
Natural talent
Sibilio’s teammates in Barcelona and with the
Spanish national team described him as a “natural
talent” (Juanma Lopez Iturriaga); “the first pure forward”
(Fernando Romay); “excellent, even without
practicing a lot” (Solozabal). He had something that
great shooters have: it looked like everything he did
was easy, natural, effortless. Of course, it was not like
that, and it was his talent that made so many shots go
in as if it were second nature. He was the top scorer
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Centrobasket Championship. The Dominican Republic,
the host of the event, finished fourth behind Mexico,
Puerto Rico and Cuba. Sibilio never lost his connection
with his home country, where he currently lives. He
coached several local teams and was also a member
of the technical staff of the federation. However, his
biggest job was in his academy, given his desire to produce
a player with the same talent as him. It is a difficult
challenge because Chicho was very good. For me – if we
exclude big powers with long traditions like Argentina,
Brazil and Puerto Rico – he’s the best Latino player ever,
together with Manuel Raga.
Chicho Sibilio
in the Spanish League twice (1986-87 and 1987-88)
and he was chosen MVP of the all-star game in 1990
in Zaragoza.
Even though Sibilio was internationally recognized
as a Spanish player, prior to signing with Barcelona in
1975, he already caught everyone’s attention at the
101 greats of european basketball
S

Lou
Silver
323

The man with the
wrong name
His name is Louis ‘Lou’ Grant Silver, but
after everything he did in basketball,
his name should have been Gold. Silver,
who was born on November 27, 1953,
played and studied in the United States.
He was drafted in 1975 by the Kentucky
Colonels of the now-defunct American Basketball Association
with pick number 73. But that same year, he
signed with Maccabi Tel Aviv with the idea of playing
there for one year and then returning to the United
States. He stayed with Maccabi for 10 years. During
that period, he won 10 Israeli League championships,
lifted eight national cups, played in four EuroLeague
finals and won two of them.
Silver’s time in Maccabi coincided with the Golden
Age of the club. In the early 1970s, legendary club president
Shimon Mizrahi and his collaborators started a
project they called the “Great Maccabi”. The first key
move was the signing and naturalization of Tal Brody.
The second was the development of the great talent of
Mickey Berkowitz. The third move was choosing good
Americans. The duo formed by Lou Silver and Jim Boatwright,
together with Aulcie Perry, met the third condition
without a problem.
History in Belgrade
During the 1970s, Maccabi was already a super-dominant
force in Israel, but the directors, the fans and, in
some way, the country itself expected something big in
the EuroLeague. The moment of glory arrived at the end
of the 1976-77 season, Lou Silver’s second with the team.
The EuroLeague started that season with the champions
of 22 countries – including Maccabi and Al Gezira of Egypt,
though the latter withdrew before the start of the competition
– and the defending champ, Mobilgirgi Varese. Italy
was the only country with two representatives. Maccabi
played in Group E with Olympiacos, Dinamo Bucharest
and Synudine Bologna, finishing first with a 5-1 record, its
only defeat coming in Bologna, 76-60.
In the final stage, Maccabi finished second with a 6-4
record, even though two of those games were forfeits.
Due to political issues, Zbrojovka Brno of the former
Czechoslovakia and CSKA Moscow refused to play in Tel
Aviv. FIBA gave the wins to Maccabi with 2-0 scores. The
return games were played in Belgium. Against CSKA,
Maccabi won 91-79, but in the group, Maccabi lost four
games: twice against Varese (109-79 in Bologna and 81-
70 in Tel Aviv) and once each versus Real Madrid (106-
94) and Racing Maes Pils (75-66). In a three-way tie with
CSKA and Madrid, all at 6-4, Maccabi finished second behind
first-place Varese. According to the rules, the first
two teams would face off in the final on neutral ground.
The site of the title game was the legendary Hala Pionir
in Belgrade. FIBA had chosen Belgrade earlier, but when
the two finalists were known, a problem surfaced. Yugoslavia
didn’t have any diplomatic relationship with Israel
and the entry of Israeli citizens to the country was complicated.
However, the government showed great flexibility
and, in the end, more than half of the 6,000 fans packing
the arena were Maccabi supporters. Their arrival marked
the first time ever that a jumbo jet landed in Belgrade.
I was at the game and I have good memories of it,
especially because of the atmosphere created in the
stands by the so-called Yellow Army. On the court, with
101 greats of european basketball
Lou Silver
S

Vladimir Stankovic
many masters of the game on both sides, a special player
caught everyone’s eye. He was Maccabi’s number 12, Lou
Silver. We knew him by name, but seeing him in action was
a pleasure, mainly because of his special way of shooting.
He was a power forward standing at 2.03 meters. He
could jump well, but his main asset was scoring. He had a
peculiar way of shooting the ball, with his hands and the
ball starting the shot almost completely from behind his
head. That peculiar style made it almost impossible for
defenders to block his shot, because it started at an angle
that was impossible to reach. Maccabi dominated from the
start thanks to Boatwright and Berkowitz, but also thanks
to great defense. Bob Morse, the great Varese scorer,
had his first points in the eighth minute and finished with
20 – below his usual numbers. At the break, Maccabi was
ahead 39-30, but Perry had 4 fouls that were provoked by
Dino Meneghin. In minute 26, the Italian team managed
to pull within 47-45 and in minute 33 it was tied at 61-61.
The ending was full of drama. With Maccabi leading 78-77
and 12 seconds left on the clock, Silver missed a shot, but
grabbed the offensive rebound for a new possession. It
looked like Maccabi would win, but British referee David
Turner, a FIBA favorite at the time, called for a traveling
violation that no one else saw. Varese had 7 seconds to
win, but great Maccabi defense forced a bad pass and a
turnover. Maccabi had won its first continental crown. It
was April 7, 1977, a date for the history books in Israeli
basketball. Boatwright was the hero of the game, with 26
points, followed by Berkowitz with 17 and Perry with 16.
Silver scored 6, but his behind-the-head shot remained in
all our memories.
Silver for Silver
Before playing more European finals with Maccabi,
Silver made his debut with the Israeli national team at
the 1979 EuroBasket in Italy. He helped the team a lot
on its way to the silver medal. It was a total surprise,
one of the biggest in the history of EuroBasket. On the
way to the final, Israel defeated Yugoslavia’s golden
generation, a three-peat European champion at the
time (1973, 1975, 1977) and the defending world champion.
Israel prevailed 77-76. In the title game, Israel
lost to the USSR 98-76, but history had already been
written. The names of Berkowitz, Silver, Motti Aroesti,
Eric Menkin, Shuki Schwartz, Shai Sherf, Boaz Yanay,
Barry Leibowitz and the rest, coached by Ralph Klein,
were national heroes. Silver scored 27 points against
Czechoslovakia, 18 against Poland, 14 against France.
His average for the tourney was 14.3 points per game.
The next four years, Silver would play for Israel with
excellent numbers: 19.8 points at the 1980 pre-Olympic
event in Switzerland, 14.5 at the 1981 EuroBasket, 15.3
at the 1983 EuroBasket and 14.1 points at the 1984
pre-Olympic tournament.
Silver played his second EuroLeague final on March
27, 1980, in Berlin against Real Madrid, who won 89-85,
perhaps because Silver had one of the few bad days in
his career. He did not score a single point that night. As
EuroLeague runner-up, Maccabi took part in the Intercontinental
Cup in Sarajevo in 1980 and won the trophy
after defeating Franca of Brazil 88-74 with Earl Williams
as the best scorer with 28 points for the winners.
The following year in Strasbourg, Maccabi won its
second EuroLeague title by downing Synudine Bologna
80-79. Berkowitz was the best scorer with 21 points,
followed by Williams with 20. Silver contributed 6 points.
The last EuroLeague final for Silver was on March 25,
1982, in Cologne, Germany, where Squib Cantu was better
than Maccabi, 86-80. Silver and Berkowitz scored 16
points each, but on the other side were Charles Kupec
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(23 points), Bruce Flowers (21), Pierluigi Marzorati (18)
and Antonello Riva (16).
Mike Karnon, the excellent former press chief at Maccabi,
describes Silver as “an all-around player, very clever
with a great understanding of the game. He was known
for his unique double-handed, over-the-head jump shot.”
Karnon also offers some gems for the data lovers
direct from his own documentation: In his ten seasons in
Tel Aviv, Sliver scored 3,035 points in 196 Israeli League
games (15.4 ppg.) and 1,999 points in 138 European
games (14.4 ppg.). Silver also played 66 games for the
national team, in which he scored 961 points (14.5 ppg.).
About Silver’s personality, Karnon adds: “Silver, a
soft-spoken man, always preferred to remain behind
the scenes and away from the media. On the other
hand, he was a tough customer when it came to negotiating
his contract. During his days with Maccabi, he
studied at Tel Aviv University School of Law, graduating
with a bachelor’s degree, and later got a Master of Law
degree from New York University School of Law.”
Great tribute
After having retired, in July of 1987, Silver received
a great tribute. Maccabi played against a European allstar
team with Drazen Petrovic, Nikos Galis, Richard
Dacoury, Panagiotis Giannakis, Stanislav Kropilak and
Antonello Riva, among others. Europe won 108-87 but
the only important thing that night was the farewell to a
great player loved by the fans.
At the start of the 2013-14 season, before a game
between Maccabi and Crvena Zvezda, in a small but emotional
ceremony in the middle of the court, Silver received
standing ovations once more as a new member of the Maccabi
Hall of Fame. His great teammate Boatwright, who had
died earlier that year, also received posthumous honors.
After retiring as a player, Lou Silver turned his head
to business, making good use of his education as a
banking and finance expert. Nowadays he is a businessman
and attorney, as well as a director in several
other companies, and moves between London and
New York.
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Ljubodrag
Simonovic
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The rebel
genius
I
guess that for many basketball lovers, the name
of Ljubodrag “Duci” Simonovic does not mean a
lot. However, those whose memory reaches back
to the 1970s will surely remember a great player
whose brilliant talent clashed with his strong personality
and ideas, a combination that shortened
a career that could have been much bigger. In the
world of basketball, there are many players with university
degrees and, in this respect, Duci Simonovic
is not an exception. He got a degree in law at 23 years
old and later he added a Ph.D. in philosophy. This is
his story.
The second FIBA European Championship for Junior
Men took place in Porto San Giorgio, Italy, in 1966. Ranko
Zeravica, the coach of the Yugoslav national team,
had a golden generation on his hands: Kresimir Cosic,
Dragan Kapicic, Damir Solman, Aljosa Zorga, Bogdan
Tanjevic, Mihajlo Manovic and a certain Duci Simonovic,
a 17-year-old from the humble second-division team of
Sloga Kraljevo. The flawless scouting of the federation
never let any talent go undiscovered. Yugoslavia ended
up finishing second, but Zeravica knew that he had a lot
of potential in a team that just needed some time.
World champ at 21
The following year, Duci, who was born on January
1, 1949, in Vrnjacka Banja, arrived in Belgrade to study
law and signed for Crvena Zvezda. He also made his debut
for the senior national team at the Mediterranean
Games in Tunisia. A strong team with veteran players
like Vladimir Cvetkovic, Rato Tvrdic and Petar Skansi,
plus young talent in Cosic, Nikola Plecas, Solman, Zorga
and Simonovic, had an easy path to the gold medal. It
was the first one in Simonovic’s career.
That same year, Zeravica some of this young team –
including Cosic, Kapicic, Solman, Zorga and Simonovic
– to the 1967 EuroBasket in Helsinki. But this time the
result was not good at all. Yugoslavia, the runner-up
in the previous edition, finished in ninth place this
time. The press blamed it on Zeravica, who reacted by
changing his choice of players for the 1968 Olympics
in Mexico. Veterans like Ivo Daneu, Radivoje Korac and
Cvetkovic would be in command of the team this time,
their experience seconded by that of Trajko Rajkovic,
Dragutin Cermak, Dragoslav Raznatovic and Petar
Skansi. Among the youngsters, Zeravica brought only
Cosic, Solman, Plecas and Zorga. Simonovic had to stay
home. That team won the country’s first Olympics basketball
medal, a silver, after defeating the USSR in the
semifinals with two historic free throws by Cvetkovic
with 3 seconds to go.
In the Yugoslav League of 1968-69, Crvena Zvezda
took the title with Cvetkovic, Kapicic, Moka Slavnic and
Dragisa Vucinic as leaders. The national team was back
for the 1969 EuroBasket in Naples, Italy, and with it Simonovic.
three years after winning the silver medal as
a junior, Duci won another silver with the men’s senior
national team at barely 20 years old.
The peak of Simonovic’s career came at the 1970
World Cup in Ljubljana. Zeravica, true to his vision, took
several youngsters with him: Cosic, Simonovic, Plecas,
Solman, Zorga and Vinko Jelovac, all of them born in
1948 or 1949 – the same group that had failed at the
Helsinki EuroBasket. Zeravica mixed them with veter-
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Ljubodrag Simonovic
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Vladimir Stankovic
ans like Daneu and Rajkovic, while Cermak, Tvrdic and
Skansi were from the generation in the middle. All the
young players had an important role as Yugoslavia won
its first gold medal in a big competition. Duci Simonovic
averaged 6.3 points, but in some games, especially
the decisive duel against the United States, his great
defense was the foundation of the team’s collective
success.
Duci was a modern player, way ahead of his time. He
played shooting guard, but he could rebound like a power
forward. He was a pure athlete, physically powerful
but with good technique. I remember one time when he
scored 59 points against Partizan – with no three-pointers!
He was a real talent, but he also worked a lot to
reach that high level. For him, work was everything.
Even though he was playing elite basketball, he passed
his university exams with good grades. He knew that
basketball was not his future. At the 1971 EuroBasket,
with an average of 13.3 points, Simonovic was the second-best
scorer of the team after Cosic (15.7). A new
silver medal was the least that was expected from the
world champions. In the 1971-72 season he won his
second league crown with Crvena Zvezda and took his
team to the final of the Saporta Cup, played in Thessaloniki,
Greece, but Simmenthal Milano took the cup by
the score of 74-70.
Walking out of the 1972 Olympics
Then, during the summer of 1972, the Munich Olympics
arrived and that was the beginning of the end of
Simonovic’s brilliant career. In the game against Puerto
Rico, Yugoslavia lost 79-74 against all odds. Duci scored
10 points. Nobody could know those would be his last
10 points for the national team. As it turned out, the
Puerto Rican players tested positive in a doping test. A
symbolic fine by the IOC enraged the Yugoslav Olympic
Committee and the team itself. In a meeting, the players
decided to walk out of the competition in protest!
The federation directors, fearing a severe fine, intervened
to avoid the exodus of the players. All the players
changed their decision – all except one. Duci Simonovic
took his bags and walked out of the Olympic Village. To
this day, he is still angry that nobody walked out with
him or said goodbye to him.
Back home, Simonovic kept playing for Crvena
Zvezda, but he never went back to the national team.
His numbers with the club’s jersey ended up at 110
games (90 wins) and 1,018 points. In 1974, Zvezda
won the Saporta Cup final in Udine against Spartak
Brno 86-75 as Kapicic posted 23 points and Duci added
19. The following season, Crvena Zvezda returned
to the title game of the same competition in Nantes,
France, but lost to Spartak St. Petersburg by a single
point 63-62.
In 1977, after 10 years at Crvena Zvezda, Simonovic
moved to Germany to play with Bamberg and to complete
his studies. After that, and for many years, he kind
of disappeared. He kept a low profile. He reappeared
many years later as a great critic against deceit, irregularities
and everything false in professional sports.
It could be argued that Simonovic was the first anti-globalist
in sports. He dedicated himself to fighting
double morals, doping, ruthless commercialization of
sports and basically everything he considered wrong.
His obsession was the Olympic movement. His book
“The Olympic Deceit of The ‘Divine Baron’ – Pierre de
Coubertin” has been translated into several languages.
About Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern
Olympics, Simonovic said that he was “a plagiarist
who had a friendly correspondence with Adolf Hitler,”
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two marriages. He lives in Belgrade with his dog and
writes books. He is a left-wing man with high morals,
loyal to his ideas and his rebel character. He stays away
from basketball and from time to time he appears on TV
defending his ideas, regardless of the consequences.
Everybody can have his own opinion about the
things that Simonovic stands for, but those who remember
him don’t have a doubt that he was one of the
greats on the basketball court.
Ljubodrag Simonovic
while Juan Antonio Samaranch was a “Franco supporter
with a fascist past.” Because of his character and
speaking his mind, Simonovic had a lot of problems everywhere
he worked. In Norway, he was fired because
he told his students that Sonja Henie, a national hero in
figure skating, “danced the tango with Hitler.” In Yugoslavia,
he was not able to find a job.
In an interview, Simonovic admitted that his dog
“lived better than him because some neighbors threw
some bones to him.” For some years now, he has been
doing a little better because, as a world champion, he
has a national pension. Simonovic has three sons from
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Ramunas
Siskauskas
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Mr. Three-Pointers
While the 2.20-meter giant Arvydas
Sabonis is the greatest
talent to come from Lithuania,
most of the other great players
from the country were point
guards or wing players – all great
shooters. Sarunas Marciulionis, Valdemaras Chomicius,
Sarunas Jasikevicius, Arvydas Macijauskas,
Saulius Stombergas and Arturas Karnisovas are just
a few. Also belonging to that elite group is Ramunas
Siskauskas, who was born on September 10, 1979, in
Kaisiadorys, Lithuania, and was a small forward who
retired in the summer of 2012 after 14 years as a pro.
Siskauskas’s basketball resume shows that he
started at the humble Baltija Kais club with very good
numbers during the 1994-95 (16.5 points per game)
and 1995-96 (17.3 ppg.) seasons. From the beginning
of his career, his best weapon was his shot. He needed
minimal space to shoot. Though many players shoot
like he did, not many actually put the ball in the net like
he did. He was fast and tall (1.98 meters) and strong for
his position; he jumped well, could run the fast break
and played positions one through four. He was most
efficient on half-court plays with good ball circulation
that were designed to showcase his shooting touch.
The most serious part of his career started with his
signing at Sakalai in the summer of 1996. Siskauskas
played there for two seasons and was called up to the Lithuanian
team for the FIBA U22 European Championship in
1998 in Trapani, Italy. Lithuania didn’t do great things at
that tournament, but it developed some great players.
Kestutis Sestokas, Darius Songaila, Rimantas Kaukenas,
Donatas Slanina, Marius Janulis, Arturas Javtokas and
Siskauskas himself would take Lithuanian basketball to
the top in the following years. In Trapani, Siskauskas was
the fourth-best scorer on his team with 10 points per
game and 4.3 rebounds, but you could already see his
potential. Witnesses still remember his duel against Dirk
Nowitzki in the game between Germany and Lithuania
for seventh place. Germany won 97-95 because Nowitzki
scored 34 points, while Siskauskas had 21.
That same summer, Siskauskas took another
important step in his career, joining Lietuvos Rytas
Vilnius. There, Siskauskas made his debut in European
competition in the Saporta Cup. In the 1998-99 season,
he averaged 17.5 points and 5.0 rebounds, and in the
following one, he had 14.2 points, 5.8 boards and 2.0
assists per game. If I remember correctly, I saw him for
the first time at the Sydney Olympics in 2000. In the
quarterfinals, Lithuania, who would go on to win the
bronze medal, eliminated Yugoslavia, 76-63. Gintaras
Einikis was the main Lithuanian executioner that day,
with 26 points and 8 rebounds, but Siskauskas contributed
9 points. In the ensuing years, I would follow
this great player with admiration at the EuroBaskets
of 2001, 2003, 2005 and 2007, at the 2004 Olympics
in Athens, and, of course, in many EuroLeague games,
especially his Final Fours.
Explosion in Stockholm
During the 1990s, Yugoslavia was the black beast
for Lithuania, but at the turn of the century, things
changed. After the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Lithuania
again eliminated Yugoslavia in the quarterfinals at the
2003 EuroBasket in Sweden. Yugoslavia said goodbye
to its throne by falling 98-82. It was only a warning of
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Ramunas Siskauskas
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Vladimir Stankovic
what was about to happen. Siskauskas was the best
player, with 27 points and 4 rebounds in 28 minutes
of lethal shooting: 6 for 8 on two-pointers, 3 for 6 on
threes and 6 for 7 at the free throw line. In the semis,
Lithuania disposed of France and Tony Parker 74-70
and did the same in the title game with Pau Gasol’s
Spain, 93-84. Lithuania had nine scorers that night, led
by Arvydas Macijauskas (21 points) and Eurelijus Zukauskas
(18). Siskauskas finished the tourney with an
average of 14.8 points, one less than Macijauskas, but
with almost two more rebounds per game (4.7).
I still remember the great party of the Lithuanian
fans, who had traveled en masse to celebrate that first
European title for their team since 1939. With players
like Jasikevicius, Macijauskas, Stombergas, Siskauskas,
Songaila, Slanina, Eurelijus and Mindaugas Zukauskas,
Dainius Salenga and Ksistof Lavrinovic, Lithuania played
offensively fun-to-watch basketball, with imagination
and great shooters. Macijauskas made 42.3% of his
shots from the arc, Stombergas was even better (44.4%),
and Jasikevicius shot 34.2%. It was impossible for opponents
to play defense because some guy in green was
always ready to bury the shot. Unforgettable.
Treviso, Athens, Moscow
In the summer of 2004, at nearly 26 years of age,
Siskauskas left his country with two league titles (2000,
2002). His first stop was Benetton Treviso, coached by
Ettore Messina, who was looking precisely for a great
shooter like Siskauskas. During two years in Treviso,
Siskauskas didn’t shine, but delivered, with 12 points
per game in the EuroLeague and 41.9% shooting from
downtown. In the Italian League, his numbers were
even better, 14.8 points and 14.0 in his two seasons.
In 2005-06, coached by David Blatt, Benetton won the
Italian League title. Climamio Bologna had won the
regular season, but in the finals, Benetton took homecourt
advantage with a 77-69 road win in Game 1 and
finished the series 3-1. Siskauskas shined in the finals
with 19, 17, 22 and 18 points in four decisive performances.
His overall average in Italy was 14.6 points and
42.7% from beyond the arc.
After two years in Treviso, Zeljko Obradovic set his
eyes on “Siska” and managed to sign him for Panathinaikos.
The results were impressive: a triple crown in
the 2006-07 season, consisting of the Greek League,
national cup and the EuroLeague title, the team’s first
in five years. Siskauskas’s numbers with the Greens
dropped to 10.9 points over 20 games, but Obradovic
didn’t need more. Siskauskas’s accuracy from behind
the arc – 33 of 70, or 47.1% – was the highest of his
career, Also, he played his best when his team needed
him the most, especially in the unforgettable 2007 EuroLeague
championship game against Messina’s CSKA
Moscow, a 93-91 win for Panathinaikos in which Siska
scored 20 points despite missing all 5 of his three-pointers!
He more than made up for those by making 4 of 4
two-pointers and 12 of 17 free throws, plus contributing
4 rebounds and 5 assists in 37 minutes.
That same summer, at the 2007 EuroBasket in Spain,
Lithuania won the bronze medal as Siskauskas tallied
13.8 points, 3.9 rebounds and 2.6 assists. At the end of
the year, he was named the best Lithuanian sportsman
for 2007. From that summer, I still can remember how
angry Obradovic was when Panathinaikos let Siskauskas
go. As if that wasn’t bad enough, he was joining a
big rival, CSKA.
Moscow would become Siska’s last stop. He stayed
in the Russian capital for five seasons and won another
EuroLeague title in 2008 to go with Russian League tri-
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umphs. In the 2008 semis in Madrid against Tau Ceramica
Vitoria, Siskauskas scored 16 points and then had
13 in the title game against Maccabi. He was chosen
as the EuroLeague’s full-season MVP. In 24 games, his
numbers were the usual: 14 points plus 3.2 rebounds
and 1.4 assists. In the summer of 2008, he retired from
the national team after the Beijing Olympics. where he
was worth 11 points and 4 rebounds per game.
Coming from nowhere
In Berlin 2009, Siskauskas played his third straight EuroLeague
championship game, but this time he did not lift
the trophy, even if it was as close as ever. Panathinaikos
led CSKA Moscow by 20 points (48-28), but CSKA rallied
in the second half and had possession to win it all in the
last seconds. The score was 73-71 for Panathinaikos and
CSKA, of course, looked for Siska on the last play. This
time, however, the ball did not go in, though just barely. It
was one of the few important shots he ever missed.
In the summer of 2009, with Messina on the bench at
Real Madrid, it was rumored that Siskauskas would travel
to Spain, but he decided to stay in Moscow. He wasn’t interested
in the NBA either. “I don’t want to go there to see
games from the bench,” was his response to this issue.
Berlin would not be his last Final Four, as he went
to his next one in 2010 in Paris, but fell in the semis to
eventual champion FC Barcelona. Then, in 2012, he was
a part of the CSKA Moscow team that fell to the famous
Georgios Printezis shot that gave a title to Olympiacos
in the last second in Istanbul.
Before the 2011-12 season, Siskauskas told Euroleague.net:
“I didn’t go to any sports school when I was a kid. I
was just playing outside with my friends. I can say that
I came from nowhere. Let’s say from outside, from the
field, I came to basketball. And I reached a lot of things.
The only thing I wanted was to play the highest level.
And my dream came true.”
After the game in Istanbul, Siskauskas decided to
retire, and he announced it on May 21, 2012. On the
CSKA website he explained:
“It was not a sudden decision. I made my choice in the
middle of the season. It was not connected with anything
specific – I just feel I should stop. I can only be excited
about my career. God led me to numerous accomplishments
though I started playing basketball late and I don’t
have any basketball school behind my back. I was happy
to play for several great teams, to win a number of titles.
I am glad I was able to quit as a significant player, playing
for such great team and organization as CSKA Moscow.”
Siskauskas played a total of 143 EuroLeague games
for three teams and averaged 11.6 points with 41.9%
shooting from beyond the arc.
Messina recalled coaching Siskauskas fondly: “He
is an excellent person, a professional with a great work
ethic, and an honest man who always looks you in the
eyes. He was reserved but not closed, with personality
and curiosity to learn.”
Ettore Messina considered him a “silent killer” who
could score in the low post and penetrate. He was never
afraid to take on more responsibility.
Nowadays, Ramunas Siskauskas enjoys fishing
and walking in nature. He returned to basketball as an
assistant coach for the Lithuanian national team last
year. He was a champion in four countries, had some
national cups thrown in, and won a European national
championship and some Olympic metals with his national
team. He is a two-time EuroLeague winner, was
chosen as the EuroLeague MVP and was included in the
EuroLeague’s All-Decade Team for 2000 to 2010.
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Zoran
Slavnic
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The first showman
To the long list of great players from the
past who never won the top European
title – among them Kresimir Cosic, Oscar
Schmidt, Dragan Kicanovic, Nikos Galis,
Drazen Dalipagic, Ivo Daneu and Juan Antonio
San Epifanio – I add one more: Zoran
“Moka” Slavnic. Without a doubt, he belongs to that
list of stars from the past.
He made up for the lack of trophies at the club level
with great triumphs playing for the Yugoslav national
team. Slavnic won eight major honors with the national
team. He was an Olympic champion in Moscow in 1980
and silver medalist in Montreal 1976. He was also a
world champ in 1978 in Manila and runner-up in that
competition in 1974 in San Juan. Slavnic also tasted
EuroBasket glory in 1973 in Barcelona, 1975 in Belgrade
and 1977 in Liege, in addition to a bronze medal in
1979 in Turin. In total, he earned eight medals in major
competitions over 10 years from his debut at the 1973
EuroBasket until his retirement after the 1983 edition
of the same tournament.
It might have been more, but Slavnic, who was born
on October 26, 1949, in Belgrade, did not make his debut
with the national team at a major competition until
he was 24 years old! It was Mirko Novosel who gave the
Crvena Zvezda guard a shot after the previous boss,
Ranko Zeravica, overlooked Slavnic. Zeravica considered
Slavnic “an undisciplined player.” What Zeravica
thought was wrong about Moka – who got his nickname
from childhood friends due to his love of mocha-flavored
cakes – was what Novosel thought to be his most
brilliant feature: creativity.
Slavnic was not your usual player. His imagination
was above any tactics or orders from a coach. He was,
simply put, the Improv King. He was guided by his gut,
always with the idea that basketball is just a game and
you had to have fun. Sometimes he had too much fun,
but he also gave fans a lot of joy. He was willing to do
anything to make people laugh, applaud or admire him.
He even caused hatred from opponents, who were ridiculed
by some of his plays; passes between the legs of
the rival, assists behind the back or some other invention
of his. At just 1.81 meters, Slavnic was not able to
dunk, but once on a fastbreak, he tried to do it anyway
– with a teammate who lifted him up! I would say that
Moka Slavnic was the first showman in European basketball.
Better late than never
As a junior player, Slavnic showed talent in many
sports, from handball to swimming to athletics and
basketball. His first coach in Crvena Zvezda, Zdravko
Kubat, soon saw the talent in him and paired him on a
team with Dragan Kapicic. Slavnic made his debut with
the Yugoslav junior national team in 1967 at the qualifying
tournament for the 1968 FIBA European Championship
for Junior Men in Vigo, Spain, where Yugoslavia
finished second after losing to the USSR in the final,
82-73. Along with Slavnic, there were players like Vinko
Jelovac, Ljubodrag Simonovic, Damir Solman, Dragisa
Vucinic, Mihajlo Manovic and Ivan Sarjanovic. Only two
years later, at the 1970 World Cup in Ljubljana, Slovenia,
several of them – Jelovac, Simonovic, Solman and Kapicic
– were world champs at 22 years old, while Slavnic
could only watch the games on TV.
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Zoran Slavnic
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Vladimir Stankovic
Slavnic made his official debut with the Yugoslav
first team in 1970 in some exhibition games, but Zeravica
didn’t trust him and he didn’t play in the 1971 Euro-
Basket or the 1972 Olympics in Munich. With his special
sense of humor, Slavnic accepted the situation, saying
of Zeravica, “Even the best are also wrong sometimes.”
He added with irony that Zeravica “made my career longer
because I started to damage myself later.”
At the 1973 EuroBasket in Barcelona, where Yugoslavia
won its first medal, Slavnic finished the tournament
with 8.1 points per game. He made the national
team and did not leave it until he retired in 1983 after
EuroBasket in Nantes. His career average was 8.3
points per game, with his highest being 12.5 points at
the 1976 Olympics in Montreal. It was there that Slavnic
scored one of the most important baskets of his career.
In the game against Italy to decide the second semifinalist,
the Italians were ahead at the break, 57-41. It
looked like a desperate situation, but little by little the
Yugoslavs trimmed the deficit. On the game’s last possession,
with the ball in their hands, the Blues were only
one point down. After good ball circulation, Slavnic was
left open, and from about 7 meters out, he scored at
the buzzer the basket that would take Yugoslavia to the
semis and later to the final.
During those 10 years, Slavnic was the starting
point guard of a great Yugoslav team. In the end, he
played 179 games (150 wins, 29 losses) and scored
1,465 points. Scoring was not his thing, but he is still
one of the best scorers in the history of the national
team. The ball in his hands was like it had been inside
a safe. He turned over very few balls and he had many
more steals. He was good at shooting and especially
had great court vision for unbelievable assists. Usually,
the starting five on the team was Slavnic, Kicanovic,
Dalipagic, Jelovac (or Zeljko Jerkov) and Cosic. Even
though he had the ball in his hands most of the time,
Slavnic himself acknowledged that Kreso Cosic was the
leader of that team. For Slavnic, and many others, Cosic
was the best Yugoslav player ever.
If Cosic was the basketball leader, Slavnic surely was
the main attraction. He was also willing to joke or find
a way to motivate his teammates. At the 1978 World
Cup in Manila, in a crucial moment during a tough game
against Brazil, the team was in a timeout just before
Mirza Delibasic was to take free throws. Slavnic offered
a bet to Mirza: “I bet you 100 dollars that you do not
score both attempts.”
Delibasic took the bet and calmly scored both free
throws, which was what Moka wanted.
With Crvena Zvezda, Slavnic won two Yugoslav
League titles, in 1962 and 1972. He played twice in
the EuroLeague, but without remarkable results. He
would not be empty-handed at the club level, however.
After losing the 1972 Saporta Cup final in Thessaloniki
against Simmenthal Milano 74-70, despite Slavnic’s 12
points, Crvena Zvezda won the same competition in
1974 in Udine, Italy. The team beat Spartak Brno 86-
75 with 20 points by Slavnic, 19 by Simonovic and 23
by Kapicic. The following year, in the final of the same
competition in Nantes, Zvezda lost to Spartak Saint
Petersburg, led by Aleksandar Belov, 63-62. Slavnic
scored 21 points, but Simonovic (5) and Kapicic (3)
were not at their expected level. Slavnic made his debut
in the Crvena Zvezda first team in 1968-69 under coach
Milan Bjegojevic and stayed through 1977, playing 222
games and scoring 2,829 points (12.7 ppg.) for the club.
Champion with Joventut
After the 1977 EuroBasket in Belgium, Slavnic
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moved to Spain and signed with Joventut Badalona.
There, he found competitive teammates – Josep Maria
Margall, Luis Miguel Santillana, Joan Filba and Manuel
Bosch – who just needed a floor general. Slavnic’s profile
fit perfectly and the team won the Spanish League in
1977-78. He stayed one more season in Badalona and
after that he joined Sibenka, where he was player-coach
and allowed a 15-year old Drazen Petrovic to play his
first minutes. Despite being known for having said “I
hate Partizan more than I love Crvena Zvezda,” Slavnic
played for Partizan in the 1981-82 season. Slavnic finished
his career with Juventus Caserta in Italy with fair
numbers: 17.2 points, 3.4 rebounds and 3.3 assists in
37 minutes per game.
After a brilliant playing career, Slavnic turned to
coaching, but he was far less successful. He had a good
eye for young talent, however, and encouraged the debut
of many young players. He started in Sibenka with
Petrovic and then did the same in Jugoplastika with
players like Toni Kukoc and Dino Radja. The same thing
happened for Partizan, with Sasha Djordjevic and Dragan
Tarlac, as well as for Crvena Zvezda, with Sasa Obradovic.
Slavnic worked in Spain and Germany and for
the 2007 EuroBasket of Spain, where he achieved his
dream of coaching the Yugoslav national team. However,
Slavnic’s place in history is as a player – a great one.
Zoran Slavnic
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Schmidt

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The Holy Hand
FIBA used to run a competition, the Intercontinental
Cup, that existed between 1966 and
1982 and made a brief revival recently. South
American champion Sirio de Sao Paulo, Brazil
faced EuroLeague winner Bosna Sarajevo
in the 1979 title game. Sirio won 100-96 in
overtime at home in Sao Paulo, which led to a big oncourt
celebration, Brazilian style. Oscar Schmidt was
20 years old back then and finished the game with
42 points, shocking head coach Bogdan Tanjevic of
Bosna with his extraordinary talent. Decades later,
Tanjevic told me a fact from that game.
“Never before or since in my entire life did I see
a player who played a great game even though he
couldn’t stop ... crying,” Tanjevic said. “Bosna, my
team, led for almost 35 minutes and Oscar was crying
for real because he thought that the world champion
title was slipping away from him in front of his fans.
He forced overtime and single-handedly beat us in
the extra period. That is when I decided that if I ever
coached a team outside Yugoslavia, he would be one
of my foreign players – Oscar Schmidt. His talent was
beyond all doubt and those tears of his proved his
winning mentality.”
Tanjevic moved to Indesit Caserta in 1982 and kept
his own promise by signing Oscar Schmidt along with
a Serbian point guard, veteran Zoran “Moka” Slavnic.
Tanjevic was known throughout his career for having
the courage to give playing time to very young players
like Mirza Delibasic, Ratko Radovanovic, Nando Gentile,
Dejan Bodiroga and Gregor Fucka. Now, he had brought
an outstanding young player to Caserta. Schmidt would
become a fan idol for eight years, a relentless scorer,
a truly one-of-a-kind player who, with all respect to
Caserta, deserved to play on a European superpower.
Tanjevic has an explanation for Schmidt’s loyalty: “Oscar
is a very honest man. He was thankful to me, the
club and to an entire city that welcomed him with open
arms. He had offers to go to other clubs but stayed
there for eight years.”
Mano Santa
Oscar Daniel Bezerra Schmidt was born on February
16, 1958, into a family with German origins in Natal,
capital of the state of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil.
He started playing for Palmeiras at age 16. He went
to his first major international competition, the 1978
World Cup in Manila, the Philippines, still as a Palmeiras
player. Brazil finished third and young Oscar was the
second-best scorer on the team with 159 points (17.7
per game), right behind Marcel de Souza, who had 189
points (18.9 ppg.). Schmidt signed for Sirio right after
the World Cup and, as mentioned, won the Intercontinental
Cup in 1979. I saw him live for the first time at
the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow. It was the first of
his five Olympics appearances. I also followed him at
Los Angeles 1984, Barcelona 1992, Atlanta 1996 and
at the 1990 World Cup in Argentina. Tanjevic places
Oscar among the “best three offensive players of all
time,” and I fully agree with him. Oscar Schmidt’s nickname
was Mano Santa - Holy Hand - and it was more
than justified: he shot and scored with fascinating ease.
The Brazilian press nicknamed him “basketball’s Pele”.
He surely was not the most all-around player, but if we
speak about shooting, I really don’t know whom I would
rank over him.
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“I practiced all my life to become the best basketball
player ever, and didn’t make it, but I am really proud
of what I did,” Oscar said on May 26, 2003, the day he
retired at age 45 after playing for 32 years. He couldn’t
hide the tears that day, which were so different from
those in 1979, at the start of his brilliant career. He
left some impressive milestones behind. He was 297
points short of getting 50,000 for his career, but still
owns the mark for the most points by any player in basketball
history. Some years before that, he had beaten
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s scoring record – 46,272 points
– established in 1989.
Even though Schmidt played until age 45, his golden
years were those in Caserta, a humble club in southern
Italy that Oscar led to an Italian Cup title in 1988. He
also played the Italian League finals in 1986 and 1987,
as well as reaching the Saporta Cup title game in 1989,
in an unforgettable showdown against Real Madrid in
Athens. The game was one of the biggest duels ever
between two great scorers. Madrid beat Caserta 117-
113 in overtime behind 62 points from Drazen Petrovic,
who played all 45 minutes. Oscar “rested” a little bit
and had 44 points in as many minutes. Drazen made
8 of 16 three-pointers while Oscar drained 6 of 11 from
downtown. Three years before that, in 1986, Caserta
lost the Korac Cup final against Banco Di Roma despite
33 points by Oscar in the first leg and 20 in the decisive
game.
The man who beat the United States
One of Oscar’s best games came against the United
States, in the 1987 Pan American Games in Indianapolis,
where Brazil downed the hosts 120-115. Oscar
finished the game with 47 points! The victory was
history-making in two ways: it was the first defeat for a
U.S. team on its own soil and the first in which the U.S.
allowed more than 100 points.
His size (2.05 meters), weight (106 kilograms) and
big feet (size 48) made him a strong forward and a
good rebounder, but Oscar’s best basketball weapon
was shooting. He was able to score from any position
and at any distance, with his opponents’ hands in front
of him, despite being fouled, wide open, mid-range or
long-range. He started to play when the three-point line
was not yet implemented in world basketball but had
the luck to benefit from it starting in 1984. It was the
perfect rule for a shooter like him. Once he left Caserta,
Oscar played in Pavia, Italy for three years. He scored
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1,760 points in 40 games in the 1990-91 season, an
incredible 44-point average! Throughout the most important
part of his career in Italy, he played 403 games
in 11 seasons, scoring 13,957 points (34.6 ppg.). At age
39, Oscar moved to Spain and signed for Valladolid,
where he scored 2,009 points in two years (28.3 ppg.)
and finished as the Spanish League’s top scorer both
seasons. He fired in 11 of 19 three-pointers in one
game against Murcia.
Speaking of three-pointers, Schmidt once made 22
of 25 shots from downtown in the three-point contest
at the Italian League all-star game. In a public exhibition,
Oscar once made 196 consecutive free throws and 86
straight three-pointers. Once he finished playing in
Spain, Oscar went back to Brazil and played for Corinthians
(1995-97), Banco Bandeirantes Brasil (1997-98),
Gremio (1998-99) and Flamengo (1999 to 2003). He
played his last game with Flamengo on May 26, 2003,
as the club retired his jersey, number 14.
Oscar’s list of records is very long and some of
them seem impossible to reach. He holds the all-time
Olympic records for points, rebounds, minutes played,
two-pointers, three-pointers and free throws made.
Oscar had 55 points against Spain at the 1988 Olympic
Games in Seoul, an Olympic record. He played 35 World
Cup games, scoring 916 points, another record. Oscar
had 7,693 points total in 326 games with Brazil. He had
several chances to go to the NBA but refused them.
New Jersey called him three consecutive years, from
1984 to 1986, but Schmidt always rejected them because
back in those days, going to the NBA meant not
playing with his national team again – and this was the
last thing Oscar would do. Oscar successfully survived
brain surgery in 2001.
If it were up to me, I would name the top scoring
award of any competition “The Oscar Trophy”. I would
do that for Mano Santa, Oscar Schmidt and the double
meaning of his nickname.
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Matjaz
Smodis
343

The humble champ
Imagine this team for just a moment: Marko Jaric,
Gordan Giricek, Rimantas Kaukenas, Igor Rakocevic,
Ramunas Siskauskas, Dirk Nowitzki, Jorge
Garbajosa, Matjaz Smodis, Hedo Turkoglu, Mehmet
Okur, Jaka Lakovic, Darius Songaila. Twelve
Europeans in the NBA? Not exactly. Some of them
never got to play there. A European all-star team, you
might ask? Could have been, but it wasn’t. A list of
great talents during the turn of the century? That’s
also a possible reading, but no. That was the excellent
generation of the European Championship for Men 22
and Under, played in 1998 in Trapani, Italy. All of these
excellent players, future stars, played for their national
teams in the tournament. There are even more
names, too: Dimos Dikoudis, Primoz Brezec, Kestutis
Sestokas, Marko Pesic, Jovo Stanojevic and Kerem
Tunceri. I cannot recall such a concentration of talent
in one single competition, many of them true future
stars.
In the final, played on July 23, 1998, Yugoslavia defeated
Slovenia 92-73 with Igor Rakocevic as the star,
scoring 37 points. On the other side, Primoz Brezec
scored 21 points and pulled down 10 boards, but if we
look closely at the scoresheet, we can notice that Slovenia
really played with 11 players. There was one missing,
and not just any player: Matjaz Smodis, who was
born in Trbovlje, Slovenia on December 13, 1979. In the
accumulated stats of that tournament, he appears as
the leader of his team – 17.7 points and 8.7 rebounds –
but he played just three games. An injury kept him from
playing more, but three games were more than enough
for most scouts to notice his talent and potential. He
would shortly move to Italy to start his career as a true
pro, but before that he would play two more seasons
with his club of origin, Krka (the name of the river that
crosses the city) Novo Mesto, located some 70 kilometers
away from Ljubljana.
From Novo Mesto to Bologna
In the 1998-99 season, FC Barcelona played the
Korac Cup, and in the eighth-finals round, the eventual
champion of that competition traveled to Novo Mesto
knowing almost nothing about its opponent. Barca
won 75-66 on December 9, 1988, but it met a tough
rival with a young forward named Matjaz Smodis.
Three days before his 19th birthday, Smodis had 24
points and 14 rebounds in 38 minutes, shooting 62.5%
on two-pointers and 60% on threes. His talent was
obvious, and Barcelona put Smodis’s name on its list
of future signings. But Ettore Messina, coach of Kinder
Bologna, was quicker. In the summer of 2000, after winning
the Slovenian League with Krka, Messina took the
chance and signed Smodis, who was 20 years old.
Much later, Messina sent me his memories of the
young Smodis:
“Matjaz landed in Bologna at a very young age. He
still had a lot of work ahead of him to get to success, but
he also had a lot of predisposition. What first caught
our attention was his balance, despite his weight, and
his ability to play with physical contact, plus his basketball
IQ. Then, day after day, he learned from the fire he
had in his heart and which, later, would turn him into a
true leader, by word and example, in all the teams he
played.”
During his first season in Italy, Smodis played all
38 games, averaging 19 minutes, 8.6 points and 3.9
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Vladimir Stankovic
rebounds with excellent numbers from the arc: 46 of
98 for a 47% accuracy rate. Not bad for a 21-year-old
forward standing 2.05 meters.
Three-time Euroleague champ
In Italy, in February of 2001, Smodis won his first
title: the Italian Cup. In the first edition of the modern
EuroLeague, he played 21 games with a little over 15
minutes on the court, averaging 7.5 points and 2.2 rebounds.
His personal high was 23 points against Spirou
Charleroi. However, playing alongside Manu Ginobili,
Alessandro Abbio, David Andersen, Antoine Rigaudeau,
Alessandro Frosini and Marko Jaric, Smodis’ role was
to learn, evolve and help as much as he could. In the EuroLeague’s
five-game final series against Tau Ceramica,
Smodis totaled 36 points and won his first EuroLeague
title.
Right after that, Kinder also won the Italian League
for the triple crown, so Smodis’ first year in Italy could
not have been better. During the next two seasons, he
just managed to win one more Italian Cup title, in 2002,
the same year that he and Kinder were runners-up
for the EuroLeague title. But then Kinder had financial
problems and, in the summer of 2003, Smodis joined
Fortitudo, the eternal cross-town rival. His decision was
not welcomed by the fans of either side, but thanks to
his professionalism, he won the hearts of the Fortitudo
fans soon enough. He took his new team to the EuroLeague
Final Four in Tel Aviv, but Maccabi was way superior
and won 118-74. On top of that, Smodis played one
of the worst important games in his career: 2 points
and 0 rebounds in 14 minutes.
After five years and 167 games in Italy, averaging
10.1 points and 4.7 rebounds, Smodis decided to
change countries and climate. He moved to Russia,
signed by CSKA Moscow, by express petition from
Coach Messina, who explained:
“When I signed for CSKA in the summer of 2005,
I asked my president, Sergey Kushchenko, for three
players to try to win the EuroLeague: Trajan Langdon,
David Vanterpool and Matjaz. It was not easy, because
there was another big club that wanted to sign him, but
we made it. If Matjaz had not been with us during those
wonderful years, CSKA would not have won two Euro-
League titles after 35 years.”
For his part, in an interview published on April 15,
2009, Smodis said about Messina:
“He’s a great teacher, a great coach, and surely
someone who has helped me, and not just on the court,
but also growing up as a person. As I grow on the court,
I also grow off the court. Basically, it has been a learning
experience with him, and for sure he’s a big part of my
life. I am very grateful to be able to work with him.”
Smodis was always one of those players who rarely
disappointed or failed to meet expectations. He had
the character of a warrior, but you need more than your
character to score points and grab rebounds. He also
had the talent and physical strength. He could play
close to the rim or away from it. During many seasons,
his percentage from beyond the arc was above 40%.
He was a versatile player, a fighter, a leader like Messina
says. At the end of his first season with CSKA, he added
another triple crown: the Russian League, the Russian
Cup and, 35 years after CSKA had last won it, the Euro-
League crown, the second for Smodis.
In the 2006 Final Four in Prague, CSKA defeated FC
Barcelona in the semis, 85-74, with 17 points and 12
rebounds from Smodis, who performed well over his
season averages of 12 points and 5.5 boards. In the title
game against Maccabi, won by the score of 73-69, he
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played at his usual level, with 12 points and 8 rebounds
in 35 minutes. The following season, CSKA would play
the final once again against Panathinaikos in Athens.
In an unforgettable game, Panathinaikos won by just
2 points, 93-91, despite another great Smodis performance:
18 points and 3 rebounds.
The following season, during the celebration of the
50th Anniversary of European competition in Madrid,
Smodis would lift his third EuroLeague title. The victim
was, once more, Maccabi (91-77) as Smodis had 13
points and 5 rebounds in the final. Before the start of
the 2008-09 season, Smodis was named the captain of
the CSKA team, becoming the first non-Russian player
ever to be given that honor. He played the EuroLeague
title game again in Berlin in 2009, but Panathinaikos
won again by two points, 73-71. His last Final Four would
be in 2010 in Paris, where FC Barcelona, the eventual
champ, was better in the semis, 65-54. Although his
numbers say Smodis had a bad game – 0 points and 3
rebounds – he had just returned from a serious back injury
and operation. The only two games he played that
EuroLeague season were at the Final Four.
A triumphant return to home
After six wonderful years in CSKA, two EuroLeague,
six Russian Leagues and two Russian Cup titles, in the
summer of 2011, Smodis joined Cedevita Zagreb at 33
years old. It was very much a homecoming because
Novo Mesto is only 60 kilometers away. After 10 years
in the EuroLeague, he played a solid season in the Euro-
Cup with 8.2 points and 3.8 rebounds. At the end of the
season, he went back home, to Novo Mesto. He didn’t
play at the start of the season, but he would join the
team in the second half of the season and helped Krka
win the Slovenian League title. And how. They swept
the series, 3-0, against archrival Union Olimpija Ljubljana.
The third and last game was played in Ljubljana and
Krka won 71-61 with 21 points by Smodis, including
3 three-pointers, earning him the Final MVP honor.
He ended his career in 2013 as he had started it up in
2000, winning the title.
On the court, he was a fighter and a winner. Off the
court, he was a kind person, humble and easy going.
In the aforementioned interview, he was asked if at the
beginning of his career he would have imagined that he
could make it that far. Honestly, he replied:
“I wouldn’t have imagined it at all. At that point, I
was just leaving to find security for my family, trying to
do my best and earn money for them. It wasn’t about
winning or doing something special. It was just about
putting myself in a position to do well for my family.”
Once retired, Smodis opened a basketball school.
The fortunate kids who attend his school are learning
from one of the best, the humble champion, Matjaz
Smodis.
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Nacho
Solozabal
347

The brains of
FC Barcelona
From today’s perspective, it seems impossible
that a great player can spend all his
career at the same club. It was not so usual
many years ago, either, but there were cases
of eternal loyalty. One that stands out was
Ignacio “Nacho” Solozabal, who was born
in Barcelona on August 1, 1958, and would spend his
entire career, from 1975 to 1992, with FC Barcelona.
He was a natural playmaker, a left-hander and a great
organizer, but he was also a great shooter who came
to the rescue when his team needed his points more
than his assists.
Solazabal was part of a gifted generation of players
on a Barça team with Juan Antonio “Epi” San Epifanio,
Audie Norris, Andres Jimenez, Chicho Sibilio and Juan
De la Cruz. In the 1980s, they formed a great core that
only fell short of one thing: a crown in Europe’s top
competition. They played three EuroLeague finals and
lost them all. There was some consolation in winning
two Saporta Cup titles, one Korac Cup title and one
Intercontinental Cup title, but Solozabal’s biggest satisfaction
came with the Spanish national team, with
whom he won two silver medals: the first at the 1983
EuroBasket in Nantes and one year later at the 1984
Olympics in Los Angeles.
A great reserve
At 17 years old, Nacho Solozabal was already
a player who stood out in the junior categories of
Barcelona. Antoni Serra, the Spanish head coach for
cadets, called him to play in the third FIBA European
Championship for Cadets. It was held in 1975 in Thessaloniki
and Athens. Together with him were Epi, Juan
Manuel Lopez Iturriaga and Jordi Ribas, the father of
Pau Ribas, a future Barcelona player. On other teams
of that tournament, there were future superstars like
Panagiotis Giannakis of Greece, Aleksandar Belostenny
of the Soviet Union or Peter Vilfan and Aleksandar
Petrovic of Yugoslavia. Spain finished fifth, but Solozabal,
with an average of 11.3 points, was among the
best players.
One year later, at the 1976 FIBA European Championship
for Junior Men, played in Santiago de Compostela,
Spain, coach Ignacio Pinedo added some new players
to his team, like Fernando Romay and Jose Antonio
Querejeta. Spain took the bronze medal, its second
straight prize after the silver medal the previous year
in Orleans, France in the same competition. Epi and
Solozabal, teammates at Barcelona, were promoted
together to the club’s first team and would become
synonymous with the Catalan club for the following 15
years.
They formed a perfect duo: a thinking playmaker
with great game vision and a forward who could score
from any situation. They were a lethal combination.
Solozabal, one year older, retired first in 1992. His
Spanish League numbers say that he played 349 games
totaling 10,503 minutes on the floor. He scored 3,608
points (averaging 10.3, with a personal high of 29) on
59% two-point, 39% three-point and 80% free throw
shooting, plus 2 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game.
In his brilliant career, Solozabal also won six Spanish
League titles (the first in 1981, the last in 1990), nine
Spanish King’s Cups (the first in 1978, the last in 1991),
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Vladimir Stankovic
two Saporta Cups, one Korac Cup and one Intercontinental
Cup. What we cannot see in the numbers was
his role on the court, that of a natural leader who gave
confidence to his teammates, his coaches and the fans,
who regarded him as a true idol.
A historic three-pointer
Not long ago the Spanish media celebrated the
25th anniversary of a historic three-point shot made
by Solozabal. It happened on December 22, 1987, in
Valladolid during the Spanish King’s Cup final. Barcelona’s
eternal archrival, Real Madrid, was winning by
two points, 83-81, with just a few seconds left, but
Barça had the ball. Real Madrid committed two fouls
but Barça coach Aito Garcia Reneses, making use of
the rule at that time that allowed him to choose between
free throws or inbounding the ball from the
sideline, chose the latter. In the last timeout, Aito
crafted a play for Sibilio to take the last three. However,
great defense on that great shooter change the
plan: the ball reached the hands of Solozabal, who
was on the right side, looking at the rim. Jose Luis
Llorente, Madrid’s guard, got there late and Nacho
threw up a bomb that hit nothing but net on the buzzer
making it 84-83 for Barcelona. Epi and Norris were
the first to hug the new Barcelona hero. Epi finished
the game with 18 points, Solozabal 17 (including 2 of
4 triples), Audie Norris 11 and Andres Jimenez 10. On
Madrid’s side, Wendell Alexis had 22 points, Chechu
Biriukov 20 and Fernando Martin 19. It was a great
final and one of the most exciting in the history of
the competition. Solozabal did other great things in
his career, but that three-pointer marked his career
forever.
Solozabal made his debut with the Spanish national
team on April 22, 1980, against the USSR in
Girona, Spain, in a 90-89 defeat. That same year, in
Moscow, he took part in the first of the three Olympics
he played in. His biggest success happened in 1984 in
Los Angeles, where Spain defeated Yugoslavia in the
semifinal and lost the gold medal game against a great
USA Team led by Michael Jordan, Patrick Ewing and
Chris Mullin, among others who would go on to great
NBA careers.
Seven finals, four titles
If there were sour memories for Nacho Solozabal,
there’s no doubt that those are the three finals lost
in the EuroLeague, a cursed title for that generation
of Barcelona players. The team made the final for the
first time in 1984 but lost to Banco di Roma in Geneva,
79-73. Solozabal scored 6 points and dished 2 assists.
Six years later, almost at home in Zaragoza, Barça was
bested by Jugoplastika Split, coached by Boza Maljkovic.
With a roster full of talent like Toni Kukoc, Dino Radja,
Dusko Ivanovic, Zoran Savic, Velimir Perasovic, Zoran
Sretenovic and Luka Pavicevic, Split won by the score of
72-67. Solozabal scored 5 points. His last chance came
in 1991 in Paris, but Jugoplastika defeated Barcelona
once again 70-65.
However, Barcelona won the other three finals it
played in the other two European competitions. On
March 19, 1985, Barcelona defeated Zalgiris and Arvydas
Sabonis in Grenoble, France 77-73 to claim the
Saporta Cup. Solozabal scored 11 points, grabbed 3
boards and dished 3 assists. That same year, in the
Intercontinental Cup, played in Barcelona, the team
defeated Brazil’s Monte Libano 93-89 as Epi hit 39
points. Solozabal contributed 6 points and 1 assist.
The following year, in Caserta, Italy, Barcelona defend-
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a player loved by the fans, respected by the rivals and
very appreciated by the press because of his game
and his behavior on court. After his retirement, he has
remained linked to basketball, but in a different way.
He has his own basketball school and is still a public
figure as the color commentator of basketball games
on TV as well as a newspaper columnist. Basketball in
Catalonia would be less understood without Nacho
Solozabal.
Nacho Solozabal
ed its Saporta Cup title successfully against Scavolini
Pesaro, 101-86, with 10 points by Solozabal. The third
straight title came in 1987 in the Korac Cup final against
a strong Limoges with Richard Dacoury, Clarence Kea,
Stephane Ostrowski, Jacques Monclar and Gregor Beugnot.
Barcelona won at home 106-85 with 8 points and
5 assists by Solozabal, then won in France 97-86 with
Nacho’s 3 points and 1 assists.
FC Barcelona retired Nacho Solozabal’s jersey
number 7 in 2006 in a very emotional tribute. He was
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Saulius
Stombergas
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The man who made
9 of 9 triples
What do Arvydas Macijauskas,
Saulius Stombergas, Tomas Delininkaitis,
Arturas Karnisovas
and Eurelijus Zukauskas all have
in common? Sounds like an easy
question, right? Any mediocre
basketball connoisseur would say that they are all
Lithuanian. That is correct, but they have one more
thing in common: all of them were born in the town of
Klaipeda, Lithuania’s most important port.
When we talk about Lithuanian basketball, Kaunas
and Vilnius are first in line, but Klaipeda, a town of
180,000 inhabitants on the coast of the Baltic Sea, is
also very important for basketball in that country. Saulius
Stombergas, one of those five great players from
Klaipeda, was born on December 14, 1973, but he spent
most of his career away from his hometown. As a great
young talent, he landed early in Kaunas to sign with Zalgiris
during the 1992-93 season. However, even though
he stayed in Kaunas, he spent the first three seasons
there playing with Atletas. By 1995, he had made his
debut with the national team at the EuroBasket in Athens.
He was part of a great team with some of his idols:
Arvydas Sabonis, Sarunas Marculionis, Rimas Kurtinaitis,
Valdemaras Chomicius and Karnisovas. Stombergas
made a symbolic contribution, 2.9 points per game,
but he came back with the first important medal of his
career, a silver one after losing the final to Yugoslavia,
96-90. In 14 minutes in the final, he scored 2 points on
free throws, but he pulled down 6 rebounds, 4 of them
on offense. A year later, at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta,
he won the bronze medal.
After three years at Atletas, Stombergas made what
was then a bold career move to play for Vostok Shanghai
in China, becoming an immediate sensation in the
national league there, and enough to impress a young
local player named Yao Ming for a long time afterward.
“The year before I started my career, actually, we had
a Lithuanian player, Saulius Stombergas, in the CBA,”
Yao told Euroleague.net in an interview back in 2007. “I
think that until now he remains one of the best players
to come from Europe or even America to play in China –
the best one, really, in CBA history.”
From China, Stombergas returned to Europe to
play at the 1997 EuroBasket, where Lithuania fell in the
quarterfinals, again against Yugoslavia (75-60). But by
then Stombergas was already a key player, averaging
10.8 points, behind Karnisovas (14.2) and Sabonis
(13.3). Having risen to star status and become known
as a three-pointer specialist, he returned to Zalgiris in
1997.
Two Euro trophies in two years
Going back to Zalgiris would be the best decision of
his career. On April 14, 1998, Stombergas won his first
trophy at the club level. In the title game of the Saporta
Cup, played at the legendary Pionir Arena in Belgrade,
Zalgiris defeated Olimpia Milano 82-67. The MVP of the
game, you ask? Well, after he scored 35 points, it was
only fair that the award was given to Stombergas. It was
his night. He made 7 of 8 two-pointers, 1 of 2 threes
and 18 of 23 free throws. He also had 2 rebounds and
5 assists. A star was born. By the end of the season,
Zalgiris won the Lithuanian league and began preparing
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Vladimir Stankovic
with ambition for the EuroLeague the following campaign.
In the group phase, Zalgiris won with authority,
compiling an 8-2 record to rule the group above Fenerbahce,
Pau-Orthez, Tau Ceramica, Varese and Avtodor.
In the eighth-finals and quarterfinals, Zalgiris defeated
Turkish teams Ulker and Efes Pilsen, respectively. Then
it was time for the Final Four in Munich, Germany, with
the other three teams being Olympiacos, Kinder Bologna
and Fortitudo Bologna. Each bench featured a basketball
master: Dusan Ivkovic for Olympiacos, Ettore
Messina for Kinder, Petar Skansi for Fortitudo and Jonas
Kazlauskas for Zalgiris, although the latter was not yet
so well-known at the time. The rosters of the four teams
were full of stars, of course. The defending champion,
Kinder, had the likes of Predrag Danilovic, Alessandro
Abbio, Radoslav Nesterovic, Hugo Sconochini, Augusto
Binelli and Antoine Rigaudeau. Olympiacos had Arijan
Komazec, Anthony Goldwire, Panagiotis Fasoulas, Milan
Tomic, Johnny Rogers, Fabricio Oberto and Dragan
Tarlac. For Fortitudo, Marko Jaric, Gregor Fucka, Vinny
Del Negro, Carlton Myers, Dan Gay and Roberto Chiacig.
And Zalgiris had Tyus Edney, Eurelijus Zukauskas,
Kestutis Sestokas, Dainius Adomaitis, Anthony Bowie,
George Zidek and, of course, Saulius Stombergas. A
stellar Final Four if you ask me.
In the semifinal, played on April 20, Zalgiris eliminated
Olympiacos 81-71 after great collective play, with 10
players scoring. Kinder was waiting in the title game,
but Zalgiris also defeated the defending champs by the
score of 82-74 after leading 45-30 at the break. Anthony
Bowie was the top scorer with 17 points, followed
by Tyus Edney (13), Stombergas and Zidek (12 apiece).
For the Italian team, the 27 points of Antoine Rigaudeau
were useless because the rest of his teammates, especially
Danilovic (7 points with 1 of 5 triples), didn’t have
a good day. So, 13 years after the Sabonis generation
lost the final against Cibona in Budapest, Zalgiris won
the first EuroLeague crown for Lithuania.
Unbelievable night in Athens
For Stombergas, the triumph in Munich was the culmination
of that stint with Zalgiris. The time had come to
leave the country. His first stop would be Bologna, with
Kinder. It was a blank season for him, losing the final of
the Italian Cup, but he found some consolation at the
2000 Olympics in Sydney. Lithuania lost by just 85-83 in
the semifinals against a powerful USA team with Jason
Kidd, Alonzo Mourning, Kevin Garnett and Gary Payton,
but Stombergas took home a bronze medal thanks to an
89-71 win over Australia in the third-place game.
After that, Stombergas joined Tau Ceramica of
Spain, where he played the first season of the new Euro-
League. Stombergas and his club were protagonists of
two nights that went into the history books. In the first
semifinals game against AEK Athens, the Greek team
won 75-74 with a basket that fell after the buzzer, and
the EuroLeague, for the first time in the history of the
competition, decided to invalidate the result. The game
was replayed and Tau won 70-67 with only 1 point by
Stombergas. Only 5 days later, on the same stage at
OAKA in Athens, the Lithuanian forward played what
was probably the best game of his career. Tau won 90-
65 with 39 points by Stombergas. His shooting was
nearly perfect that night: 4 of 4 twos, 9 of 9 three-pointers
and 3 of 5 free throws! Unbelievable and unrepeatable.
I had seen Sasha Djordjevic also score 9 threes in
that very same arena in the 1995 EuroBasket final, but
he needed 12 attempts.
Stombergas’s game that night was like a symphony.
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It’s worth a look on Youtube for a video of that game. It
didn’t matter whether he was shooting from the right
or left wings, the corner or the top of the arc. His coach
that season, Dusko Ivanovic, remembered Stombergas
this way:
“Of course, his main weapon was his shot, but as
a shooter, he was smart, disciplined and with a heavy
dose of self-control. He shot with feeling, he knew that
if it was his day, like that night in Athens, he was able to
shoot non-stop. He was smart, a good defender, could
go for the rebounds and could also score penetrating.
Yes, he was a great player.”
In the EuroLeague final, the first and only one ever
decided in a best-of-five playoff series, Kinder defeated
Tau Ceramica by 3-2. Stombergas could not repeat the
title won with Zalgiris in 1999, but he made the history
books by being in the first repeat game ever of the competition
and by scoring 9 of 9 threes, still the record in
the competition.
The following season Stombergas would move to
Efes Pilsen, with which he won the Turkish League and
national cup, but for 2002-03 he was back to Zalgiris.
One year later he moved to Russia to play with UNICS
Kazan.
His next memorable highlight was winning the gold
medal at the 2003 EuroBasket in Sweden. It was the first
gold for Lithuania since 1939! A great tourney had its
best moment in the final against Spain, which featured
Pau Gasol, Juan Carlos Navarro, Felipe Reyes, Alberto
Herreros, Jorge Garbajosa and Jose Manuel Calderon.
Lithuania won 93-84 with 21 points by Macijauskas, 10
by Sarunas Jasikevicius, 18 by Zukauskas, and 9 by Ramunas
Siskauskas. Stombergas was the captain, and
now, a double European champion, with his club and
his national team.
In the summer of 2004, between UNICS and a new
stint in Turkey, this time with Ulker, Stombergas took
part in the Athens Olympics. On August 21, Lithuania
beat the United States 94-90 behind a great Sarunas
Jasikevicius (28 points) but also with a great Stombergas,
who scored 16 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. I
saw the game live and I remember the offensive festival
put on by the Lithuanian talents. Stombergas finished
the tournament with 12.3 points per game and left the
national team after 11 years with 97 games played and
1,036 points scored.
After a two-year hiatus, he played again with humble
Naglis Adakris of Lithuania, but in 2008 he retired
for good. One of the best shooters of the modern era
called it a career. With two European trophies, a Euro-
Basket gold medal plus two Olympic medals and another
EuroBasket silver, Stombergas has six important
titles and many good memories. Just as we do, after
having been able to enjoy his play – and most of all, his
sensational shot – for many years.
101 greats of european basketball
Saulius Stombergas
S

Walter
Szczerbiak
355

The superstar
with the
unpronounceable
name
The first duel between Partizan Belgrade
and Real Madrid took place in 1979-80
in the EuroLeague. Partizan, with Dusan
Ivkovic as the coach, had just won its second
Yugoslav League title led by the duo
of Dragan Kicanovic and Drazen Dalipagic,
However, Kicanovic could not play in Europe while
doing his military service
Partizan visited Madrid on December 20, 1979,
and lost 110-83. Walter Szczerbiak scored 30 points,
Wayne Brabender had 23, Rafa Rullan 20, Randy
Meister 15 and Juan Antonio Corbalan. For Partizan,
Dalipagic’s 32 points were totally useless except as a
passport to sign for the Spanish team two years later.
The second game was played on February 14, 1980, in
front of 6,000 fans at Pionir Arena in Belgrade. After
a 54-54 first-half tie, Real Madrid’s quality prevailed
and the game ended 100-87. Meister and Szczerbiak
had 22 points apiece, Corbalan 12, Rullan scored 10
points. It was the first time – and if memory serves, also
the last – that I saw Szczerbiak play live. I knew him
well because Yugoslav TV had always broadcasted the
title games of the EuroLeague and even the Intercontinental
Cup, competitions in which Real Madrid always
went far in the 1970s.
Walter Szczerbiak was a true star, a player admired
in all the gyms he played in. Aside from being a great
player, he was a true gentleman, both on and off the
court. That night at Pionir, I didn’t even imagine that,
years later, I would be able to meet him and maintain a
good relationship with him. Walter always jokes that I
am one of the few people who know how to pronounce
his surname correctly. For most people, it’s almost impossible
to utter the “sh” sound followed by “tch”. Two
consonants at the beginning of his name, which comes
from the Ukrainian word “scerba”. But his surname was
only a problem for TV announcers everywhere. For the
rest of us, the great scorer was only Walter. Always
Walter.
Seven years of glory
The 1979-80 season was the seventh and last for
Walter at Real Madrid. It finished as it started, with
triumphs. Real Madrid beat Maccabi 89-85 in the Euro-
League final, played on March 27 in West Berlin. Walter
scored 16 points, a tad lower than his average of 21.1
up to that point. His best nights were against TUS
Leverkusen (37 points) and Den Bosch (33). Rullan was
the best scorer with 27 points in that game, while Jose
Antonio Querejeta, the current Baskonia Vitoria Gasteiz
president, scored 2 for the Whites.
Berlin was the end of the brilliant career for Szczerbiak.
During seven years in Madrid, he won four Spanish
Leagues (1974, 1975, 1976, 1977), three EuroLeagues
(1974, 1978, 1980), a Spanish Cup (1977) and three Intercontinental
Cups (1976, 1977, 1978). He played four
seasons with scoring averages of more than 30 points,
and that was before three-pointers. Real Madrid had
the luxury of keeping him only for the EuroLeague because
of the limit on foreigners in the domestic league.
101 greats of european basketball
Walter Szczerbiak
S

Vladimir Stankovic
He was a born shooter with excellent technique: elegant
and fast. He was also a solid rebounder. For many, and
for me too, he is one of the best Americans to have ever
played in Europe.
Thanks to his huge talent and hard work during his
youth, life gave back to Walter a part that was stolen
from him in his childhood. He was born on August 21,
1949, in Hamburg, West Germany, the city where his
parents, fleeing from Ukraine, were waiting for the migration
documents to get into the United States. Once
in New York, he fell in love with basketball. In school
tourneys and street games in the playgrounds, the
talent shown by Walter caught the attention of many
colleges. He chose George Washington University. In
his senior year there, he averaged 22.1 points. That
same year he was picked by the Phoenix Suns in the
fourth round of the draft with the 65th pick. He signed
a non-guaranteed contract and after the summer he
was off the team. Walter had a tryout with Pittsburgh
of the ABA, then the competing league to the NBA, but
at the end of the season he was without a team again.
That’s when Real Madrid entered his life. Coach Pedro
Ferrandiz – well assisted and informed by his friend
Victor de la Serna, aka Vicente Salaner, a well-known
basketball newspaper columnist in Spain – offered Walter
a five-year guaranteed contract. And that was how
his European adventure started.
Debut against Barcelona... with 47 points!
Walter made his debut with style on November
11, 1973. Real Madrid beat its archrival FC Barcelona
125-65 – by 60 points! A rookie, Walter with his unpronounceable
surname, finished the game with 47
points. Soon enough, he was the fans’ new idol. He
shined in game after game. He finished the season
with the triple crown: Spanish League, Spanish Cup
and EuroLeague titles against Ignis Varese in Nantes,
84-82. Walter, Clifford Luyk and Rullan had 14 points
each, while Brabender scored 22 and Carmelo Cabrera
16 in the championship game. The following season,
they also won the Spanish League and Spanish
Cup and stretched the team’s winning streak to 88
games over more than three years. Against Mataró,
Walter scored 53 points, but on February 8, 1976, he
outdid himself by setting a Spanish League record
that still stands today. Against Breogan, in a 140-48
blowout, Walter finished with 65 points! His numbers
were unbelievable: 25 of 27 two-point shots (most of
them from what would be three-point territory today)
and 15 of 17 free throws. His record also hides an
anecdote. After he scored “just” 16 points in the previous
game, Martin Tello, a journalist at As newspaper
in Spain, wrote that games in the morning didn’t
seem to suit Walter. The result? A record that prevails
today.
Szczerbiak won his second European crown in 1978,
again against Mobilgirgi Varese 75-67. The final was
played in Munich and Walter led all scorers with 26
points. Two of his three European crowns were won in
Germany, the country where he was born.
After seven wonderful years, Szczerbiak had to
leave. Real Madrid didn’t re-sign him. That hurt him,
but he was only 31 and he wanted to play more. Udine,
then in the Italian second division, offered him a twoyear
contract and he accepted. After that, he was back
in New York and he thought about putting an end to
his career, but a call from his great friend Carmelo
Cabrera, the Real Madrid guard in the years they
shared together, lured him into playing for Gran Canaria.
Cabrera also called Meister and Luis Miguel Prada,
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and many of the American players that shined in the
league were recommended by him. In the meantime,
his son Wally became a pro himself, in the NBA. Later
a group of authors wrote a great book called “Foreigners
in the ACB” with a prologue by Szczerbiak himself.
However, I would like to see another book: “Foreigners
before the ACB”. There were many and very good, all
led by Walter Szczerbiak.
Walter Szczerbiak
and he managed to reunite the four friends from Real
Madrid’s Golden Era. “Old” Walter responded with
23.1 points and 7.3 rebounds and an average index
rating of 19.0 in over 37 per game. Again, he did all that
without three-pointers, which would be established
that same summer of 1984, when the genius named
Walter Szczerbiak definitively retired. For years he
has been technical consultant of the Spanish League
101 greats of european basketball
S

Zan
Tabak
359

A triple
Euro-champ
with an NBA ring
I
am not sure whether Split is the only town outside
of the United States that has produced two NBA
champs, but if there is any other, it will have a hard
time putting together what Toni Kukoc and Zan Tabak
accomplished. Between the two of them, they
feature six EuroLeague titles in their club of origin,
Jugoplastika Split, and subsequently four NBA titles
(Kukoc with Chicago in 1996, 1997 and 1998 and Tabak
with Houston in 1995). Both were in the Split team that
won the EuroLeague three-peat in 1989, 1990 and 1991.
Zan Tabak, who was born on July 15, 1970, in Split,
was never a superstar, a player around whom teams
were built. But he was a player who always delivered
when coaches gave him minutes on the court. As all
big men, he got better with time and he played his best
seasons when older than 25, even though his earlier
seasons were already full of accolades. At 14 years old,
Tabak stood at 1.97 meters and despite practicing all
sports, his fate was basketball. He was lucky to enter
the club at the start of the great project in Jugoplastika.
His talent could not go unnoticed by the Yugoslav federation,
and in the summer of 1987, Tabak was part of the
FIBA European Championship for Cadets in Hungary.
He came back with the gold medal as the third-best
scorer on the team (8.9 points), after Arijan Komazec
(28.4) and Zivko Badzim (11.4). The coach was Janez
Drvaric from Slovenia.
The following year, at the 1988 European Championship
for Junior Men in Yugoslavia, I would see Zan
Tabak live for the first time. He was part of a great
team coached by Dusko Vujosevic, who was not much
older than his players. Komazec was the top scorer
again (27.0) and the line of big men was very strong:
Dzevad Alihodzic, Rastko Cvetkovic and Zan Tabak (6.5
points), while Predrag Danilovic (9.4) started to confirm
his great talent after two years without playing due to
bureaucratic problems with his club of origin, Bosna
Sarajevo. That was another gold medal for Tabak and
his teammates.
The Great Jugoplastika
When he got back to Split, Tabak was soon recruited
by coach Boza Maljkovic for the Jugoplastika senior
team. Toni Kukoc and Dino Radja, that generation’s leaders,
were two and three years older than Tabak, respectively,
but Maljkovic had the vision, the patience and the
courage to look for future talents. Nothing better could
have happened to young Tabak than training with Radja
and Goran Sobin and, starting in 1989, with Zoran Savic.
At 19 years old, after winning the cadet and junior European
championships, he was already a European champ
with his club. Yes, his contribution might have been symbolic,
but Zan Tabak’s name is on the Jugoplastika team
roster that was European champ in 1989. His 2 points
against Maccabi in the semifinal (87-77) and 2 against
Barcelona in the final (75-65) may not have been a lot,
but there he was, in the picture of the champs.
If the triumph of 1989 was a surprise, the repeat
of the title one year later didn’t surprise anyone. The
victims in Zaragoza were Limoges in the semis (101-
83) and Barcelona in the final (72-67). Tabak was still a
substitute center, but he was getting ready for a bigger
101 greats of european basketball
Zan Tabak
T

Vladimir Stankovic
role. The 1990-91 season arrived and with it, Radja had
gone to Rome, Dusko Ivanovic went to Girona and Maljkovic
started coaching Barcelona. Jugoplastika, under
the new sponsor Pop 84, and with Zeljko Pavlicevic on
the bench, repeated the title for a third successive year
at the Paris Final Four. Kukoc, Savic, Velimir Perasovic,
Zoran Sretenovic plus American Avie Lester (who
played his career game in the final against Barcelona
with 11 points and 3 blocks) were on the team. Savic
was the hero of the final with his 27 points and Tabak
contributed 2 points and 3 rebounds, but he had many
good games during the season, including an earlier one
against Barcelona in which he had scored 14 points.
At the end of the season, Tabak was chosen by the
Houston Rockets in the second round of the NBA draft
with the 51st pick. Not bad at all for a 21-year-old kid still
with a lot of room for improvement. For the 1991-92
season, only Tabak and Perasovic remained from the
great Jugoplastika three-peat. Apart from the normal
departures, war was a factor. The Split team played its
home EuroLeague games in La Coruña, Spain. Perasovic
was the top scorer with 25.6 points and Tabak was
already a crucial player in the team (13.9 points plus 7.9
rebounds). It was not a blank season for the team as,
under the new name Slobodna Dalmacija, they won the
first Croatian Cup in Rijeka. In the quarterfinals they
destroyed Jug Drubovnik 94-67, in the semis they did
the same to Sibenka (101-57) and in the final, the victim
was Cibona, 88-65. The MVP? Of course, Zan Tabak. It
was time for some individual accolades.
medal. Drazen Petrovic, Radja, Kukoc, Perasovic, Stojan
Vrankovic, Danko Cvjeticanin, Vladan Alanovic, Aramis
Naglic, Komazec, Alan Gregov and Tabak made up a
super team. Even though he was only 22, Tabak’s next
step would be playing abroad. His first stop was Basket
Livorno of Italy. After a very good season (14.9 points,
10.1 rebounds) his number of medals increased in the
summer with a bronze for Croatia at the 1993 EuroBasket
in Germany. His next step would be an Italian great,
Olimpia Milano. He had another good season with similar
numbers, 14.6 points and 10.7 boards.
At 24, he decided to try his luck in the NBA. Tabak
signed for the Rockets, where he played alongside legend
Hakeem Olajuwon, another great big man and great
for Tabak’s improvement. Lo and behold, after his rookie
season, Tabak had an NBA championship ring in his
hands, too! The team, coached by Rudy Tomjanovich,
of Croatian descent, swept the final series against Orlando,
4-0. For Tabak, it was a fourth continental club
title. After three EuroLeague crowns, he had the NBA
title, becoming the first European to win both leagues.
It’s true that, again, his contribution was symbolic, as
expected from a rookie, but he was there in the right
place at the right time. He played the next three years
for the Toronto Raptors and then another one in Boston.
After four-and-a-half seasons in the NBA, Tabak
decided to come back to Europe. He chose Fenerbahce
of Turkey and he had a great season (13.1 points and 10
rebounds). That was enough for the Indiana Pacers to
lure him back to the NBA.
To the NBA, via Livorno
In the summer of 1992, Zan Tabak lived a dream
together with his teammates by playing the Barcelona
Olympic Games with Croatia and winning a silver
Real Madrid, Joventut, Unicaja
At 30 years old, and after six and a half seasons in
the NBA and 247 games, Tabak came back to Europe
for good. He was signed by Real Madrid and had a solid
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season with 9.8 points and 7 rebounds. After that, he
moved to Badalona to play with Joventut. It was the
fourth club on which Tabak played – after Jugoplastika,
Milano and Madrid – that had been a EuroLeague champion
at least once. His numbers were even better: 12.6
points and 7.3 rebounds.
At 35 years old, Tabak got the call from Unicaja Malaga.
Sergio Scariolo, who had coached him in Madrid,
was looking for an experienced player, but things didn’t
turn out as expected due to a back injury that Tabak
suffered. He missed half a season and started playing
a little before the King’s Cup in Zaragoza. But, again, it
was the right moment for him as Unicaja managed to
lift the prestigious cup title with a great team, including
Carlos Cabezas, Jorge Garbajosa, Fran Vazquez, Berni
Rodriguez, Walter Herrmann, Pepe Sanchez, Stephane
Risacher ... and Tabak, of course. He scored 10 points
against Etosa Alicante in the quarterfinals and then 4
against Valencia in the semis. Tabak could not score in
the title game against Real Madrid, coached by his former
mentor, Boza Maljkovic, but he helped nonetheless.
Due to the bad back injury, Tabak could not deliver
what was expected of him, but with his experience, he
could help a young Fran Vazquez, who had a great breakout
season. Zan was a great pro and set an example in
every practice. Almost everything he did, he did well. He
was almost perfect in the low post and could score with
both hands. He played well with his back to the basket
and was also a tough defender with rebounding abilities.
He was not slow for his height and he ran well.
With a King’s Cup title under his belt, Tabak decided
to retire. However, he knew he wanted to stay in basketball
as a coach. He has since won both a EuroLeague
and a EuroCup title as an assistant coach with Real Madrid,
in 2007 and 2015, respectively. Before and after,
he has been a head coach in Poland, Spain and Israel.
Among his other head coaching positions in Spain, he
took Baskonia Vitoria Gasteiz to the EuroLeague Playoffs
in 2013. And in a replacement stint with Maccabi
FOX Tel Aviv in 2016 he won the Israeli Cup.
Basketball was Tabak’s destiny even though he
didn’t have it in his blood. Rather, he married into it. His
father didn’t play the sport, but his wife Gorana had
played in the Split women’s team and her father, Rato
Tvrdic, was the captain of the great Jugoplastika in the
1970s and of the Yugoslav national team, European
champions in 1973 and 1975. And since every big man
needs a good point guard, Tabak was lucky to have one
in the family.
101 greats of european basketball
Zan Tabak
T

Corny
Thompson
363

A big man
like
a playmaker
In the history of the EuroLeague, from 1958 to
today, very few title games were decided with a
shot or play in the final moments. Among the few
players who won a game that way is Cornelius
Allen Thompson, an American big man who spent
most of his career in Italy (Varese) and Spain
(Joventut and Leon). His happiest day probably was
April 21, 1994. In the EuroLeague title game that day,
Thompson nailed a three-pointer to give Joventut
Badalona the trophy against Olympiacos by the final
score of 59-57. Thompson’s three-pointer was not
the last shot of the game, but it was the final basket
and therefore, it was decisive.
When Corny Thompson, who was born on February
5, 1960, in Middletown, Connecticut, scored the last
three of his 17 points that night, there were still 18
seconds to go, which is a lot of time in such a dynamic
game like basketball. However, Zarko Paspalj missed 2
free throws that could have tied the game and the Reds
then missed two more shots on a play that, because
of error at the officials’ table, lasted longer than it was
supposed to, especially for Joventut fans. However,
before and after that shot, many things happened for
Corny.
With a little over 2 minutes to go, Olympiacos was
winning 57-53. Jordi Villacampa’s three gave Joventut
some hope. Panagiotis Fasoulas then missed his
shot for the Reds and that gave the Spanish team a
new chance. Ferran Martinez missed the shot but the
offensive rebound by Villacampa gave the Badalona
possession again. And when Martinez missed again,
Mike Smith pulled down another offensive board.
Eventually, the ball reached Corny’s hands. He was
guarded by Roy Tarpley, a 2.11-meter big man who
was late getting out to challenge Thompson. Corny
was alone behind the arc and he didn’t miss. With 18
seconds to go, Joventut was ahead 59-57. With 4.8
seconds to go, Smith fouled Paspalj. The Montenegrin
player missed the first attempt and then he did
the same with the second, on purpose. With some
help from the table that cannot be understood, the
Greek team had time for two more shots that never
went in. It was the first European title for a Catalan
team.
Explosion in Varese
Corny Thompson always stood out as a player, since
his start as a kid until his retirement at 36 years old. At
14 he was 1.95 meters tall and had great potential for
rebounds, something that would become a trademark
in his career. He led Middletown High School to three
state championships. Several universities were interested
in him, even North Carolina, whose coach, the
famous Dean Smith, traveled all the way to Middletown
to see the kid that made the all-American high school
team in 1978.
Corny chose the Connecticut Huskies, especially because
he wanted to be close to home. Until Thompson
arrived, the UConn team was a mediocre one, but with
him, the program gained status. Four years later, Corny
would leave college with several records under his arm.
He is still ranked in the school’s top 10 players ever in
101 greats of european basketball
Corny Thompson
T

Vladimir Stankovic
free throws attempted (496), scoring (1,810 points) and
rebounds (1,017).
Thompson’s next logical step was the NBA, but as
in many other cases, he landed on the wrong team at
the wrong time. He was selected by Dallas in the third
round of the 1980 draft, but the team already had Mark
Aguirre, Rolando Blackman, Pat Cummings and Brad
Davis. Thompson didn’t earn the trust of coach Dick
Motta and after barely 20 games, with an average of
3 points, he had to look for options outside Dallas. He
played one year in the CBA with the Detroit Spirits,
where his 15 points and 10 rebounds opened European
doors for him.
The best decision for Corny Thompson was signing
with Varese, a team with a name, tradition and great
players in the past. Between 1984 and 1990 Corny
spent six years in Varese. He played 211 games and
scored 4,704 points (22.3 ppg) while shooting 58% on
two-pointers and 42% on threes. That’s not to mention
his 9.7 rebounds and 1.2 assists per game. His best
scoring average was 24.7 points in 1986-87. His personal
highs were 39 points against Tracer Milano and
22 rebounds against Desio, both in 1987.
However, something was missing: titles. Varese was
not as strong as it used to be. It reached the finals, but
the titles slipped away. In his first European final, the
Korac Cup against Milano on March 21, 1985, in Brussels,
Varese lost 91-78 with only 8 points by Corny. Russ
Schoene was unstoppable for Milano with 33 points. In
the Italian League, Varese lost the final series in 1989-
90 against Scavolini, coached by a young Sergio Scariolo.
Despite his 27 points and 13 rebounds in the third
game and 26 plus 15 in the fourth, Thompson could
not help Varese claim the title. That made him want to
switch teams in order to win trophies.
Badalona, the perfect destination
Corny’s decision to leave Varese coincided with the
construction of a great team at Joventut. Coached by
Real Madrid legend Lolo Sainz, that team had a strong
core of Spanish players, with Jordi Villacampa, Rafa
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Jofresa, Tomas Jofresa and Ferran Martinez. The club
had also signed an excellent American, Harold Pressley,
an NCAA champ with Villanova who also brought good
numbers from the NBA. With the Sacramento Kings, he
had played 299 games in four seasons, averaging 12.3
points and 6.1 rebounds. There was another spot for
a foreigner on the team and Joventut set its eyes on
Thompson, marking the birth of one of the best duos of
American players ever in the Spanish League.
Corny Thompson
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T

Dejan
Tomasevic
367

The center with
point guard
passing
I
have known Dejan Tomasevic since his first season
at Crvena Zvezda, in 1991-92, and his more
than discreet 4 points in six games. However,
going through his biography again, I must admit
that I was surprised by his number of titles. If I
calculated well, among his seven club teams and
the Yugoslav national team, he won 23 trophies plus
a silver and a bronze medal. There were also some
individual accolades as competition MVP or member
of an all-tournament team.
There is no doubt that Dejan Tomasevic is one of the
most decorated players in European basketball. He was
a national champion 10 times with five of his seven club
teams in three countries; he won six national cups in
Yugoslavia, Spain and Greece. He won the EuroLeague
and the EuroCup, the latter as MVP of the finals. And
if that was not enough, with Yugoslavia he was world
champion twice, European champion three times, and
won both an Olympic silver medal from Atlanta in 1996
and a bronze from EuroBasket 1999 in France.
From football to basketball
Tomasevic was born on May 5, 1973, in Belgrade.
Unlike many other great players, he started playing
basketball quite late, at age 15. Until then, Tomasevic
had played football for Crvena Zvezda as a central defender,
but after growing too much in just one year, he
became a bit clumsy on the football field. Tomasevic
then decided to switch sports, fortunately for him and
for basketball. Instead of being a mediocre defender in
football, basketball had won an excellent center who
would make history in the sport.
Even though it has been written that Tomasevic
started playing with Borac Cacak, that is not the truth.
His very first club was Crvena Zvezda. He was promoted
to the first team at age 18 in the 1991-92 season. He
played alongside the late Boban Jankovic, Nebojsa Ilic,
Aleksandar Trifunovic and Sasa Obradovic, although
he had a small role. The following season, without Jankovic,
who left for Panionios in Greece, but with young
prospect Predrag Stojakovic, Tomasevic scored 82
points in 30 league games. I remember the prediction
at the time of Coach Boza Maljkovic, who told me that
Tomasevic had big potential.
The following season, with the second straight national
title for Crvena Zvezda, Tomasevic was already
contributing 14.9 points and more and more rebounds.
In his fourth season, 1994-95, his average in 28 games
rose to 23.3 points. That summer he made his debut
on the national team and won his first gold medal, at
the 1995 EuroBasket in Athens. Tomasevic was not an
important figure alongside Vlade Divac, Zarko Paspalj,
Dejan Bodiroga, Aleksander Djordjevic, Predrag Danilovic
and Zoran Savic, but he made the team and averaged
3.3 points and 3 boards per game. And he would
stay on the team for the following 10 years, collecting
trophy after trophy.
After four years, two league titles and one cup with
Zvezda, Tomasevic decided to leave the club and join its
eternal archrival, Partizan. Crvena Zvezda fans never
forgave him for this big sin, but he was looking for the
best for himself and he took a giant step forward in
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Dejan Tomasevic
T

Vladimir Stankovic
his career. Just as he exited the club, a long period of
crisis started for Crvena Zvezda, which would last for
15 years. At the same time, Partizan started its rise to
domination with 12 consecutive national leagues, plus
triumphs in cups and the Adriatic League, soon becoming
a consistent protagonist in the EuroLeague.
Over the next four years, from 1995 to 1999, Tomasevic
had a prominent role both with Partizan and the national
team. At the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, he won the
silver medal after contributing 6.2 points and 4 rebounds
per game. At the 1997 EuroBasket in Barcelona, he repeated
as champ with 4.5 points and 3.4 boards. In 1998, he
was back to Barcelona to play the EuroLeague Final Four
with Partizan and that same summer he won the World
Cup with Yugoslavia in Athens, averaging 6.2 points and
5.7 rebounds. In 1999, he won the bronze medal at the
EuroBasket in France with 7.2 points and 6 rebounds.
During those four years, Tomasevic improved a lot
from a technical point of view. Little by little he started
overcoming his biggest obstacle, free throw shooting.
At the same time, he started dishing many assists,
about which he learned a lot from Divac, another big
man with a great ability to pass. Most important, however,
was Tomasevic’s ability to grab rebounds, especially
on offense. He had that sixth sense attributed to
the greats, to know where the ball would fall. Over the
years, Tomasevic also gained experience that guaranteed
him a high level in each game. It was almost impossible
to see him play badly. When he didn’t have a good
day, he always delivered something for his coaches.
In the summer of 1999, after two league titles and
one national cup with Partizan, Tomasevic was 26 years
old and in his prime. He received many calls from many
foreign clubs, but he decided to join Buducnost Podgorica.
There, he joined with Igor Rakocevic, an old teammate
of his in Crvena Zvezda who was five years younger than
Tomasevic. At the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Tomasevic
contributed 10.3 points, 6.9 rebounds and 1.9 assists
per game – his best performance in a tournament with
the national team, but Yugoslavia fell in the quarterfinals
against the excellent Canada of Steve Nash.
In Podgorica, he won two Yugoslav Leagues with
Buducnost plus a national cup. He was also MVP of the
regular season in the first modern EuroLeague in 2000-
01, with 22.9 points per game. At the end of the season,
he was named to the All-EuroLeague Team. From his
time in Buducnost, some personal records stuck: a
performance index rating of 42 against PAOK and 29
points plus 17 boards against Barcelona. When Tomasevic
was in Podgorica, he had a very special deal with
his coach, Miroslav Nikolic. For every EuroLeague game
in which he grabbed 15 rebounds or more, he would
have a special bonus. If he didn’t reach that number,
he would pay the club one-tenth of what he had agreed
on as bonuses. Normally he won the bet, but his extra
bonus was soon spent right after the game to pay for
dinner for the whole team!
Triple-double with Pamesa Valencia
After two years in Buducnost, Tomasevic left at
age 28. He did so as three-time European champ, too,
because Yugoslavia had recovered the title at the 2001
EuroBasket in Turkey. His first stop abroad was in Vitoria,
where he signed with Tau Ceramica. In his first
year, he won the Spanish double crown with the league
and cup titles. In the cup final at home, Tau defeated FC
Barcelona 85-83. Tomasevic scored 20 points and was
chosen MVP. A few months later, despite having finished
fourth in the regular season, Tau Ceramica won
the league title by dominating the playoff rounds at
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ease: 3-1 against Pamesa Valencia, 3-1 against Barcelona
and 3-0 against Unicaja in the finals. That season,
the duo Tomasevic formed with Fabricio Oberto was
almost unstoppable. They combined for unbelievable
assists, many points and rebounds – but mostly they
showed tremendous heart. They were a nightmare for
rivals and a pleasure for the fans in Vitoria.
Curiously enough, in the summer of 2002 Tomasevic
and Oberto were also rivals in the final of the World
Cup in Indianapolis. With luck on its side, Yugoslavia
won in overtime after saving a theoretically lost game
in the last minute of regulation time. Tomasevic, on a
team full of stars, contributed 6.2 points, 5.9 rebounds
and 1.9 assists per game.
At the end of the 2001-02 season, Pamesa Valencia
signed the lethal duo of Tomasevic and Oberto, making
one of the best investments in the club’s history. Already
in their first season there, they won a trophy, the Euro-
Cup, which was the team’s first European title ever. In the
final, Pamesa defeated Krka Novo Mesto 90-78 on the
road and then 78-76 at home behind 28 points plus 11
boards by Tomasevic – more than enough to be chosen
MVP. That win allowed Valencia to play in the EuroLeague
the following season. It performed well as it finished second
in the Top 16 with the same record, 4-2, as Maccabi,
which would go on to the Final Four on a tiebreaker.
On May 12, 2004, Tomasevic also entered the history
books in the Spanish League as he became the
fourth player ever to achieve a triple-double. It came
against Unicaja in an 82-66 win. In only 33 minutes,
Tomasevic scored 14 points, grabbed 13 rebounds and
dished 10 assists. Tomasevic’s assists were always a
confirmation of the famous saying attributed to Toni
Kukoc: “A basket makes one player happy, but an assist
makes two players happy.” Off the court, Tomasevic
was always a serious man, a responsible father of four
who was happy with his family and circle of friends.
EuroLeague title with PAO
Before putting an end to his Spanish adventure in
2005, Tomasevic suffered the biggest disappointment
in his career: Yugoslavia ended up 11th of 12 teams in
the 2004 Olympics in Athens, even though Tomasevic,
with 7.2 points, 9.4 rebounds and 2.4 assists, was one
of the few who delivered for the team, coached by Zeljko
Obradovic. A small consolation was the gold medal
for Argentina and his friend Oberto. Between his exit
from Pamesa Valencia – after 147 games in the Spanish
League, with averages of 11.3 points, 7.1 rebounds,
3.3 assists and a 15.4 index rating – and his signing for
Panathinaikos Athens, Tomasevic experienced his second
major disappointment: the elimination of Serbia &
Montenegro in the Play-off phase of the 2005 EuroBasket
at home, in Novi Sad.
Tomasevic landed in Athens at age 32 in the middle
of a championship-caliber team. However, Coach Obradovic
was looking for an experienced player, a fighter,
rebounder, passer and winner. Dejan Tomasevic was a
perfect fit. He delivered, especially in the EuroLeague
title game against CSKA Moscow in Athens on May
6, 2007. In one of the best finals I have ever seen, the
Greens won 93-91 behind 16 points and 3 rebounds
by Tomasevic in just 21 minutes pm the floor. He finally
fulfilled his dream: winning the EuroLeague, the only
trophy missing in his brilliant resume. He stayed two
more seasons with Panathinaikos, even though he
barely played in the last one due to a back operation.
In the 2008-09 season, at age 35, he played with PAOK
Thessaloniki and he didn’t do badly: 9.3 points, 7.5 rebounds
and 1.8 assists.
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Dejan Tomasevic
T

Mirsad
Turkcan
371

The king of
rebounds
I
met Mirsad Turkcan in December of 1994 when I
went by the Calderon Hotel in Barcelona to write a
preview for the newspaper I was working for at the
time, Mundo Deportivo, for that week’s EuroLeague
game between FC Barcelona and Efes Pilsen.
I got there with the newspaper in my hands. While I
was in reception, I was talking to Efes coach Aydin Ors
and a young player from the Turkish team asked me,
in English, if he could have a look at the paper. Right
away, I heard a comment from him in pure Serbian.
He was Mirsad Turkcan, a young talent of Efes Pilsen,
who was already known in the basketball circles due
to his 16.6-point average at the FIBA European Championship
for Junior Men, played the previous summer
in Tel Aviv. Until then, I never had the chance to meet
him because in 1992, his getaway to Istanbul from Novi
Pazar, the Serbian city where he was born on June 7,
1976, happened at almost the same time as mine to
Barcelona. Turkcan was born under the name Jahovic
in a rather well-known family of doctors in Novi Pazar,
the main city in the region of Sandzak, with a majority
Muslim population. One of his sisters follows the family
tradition and is a doctor in Belgrade, while the other,
Emina, is a well-known singer both in Serbia and Turkey,
where she lives with her husband, the famous Turkish
singer Mustafa Sandal.
Mirsad’s thing was neither medicine nor music.
His destiny was in sports, specifically, basketball. As a
young talent, he was a candidate to play for all the big
teams in Yugoslavia. The fastest one to catch him was
Bosna, and young Mirsad ended up in Sarajevo. However,
in the spring of 1992, with the coming war in sight,
the Efes Pilsen scouts convinced his family to let him relocate
to Istanbul. So Mirsad Jahovic, who would soon
have a Turkish passport and the name Turkcan, started
his great adventure on the Bosphorus. Between 1992
and 2012, the year when he retired, many things happened.
Triumph in the Korac Cup
Mirsad Turkcan’s career didn’t develop at lightning
speed. It went step by step, improving season after
season. From the very start of his career, his main
weapon was rebounds. Standing at 2.06 meters, his
height didn’t precisely stand out for a basketball player,
but his jumping capabilities together with great timing
gave him, I’d say, 10 centimeters more. He usually won
rebounding duels with players much bigger than him. In
that 1994-95 season, his first on the senior team at Efes,
his numbers in 12 EuroLeague games were discreet,
2.2 points and 1.7 rebounds in 5.7 minutes on the floor.
In the summer of 1995, he made his debut in the
Turkish national team at the 1995 EuroBasket in Athens.
With 8.3 points and 7.5 rebounds, he was one of
the young prospects that stood out the most.
In the 1995-96 season, Turkcan was already a staple
on the competitive Efes Pilsen team, which played the
Korac Cup. Petar Naumoski, Ufuk Sarica, Conrad McRae,
Volkan Aydin, Tamer Oyguc, Murat Evliyaoglu, Turkcan
and the rest built a great team that, on its way to the
title game, had beaten several strong opponents, like
Maccabi Rishon, Varese, Panionios, Fenerbahce and
Fortitudo Bologna. The opponent in the final would
be Olimpia Milano, which really was Stefanel Trieste
101 greats of european basketball
Mirsad Turkcan
T

Vladimir Stankovic
relocated to Milan, a team with Dejan Bodiroga, Nando
Gentile, Rolando Blackman and Gregor Fucka. Milano’s
coach was Bogdan Tanjevic, who would be a future
coach of Turkcan’s with the Turkish national team and
Fenerbahce. The Italian team was the favorite, but Efes
won their first duel, played in Istanbul on March 6, 1996,
by the score of 76-68. The hero of the game was guard
Naumoski, who scored 31 points. Mirsad contributed
6 points and 6 boards. The eight-point difference gave
hope to both teams, but the Italians ended up losing
their third straight final in that competition. After PAOK
and ALBA, the executioner this time was Efes. In Milan,
Olimpia’s 77-70 win was not enough. Naumoski was the
top scorer again with 26 points, and Turkcan added 7
points and 13 rebounds. It was the European trophy
ever lifted by a Turkish team.
First Turk in the NBA
In 1997, at only 21 years old, Mirsad Turkcan was
already a future star and a coveted player. At the U22
World Championship for Men that year, he shined with
17.7 points and 10.7 rebounds, and at the 1997 Euro-
Basket, he helped Turkey reach eighth place. In 1998, he
finished the season as the best rebounder in the Turkish
League and nobody was surprised when the Houston
Rockets chose him with the 18th pick in that year’s NBA
draft. Turkcan would become the first Turkish player in
the NBA. Due to the lockout, he remained at Efes for
a while, but when the NBA season finally started, he
was traded to the Philadelphia 76ers and then to the
New York Knicks. After seven games in New York, he
was traded yet again to the Milwaukee Bucks, where he
played 10 more games. His average was 5.3 minutes,
only enough for 1.9 points and 1.9 rebounds per game.
With his height, solid shooting and especially, his great
rebounding capabilities, Turkcan almost had a perfect
profile for the NBA, where physical aspects are important.
But the coaches just didn’t trust him. Disappointed,
he decided to go back to Europe.
Turkcan started the 2000-01 season again at Efes
Pilsen, but he ended up with Racing Paris, where
his 15.9 points and 8.4 rebounds in 14 games were
enough for CSKA Moscow to call him for the start of
a big project that had one goal: winning the EuroLeague.
However, before moving to Moscow he had to
take part in another historic event for Turkish basketball.
At the 2001 EuroBasket in Turkey, the hosts
reached the title game where they lost to Yugoslavia,
led by Bodiroga and Predrag Stojakovic. However,
the silver for Turkey was its first medal in continental
competitions. Together with Ibrahim Kutluay, Hidayet
Turkoglu, Mehmed Okur, Harun Erdenay, Kerem Tunceri,
Kaya Peker, Huseyin Besok, Omer Onan, Orhun
Ene and Asim Pars, Turkcan made the history books.
With 10.7 points, he was the fourth-best scorer on
the team, and with 8.3 boards, the second-best rebounder.
In its first try, CSKA didn’t manage to reach the Bologna
Final Four in 2002. The team finished third in the
Top 16 with a 3-3 record, right behind Maccabi Tel Aviv
(4-2) and Tau Ceramica (4-2). With 16.2 points and 10.7
rebounds, Turkcan was one of the best players on his
team. The following season he played at Montepaschi
Siena of Italy. The team did reach the Final Four in Barcelona
but fell to Benetton Treviso in the semis by a close
65-62 score. It was, probably, the worst day as a pro for
Turkcan. In 29 minutes he didn’t score a single point, after
having averaged 14.8 that season, and he grabbed
just 5 rebounds, way below his season 11.8 per game
until then. In the game for third place, he collected his
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usual double-double again, 16 points and 14 rebounds,
but it was already too late. The title game would feature
Benetton and FC Barcelona.
In the 2003-04 season Turkcan was back to CS-
KA and he was again in the Final Four, this time in Tel
Aviv, but again, he missed out on the title game. In the
semis, Maccabi got the best of CSKA with a 93-85 win
as Anthony Parker (27 points) and Sarunas Jasikevicius
(18) led the way to victory. On the other side, Marcus
Brown scored 23, J.R. Holden contributed 16 points
and Turkcan picked up 10 points plus 10 boards. After
the season, he stayed in Moscow but switched teams
to Dynamo for one year before returning to Istanbul,
first to Ulker and later to Fenerbahce in 2006-07 until,
finally, both clubs merged into what today we know as
Fenerbahce Dogus Istanbul.
Euroleague Basketball Legend
Lacking collective titles with his teams, Turkcan
received many individual accolades. He was MVP of
the 2002 regular season in the EuroLeague. He was
also MVP of the round six times in 2002-03, the Top
16 MVP in 2003 and a member of the All-EuroLeague
teams in 2002, 2003 and 2004. His career highs in the
EuroLeague are a performance index rating of 43, with
Montepaschi against Panathinaikos, and 27 points and
23 rebounds with CSKA against Buducnost. He had
49 double-doubles in the EuroLeague – still a record –
but that 27+23 performance has a special place in the
history of the competition. In 129 EuroLeague games,
he grabbed 1,287 rebounds, which still ranks fourth
all-time, behind only players with at least double his
amount of games in the competition. Still, Turkcan’s
9.95 rebounds per game is the second-highest career
average and the highest for anyone with more than 65
EuroLeague games played.
In February 2011, Turkcan suffered a severe ACL
injury and in 2012 he announced his retirement. On
September 16 of that year, Fenerbahce and CSKA Moscow
played a friendly game on the day of his official
goodbye. That day there was only one winner, Mirsad
Turkcan. Five years later, 2017 brought more recognition
for Turkcan as he was named an official Euroleague
Basketball Legend during the semifinals at the Final
Four in Istanbul. Two nights later, he was among the
many who celebrated when Fenerbahce became the
first Turkish club ever to with continental title, completing
a path that Mirsad Turkcan, the king of rebounds,
helped to build.
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Mirsad Turkcan
T

Jordi
Villacampa
375

The 8 who was a
perfect 10
December 22, 1997, was a day to celebrate
a basketball great. Thousands
of loyal fans packed Pavello Olimpic in
Badalona, Spain, to pay homage to Jordi
Villacampa, one of Joventut Badalona’s
biggest legends. With the club’s ecstatic
fans, and in the presence of his many friends and most
influential coaches – including Lolo Sainz, Zeljko Obradovic
and Alfred Julbe – the great Penya captain scored
his last baskets as an active player. With a three-way
tourney between Joventut 1997, Joventut 1994 and FC
Barcelona, Villacampa’s No. 8 jersey was retired and a
brilliant career came to an end.
Today it’s almost impossible for an elite player to
spend his whole career with the same club. Those types
of relationships simply do not exist anymore. But Jordi
Villacampa would not have had it any other way. He was
a Joventut player for life, from the junior teams to his
debut in the first team at age 16 until he retired at 35.
He left behind 17 seasons, 506 games in the Spanish
League and 8,991 points scored. That still stands as
the second-best points total all-time in Spain, behind
Alberto Herreros and his 9,759 points, although Villacampa’s
scoring average of 17.77 points per game was
better and ranks seventh in Spanish League history.
A Korac Cup champion at 17
As a teenager, Villacampa worked his way into the
Joventut rotation and into club history. On March 19,
1981, at the Palau Blaugrana – the home of FC Barcelona
– Joventut played for a continental trophy in the
Korac Cup final. The opponent, Reyer Venezia of Italy,
was led by the fearsome duo of Drazen Dalipagic and
Spencer Haywood. After a very close duel that saw a
92-92 tie lead to overtime, Joventut won by the slimmest
of margins, 105-104. That was the first trophy for
a very young Villacampa, who was not yet 18, having
been born on October 11, 1963, in Reus, Spain. Villacampa
didn’t score in the four minutes he played in the
final, but his head coach, Manel Comas, knew that he
had a star in the making. Earlier that season, Villacampa
had cracked the rotation and was getting minutes
every game. He scored his first 4 points in the Korac
Cup on January 21, 1981, in a Joventut win at Villeurbanne.
Later he scored 8 against Sunair Oostende and
2 points against Crvena Zvezda.
Seven years later, on March 16, 1988, in Grenoble,
France, Villacampa lost a European final. Joventut
came up short 96-89 after overtime in the Saporta Cup
final against Limoges. Villacampa led his team with 19
points, Reggie Johnson added 18 and veteran Josep
Maria Margall had 14 points. The Limoges trio formed
by Don Collins (28 points), Stephane Ostrowski (23
points, 11 rebounds) and Clarence Kea (22 points, 8
rebounds) destroyed Joventut’s European dream.
One year later Joventut reached the Korac Cup finals
against a Scavolini Pesaro side coached by a young
Sergio Scariolo and led by Walter Magnifico, Ario Costa
and the excellent American duo formed by Darwin Cook
and Darren Daye. Joventut managed to score two wins:
99-98 in Pesaro and 96-86 in Badalona. In the first duel,
Villacampa scored 29 points and in the second 22.
He was backed by Jose Antonio Montero (21 and 28)
and Lemone Lampley (21 and 17). Through these three
101 greats of european basketball
Jordi Villacampa
V

of 1985, 1987, 1991 (bronze medal) and 1993 and the
World Cups of 1986, 1990 and 1994. In the 1990 edition,
he scored 48 points against Venezuela, which is
still the Spanish national team record. But his brilliant
career could have been even greater with an Olympic
medal.
Vladimir Stankovic
finals, Jordi Villacampa turned into a great player, the
leader of a new generation for Joventut and an important
piece on the Spanish national team.
Villacampa made his debut in a national team jersey
on April 27, 1984, in a tournament in Linares, Spain,
where he scored his first 10 points against Poland.
Spain had an impressive team, with Nacho Solozabal,
Andres Jimenez, Juanma Lopez Iturriaga, Juan Antonio
Corbalan, Fernando Romay and Jose Luis Llorente,
among others. It was the same team that would go on
to win the 1984 Olympic silver medal in Los Angeles.
National team coach Antonio Diaz Miguel decided to
leave Villacampa off his final team for the Olympics,
but after that, Villacampa became a mainstay for Spain
and featured in both the Seoul 1988 and Barcelona
1992 Olympic squads. He also played the EuroBaskets
An ideal shooting guard
Standing 1.96 meters tall, Villacampa had the perfect
build for the wing positions. He was fast and could
run the break very well, but his main weapon was his
shot. He had a great touch and was one of the first
players to really take advantage of the three-point rule
introduced in 1984. In the golden years of Joventut,
1990-91 (Spanish League champions after beating
FC Barcelona 3-1) and 1991-92 (champions again, 3-2
against Real Madrid) Villacampa was the undisputed
leader of the team. Yes, he had excellent teammates
in Rafa and Tomas Jofresa, Ferran Martinez, Corny
Thompson, Harold Pressley, Mike Smith and Juanan
Morales, but on every team there is a boss, and it was
clear that Villacampa was the leader for Penya.
Joventut reached the 1992 EuroLeague final but
lost against Partizan Belgrade, 71-70, on the famous
three-pointer by Sasha Djordjevic with a few seconds
left on the clock. Villacampa played all 40 minutes in
that game and scored 13 points, dished 1 assist and
picked up 4 steals, but it was not enough. Somehow,
however, sporting justice was made for this excellent
generation of Joventut players. Two years later, at the
Tel Aviv Final Four, Joventut was in the final again, this
time against Olympiacos Piraeus. Penya took the win
this time also by a narrow 59-57 margin behind 16
points by Villacampa in 35 minutes. The dream was
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Caceres in the title game, 79-71. However, Villacampa’s
role in that team had dwindled and he did not have
much presence in the final.
After he retired, as if 17 years with the club were not
enough, Jordi Villacampa took a position on the club’s
board of directors as vice president and was finally
elected president on November 29, 1999, a position he
held for 17 years. Under his mandate, Joventut experienced
a second golden era, the highlight of which was,
without a doubt, the double crown of the 2007-08 season
with the Spanish King’s Cup and the Eurocup Cup
titles, the latter against a nearby opponent, Akasvayu
Girona, by a commanding 79-54 in the final. That win
granted the team a berth in the 2008-09 EuroLeague.
However, there was yet another success, even bigger,
with the everlasting creation of talents at the Joventut
Badalona basketball school. The latest examples
were Rudy Fernandez and Ricky Rubio, two players who
have had important roles both at the highest European
club level and with the Spanish national team. They had
to leave the club for their own sporting ambitions, but
there is no doubt that the Badalona system will produce
new wonders in no time.
Jordi Villacampa; He wore number 8, but on and off
the floor, he’s a perfect 10!
Jordi Villacampa
fulfilled: Jordi Villacampa and his lifelong club were European
champions.
Villacampa played three more seasons after that
and managed to win another important trophy: the
Spanish Kings’ Cup. In the tournament played in Leon,
Joventut bested Caja San Fernando, Leon and finally
101 greats of european basketball
V

Oleksandr
Volkov
379

The symbol
of Ukrainian
basketball
Oleksandr Volkov was born in Omsk,
in present-day Russia, on March 29,
1964, but he started playing in Kiev,
the capital of Ukraine, and after
the breakup of the USSR he chose
Ukraine as his home country.
In Ukrainian, his name is spelled with an “o” at the
beginning – Oleksandr – but in many documents and
sources he is referred to as Aleksandr, Aleksander, Alexander
or Aleksandar. However, everybody knows him
by the nickname Sasha. With his surname, there are no
problems or different versions. The root of the word in
Russian and several Slavic languages is “volk”, which
translates into “wolf”. In some ways, Volkov was indeed
a wolf around the basket: tall, proud, strong, aggressive
and always with a hunger ... for a win.
Pioneer in the NBA
Sasha Volkov was one of the few European players
who, at the end of the 1980s, opened a new page in the
NBA and, in some ways, in the history of basketball in
general. When Bulgarian Georgi Glouchkov – the first
European ever in the NBA – Spaniard Fernando Martin,
Lithuanian Sarunas Marciulionis, Croatian Drazen Petrovic,
and Serbians Vlade Divac and Zarko Paspalj landed
in the NBA, they had to overcome many obstacles, most
of all a total lack of trust from American head coaches.
Until then, the NBA had just two European players
with important roles, but both had been to American
colleges: Detlef Schrempf of Germany and Rik Smits
of the Netherlands. Thanks to these players the NBA
doors are today open to many talented players.
Before making history in the NBA, Volkov earned
prestige and respect in Europe. To the international
eyes, he made his national team debut at the second
FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup in 1983 in Palma de Mallorca,
Spain. The USSR lost the title game to the United
States 82-78. Volkov scored 4 points in that final, while
his tournament average was 6.1 points. Two years later,
Volkov made his senior national team debut at the 1985
EuroBasket in Stuttgart, Germany. He was part of a
great USSR team with Arvydas Sabonis, Valdis Valters,
Marciulionis, Valeri Tikhonenko, Rimas Kurtinaitis, Aleksandar
Belostenny, Sergejus Jovaisa, Vladimir Tkatchenko,
Sergei Tarakanov and Andrey Lopatov. Almost
the same team would triumph at the 1988 Olympics in
Seoul three years later. Volkov’s average at EuroBasket
in 1985 was 7.8 points, well short of the 20 per game by
Sabonis, 16.4 by Valters or 15.5 by Kurtinaitis, but he
was a key part of a group that was crowned European
champion. Indeed, in beating Czechoslovakia 120-89 in
the final, Volkov played 29 minutes, scored 18 points
and grabbed 12 rebounds. Only three players scored
more than him: Valters (27), Kurtinaitis (24) and Sabonis
(20 plus 15 boards). But Volkov, at age 21, was
already an important player on the team, an ideal power
forward to cover the space between the backcourt
players and the towering Sabonis.
Those days were the start of great friendships among
players of several nationalities of the former USSR. The
team was formed by Lithuanians, Russians, Ukrainians
and Latvians who, not much later, would play for their
Oleksandr Volkov
101 greats of european basketball
V

Vladimir Stankovic
own countries. But the disintegration of a former country
could not destroy the bond among those players, forged
on the court while defending the same jersey.
One year later, with almost the same team at the
1986 World Cup in Spain, the USSR lost the title game
87-85 to the United States, led by Kenny Smith and
David Robinson, with 23 points each. In 30 minutes,
Volkov scored 8 points, a little below his average in the
tourney (11.2). That same year, Volkov was picked in the
NBA draft’s sixth round by the Atlanta Hawks. A year
later, at the 1987 EuroBasket in Athens, Volkov and the
USSR lost the title to Greece 103-101 in overtime, after
having tied 89-89 at the end of regulation time.
Olympic champion
Before going to the NBA, Volkov and his teammates
would reach the peak of their careers at the 1988 Olympics
in Seoul. After losing the first game of the group
stage to Yugoslavia, the USSR team won all its remaining
games. In the semifinals, they defeated the United
States 82-76, and in the gold-medal game, the victim
was Yugoslavia by the score of 76-63. In 26 minutes,
Volkov scored 7 points and pulled down 3 boards.
From 1981 to 1986, Volkov played with Budivelnyk
Kiev and from 1986 to 1988 he was part of the CSKA
Moscow team. For the 1988-89 season, he was back
to Budivelnyk. Right before his trip to America, Volkov
played the 1989 EuroBasket in Zagreb and completed
his medal collection. In addition to the previous gold
and silver medals, he took a bronze after the USSR’s
surprising loss to Greece in the semis, 81-80. Volkov’s
scoring average was 17.2 points in the tournament.
It was also the last tournament for the USSR with the
Lithuanian players like Sabonis, Marciulionis and Valdemaras
Chomicius.
Volkov’s NBA debut for Atlanta took place on November
3, 1989, in a game won by Indiana, 126-103. It
was just a symbolic debut because Volkov played only
1 minute and couldn’t contribute anything. Officially,
however, his NBA adventure started that day. It was
a game full of stars. On Indiana’s side, we could find
Reggie Miller (36 points), Schrempf and Vern Fleming,
while Atlanta had Dominique Wilkins, Moses Malone
and Doc Rivers. In three years in the NBA, Volkov played
149 games with an average of 14.1 minutes, 6.8 points
and 2.6 rebounds. I think that, by today’s standards, he
would probably double those figures.
Already as an NBA player, Volkov attended the 1990
World Cup in Buenos Aires and he won his second silver
medal as the USSR was defeated by Yugoslavia in the
final 92-75. With 15 points, Volkov was his team’s best
scorer, along with Gundars Vetra. On the other side,
there was the Yugoslav “Dream Team” with Drazen
Petrovic, Vlade Divac, Toni Kukoc, Zarko Paspalj, Zoran
Savic, Velimir Perasovic, Jure Zdovc, Zeljko Obradovic
and Arijan Komazec.
Volkov’s last great international competition was
the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona. He played for the
CIS, a team formed by players from the former Soviet
republics except for the Baltic countries. One of those
Baltic countries, Lithuania, won the bronze medal. The
CIS lost out on a medal by losing to Croatia in the semifinals
75-74 in a game that Volkov is probably not fond
of since he missed two free throws down the stretch.
Back to Europe
After three years in the NBA, but with several serious
injuries along the way, Volkov returned to Europe in
1992. His first stop was Italy with Reggio Calabria. In 27
Italian League games, he averaged 19.3 points. He then
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had offers from FC Barcelona and Panathinaikos and he
chose the Greek team, with whom he reached the 1994
EuroLeague Final Four in Tel Aviv. He played a great season,
with 18.2 points and 8.1 rebounds in Europe, as
well as 14.6 points per game in the Greek League.
Despite his two great performances at the Final Four
– 32 points against Olympiacos in the semifinals and 29
against Barcelona in the game for third place – Panathinaikos
could only finish third. I think that was the best
Volkov performance I ever saw live. The following year
he went to archrival Olympiacos, with EuroLeague averages
of 12.3 points, 6.5 rebounds and 2.0 assists, while
he put up 15.8 points per game in the Greek League.
Back problems forced him to retire at age 31, even
though he would be back for a brief period of time a little
later. In the preliminary round for the 1999 EuroBasket
in France, he decided to help Ukraine. He was back
on the court at age 35, and he did pretty well. Against
Spain, he had 14 points and 8 boards, against Israel 8
plus 8, and against England 13 plus 7. But Ukraine didn’t
manage to qualify.
In the year 2000, Volkov founded a new club, BC
Kyiv, where he played until 2002, when he retired for
good. Since then he has become a politician. He was
the minister of sports in his country, was elected several
times to the Ukrainian parliament, and served as
president of the national basketball federation. For the
2011 EuroBasket in Lithuania, Volkov signed his former
coach in Atlanta, Mike Fratello, as the national team
coach for Ukraine. With Fratello still on the bench at the
2013 EuroBasket in Slovenia, Ukraine finished sixth,
ahead of teams like Serbia, Italy and Greece, and was
able to qualify to the World Cup of 2014 in Spain – a first
for the country.
Sasha Volkov, the symbol of Ukraine. He was a great
player who continued to do great things for his country
in basketball.
Oleksandr Volkov
101 greats of european basketball
V

Gennady
Volnov
383

Europe’s
winningest
player
The history of European basketball
doesn’t have anyone quite like Gennady
Volnov. He played at six FIBA
EuroBaskets and won six gold medals!
He also won four Olympic medals and
two from the World Cup, giving him 12
trophies won in the three most important international
competitions. It’s true that Kresimir Cosic
of Yugoslavia had 14 medals in the same competitions,
but Volnov outdid him at the club level. While
Cosic was never a EuroLeague champ, Volnov won
continental titles with CSKA Moscow in 1961, 1963
and 1969.
Gennady was born in Moscow on November 28,
1939, and he passed away in Moscow on July 15,
2008. He was a versatile player and, as Sergei Belov
used to say, ahead of his time. At 2.01 meters tall,
Volnov played three positions: shooting guard, small
forward and power forward. His natural position was
close to the rim due to his physical features. He was a
great rebounder, but also shot well from long range.
Aside from his qualities as a player, he was a natural
leader and served as the captain for both CSKA and
the USSR national team for many years.
The career of Gennady Volnov – his friends called
him Genka – started in 1956 with Burevestnik, a
humble club from Moscow. In 1959, at 20 years old,
he moved on to CSKA Moscow along with Anatoly
Astakhov and Armenak Alachachan. That very same
year, he made his debut with the national team at
the EuroBasket in Istanbul. There he won his first
gold medal, even though, since he was a rookie, his
contribution was not prominent. In fact, Volnov averaged
3.8 points per game and he didn’t even take
the floor in the decisive games. The following year, he
took part in the 1960 Olympics in Rome and there he
saw a genius of the game. Watching American player
Oscar Robertson, a super-modern guard at the time,
opened for Volnov new perspectives on how to play.
He understood that basketball was not only about
shooting and physical strength, but also about imagination
and creativity, that the game could be fun
without the systems created by the coach.
I saw Volnov for the first time at the 1961 EuroBasket
in Belgrade, even though I must admit that I had
my eyes on Janis Krumins, the first giant of European
basketball. At 2.18 meters tall, Krumins looked like a
colossus and attracted eyes everywhere he went. In
Belgrade, with an average of 11.7 points, Volnov won
his second gold medal. He repeated that feat in Wroclaw
in 1963 (10.7 ppg.), Moscow 1965 (12.6 ppg.),
Helsinki 1967 (11.1 ppg.) and Naples 1969 (7.0 ppg.).
In between EuroBaskets he also shined at World
Cups in 1963 in Rio de Janeiro (bronze, 14.1 points
with a high of 20 against the USA) and Montevideo
1967 (gold, 11.1 ppg.). At the Olympics, he won four
medals and, together with Belov, he is the basketball
player with the most Olympic medals. In addition to
the silver in Rome he won another in Tokyo in 1964
(9.8 ppg.), in Mexico 1968 (7.4 ppg.) he took the
bronze, and the peak of his Olympic career was the
1972 gold in Munich (6.8 ppg.).
101 greats of european basketball
Gennady Volnov
V

Vladimir Stankovic
Glorious comeback
After the 1969 EuroBasket in Naples, due to lack
of communication with coach Aleksandar Gomelskiy,
Volnov left the national team and at 30 years old he
practically put an end to his career because he didn’t
want to play for any team other than CSKA. He did
not play in the 1970 World Cup in Ljubljana, where
the USSR won the bronze medal, and he was not at
the 1971 EuroBasket in Germany either, even though
the coach there was Vladimir Kondrashin. However,
for the 1972 Olympics in Munich, Kondrashin realized
that a charismatic and experienced player like
Volnov could help the team. Gennady accepted and
wore the Soviet jersey again. He didn’t play much,
but Kondrashin wasn’t expecting double-doubles
from him either. He needed Volnov as a locker room
leader. Volnov obliged and even scored some points:
12 against Senegal and Poland, 11 against the Philippines,
6 against Germany and 2 against Italy. After
sitting out against Yugoslavia and Cuba, in the historic
final against the USA, he didn’t score, but his 4
fouls showed his fight on defense. The USSR won the
gold medal after the famous replaying of the last 3
seconds, on a basket by Alexander Belov. The 1972
Olympic silver medals are still in the vaults of the
Olympic Museum in Lausanne waiting for the American
players to pick them up.
After Munich, Volnov decided to put an end to
his brilliant career and started to teach chemistry
at a military academy. He played basketball with
the CSKA veterans and helped the young players by
showing them the tricks in his repertoire. He was a
very polite man, calm and never lost his temper when
opponents hit him hard, because that was the only
way to stop him.
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385

EuroLeague champ three times
With 12 medals in the three most important international
competitions, 10 Soviet League titles and
three European crowns with CSKA, Volnov is one of
the winningest players in the history of European
basketball. His first EuroLeague title came in 1961
against ASK Riga, to break that Latvian team’s domination
after it won the first three editions of the competition,
somewhat unexpectedly, between 1958 and
1960. In the first game of the final, played in Riga, the
ASK squad of Gomelskiy lost 62-89! Volnov scored 18
points for CSKA. ASK won the second game in Moscow,
but just by 5 points (66-61). Volnov scored 13
points for CSKA, which won its first European title.
The second title arrived in 1963 after three games
against Real Madrid. The Spaniards won the first
game in Madrid 86-69 with 6 points from Volnov. In
the second game, CSKA won by the same 17 points,
91-74, as Volnov scored 8. The following day the third
game to decide the series was played. In that one, on
August 1, 1963, in front of 20,000 fans, CSKA won
99-80. Gennady Volnov scored 26 points and was the
hero of the game.
The third crown for CSKA and Volnov came in
Barcelona, on April 24, 1969 – against Real Madrid
again. CSKA won 103-99. It was a game full of drama
that featured two overtime periods. Belov, who was
a player/coach for CSKA, spent all 50 minutes on the
court. Center Vladimir Andreev played the game of a
lifetime (37 points, 13 rebounds) and Volnov had 12
points and 2 offensive rebounds in 37 minutes.
After Volnov’s death, Belov stated that Volnov
had not been properly appreciated at home. Belov
described Volnov as “the pioneer of modern Soviet
basketball.” Many others thought justice had not
been done when, in a major survey for the best
starting five ever in Soviet basketball, Volnov was not
selected.
One thing is sure, however. This born winner belongs
among the greats.
101 greats of european basketball
Gennady Volnov
V

Nikola
Vujcic
387

Triple-double man
Summer of 1995, FIBA U16 European
Championship in Portugal. In the title
game, Croatia defeats Spain, 75-62. The
many scouts who attended the game
marked down a name in big red letters:
Nikola Vujcic.
Croatia’s number 14 played all 40 minutes of the
title game, scored 18 points and grabbed 11 rebounds.
It was an impressive double-double to match his performances
throughout the tourney: 21.4 points and 11
rebounds on average. Not even Vujcic himself had yet
discovered his other talent: assists. Stats tell us that
his assists average was just 0.6 in that tournament, but
that was just the start of his career. He was 17 years old,
having been born on June 14, 1978, in Vrgorac, close to
Split, in Croatia. In the final in Portugal, he made 2 of 7
three-pointers, not a very high percentage, but when a
2.11-meter big man shoots so many threes, something
catches your attention right away.
In the 1995-96 season, Vujcic was already playing
for the first team of KK Split, which then was called
Croatia Osiguranje then. He got jersey number 7, probably
not by chance, since before that it had been worn
by Toni Kukoc, the club’s best player ever and then an
NBA star with the Chicago Bulls of Michael Jordan and
Scottie Pippen. In his first season, still a junior, Vujcic
averaged 6.6 points and 2.4 rebounds. The following
season he improved to 6.8 points and 3.2 rebounds,
and on March 22 he won his first trophy, the Croatian
Cup, beating Cibona 72-67. Josip Vrankovic, Damir Tvrdic
and Nikola Prkacin were the best players for the winners,
but the biggest talent was Nikola Vujcic. He stayed
with Split for four more years, played the EuroLeague in
1996-97 and 1997-98, the Saporta Cup in 1999-2000
(14.1 points and 6.9 rebounds) and the FIBA SuproLeague
in 2000-01 (15.6 points, 6.7 rebounds). At the
1999 EuroBasket in France, Vujcic made his debut with
the Croatian national team (8.8 points and 2.8 boards)
playing alongside his idol, Toni Kukoc.
A Maccabi player, French champion
In the summer of 2001, at 23 years old, Vujcic accepted
an offer from Maccabi Tel Aviv, where he was
to fill in for Nate Huffman. But the American big man
decided to stay one more season and so Maccabi decided
to send Vujcic on loan to ASVEL Villeurbanne in
France. The result was surprising for everyone: ASVEL
won the French League for the first time in 21 years.
In the quarterfinals, ASVEL eliminated Cholet 2-0. In
the semis, it stopped Le Mans 2-1 and then swept the
finals, too, against Pau-Orthez, 2-0. The best players
for the champs were Yann Bonato, Kyle Hill, Reggie
Freeman, Nikola Radulovic and the young rookie, Nikola
Vujcic. Bogdan Tanjevic, the Montenegrin magician who
had discovered many young talents – Nando Gentile,
Dejan Bodiroga and Gregor Fucka, among others – also
trusted Vujcic on that ASVEL team, and things worked
out for both of them.
Vujcic returned to Maccabi the following season,
and he would play there for six campaigns, with his best
years soon coinciding with a golden era for the Israeli
club. Their first season didn’t go so well, as Maccabi
finished second in its Top 16 group in 2002-03, with a
4-2 record, after Benetton Treviso, who had won all six
games including two against Maccabi (93-80 in Treviso
despite Vujcic’s 28 points, and 84-83 in Tel Aviv). Vujcic,
101 greats of european basketball
Nikola Vujcic
V

Vladimir Stankovic
nonetheless, had an impressive EuroLeague season
with 17.6 points and 7.1 rebounds per game.
Double EuroLeague champ
The awaited moment came at the 2004 Final Four,
played in Tel Aviv, where Maccabi had advanced thanks
to Derrick Sharp’s miracle three-pointer against Zalgiris
in the last game of the Top 16. Maccabi had its biggest
problem in the semifinals against CSKA Moscow but
still won 93-85 as Vujcic had 14 points, 7 rebounds, 2
assists and 2 steals. In the title game against Skipper
Bologna, the Yellow team rolled to an unforgettable,
multiple record-breaking 118-74 win to lift the trophy.
Vujcic was needed for just 9 points and added 1 rebound,
way below his season averages of 16.8 points,
6.9 rebounds and 3 assists. But he was nonetheless a
major contributor to his first EuroLeague title, having
been named to the All-EuroLeague team for the second
consecutive year.
The following season, Maccabi was the first team to
repeat as EuroLeague champ since Jugoplastika Split’s
three-peat from 1989 to 1991. In the Final Four played
in Moscow, Maccabi defeated Panathinaikos in the
semis 91-82 with Derrick Sharp as the main scorer with
20 points while Vujcic had 11 points and 5 rebounds.
In the title game, Maccabi downed Tau Ceramica 90-78.
Sarunas Jasikevicius was the hero with 22 points, and
Vujcic contributed 13 points plus 7 boards.
Thanks to his experience but, most of all, to his talent,
Vujcic started adding assists – and many of them
– to his repertoire. On November 3, 2005, he entered
the history books by becoming the first player to ever
record a triple-double in the EuroLeague. It was against
Prokom for a 95-68 Maccabi win, and in 32 minutes Vujcic
scored 11 points, grabbed 12 rebounds and dished
11 assists! At the end of that season, Maccabi was close
to completing its own three-peat. In the Prague Final
Four, Maccabi defeated Tau Ceramica in the semis 85-
70 with a great Maceo Baston (20 points, 7 rebounds)
and Anthony Parker (19 points). Vujcic threatened another
triple-double with 18 points, 8 rebounds and 7
assists. However, in the title game, CSKA Moscow was
the better team, winning 73-69, as Vujcic didn’t have
the best of nights (4 points, 5 rebounds and 1 assist).
In the 2006-07 season, Vujcic recorded another
triple-double, this one during a 110-87 victory against
Union Olimpija. He finished with 27 points, 10 rebounds
and 10 assists – and all that in only 26 minutes!
Vujcic was a complete player, with many resources
on both offense and defense. For a big man, he had a
great long-range shot, all the way out to three-point
range. His great advantage was his technique and his
long hands. He also had that sixth sense to get good
position and grab the ball after a teammate missed a
shot. His shooting had perfect timing. At the end of the
2005, 2006 and 2007 seasons, he was included in the
All-Euroleague First Team.
Neven Spahija, Croatia’s head coach at the 2005
EuroBasket in Belgrade, where Croatia deserved much
better than seventh place (having lost to Spain 101-85
in the quarterfinals after overtime), was also Vujcic’s
coach at Maccabi for the 2006-07 season. He told me
this about Nikola:
“For his characteristics and his character, he was
one of the best players I ever coached in my career. He
was a point guard playing ‘five’, a coach’s brain on the
court. His legs were a bit slow, especially at the beginning
of his career, but with hard work from his coaches,
he improved that, too. His other qualities made up for
that lack of speed in his legs. Personally, he helped me a
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lot when I got to Maccabi because it coincided with the
time that many staple names on the club – like coach
Pini Gershon, or players like Parker, Baston and Jasikevicius
– had just left.”
Gone and back to Tel Aviv
Spahija confirms what anyone who experienced a
Maccabi game with Vujcic could see and feel: he is an
idol in Israel. His professionalism, combined with his
great qualities both as a player and as a person, made
him one of the most beloved players by the Maccabi
fans. Vujcic spoke perfect Hebrew, something not many
foreigners who played in Maccabi could do, and that
also generated even more respect.
In May of 2008, when Euroleague Basketball celebrated
50 Years of European Club Competitions at the
Final Four in Madrid, Maccabi played the championship
game once again, but just like two years earlier, CSKA
was better, 91-77. It was Vujcic’s most discreet performance
in a final: 2 points and 5 rebounds.
After winning two EuroLeague titles and losing two
finals, winning five Israeli Leagues and four Israeli Cups,
Vujcic left Israel and joined Olympiacos Piraeus. In his
first season, 2008-09, the Reds reached the Berlin Final
Four and fell to archrival Panathinaikos in the semis by a
single shot. The following season, Olympiacos won the
Greek Cup and reached the Final Four again in Paris, but
this time FC Barcelona won the 2010 title over the Reds
in the season’s last game. Vujcic was not a starter anymore,
he played about 14 minutes, and his averages
went down to 7.4 points, 2.7 rebounds and 1.7 assists.
However, at 32 years old, he signed for Efes Pilsen, the
team where he would play his last EuroLeague games
with averages of 6.5 points, 3.2 rebounds and 2.1 assists.
Despite his playing just 10 full seasons in the new
EuroLeague, Vujcic’s accumulated index rating of
3,047 was the highest career total for many years. His
competition highs are a 46 index rating against Union
Olimpija, 33 points against Roma in 2007, 15 rebounds
against KRKA Novo Mesto and those 11 assists against
Prokom in 2005. Of course, one could not imagine the
EuroLeague All-Decade team without Nikola Vujcic. He
will be remembered also as the best passing big man
of his generation, and perhaps many to come, with 524
lifetime assists. He is the only center in the EuroLeague
this century to average more than 2.5 assists per game.
At 33 years old, Vujcic went back home to Split, but
he didn’t want to stop playing just yet. Officially, he
was the club’s sports director, but the team needed
his points and rebounds, so he helped the youngsters
survive in the Adriatic League with decent numbers: 17
points and 6 rebounds and later 11.9 points and 4.7
rebounds in the 2012-13 season. He was 35 years old.
Seeing that Split wasn’t what it used to be and having
tried his best to change that, Vujcic decided to go back
to where he was loved the most, Tel Aviv, where he is
now the general manager of Maccabi, but also much
more. His authority, experience, character and vision
make Nikola Vujcic a man loved by everyone in Tel Aviv.
101 greats of european basketball
Nikola Vujcic
V

Christian
Welp
391

A double
Euro-champ
Every player dreams of an important game
with a close score being decided by his basket
in the last seconds. Many dream about
it, but few can say they actually lived that
kind of experience. Christian Welp – who
was born on January 2, 1964, in Delmenhorst,
Germany and passed away on March 1, 2015, in
Seattle, Washington – was one of them. He scored the
most important points of his career during EuroBasket
1993 in his native Germany.
The opponent in the title game was Russia, the big
favorite against a German team that had already made
a surprise run by reaching that final. However, the
hosts wanted more. Down the stretch, the Russians led
63-68, but soon the score was tied at 68-68. A foul by
Michael Jackel over Sergei Babkov allowed the Russians
to jump ahead again, 68-70. German coach Svetislav
Pesic called for a play for Welp. Kai Nurnberger crossed
the halfcourt line, held on to the ball for a few more
seconds and passed to Welp. He was rather far away
from the rim for a player of his size, 2.13 meters, but
Welp was one of those big men who could connect from
anywhere. He hit a perfect shot worth two points, but
it came with a bonus as Mikhail Mikhailov fouled him.
It was a possible three-point play, but the free throw
had to go in first. More than 12,000 fans who packed
the Olympic Pavillion in Munich – which had been the
stage of the infamous three final seconds of the 1972
Olympics final between the USA and the USSR – were
on the brink of a nervous breakdown two decades later.
The score was now 70-70 and three seconds were left
in this game, as well, and their best player was on the
foul line. Keeping a cool head, Welp downed the shot
that made Germany the European champ.
It was one of the biggest upsets ever at EuroBasket.
Pesic, the German national head coach then, told me a
few stories about Welp.
“He was, without a doubt, one of the best centers I
ever coached in my career”, Pesic said. “He had everything
a big man should have: a steady hand, rebounds,
good passing, a sense for the game. He was the complete
package and I am sure he was among the best
pure centers in the world.”
About that famous last play against Russia:
“You don’t have to be a great coach to know that the
decisive shot must be taken by your best man. And our
best man was Christian, a game winner. The plan was
simple: getting the ball to the other side and wait for the
right moment to give him the ball. The rest is history...”
That wasn’t the only masterpiece by Welp at that
tournament. In the quarterfinals against Spain, with a
few minutes to go, the Spaniards were dominating 64-
70, but the hosts came back to tie 72-72 on a bucket
by Welp. When overtime was almost over, the score
showed 77-77, but Welp buried Spain’s hopes with a
basket at the buzzer that sent Germany into euphoria
– and the semifinals.
Sabonis, Petrovic, Welp...
Most biographies about Christian Welp start with
his studies in the United States. First at East Bremerton
high school and later at Washington University, but it
is also true that when Welp landed in the States at 17
years old, most of his talent was already in plain sight.
101 greats of european basketball
Christian Welp
W

Vladimir Stankovic
At the European Championship for Cadets in Greece in
1981, he was already part of a great generation of 1964
which would give so much to the game of basketball,
with names like Arvydas Sabonis and Valery Tikhonenko
(USSR); Drazen Petrovic, Stojko Vrankovic and Velimir
Perasovic (Yugoslavia); Jose Montero (Spain)... A
great year.
In the final, the USSR defeated Italy by 72-57 while
in the bronze medal game, Germany topped Finland
78-64. One Christian Welp scored 32 points. Against
Turkey, he bagged 28; against Sweden 24. His average
was 18.4 plus many rebounds, even if there is no data
about that number. Drazen Petrovic led the tourney
with 32.4 points per game, but Yugoslavia finished fifth,
while Germany, who until then never had any success in
youth categories, won the bronze.
One year later, at the 1982 European Championships
for Junior Men in Bulgaria, Germany managed
to have together three of its diamonds: Detlef
Schrempf, Gunther Behnke and Welp. Germany
finished fifth, but the three of them had main roles.
Schrempf averaged 18.3 points, followed by Behnke
(14.3) and Welp (13.9).
During the autumn of 1982, Welp took an important
step in his career and moved to the United States. After
high school, he went to Washington University, where
he coincided with Schrempf. The two Germans started
writing history in the country that invented basketball.
Welp finished his studies as the top scorer ever in the
college, with 2,073 points (average of 16.1) and 995 rebounds
(7.7). In 1986 he the player of the year in the Pacific
10 conference of the NCAA. Nobody was surprised
when he was chosen number 16 in the 1987 draft by
Philadelphia. He was to be the complement to Charles
Barkley.
However, that December, after only 10 games, he
suffered a serious knee injury when his NBA career was
just starting. He slipped on the wet floor, which was
over an ice rink. He was back for the 1988-89 season,
as a bench player, and averaged 3.4 points and 2.7
rebounds. Pesic is convinced that Welp never fully recovered
from that injury, despite having accomplished
good things after that.
After two years with the 76ers, he played one season
with the San Antonio Spurs and the Golden State
Warriors. After 109 games in the NBA averaging 3.3
points and 2.4 rebounds, he decided to travel back to
Europe. He signed for Bayer Leverkusen of his native
Germany, and by then, the best team in the country. He
stayed there for six seasons winning as many league
titles.
Triumph in Rome
For the 1996-97 season, Dusan Ivkovic was the head
coach at Olympiacos Piraeus and was looking for a tall
player who could help Panagiotis Fasoulas and Dragan
Tarlac. He signed Welp, who met expectations. When
Olympiacos reached the Rome Final Four, Welp was 33
years old. He only played 17.8 minutes per game but
contributed what was expected of him: experience plus
6.2 points and 3.5 rebounds. In semis, the Reds defeated
Olimpija Ljubljana by 74-65, and in the title game,
they beat FC Barcelona by 73-58 behind the great David
Rivers, who scored 26 points.
With his mission accomplished in Greece – where
he won the triple crown with the Euroleague, the Greek
League and the Greek Cup – Welp returned to Germany,
but this time to ALBA Berlin, where coach Pesic awaited
him with open arms. In the 1997-98 season, ALBA
reached the quarterfinals of the EuroLeague but fell to
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looked the part also, but for technique, shot and sense
of the game, he was an all-around player.
The sad news reached us on March 1, 2015, from Seattle,
the city where he lived: Christian Welp had dead.
A heart attack put an end to his life at just 51 years old.
However, we could be able to hear the Welp name on
the basketball courts again, as Collin, one of his sons,
is a young player now, too. Welp, a name to remember.
Christian Welp
AEK Athens. For German basketball, however, being
among the best eight teams was quite a feat. His seventh
German League title was a consolation prize. He
tried to play one more season, signing for Reggio Calabria
in Italy, but after 12 games, and being aware that
he could not deliver at the level he wanted, he decided
to put an end to his career.
I was fortunate to see Welp many times, the first
time at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, and the last
at the 1995 EuroBasket in Athens. In January of 1996, I
interviewed him before a game between FC Barcelona
and Bayer Leverkusen. A photo of that interview, published
in El Mundo Deportivo newspaper, is the souvenir
I had from that interview with a great player. He
was not your typical center. He was tall alright, and he
101 greats of european basketball
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Dominique
Wilkins
395

An American
from Paris
In 1951, the movie “An American in Paris” was
named Best Picture by the Academy of Motion Picture
Arts and Sciences. The famed musical cleaned
up with six Academy Awards as the combination
of the dancing of stars Gene Kelly and Leslie Caron
and the music composed by George Gershwin,
worded by older brother Ira and orchestrated by
Saul Chaplin, conquered the world. Nine years later,
a true American was born in Paris and his personal
history has always been related to the French capital.
Jacques Dominique Wilkins was born in Paris on January
12, 1960, and later reached one of his greatest
triumphs in Paris. It was there, on April 11, 1996, that
Dominique Wilkins had one of the most memorable
days in his brilliant career: he became a EuroLeague
champion.
Wilkins had been a nine-time all-star, was voted to
the All-NBA team seven times, won a pair of slam dunk
contests, and was the league’s top scorer in 1986 with
30.3 points per game. Despite his brilliance, Wilkins’s
Atlanta Hawks never managed to win the title. He would
have to leave the NBA and join Panathinaikos Athens
in Greece to lift his first club trophy. But let’s not get
ahead of ourselves.
Spectacular dunks
Dominique Wilkins was born in Paris because his
father, a member of the United States Air Force, was
working in the French capital. I am guessing that his two
very French names have something to do with that fact,
too. However, when it was time to go to school, Dominique’s
family was already back in America, in the small
coastal town of Washington, North Carolina. There, a
young Wilkins led his high school team to back-to-back
state titles in 1978 and 1979. From there he moved on
to play college basketball at the University of Georgia,
which ironically enough is located in the city of Athens.
Wilkins became a star for the Bulldogs and was named
the 1981 South Eastern Conference player of the year.
Three years at Georgia were enough for Wilkins
to prove his worth and readiness for the next level. In
the 1982 NBA draft, he was selected with the number
3 overall pick, behind James Worthy and Terry Cummings.
Wilkins was drafted by the Utah Jazz, but in
what would turn out to be a one-sided deal, his rights
were acquired by Atlanta in exchange for John Drew,
Freeman Williams and cash.
Thus, began a brilliant NBA career. When he retired,
Wilkins had played in 1,074 games, scored 26,668
points (24.8 ppg.) and pulled down 7,169 rebounds (6.7
rpg.). His best season came in 1985-86 when Wilkins
led all NBA scorers with 30.3 points per game. He
scored a lot of points and did so in spectacular fashion.
His enormous physical power allowed him to execute
unbelievable plays, including thrilling dunks. Accordingly,
he was dubbed The Human Highlight Film. At the
1985 and 1990 all-star games, Wilkins beat the great
Michael Jordan in the dunk contest with his 360-degree
slam. It was simply unforgettable.
At the 1994 World Championships in Toronto, Canada,
a 34-year-old Wilkins won the gold medal with the
Team USA along with Shaquille O’Neal, Reggie Miller,
Joe Dumars, Alonzo Mourning, Kevin Johnson and
Mark Price. Wilkins, with a total 101 points (12.6 ppg.)
101 greats of european basketball
Dominique Wilkins
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Vladimir Stankovic
was the third-best scorer on the second “Dream Team”,
behind only O’Neal (144) and Miller (137). And in the title
game against Russia, Wilkins led the Americans with
20 points en route to a 137-91 victory.
In Athens for the titles
When he was 35, Wilkins decided to leave the NBA
and try his luck in Europe. Many doubted that a player
his age, despite his experience and individual qualities,
would be able to contribute much. They were wrong.
Apart from a new challenge, Wilkins had four million
reasons to sign for the Greens of Athens, as that was
the number that European media mentioned when
talking about his contract: $4 million for a single season.
In Athens, Wilkins found a solid team with a great
point guard (Panagiotis Giannakis), a good young
forward (Fragiskos Alvertis) and a tower in the paint
(Stojko Vrankovic). Additionally, the talented prospect
Nikos Ekonomou, an experienced American playmaker
of Greek heritage, John Korfas, and Greek players Evangelos
Vourtzoumis and Tzanis Satvrakopoulos made
for a strong squad. Panathinaikos had failed in its two
previous Final Four appearances, in Tel Aviv 1994 and
Zaragoza 1995, but that didn’t tone down the ambitions
of the club to make Panathinaikos the first Greek team
to become European champion. That’s why, aside from
Wilkins, they had also signed Coach Bozidar Maljkovic,
a three-time champ, twice with Jugoplastika Split and
once with Limoges.
In the beginning, the tough and demanding Maljkovic
and a star like Wilkins were not a good match, but
little by little Maljkovic’s work and Wilkins’s versatility
started to bring results. Panathinaikos made the playoff
ranked third from Group B with a 9-5 record, behind
FC Barcelona (10-4) and tied with Real Madrid. In the
quarterfinals, the Greens got rid of Benetton Treviso
(2-1) and advanced to the Final Four in Paris. In Game 3
of that series, in Treviso, Panathinaikos clinched a spot
in Paris behind 26 points and 7 rebounds by Wilkins. It
was his best game with Panathinaikos to that point, but
the best was yet to come.
Before the Final Four, Panathinaikos won the Greek
Cup in March by defeating Panionios in the final, 85-74.
That was the first club trophy in Wilkins’s career, but
he wanted more – much more. And as usually happens
with great players, Wilkins played the best when his
team needed him the most. In the Final Four semifinal
against CSKA Moscow, he led the way with a season-high
35 points plus 8 rebounds as Panathinaikos
was victorious 81-71.
In the title game, on April 11, 1996, after a dramatic
finish complete with some mistakes by the scorers’ table
and the referees, Panathinaikos defeated Barcelona
67-66. Wilkins contributed 16 points and 10 boards and
was named Final Four MVP. His first season in Europe
ended with 20.1 points and 7.3 rebounds per game. The
season was not perfect, however. In the Greek League
finals, with Panathinaikos leading 2-1, Wilkins suffered
an injury and didn’t play in Games 4 or 5. Olympiacos
used that to turn the series around and take the title
with a 2-3 series win.
San Antonio and Bologna
After succeeding in Europe, Wilkins decided to return
to the NBA: He signed for the San Antonio Spurs,
where he finished the 1996-97 season at 37-and-a-half
years old and with a worthy average of 18.3 points in
61 games. The following season he decided to return
to Europe, this time to TeamSystem Bologna in Italy.
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On January 13, 2001, Wilkins saw his jersey No. 21
(in Europe he played with that number reversed, 12)
was retired in Atlanta. Only Bob Petit and Lou Hudson
before Wilkins had received that honor at the Georgia
Dome. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial
Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts,
in 2006.
Dominique Wilkins wasn’t even the winningest
American player in European basketball, not the best
American player to ever play in Europe, but I would say
that, together with Bob McAdoo, he was the biggest
NBA star to ever play here.
Dominique Wilkins, an American from Paris.
In the Italian League, he averaged 17.8 points and 7.3
rebounds while in the Euroleague he averaged 17.9
points and 7.0 rebounds, but his club’s archrival, Kinder
Bologna, put an end to the team’s European dream this
time.
In the EuroLeague quarterfinals, Kinder eliminated
TeamSystem 2-0 and then in the Italian League final
series, Kinder succeeded 3-2 after an unbelievable fifth
game. If April 11 of 1996 was the happiest day Wilkins
experienced in Europe, May 31, 1998, was one to stick
in his memory forever for the opposite reasons. With
13 seconds to go, his team was 4 points ahead, 72-68,
and the title was almost secure. But then one of the
most famous plays in European basketball took place:
Predrag Danilovic hit a three with an additional free
throw from a foul committed by... Dominique Wilkins.
Danilovic scored the free throw, David Rivers turned
the ball over on the last offensive play for TeamSystem,
and Kinder won it all in overtime. It wasn’t the happiest
of endings to a brilliant career.
Dominique Wilkins
101 greats of european basketball
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Larry
Wright
399

The man with
two rings
During the 1970s and 1980s, most of
the European clubs signed foreigners
who were big men, power forwards
or centers, most of them American.
The FIBA regulations allowed for two
non-national players, and since big
men were scarce in Europe, the solution was to try to
“fish” something from the American market. One of
the few exceptions was Banco di Roma, which in the
summer of 1982 had signed the best Italian coach
at the time, Valerio Bianchini, after he had been successful
with Cantu in the previous years. The first
thing that Bianchini decided to do was... sign a guard.
He went for Larry Wright, born November 23, 1954, in
Monroe, Louisiana. He was a player with five years of
experience in the NBA, first with the Washington Bullets
and then with the Detroit Pistons. Why a guard
and why Wright? Bianchini himself explained it to me:
“Before coaching Rome I spent three years in Cantu,”
he said. “We won several titles, including a European
title in 1981. One of the key pieces in that puzzle was
point guard Pierluigi Marzorati. Since I could not sign
him, I decided to take the risk and go for an American
guard. I had good reports about Larry through Darren
Dale, a then very well-known American agent, so we
offered Wright a contract. He doubted it a little and I
had to travel all the way to Monroe, his hometown, to
convince him.”
Time proved Bianchini – and his scouts – right. They
had seen great potential in Wright that the NBA could
not fully exploit. He previously enjoyed a great career of
three years at Grambling State University, with an average
25.4 points, a rookie of the year award of the Southwestern
Atlantic Conference. He was the best player in
the conference in 1976 and a two-time selection to the
NCAA all-small colleges team. He was drafted in 1976
and chosen 14th by the Bullets. Two years later, the
Bullets beat the Seattle Supersonics in the NBA Finals
(4-3) and Wright won his first title. His contribution in
those seven games was nothing to write home about.
He scored 6 points in the first game, 2 in the second,
5 in the fourth, 10 in the sixth and 2 in the seventh: 25
points total. His season average was 9.2 points and
3.7 assists, enough to let his potential be seen, but not
enough to convince his coach, Dick Motta, to give him
more minutes. He decided to move to the Pistons, but
in the 1980-81 season, his numbers didn’t increase: 7.4
points and 3.4 assists. The following season he hardly
played. Behind him, he had played in 343 NBA games,
averaging less than 20 minutes per game, 8.2 points,
3.4 assists and 1.6 rebounds. That’s when the Rome
offer arrived.
Taking over a title game
In a short span of time, all of Italy saw that Rome had
signed a great player. He was a scoring point guard, but
he also played shooting guard, something that Bianchini
used to perfection combining the roles of Wright
(22.2 points) and Enrico Gilardi (15.2). Banco di Roma,
the name of the team then, won its first and only Italian
League title and the following season it would make its
debut in the EuroLeague.
After easily rolling through the two preliminary
rounds against weak opponents (Dudelange of Luxem-
101 greats of european basketball
Larry Wright
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Vladimir Stankovic
burg and Partizani Tirana of Albania), Banco di Roma
qualified for the final group with six teams. The first
two would play the title game. FC Barcelona and Rome
finished with 7-3 records and they would face each other
for the title, on March 29, 1984. In the group stage,
Barcelona had beaten Roma at home by 81-74 with 31
points by Juan Antonio San Epifanio, but in Rome, the
Italian team won by 74-71 with Wright scoring 18. The
tiebreaker would be the final with the title of European
champion going to the winner.
Barça started the game way better, and in minute 16
was winning by 13 points, 35-22. At halftime, there was
still a double-digit difference, 42-32. What happened
in the halftime break and the second half is told by Bianchini
himself.
“In the corridor to the locker rooms, Barca’s big man
Mike Davis made a mistake. The players from both
teams were walking together and David said something
to Wright. Something that sounded like: ‘Hey
man, there’s no prize for you tonight.’ Wright entered
the locker room really angry and started screaming at
his teammates telling them to wake up. He raged into
the second half and almost won the game by himself.”
Larry Wright put his best weapons to good use:
speed and unstoppable one-on-one skills. When he
didn’t penetrate, he made outside shots. In minute 31,
Banco di Rome jumped ahead for the first time, 57-56,
and even though Barcelona would have options until
the last seconds, an offensive rebound by Clarence Kea
solved the game for Rome, 79-73. Wright finished with
27 points – 2 more than he had scored in the full seven
games of the NBA Finals of 1978 – and, of course, was
the MVP. Jose Manuel Fernandez, the journalist who
covered the game for Spanish newspaper “Mundo Deportivo”,
wrote in his recap:
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“This small genius, as we had been saying for some
time, made the difference between the two teams. His
last baskets were his trademark... Wright was the hero
of the game and an idol cheered by the Roman ‘tifosi’.
At 67-69, Wright left his genius and class indelibly imprinted
on us with two otherworldly baskets and gave
all hope back to his team at 67-73... Wright put an end
to the game playing a reggae groove that was worth
a European crown. Barcelona’s champagne bottle remained
unopened.”
That was Wright’s stellar moment in Europe. It was
his “second ring” and a great personal satisfaction for
his two seasons in Rome.
“Larry was an offensive guard, a natural scorer, a
fighter,” Bianchini remembered. “He was not a pure
point guard, but a mix of point and shooting guard
and that only made his potential greater. His fighting
character came from his difficult childhood, marked by
family poverty. He was a very responsible man and he
always cared a lot for his family.”
From Rome to Udine and back
Even though some sources say that Wright also won
the Intercontinental Cup with Banco di Roma in September
of 1984 in Sao Paulo against, again, FC Barcelona
(86-85), it is not true. He wasn’t on the team anymore
because the previous season he had to deal with injury
problems. He basically only played in the EuroLeague
and the club decided not to renew him.
He missed the whole 1984-85 season due to injuries,
but he was back for the next one and had his best
year in Italy. He was wearing the jersey of Fantoni Udine,
where he averaged 31.9 points, 4.4 assists and 3.1
boards. He stayed with Udine for one more season, also
with good numbers: 26.8 points, 3.6 assists and 3.3
rebounds. For the 1987-88 season, already at 34 years
old, he was back to Rome and delivered 22.7 points, 2.5
assists and 3.4 rebounds. It was his last active year in
the elite. He had played 149 games in Italy averaging
25.1 points, 2.9 assists and 3.2 boards in 38.8 minutes.
He hardly ever left the court!
Wright retired in 1990. He stayed in the basketball
world as a scout for several NBA teams and later
worked as coach of the Grambling State Tigers for nine
seasons. He was back to Rome on October 6, 2006, for
a game between Lottomatica Roma and the Phoenix
Suns that the EuroLeague organized with the NBA on
the NBA Europe Live Tour. Of course, the older Rome
fans who had told their sons about him gave Wright a
warm ovation.
The man with two rings.
101 greats of european basketball
Larry Wright
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Michael
Young
403

A one-man team
It is more than true that basketball is a collective
sport and it’s impossible for a single player to win
a game or a trophy by himself. That’s why it is an exaggeration
to say that Limoges won the 1993 Euroleague
thanks only to Michael Young. However, it’s
nothing but the truth that the French champ would
never have gotten the club’s biggest success without
him. That year in Athens, one of the biggest miracles
in the competition took place. There had been many
surprises in one game, even in the finals, but never
before did a humble team that everybody discarded
as a contender for the crown manage to surprise game
after game all the way to the trophy ceremony.
This story has a pre-story, as Boza Maljkovic, the
technical master and a four-time Euroleague champ
with three teams – Jugoplastika, Limoges and Panathinaikos
– told me long after:
“I think it was the summer of 1989. Jugoplastika,
already the European champ, played several tourneys
in Spain. In Cuenca we faced Valladolid. There was a
left-handed shooting guard that hurt us badly throughout
the game. There was no stopping him. I tried with big
men and small men. They all played tough against him,
but he was just unstoppable. He finished the game with
something like 35 points. It was the first time I ever saw
Michael Young, and his great game was imprinted on
my mind. Since then, I followed his career and when he
became a free agent in the summer of 1992, I asked the
Limoges directors, the team I had been coaching since
January 1 of that year, to sign him no matter the cost.”
Said and done.
From Manila to the top of Europe
Michael Young, who was born on January 2, 1961,
in Houston, arrived in Limoges at 30 years old, after
having lived many different experiences in basketball.
Having played at his hometown Houston University
and missing the NCAA title on a buzzer-beater, he was
drafted in 1984 by the Boston Celtics but immediately
traded to the Philadelphia 76ers. The following two
years, Young hardly touched an NBA floor, but played
a lot in the Continental Basketball Association with the
Detroit Spirits, averaging 26.8 points. Tired of waiting
for a real chance, he moved to Manila in the Philippines.
From Manila he landed in Spain for Valladolid, where
he also shined with 23.5 points and 4.8 rebounds per
game. Midway through the season, he was signed by
Udine in Italy where, in 21 games, he put up 24 points
on average. For the 1989-90 season, he was back to the
NBA with the Los Angeles Clippers, for whom he scored
4.9 per game. But he returned to Europe to played two
seasons in Italy with Panasonic Reggio Calabria for impressive
figures: 34.0 and 27.4 points per game. That’s
when Boza Maljkovic came in.
After a traumatic departure from Barcelona and
several offers, Coach Maljkovic decided to choose Limoges
midway through the 1991-92 season. He won
the French League and started to prepare the team
for the Euroleague. First of all, he did a major clean-up,
retaining only Richard Dacoury – who had been considering
retirement – on the roster. Young arrived to the
roster together with Jure Zdovc, Frederic Forte, Jimmy
Verove, Willie Redden, Jim Bilba... Despite this rebuilding
– or perhaps because of it – nobody bet on Limoges
for the title, especially after the team’s discreet start in
a preliminary round.
The French champion was unable to beat the Guild-
101 greats of european basketball
Michael Young
Y

Vladimir Stankovic
ford Kings of England in their first game, which ended
in a 72-72 tie, although at home Limoges was better
(71-57) and advanced to the eighth-finals group.
There, the team finished second at 7-5 behind PAOK
Thessaloniki (8-4), but ahead of Scavolini Pesaro (also
7-5), Knorr Bologna and Joventut Badalona (6-6),
Cibona Zagreb (5-7) and Maccabi Tel Aviv (3-9). In the
quarterfinals, in three close games, Limoges got rid
of Olympiacos. After losing 70-67 in Greece, Limoges
won at home 59-53 and 60-58. Michael Young shined:
35 points against Maccabi, 31 and 30 against Joventut,
27 against Cibona, 26 against Scavolini... But in
the first game against Olympiacos, he scored just 8
points, his worst mark of the season and his only one
below 10 points. However, at home, he repaid the
Reds with interest: 20 points in Game 2 and 30 in the
decisive third and final game.
Two miracles in Athens
Limoges had a ticket to Athens, home of the Final
Four that year, but competing against Real Madrid,
Benetton Treviso and PAOK, its chances of success
were completely discarded. In the semifinals, Limoges
surprised Benetton 59-55 with brilliant defense plus
18 points and 7 rebounds by Young. Toni Kukoc was
playing his fourth Final Four but it was the first time he
lost a game in the tournament. Terry Teagle, an NBA
alum, scored 19 points for Benetton, but his shooting
was not perfect. Despite that victory, Limoges was considered
an outsider also against Real Madrid in the title
game. Madrid had Arvydas Sabonis, Chechu Biriukov,
Antonio Martin, Ismael Santos, Jose Lasa, Jose Miguel
Antunez, Ricky Brown...an imposing lineup that was a
heavy favorite. But the final result was 62-52 for the
“miners” – as Maljkovic used to call his players for their
hard-working nature. And it was, until then, the biggest
upset ever in a Euroleague title game.
Many people criticized the Limoges playing style,
with its slow tempo and ball control, but Maljkovic
simply applied one of the basic theories of this sport:
you have to adapt the system to the players you have
at your disposal. His team was not made to score 100
points, to run or to score on fastbreaks. They were a
team made for defense, for working for every point,
and for giving the ball to Michael Young. In the title
game, he scored 20 of his team’s 62 points and pulled
down 7 rebounds. That was more than enough to be
chosen MVP of the 1993 Final Four in Athens. After so
much suffering and being underestimated, Young had
his recognition at the highest level.
“He was a great player who devoted 100 percent of
his attention to three things: family, basketball and fishing,”
Maljkovic remembered. “When he set foot in the
opponent’s half of the court, he was already a threat.
He was a great shooter, but also a rebounder, and one
of the best players and men I ever coached in my career.
He is the only player for whom, when our collaboration
ended, I bought him a gold coin. He still keeps it and
showed it to me when we went to Limoges to celebrate
the 20th anniversary of the title we won.”
Young stayed with Limoges for two more seasons
and also played in the 1995 Final Four in Zaragoza, but
his biggest moment was in 1993 in Athens. His French
League averages in 1994 and 1995 were 23.5 and 20.1
points, respectively, with almost 5 rebounds per game.
In the EuroLeague, his personal record is the 47 points
he poured in against Benetton on December 9, 1994.
After Limoges, he played one season in Lyon (27.4
points) and was back to Italy, but to the second division
(Fabriano, 22.8 points). In 1998, he put an end to his
404
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Michael Young
great career in Maccabi Givat Shmuel of Israel, scoring
25.8 points at 37 years old! In Italy, his overall average
was 27.4 points, in Spain 23.5, and in France he also
averaged more than 20 points over three years. In his
golden season, 1992-93, he put up 20.9 points, 6.7 rebounds
and 1.9 assists in the EuroLeague for Limoges.
A one-man team: if it could be said about anybody,
it’s Michael Young.
101 greats of european basketball
Y

Jiri
Zidek
407

A Czech
legend
The name certainly sounds familiar. Jiri
Zidek has been a colleague of mine, working
as a columnist for Euroleague.net and
as a color commentator on Euroleague.
TV. He is also one of the few men – and
the first European – to have won both the
NCAA Tournament and the EuroLeague championship,
with UCLA in 1995 and Zalgiris in 1999, respectively.
It’s true that Zidek certainly deserves his own
place among the greats, due to his many great accomplishments.
But first I wish to write about another Jiri
Zidek, his father.
Exactly 30 years before Jiri Zidek Jr.’s success with
Zalgiris in Munich back in 1999, Jiri Zidek Sr won the
Saporta Cup title with his team, Slavia Prague. Dinamo
Tbilisi, representing the Soviet Union, and Slavia, representing
Czechoslovakia, played the title game on April
17, 1969. Slavia won 80-74. As far as I know, the Zideks
are the only case in which a father and son have won a
title in European club competitions. A year before that,
Zidek Sr. was the star of a historic game – the 1968 Saporta
Cup final in Athens, Greece on April 4, 1968. Slavia
faced AEK at Panathinaiko Stadium. Officially, it was a
sellout of 52,880, but most reports claim there were
between 60,000 and 80,000 fans on hand if you count
those who cheered from outside because they couldn’t
make it into the stadium. AEK beat Slavia 89-82 to win
the first European title for a Greek basketball club, but
the star of the game was Zidek Sr., who scored 31 points.
Slavia, a team full of Jiris
Born in Prague, Czechoslovakia on February 8,
1944, Zidek Sr. spent the best and biggest part of his
career with Slavia, a team that had a great sporting
rivalry with Spartak Brno to be the best in the country
throughout the 1960s and the 1970s. Slavia was
known as “The Jiris” because many times its starting
five featured Jiri Ruzicka, Jiri Stasny, Jiri Ammer, Jiri
Zednicek and Jiri Zidek, with Jiri Konopasek coming
off the bench. Spartak was represented by Kamil Brabenec,
Zdenek and Jan Bobrovsky, Vladimir Pistalek,
Frantisek Konvicka, Frantisek Pokorny and Zdenek
Konecny. All of them played together on a strong
Czechoslovakian national team that won the silver
medal at the 1967 EuroBasket in Helsinki, Finland.
Czechoslovakia was defeated by the Soviet Union, 87-
79, in the title game, but Zidek had 23 points against
giants like Vladimir Andreev and Alzhan Zarmuhamedov.
Zidek averaged 13.8 points in that tournament.
Two years later, Czechoslovakia won the bronze medal
at the 1969 EuroBasket in Naples, Italy, with Zidek averaging
12.6 points.
Zidek was the top scorer (18.6 ppg.) at the 1970
World Cup in Ljubljana, Yugoslavia. He scored even
more (20.4 ppg.) at the 1971 EuroBasket in Essen, West
Germany, and enjoyed a strong performance (12.7 ppg.,
4.8 rebounds) at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich.
Overall, Zidek played 257 games with the Czechoslovakian
national team. There is no evidence of how many
points he scored with his national team, but in a phone
conversation, Zidek Sr. gave me rough numbers of his
great career:
• Played professional basketball for 18 years.
• Scored an estimated 13,000 points.
• Won six league titles with Slavia.
101 greats of european basketball
Jiri Zidek
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Vladimir Stankovic
• Was the Czechoslovakian League’s scoring champion
10 times and averaged around 30 points.
• His single-best scoring game was 68 points
against Olomouc.
That Slavia squad boasted a powerful team able to
beat anyone. For instance, Zidek Sr. scored 35 points
against Real Madrid in the 1965-66 season, 36 against
Simmenthal Milano and did even better against Belgian
side Racing – 40 points in Belgium and 48 at home! He
tallied 54 points in another game against Madrid. That
season, Zidek led Slavia to the first-ever Final Four, host
by FIBA in Bologna, Italy. Slavia suffered a 77-72 loss
to Simmenthal in the final despite 20 points by Zidek.
At the end of the season, Zidek was named a member
of the European continental team for 1966. In another
Final Four played in Madrid, Spain, in 1967, Slavia once
again lost against Simmenthal Milano, 103-97, in the
semifinals. Slavia managed to beat Olimpija Ljubljana
88-83 in the third-place game.
An atypical center
At 2.06 meters tall and based on today’s standards,
Zidek Sr. was more a forward than a center, but he
played in the “five” position and successfully fought
against taller opponents. His best weapons were the
fundamentals. He was a talented player who could hit
both his outside jumper and a hard-to-guard hook shot.
Zidek was also a great rebounder and had the spirit of
a natural fighter.
Zidek Sr. told me that back in 1968, the Boston Celtics
showed interest in him, but it was impossible and
unthinkable for him to get out of Czechoslovakia. “I had
many offers from the biggest clubs in Europe, but we
lived in the communist era, without personal freedom.
Getting out of the country in a legal way was almost
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impossible,” Zidek Sr. said. He was one of the true European
basketball legends in the 1960s and the 1970s.
After playing one season for Olomouc, he was granted
permission to work outside his country and finished
his brilliant career in Finland. At age 38, Zidek Sr. was a
player-coach with Forza Alku for two seasons.
He remembers well his battles in the paint against
Dino Meneghin, Kreso Cosic, Clifford Luyk and Trajko
Rajkovic. Zidek Sr. spoke with me about the great Ivo
Daneu, his rivalry against CSKA that went beyond
sports, and especially, about his great friendship with
Radivoj Korac, who tragically passed away in a car crash
in 1969. When I asked him why there are no great basketball
players in the Czech Republic like in the old days,
Zidek didn’t have a clear answer. “Maybe it is because
basketball is not as popular as football and ice hockey,”
he said. “There is not enough money for basketball.
Maybe players lack that passion for basketball nowadays.”
But of course, that is changing, as the Czechs
had a new EuroLeague champion, Jan Vesely, with Fenerbahce
Istanbul in 2017.
Jiri Zidek Jr. managed to achieve a lot of the things
Jiri Zidek Sr. couldn’t do. Zidek Jr. won the EuroLeague
title, played three years in the NBA and wore the jerseys
of European basketball powerhouses like Zalgiris and
Real Madrid, one of the dreams that his father had. But
if I had to choose one of them – with all due respect to
my friend Jiri Jr. – I would choose Zidek Sr., considered
by many as the best Czech player of all-time.
Jiri Zidek Sr, a Czech legend.
Jiri Zidek
101 greats of european basketball
Z

Jiri
Zidek Jr.
411

Family matters
For the only time in these 101 chapters of the
great players of the past, a name gets repeated:
Jiri Zidek. I will not be writing about
the same player twice, but rather about a
father and son who carry that same name.
Jiri Zidek Sr. was a great player in Czechoslovakia
and one of the best big men in Europe during the
1960s and 1970s.
On April 17, 1969, his team Slavia Prague defeated
Dinamo Tbilisi in the Cup Champions Cup final, 80-74.
Zidek scored 15 points. Exactly 30 years later, to the
week, his son Jiri Zidek Jr. won the EuroLeague title
with Zalgiris Kaunas by defeating Kinder Bologna, 82-
74. Zidek scored 12 points. If memory serves, it is the
only case ever in European basketball of a father and
son both winning international club trophies as players.
Debut against ... dad
The story of the Zideks has some more interesting
details. Following his father’s footsteps, young Jiri
grabbed the ball at five years old. His first coach was
Jindrich Zeman, well known because of his work with
young talents. When he turned 14, Zidek’s coach was
Rene Stepanek, who helped him improve his technique.
It was then that tragedy struck when Zidek’s mother
died. According to Zidek himself, that fact had a major
influence on his exclusive dedication to basketball and
school, where he was always the best student.
At 16 years old, Zidek already practiced with the
Sparta Prague senior team. His debut in that category
was against Slavia, coached by his father and where
his elder brother also played. In the last seconds, with
a tie on the scoreboard, young Jiri scored the decisive
basket to give the win to Sparta. For the media, it was
the perfect story: the son beats his father with a basket
in the last second.
Just when everything looked perfect, Jiri suffered a
back injury. He had to go to the United States to undergo
treatment. He stopped for six months and missed
the FIBA European Championship for Junior Men, but
his name was already on the lists of many teams and
scouts. Zidek got offers from several good universities,
but he chose UCLA because of a Slovakian family there
that his father knew. The Schultz family helped him a
lot to integrate into a new country. On the sports side,
however, things didn’t go well. He played little. UCLA
head coach Jim Harrick didn’t believe much in him. In
his first two seasons, Zidek’s numbers were quite discreet:
1.1 points in 1991-92, 2.4 in 1992-93.
In his third year at UCLA, things started to change.
Zidek’s effort and sacrifice in practice was rewarded
with a place among the starters in a game at the beginning
of the season. He responded with 16 points and 10
rebounds, and never left the starting five after that. He
finished that season with averages of 11.1 points and
7 rebounds in 28 games, but the best was yet to come.
NCAA and EuroLeague champion
During the 1994-95 season, his last at UCLA, Zidek
averaged 10.6 points and 5.4 rebounds. His team won
the NCAA title by beating the Arkansas Razorbacks 89-
79 in the final with Ed O’Bannon as the star (20 points,
17 rebounds). Zidek remembers the event at the Kingdome
in Seattle as something unbelievable: “It was an
incredible atmosphere: 20,000 people came to watch
the practices and 45,000 to the games.”
101 greats of european basketball
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Vladimir Stankovic
In the summer of 1995, Zidek was selected in the
NBA Draft by the Charlotte Hornets with the 22nd pick
of the first round. His first season didn’t go bad at all: he
played 71 games averaging 4 points and 2.6 rebounds,
but a lot of changes on the team affected his role. During
the 1996-97 season, after 36 games with Charlotte, he
was traded to the Denver Nuggets and played a total
of 52 games between them, with similar numbers. In
1997-98, he played sparingly with both Denver and Seattle,
after which he decided to return to Europe.
“I didn’t have many opportunities, because the
rosters of the European teams were closed,” Zidek
recalled. “Then Sarunas Marciulionis called me, saying
that Zalgiris needed a center, but also was looking for a
point guard. I recommended Tyus Edney, my teammate
at UCLA. Fortunately, they accepted. And that’s how
Tyus and I got together again. I wasn’t in top shape after
not playing much the previous two years, but Zalgiris
had a lot of patience.”
The team didn’t begin the EuroLeague well, losing
99-84 at Fenerbahce on the way to a 1-2 record. But after
that, Zalgiris won 11 of its next 12 games to become
a contender. It later swept two other Turkish teams,
Ulker and Efes, to reach the Final Four.
Once in Munich, as something of an underdog,
Zalgiris surprised its opponents early. In the semifinal,
after leading 48-33 at halftime, Zalgiris downed Olympiacos
87-71 with Anthony Bowie scoring 19 points,
while Zidek had 9 points and 5 rebounds in 19 minutes.
In the final, Zalgiris faced defending champion Kinder
Bologna, and it was the same story. Up 45-30 after the
first 20 minutes, Zalgiris fought off a Kinder comeback
attempt to win 82-74. Bowie again paced the winners
with 17 points, while Zidek added 12 points and 6 rebounds
in 23 minutes. Making it look easier than most
Final Four champions, Zalgiris lifted the first – and still
only – EuroLeague title by a Lithuanian club.
“The final was straight from out of a movie, and ended
with the EuroLeague title,” Zidek says. “The funny
thing was the way we prepared for the Final Four. Coach
Jonas Kazlauskas gave us a lot of time to rest, and he
let us have our wives or girlfriends with us. Unforgettable.
We had a great atmosphere on the team, without
any jealousy between the players.”
It was a team that featured very good Lithuanians –
Saulius Stombergas, Eurelijus and Mindaugas Zukauskas,
Tomas Masiulis, Darius Maskoliunas and Kestutis
Sestokas – and great foreigners in Edney, Bowie and
Zidek. The team’s top scorer was Bowie with 14 points
per game, while Masiulis was the best rebounder at 5.9
on average. Zidek finished with 8.6 points and 4.7 rebounds
in 18.1 minutes per game. His top scoring performance
was 17 points against Crvena Zvezda, while
he pulled down 10 rebounds against both Tau Ceramica
and Varese. Not only did Zidek win the title his father
had missed in the 1966 final with Slavia Prague, but he
became the first European to win both the EuroLeague
and NCAA titles.
After winning the EuroLeague title, much of the Zalgiris
team left. Zidek began the next season in Kaunas
but finished it with Ulker. He then played for Real Madrid
in the inaugural EuroLeague game of the new century,
averaging 6.3 points and 2.3 rebounds over 15 games
that season. His next stops were ALBA Berlin and
Prokom Trefl Sopot, before he finished his career with
Czech club Nymburk between 2003 and 2005. Zidek
stayed to help the young players and the club become
something more serious, and he highlights the role of
club president Miroslav Jansta in making that happen
as the most influential person in Czech basketball in
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the new century. In his last two seasons, playing for
Nymburk in the FIBA Europa League, Zidek averaged
almost 18 points and 7 rebounds, showing clearly that
he could still perform. Still, multiple injuries to his left
knee forced him to end his career at age 32.
A commentator on Euroleague.TV
What was lacking in the younger Zidek’s career, as
opposed to his father’s, was a big result with the Czech
national team, as he didn’t have the luck to reach the
biggest events. In the preliminary phase of the 1999
EuroBasket, Zidek averaged 25.5 points and 11.5 rebounds,
but the team missed the big event. And the
Czech Republic also missed the 2001 and 2003 continental
championships.
Zidek was an able player for his size, 2.12 meters,
with good skill, strength and rebounding instincts.
He was also a player who coaches appreciated: not a
superstar, but he always played at a high level. Very
few times after a game could anyone say that Jiri Zidek
didn’t play well. His grades were “good, very good and
excellent”. His father, as I recall, had it easier scoring,
but the son was stronger physically.
For many years now, Zidek has been a regular color
commentator on Euroleague.TV, offering his deep
knowledge and enthusiasm for basketball. Little by
little, he has become one of the true voices of European
basketball. As such, the Zidek name continues in our
sport.
101 greats of european basketball
Jiri Zidek Jr.
Z

Jure
Zdovc
415

The Golden
Slovenian
Slovenian basketball reserves its “greatest
of all time” title for the legendary Ivo
Daneu, but Jurij “Jure” Zdovc was not
far behind him. Those two, along with
Peter Vilfan and Borut Basin, are the best
Slovenian players of the last century, in
my opinion, while crossing into this one, we have had
the likes of Matjaz Smodis, Erazem Lorbek and Rasho
Nesterovic, without taking into account others who
are still active, such as Goran Dragic and, just getting
started, Luka Doncic.
The talent of Zdovc, a new gem from Slovenia,
caught the attention of the Yugoslav Federation’s
coaches early. By 1983, at age 16, Zdovc was playing
in the European Championship for Cadets in Tubingen,
Germany, where he won his first gold medal. Among his
teammates were future stars Zarko Paspalj, Ivo Nakic,
Branislav Prelevic, Luka Pavicevic and Ivica Mavrenski.
That very same year, Zdovc played at the junior World
Cup in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, as the youngest player
on the Yugoslav team. A year later, Zdovc played the European
Championship for Junior Men with almost the
same team, plus Velimir Perasovic, Miroslav Pecarski,
Franjo Arapovic and Ivica Zuric. They won the bronze
medal.
Champion without a medal
By the 1985-86 season, Zdovc was already an important
player for Olimpija Ljubljana. Two years later,
Coach Dusan Ivkovic took him to his first big competition
– the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, South Korea.
He came back with a silver medal. He shined at Euro-
Basket 1989 along with all the members of the “Yugoslav
Dream Team” – Drazen Petrovic, Vlade Divac, Toni
Kukoc, Dino Radja, Predrag Danilovic, Zarko Paspalj,
Zoran Cutura... In 1990 and with the same team, Yugoslavia
won the World Cup in Argentina and subsequently
got the gold medal at EuroBasket 1991 in Rome, Italy.
Zdovc, however, only played early in that tournament
and didn’t finish it with the team.
Politics caused one of the most curious scenarios in
basketball history. Yugoslavia arrived in Rome as the
favorite. Drazen Petrovic was missing, but Sasha Djordjevic
had joined the team. In three group stage games,
Yugoslavia recorded as many easy wins. Zdovc had 7
points against Bulgaria, 3 against Poland and 4 against
Spain. On July 26, 1991, the day before the semifinals,
Zdovc knocked on Dusan Ivkovic’s door. With tears in
his eyes, Zdovc told Ivkovic that the Slovenian government,
which declared independence from Yugoslavia
on July 25, had ordered him to leave the team. Yugoslavia
beat France in the semifinals and Italy in the title
game without much trouble, but without Zdovc. When
the medals were awarded on the podium, there was
one extra. Eleven players – all Serbian and Croatian,
but still all Yugoslavian – celebrated, but one medal
remained without its owner.
The story has a second chapter, some 14 years later.
On June 30, 2005, in the Slovenian capital, Zdovc, who
was already working as a head coach, was honored
for his playing career. On one side there was a “green”
team with Zmago Sagadin and Bozidar Maljkovic as
head coaches and Dusan Hauptman, Primoz Brezec,
Beno Udrih, Rasho Nesterovic, Sarunas Jasikevicius,
101 greats of european basketball
Jure Zdovc
Z

Vladimir Stankovic
Jiri Welsch, Marko Milic, Slavko Kotnik, Matjaz Tovornik,
Peter Vilfan and Radoslav Curcic as players. The “white”
team, coached by Dusan Ivkovic and Zeljko Obradovic,
featured Toni Kukoc, Vlade Divac, Dino Radja, Sasha
Djordjevic, Stojko Vrankovic, Predrag Danilovic, Velimir
Perasovic, Zarko Paspalj, Zoran Cutura, Dejan Bodiroga,
Richard Dacoury, Panagiotis Giannakis, Lefteris Kakiousis
and Roberto Brunamonti. Zdovc played one half
with each team. That is when Ivkovic awarded him his
EuroBasket 1991 gold medal. Better late than never...
Leader of the “miners”
Zdovc was a smart player. He had really quick hands,
was a safe ball-handler with a reliable shooting touch,
and, above all, was a great defensive player. He wasn’t
very attractive for fans, but he was perfect for any
coach. He wasn’t a pure scorer but could do it if his
team needed that. He was a point guard with very good
court vision and an excellent defender who was always
assigned to guard the best opposing guard.
When Bozidar Maljkovic started his first full season
with Limoges in the summer of 1992, the first player he
asked for was Zdovc, who had played for Kinder Bologna
the previous season. Limoges managed to sign him
and the great tandem Jure Zdovc and Michael Young
was born. Limoges was not even a favorite to reach
the Euroleague playoffs. Nonetheless, it managed to
get all the way to the Final Four in Athens – and win the
competition! To this date, it is still the biggest upset
in Euroleague history. Partizan had been a surprising
winner in 1992, but with a much more talented team
than Limoges. Maljkovic called his players at Limoges
“miners” as a way of comparing their hard work on the
court with the toughest work in a mine.
Zdovc also led Limoges to win the French League
title in 1993 and won it again with Racing Paris in 1997.
The three seasons in between those he played with
Greek side Iraklis. And after Paris, he played one year in
Turkey for Tofas Bursa (1997-98), came back to Olimpija
(1998-00), returned to Greece (Panionios, 2000-01),
rejoined Olimpija (2001-02) and went on to play for Slovan
(2002-03) before finishing his playing career with
Split in 2003-04 by winning the Croatian Cup.
A new generation
Zdovc started his coaching career with Split in
2004. His second step was coaching Sloven Ljubljana
and after that, he joined Iraklis before getting back to
“his” Olimpija in the 2006-07 season. Zdovc coached
Bosna in the 2007-08 season, returned to Ljubljana
from 2009 to 2011, then had Spartak St. Petersburg for
two seasons, reaching the EuroCup Final but losing to
Khimki Moscow Region on the latter’s home court. He
has since coached Gaziantep in Turkey, AEK Athens and
Cedevita Zagreb. He was also the Slovenian national
team head coach twice. The first stint was from 2008
to 2010, when the team reached the EuroBasket 2009
semifinals, but lost to Serbia in overtime in a game that
Slovenia had under control. The second was from 2014
to 2016, highlighted by a seventh-place finish at the
2014 World Cup.
Zdovc is a member of what is called the Yugoslav
coaching school. As a player, he had the luck to learn
from the best, like Dusan Ivkovic, Zmago Sagadin and
Bozidar Maljkovic. He played with Zeljko Obradovic at
the 1988 Olympic Games and the 1990 World Championships,
also with Drazen Petrovic, Divac, Kukoc, Radja,
Danilovic, Perasovic, Komazec, Cutura. He learned
a little bit of everything from his coaches and former
teammates and adapted that to his own basketball phi-
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League twice each, lifted three domestic cup trophies
and won the 2002 Adriatic League with Olimpija. As a
coach, he has already won the Slovenian and the Bosnian
League titles, lifted the Croatian Cup trophy and
taken three Slovenian Cup titles. His 2012 EuroCup
Finals qualification with Spartak marks his biggest
international result until now as a club coach. His first
great result, but not the last, for sure.
Jure Zdovc
losophy. He is one of the best coaches of a generation
that is, little by little, taking the baton from the old one
in European basketball. Zdovc, Perasovic, Djordjevic,
Luka Pavicevic – and that’s not even taking Zeljko Obradovic
into account – were all teammates on the great
Yugoslav national team who have become top-level
coaches.
As a player, Zdovc won European and World Championships,
reached the Olympic Games final, won the
EuroLeague once, the Slovenian League and the French
101 greats of european basketball
Z

About the author
Vladimir Stankovic
Vladimir Stankovic (born on May 7, 1949 in Knjazevac,
Serbia) has been a journalist for exactly 50 years now. He
spent the first half of his career in Belgrade, where he was first
a correspondent for the Vjesnik newspaper of Zagreb (1969-
1979), then sports chief at Borbba newspaper in Belgrade
(1979-1987), director of the weekly sports publication Tim
(1989), and founder and director of the Kos basketball magazine
between 1989 and 1991.
Since 1992 he has been living and working in Spain, mainly
with Mundo Deportivo newspaper, for whom he was a correspondent
while working in the former Yugoslavia. In Spain, he
was also vice-director of FIBA Basketball Monthly magazine
(1992-1993) and collaborated with several media. He still
writes for Mundo Deportivo, La Vanguardia and Gigantes del
Basket.
As a connoisseur of European basketball, he was also the
original press officer at Euroleague Basketball between 2000
and 2006. After a year in Moscow as director of international
relations for Dynamo, he was back to Barcelona as a freelance
journalist. Since then, he has been a regular collaborator with
the EuroLeague’s official website, where he has published
many articles about the history of the sport in Europe and the
club competitions. In this book, you will find updated versions
of the profiles of prominent players, all of them retired, in the
history of the European cups.
During his professional career, he has attended and worked
at many major events: seven Olympic Games, five World
Championships, 17 EuroBaskets, some 25 Final Fours and
several more finals. He is considered one of the continent’s
most knowledgeable authorities on basketball history. He is
also the author of 10 books, some of them about basketball.
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ime prezime
101 greats of european basketball
A

IMPRESUM
Izdavač: Više od sporta, Beograd, Braće Grim 3
Autor: Vladimir Stanković
Lektura i korektura: Frank Lawlor
Dizajn: Studio Platinum
Štampa: Birograf, Beograd
Fotografije: Euroleague, Rodolfo Molina, Miguel Angel
Fornies, MN Press, Ivan Doroški, Radiša Mladenović, Fondacija
Ferrandiz, Košarkaški savez Srbije, Košarkaška federacija
Katalonije, ACB, Gazzeta dello Sport, L´equippe, Koš magazin.
Klubovi: Partizan, Crvena zvezda, Real Madrid, Barcelona,
Alba, Cibona, CSKA, Žalgiris. Privatni arhivi.
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