101 Greats of European Basketball
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
Vladimir Stankovic<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats<br />
<strong>of</strong> european<br />
basketball<br />
Belgrade, may 2018.
Vladimir Stankovic<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats<br />
<strong>of</strong> european<br />
basketball<br />
Belgrade, may 2018.
FOREWORD<br />
By Jordi Bertomeu,<br />
President & CEO Euroleague <strong>Basketball</strong><br />
A retrospective look at <strong>European</strong> basketball as proposed<br />
to us in this book leads us both to admire the<br />
enormous and endless capacity <strong>of</strong> our continent for<br />
creating talent and to recognise the ability <strong>of</strong> its main<br />
protagonists to evolve and adapt themselves to the<br />
different circumstances and vicissitudes that <strong>European</strong><br />
basketball has gone through over the last few<br />
decades.<br />
Sport is not isolated from the political, economic<br />
and social conditions that have been defining our continent<br />
since the end <strong>of</strong> the second great armed conflict<br />
that Europe suffered in the twentieth century. Understanding<br />
what happened in the various countries, in the<br />
various blocs that shaped the post-war Europe and the<br />
4<br />
5
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball
subsequent developments until today, is fundamental<br />
to realise how sport and therefore basketball in its turn<br />
lived according to the social and geopolitical guidelines<br />
<strong>of</strong> each moment. These circumstances have not been<br />
irrelevant at all to understand in which context some<br />
<strong>of</strong> the greatest stars <strong>of</strong> <strong>European</strong> basketball were born<br />
and raised and why, in some cases, they did not have<br />
the crowds’ recognition that athletes enjoy at present,<br />
not always with more merits or talent.<br />
For historical or cultural reasons, or accidentally in<br />
some cases, the <strong>European</strong> map <strong>of</strong> basketball has traditionally<br />
limited itself to the south, in the Mediterranean<br />
basin, and to the north, in the former USSR and in the<br />
new states that appeared later in the 90s. Throughout<br />
these years, the hegemonies have been passing<br />
from the hands <strong>of</strong> one country to another, from the<br />
mentioned USSR, the former Yugoslavia, Italy, Greece,<br />
Spain and Lithuania to the most recent countries <strong>of</strong><br />
France and Turkey.<br />
This explains that our protagonists are from these<br />
countries in their great majority. Following my above<br />
reference to the enormous capacity for creating talent,<br />
I must specify something else. It is in the mentioned<br />
countries where different methods <strong>of</strong> knowledge<br />
transmission and sports training have been devised<br />
that have provided us with the names appearing in this<br />
book.<br />
In Europe, basketball is developed around the club.<br />
It is the basic and more important unit <strong>of</strong> our sport.<br />
<strong>Basketball</strong> schools from the Balkan countries or Lithuania<br />
have produced and continue to constantly generate<br />
top players, coaches and referees <strong>of</strong> great quality at<br />
world-class level. This has happened even under difficult<br />
political and economic circumstances, which I have<br />
mentioned previously, and which give a perspective <strong>of</strong><br />
the greatness <strong>of</strong> these schools. It is true that until the<br />
80s, it was very hard to enjoy this talent out <strong>of</strong> their<br />
respective borders beyond international competitions.<br />
It was the time <strong>of</strong> the old rules that limited international<br />
transfers and even the freedom <strong>of</strong> movement <strong>of</strong> players<br />
within countries, also in the so-called Western Europe.<br />
After the opening <strong>of</strong> borders, the effects <strong>of</strong> the Bosman<br />
judgment, and lately the evolution <strong>of</strong> the NBA towards<br />
the concept <strong>of</strong> a global worldwide league, have entailed<br />
a radical change in the structure <strong>of</strong> the labour market <strong>of</strong><br />
our players and coaches.<br />
At present we have <strong>European</strong> talent distributed on<br />
the court and on the team benches across all the continents,<br />
and this has also made us a world power.<br />
The history <strong>of</strong> <strong>European</strong> basketball also gives us an<br />
idea <strong>of</strong> the ability <strong>of</strong> its competitions to evolve, driven<br />
by the determination and vision <strong>of</strong> their clubs and executives.<br />
The creation <strong>of</strong> the <strong>European</strong> competitions<br />
in 1958 meant a turning point in the development <strong>of</strong><br />
our sport, only matched by the incorporation <strong>of</strong> the<br />
North American pr<strong>of</strong>essional basketball into the global<br />
competitions, such as the World Championships or the<br />
Olympic Games.<br />
At the same time, the domestic leagues have been<br />
evolving, increasing their „standards”, generating<br />
6<br />
7
greater competitiveness and making our sport accessible<br />
to the general public through the media, especially<br />
through television. An evolution that has also reached<br />
a pan-<strong>European</strong> level with the creation <strong>of</strong> an own<br />
league, the EuroLeague, whose mission is to bring the<br />
beauty and quality <strong>of</strong> <strong>European</strong> basketball to all the<br />
fans around the world. Never ever since 1959 have our<br />
clubs, players, coaches and <strong>of</strong>ficials enjoyed the attention<br />
they have today.<br />
Today basketball is the second worldwide sport<br />
thanks to the above.<br />
Although the book is retrospective, it is historical,<br />
because it introduces the characters who have built<br />
this bright present throughout the years, it is always<br />
necessary to look ahead and see the challenges facing<br />
us, anticipate the needs arising from this growth and<br />
look for the suitable solutions that will allow us to keep<br />
on growing. Nonetheless, without a doubt, the future<br />
cannot be designed without knowing the past. The<br />
road cannot defined if we do not know where we have<br />
come from. In this regard, this is a key book to provide<br />
us with models, make us aware <strong>of</strong> our strengths and<br />
our weaknesses, and prepare us better for this fascinating<br />
trip.<br />
The sports globalisation and its economy raise<br />
difficult and exciting challenges: Finding and properly<br />
managing the necessary resources to continue with<br />
the task <strong>of</strong> our predecessors has become a top priority.<br />
Defining the appropriate framework for our players,<br />
coaches and <strong>of</strong>ficials to perform their activity in the<br />
best possible conditions and be able to <strong>of</strong>fer all their<br />
talent to our fans. Managing our clubs upon the basis<br />
<strong>of</strong> a much wider and much more dynamic pr<strong>of</strong>essional<br />
market than the one we had until the beginning <strong>of</strong><br />
the current century. Adapting the players’ training<br />
programmes to the new market reality, where volatility<br />
and the rush to run too fast are becoming a risk.<br />
Competition and competitiveness have always been<br />
the decisive factors in the appearance <strong>of</strong> sports stars.<br />
Our policies, our rules and our decisions must promote<br />
these criteria if we want to keep on growing.<br />
Our organisations will need to understand that<br />
in the era <strong>of</strong> technological change, permanent communication<br />
and image, fans no longer understand<br />
entertainment in a passive way, but, on the contrary,<br />
they want to be part <strong>of</strong> the show and want to interact,<br />
and for this reason we need to be near. When physical<br />
proximity is no longer significant and the sports consumption<br />
is so different, we have to present our competitions<br />
and the relationships among the different<br />
stakeholders in such a way that we can satisfy millions<br />
<strong>of</strong> basketball lovers.<br />
It was the personalities <strong>of</strong> this book who gave that<br />
response in their time in history. These players have<br />
been the top stars on this road, and without them<br />
nothing that <strong>European</strong> basketball has achieved would<br />
have been possible. They are our example, and for this<br />
reason it is so useful to get to know them the way this<br />
book will allow us to do.<br />
Thank you so much, Vlady, for such a fervent effort.<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball
A museum<br />
<strong>of</strong> Europe's<br />
basketball<br />
superstars<br />
My introduction to <strong>European</strong> basketball was a painful<br />
one. At the <strong>European</strong> qualifying tournament for the<br />
1992 Barcelona Olympics, I was invited to play a morning<br />
pickup game with other journalists. A bald guy on<br />
the other team crossed me over with his dribbling skill<br />
in the way that is now called „breaking ankles” – but in<br />
this case literally left me with a swollen foot. After we<br />
lost the first game against his team, mine huddled to<br />
discuss strategy.<br />
„Somebody needs to help me with that bald guy,”<br />
I said, panting. A teammate <strong>of</strong> mine from Sports Illustrated<br />
looked at me like I was crazy. „That bald guy?”<br />
he said. „Don't tell me you don't know who that is.” It<br />
turns out that I was being schooled by Juan Antonio<br />
Corbalan, the subject <strong>of</strong> one chapter in this book, who<br />
had recently been making assists to another legend<br />
from these pages, Arvydas Sabonis.<br />
If I had known my good friend Vladimir Stankovic<br />
then, maybe I would have been saved from my embarrassment.<br />
The truth is that his collection here <strong>of</strong> <strong>101</strong><br />
<strong>of</strong> the greatest retired players in <strong>European</strong> basketball<br />
was long overdue for more people than just me. The<br />
list <strong>of</strong> Europe's stars stretches from 1950s pioneers<br />
– some <strong>of</strong> whom, like Pino Djerdja, even today's most<br />
8<br />
knowledgeable fans might not know – all the way to the<br />
most recently retired legend, Dimitris Diamantidis. It<br />
amounts to walk <strong>of</strong> fame spanning the 60 years to date<br />
that <strong>European</strong> club competitions have given an international<br />
stage to basketball on the Old Continent.<br />
My own fascination with <strong>European</strong> basketball soon<br />
improved my knowledge. At that Olympics qualifying<br />
tournament, I quickly found my favorite player, Jure<br />
Zdovc, whose story is also here. He missed those Olympics<br />
by one shot, but a year later he won the EuroLeague<br />
in one <strong>of</strong> the biggest upsets ever. At Barcelona Olympics<br />
themselves, Sarunas Marciulionis, another protagonist<br />
<strong>of</strong> this book, took me on the Lithuanian national team's<br />
bus to do an interview, and I also met Arturas Karnisovas,<br />
another player you can read about here.<br />
The first EuroLeague game I saw live was in 1996,<br />
after I had moved permanently to Spain. Caja San<br />
Fernando <strong>of</strong> Seville, coached by Aca Petrovic – he and<br />
his late brother Drazen figure in many <strong>of</strong> these stories<br />
– was hosting Partizan Belgrade in Seville. In the years<br />
between the Barcelona Olympics and that game in<br />
Seville, I had spent most nights sitting courtside as an<br />
NBA reporter, so close to the action that players <strong>of</strong>ten<br />
dripped sweat on my notebooks.<br />
On this night in Seville, also in a courtside seat, I<br />
soon stopped taking notes and just watched in growing<br />
disbelief, my mouth wide open in surprise. In hundreds<br />
<strong>of</strong> games during that era <strong>of</strong> isolation one-on-one plays<br />
in the NBA, I had witnessed nothing as close to true<br />
team basketball as I was seeing now. Before my eyes<br />
were 10 players in non-stop motion, <strong>of</strong>fenses and defenses<br />
moving in split-second synergy like a high-speed<br />
chess match. I remember being struck, too, by the<br />
speed <strong>of</strong> shooters and defenders racing from sideline<br />
to sideline, through and around multiple screens, in a<br />
9
horizontal chase scene that was new to me as it totally<br />
contrasted with the vertical, up-and-down style <strong>of</strong> the<br />
NBA. Partizan's Dejan Tomasevic, another subject here,<br />
was the leading scorer on that night, which I still consider<br />
my awakening to what makes <strong>European</strong> basketball<br />
unique.<br />
A couple <strong>of</strong> twists and turns later, I found myself as<br />
a head coach – for the first and last time <strong>of</strong> my life – in<br />
Spain's second division. There, my team battled Fuenlabrada,<br />
then led by another legend found here, Velimir<br />
Perasovic. I still consider it an honor that he was on the<br />
all-star team I coached that season, even though he<br />
couldn't actually play due to sickness.<br />
With all these experiences, I would have thought that<br />
I had received a good education in <strong>European</strong> basketball.<br />
Then I had the fine fortune to begin working with Vladimir<br />
at Euroleague <strong>Basketball</strong>, and I soon realized how<br />
much more there was for me to learn, especially about<br />
the subject <strong>of</strong> this book – the players who lifted <strong>European</strong><br />
basketball to the place it occupies today. Together,<br />
they forged a unique, team-first brand <strong>of</strong> basketball that<br />
now appeals to many people – certainly to this lifelong<br />
fan and basketball journalist – more than any other.<br />
Today, we know beyond any doubt that the quality<br />
<strong>of</strong> players in Europe and their expertise in the practice<br />
<strong>of</strong> our sport is <strong>of</strong> the highest level. (Yes, I'm talking<br />
about practice!) But for the greats who paved the way<br />
for today's stars – the ones who developed the <strong>European</strong><br />
game in relative obscurity, before international<br />
satellite TV and instant highlights on your telephone<br />
from halfway around the world – this collection is one<br />
<strong>of</strong> long-awaited justice and gratitude.<br />
My good friend Vladimir saw and spoke with many<br />
<strong>of</strong> them, reported on all <strong>of</strong> them, and collected this<br />
fascinating book full <strong>of</strong> their stories. What comes shining<br />
through these stories is that the <strong>European</strong> game,<br />
though it may have missed the marketing expertise<br />
that leads to global recognition, never lacked for great<br />
talent, unique characters, intense competition and pulsating<br />
atmosphere.<br />
The men in this book, who come from all around the<br />
world, excelled at one thing above all – making the sport<br />
<strong>of</strong> basketball better than it would be now without their<br />
individual and collective genius as players. We see all<br />
the evidence for what they accomplished in the new<br />
heights <strong>of</strong> popularity and respect that the <strong>European</strong><br />
game reaches with each passing season.<br />
Oddly enough, even though we didn't meet until<br />
much later, Vladimir and I both arrived to live in Barcelona<br />
about nine months before those 1992 Olympics.<br />
I just wish now that he had been my opponent in that<br />
pickup game. Presuming I could have defended him<br />
better, I would not have had to break an ankle to start<br />
my path to enlightenment about the <strong>European</strong> game,<br />
because I would have heard his first-rate stories sooner,<br />
too. Better late than never, he has helped to make<br />
me a true believer in <strong>European</strong> basketball's long and<br />
<strong>of</strong>ten under-recognized history <strong>of</strong> great players.<br />
Readers <strong>of</strong> this collection will soon become true<br />
believers, too.<br />
Editor’s note: For purposes <strong>of</strong> clarity and consistency,<br />
the major <strong>European</strong> club competitions, which went<br />
by many different names over the years, have been<br />
referred to throughout by their most recent names in<br />
each case: the EuroLeague, the Saporta Cup and the<br />
Korac Cup. Likewise, two <strong>of</strong> the major international<br />
country competitions are cited throughout the book<br />
exclusively as EuroBasket and the World Cup.<br />
Frank Lawlor, Editorial Director<br />
Euroleague basketball<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball
CONTENTS<br />
FOREWORD......................................4<br />
Jordi Bertomeu, President Euroleague <strong>Basketball</strong><br />
A MUSEUM OF EUROPE'S BASKETBALL SUPERSTARS... 6<br />
Frank Lawlor, Euroleague web-page editor<br />
<strong>101</strong> GREATS OF EUROPEAN BASKETBALL .........8<br />
Vladimir Stankovic, author<br />
WENDELL ALEXIS .............................. 14<br />
The Ice Man<br />
FRAGISKOS ALVERTIS .......................... 18<br />
The man with 25 titles<br />
JOE ARLAUCKAS............................... 22<br />
The record man<br />
MIKE BATISTE.................................. 26<br />
The star who found his second home<br />
ALEXANDER BELOV............................ 30<br />
The “three-second” man<br />
SERGEI BELOV ................................. 34<br />
Officer and gentleman<br />
MIKI BERKOWITZ............................... 38<br />
The man <strong>of</strong> the last basket<br />
DEJAN BODIROGA ............................. 42<br />
“White Magic”<br />
KAMIL BRABENEC.............................. 46<br />
The Czech scoring machine<br />
BILL BRADLEY. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .50<br />
Senator between the hoops<br />
WAYNE BRABENDER............................ 54<br />
An atypical star<br />
TAL BRODY .................................... 58<br />
Israeli basketball history<br />
MARCUS BROWN. .............................. 62<br />
A champ in six countries<br />
JUAN ANTONIO CORBALAN .................... 66<br />
A doctor among the baskets<br />
KRESIMIR COSIC ............................... 70<br />
A player ahead <strong>of</strong> his time<br />
ZORAN CUTURA ............................... 74<br />
A great from the shadows<br />
DRAZEN DALIPAGIC. ........................... 78<br />
The sky jumper<br />
IVO DANEU .................................... 82<br />
The first great Slovenian<br />
RICHARD DACOURY. ........................... 86<br />
Pr<strong>of</strong>essional winner<br />
PREDRAG DANILOVIC. ......................... 90<br />
Simply a champ<br />
MIKE D’ANTONI. ............................... 94<br />
The NBA’s first “<strong>European</strong>” head coach<br />
MIRZA DELIBASIC. ............................. 98<br />
The last romantic<br />
DIMITRIS DIAMANTIDIS. ....................... 102<br />
A diamond on the court<br />
VLADE DIVAC. ................................ 106<br />
An icon without a ring<br />
GIUSEPPE-PINO GJERGJA ..................... 110<br />
A Bob Cousy clone<br />
ALEKSANDAR DJORDJEVIC. ................... 114<br />
“Alexander the Great”<br />
JUAN ANTONIO SAN EPIFANIO. ................ 118<br />
A Spaniard with a Yugoslav wrist<br />
10<br />
11
GREGOR FUCKA .............................. 122<br />
Not your typical star<br />
NIKOS GALIS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126<br />
A scoring machine<br />
PANAGIOTIS GIANNAKIS...................... 130<br />
The Greek Dragon<br />
ATANAS GOLOMEEV.......................... 134<br />
Bulgarian legend<br />
ALBERTO HERREROS.......................... 138<br />
A three-point pr<strong>of</strong>essional<br />
JON ROBERT HOLDEN......................... 142<br />
The golden Russian<br />
DUSKO IVANOVIC............................. 146<br />
Montenegro’s Holy Hand<br />
SARUNAS JASIKEVICIUS....................... 150<br />
Mr. <strong>Basketball</strong><br />
ARTURAS KARNISOVAS ....................... 154<br />
King without a crown<br />
ODED KATTASH............................... 158<br />
The King <strong>of</strong> Israel<br />
DRAGAN KICANOVIC.......................... 162<br />
The Cacak genius<br />
RADIVOJ KORAC ............................. 166<br />
The legend that lives on<br />
TONI KUKOC.................................. 170<br />
The Pink Panther <strong>of</strong> basketball<br />
TRAJAN LANGDON ........................... 174<br />
The Alaskan Assassin<br />
MIECZYSLAW LOPATKA....................... 178<br />
The Polish legend<br />
CLIFFORD LUYK. .............................. 182<br />
The first great naturalized player<br />
KEVIN MAGEE. ................................ 186<br />
A mythical figure lacking only titles<br />
FERNANDO MARTÍN .......................... 190<br />
A pioneer gone too soon<br />
BOB MCADOO. ............................... 194<br />
NBA and EuroLeague champ<br />
SARUNAS MARCIULIONIS. .................... 198<br />
The Lithuanian machine<br />
PIERLUIGI MARZORATI. ....................... 202<br />
A Cantu legend<br />
DINO MENEGHIN . ............................ 206<br />
The eternal champion<br />
BOB MORSE. .................................. 210<br />
The legend <strong>of</strong> Varese<br />
CARLTON MYERS ............................. 214<br />
The 87-point man<br />
MIHOVIL NAKIC. .............................. 218<br />
An octopus under the rims<br />
PETAR NAUMOSKI ............................ 222<br />
The Macedonian pearl<br />
AUDIE NORRIS. ............................... 226<br />
Barcelona’s adopted son<br />
FABRICIO OBERTO. ........................... 230<br />
Hard-working star<br />
ALDO OSSOLA. ............................... 234<br />
Von Karajan <strong>of</strong> Italian basketball<br />
THEODOROS PAPALOUKAS ................... 238<br />
MVP <strong>of</strong>f the bench<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball
CONTENTS<br />
ANTHONY PARKER............................ 242<br />
Two-time EuroLeague MVP<br />
ZARKO PASPALJ.............................. 246<br />
The man who changed the Greek League<br />
MODESTAS PAULAUSKAS..................... 250<br />
The first Lithuanian “king”<br />
VELIMIR PERASOVIC.......................... 254<br />
The pr<strong>of</strong>essional scorer<br />
DRAZEN PETROVIC ........................... 258<br />
An unfinished symphony<br />
RATKO RADOVANOVIC........................ 262<br />
Mind over matter<br />
NIKOLA PLECAS .............................. 266<br />
Saint Nikola<br />
MANUEL RAGA ............................... 270<br />
The Flying Mexican<br />
DINO RADJA.................................. 274<br />
The legend <strong>of</strong> Split<br />
IGOR RAKOCEVIC............................. 278<br />
A killer on the court<br />
ZELJKO REBRACA............................. 282<br />
Blocks master<br />
CARLO RECALCATI............................ 286<br />
Owner <strong>of</strong> two <strong>European</strong> three-peats<br />
ANTOINE RIGAUDEAU ........................ 290<br />
“Le Roi”<br />
ANTONELLO RIVA............................. 294<br />
The Italian bomber<br />
DAVID RIVERS................................. 298<br />
The man <strong>of</strong> the final<br />
EMILIANO RODRIGUEZ. ....................... 302<br />
The Great Captain<br />
JOHNNY ROGERS. ............................ 306<br />
A champ by any measure<br />
ARVYDAS SABONIS. .......................... 310<br />
The Lithuanian Tsar<br />
ZORAN SAVIC. ................................ 314<br />
The title collector<br />
CHICHO SIBILIO. .............................. 318<br />
The Dominican shooter<br />
LOU SILVER. .................................. 322<br />
The man with the wrong name<br />
LJUBODRAG SIMONOVIC. ..................... 326<br />
The rebel genius<br />
RAMUNAS SISKAUSKAS ...................... 330<br />
Mr. Three-Pointers<br />
ZORAN SLAVNIC. ............................. 334<br />
The first showman<br />
OSCAR SCHMIDT ............................. 338<br />
The Holy Hand<br />
MATJAZ SMODIS ............................. 342<br />
The humble champ<br />
NACHO SOLOZABAL. ......................... 346<br />
The brains <strong>of</strong> FC Barcelona<br />
SAULIUS STOMBERGAS. ...................... 350<br />
The man who made 9 <strong>of</strong> 9 triples<br />
WALTER SZCZERBIAK. ........................ 354<br />
The superstar with the unpronounceable name<br />
ZAN TABAK . .................................. 358<br />
A triple Euro-champ with an NBA ring 359<br />
12<br />
13
CORNY THOMPSON........................... 362<br />
A big man like a playmaker<br />
DEJAN TOMASEVIC........................... 366<br />
The center with point guard passing 367<br />
MIRSAD TURKCAN............................ 370<br />
The king <strong>of</strong> rebounds<br />
JORDI VILLACAMPA .......................... 374<br />
The 8 who was a perfect 10<br />
OLEKSANDR VOLKOV......................... 378<br />
The symbol <strong>of</strong> Ukrainian basketball<br />
GENNADY VOLNOV........................... 382<br />
Europe’s winningest player<br />
NIKOLA VUJCIC............................... 386<br />
Triple-double man<br />
CHRISTIAN WELP............................. 390<br />
A double Euro-champ<br />
DOMINIQUE WILKINS ......................... 394<br />
An American from Paris<br />
LARRY WRIGHT .............................. 398<br />
The man with two rings<br />
MICHAEL YOUNG............................. 402<br />
A one-man team<br />
JIRI ZIDEK .................................... 406<br />
A Czech legend<br />
JIRI ZIDEK JR. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 410<br />
Family matters<br />
JURE ZDOVC.................................. 414<br />
The Golden Slovenian<br />
ABOUT THE AUTHOR.......................... 419<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball
Wendell<br />
Alexis<br />
15
The Ice Man<br />
Searching data to refresh my memories<br />
about Wendell Alexis (July 31, 1964,<br />
New York), I found the video <strong>of</strong> the final<br />
minutes <strong>of</strong> the fifth game in the Italian<br />
League final series <strong>of</strong> 1989. On May 27,<br />
Enichem Livorno and Philips Milan, the<br />
<strong>European</strong> champ the previous year at the first Final<br />
Four in Ghent, played for the title.<br />
In the four previous games, Livorno – who had<br />
home-court advantage – won the first one with 39<br />
points by Alexis; Milan won Games 2 and 3; and then<br />
Livorno tied it again with a win in Game 4, setting up the<br />
fifth, decisive battle. With 20 seconds to go, Milan was<br />
winning by a point and had possession. Mike D’Antoni<br />
held the ball for about five seconds and passed the ball<br />
to Roberto Premier, who took the shot and missed. In<br />
the resulting fastbreak for Livorno, Andrea Forti scored<br />
for an 87-86 win. The small gym in Livorno exploded. It<br />
was collective madness.<br />
The court was invaded by fans and the title was celebrated<br />
in between great euphoria and public incidents,<br />
including an aggression against Premier. The hero <strong>of</strong><br />
that game was Wendell Alexis, with 33 points... but it<br />
was the most short-lived title <strong>of</strong> his career. The referees<br />
looked at video <strong>of</strong> the game’s last play in the locker<br />
room and decided that the last basket had been scored<br />
after the buzzer. So the title ended up in the hands <strong>of</strong><br />
Milan, which had encountered a tough opponent in<br />
humble Livorno, thanks to the superb Alexis.<br />
That’s just one chapter in the long and successful<br />
career <strong>of</strong> Wendell Alexis, one <strong>of</strong> the best Americans<br />
who ever played in Europe. I wouldn’t dare make a selection<br />
<strong>of</strong> the best 12 Americans ever in Europe, but I<br />
am sure Alexis would be a serious candidate for the<br />
forward position. Standing at 2.04 meters, he was a<br />
versatile player. He normally played power forward,<br />
but he was also a good shooter and it was not unusual<br />
to see him move to small forward or even shooting<br />
guard. He was a complete player, made for <strong>of</strong>fense.<br />
His thing was scoring points, but he also pulled rebounds<br />
and, thanks to his long arms, could also play<br />
great defense.<br />
First stop, Valladolid<br />
The Golden State Warriors picked Alexis in the<br />
1986 NBA draft with the 59th pick (one before Drazen<br />
Petrovic), but then did <strong>European</strong> basketball a big favor<br />
by not including him on the roster for that season. He<br />
had finished his university career at Syracuse with<br />
great numbers and, logically, he was expecting his<br />
chance in the NBA. But it just didn’t arrive. Like many<br />
before him, Alexis then tried his luck on the other<br />
side <strong>of</strong> the Atlantic Ocean. He was signed by Forum<br />
Valladolid in Spain, a humble team on paper, albeit<br />
one that would also sign Arvydas Sabonis three years<br />
later, in 1989. Only two games were needed to see<br />
that Forum had signed a star in Alexis. He would finish<br />
that first season averaging 18.2 points and recording<br />
a personal best <strong>of</strong> 44 points against Clesa Ferrol (89-<br />
86), a game in which he played 40 minutes and made<br />
19 <strong>of</strong> 26 two-pointers. Then, on July 14, 1987, Real<br />
Madrid announced the signing <strong>of</strong> Alexis. He was the<br />
third addition for the club that summer, after Jose Luis<br />
Llorente and Fernando Martin, who was coming back<br />
to Madrid from the NBA.<br />
Lolo Sainz, the legendary player and later coach <strong>of</strong><br />
Wendell Alexis<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
A
Vladimir Stankovic<br />
Real Madrid, told me the reasons that pushed him to<br />
sign Alexis:<br />
“We were looking for a power forward, one who<br />
could not only rebound but also shoot. There was a lack<br />
<strong>of</strong> this kind <strong>of</strong> player on the market back then. We set<br />
our sights on Wendell and we hit the mark. He was a super<br />
player, a serious man who fit into the team just fine.<br />
He never hid. He had lots <strong>of</strong> self-confidence because he<br />
knew he could do many things. He had also great physical<br />
readiness and good legs to play defense, plus long<br />
hands to defend any opponent.”<br />
There’s a video available on the Internet that<br />
showcases his character perfectly. In the final <strong>of</strong> the<br />
Korac Cup between Real Madrid and Cibona, Madrid<br />
won the first game <strong>of</strong> the series at home by 102-89 in<br />
front <strong>of</strong> 12,000 fans. Fernando Romay and Brad Branson<br />
scored 25 points each and Alexis added 21, but<br />
the play <strong>of</strong> the game was a spectacular slam by Alexis<br />
over Croatian giant Franjo Arapovic (2.15). Also, Alexis<br />
volunteered to defend Drazen Petrovic, who managed<br />
to score 21 points but with bad percentages, making<br />
just 3 <strong>of</strong> 12 two-pointers and 3 <strong>of</strong> 8 threes. All credit<br />
goes to Alexis.<br />
In the second game, Petrovic scored 47 points, but<br />
Cibona only won by a point, 94-93, so Real Madrid took<br />
the trophy. It was the first <strong>European</strong> trophy for Wendell<br />
Alexis, who was 25 years old, just entering his prime.<br />
He ended that season with similar numbers to the ones<br />
he had in Valladolid: 18.0 points per game in the regular<br />
season, 18.7 in the play<strong>of</strong>fs. However, FC Barcelona<br />
ended up taking the title by winning the final series 3-2.<br />
Despite playing well, Alexis had to leave Real Madrid<br />
because back then the number <strong>of</strong> foreign players was<br />
limited to two, and Real Madrid had already signed Drazen<br />
Petrovic and Johnny Rogers.<br />
Italian League champ... for a half-hour<br />
Alexis chose Italy and the humble Livorno as<br />
his next stop, and he ended up being Italian League<br />
champ – for 30 minutes, at least. He had two excellent<br />
seasons there, scoring 20.8 and 19.4 points on average.<br />
After that, he moved to Ticino Siena, which at that<br />
time was far from the heights it would reach early in<br />
the 21st century. There he put up 20.3 points and 5.9<br />
rebounds, after which he switched to Trapani, where<br />
he played his two best seasons in Italy. In 1991-92,<br />
Alexis scored 25.2 points and pulled 7.8 rebounds per<br />
game; in 1992-93, he improved to 25.8 and 8.3! It was<br />
the right time to sign for a big team again. He chose<br />
Maccabi Tel Aviv, where he won the 1993-94 Israeli<br />
League title and was that season’s MVP, but he decided<br />
to return to Italy. In Reggio Calabria, he posted his usual<br />
numbers, 20.9 points and 6.8 boards. The following<br />
campaign he landed in France with Paris Levallois, and<br />
once again was consistent, with 22.5 points plus 5.5<br />
rebounds per game.<br />
I will never understand how no really big teams<br />
after Real Madrid and Maccabi ever signed this great<br />
player, but on the other hand, the fact that ALBA<br />
Berlin chose him to become the pillar <strong>of</strong> its growing<br />
project was the key moment for the evolution <strong>of</strong> the<br />
club. In the summer <strong>of</strong> 1996, at 32 years old, Wendell<br />
Alexis joined ALBA. He would stay there for six years,<br />
winning six straight German League titles plus three<br />
German Cups. He became the top scorer <strong>of</strong> all time in<br />
the club and a true idol for the fans <strong>of</strong> the team. Marco<br />
Baldi, general manager <strong>of</strong> ALBA for many years, told<br />
me about Alexis’s role in the club:<br />
“Wendell Alexis is not only one <strong>of</strong> the biggest players<br />
in the history <strong>of</strong> ALBA. He is a great personality and a<br />
long-time friend that I have the utmost respect for,” Baldi<br />
16<br />
17
said. “With him, we went on an unprecedented string <strong>of</strong><br />
victories. During Wendell’s six years with ALBA, we won<br />
six consecutive German championships, three German<br />
Cups and became a force in the EuroLeague. Wendell is<br />
still ALBA’s all-time leading scorer. In his time in Berlin,<br />
he earned the nickname ‘Ice Man’ as he was able to hit<br />
numerous game-winning and championship shots. In<br />
September 2012, we retired Wendell’s jersey (#12) in an<br />
emotional ceremony. Even 12 years after his last game,<br />
well over 7,000 fans attended the ceremony to celebrate<br />
an important figure in the history <strong>of</strong> ALBA Berlin.”<br />
In a spectacular homage in September <strong>of</strong> 2012, as<br />
Baldi mentions, ALBA retired Alexis’s jersey number 12.<br />
It made perfect sense, as it’s very difficult to imagine<br />
anyone other than the Ice Man wearing that number as<br />
he had done during those wonderful six seasons, winning<br />
nine titles and scoring 5,922 points in 341 games.<br />
Personally, I didn’t see many live games with Alexis, but I<br />
do remember when he played at Hala Pionir in Belgrade<br />
in February <strong>of</strong> 1989. In the semis <strong>of</strong> the Korac Cup,<br />
the great Real Madrid – with Martin, Biriukov, Romay,<br />
Iturriaga, Branson and Alexis, who scored 17 points –<br />
defeated Crvena Zvezda by 82-89. In Madrid, the score<br />
was 81-72 with 24 points by Alexis. That season, in 12<br />
games, Alexis averaged 19 points. After that, I saw<br />
some games <strong>of</strong> his in ALBA’s jersey and especially at the<br />
1998 World Championships in Athens, where a team<br />
<strong>of</strong> American “volunteers” appeared, due to the NBA<br />
lockout. He was the second-best scorer <strong>of</strong> that team,<br />
which won the bronze medal, with only 2 points fewer<br />
than Jimmy Oliver. His averages were 11.6 points and<br />
4 rebounds. Against the Argentina team with Nicola,<br />
Oberto, Wolkowyski and a young Ginobili, he netted 20.<br />
He also made it to the modern EuroLeague during<br />
the 2001-02 season, putting up 16.4 points and 4.4<br />
rebounds per game, and was ALBA’s top scorer and<br />
second most-used player on court, with 31 minutes per<br />
game, behind only Derrick Phelps.<br />
Euro-trophy at 40<br />
At 38 years old, Alexis was thinking about retirement,<br />
but in December <strong>of</strong> 2002 he had an <strong>of</strong>fer from<br />
PAOK Thessaloniki, and he delivered: 13.4 points and<br />
5.8 boards in the FIBA Europe Champions Cup and 12<br />
points and 5.5 boards in the Greek League. Was that<br />
the end <strong>of</strong> his career? Of course not! There’s nothing<br />
better than winning a title at 40 and Alexis did just that<br />
with Mitteldeutscher BC, even though he missed the<br />
FIBA Europe Cup final four due to injury. However, with<br />
17.0 points, 4.7 boards plus 1.3 assists, Alexis was a big<br />
factor in Mitteldeutscher reaching the final. And in the<br />
German League, he was the usual Alexis: 18 points plus<br />
6 rebounds per night.<br />
Personally, Wendell Alexis reminded me <strong>of</strong> Damir<br />
Solan, the great Jugoplastika forward <strong>of</strong> the 1970s.<br />
Alexis rebounded better and played closer to the rim,<br />
but aside from wearing the same number 12, they had<br />
in common the way they moved, their technique and<br />
the ease with which they scored points, the essence <strong>of</strong><br />
basketball.<br />
When he finally retired at 40 years old, Alexis <strong>of</strong>fered<br />
his expertise and knowledge as an assistant in high<br />
schools (Saint Joseph), the NCAA (New Jersey Institute<br />
<strong>of</strong> Technology) and even the NBA Development League<br />
(Austin Toros). And he has a lot to teach.<br />
Wendell Alexis<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
A
Fragiskos<br />
Alvertis<br />
19
The man<br />
with 25 titles<br />
In modern basketball, it’s not easy to find examples<br />
like that <strong>of</strong> Fragiskos Alvertis, who played<br />
his whole career in the same club. Eternal love between<br />
Alvertis and Panathinaikos Athens lasted<br />
for 19 seasons – from 1990 to 2009 – and continues<br />
today because the legendary captain is still close<br />
by, as team manager, ready to join in the celebration<br />
<strong>of</strong> a new title.<br />
Born on June 11, 1974, in Glyfada, an Athens suburb,<br />
Alvertis is one <strong>of</strong> the most-crowned players ever<br />
in basketball. With Panathinaikos, he won 25 titles,<br />
among them five EuroLeagues. Only one player, Dino<br />
Meneghin, has won more EuroLeague titles and only<br />
two others, Clifford Luyk and Aldo Ossola, have won as<br />
many. No player has won more than Alvertis in the Final<br />
Four era that began in 1988. With five titles and eight<br />
Final Four appearances between 1994 and 2009, he is<br />
living history <strong>of</strong> the competition. In his trophy case we<br />
can also find 11 Greek League titles, eight Greek Cups<br />
and an Intercontinental Cup from 1996.<br />
Start with a silver<br />
Only the best basketball connoisseurs will remember<br />
that the name <strong>of</strong> Fragiskos Alvertis – Frankie to his<br />
friends – was already in many scouts’ notebooks at the<br />
1991 EuroBasket for cadets, played in his native Greece.<br />
In that tournament’s title game in Thessaloniki, Italy beat<br />
Greece by 106-91 as Andrea Meneghin – son <strong>of</strong> Dino –<br />
led the winners with 18 points. But the Greeks had many<br />
reasons to be happy. Apart from the silver medal, players<br />
like Giorgos Maslarinos, Panagiotis Liadelis, Sotiris<br />
Nikolaidis and, especially, Alvertis had blossomed. His<br />
scoring average was 13.1, lower than Maslarinos (19.0),<br />
but Alvertis was much more promising. He was a tall kid<br />
with long hands and he was good at rebounding. But<br />
what drew the most attention was his shot. Due to his<br />
team’s needs, he played close to the rim, but he used<br />
every chance he got to move away from the basket, look<br />
for the corner <strong>of</strong> the court – his favorite spot – and drop<br />
his three-point bombs. His shooting technique, launching<br />
the ball from behind his head and with a high arc, was<br />
very difficult to defend. At 2.06 meters, he was more <strong>of</strong><br />
a small forward than a power forward, but his versatility<br />
was one more advantage for him.<br />
At 17 years old, Alvertis had already made his debut<br />
with the first team <strong>of</strong> Panathinaikos, a club that at the<br />
start <strong>of</strong> the 1990s was under the shadow <strong>of</strong> eternal<br />
rival Olympiacos and the two Thessaloniki teams, Aris<br />
and PAOK. Little by little, with some great signings<br />
(Nikos Galis, Alexander Volkov, Stojko Vrankovic...)<br />
PAO – the nickname by which fans and media know<br />
the team – started a revival, until reaching its first Final<br />
Four in 1994 in Tel Aviv. In an all-Greek semifinal, the<br />
Greens lost 72-77 to Olympiacos and Alvertis scored<br />
his first 2 points in a Final Four. In the third-place game<br />
against Barcelona, a 100-83 victory for PAO, Galis had<br />
30 points, Volkov 29 and Vrankovic 14, but next in line<br />
was Alvertis with 9 points. The following year, in the<br />
Zaragoza Final Four, history repeated itself: Olympiacos<br />
was better than PAO in the semis (58-52) and<br />
Alvertis stayed at 3 points. But in the battle for third<br />
place against Limoges (91-77) he scored 29 points,<br />
which would remain his best personal mark in <strong>European</strong><br />
competition.<br />
Fragiskos Alvertis<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
A
Vladimir Stankovic<br />
<strong>European</strong> and intercontinental champ<br />
Finally, the third time was the charm for Alvertis<br />
and the Greens. At the 1996 Final Four in Paris, Panathinaikos<br />
defeated CSKA Moscow in the semis 81-77<br />
with 35 points by Dominique Wilkins and 13 by Alvertis.<br />
Barcelona was waiting in the final. In dramatic fashion,<br />
Panathinaikos won 67-66 in a game that is part <strong>of</strong><br />
the history books. Alvertis shined with 17 points and<br />
almost perfect shooting: 6 <strong>of</strong> 8 two-pointers, 1 <strong>of</strong> 2<br />
three-pointers plus 3 rebounds in only 23 minutes. He<br />
became a <strong>European</strong> champion at 21 years old. Galis had<br />
retired and Alvertis’s 1995-96 teammate Panagiotis Giannakis<br />
would do so imminently. Greek basketball was<br />
in need <strong>of</strong> a new face in its star system, and Alvertis<br />
appeared at just the right moment.<br />
In the big year <strong>of</strong> 1996, Panathinaikos completed<br />
a great run by also winning the Intercontinental Cup in<br />
September. The opponent was Olimpia BBC <strong>of</strong> Argentina,<br />
the South American champ, and that year the cup<br />
was played as a best-<strong>of</strong>-three play<strong>of</strong>f series. The first<br />
game was played in Rosario, Argentina on September<br />
4. Olimpia won 89-83 with an interesting team featuring<br />
Lucas Victoriano, Jorge Racca and Andres Nocioni. Alvertis,<br />
with 21 points, was the best man on Panathinaikos,<br />
together with John Amaechi (23 points). In Athens on<br />
September 10, Panathinaikos won by five, 83-78, with 30<br />
points from Alvertis. In the third game, on September<br />
12, Panathinaikos won <strong>101</strong>-76 with Byron Dinkins as best<br />
scorer, with 24 points, while Alvertis added 8.<br />
The Obradovic era<br />
In order to play in the Final Four again, Alvertis would<br />
have to wait for the arrival <strong>of</strong> coach Zeljko Obradovic.<br />
At the 2000 Final Four in Thessaloniki, Panathinaikos<br />
got rid <strong>of</strong> Efes Pilsen in the semis by 71-81 with Dejan<br />
Bodiroga (21), Zeljko Rebraca (15), Alvertis (11) and<br />
Johnny Rogers (9) as scoring leaders. In the final, which<br />
marked the start <strong>of</strong> a great rivalry at the turn <strong>of</strong> the 21st<br />
century, Panathinaikos beat Maccabi Tel Aviv by 82-74.<br />
Rebraca (20) and Oded Kattash (17) starred, but Obradovic<br />
kept Alvertis on court for 35 minutes. His 4 points<br />
and 3 rebounds seemed discreet, but Obradovic had<br />
discovered a great defender in Alvertis. His long hands<br />
and his speed contributed things that no stat sheet<br />
could reflect.<br />
The following year – in the season <strong>of</strong> “two EuroLeagues”<br />
due to the ULEB-FIBA conflict – Panathinaikos<br />
defeated Efes Pilsen 74-60 in their semifinal, but lost<br />
to Maccabi 67-81 in the title game <strong>of</strong> the FIBA Supro-<br />
League in Paris. The following year, with a re-united<br />
competition, Panathinaikos again reached the Final<br />
Four, in Bologna. First it defeated Maccabi 83-75 with<br />
an outstanding Alvertis scoring 11 points while missing<br />
only one shot. In the title game, the Greens shocked<br />
host Kinder Bologna by 89-83 with Ibrahim Kutluay<br />
(22), Bodiroga (21) and Alvertis (11) as protagonists.<br />
In Moscow 2005, Panathinaikos suffered a rare<br />
semifinal loss to Maccabi (82-91) and defeated CSKA<br />
Moscow for third place (94-91). By 2007, however, the<br />
team was back to the top, this time on its home floor in<br />
Athens. Panathinaikos defeated Tau Ceramica 67-53 in<br />
the semifinals and outlasted CSKA Moscow 93-91 in a<br />
thrilling championship game. Alvertis lifted his fourth<br />
title. His fifth and last EuroLeague trophy arrived two<br />
years later in Berlin, even though he was semi-retired.<br />
He played at the start <strong>of</strong> the season, enough to be considered<br />
part <strong>of</strong> the roster <strong>of</strong> the champions despite not<br />
appearing in the Final Four. By lifting his 25th trophy<br />
overall, he retired as one <strong>of</strong> the all-time greats.<br />
Zeljko Obradovic had big confidence in him, and<br />
20<br />
21
for good reason. Alvertis was a very stable player<br />
who never – or hardly ever – played a bad game. If he<br />
didn’t stand out, he was at least a decent player who<br />
always contributed good things to Panathinaikos. If he<br />
didn’t score, then he pulled rebounds or guarded the<br />
most dangerous forward <strong>of</strong> the opponents. He always<br />
showed his character. He was the extended hand <strong>of</strong><br />
the coach on the court. Obradovic has said many times<br />
that Alvertis was “the best captain I ever had.”<br />
While he triumphed with his club, he didn’t win any<br />
trophies with the Greek national team, whose jersey he<br />
wore 155 times. He played at EuroBasket in 1995 and<br />
1997. He then missed the 1999 one due to injury after<br />
having averaged 18.1 points in the qualifying tournament.<br />
He was back in 2001 and 2003 and he also played<br />
the World Championships <strong>of</strong> Athens in 1998, but the<br />
Five titles and eight Final<br />
Four appearances between<br />
1994 and 2009, he is living<br />
history <strong>of</strong> the competition.<br />
In his trophy case we can also<br />
find 11 Greek League titles,<br />
eight Greek Cups<br />
and an Intercontinental Cup<br />
from 1996.<br />
best he did was three semifinals and three fourth places:<br />
at EuroBasket in 1995 and 1997, and at the worlds in<br />
1998. His last great competition was the 2004 Olympic<br />
Games in Athens. He retired from the national team at<br />
30 years old. If he had waited one more year, he would<br />
have won the <strong>European</strong> gold medal in Belgrade in 2005<br />
and in two more summers he would have had the world<br />
silver medal from Japan in 2006.<br />
It’s a shame, too, because Alvertis deserved some<br />
<strong>of</strong> that success. All the sweat and suffering from his<br />
hard work over the previous years were a big part <strong>of</strong><br />
those two triumphs. However, despite being winless<br />
with the Greek national team, Fragiskos Alvertis will<br />
always have a place in the history books <strong>of</strong> Greek and<br />
<strong>European</strong> basketball.<br />
Fragiskos Alvertis<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
A
Joe<br />
Arlauckas<br />
23
The record man<br />
If a visiting team shoots 0-for-11 from the threepoint<br />
arc, probably the last thing you’d expect is<br />
that it won the game by 19 points, scoring a total<br />
<strong>of</strong> 115. You’d probably expect even less that one <strong>of</strong><br />
this team’s players made history in a competition<br />
by scoring... 63 points! That’s exactly what happened<br />
on February 26, 1996 in a EuroLeague game in<br />
Bologna between Kinder and Real Madrid.<br />
The Spanish team won by 96-115, scoring 58 points<br />
in the first half, 57 in the second. Power forward Joe Arlauckas<br />
spent 39 minutes on court to score 63 points by<br />
making 24 <strong>of</strong> 28 two-pointers and 15 <strong>of</strong> 18 free throws.<br />
He also pulled 11 rebounds, dished 2 assists and had<br />
4 steals for a total performance index rating over 80!<br />
In the <strong>of</strong>ficial stats sheet we are only missing the fouls<br />
drawn figure, but if he shot 18 free throws, he received<br />
at least 9 fouls, and he committed only 2. It was one<br />
<strong>of</strong> those unforgettable nights <strong>of</strong> <strong>of</strong>fensive fireworks,<br />
even though both Pablo Laso and Jose Miguel Antunez<br />
missed 3 attempts from the arc each (although Laso<br />
finished with 9 assists), Ismael Santos missed 2, Santi<br />
Abad, Zoran Savic and Arlauckas himself also missed 1<br />
three apiece for Madrid’s 0-for-11 total.<br />
With 63 points, Arlauckas is still far away from the<br />
99 that Radivoj Korac scored in the same competition in<br />
1965, but he is still way above the modern Turkish Airlines<br />
EuroLeague record <strong>of</strong> 41 shared by Alphonso Ford,<br />
Carlton Myers, Kaspars Kambala and Bobby Brown.<br />
Great night in Bologna<br />
“It was an incredible game,” Zoran Savic, the second-best<br />
Real Madrid scorer in that game with 16 points,<br />
remembers <strong>of</strong> that great night for Arlauckas. “Joe missed<br />
one or two <strong>of</strong> his first attempts from the field, but after<br />
that, he just scored everything. He played at ease and<br />
nobody even realized that he had scored so many points.<br />
We were all kind <strong>of</strong> surprised after the game, looking at<br />
the stats sheet. Joe was a natural-born <strong>of</strong>fensive player,<br />
with a great four-meter jump shot and amazing timing<br />
for both shooting and rebounds. He knew how to play<br />
both facing the basket and with his back to it. He had<br />
many resources on <strong>of</strong>fense and was a great teammate.”<br />
Of Lithuanian heritage, Joseph John “Joe” Arlauckas<br />
was born on July 20, 1965, in Rochester, New<br />
York. He had basketball running through his veins, but<br />
baseball was his sport <strong>of</strong> choice in his youth. He played<br />
basketball at Jefferson High School but in his first years<br />
at Niagara University he didn’t think the sport would<br />
become his pr<strong>of</strong>ession. His last two seasons there<br />
were pretty good (17.4 points), so his size (2.04 meters)<br />
and his good fundamentals opened a door for him to<br />
the 1987 NBA draft. The Sacramento Kings picked him<br />
number 74 in the fourth round. He would share a locker<br />
room with Otis Thorpe, Harold Pressley, Joe Kleine,<br />
Ed Pinckney and Lasalle Thompson, all <strong>of</strong> them power<br />
forwards or centers, his position. He even scored 17<br />
points in one game, but that was not enough for him to<br />
stay. He was released in December <strong>of</strong> 1987 after only<br />
nine games, with 34 points and 13 rebounds total.<br />
His new destination would be Europe. He joined<br />
Snaidero Caserta <strong>of</strong> Italy, where he would fill in for<br />
Georgi Glouchkov, the first <strong>European</strong> to ever play in<br />
the NBA. There, he would coincide with a super scorer<br />
like Oscar Schmidt and the great Italian prospect Ferdinando<br />
Gentile. In the Italian Cup final, against Varese,<br />
Arlauckas won his first title. Caserta won by 113-100<br />
Joe Arlauckas<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
A
Vladimir Stankovic<br />
after two overtimes. Arlauckas contributed 13 points<br />
but before the end <strong>of</strong> the regular season he was cut for<br />
the second time in his career. In 12 games he averaged<br />
10.7 points and 4.7 rebounds.<br />
Re-birth in Spain<br />
The new era in Arlauckas’s career would start in<br />
Spain. He landed in Malaga to join Caja de Ronda. At the<br />
beginning, he didn’t match well with coach Mario Pesquera,<br />
but little by little he started to adapt better and<br />
formed a great duo with center Ricky Brown, a former<br />
<strong>European</strong> champion with Milano. After beating Estudiantes,<br />
Joventut and Barcelona on the road, with 45<br />
points by Joe against Barça, everyone realized that<br />
the Spanish League had a new star. In his two years in<br />
Malaga, he averaged 21.6 points and in 1990 he moved<br />
to Baskonia. The American coach Herb Brown, the<br />
restless scout Alfonso Salazar and president Josean<br />
Querejeta were the people behind that great signing.<br />
During three years in Vitoria, he averaged 22.0 points.<br />
With Pablo Laso, he formed a great guard-power forward<br />
tandem while the pair <strong>of</strong> big men was completed<br />
by Ramon Rivas <strong>of</strong> Puerto Rico. Before the Barcelona<br />
Olympics in 1992, the Lithuanian basketball federation<br />
tried to get Arlauckas to play for the national team because<br />
<strong>of</strong> his Lithuanian heritage, but he didn’t accept.<br />
However, he would play a bit later with Arvydas Sabonis<br />
in Real Madrid.<br />
In the Korac Cup, Europe discovered a great scorer.<br />
In two duels against Zadar, he scored 79 points (40 and<br />
39). Against Banik <strong>of</strong> Czechoslovakia, he outdid himself<br />
with 87 points and 32 rebounds in two games. In the<br />
Korac Cup <strong>of</strong> 1992-93, he finished with an average <strong>of</strong><br />
32.0 points and 11.7 rebounds. As good as it gets.<br />
Three great seasons in Vitoria opened the doors<br />
<strong>of</strong> Real Madrid to Arlauckas, where he would meet his<br />
“fellow countryman” Sabonis. Despite some problems<br />
at the beginning to understand each other, details were<br />
tweaked with a little bit <strong>of</strong> time. After that, simply put,<br />
they were one <strong>of</strong> the best combinations <strong>of</strong> power forward<br />
and center ever in <strong>European</strong> basketball. For the<br />
1994-95 season, a still-young Zeljko Obradovic landed<br />
on Real Madrid’s bench to become the new coach. He<br />
already had two <strong>European</strong> crowns with Partizan (1992)<br />
and Joventut (1994). Nowadays, Arlauckas says that<br />
the coach he learned the most from was Obradovic. In<br />
return, the coach only has good words to say about one<br />
<strong>of</strong> his favorite players ever:<br />
“He was a killer in the most positive sense <strong>of</strong> the<br />
word,” Zeljko said. “I am very proud <strong>of</strong> having had him<br />
as a player and as a person. The wins and the points get<br />
forgotten with time, but you never forget about good<br />
people and Joe was one <strong>of</strong> the best.”<br />
With amazing memory, Obradovic quickly pinpoints<br />
the result against Kinder. He remembers the game as if<br />
it happened yesterday: “I was considered to be a coach<br />
who loved basket-control, low scoring, slow pace... Then,<br />
we had the game in Bologna with a true festival by Joe.<br />
He scored everything with great ease. He was a complete<br />
player, he had it all. He could shoot, rebound, he<br />
was fast, he had the technique, he was courageous... He<br />
was one <strong>of</strong> the best players I ever coached in my career.”<br />
Zaragoza, 17 years later<br />
That same season <strong>of</strong> the great night for Joe Arlauckas,<br />
Real Madrid would become the <strong>European</strong> champion.<br />
The most-awaited title since 1978 arrived on April 13 <strong>of</strong><br />
1994 in the Final Four played in Zaragoza. In the semifinals,<br />
Real Madrid got rid <strong>of</strong> Limoges by 62-49 as Arlauckas<br />
scored 12, while in the title game, Los Blancos<br />
24 25
Five titles and eight Final<br />
Four appearances between<br />
1994 and 2009, he is living<br />
history <strong>of</strong> the competition.<br />
In his trophy case we can also<br />
find 11 Greek League titles,<br />
eight Greek Cups<br />
and an Intercontinental Cup<br />
from 1996.<br />
Joe Arlauckas<br />
defeated Olympiacos by 73-61. Joe had 16 points and<br />
4 rebounds while Sabonis led the team with 23 points<br />
and 7 boards.<br />
One <strong>of</strong> the biggest assets for Arlauckas was his<br />
ability to play alongside bigger stars than him with no<br />
problems or envy at all. Except with Schmidt in Caserta,<br />
he always formed great tandems with all the stars he<br />
played with. After Sabonis left for the NBA, the new star<br />
in Real Madrid was Dejan Bodiroga, with whom Arlauckas<br />
also had a great understanding. In the 1997 Saporta<br />
Cup final against Mash Verona, won by Madrid 78-64,<br />
the list <strong>of</strong> best scorers for the winners was: Alberto<br />
Herreros 19, Joe Arlauckas 18 and Dejan Bodiroga 17.<br />
After five years in Real Madrid, Arlauckas went to<br />
Greece to join AEK Athens. The change <strong>of</strong> country, environment<br />
and the basketball style was really hard for him.<br />
He had a discreet season (13.8 points) and the following<br />
one in Aris Thessaloniki was a little bit better (17.4), but<br />
his best years were already in the past and in Spain.<br />
After retiring he went back to the United States<br />
but his love for Spain led him to return to Madrid. His<br />
experience helped him land a commentator spot with<br />
EuroLeague.TV. But his real desire would be teaching<br />
big men what he knows about basketball.<br />
And he knows a lot.<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
A
Mike<br />
Batiste<br />
27
The star who found<br />
his second home<br />
October 18, 2000. The first round <strong>of</strong><br />
the newly-founded EuroLeague. Two<br />
days after the opening game between<br />
Real Madrid and Olympiacos<br />
Piraeus – Dino Radja scored the first<br />
basket in that game – host Spirou<br />
Charleroi defeated the St. Petersburg Lions by 80-68.<br />
Mike Batiste, totally unknown in Europe, scored 16<br />
points and pulled 8 rebounds for the winners. It was<br />
the start <strong>of</strong> a brilliant <strong>European</strong> career for him.<br />
Batiste finished that season with averages <strong>of</strong> 16.1<br />
points and 9.2 rebounds, more than enough for some<br />
teams from stronger leagues to put their eyes on him.<br />
Biella was not a huge team in Italy by any means, but<br />
the Italian League was surely a step up in competitiveness<br />
from the Belgian one. In Italy, he put up 12.4 points<br />
and 7.2 rebounds on average. That’s when Batiste was<br />
<strong>of</strong>fered the chance that he didn’t get after his college<br />
years at Long Beach and Arizona State – the NBA called<br />
through the Memphis Grizzlies. He didn’t hesitate to<br />
accept the <strong>of</strong>fer and played 75 games there with solid<br />
numbers: 6.4 points and 3.2 rebounds.<br />
Rebirth in Athens<br />
Up to that point, Michael James Batiste (born November<br />
21, 1977, in Long Beach) was a good player with<br />
notable talent, but somehow he had not taken <strong>of</strong>f. He<br />
had to travel back to Europe, this time to Panathinaikos<br />
Athens, to take that leap <strong>of</strong> quality in his career. The<br />
coach <strong>of</strong> the Greens, Zeljko Obradovic, had already won<br />
two <strong>European</strong> crowns with the team in 2000 and 2002.<br />
He was looking for a versatile big man who could score<br />
under the rim, shoot from mid-range and pull rebounds.<br />
He set his eyes on Batiste, who from a physical point <strong>of</strong><br />
view was a ‘copy’ <strong>of</strong> Corny Thompson, the big man who<br />
Obradovic had coached in Joventut Badalona in the<br />
1990s and the hero <strong>of</strong> that club’s EuroLeague title team<br />
in 1994, thanks to one <strong>of</strong> his three-point shots.<br />
Thompson stood at 2.03 meters, only one centimeter<br />
shorter than Batiste, and he had great touch and<br />
great rebounding abilities. Obradovic found a similar<br />
style <strong>of</strong> player in Batiste. The numbers he had during his<br />
first season were not that spectacular: 7.9 points and<br />
3.2 rebounds, but Obradovic was happy. In 2004-05<br />
Batiste raised the bar to 11.4 points and 4.8 rebounds<br />
and then he did the same thing the following campaign<br />
(13.3 points, making 65.7% on two-pointers and 36.4%<br />
on threes, plus 6.6 rebounds).<br />
Titles in the Greek League and Greek Cup kept stacking<br />
up, but the fans wanted another EuroLeague title,<br />
and that arrived in the 2006-07 season, with a Final<br />
Four in Athens, to boot, and a championship game for<br />
the ages against CSKA Moscow that the Greens won<br />
93-91. Batiste contributed 15 points and 12 rebounds<br />
in the semis against Tau Ceramica (67-53) and then<br />
12 plus 5 against CSKA in one <strong>of</strong> the best EuroLeague<br />
championship games ever. Together with Dejan Tomasevic,<br />
Kostas Tsartsaris and Robertas Javtokas, Batiste<br />
was part <strong>of</strong> a wall that Obradovic had built on defense,<br />
but which also contributed many points on <strong>of</strong>fense.<br />
Batiste was not your typical center. His physical<br />
attributes would probably put him more at the power<br />
forward position, but thanks to his rebounding<br />
abilities, his timing and the sixth sense that told him<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Mike Batiste<br />
B
Vladimir Stankovic<br />
where the ball would go, he was really useful under the<br />
rims. He was also pretty good at <strong>of</strong>fensive rebounds,<br />
which always is a great asset to minimize your own<br />
team’s mistakes. His lack <strong>of</strong> height was made up for<br />
by his basketball IQ, technique, high shot and speed.<br />
His build, at first sight, did not intimidate opponents<br />
much, but they all realized soon enough that they<br />
were facing one <strong>of</strong> the most dangerous and smart big<br />
men in Europe.<br />
After an <strong>of</strong>f year in 2008, when they missed the<br />
play<strong>of</strong>fs, Batiste and Panathinaikos won another EuroLeague<br />
title together in Berlin in 2009, with a great<br />
big-man duo that Batiste formed with Nikola Pekovic.<br />
The Greens defeated archrival Olympiacos Piraeus in<br />
the semis (84-82), where Pekovic had 20 points and<br />
2 rebounds and Batiste 19 points and 6 boards. In<br />
the title game, again against CSKA Moscow (73-71),<br />
neither <strong>of</strong> them was as efficient (6 points apiece), but<br />
the greatness and the variety <strong>of</strong> resources available to<br />
Coach Obradovic proved that the team could adapt to<br />
any kind <strong>of</strong> game. During that game, the leaders were<br />
Vassilis Spanoulis (13 points), Antonis Fotsis (13),<br />
Sarunas Jasikevicius (10) and Drew Nicholas (7), all <strong>of</strong><br />
whom contributed to great accuracy from the arc (13<br />
<strong>of</strong> 27, 48.1%).<br />
Two years later, in Barcelona, Mike Batiste lifted his<br />
third EuroLeague crown. He nailed 16 points and pulled<br />
6 rebounds in just 22 minutes against Montepaschi<br />
Siena in the semis. He didn’t miss a shot, going 5 for<br />
5, and was one <strong>of</strong> the key players. In the title game<br />
against Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv, Batiste shined again<br />
to lead his team to the title with a 78-70 win. In 24 minutes,<br />
he scored 18 points on 7 <strong>of</strong> 10 two-pointers plus 6<br />
rebounds. In the last minute, with a 69-64 scoreboard,<br />
he received the pass from Dimitris Diamantidis to score<br />
the bucket that would break the game open for the<br />
Greens.<br />
Away and back<br />
Batiste was a much-loved player by the fans, teammates<br />
and the media. His popularity was huge in Athens,<br />
to the point that there was a book published in<br />
Greek about his life and pr<strong>of</strong>essional career. And the<br />
feeling, from his own perspective, was mutual. “Just<br />
growing up as a little boy, seeing the neighborhood<br />
I grew up in, all the different distractions – gangs,<br />
drugs, all types <strong>of</strong> violence – I’d never thought in a million<br />
years I’d be in this position, let alone make it out <strong>of</strong><br />
the circumstances I grew up in. So, it has brought me a<br />
lot <strong>of</strong> joy,” Batiste said in a EuroLeague.TV interview after<br />
winning his three EuroLeague titles. “And I’m very<br />
happy with the decisions I’ve made to keep coming<br />
back here to play every year for an organization like<br />
Panathinaikos, but also to live in a country like Greece.<br />
It’s very enjoyable here. My players and the people <strong>of</strong><br />
Panathinaikos treat me as family. Also the people in<br />
society. I’ve embraced it. I’ve adjusted. And I can really<br />
call Greece a second home.”<br />
Nowadays, when it’s not rare to see players switching<br />
teams season to season, Batiste’s case is rather<br />
extraordinary, deserving <strong>of</strong> respect. He stayed eight<br />
seasons in Panathinaikos. He became a symbol <strong>of</strong> the<br />
club much like Juan Carlos Navarro for FC Barcelona,<br />
Felipe Reyes for Real Madrid, Derrick Sharp for Maccabi<br />
or even Diamantidis himself for Panathinaikos.<br />
“Growing up, I never thought I’d be around guys<br />
from Greece, guys from Lithuania or other parts <strong>of</strong> the<br />
world,” Batiste said. “And it’s really a special feeling to<br />
look at the next man like, that’s my brother right there,<br />
man. We would do anything that is necessary to win for<br />
28<br />
29
one another. Even <strong>of</strong>f the court, if there’s a personal<br />
issue, there’s always an ear to listen to you. You can call<br />
one <strong>of</strong> the guys here, go to dinner. We’re always there<br />
for one another, man. That’s the thing about this family<br />
here. It starts from the coach all the way down to the<br />
last player, and I think that’s the main reason we have<br />
so much success here, because we do whatever it takes<br />
for one another, to make sure you come in here, work<br />
hard and can be successful.”<br />
At the end <strong>of</strong> the 2011-12 season – after eight seasons<br />
winning eight Greek Leagues titles, five Greek<br />
Cups and three EuroLeagues – the then 35-year-old<br />
Batiste decided to sign for Fenerbahce, which came as<br />
a surprise to many. I am guessing it was a monetary<br />
issue, because when he went back to OAKA to play<br />
against his former team and former fans, Batiste didn’t<br />
feel well. He admitted that it was strange “running on<br />
the other side <strong>of</strong> the court”. Despite wearing the Fenerbahce<br />
jersey, he was received with honors and a standing<br />
ovation. Maybe that was the day when he decided<br />
to “get back home.”<br />
During the 2013-14 season, Batiste wore the Panathinaikos<br />
jersey once again. This time he wasn’t one <strong>of</strong><br />
the team’s main contributors (3.5 points, 1.5 rebounds).<br />
His last EuroLeague game was Game 5 <strong>of</strong> a play<strong>of</strong>f series<br />
against CSKA Moscow, but it was no game to remember<br />
as Panathinaikos lost in Moscow by 74-44. Mike just<br />
played 2 minutes and didn’t score any points, but one<br />
game cannot erase the preceding 236 that left his lasting<br />
imprint on the EuroLeague.<br />
In Greece, Batiste won another domestic league<br />
and cup, which, together with a Turkish Cup, raised<br />
his number <strong>of</strong> national trophies to 17, to go with those<br />
three EuroLeague crowns. At an individual level, apart<br />
from being weekly and monthly MVP several times, he<br />
was also chosen for the All-EuroLeague First Team in<br />
2010-11 and for the second team the following season.<br />
His EuroLeague career highs were a 35 performance<br />
index rating against Unicaja Malaga in 2009, 31 points<br />
against Cibona Zagreb with Charleroi in 2000, 15 rebounds<br />
against Benetton Treviso in 2006 and 6 assists<br />
against Maccabi in 2012.<br />
For Batiste, a new stage in his career has started in<br />
his native United States. He was the assistant coach <strong>of</strong><br />
Spanish boss Jordi Fernandez at Canton Charge <strong>of</strong> the<br />
D-League, a team affiliated with the Cleveland Cavaliers.<br />
And he has since worked as a player development<br />
assistant with the Brooklyn Nets. This much is sure: the<br />
big men on any team where Batiste is around will surely<br />
enjoy a top-notch teacher.<br />
For Batiste, a new stage in<br />
his career has started in<br />
his native United States.<br />
He was the assistant<br />
coach <strong>of</strong> Spanish boss<br />
Jordi Fernandez at Canton<br />
Charge <strong>of</strong> the D-League,<br />
a team affiliated with the<br />
Cleveland Cavaliers. And he<br />
has since worked as a player<br />
development assistant with<br />
the Brooklyn Nets.<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Mike Batiste<br />
B
Alexander<br />
Belov<br />
31
The “three-second”<br />
man<br />
There are great players and great careers<br />
marked by a single basket, a single game,<br />
a single detail. Sometimes that’s unfair,<br />
but it’s just inevitable. A man who belongs<br />
to this club <strong>of</strong> the world elite is Alexander<br />
“Sasha” Belov, the late Russian<br />
player who died on October 3, 1978, at age 27. That’s<br />
too short for a single life, but more than enough to<br />
leave a mark on basketball.<br />
His basket against the USA in the Munich Olympics<br />
title game in 1972, which the Soviet Union won 51-50,<br />
is part <strong>of</strong> the history <strong>of</strong> the Olympic Games and this<br />
sport. It’s an immortal play, unique in the last century, a<br />
basket that was worth a gold medal under strange circumstances:<br />
the repetition <strong>of</strong> a play; the famous three<br />
fingers in the air by FIBA secretary general William<br />
Jones, meaning that the last three seconds had to be<br />
repeated; the anger <strong>of</strong> the Americans who later refused<br />
to accept the silver medals.<br />
Born on November 9, 1951, in Leningrad (currently<br />
St. Petersburg), Sasha Belov started playing basketball<br />
in his native city. He stepped onto the international<br />
stage at age 17, when he played in the <strong>European</strong> junior<br />
championships in Vigo, Spain in 1968. His average <strong>of</strong> 7<br />
points didn’t hint at a future star, but he won his first gold<br />
medal. In the final, the USSR defeated a powerful Yugoslavia<br />
with Slavnic, Jelovac and Simonovic by 82-73. A<br />
year later, he was already playing with the senior team<br />
at EuroBasket in Italy. He also had discreet numbers<br />
(4 points) but he was not yet 18 years old. In 1970, he<br />
played another junior <strong>European</strong> junior championships,<br />
this time in Athens, and he won a new gold medal. His<br />
average rose to 8.5 points, but his best moments were<br />
yet to come. Before that, he lost his first final at club<br />
level. His team, Spartak, had reached the Saporta Cup<br />
final, but after two games, Simmenthal Milan was the<br />
better <strong>of</strong> the two. Belov scored 16 in his team’s home<br />
win, 66-56, but the Italians won the second game by<br />
71-52 despite his 14 points.<br />
Unforgettable Munich<br />
National team coach Vladimir Kondrashin, his coach<br />
also in Spartak, trusted Belov. He was a modern forward<br />
despite standing just 2.01 meters. He had long<br />
hands, broad shoulders and great rebounding skills.<br />
He was a nightmare for players guarding him. He was<br />
fast and agile, had good technique, and scored with<br />
ease. In Munich, on a star-filled team (Sergei Belov,<br />
Modestas Paulauskas, Anatoli Polivoda...) he was the<br />
best scorer with 14.4 points per game. Truth be told,<br />
however, that high average was due to his 37 points<br />
against Puerto Rico (100-87). Against Senegal, Yugoslavia<br />
and Cuba he scored 14 points each game, but<br />
his best moment was in the big final against the United<br />
States. He scored 8 points and pulled 8 rebounds,<br />
but his last basket made history. Curiously enough,<br />
it was a basket that made him as popular in the USA<br />
as in the USSR. Some fan clubs emerged and a young<br />
American woman traveled to Leningrad to ask Belov<br />
to marry her. But the love <strong>of</strong> his life was Aleksandra<br />
Ovchinikova.<br />
At the Saporta Cup final in 1973 in Thessaloniki,<br />
Spartak defeated Jugoplastika by 77-62 as Belov was<br />
the MVP with 18 points. Two years later, in Nantes, he<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Alexander Belov<br />
B
Vladimir Stankovic<br />
repeated the feat in a 63-62 win against Crvena Zvezda.<br />
He scored 10 points but his title collection was already<br />
impressive. I saw on TV the two games that the USSR<br />
played against Yugoslavia in the 1969 EuroBasket, with<br />
a Yugoslavia win in the group phase (the first one in an<br />
<strong>of</strong>ficial game against the USSR) and a USSR win in the<br />
final, but I admit that I do not remember Belov. He didn’t<br />
shine in the World Championship <strong>of</strong> Ljubljana in 1970<br />
(6 points) but in the Essen EuroBasket (8.5) he was already<br />
one <strong>of</strong> the pillars <strong>of</strong> the Soviet team. Then came<br />
Munich and his life would change.<br />
At the World Championships in San Juan in 1974,<br />
he won another gold medal, achieving the triple crown:<br />
Olympics, World Championships and EuroBasket. Aleksandr<br />
Salnikov was the best scorer in the USSR with<br />
17.6 points, especially thanks to his 38 points against<br />
the Americans and 32 against the Cubans. Belov’s average<br />
was 14.6 points.<br />
I saw Belov live for the first time in 1975 at the Belgrade<br />
EuroBasket. He was not in his best shape, but<br />
his talent and potential were unquestionable. In the<br />
title game, his fight with Cosic and Vinko Jelovac, the<br />
Yugoslav centers that were way bigger than him, was<br />
impressive. That same year, he was drafted in the NBA<br />
by Utah with pick number 161 in the 10th round. The following<br />
year, at the Montreal Olympics, he played again<br />
at an elevated level, with 15.7 points, 5.2 boards and<br />
4.7 assists, but he suffered one <strong>of</strong> the few disappointments<br />
in his career: the USSR ended up third, but he<br />
still won one more medal. He also had a triple-double in<br />
that tournament against Canada (100-72) as he scored<br />
23 points, pulled 14 rebounds and dished 10 assists.<br />
Only he and LeBron James, who would match the feat<br />
many years later, hold the distinction <strong>of</strong> recording triple-doubles<br />
in the Olympics.<br />
32<br />
33
In January <strong>of</strong> 1977, I had the chance to see Belov<br />
in his native city, with the jersey <strong>of</strong> his team, Spartak.<br />
Radnicki Belgrade was playing the Saporta Cup there in<br />
the same group as Spartak. At home, the Soviets won<br />
easy, 99-84. I don’t remember how many points Belov<br />
scored, but I do remember he was the best man on the<br />
court. I have a picture with Coach Kondrashin, who talked<br />
to me about the importance <strong>of</strong> Belov for the games<br />
<strong>of</strong> Spartak and the national team. Alexander Gomelskiy<br />
also said that Belov was “the pearl <strong>of</strong> Soviet, but also<br />
<strong>European</strong>, basketball.”<br />
Accused <strong>of</strong> smuggling<br />
Some days later, on January 23 <strong>of</strong> 1977, before a<br />
Spartak trip to Italy, Belov was accused <strong>of</strong> smuggling<br />
orthodox icons, which were highly valued antiques in<br />
the West. He lost all his acknowledgments and medals<br />
and was expelled from the national team. There are<br />
several versions about what happened, from his own<br />
mistake to a setup to avoid his signing for CSKA. Some<br />
even said it was a trap to make Spartak a weaker team.<br />
This change turned him upside down. Some say that<br />
even before this incident, he complained about chest<br />
pains, but that doctors never found anything. In August<br />
<strong>of</strong> 1978, he was called to the national team again by<br />
Alexander Gomelskiy, who wanted him to help defend<br />
in Manila the golden medal from San Juan. Belov made<br />
it to the national team camp, but after just a few days,<br />
he had to leave because he didn’t feel well. Two months<br />
later, he died <strong>of</strong> cardiac sarcoma. He wasn’t even 27<br />
years old and he still had a good career in front <strong>of</strong> him.<br />
However, he had also accomplished a lot <strong>of</strong> things for<br />
us to remember him as a great player, a humble and<br />
calm man <strong>of</strong>f the court, but a lion on it.<br />
DATE | Sunday, November 2, 2014<br />
Some days later, on January<br />
23 <strong>of</strong> 1977, before a Spartak<br />
trip to Italy, Belov was<br />
accused <strong>of</strong> smuggling<br />
orthodox icons, which were<br />
highly valued antiques in<br />
the West. He lost all his<br />
acknowledgments and<br />
medals and was expelled<br />
from the national team.<br />
There are several versions<br />
about what happened, from<br />
his own mistake to a setup to<br />
avoid his signing for CSKA.<br />
Alexander Belov<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
B
Sergei<br />
Belov<br />
35
Officer and<br />
gentleman<br />
In 1991, FIBA published the results <strong>of</strong> a survey<br />
<strong>of</strong> their own about the best player in the history<br />
<strong>of</strong> FIBA basketball. The name at the top <strong>of</strong> the<br />
list was Sergei Belov, the great captain <strong>of</strong> CSKA<br />
Moscow and the USSR national team. Today, the<br />
result would probably be different, but nobody<br />
can deny that Belov is among our sport’s greatest<br />
ever. The Naismith Memorial <strong>Basketball</strong> Hall <strong>of</strong> Fame<br />
in Springfield recognized this fact by inducting Belov<br />
in 1992 as the first <strong>European</strong> player ever to be included<br />
there.<br />
I had double luck: first I followed him as a player from<br />
1967, the year <strong>of</strong> his debut with the USSR at the World<br />
Championships in Uruguay, until he retired after the<br />
1980 Olympics in Moscow. I saw him in his most glorious<br />
moment, as the last carrier <strong>of</strong> the Olympic flame to<br />
light the torch at Lenin Stadium in Moscow, and also in<br />
his last games with the national team. After that, I met<br />
Belov as a head coach. We have spoken many times,<br />
but never like we did during EuroBasket 2007 in Madrid,<br />
where he gave me an interview for EuroLeague.net that<br />
caught many people’s attention all over Europe.<br />
From a difficult childhood to glory<br />
Sergei Aleksandrovich Belov was born on January<br />
23, 1944, in the village <strong>of</strong> Nashekovic, region <strong>of</strong> Tomsk.<br />
Before giving birth to Sergei, his mother survived the<br />
famous siege <strong>of</strong> Stalingrad with her elder brother. The<br />
father, an engineer, worked far from home and the family<br />
got back together in 1947. The gift for the small child was<br />
a football, something scarce and valuable at that time.<br />
Sergei wouldn’t part with his favorite toy. He was a goalkeeper,<br />
but he also was into athletics, specifically the<br />
high jump. However, his quick growth to 1.90 meters decided<br />
his future. He started to play basketball and didn’t<br />
stop until the end <strong>of</strong> a brilliant career. His first coach was<br />
Georgiy Josifovitch Res. In the summer <strong>of</strong> 1964, while in<br />
Moscow to study, Belov was seen by Aleksandar Kandel,<br />
the coach <strong>of</strong> Uralmash in the city <strong>of</strong> Sverdlovsk, and he<br />
called Belov for his team. The promising teenager accepted<br />
and in the 1964-65 season debuted in the Soviet<br />
first division. In the summer <strong>of</strong> 1966, Belov made his<br />
debut with the USSR national team and in 1967 he was<br />
already a world champion in Uruguay with an average <strong>of</strong><br />
4.6 points. He scored a total <strong>of</strong> 32 points in the tourney,<br />
with a high <strong>of</strong> 11 against Japan.<br />
In 1968, another key moment in Belov’s life took<br />
place – he signed for CSKA Moscow. For the following<br />
12 years, he would be the best player <strong>of</strong> the Red Army<br />
team under colonel Alexander Gomelskiy on the bench.<br />
Belov, like other players, was also an <strong>of</strong>ficer in the army,<br />
even though his only pr<strong>of</strong>ession was playing basketball.<br />
In 1969, in Barcelona, he won his first <strong>European</strong> crown<br />
against Real Madrid. In an unforgettable game that CS-<br />
KA won after double overtime (103-93), with big man<br />
Vladimir Andreev as the main star, getting 37 points<br />
and 11 rebounds. Both Belov and Andreev played the<br />
entire 50 minutes. Belov finished with 19 points and<br />
10 rebounds. The following year CSKA lost the final in<br />
Sarajevo against Ignis Varese 79-74 with 21 points by<br />
Belov. However, in 1971, the Red Army team won the<br />
title back after beating Varese in Antwerp 67-53. Belov<br />
scored 24 points, but he also acted as a coach due to<br />
some problems for Gomelskiy at the Russian border.<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Sergei Belov<br />
B
Vladimir Stankovic<br />
In 1973, he played his last final with CSKA, <strong>of</strong> course<br />
against Varese, and lost in Liege 71-66 despite scoring<br />
34 points.<br />
Three seconds in Munich, 1972<br />
Sergei Belov was a player ahead <strong>of</strong> his time. He was a<br />
shooting guard, but also capable <strong>of</strong> playing point guard<br />
or small forward. Just like Dragan Kicanovic, Mirza Delibasic,<br />
Manuel Raga, Bob Morse, Walter Szczerbiak and<br />
other shooters from the era, they had to play without<br />
three-pointers, which were introduced by FIBA during<br />
the 1984-85 season. He was unstoppable in one-onone<br />
situations and after the dribble, you could count on<br />
an assist or a precise shot, many times with only one<br />
hand. He was also a great rebounder, but his best quality<br />
was his cold blood, his 100 percent concentration<br />
in crunch time. His teammates always looked for Belov<br />
for the last play or the last shot. He was a leader who<br />
transmitted security and confidence to the rest <strong>of</strong> the<br />
players and true fear to some rivals. He was a player respected<br />
by all, because <strong>of</strong> his qualities and his behavior.<br />
He was a true <strong>of</strong>ficer and gentleman.<br />
With the USSR he won 18 medals: Four Olympic<br />
medals (gold in 1972, bronze in 1968, 1976 and 1980);<br />
six in World Championships (two golds – 1967 and<br />
1974 – three silvers and one bronze); eight at <strong>European</strong><br />
Championships (four golds, two silvers and two bronzes).<br />
In total, he won seven gold medals, five silvers<br />
and six bronzes in the most important international<br />
competitions. His only Olympic gold was from Munich<br />
against the USA in what was a famous final because <strong>of</strong><br />
the last three seconds were repeated under the orders<br />
<strong>of</strong> William Jones, then the secretary general <strong>of</strong> FIBA. In<br />
September 2007, Belov told me the story <strong>of</strong> the most<br />
famous three seconds in basketball history:<br />
“Jones’s decision was totally fair and correct to me.<br />
See, when Doug Collins scored to put his team ahead,<br />
50-49, there were three seconds left and the scoreboard<br />
showed 19:57. Ivan Edeshko put the ball into play<br />
and I was close to midcourt, the table was behind my<br />
back. I got the ball and right away, the horn from the<br />
table stopped the game. But it was not the end, there<br />
was a mistake because the clock showed 19:59. There<br />
was one second left, but we protested a lot because<br />
it was clearly a mistake. The time had to start running<br />
when I touched the ball and not when Edeshko threw<br />
it in. After what to us seemed a never-ending moment,<br />
Jones lifted his three fingers and said we had to repeat<br />
them. The rest is well known. This time Edeshko<br />
made a long pass to Sasha Belov, who faked between<br />
two Americans, who in turn jumped at the same time<br />
almost clashing one against the other, and he scored<br />
the basket that was worth a gold medal.”<br />
Disappointment at home, 1980<br />
If his most glorious moment was that 1972 gold<br />
at the Olympics in Munich, I am sure that his biggest<br />
disappointment was the Olympic Games played in<br />
Moscow in 1980. Playing at home, the USSR lost first to<br />
Italy in the group stage and later against Yugoslavia after<br />
overtime, and so missed the title game. Some days<br />
later, he received an <strong>of</strong>fer that was, in fact, an order:<br />
“I got a call from the USSR Sports Minister, Sergei Pavlov,<br />
and he literally said, ‘From this moment, you are the<br />
USSR national team coach.’ And I rejected it on the spot.<br />
The minister insisted and he repeated his <strong>of</strong>fer constantly.<br />
Gomelskiy found out about the issue and, through his<br />
connections, he made it that the KGB wouldn’t allow me<br />
to leave the country for several years... I was an <strong>of</strong>ficer in<br />
the Soviet army and it was easy to do that. Those were<br />
36<br />
37
The darkest period in his<br />
life also coincided with the<br />
comeback from Brazil <strong>of</strong><br />
a USSR emigrant, a friend<br />
<strong>of</strong> his. Sergei greeted him<br />
at home and this was a<br />
suspicious act for what he<br />
called “the usual services”.<br />
Sergei Belov<br />
the worst years <strong>of</strong> my life and now I can say that for five<br />
years I even feared for my life!”<br />
The darkest period in his life also coincided with<br />
the comeback from Brazil <strong>of</strong> a USSR emigrant, a friend<br />
<strong>of</strong> his. Sergei greeted him at home and this was a<br />
suspicious act for what he called “the usual services”.<br />
His problems lasted until 1988, when he returned to<br />
CSKA as coach. In 1990, he coached Italy and in 1993<br />
he was back in Russia, where he became president <strong>of</strong><br />
the Russian Federation until 2000. He was also the<br />
national team coach for the World Championships <strong>of</strong><br />
Toronto in 1994 and Athens in 1998, where Russia<br />
won silver medals, and also for the 1997 EuroBasket<br />
in Barcelona, where it won the bronze. From 1999, Belov<br />
joined Sergei Kushchenko as general manager and<br />
president, respectively, to build a great team in Perm,<br />
Ural Great. Their team broke the dominance <strong>of</strong> CSKA<br />
Moscow, won domestic titles and played the new EuroLeague<br />
in 2001-02 as the first Russian team in the<br />
competition. Belov lived in Perm until he passed away<br />
in 2013 at age 69.<br />
He never had doubts that he, as well as other talents<br />
<strong>of</strong> his generation like Kresimir Cosic, Drazen Dalipagic<br />
or Dragan Kicanovic, could have played and triumphed<br />
in the NBA, just like Arvydas Sabonis did, getting there<br />
at 31, or Pau Gasol, Tony Parker, Dirk Nowitzki, Vlade<br />
Divac and so many other <strong>European</strong>s who showed that<br />
good basketball and good players are not an American-only<br />
privilege.<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
B
Miki<br />
Berkowitz<br />
39
The man <strong>of</strong><br />
the last basket<br />
Every time that Maccabi Tel Aviv visits Pionir<br />
Arena in Belgrade, I remember April<br />
7, 1977. That day, Maccabi and Mobilgirgi<br />
Varese played the final <strong>of</strong> the competition<br />
we now know as the EuroLeague, the first<br />
one I ever saw live. Two years earlier, Israel<br />
had been part <strong>of</strong> the EuroBasket played in Yugoslavia,<br />
but it didn’t make the final phase. To be honest, I don’t<br />
remember much about the five qualifying games, after<br />
which Israel finished seventh with an average <strong>of</strong><br />
20 points from Miki Berkowitz.<br />
But that club final in 1977 was a dramatic game decided<br />
in the last moments. With 7 seconds to go, and<br />
with a 78-77 lead for Maccabi, a doubtful call for traveling<br />
on Lou Silver allowed Varese a chance to win the game.<br />
But great defense by Maccabi managed to maintain<br />
that score and allowed the Israeli squad to lift its first<br />
<strong>European</strong> crown ever. That was the first time I saw Miki<br />
Berkowitz play. He was the great star <strong>of</strong> Maccabi. He was<br />
only 23 years old, but he was already known as one <strong>of</strong><br />
the best <strong>European</strong> players. I remember his name from<br />
the under-18 EuroBasket played in Zadar in 1972, where<br />
a great Yugoslavia team (formed by Dragan Kicanovic,<br />
Mirza Delibasic, Dragan Todoric, Rajko Zizic and Zeljko<br />
Jerkov, among others) won the gold medal. However,<br />
the best scorer <strong>of</strong> that tourney was one Miki Berkowitz.<br />
Thanks to him, especially, Israel finished fourth.<br />
The stands at Pionir that night in 1977 were yellow<br />
and full <strong>of</strong> Maccabi fans despite the fact that Italy was<br />
much closer than Israel. Also, Yugoslavia and Israel<br />
didn’t have a diplomatic relationship back then, but<br />
the Yugoslav government allowed the Maccabi fans to<br />
enter the country without a visa. That was also the first<br />
time that a jumbo jet landed in Belgrade. That night,<br />
Berkowitz scored 17 points in his first big final. He was<br />
the second-best scorer for Maccabi, behind only Jim<br />
Boatwright (26). On the other side, stars such as Dino<br />
Meneghin (21 points), Bob Morse (20) and Randy Meister<br />
(7) couldn’t win against the big heart <strong>of</strong> Berkowitz<br />
and his teammates.<br />
History against Washington<br />
One year later, on September 8, 1978, Maccabi entered<br />
the history books by becoming the first <strong>European</strong><br />
team to beat an NBA team. And not just any team.<br />
Maccabi won 98-97 against the Washington Bullets,<br />
the previous NBA champion, a team featuring players<br />
like Wes Unseld and Elvin Hayes as big stars and Dick<br />
Motta on the bench. Miki Berkowitz scored 26 points in<br />
that game.<br />
Berkowitz was a connoisseur <strong>of</strong> American basketball.<br />
He spent one year at the University <strong>of</strong> Nevada at<br />
Las Vegas and had <strong>of</strong>fers to sign for the New Jersey<br />
Nets and the Atlanta Hawks, which would have made<br />
him the first <strong>European</strong> player to enter the NBA. But<br />
Maccabi had his rights and he had to go back to Tel Aviv.<br />
In the 1979 EuroBasket, with an average <strong>of</strong> 23.6<br />
points, he led Israel to the silver medal, which is still the<br />
biggest international success <strong>of</strong> the country’s national<br />
team. Against France and Spain he scored 33 points,<br />
against Italy he had 31, but his most important basket<br />
was the last one in a duel against Yugoslavia, which was<br />
then both the <strong>European</strong> and World champion, with its<br />
golden generation. Israel won 77-76 and sent Yugosla-<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Miki Berkowitz<br />
B
Vladimir Stankovic<br />
via to the fight for the bronze while Israel entered the<br />
great final, which it lost to the USSR 76-98.<br />
During most <strong>of</strong> his career, Berkowitz played without<br />
the existence <strong>of</strong> three-point baskets, which were introduced<br />
only in the fall <strong>of</strong> 1984. That surely makes his<br />
numbers lower, even though shooting was not his main<br />
weapon. I remember him most for his drives, his quickness,<br />
his hands stealing a lot <strong>of</strong> balls, his sixth sense<br />
to find the right spot for the rebound... Miki was also<br />
a great defender. He was a complete player and most<br />
<strong>of</strong> all, a winner like he says in his autobiography “Born<br />
to Win.” The last shot or the decisive play was always<br />
set for him. He liked challenges and didn’t know the<br />
meaning <strong>of</strong> the word “fear.” He decided many games,<br />
and many <strong>of</strong> them were really important.<br />
In the 1981 final <strong>of</strong> the EuroLeague, in Strasbourg<br />
against Virtus Bologna (80-79), he scored the last 5<br />
points for his team. First, with the game tied, he made it<br />
78-75 with a basket-plus-free throw combination. Then<br />
he made it 80-77 in the last <strong>of</strong>fensive play by Maccabi.<br />
He finished with 20 points, more than Aulcie Perry (18),<br />
Earl Williams (17) or Jim Boatwright (14). He took part in<br />
another three finals, but Maccabi would lose all <strong>of</strong> them:<br />
1982 against Cantu (80-86, 16 points); 1987 against<br />
Milano again (69-71, 9 points); and 1988 against Milano<br />
again (84-90, 3 points) in the first Final Four <strong>of</strong> the modern<br />
era, played in Ghent, Belgium.<br />
In 1984, in a tourney in Tel Aviv with Hapoel Tel Aviv,<br />
the New Jersey Nets and the Phoenix Suns, Maccabi<br />
repeated the heroism <strong>of</strong> six years before. The first day<br />
it beat the Nets 104-97 with 26 points by Berkowitz<br />
and 23 by Kevin Magee, and in the final Maccabi defeated<br />
the Suns 113-98 with 36 points by Magee, 28<br />
by Lee Johnson and 20 by Berkowitz. Thanks to him,<br />
Israel played in its only World Championship in 1986,<br />
winning the qualifying tourney in the last game against<br />
Czechoslovakia 92-90, with his basket on the last<br />
<strong>of</strong>fense. In the Worlds that followed in Spain, Miki averaged<br />
16.8 points. In his seven EuroBaskets between<br />
1973 and 1985, only in the first one (6.4 ppg.) and the<br />
last one (15.3 ppg.) did Berkowitz average below 20<br />
points.<br />
Israeli Legend<br />
Apart from being considered the best basketball<br />
player <strong>of</strong> all time in Israel, Miki Berkowitz is among the<br />
most famous people ever in that country. A survey on<br />
the Ynet portal once put him in 35th place in a list <strong>of</strong><br />
the 200 most popular figures <strong>of</strong> the history <strong>of</strong> Israel. He<br />
was even named “King <strong>of</strong> Israel” by the local press. He<br />
handled his fame naturally, as he was always a humble<br />
and kind man.<br />
A role model.<br />
His two sons followed the tradition and even managed<br />
to play in the Israeli first division, but the Berkowitz<br />
last name was more a curse than a blessing and<br />
their performances were always compared to those <strong>of</strong><br />
their irreplaceable father.<br />
I can <strong>of</strong>fer you some more numbers on Berkowitz:<br />
• Second best scorer <strong>of</strong> all time in the Israeli League<br />
with 8,465 points, behind only Doron Jamchy.<br />
• 3,588 points for Maccabi in 211 EuroLeague-level<br />
games.<br />
• 2,842 points in 165 games with the Israeli national<br />
team.<br />
• Best scoring performance in an Israeli League<br />
game was 42 points.<br />
• Best scoring performance with the Israeli national<br />
team was 44 points against Turkey in the 1975<br />
EuroBasket.<br />
40<br />
41
Miki Berkowitz<br />
At the end <strong>of</strong> his playing career – he retired in 1995<br />
– Berkowitz played with his great friend Motti Aroesti<br />
in Maccabi Rishon and also in Hapoel Jerusalem and<br />
Hapoel Tel Aviv. He was also the owner <strong>of</strong> the Ramat<br />
HaSharon club and general manager at Ironi Nahariya.<br />
Though Berkowitz wore number 9 on his back, he<br />
was a 10 as a player!<br />
Apart from being<br />
considered the best<br />
basketball player <strong>of</strong><br />
all time in Israel,<br />
Miki Berkowitz is among<br />
the most famous people<br />
ever in that country.<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
B
Dejan<br />
Bodiroga<br />
43
‘White Magic’<br />
In October <strong>of</strong> 1989, in the first issue <strong>of</strong> ‘Kos’ (“Basket”)<br />
magazine in the former Yugoslavia, we published the<br />
rosters <strong>of</strong> all the teams that played the next-to-last<br />
Yugoslav League championship, in a country which<br />
that summer had won its fourth EuroBasket title in<br />
Zagreb. In KK Zadar, you could find names like Darko<br />
Pahlic, Petar Popovic (father <strong>of</strong> Marko), Stipe Sarlija,<br />
Aleksandar Trifunovic, Arijan Komazec, Ivica Obad,<br />
Sven Usic... and the coach was Slavko Trninic.<br />
Apart from the players with a jersey number, on the<br />
“new arrivals” column for that team, the name <strong>of</strong> Dejan<br />
Bodiroga (born March 2, 1973) appeared. In parentheses,<br />
you found the following – (16, 197) – his age and his height.<br />
Another piece <strong>of</strong> info there indicated that he was coming<br />
from Servo Mihalj <strong>of</strong> Zrenjanin. That was probably the first<br />
time I ever heard – or better, read – the Bodiroga name,<br />
which is pretty rare in the former Yugoslavia. I had no<br />
idea how a kid from Zrenjanin, 70 kilometers away from<br />
Belgrade, ended up in Zadar on the Dalmatian coast <strong>of</strong><br />
Croatia, and not in Belgrade or Novi Sad, the two big cities<br />
close to his hometown. One or two years later, when everybody<br />
already talked about a great talent called Dejan<br />
Bodiroga, we found out that the great Kresimir Cosic, then<br />
Zadar’s sports director, had seen Bodiroga in a cadets<br />
competition and saw right away that he would be a great<br />
talent. He went to Klek, a town next to Zrenjanin, where<br />
the Bodiroga family – which had Herzegovinian origins,<br />
an important detail which will be explained below – lived.<br />
Cosic talked to his parents and, thanks to his authority<br />
as the great player and beloved person that he was, convinced<br />
them to allow Dejan to sign for Zadar.<br />
From Klek to glory<br />
The town <strong>of</strong> Klek has some 3,000 inhabitants, most<br />
<strong>of</strong> them Serbians <strong>of</strong> Herzegovinian origins who arrived<br />
from the Vojvodina region in a massive colonization after<br />
World War II. The origin <strong>of</strong> the family was from a town<br />
with the same name, Bodiroga, close to Trebinje, today<br />
in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Klek is probably the most famous<br />
town in Serbia and the former Yugoslavia because<br />
it produced 13 international players in several sports,<br />
especially volleyball, who together with 12 more coming<br />
from Zrenjanin who competed in Olympic Games, turned<br />
this land into an eternal source <strong>of</strong> great sportsmen. For<br />
instance, the brothers Vladimir and Nikola Grbic, Olympic<br />
champs in Sydney 2000 with the Yugoslav volleyball<br />
team, are neighbors <strong>of</strong> the Bodiroga family. Their father,<br />
Ceda Grbic, won the first medal (bronze) for Yugoslavia<br />
in the <strong>European</strong> championship <strong>of</strong> 1975 in Belgrade.<br />
“I read some reports from the Italian press in that<br />
tournament and in one article I found a comparison<br />
that seemed way out <strong>of</strong> line: someone wrote that this<br />
Yugoslav kid, Dejan Bodiroga, was the ‘white Magic<br />
Johnson’,” coach Bogdan Tanjevic said. “I didn’t believe<br />
that but, curious as I am, in the preseason I took the<br />
chance to visit a tournament close to Trieste, where I<br />
used to live, to go see Zadar. The big star <strong>of</strong> the team<br />
was Komazec, but I soon noticed that the boss <strong>of</strong> that<br />
team was the young kid, Dejan Bodiroga.”<br />
Tanjevic would become, after Cosic, the most important<br />
person in the career <strong>of</strong> Dejan Bodiroga. In the<br />
1990-91 season, the last full one <strong>of</strong> the former Yugoslavia,<br />
Bodiroga was already a protagonist on the first<br />
team <strong>of</strong> Zadar. However, political issues influenced his<br />
career. Even though Bodiroga had no personal issues in<br />
Zadar, as a Serbian in Croatia on the brink <strong>of</strong> a horrible<br />
war, staying was not an option. Cosic, his protector and<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Dejan Bodiroga<br />
B
Vladimir Stankovic<br />
mentor, together with Dejan’s elder brother, Zeljko, and<br />
Nedeljko Ostarcevic – a former Zadar player already<br />
living in the United States – went to Trieste to try to<br />
convince Bogdan Tanjevic to sign Dejan.<br />
“They put a lot <strong>of</strong> pressure on me, but I was a bit skeptical<br />
because regulations only allowed for two foreigners<br />
then, and normally you would sign Americans,” Tanjevic<br />
recalled. “I asked, ‘How can I sign an 18-year-old kid as a<br />
foreigner?’ Then, my good friend Cosic told me, ‘Don’t be<br />
a Bosnian fool. Sign him and you won’t ever regret it.’ But<br />
there was an added problem, his documentation. Dejan<br />
was under contract and Zadar would not release him. Despite<br />
all that, I decided to sign him. He spent one season<br />
practicing with Stefanel Trieste without playing, but after<br />
just two practices I realized what a diamond I had.”<br />
Three finals lost<br />
The debut <strong>of</strong> “White Magic,” a player standing 2.05<br />
meters tall but with the ability to play all five positions, was<br />
finally ready at the start <strong>of</strong> the 1992-93 season. Tanjevic<br />
believes that <strong>of</strong> his four years in Italy, Bodiroga played his<br />
best that first season. “He was an unbelievably mature<br />
player for his age. He was a very generous man, always<br />
worried about the team. He had no selfishness in him. I<br />
remember he never took his first shot before minute 7 <strong>of</strong><br />
any game, because first he wanted to see how the team<br />
was doing. Against Reggio Calabria, with a great Michael<br />
Young, who would later lead Limoges to the EuroLeague<br />
title, Bodiroga scored 51 points. Against the veteran but<br />
still great player Michael Ray Richardson, he scored 38<br />
points on 10 <strong>of</strong> 10 field goals. He was a very mature player,<br />
versatile, who could score, pass, pull rebounds, guard...<br />
It was a privilege to have him on my team.”<br />
In the next three seasons in Trieste, Bodiroga lost three<br />
Korac Cup finals. First in 1994 against PAOK Thessaloniki,<br />
second against ALBA Berlin in 1995 and third against Efes<br />
Pilsen in 1996. The reward arrived at the end <strong>of</strong> the 1995-<br />
96 season with the triumph <strong>of</strong> Stefanel, which had moved<br />
from Trieste to Milan, in the Italian League and Italian Cup.<br />
The double crown was a prize for four years <strong>of</strong> hard work,<br />
but it also marked a moment for change.<br />
Bodiroga was almost guaranteed to be in the plans<br />
<strong>of</strong> Yugoslav national team head coach Dusan Ivkovic for<br />
the Barcelona 1992 Olympics. However, international<br />
sanctions didn’t allow the team to take part in those<br />
games. He would have to wait for three years for his <strong>of</strong>ficial<br />
debut on the national team. And he did it in style:<br />
a gold medal at the 1995 EuroBasket in Athens with<br />
12 points and 5 rebounds on average. The following<br />
year, at the Atlanta Olympics, he won the silver medal<br />
and confirmed to me there that the rumor was true: he<br />
would join Real Madrid, coached by Zeljko Obradovic.<br />
Even though he played really well and was chosen<br />
MVP <strong>of</strong> the Spanish League in the 1997-98 season, the<br />
results <strong>of</strong> the team those two years were rather poor.<br />
There was, however, a Saporta Cup win, 78-64 against<br />
Mash Verona in Nicosia, Cyprus, with 19 points by Alberto<br />
Herreros and 17 points plus 9 rebounds from Bodiroga.<br />
It was his first <strong>European</strong> trophy at the club level.<br />
Cousin <strong>of</strong> Aca and Drazen Petrovic<br />
On the eve <strong>of</strong> a game between Caja San Fernando<br />
and Real Madrid, I published a story in the Spanish<br />
newspaper El Mundo Deportivo that surprised many<br />
people. Serbian Dejan Bodiroga and Croatian Aleksandar<br />
Petrovic, then the coach at Caja San Fernando, were<br />
close cousins. Of course, Aleksandar is the brother <strong>of</strong><br />
the late Drazen Petrovic, an icon <strong>of</strong> <strong>European</strong> basketball<br />
history, which made Bodiroga a cousin <strong>of</strong> an all-time<br />
great. The genealogical tree didn’t leave any doubts: De-<br />
44<br />
45
jan’s grandmother, Gospava, was a Petrovic when single<br />
and the grandfather <strong>of</strong> Aca and Drazen was her brother<br />
in a big family. Jole, the father <strong>of</strong> Aca and Drazen, was a<br />
policeman in the former Yugoslavia who was assigned<br />
to Sibenik, where he met his future wife, Biserka, while<br />
Vaso Bodiroga, Dejan’s father, moved to Vojvodina. It<br />
was a curious story <strong>of</strong> two cousins, Drazen and Dejan,<br />
both superstars who played in Real Madrid. While in Real<br />
Madrid, Bodiroga won his second straight gold medal,<br />
at the 1997 EuroBasket in Barcelona. The following year,<br />
in the Athens World Cup, Yugoslavia was champion and<br />
he was chosen MVP at 25 years old. His national coach<br />
in Atlanta, Barcelona and Athens was Zeljko Obradovic,<br />
who was his coach at Real Madrid, as well. After two years<br />
with Benetton Treviso, Obradovic joined Panathinaikos<br />
Athens in the summer <strong>of</strong> 1999. The first thing he asked<br />
was to sign Dejan Bodiroga. Before coming together<br />
again at Panathinaikos, they also coincided at the Sydney<br />
Olympics, where Yugoslavia fell in the quarterfinals<br />
to Canada, led by a great Steve Nash.<br />
A three-time <strong>European</strong> champion<br />
Together again, Obradovic and Bodiroga started the<br />
golden decade <strong>of</strong> Panathinaikos. The 2000 Final Four<br />
was played in Thessaloniki and Panathinaikos made it<br />
there without problems. In the semis, it defeated Efes<br />
81-71 with 22 points by Bodiroga. In the title game, the<br />
victim was Maccabi Tel Aviv by 73-67, with great games<br />
by Zeljko Rebraca (20 points, 8 boards), Oded Kattash (17<br />
points) and Bodiroga (9 points, 4 rebounds). In the spring<br />
<strong>of</strong> 2001, the year <strong>of</strong> the “two EuroLeagues”, Maccabi<br />
won the SuproLeague Final Four in Paris against Panathinaikos,<br />
81-67, despite Bodiroga’s great game <strong>of</strong> 27 points<br />
and 8 rebounds. That same summer, at the Istanbul EuroBasket,<br />
he was champion again with Yugoslavia, this<br />
time under the command <strong>of</strong> Svetislav Pesic, the fourth<br />
important man in his career. In the first Final Four <strong>of</strong> the<br />
modern EuroLeague, played in Bologna in 2002, the big<br />
favorite was Ettore Messina’s Kinder Bologna, not only for<br />
playing at home, but also because it had a great team with<br />
players like Manu Ginobili, Marko Jaric, Alessandro Frosini,<br />
Andersen, Rashard Griffith, Alessandro Abbio, Sani<br />
Becirovic, Antoine Rigaudeau... However, after defeating<br />
Maccabi in the semifinal by 83-75, Panathinaikos rolled<br />
into the championship and surprised Kinder by 89-83<br />
with a great Bodiroga, who scored 21 points and pulled 7<br />
rebounds. Of course, he was named MVP.<br />
Just as Obradovic had done when he joined Panathinaikos,<br />
Svetislav Pesic did one thing just after arriving as<br />
head coach at FC Barcelona: he asked for Dejan Bodiroga<br />
to be in the team for his new project. In August <strong>of</strong> 2002, at<br />
the World Cup in Indianapolis, Pesic coached Yugoslavia’s<br />
star-studded team with Bodiroga, Jaric, Vlade Divac, Peja<br />
Stojakovic, Igor Rakocevic, Milan Gurovic, Dejan Tomasevic,<br />
Milos Vujanic... and won the gold medal. In Barcelona,<br />
Pesic and Bodiroga had the challenge to turn a dream – to<br />
make Barcelona, finally, a EuroLeague champ – into reality.<br />
And they did. At the Final Four, played at Palau Sant Jordi<br />
in Barcelona, the hosts first defeated CSKA Moscow by<br />
76-71. In the title game, they downed Benetton Treviso<br />
76-65 with 20 points by Bodiroga, who was chosen as<br />
Final Four MVP for the second year in a row.<br />
He was a versatile player with a lot <strong>of</strong> talent. But he<br />
was also a sportsman who set an example and was<br />
always polite to his rivals, referees, fans and the press.<br />
As a player, Dejan Bodiroga owns a prominent place in<br />
the memory <strong>of</strong> all basketball lovers.<br />
Dejan Bodiroga<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
B
Kamil<br />
Brabenec<br />
47
The Czech<br />
scoring machine<br />
The roster <strong>of</strong> future stars coming from the<br />
1970 junior EuroBasket in Athens was<br />
not bad at all. Several great players came<br />
from several teams. Alexander Belov and<br />
Valery Miloserdov from the USSR, Luis<br />
Miguel Santillana and Rafa Rullan from<br />
Spain, Pierluigi Marzorati and Fabrizio Della Fiori from<br />
Italy, Srecko Jaric and Goran Rakocevic (the fathers<br />
<strong>of</strong> Marko Jaric and Igor Rakocevic) in Yugoslavia,<br />
and Kamil Brabenec (Brno, December 4, 1951) from<br />
Czechoslovakia.<br />
There, in Athens, Brabenec averaged 16 points per<br />
game in starting what would be a brilliant international<br />
career. He was a natural scorer who, at the start <strong>of</strong> the<br />
21st century, was chosen as the second best Czech<br />
player <strong>of</strong> all time, behind only Jiri Zidek Sr. After Brabenec,<br />
the list <strong>of</strong> Czech basketball greats also includes<br />
Ivan Mrazek, Jiri Zednicek and Frantisek Konvicka.<br />
Just a year after his breakout in Athens, Brabenec<br />
was already playing with the senior national team at<br />
the 1971 EuroBasket in Essen, Germany. In 1972, he<br />
competed in the Munich Olympics, in 1973 it was the<br />
EuroBasket in Barcelona, and in 1974 he made his debut<br />
at the World Cup. Brabenec was at the forefront <strong>of</strong><br />
international basketball for nearly two full decades until<br />
EuroBasket 1987 in Athens, the same city that saw him<br />
take his first international steps. But that was only the<br />
end <strong>of</strong> his career with the national team. He played at<br />
the club level until 1995, when he hung up his shoes<br />
at age 45. He left behind a record 11,029 points in the<br />
national league, a record 403 games with the national<br />
team, a EuroBasket silver medal from 1985 and a pair <strong>of</strong><br />
bronze medals from 1977 and 1981.<br />
Brabenec was selected the domestic league player<br />
<strong>of</strong> the year after the 1975-76 season and chosen to the<br />
all-league team some 11 times. He also won six titles.<br />
And all <strong>of</strong> this happened due to a childhood medical<br />
prognosis that resulted in doctors not allowing him to<br />
play his favorite sport, ice hockey. Luck would have it<br />
that he then chose basketball.<br />
Behind the numbers and the biographical data,<br />
there’s the person and, in this case, a great player. He<br />
was a natural scorer, a shooting guard by the book,<br />
even if, at 1.90 meters, a little short by today’s standards.<br />
But in his time, he was tall enough. Plus, with<br />
his technique, speed and shot, he never had problems<br />
overcoming taller defenders. He was a great player and<br />
I agree with his very own words: “If I had played basketball<br />
today, I would be playing in the NBA.”<br />
In fact, he was not even far from that in his own time,<br />
when the Detroit Pistons took an interest in him. He<br />
even visited the club’s headquarters, but then he preferred<br />
to go back to his native country because, during<br />
the 1970s, signing for an NBA team meant renouncing<br />
your spot on the national team, and that was a high<br />
price that he did not want to pay.<br />
If I am not mistaken, I saw Brabenec for the first time on<br />
TV, during the 1972 Olympics in Munich, when Yugoslavia<br />
defeated Czechoslovakia 66-63. The player I remember<br />
the most was Zidek, who with his 18 points, drove Kresimir<br />
Cosic, Vinko Jelovac, Zarko Knezevic and Milun Marovic<br />
crazy around the court. Brabenec scored 4 points. One<br />
year later, at the Barcelona EuroBasket, Yugoslavia defeated<br />
Czechoslovakia on its way to the title, 91-76. Zidek (22<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Kamil Brabenec<br />
B
Vladimir Stankovic<br />
points), Jiri Pospisil (20) and a still-young Brabenec (14)<br />
were the resistance. At the 1974 World Cup in San Juan, his<br />
average had already gone up to 17.7 points, only 0.3 less<br />
than Zidek. Against Argentina, he scored 41 points.<br />
A lost final<br />
In the 1973-74 season, Zbrojovka Brno reached the<br />
Saporta Cup final. The final was played on April 2, 1974,<br />
at Primo Carnera Arena, named after the famous boxing<br />
champ. After some great years in Italy, “Pr<strong>of</strong>essor”<br />
Aleksandar Nikolic was Zvezda’s coach, and on the other<br />
side was Frantisek Konvicka, who had been the star<br />
<strong>of</strong> Spartak Brno for many years and played the 1964<br />
EuroLeague final against Real Madrid.<br />
Zvezda won 86-75 behind 23 points from Dragan<br />
Kapicic, 20 from Zoran Slavnic and 19 from Ljubodrag<br />
Simonovic. Jan Bobrovsky led Zbrojovka with 20 points,<br />
while Brabenec added 14. It was his only <strong>European</strong> final<br />
at the club level.<br />
At the 1975 EuroBasket in Belgrade, I saw Brabenec<br />
live. He was not a superstar yet, but he was on the right<br />
path. Aside from his undisputable technical qualities,<br />
he had what sets apart the good players from great<br />
ones: character. You could feel his self-confidence and<br />
he was willing to take responsibility; he would never<br />
hide. Yugoslavia, which won its second gold medal, defeated<br />
Czechoslovakia 84-68, but Brabenec’s 18 points<br />
hinted at him being a future star.<br />
At the Montreal Olympics, Brabenec was the fifth-best<br />
scorer <strong>of</strong> the tourney with 18.7 points, only 0.1 less than<br />
the USA’s Adrian Dantley, but still far from Australia’s Eddie<br />
Palubinskas (31.3 ppg.) and Mexico’s Arturo Guerrero<br />
(27.8 ppg.). Brabenec scored 35 against Italy and then<br />
netted 24 against the eventual champs from America.<br />
In May <strong>of</strong> 1977, Brabenec was chosen to play with<br />
the <strong>European</strong> selection against Jugoplastika for a<br />
farewell to its captain, Rato Tvrdic. The coach was the<br />
late Antonio Diaz Miguel from Spain. The team also featured<br />
the likes <strong>of</strong> Pierluigi Marzorati, Fabrizio Della Fiori<br />
and Gianni Bertolotti from Italy; Juan Antonio Corbalan,<br />
Rafa Rullan and Manolo Flores from Spain; and Atanas<br />
Golomeev from Bulgaria, among others. Team Europe<br />
won 116-108. My next appointment with Brabenec was<br />
at EuroBasket 1977 in Belgium. In the last group stage<br />
game in Ostend, Belgium, his Czechoslovakia beat<br />
Yugoslavia 111-103 with Brabenec shining to the tune<br />
<strong>of</strong> 32 points – and only 2 <strong>of</strong> them from the free-throw<br />
line. Despite the loss, Yugoslavia managed to win its<br />
third straight title, but Czechoslovakia won another<br />
medal eight years later after taking bronze in Naples.<br />
The key player was Brabenec, who scored 29 points in<br />
the third-place game. He was also the top scorer for his<br />
team with 23.7 points and finished second in the tournament,<br />
behind only Kees Akerboom <strong>of</strong> Holland (26.4).<br />
Again in the <strong>European</strong> selection<br />
In July <strong>of</strong> 1978, Brabenec received another great recognition<br />
on being selected for the <strong>European</strong> team that<br />
would face Real Madrid in the farewell game for Clifford<br />
Luyk. For many years, until the late 1990s, FIBA had this<br />
nice custom <strong>of</strong> paying homage to big stars when they<br />
retired with a game against a <strong>European</strong> team <strong>of</strong> great<br />
players. But <strong>of</strong> course, there were more available dates,<br />
fewer trips and more centralized power back then. Diaz<br />
Miguel, the Spain coach for many years, coached Team<br />
Europe again and called upon Brabenec, Luis Miguel<br />
Santillana, Dino Meneghin, Renzo Bariviera, Tal Brody,<br />
Micky Berkowitz, Drazen Dalipagic, Dragan Kicanovic,<br />
Mirza Delibasic and Zeljko Jerkov. On the other side, a<br />
great Real Madrid coached by Lolo Sainz featured Luyk,<br />
48<br />
49
Corbalan, Rullan, Wayne Brabender, Carmelo Cabrera,<br />
Vicente Ramos, Walter Szczerbiak and John Coughran.<br />
Madrid won 119-102 and the game was <strong>of</strong>ficiated by<br />
Obrad Belosevic (father <strong>of</strong> current EuroLeague <strong>of</strong>ficial<br />
Ilija) and Piet Leegwater. Luyk scored his last 2 points,<br />
but Brabender (32) and Szczerbiak (28) shined against<br />
the <strong>European</strong> team; Brabenec scored just 2 points.<br />
During the autumn <strong>of</strong> that year, most <strong>of</strong> those players<br />
participated in the World Cup in the Philippines, where Brabenec<br />
(26.9 points per game) was the top scorer. Against<br />
Puerto Rico, he scored 44, against China, 41. The championship<br />
was a festival <strong>of</strong> great scorers: Oscar Schmidt,<br />
Dalipagic, Kicanovic, Marcel de Souza... Czechoslovakia<br />
placed fourth at the 1979 EuroBasket in Italy and lost the<br />
bronze to Yugoslavia despite Brabenec’s 28 points. The<br />
following year, at the Moscow Olympics, he averaged 17.6<br />
points, but only good enough to share 10th place among<br />
top scorers. The second bronze medal came at home in<br />
Prague, at the next EuroBasket. In the third-place game<br />
against Spain, Brabenec netted 28 points and Stanislav<br />
Kropilak helped with 25 for the win. Against Italy earlier in<br />
the tourney, Brabenec had scored 40.<br />
Silver in Stuttgart<br />
At 34 years <strong>of</strong> age, Brabenec, then playing for BC<br />
Brno, didn’t even think about retiring. Despite being the<br />
oldest player on the team (14 years older than Leos Krejci<br />
and 12 more than Otto Maticky) he was its best player<br />
and top scorer (17.9 ppg.). Yugoslavia went to the 1985<br />
EuroBasket with the idea <strong>of</strong> regaining the supremacy<br />
lost in Nantes two years before, but in the quarterfinals<br />
the team clashed against a great Czechoslovakia and<br />
a great Brabenec, who netted 32 <strong>of</strong> 102 points for his<br />
team. Aside from being the top scorer, Brabenec was key<br />
on defense. Drazen Petrovic, already a star, scored 25<br />
points, but in the first half, when Czechoslovakia managed<br />
to run away, 51-34, he had only 6. The winners were<br />
congratulated by the Spaniards, as they thought they<br />
would defeat Czechoslovakia easier than Yugoslavia, but<br />
Brabenec and company also defeated Spain, 98-95.<br />
A super powerful USSR was waiting in the title game<br />
and it was just too strong. Valdis Valters scored 27 points,<br />
Rimas Kurtinaitis had 24, Arvydas Sabonis 23 and Aleksandr<br />
Volkov 18 to lead the USSR to a convincing 120-89<br />
victory. In that game, Brabenec scored 21 points.<br />
It wasn’t his last EuroBasket, however, as he also<br />
played the following one in Athens and averaged 11.5<br />
points at 36 years old. He also demonstrated that there<br />
are no old and young players, but excellent, good, mediocre<br />
and bad ones. He was one <strong>of</strong> the first, excellent<br />
ones. That was not the end <strong>of</strong> his career, either. At 38 he<br />
finally left his country, but didn’t go too far to join Debreceni<br />
<strong>of</strong> Hungary, where he played for two seasons.<br />
At age 40, he went back home to play for humble Zdar<br />
nad Sazavou first, and then to spend his last two active<br />
years until 1995 at Usti nad Labem, his boyhood club.<br />
If that was not enough, the Brabenec name is still<br />
a reference in Czech sports. His own son is a very famous<br />
ice hockey player and his daughter Andrea was<br />
an international player in basketball, the daughter <strong>of</strong> a<br />
basketball scoring machine.<br />
Jiri Zidek senior, the best Czech player <strong>of</strong> the 20th<br />
century, and a teammate <strong>of</strong> Brabenec’s in the national<br />
team, said the following about Brabenec:<br />
“The greatest skill Kamil had was his shooting ability.<br />
His trademark scoring move was the jump shot after the<br />
dribble. He could create his own shots in one-on-one<br />
situations, played small forward, and used screens well<br />
to get open, receive the ball and play one-on-one,” Zidek<br />
recalled.<br />
Kamil Brabenec<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
B
Bill<br />
Bradley<br />
51
Senator between<br />
the hoops<br />
The death in 2011 <strong>of</strong> Cesare Rubini, a great<br />
legend in Italian sport, reminded me <strong>of</strong><br />
the first triumph <strong>of</strong> an Italian team in the<br />
<strong>European</strong> Cup, the forerunner to today’s<br />
EuroLeague. It happened in the 1965-66<br />
season in Bologna, in what was the first<br />
Final Four ever, although that format lasted only two<br />
seasons at that time, not to be reinstated again until<br />
1988.<br />
The Final Four teams in 1966 were eventual champs<br />
Simenthal Milano, Slavia Prague, CSKA Moscow and<br />
AEK Athens. Rubini was the boss <strong>of</strong> the Milano team<br />
that would win the title. In the semifinals, the Italian<br />
team defeated CSKA by 68-57, and in the title game,<br />
played on April 1, Milano stopped Prague by 77-72.<br />
Duane “Skip” Thoren scored 21 points, Gabriele<br />
Vianello 21, Sandro Riminucci 10, Gianfranco Pieri 4,<br />
Massimo Masini 3, Giandomenico Ongaro 4 – and Bill<br />
Bradley 14.<br />
Bill Bradley... Without a doubt, he is one <strong>of</strong> the best<br />
Americans to ever play in Europe, but his life and his<br />
two careers, sports and politics, deserve a story <strong>of</strong><br />
their own. William Warren Bradley was born on July<br />
28, 1943, in Crystal City, Missouri. In high school,<br />
he was already a national-level star in basketball.<br />
He scored 3,068 points and received scholarship<br />
<strong>of</strong>fers from 75 universities! At the beginning, he had<br />
chosen legendary Duke University, but during the<br />
summer <strong>of</strong> 1961, he broke his leg playing baseball.<br />
Thinking about his future outside <strong>of</strong> basketball, he<br />
finally chose Princeton, even refusing a scholarship<br />
promised by Duke. Already in his first season as a<br />
freshman, he scored more than 30 points per game<br />
and made 57 free throws without a miss. As a sophomore,<br />
he was already a starter on the team and in<br />
1963 he made the all-American first team. Even then<br />
there was word that Bradley was ready to play in the<br />
NBA, but he wanted his degree first. He earned his<br />
spot on the U.S. national team for the 1964 Olympics<br />
in Tokyo, where he would become the best player. In<br />
the semifinals against Puerto Rico (62-42), he scored<br />
16 points and in the title game against the USSR (73-<br />
59) he scored 10. In his last season with Princeton,<br />
as team captain, he took the team to the NCAA Final<br />
Four. They lost in the semifinal but in the game for<br />
third place Bradley scored 58 points and was named<br />
MVP <strong>of</strong> the tourney.<br />
Day-a-week champion<br />
Bradley finished at Princeton with 2,503 points for a<br />
30.2 average. In 1965, he won the James Sullivan prize,<br />
the highest accolade in American amateur sports. He<br />
was the first basketball player to ever win the award.<br />
He was the most desired player for NBA teams and,<br />
according to the rules <strong>of</strong> the time, as a territorial pick,<br />
the New York Knicks selected him in the draft. But pro<br />
basketball was not in Bradley’s plans just yet. He had<br />
also won a prestigious Rhodes Scholarship to attend<br />
Oxford University in England for post-graduate studies.<br />
And this is where Simmenthal Milano comes into the<br />
story. The club <strong>of</strong>fered Bradley a good economic deal<br />
and also some terms that would be almost impossible<br />
today. Bradley only had to play in the EuroLeague<br />
games. He didn’t even practice regularly with the team,<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Bill Bradley<br />
B
only from time to time if flight connections allowed<br />
some extra time before the game. But it really looked<br />
like Bradley didn’t need the sessions. In the games, no<br />
one could notice any lack <strong>of</strong> integration with his team.<br />
He was a scoring machine. For instance, against Racing<br />
Malines in the quarterfinals group, he scored 43 points<br />
in Belgium and 33 at home. His contribution to the first<br />
Italian team to win the <strong>European</strong> club title was huge.<br />
The captain <strong>of</strong> the Simmenthal team in 1966, Gianfranco<br />
Pieri, remembers Bradley on the Olimpia Milano<br />
<strong>of</strong>ficial website:<br />
Vladimir Stankovic<br />
Rubini, the prophet<br />
“I have vivid images <strong>of</strong> our first game,” Pieri writes.<br />
“We were at the 1960 Olympics in Tokyo. Rubini wanted<br />
to sign Bradley and he told me to go talk to him. We<br />
talked for a while and after that, we exchanged a couple<br />
gifts. Two years later we were teammates in Olimpia,<br />
me as a captain and him as the star <strong>of</strong> the <strong>European</strong><br />
Cup. At that time he was studying in Oxford and every<br />
Tuesday he traveled to play with us.”<br />
Rubini, the prophet, had said: “He is a phenom. He<br />
plays like God, and on the side, he studies to become<br />
president <strong>of</strong> the United States.”<br />
A Bradley presidency almost happened, in fact,<br />
but that was many years later. Bill Bradley had a brilliant<br />
career as a pr<strong>of</strong>essional player. After serving six<br />
months in the US Air Force, he finally signed for the<br />
New York Knicks in December <strong>of</strong> 1967. In his third year,<br />
1969-70, the Knicks won their first NBA championship<br />
and repeated again in 1972-73, when Bradley took part<br />
in his only all-star game. It was his best season, as he<br />
averaged 16.1 points and 3.4 assists. When he retired<br />
in 1977, he left behind 742 games and 9,217 points, a<br />
12.4-point average.<br />
52<br />
53
Second career<br />
While he was a pro player, Bradley also was also getting<br />
ready for a second career, in politics. He excelled as<br />
a social worker. He taught in Harlem, talked a lot with<br />
businessmen, students, politicians and the press. The<br />
basketball community honored him in the highest manner<br />
possible by inducting him into the Hall <strong>of</strong> Fame in<br />
1982. The Knicks also retired his jersey with number 24<br />
in 1984. The only other players so honored before him<br />
were Willis Reed, Walt Frazier and Dave DeBusschere.<br />
His political career took place with the Democrat<br />
Party but, as an independent thinker, he once broke<br />
that discipline and backed a Republican president,<br />
Ronald Reagan, on certain issues. When he retired as a<br />
player in 1977, he ran for the U.S. Senate in New Jersey.<br />
He beat his rival, conservative Jeffrey Bell, with the 56%<br />
<strong>of</strong> the vote. In 1984, he repeated in the spot with 65% <strong>of</strong><br />
the vote and he was proposed for the presidential election,<br />
but he declined. Later, after retiring from the Senate,<br />
he decided to run for the Democratic nomination<br />
for president in 2000, against Al Gore, who was then<br />
the vice president <strong>of</strong> the United States. In March <strong>of</strong> that<br />
same year, seeing that Gore had more support inside<br />
the party, he decided to step out <strong>of</strong> the race. In January<br />
<strong>of</strong> 2008, Bradley gave public support to Barack Obama.<br />
To this day, Bradley is considered a progressive among<br />
American thinkers. And in Italy, the Olimpia Milano fans<br />
still remember him with a special kind <strong>of</strong> love for bringing<br />
them Italy’s first <strong>European</strong> basketball trophy.<br />
Bill Bradley, a senator and a Lord <strong>of</strong> the Rims.<br />
Bill Bradley<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
B
Wayne<br />
Brabender<br />
55
An atypical star<br />
The personal ID card <strong>of</strong> Wayne Brabender<br />
says that he was born on October 16,<br />
1945, in Montevideo. The first association<br />
would be Uruguay, but he is not from<br />
that country’s capital. In the state <strong>of</strong><br />
Minnesota, in the United States, there is<br />
another Montevideo which probably would have never<br />
entered sports history without Brabender.<br />
When he was just 7 years old, his first coach, Terry<br />
Donay, taught Brabender his first steps in a sport<br />
called basketball. That decided the future <strong>of</strong> the blond<br />
and thin kid who, judging by his physical attributes,<br />
probably shouldn’t have had a bright career in a sport<br />
normally reserved for bigger and stronger men. However,<br />
since the very dawn <strong>of</strong> his career, Brabender was<br />
just a different kind <strong>of</strong> player. With good technique,<br />
solid jumping ability, great defense and, most <strong>of</strong> all, an<br />
excellent shot, he would become the best player on his<br />
high school team.<br />
At 22 years old Brabender was already a physical<br />
education teacher, but his immediate future would be<br />
involved with basketball, no doubt. In the 1967 NBA<br />
Draft, the Philadelphia 76ers picked him at number<br />
145. Destiny, however, would have different plans for<br />
the young Brabender.<br />
Pedro Ferrandiz, the visionary<br />
The legendary coach <strong>of</strong> Real Madrid, Pedro Ferrandiz,<br />
was a pioneer in many things, and especially in<br />
bringing good American players to Europe. Ferrandiz<br />
just didn’t trust anyone. If he heard rumors about a<br />
player being good, he had to go see for himself. Then,<br />
he would make sure to check out a few more players in<br />
order to make the trip worthwhile. No middlemen, no<br />
agents, no videos, which didn’t exist: Don Pedro just<br />
packed up his suitcase and toured the USA. More <strong>of</strong>ten<br />
than not, he came back to Madrid with a future star.<br />
When he saw Brabender he had no doubts about<br />
him. That was the player he needed to fill the spot <strong>of</strong><br />
the second foreigner in the EuroLeague. According to<br />
legend, when Ferrandiz knocked on the door <strong>of</strong> Brabender’s<br />
house, Wayne himself opened the door and<br />
Ferrandiz asked him if he had an older brother because<br />
the young man seemed even smaller <strong>of</strong>f the court than<br />
on it. After working out the misunderstanding, one <strong>of</strong><br />
the better and most pr<strong>of</strong>itable contracts in Real Madrid’s<br />
history was put to paper.<br />
On August 26, 1967, young Wayne Brabender landed<br />
in Madrid and started his Spanish adventure, which has<br />
now lasted 50 years and counting. Everyone in Madrid,<br />
from the club itself to the media, was surprised by the<br />
looks <strong>of</strong> the new American, because normally Ferrandiz<br />
brought back big men. Also, Real Madrid already had<br />
Miles Aiken for the Spanish League, so it was planned<br />
that Brabender would only play in the EuroLeague, on<br />
which the team placed such high aspirations. It wasn’t<br />
easy at all for Brabender to play only in EuroLeague<br />
games or practice all alone on the weekends, while the<br />
team was elsewhere playing in the domestic championship.<br />
But Brabender dealt with it all and the club also<br />
showed patience with him.<br />
In the traditional Real Madrid Christmas tournament<br />
<strong>of</strong> 1967, the American rookie exploded with 30 points<br />
while showing great qualities on <strong>of</strong>fense. His outside<br />
shot was perfect, and he was a great complement to<br />
the inside game <strong>of</strong> Aiken and Clifford Luyk. Right <strong>of</strong>f the<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Wayne Brabender<br />
B
Vladimir Stankovic<br />
bat, Ferrandiz, backed by manager Raimundo Saporta,<br />
realized that Brabender could be an enormous addition<br />
to the team. So they proposed to him the possibility <strong>of</strong><br />
getting a Spanish passport. Brabender accepted the <strong>of</strong>fer,<br />
and soon Spain gained a great player. The fact that<br />
Brabender still lives in Spain today proves that this was<br />
a case <strong>of</strong> true nationalization.<br />
On May 10, 1969, Wayne Brabender made his debut<br />
with the Spanish national team in Badalona against Cuba,<br />
playing 90 seconds. A little later, playing against Belgium<br />
in a EuroBasket qualifying tournament in Mataró,<br />
Spain, he suffered a knee injury and had to be sidelined<br />
for 10 months. But he persevered and returned to Real<br />
Madrid and the national team. At the 1973 EuroBasket<br />
in Barcelona, Brabender helped Spain win a silver medal,<br />
the country’s first in men’s basketball since another<br />
a silver at the original EuroBasket, back in 1935 in Geneva.<br />
In that 1973 title game, Spain fell to Yugoslavia, who<br />
won its first continental title, 67-78. But Brabender’s 20<br />
points – a little over his 19.3 average in the tourney –<br />
confirmed that Spain had a great new star.<br />
I saw Wayne Brabender countless times on TV, but<br />
I think the first time I saw him live was at the 1975 EuroBasket<br />
in Belgrade. I saw him also two years later in<br />
Belgium and again at the 1980 Olympics in Moscow,<br />
where Spain finished fourth. I still remember his incredible<br />
game <strong>of</strong> 30 points against Yugoslavia, the future<br />
Olympic champ, who struggled but won 95-91. Chicho<br />
Sibilio added 23 points for Spain while on the other side<br />
there was the great duo <strong>of</strong> Dragan Kicanovic (25 points)<br />
and Drazen Dalipagic (24).<br />
Non-stop titles<br />
Brabender played 190 games with the Spanish<br />
national team, but it was Real Madrid who took more<br />
advantage <strong>of</strong> his qualities. During his 16 years with Los<br />
Blancos – which looks like an eternity today, when players<br />
change clubs so <strong>of</strong>ten – he won 13 Spanish Leagues<br />
(10 <strong>of</strong> them in a row, from 1968 to 1977), seven Spanish<br />
Cups, three Intercontinental Cups (1976, 1977 and<br />
1978, each time scoring more than 20 points in the<br />
final), and four EuroLeagues. Real Madrid was, without<br />
a doubt, the strongest team in Spain back then, and it<br />
didn’t need much to win national titles. But to compete<br />
with Ignis Varese, CSKA Moscow or Maccabi Tel Aviv, the<br />
latter <strong>of</strong> which was starting to show great ambitions in<br />
the early 1970s, Real Madrid needed a great player like<br />
Brabender.<br />
Real Madrid’s first <strong>European</strong> title with him on the<br />
team came in 1968 in Lyon, France against Spartak Brno<br />
<strong>of</strong> Czechoslovakia, with a 98-95 final-game victory<br />
thanks to 26 points from Aiken and 22 from Brabender.<br />
The next <strong>European</strong> crown would arrive on April 11,<br />
1974, in Nantes against Varese in a very balanced game<br />
that finished 84-82. Brabender once again scored 22<br />
points, Walter Szczerbiak and Luyk had 14 each, while<br />
on the other side, the “magnificent trio” <strong>of</strong> Dino Meneghin<br />
(25), Bob Morse (24) and Manuel Raga (17) kept<br />
hopes alive for their team until the final moment.<br />
Four years later, in 1978, the same rivals met again in<br />
the Munich final. Real Madrid won 75-67 with 26 points<br />
by Szczerbiak and 16 by Brabender. His last <strong>European</strong><br />
title was on May 27, 1980, in Berlin as Madrid defeated<br />
Maccabi 89-85 behind 27 points by Rafa Rullan and 12<br />
by Brabender.<br />
He played at Real Madrid until the end <strong>of</strong> the<br />
1982-83 season and put an end to his brilliant career<br />
with Caja Madrid, playing two more seasons. When<br />
Brabender retired in 1985 he was 39-and-a-half years<br />
old. His Spanish League stats hardly reflect the impact<br />
56<br />
57
Wayne Brabender<br />
that Wayne Brabender had on Spanish basketball. The<br />
league started in 1983 at the twilight <strong>of</strong> his career. Only<br />
the press archives from the 1970s and the memories<br />
<strong>of</strong> those lucky enough to have seen him play <strong>of</strong>fer actual<br />
testimony about this great player and person, who<br />
could set an example in just about anything.<br />
Brabender was an atypical star, especially because<br />
<strong>of</strong> his modesty. He was a person beloved by his teammates<br />
and respected by rivals. I remember some<br />
conversations that I had with the late Mirza Delibasic<br />
about the friendship that he had with Brabender and<br />
his family, and how they helped Delibasic adapt when<br />
he signed for Real Madrid.<br />
After his great career as a player, Brabender stayed<br />
in basketball as a coach. He worked at Real Madrid, CB<br />
Canarias, Forum Valladolid and CB Illescas. His son, David,<br />
was born in Madrid in 1970 and also played in the<br />
Spanish League for 12 years. The Brabenders, especially<br />
Wayne, have left their imprint on Spanish basketball.<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
B
Tal<br />
Brody<br />
59
Israeli basketball<br />
history<br />
While preparing this article, I<br />
asked my friend Yarone Arbel, a<br />
one-time columnist on Euroleague.net,<br />
for some data about<br />
Tal Brody. He sent me an e-mail<br />
with some figures and details,<br />
but what caught my attention was a sentence that<br />
read: “Here, in Israel, when talking about basketball,<br />
there is a before and after Tal Brody.” It’s impossible<br />
to say more in fewer words about this historical<br />
player, a great figure with so much meaning for Israeli<br />
basketball. There is no doubt that Maccabi Tel Aviv<br />
has showcased better players than Brody, but his<br />
merit was being the first great signing <strong>of</strong> the club and<br />
the key piece in an ambitious project <strong>of</strong> converting<br />
Maccabi into a great Israeli ambassador.<br />
Talbot “Tal” Brody was born in Trenton, New Jersey,<br />
on August 20, 1943, into a Jewish family. His grandfather<br />
and his father emigrated to the United States in<br />
the 1920s after having lived in Palestine and Eastern<br />
Europe. At 8 years old, Tal started playing basketball<br />
at the Trenton Jewish Community Center, as well as at<br />
the local Boys Club and his school. Even then, he knew<br />
that he wanted to be either “a pro basketball player or<br />
an FBI agent.”<br />
Brody stood out in high school (15.3 points, 4.0<br />
rebounds) and received scholarship <strong>of</strong>fers to play<br />
basketball at more than 40 colleges. He chose the<br />
not-so-powerful University <strong>of</strong> Illinois, aware that he<br />
would probably have more <strong>of</strong> a role there. With him<br />
at the point – with his excellent court vision, great<br />
assists and precise shot – Illinois won the famous Big<br />
Ten Conference championship. Tal Brody was the top<br />
scorer and the best passer. He was named to the prestigious<br />
All-American team with players like Rick Barry,<br />
Bill Bradley and Billy Cunningham, who years later<br />
would re-write NBA history. In 1965, Brody finished his<br />
degree in physical education and was selected 12th<br />
overall in the NBA Draft by the Baltimore Bullets. Everything<br />
pointed to a brilliant NBA career.<br />
The trip that changed his life<br />
Until he finished his studies, Brody had never traveled<br />
outside the United States. In the summer <strong>of</strong> 1965,<br />
which would be so important in his life, he was invited<br />
to join an American selection <strong>of</strong> players to compete<br />
at the quadrennial Maccabiah Games. His quality as a<br />
player and his Jewish origins made him the perfect candidate<br />
to be on the team. He was the best player on the<br />
team that easily took the trophy. His great talent caught<br />
everyone’s attention and before traveling back to the<br />
States, Brody received an interesting <strong>of</strong>fer – to stay in<br />
Israel and play for Maccabi Tel Aviv.<br />
It is said that Moshe Dayan, the legendary Israeli<br />
general and minister <strong>of</strong> defense, who by then was the<br />
minister <strong>of</strong> sports, personally tried to persuade Brody<br />
with talk <strong>of</strong> his leadership in a project called “Great Maccabi.”<br />
Until then, the club had never advanced beyond<br />
the first rounds <strong>of</strong> <strong>European</strong> competitions, but there<br />
were plans to convert Maccabi into a powerful team<br />
that would be “the pride <strong>of</strong> Israel.” Brody didn’t stay<br />
that year, though, and headed back to the U.S. to take<br />
some masters courses to complete his studies. But in<br />
1966, instead <strong>of</strong> playing with the Atlanta Hawks, who<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Tal Brody<br />
B
Vladimir Stankovic<br />
had traded for his rights, Brody decided to go back to<br />
Israel.<br />
First final for Maccabi<br />
In the 1966-67 season, Maccabi played in the Saporta<br />
Cup. After defeating Aris, Joventut and BK Botev<br />
<strong>of</strong> Bulgaria in the semifinals stage, Maccabi reached<br />
the final. On the other side awaited Ignis Varese. It<br />
was the first final for two future greats <strong>of</strong> <strong>European</strong><br />
basketball, to be played over two games. In Varese,<br />
on April 7, 1967, Ignis won 77-67 despite Brody’s 27<br />
points, which made him the top scorer in the game. Six<br />
days later, in the Tel Aviv game, Brody scored 26, but<br />
Maccabi could only win by a point, 68-67, and the title<br />
ended up in Italy.<br />
The following year, Brody was already the best<br />
sportsman in Israel. Maccabi games, especially the continental<br />
ones, became socio-political events, with the<br />
permanent presence <strong>of</strong> government members. Head<br />
coach Ralph Klein started to build a great team with<br />
Brody as the centerpiece. During the 1967 Six-Day War,<br />
the United States government sent Brody a telegram<br />
telling him to abandon Israeli soil. Instead, he decided<br />
to stay and even worked with Israeli army soldiers on<br />
the Jordanian border.<br />
As an American citizen, he came back to the United<br />
States in 1969 to fulfill his military service and came<br />
close to ending up in another war, in Vietnam. Fortunately,<br />
Brody was called for the USA team that played<br />
the 1970 World Cup in Ljubljana. That was the first time<br />
I saw Tal Brody. On a pretty modest team, with Bill Walton<br />
as a future star, but too young at the time to have<br />
a prominent role (3.7 points), Brody was the third-best<br />
scorer with 10.4 points, behind only Kenny Washington<br />
(11.8) and Mike Silliman (11.7). Brody scored 19 points<br />
against Australia and 17 against Czechoslovakia as the<br />
Americans placed fifth.<br />
After the Ljubljana tournament, Brody decided to<br />
go back to Israel to live there and play basketball. He<br />
became an Israeli citizen, which meant he had to do<br />
military service again!<br />
Unforgettable Belgrade<br />
Tal Brody would play with Maccabi until 1980. He<br />
won 10 Israeli Leagues titles, six national cups and – as<br />
the icing on the cake – the EuroLeague title in 1977 in<br />
Belgrade against the club’s greatest rival <strong>of</strong> those years,<br />
Varese. Exactly 10 years after the defeat in the Saporta<br />
Cup, Maccabi exacted revenge by winning the <strong>European</strong><br />
title 78-77. I can clearly remember the atmosphere at<br />
the legendary Pionir Arena, with 5,000 Maccabi fans<br />
having come from Israel and all over Europe. At that<br />
time, Yugoslavia didn’t have diplomatic relations with<br />
Israel, but basketball opened the borders. Several charter<br />
flights landed in Belgrade, even the first jumbo jet in<br />
the history <strong>of</strong> the airport. At the break, Maccabi held a<br />
39-30 advantage, but Varese had a last chance to win<br />
with the final possession <strong>of</strong> the game and 7 seconds<br />
to go. Good Maccabi defense stopped a play between<br />
Aldo Ossola and Bob Morse, however, and Maccabi<br />
won its first continental crown. Jim Boatwright led the<br />
winners with 26 points and Miki Berkowitz added 17.<br />
Brody, the team captain, contributed 9 points and was<br />
the protagonist <strong>of</strong> a historic photo, receiving the trophy<br />
from the hands <strong>of</strong> FIBA President Borislav Stankovic.<br />
Mission accomplished.<br />
The return home was an experience to behold. More<br />
than 150,000 people welcomed the new <strong>European</strong><br />
champs as national heroes. It was the first international<br />
title for any Israeli team in any sport.<br />
60<br />
61
Prior to winning that final, Maccabi had to get past<br />
great rivals like Real Madrid, Spartak Brno and CSKA<br />
Moscow. The game against CSKA took place on neutral<br />
ground in Belgium because the Soviet authorities would<br />
not allow CSKA to play in Tel Aviv, nor would they grant<br />
Maccabi players visas to play in Moscow. After beating<br />
CSKA 91-79, Brody uttered the words on Israeli TV that<br />
would go down as one <strong>of</strong> the most famous sayings in<br />
Israeli culture – sports or otherwise: “We are on the<br />
map and we’re staying on the map. Not only in sports,<br />
but in everything!”<br />
The 1976 pre-Olympic tournament was played in<br />
Edinburgh, Scotland. There Brody led the Israeli team<br />
with 15 points. I remember his great game against Yugoslavia:<br />
he scored 22 points, but Israel lost 123-103.<br />
All told he scored 1,219 points in 78 games wearing<br />
the Israel national jersey. For Maccabi, in <strong>European</strong><br />
competitions, he scored 1,378 points in 81 games. In<br />
the national league, Brody tallied 4,049 points. Despite<br />
these numbers, the fact remains that his contributions<br />
cannot be measured by just points or assists. The true<br />
measure <strong>of</strong> his greatness comes through Brody’s mere<br />
presence and historical role.<br />
Over the years, Brody received many recognitions in<br />
Israel, among others the “Israel Prize” – the top civilian<br />
honor awarded by the state – in 1979. He was inducted<br />
into the International Jewish Sports Hall <strong>of</strong> Fame in<br />
1996 and into the United States National Jewish Sports<br />
Hall <strong>of</strong> Fame in 2011. Two years later, his No. 12 college<br />
uniform was retired by the University <strong>of</strong> Illinois Fighting<br />
Illini. For a short time, Brody was an assistant coach<br />
with Maccabi, but his current activities focus more<br />
on politics. However, as a recognized philanthropist,<br />
he is always eager to help kids and to perform some<br />
basketball tricks. Brody owns an insurance company<br />
and dabbled in politics as a candidate for the Knesset,<br />
the country’s Parliament, but he was not elected. Since<br />
2010, he has been a Goodwill Ambassador for Israel.<br />
But when talking about sports, like Yarone Arbel says,<br />
there was a “before and after Tal Brody” in Israeli basketball.<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Tal Brody<br />
B
Marcus<br />
Brown<br />
63
A champ in<br />
six countries<br />
When a player – in this case, Marcus<br />
Brown – sees his scoring<br />
numbers increase from 8.9<br />
points to 18.1 to 22.4 and finally<br />
to 26.4 points during his college<br />
years, one would expect that<br />
he’d have a good chance in the NBA, to say the very<br />
least. When Portland picked Brown 46th in the 1996<br />
NBA Draft out <strong>of</strong> Murray State University, everything<br />
seemed to be going as planned.<br />
Standing at 1.93 meters, Brown, who was born<br />
April 3, 1974 in West Memphis, Arkansas, was a classic<br />
shooting guard, a very coveted species. But he would<br />
not be the first or the last rookie to have a rather unfortunate<br />
stint in Portland. (I can remember Drazen<br />
Petrovic, for instance). He played just 21 games and averaged<br />
3.9 points, even though his shooting percentages<br />
were acceptable: 39.5% on two-pointers and 40.6%<br />
on threes. One <strong>of</strong> his few good experiences there was<br />
interacting with The Tsar, Arvydas Sabonis. “Sabas”<br />
showed a young Brown that there were great players in<br />
Europe and good basketball there.<br />
Very few people have the mental strength to turn disappointment<br />
into opportunity. After the bad experience<br />
in Portland and a frustrated chance with the Memphis<br />
Grizzlies, where he didn’t play a single game, at the end<br />
<strong>of</strong> the 1997-98 season Brown decided to cross the pond<br />
and look for his opportunity in Europe. With his low<br />
numbers in Portland, Brown could not look for a super<br />
contract from the best <strong>European</strong> teams. But Brown was<br />
smart, so he searched instead for a chance to shine, to<br />
play a lot <strong>of</strong> minutes, and to show what he could do. He<br />
signed for Pau-Orthez <strong>of</strong> France and in six games he was<br />
already averaging 20.5 points. His team won the French<br />
League title, thanks especially to him, but in the last game<br />
<strong>of</strong> the final series, he suffered a serious knee injury.<br />
After a year-long recovery, Brown tried to get back into<br />
the NBA, this time with the Detroit Pistons, for the 1999-<br />
2000 season. He had played just six games and averaged<br />
1.7 points when he received an <strong>of</strong>fer from Limoges. Brown<br />
didn’t hesitate to travel back to France. Time would prove<br />
that it was one <strong>of</strong> the best decisions <strong>of</strong> his career.<br />
Triple crown in Limoges<br />
Limoges had signed Dusko Ivanovic as head coach,<br />
and with Brown as its star, everything turned out great.<br />
Limoges won the French Cup, the French League and<br />
also the Korac Cup. Brown was the top scorer (16.4<br />
points in the national league, 20.9 in the Korac Cup) on<br />
a great team completed by the likes <strong>of</strong> Yann Bonato,<br />
Stephane Dumas, Harper Williams, Frederic Weis and<br />
Carl Thomas.<br />
Brown was decisive in the Korac Cup. In 10 games, he<br />
scored between 21 and 28 points as many as five times.<br />
But he saved his best for the title game against Unicaja<br />
Malaga. In the first game, played in Limoges on March<br />
22, the hosts beat Unicaja 80-58 thanks to Brown’s 31<br />
points on almost-perfect shooting: 6 <strong>of</strong> 8 two-pointers,<br />
5 <strong>of</strong> 8 threes and 4 <strong>of</strong> 5 free throws, plus 3 assists and<br />
4 steals. With an advantage <strong>of</strong> 22 points, Limoges had<br />
no problem lifting the trophy. Unicaja won by just nine<br />
at home (60-51) and Brown was the top scorer again for<br />
his team with 18 points, including 3 <strong>of</strong> 4 threes. It was his<br />
fourth trophy in Europe. But that was only the start.<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Marcus Brown<br />
B
Vladimir Stankovic<br />
His high level with Limoges caught the attention <strong>of</strong><br />
several <strong>European</strong> teams, and the fastest one to act was<br />
Benetton Treviso. Brown signed for the Italian team that<br />
also had Marcelo Nicola, Riccardo Pittis, Denis Marconato,<br />
Massimo Bulleri, Petar Naumoski, Bostjan Nachbar<br />
and Jorge Garbajosa. With that roster, the goal could<br />
only be the title <strong>of</strong> the newly-founded EuroLeague. But<br />
Benetton could only reach the quarterfinals, falling to<br />
AEK Athens 2-1 in the series. Brown did what was expected<br />
<strong>of</strong> him, scoring 20.3 points per game (42.4% on<br />
threes), but the team couldn’t advance.<br />
After three seasons with three different teams,<br />
Brown started a series <strong>of</strong> two-year contracts with his<br />
signing for Efes Pilsen <strong>of</strong> Turkey in 2001-02. At Efes, he<br />
delivered as a scorer with 19.6 and 18.7 points, respectively,<br />
but the Turkish team, despite its ambition and effort,<br />
wasn’t able to fulfill Brown’s goal: to contend for titles<br />
with the best in Europe. When CSKA Moscow called<br />
him for the 2003-04 season, it looked like Brown’s time<br />
had finally come. The Russian team was experiencing a<br />
huge expansion, with an expert coach in Dusan Ivkovic,<br />
a strong structure and economic stability envied by all<br />
its rivals. It was a big project designed to win the Euro-<br />
League, a title that the Red Army team had not lifted<br />
since 1971 when Aleksandar Gomelskiy, the president<br />
<strong>of</strong> the club in 2003, was coach <strong>of</strong> the team.<br />
Two frustrated attempts<br />
During the 2003-04 season, CSKA lived up to its role<br />
as favorite. The Russian team rolled to an 11-3 record in<br />
the regular season and then a 5-1 record in the Top 16.<br />
On a powerful team with J.R. Holden, Victor Khryapa,<br />
Victor Alexander, Theo Papaloukas, Dragan Tarlac,<br />
Mirsad Turkcan and Sergey Monia, Brown was the top<br />
scorer with 18.7 points per game. However, in that<br />
year’s Final Four in Tel Aviv, CSKA had to play against<br />
the host, Maccabi, which also had a super team, with<br />
Sarunas Jasikevicius, Anthony Parker, Maceo Baston,<br />
Derrick Sharp, Nikola Vujcic, Yotam Halperin, David<br />
Bluthenthal and Gur Shelef, plus the great Pini Gershon<br />
on the bench. Maccabi won 93-85 with 27 points<br />
from Parker, while Brown had 23 <strong>of</strong> his own. It was an<br />
unforgettable duel between two <strong>of</strong> the best shooters<br />
ever in the EuroLeague. In the third-place game, Brown<br />
scored 27 against Montepaschi Siena with 12 <strong>of</strong> 12 free<br />
throws, 4 rebounds and 5 assists for a performance<br />
index rating <strong>of</strong> 36 in a 94-97 win for CSKA.<br />
The second attempt for Brown and CSKA came the<br />
following season, 2004-05, with the Final Four coming to<br />
Moscow. CSKA mopped the floor in the regular season<br />
with a perfect 14-0 record, including pairs <strong>of</strong> victories<br />
against such teams as Benetton, Panathinaikos and<br />
Tau Ceramica. In the Top 16, CSKA suffered a single loss<br />
against FC Barcelona, but its impressive overall record<br />
<strong>of</strong> 20-1 and the fact that it was hosting the Final Four<br />
made CSKA the undisputed favorite to take it all. But,<br />
once again, basketball had a surprise up its sleeve. In the<br />
semifinals, CSKA faced Tau Ceramica, coached by Dusko<br />
Ivanovic – Brown’s old mentor at Limoges. Luis Scola,<br />
Pablo Prigioni, Travis Hansen, Arvydas Macijauskas (23<br />
points), Jose Manuel Calderon, Sergi Vidal, Tiago Splitter,<br />
Kornel David and Andy Betts surprised the hosts by<br />
winning 75-85. Marcus Brown played one <strong>of</strong> the worst<br />
games I can remember from him, with “only” 12 points.<br />
It was a hard blow, but Brown still had hopes <strong>of</strong><br />
becoming a EuroLeague champion. In the summer <strong>of</strong><br />
2005, Brown moved to Spain and joined Unicaja. Sergio<br />
Scariolo, then the coach in Malaga, talked to me about a<br />
detail that was unknown, at least to me:<br />
“Marcus was like a gift from the skies. He was a<br />
64<br />
65
complete player. But besides his unquestionable qualities<br />
on the court, what fascinated me about him was<br />
his mental strength. This is something difficult to learn.<br />
You either have it inside your head and your soul, or you<br />
don’t. If I had to list the players I coached with the strongest<br />
minds, Brown would be among the top three or<br />
four. The others: Sasha Djordjevic, Juan Carlos Navarro<br />
and Pau Gasol. A strong mind is what makes a champion<br />
complete. Brown was unbelievable in practice. He<br />
was capable <strong>of</strong> punishing himself to repeat something<br />
a thousand times until he managed to get it how he<br />
wanted it. He helped me a lot with the youngsters by<br />
setting this example. And on top <strong>of</strong> everything, he was<br />
very humble.”<br />
Indeed, his effort in third-place games was more<br />
evidence <strong>of</strong> Brown’s incredible pride. After winning<br />
the first consolation game in 2004, he and CSKA lost<br />
the second in Moscow after double-overtime to Panathinaikos.<br />
He scored 21 points, the most for CSKA, in<br />
that game. In the 2007 third-place game with Unicaja,<br />
Brown’s driving layup with 1.2 seconds left beat Tau<br />
Ceramica 76-74 and assured that Unicaja went home<br />
with at least one victory from its first, and still only,<br />
Final Four.<br />
Last stop, Zalgiris<br />
From season to season, Brown increased the<br />
amount <strong>of</strong> points he scored in the EuroLeague. Even<br />
if he was lacking a team title, the individual accolades<br />
kept piling up. He was weekly MVP several times and in<br />
the 2003-04 season he was part <strong>of</strong> the All-Euroleague<br />
First Team with Jasikevicius, Dejan Bodiroga, Turkcan<br />
and Sabonis. He was on the second team in the 2002-<br />
03 and 2004-05 seasons. At 33 years old, he was still a<br />
coveted player.<br />
Sabonis, his teammate in Portland, and later president<br />
at Zalgiris, convinced Brown to move to Kaunas.<br />
His scoring average decreased to 12.4 points, but it was<br />
enough for Maccabi to call him. He played in Tel Aviv<br />
during the 2008-09 season, and he put up 12.6 points<br />
per game. For 2009-10, Brown was back to Zalgiris and<br />
averaged 11.1 points at 36 years <strong>of</strong> age. He retired at<br />
the end <strong>of</strong> that season, and on November 17, 2001, the<br />
Euroleague paid him a well-deserved tribute in Kaunas.<br />
Seven years after retiring, Brown is still the sixth-best<br />
scorer ever in the EuroLeague with his 2,739 points in 179<br />
games. Just nine players to date have scored more than<br />
2,500 points, and each <strong>of</strong> the other eight played at least<br />
29 games more than Brown. In terms <strong>of</strong> scoring average,<br />
only two EuroLeague players this century have done better<br />
than Brown’s 15.3 points per game in more than 100<br />
appearances – Keith Langford (17.4) and Nando De Colo<br />
(16.4). Despite many more games being played these<br />
days, Brown is still ranked 10th in three-pointers made<br />
all-time, having connected on 327 <strong>of</strong> 827 attempts, for<br />
39.54%. Only Langdon has made more three-pointers at<br />
a higher percentage (42.7%). Brown was a shooter but<br />
his good technical foundations allowed him also to play<br />
point guard and dish assists, 458 in all, ranking him 28th<br />
all-time. He also ranks 23rd in steals, with 185, and was<br />
both a solid defender and rebounder.<br />
Brown was a driving force behind every team with<br />
which he won 19 national, regional or international<br />
league and cup titles in six different countries – France,<br />
Turkey, Russia, Spain, Israel and Lithuania – a variety<br />
that is unmatched. In a few words, he was a player who<br />
wrote his own page in the <strong>European</strong> basketball story.<br />
Marcus Brown<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
B
Juan Antonio<br />
Corbalan<br />
67
A doctor among<br />
the baskets<br />
If someone in a country with a long basketball<br />
tradition like Spain’s is known as the best point<br />
guard <strong>of</strong> all time and its most-decorated player,<br />
he certainly deserves a guaranteed spot among<br />
the legends. All <strong>of</strong> those accolades apply to Juan<br />
Antonio Corbalan, who retired in 1991 wearing the<br />
jersey <strong>of</strong> Valladolid, putting an end to a brilliant career.<br />
In his last active season, playing at 36 years old,<br />
he appeared in 15 games and averaged 6.5 points and<br />
2.8 assists in 25 minutes per game.<br />
The strange thing is that Corbalan returned to playing<br />
again after a two-year break. He had already retired<br />
after 17 years on the court – from 1971 to 1988 – with<br />
his life-long club, Real Madrid. But then came an interesting<br />
call from Gonzalo Gonzalo, the president <strong>of</strong> the<br />
club in Valladolid, the team that had signed Arvydas<br />
Sabonis. The Lithuanian giant had suffered injuries but<br />
wanted to show, at 27 years old, that he still had some<br />
good things to <strong>of</strong>fer to basketball. Sabonis was having<br />
a hard time adapting to this new chapter in his life. On<br />
the basketball court, he needed a great and – more to<br />
the point – experienced point guard by his side. The idea<br />
<strong>of</strong> Gonzalo to convince Corbalan to come out <strong>of</strong> retirement<br />
proved the perfect solution.<br />
Thus ended the great career <strong>of</strong> Corbalan, the best<br />
Spanish point guard <strong>of</strong> all time. But what about the<br />
beginnings <strong>of</strong> this man born in Madrid on August 3,<br />
1954? In the book “The King <strong>of</strong> Europe,” by Luis Miguel<br />
Gonzalez Lopez, dedicated to the basketball section<br />
<strong>of</strong> Real Madrid, Corbalan himself talked, as a junior,<br />
about his future: “I am not a future genius <strong>of</strong> basketball.<br />
Those are things that have to be proven by facts, and<br />
I still haven’t even started. The only thing on my mind<br />
now is playing. I hear people talking about me and they<br />
say that I took a big step forward, but I still have many<br />
things to do.”<br />
Indeed, besides his game, if anything was characteristic<br />
<strong>of</strong> Corbalan, it was his modesty. He was an exemplary<br />
sportsman in everything: his behavior on and <strong>of</strong>f<br />
the court, his fair play, and his respect for teammates,<br />
opponents and referees. On top <strong>of</strong> that, Corbalan was<br />
a brilliant student <strong>of</strong> medicine, a very difficult degree<br />
to obtain for an elite sportsman. But he got his MD on<br />
both fronts: in school and on the court. In fact, after retiring<br />
he became a prestigious cardiologist with many<br />
ideas that linked his two passions: sports and health.<br />
Corbalan founded and directs the La Salle Institute<br />
<strong>of</strong> Functional Rehabilitation and Applied Science to<br />
Sports, which is located in the Aravaca district <strong>of</strong> Madrid.<br />
However, we are here to talk about Corbalan the<br />
basketball player.<br />
Free throws in Nantes<br />
When Real Madrid reached the title game <strong>of</strong> the Euro-<br />
League in Nantes in 1973-74, Corbalan already had two<br />
Spanish League titles from the two previous seasons,<br />
even though his contribution to the team, due to his age,<br />
was not yet major. But little by little he was getting more<br />
playing time and more confidence from his coach, Lolo<br />
Sainz. For instance, on the way to the final against Sandro<br />
Gamba’s Ignis Varese, Corbalan scored 23 points<br />
against Heidelberg <strong>of</strong> Germany even though he went<br />
scoreless against Radnicki and Berck. But then came the<br />
final against Varese, the archrival <strong>of</strong> Real Madrid in that<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Juan Antonio Corbalan<br />
C
Vladimir Stankovic<br />
era. In a close game, Real Madrid was in trouble when,<br />
though leading 78-74, Carmelo Cabrera fouled out after<br />
having scored 16 points and directed the game perfectly.<br />
Lolo Sainz looked down the bench and threw young<br />
Juan Antonio Corbalan to the lions. The kid made good<br />
use <strong>of</strong> his minutes on the court to score four free throws<br />
for four golden points. Real Madrid won 84-82 and lifted<br />
its fifth continental crown after having waited six years<br />
since the fourth one.<br />
In the years 1978 and 1980, Real Madrid would win<br />
two more EuroLeague titles, the first against Ignis Varese<br />
in Munich (75-67) and the second against Maccabi<br />
Tel Aviv in Berlin (89-85). But in a conversation I had<br />
with him, Corbalan admitted that <strong>of</strong> the three titles he<br />
won with Real Madrid, the one he remembers with the<br />
most joy is the one from 1974 in Nantes.<br />
That April day in 1974 was the start <strong>of</strong> the brilliant<br />
international career <strong>of</strong> Juan Antonio Corbalan. At the<br />
end <strong>of</strong> the 1987-88 season, his last with Real Madrid, his<br />
titles amounted to three EuroLeagues, one Saporta Cup<br />
(1984 against Olimpia Milano, 82-81) and one Korac Cup<br />
(against Cibona 102-89 and 93-94, with 47 points by Drazen<br />
Petrovic in Zagreb); 12 Spanish Leagues, seven Spanish<br />
Cups and a Spanish Supercup; three Intercontinental<br />
Cups (1976 and 1977 against Varese in the final and 1978<br />
against Brazil’s Obras Sanitarias), a club world championship<br />
(1981), and a <strong>European</strong> Supercup. Corbalan was<br />
also chosen seven times as a member <strong>of</strong> the <strong>European</strong><br />
Selection all-star team, more than any other player.<br />
I remember perfectly the first time I saw Corbalan<br />
play. It was February 7, 1974, at the old Hala Sportova<br />
in New Belgrade, the Serbian basketball temple <strong>of</strong> that<br />
time. Radnicki Belgrade, the surprising champ <strong>of</strong> the<br />
strong Yugoslav League the previous season with a<br />
great generation <strong>of</strong> players led by coach Slobodan Piva<br />
Ivkovic, defeated Real Madrid 95-87. Corbalan didn’t<br />
play much and he didn’t score any points, as Real Madrid<br />
was well covered in that area with Wayne Brabender<br />
(37), Walter Szczerbiak (29) and Carmelo Cabrera<br />
(25). But Corbalan could not hide his talent despite the<br />
few minutes he played. It was the exact opposite.<br />
Silver in Nantes and Los Angeles<br />
Corbalan made his debut with the Spanish national<br />
team in an international competition at a qualifying tournament<br />
in the Netherlands for the 1972 Munich Olympics.<br />
His average <strong>of</strong> 8.8 points was a highlight for the team. He<br />
also helped the team advance through a second filter, the<br />
world qualifying tournament, for the same Olympics. But<br />
Corbalan didn’t manage to earn his place on the team for<br />
the 1973 EuroBasket in Barcelona. He was back on the<br />
team for the 1974 World Cup in Puerto Rico and he would<br />
not leave the team until his last big international competition,<br />
the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.<br />
Nantes is probably Corbalan’s favorite city because<br />
nine years after his first big triumph with Real Madrid,<br />
Spain took a silver medal there, too, at the 1983 EuroBasket.<br />
That was a great Spanish team, with Juan<br />
Antonio “Epi” San Epifanio averaging 20.0 points and<br />
playing with Chicho Sibilio (17.1 points), Fernando Martin<br />
(13.8), Corbalan (11.3), and Andres Jimenez (10.7).<br />
In a 95-94 semifinals win against the USSR, Corbalan<br />
was his team’s third-best scorer, with 16 points, after<br />
Sibilio (26) and Epi (25). However, Spain lost the title<br />
game 106-95 against Italy. One year later, at the Los<br />
Angeles Olympics, that great Spanish generation defeated<br />
Yugoslavia in the semis 74-61 before losing in<br />
the gold-medal game by 96-65 against a team <strong>of</strong> college<br />
students from the United States with great names<br />
like Jordan, Ewing, Perkins, Mullin, Alford and Klein.<br />
68<br />
69
“Those are two medals that have a special place<br />
in my memories,” Corbalan told me. “At that time, the<br />
USSR and Yugoslavia had better teams than us, but<br />
we managed to eliminate them in the semis <strong>of</strong> two big<br />
competitions. People following basketball nowadays<br />
must know that in those years, the first three spots<br />
were almost the exclusive property <strong>of</strong> Yugoslavia, the<br />
USSR and the USA.”<br />
And now a writer, too!<br />
For some years now, Corbalan has been a doctor<br />
only. From time to time he writes interesting columns in<br />
Madrid’s sports media. But not so long ago, he caught<br />
my attention with the title <strong>of</strong> his book: “Conversations<br />
with Mirza”. My first guess was that Corbalan transcribed<br />
some <strong>of</strong> the talks he had with his great friend<br />
and teammate on Real Madrid between 1980 and 1982,<br />
Mirza Delibasic. However, his book is a novel, a metaphor<br />
about Mirza and his home city Sarajevo, whose<br />
fate – like his own – was a sad one. Every word uttered<br />
by Corbalan about Delibasic gives <strong>of</strong>f deep respect,<br />
love and feeling. About his basketball and his enormous<br />
talent Corbalan simply says, “He was a genius.”<br />
And I totally agree.<br />
They first met at the U16 <strong>European</strong> Championship<br />
in Gorizia, Italy, in 1971. Mirza Delibasic was the best<br />
player for Yugoslavia, the eventual champ. They also<br />
interacted at the 1972 U18 <strong>European</strong> Championship in<br />
Zadar, with the same protagonist role for Mirza. After<br />
that, they crossed each other’s paths several times in<br />
big competitions and even were together twice in the<br />
<strong>European</strong> Selection all-star team. In the 1979-80 season,<br />
during the two games between Bosna Sarajevo,<br />
defending champion and Real Madrid, future champion,<br />
Delibasic showed to the fans in Madrid what Corbalan<br />
had known since 1971.<br />
In Sarajevo, Bosna defeated Real Madrid 98-96 without<br />
a big contribution from Delibasic. But in the second<br />
game in Madrid, played on February 21, 1980, Delibasic<br />
drove the home team’s defense crazy with 44 points<br />
despite Madrid’s 95-93 win. Fortunately for the Spanish<br />
team, Real Madrid signed Delibasic at the end <strong>of</strong> that<br />
season and then the relationship between two great<br />
players and great people became bigger than friendship.<br />
That relationship ended due to the early death <strong>of</strong><br />
Delibasic on December 8, 2001.Thanks to his friend,<br />
Dr. Juan Antonio Corbalan, Delibasic is somehow still<br />
among us again and in the hearts <strong>of</strong> the readers <strong>of</strong> the<br />
book “Conversations with Mirza”.<br />
Juan Antonio Corbalan<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
C
Kresimir<br />
Cosic<br />
71
A player ahead<br />
<strong>of</strong> his time<br />
Kresimir Cosic was one <strong>of</strong> those sensational<br />
players who changed the history <strong>of</strong> our<br />
sport. Unfortunately, he died on May 25,<br />
1995 in Baltimore, USA, at just 47 years<br />
old. Still, he had a past – both sporting and<br />
human – that only the most exceptional<br />
men can claim, whether they live long or short lives.<br />
For those who were not fortunate enough to see<br />
Cosic on the court – even if they can find a few games<br />
or plays <strong>of</strong> his on the internet – I’d define him a bit like<br />
Arvydas Sabonis, except 10 centimeters shorter, a lot<br />
lighter and <strong>of</strong> a different body type.<br />
Cosic was a 2.10-meter thin man who nonetheless<br />
had great rebounding ability. He was <strong>of</strong>ficially a center,<br />
but he could play at almost any position. He was a<br />
modern player, way ahead <strong>of</strong> his time, because he was<br />
capable <strong>of</strong> dishing assists like the best guards; shooting<br />
from mid-range like the best forwards; or blocking<br />
shots like the great big men. Cosic was the first center<br />
who started coming out <strong>of</strong> the paint, and it was not<br />
strange to see him in the high post, dribbling with one<br />
hand and telling his teammates what to do on the play.<br />
He didn’t do that because some coach said so. It was<br />
just his way <strong>of</strong> understanding basketball. Whatever he<br />
did, he had a reason for doing it – and that reason made<br />
sense. His was the logic <strong>of</strong> a smart man.<br />
Cosic was the extension <strong>of</strong> his coaches on the<br />
court – a description <strong>of</strong>ten reserved for point guards<br />
– because basketball ran through his veins. He was a<br />
huge talent. All <strong>of</strong> his teams – from when he debuted<br />
with Zadar at age 16 in 1964 to his retirement at 35 with<br />
Cibona in 1983 – had a huge advantage by having him<br />
on the roster.<br />
Kreso Cosic was an impulsive player, sometimes<br />
too much so, and his nerves could betray him on occasion.<br />
He would explode on court, angry at himself, his<br />
teammates or – more <strong>of</strong>ten – the refs, but he was calm<br />
again in no time. He had big hands and great timing for<br />
rebounds. Many times, he could just pull the ball out <strong>of</strong><br />
the air with one hand, like an octopus, and launch fastbreaks<br />
with a long pass. Cosic played with his head, using<br />
his excellent technique to overcome stronger rivals<br />
like Dino Meneghin or Vladimir Tkachenko. He was no<br />
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, but Cosic could also score with<br />
a precise sky hook. In one-on-one situations, he had a<br />
jump shot that was always good because the ball left<br />
his hands when the rival was coming down after biting<br />
on Cosic’s first fake.<br />
In 2011 in Milan I bought a book, “Dino Meneghin,<br />
Passi da Gigante”, the autobiography <strong>of</strong> the great Italian<br />
center. On page 80 we can read:<br />
“The best Yugoslav players were extra-classy, but<br />
also gentlemen. I am thinking specifically about Kreso<br />
Cosic. And I say that with love because he has not been<br />
among us for a few years. I admired him and I confess<br />
he was my weak spot. On the court, he was like a chip<br />
on your shoulder, a player who could do anything and<br />
everything. To me, he was the first player ever, including<br />
in the NBA, who could play all five positions. He was<br />
a center with the brain <strong>of</strong> a playmaker. He played like<br />
an assistant point guard, or like a small forward at 2.11<br />
meters. In a team, there are engineers and workers. He<br />
was an engineer. A generous man, loyal and kind, Kreso<br />
opened in me a universal world in terms <strong>of</strong> personality<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Kresimir Cosic<br />
C
Vladimir Stankovic<br />
and human values, something that was not possible<br />
with other rivals.”<br />
Natural-born talent<br />
Cosic was born in Zagreb on November 26, 1948.<br />
However, he grew up in Zadar, a Croatian city on the<br />
Dalmatian coast with a great basketball tradition. People<br />
in Zadar have a saying: “God created man and Zadar<br />
created basketball.” Zadar produced many great<br />
players, but the most famous two were Josip Gjergja<br />
and Kresimir Cosic. When Cosic, at 16 years old, started<br />
in Zadar’s first team, Gjergja was the star, an international<br />
player for Yugoslavia and an idol <strong>of</strong> the fans.<br />
The guard-center connection worked flawlessly and<br />
Gjergja helped Cosic, who at 18 became a member <strong>of</strong><br />
the national team and won his first silver medal at the<br />
1967 World Cup in Uruguay. The following year, at the<br />
Mexico Olympics, he also won the silver medal. With<br />
Zadar, he won three Yugoslav Leagues: 1965, 1967<br />
and 1968. In the summer <strong>of</strong> 1968, Cosic was on a <strong>European</strong><br />
team with Veikko Vainio from Finland and their<br />
meeting changed his life. Vainio, a student at Brigham<br />
Young University, told him about life in college and<br />
the life <strong>of</strong> Mormons. Cosic, who until then was sort <strong>of</strong><br />
an enfant terrible, a long-haired smoker and “lover <strong>of</strong><br />
life”, accepted the invitation and moved to the United<br />
States in 1969.<br />
That’s why Ranko Zeravica, the coach who called<br />
Cosic to the national team at age 17, said the following<br />
words on March 6, 2006, when Cosic’s No.11 became<br />
just the second jersey, after Danny Ainge’s, to be retired<br />
at Brigham Young: “Yugoslavia had problems with<br />
Cosic before he came here because he was underdeveloped<br />
as a person and a player. But he returned to<br />
Yugoslavia a complete man and player. He came back to<br />
Yugoslavia as a well-respected man. He brought back<br />
from BYU an outstanding way <strong>of</strong> behaving.”<br />
In three years at BYU, always wearing number 11,<br />
Cosic averaged 19.1 points and 11.6 rebounds. He was<br />
an idol for the fans, the man who made it possible for<br />
a new arena with a capacity <strong>of</strong> more than 20,000 spectators<br />
to be built. He was the first non-American ever<br />
chosen to the All-American team and a strong candidate<br />
for the NBA. He was chosen by Portland with pick No.<br />
144 in the 10th round <strong>of</strong> the 1972 draft, the year that<br />
the number one and two picks were LaRue Martin and<br />
Bob McAdoo, respectively. Curiously, Cosic was drafted<br />
again the following year by the Los Angeles Lakers with<br />
the 73rd pick, but he never played in the NBA. He was<br />
too patriotic to give up his club <strong>of</strong> origin and his national<br />
team, with which he soon started winning everything.<br />
After two silver medals at the 1969 and 1971 EuroBaskets,<br />
Yugoslavia finally won its first gold medal in 1973<br />
in Barcelona with Mirko Novosel on the bench. Novosel’s<br />
merit was his introduction <strong>of</strong> young talent to the team,<br />
including Dragan Kicanovic, Drazen Dalipagic and Zoran<br />
Slavnic. But the soul <strong>of</strong> that team was Cosic. He would<br />
lead Yugoslavia to EuroBasket titles in 1975 and 1977, a<br />
World Cup silver in 1974 and a gold in 1978, Olympics<br />
silver at Montreal in 1976 and gold at Moscow in 1980.<br />
His international career with Yugoslavia ended with<br />
14 medals. Only Sergei Belov <strong>of</strong> the Soviet Union has<br />
more medals than Cosic. In 305 games (an absolute<br />
record) with the Yugoslav team, Cosic scored 3,180<br />
points, ranking him third, after Dalipagic with 3,700 and<br />
Kicanovic with 3,300.<br />
Back to <strong>European</strong> club ball, respecting all the rules <strong>of</strong><br />
his new Mormon religion, Cosic won two more Yugoslav<br />
League titles with Zadar, in 1974 and 1975. From 1976<br />
to 1978, he was player-coach with Olimpija Ljubljana.<br />
72<br />
73
In 1978, he joined Synudine Bologna and he turned<br />
the team into a double-champ in Italy overnight as he<br />
averaged 35 minutes per game with 16.9 points, 9.9 rebounds<br />
and 1.6 assists. When Novosel started to build<br />
his great Cibona team in Zagreb in the early 1980s, he<br />
saw Cosic as the key piece. On March 16, 1982 in Brussels,<br />
Cibona won the Saporta Cup against Real Madrid<br />
after overtime, 96-95, with 22 points by Cosic. Cibona<br />
would also win its first Yugoslav League title and in<br />
1982-83 the team made its debut in the top <strong>European</strong><br />
competition. It was Cosic’s last season and the team<br />
had an awful record in the competition, at 0-10, but Novosel<br />
was looking into the future. When he managed to<br />
sign Drazen Petrovic in the summer <strong>of</strong> 1984, the future<br />
was secured despite not having Cosic on the team. The<br />
mission had been accomplished.<br />
Believing in youngsters<br />
Once retired, Kreso Cosic dedicated his life to his<br />
passion: coaching. He was named coach <strong>of</strong> the Yugoslav<br />
national team. He made his debut at the 1985<br />
EuroBasket in Germany with a solid team (Drazen<br />
Petrovic, Zoran Cutura, Stojan Vrankovic, Zoran Radovic,<br />
Andro Knego, Mihovil Nakic, Borislav Vucevic<br />
and Boban Petrovic) but finished seventh. To the World<br />
Cup in 1986 in Spain, Cosic brought an 18-year-old kid<br />
named Vlade Divac. During the 1985-86 season, he<br />
traveled several times to Kraljevo, the city <strong>of</strong> Divac’s<br />
club, to spend a week or 10 days practicing individually<br />
with the young center. Divac never forgot this and he<br />
never missed a chance to remember the great Cosic.<br />
In the semifinal against the USSR with the score 85-82<br />
for Yugoslavia, Divac fumbled a ball that allowed Valdis<br />
Valters to make a three-pointer that forced overtime<br />
and ultimately led to Yugoslavia’s loss. After the game,<br />
Divac made up his mind to abandon the sport because<br />
he was clearly not made for it. The following day, in the<br />
game for third place, the starting center was Vlade Divac.<br />
The message from Cosic was loud and clear: “I believe<br />
in you.” For the 1987 EuroBasket in Athens, Cosic<br />
called young prospects like Toni Kukoc, Dino Radja and<br />
Aleksandar Djordjevic to join Divac, Zarko Paspalj and<br />
Goran Grbovic. The bronze medal they won was a prize<br />
for a team full <strong>of</strong> talent, the great vision <strong>of</strong> Kreso Cosic.<br />
I was lucky enough to not only follow many <strong>of</strong> Cosic’s<br />
games but also to meet him personally and even collaborate<br />
with him during his last stint as national head<br />
coach. I was a member <strong>of</strong> a “press commission” <strong>of</strong> the<br />
Yugoslav Federation, an earlier version <strong>of</strong> today’s press<br />
<strong>of</strong>ficers. But since I was the only one <strong>of</strong> the three members<br />
living in Belgrade, most <strong>of</strong> the practical duties fell<br />
to me. I talked to Cosic many times because he was a<br />
perfectionist and always wanted to improve things.<br />
He was a super kind man with a wide smile. He used to<br />
call people with the phrase “Stari” (meaning, old man).<br />
Almost every one <strong>of</strong> his conversations started with his<br />
famous, “Listen, old man...”<br />
He spent the last years <strong>of</strong> his life in the United States<br />
as a Croatian diplomat. He has a statue in Zadar and<br />
a new arena there bears his name. The Croatian Cup<br />
tournament is also named for him: Kresimir Cosic Cup.<br />
He was buried at the Mirogoj cemetery in Zagreb, a few<br />
meters away from another basketball legend, Drazen<br />
Petrovic.<br />
Kresimir Cosic, an unforgettable man on the court –<br />
and even more so <strong>of</strong>f the court.<br />
Kresimir Cosic<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
C
Zoran<br />
Cutura<br />
75
A great from the<br />
shadows<br />
There was a time when <strong>European</strong> basketball<br />
was being played in Syria, which even hosted<br />
the 1979 FIBA U16 <strong>European</strong> Championship.<br />
In the title game played in Damascus,<br />
Yugoslavia defeated Italy 103-100 and the<br />
hero <strong>of</strong> the game was one Zoran Cutura<br />
(CHUH-tu-rah), who scored 41 points. Antonello Riva<br />
and Alberto Tonut starred for Italy. Earlier in the tournament,<br />
against a strong Spain squad led by Fernando<br />
Martin and Andres Jimenez, Cutura scored 30 points<br />
in an 89-88 win. His average for the tourney was an<br />
impressive 23.9 points. Cutura was the best scorer and<br />
the MVP, even though not <strong>of</strong>ficially. Some other very<br />
good players who came out <strong>of</strong> this generation were Nebojsa<br />
Zorkic, Srdjan Dabic and Marko Ivanovic, but the<br />
only high-pr<strong>of</strong>ile star was Cutura himself.<br />
Born in Zagreb on March 12, 1962, Cutura started<br />
playing basketball in school, where the physical education<br />
teacher noticed his height (2.02 meters) and sent<br />
him to the Industromontaza club, where he started<br />
taking basketball more seriously. The flawless scouting<br />
system run by the Yugoslav federation never let any<br />
talents slip from their sight. That’s the only explanation<br />
for how a kid from a second division team became the<br />
leader <strong>of</strong> the national team. Cutura played in Industromontaza<br />
for three years, between 1978 and 1981. He<br />
then signed for the Cibona team <strong>of</strong> Mirko Novosel, who<br />
had just started building the finest opus <strong>of</strong> his career as<br />
a coach: the Great Cibona.<br />
“Few people know that Cutura had a deal with Zadar.<br />
Fortunately, I managed to stop him from leaving. I convinced<br />
him that he had to stay home and be a part <strong>of</strong> my<br />
project,” the legendary coach recalled in 2014.<br />
Novosel put his team together step by step, as if<br />
building a mosaic. The key piece at the start <strong>of</strong> a long<br />
journey was the arrival <strong>of</strong> Kresimir Cosic, already a<br />
veteran, but always a genius. From Dubrovnik arrived<br />
Andro Knego; from Sibenik came Aleksandar Petrovic<br />
first and then his brother Drazen. Ivo Nakic came from<br />
Rijeka and Branko Vukicevic from OKK Belgrade. The<br />
culmination <strong>of</strong> the process would be Cibona’s back-toback<br />
<strong>European</strong> crowns in 1985 and 1986. But even before<br />
that, Cutura’s career experienced other important<br />
moments.<br />
Triple crown in the first season<br />
Cutura competed at the first FIBA U19 <strong>Basketball</strong><br />
World Cup in Brazil in 1979. A good Yugoslav team with<br />
Zeljko Obradovic, Goran Grbovic, Zoran Radovic and<br />
Cutura (18.3 points) finished fourth. The following year,<br />
at the 1980 FIBA U18 <strong>European</strong> Championship in Celje,<br />
Yugoslavia was second behind the USSR. Cutura was not<br />
just a name anymore, but a quality player. Against Italy, he<br />
scored 29 points and he averaged 22.8 for the tourney.<br />
“Zoran always had a sixth sense for getting the ball,”<br />
Novosel explained. “He was not a tall man, he was not<br />
athletic. He had the height <strong>of</strong> a small forward, but he<br />
somehow sensed where the ball would go and he also<br />
had great timing for rebounds. At the start <strong>of</strong> his career,<br />
he practiced a lot at two-on-two and ‘three, three, three,’<br />
even on street playgrounds. And that helped him a lot.”<br />
In his first season with Cibona, Cutura started winning<br />
titles. Cibona defeated Bosna Sarajevo, the reigning<br />
<strong>European</strong> champ that year, in the Yugoslav Cup final,<br />
Zoran Cutura<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
C
Vladimir Stankovic<br />
68-62. In the Saporta Cup, Cibona reached the final. On<br />
March 16, 1982 in Brussels, Real Madrid – armed with<br />
Fernando Martin, Juan Antonio Corbalan, Mirza Delibasic,<br />
Wayne Brabender, Juanma Iturriaga and Fernando<br />
Romay - was the clear favorite, but the talented Croatian<br />
team managed to prevail. After trailing 50-40 at<br />
the break, Real Madrid managed to force overtime, 88-<br />
88, but in the extra session it fell behind and lost 96-95.<br />
Only five players scored for Cibona in that game: Knego<br />
34, Cosic and Aca Petrovic 22 each, Damir Pavlicevic 12<br />
and Mihovil Nakic, 6. The young Cutura, just like Rajko<br />
Gospodnetic and Adnan Becic, was scoreless.<br />
The Yugoslav League also presented, for the first<br />
time and with its share <strong>of</strong> criticism, a play<strong>of</strong>fs system.<br />
Partizan finished first and Cibona second. The first<br />
game <strong>of</strong> their play<strong>of</strong>f series was played at the old Sports<br />
Hall in New Belgrade. It is still one <strong>of</strong> the best games<br />
I can remember at the club level. Three overtimes,<br />
drama in the final seconds, and in the end, a 112-108<br />
Cibona victory. The final series was best-<strong>of</strong>-three and at<br />
home Cibona won easily and claimed its first title.<br />
Two-time <strong>European</strong> champ<br />
Cibona won the Yugoslav Cup in 1983 and won the<br />
Yugoslav League title again in 1984, which allowed the<br />
team to return to the EuroLeague. The team had a great<br />
roster but it was lacking a superstar, a leader. Novosel,<br />
smart as always, took the lead and won the battle, over<br />
several other teams, for the young Drazen Petrovic.<br />
After a great season, with 12,000 fans attending all<br />
its home games, Cibona reached the continental title<br />
game. The opponent: Real Madrid. The site: Peace and<br />
Friendship Stadium in Piraeus, Greece. The referees:<br />
Yvan Mainini, the future FIBA president, and Costas<br />
Rigas, the future Euroleague <strong>Basketball</strong> director <strong>of</strong> referees.<br />
The date: April 3, 1985.<br />
Cibona won 87-78 behind 36 points from Drazen<br />
Petrovic, but Cutura also played 33 minutes and scored<br />
16 points as one <strong>of</strong> the key men for his team. Novosel,<br />
following the Yugoslavian school method, didn’t make<br />
many changes. Aca Petrovic and Nakic played 40 minutes<br />
each, Drazen 39 and Knego 37. Real Madrid had a great<br />
team with the Martin brothers, Fernando and Antonio,<br />
Corbalan, Iturriaga, Rafa Rullan, Wayne Robinson and<br />
Brian Jackson, but it could not match Cibona’s talent.<br />
Cibona ended the season with another triple crown<br />
because it won the Yugoslav Cup (against Jugoplastika<br />
104-83) and the domestic league title, as well. Cutura also<br />
fulfilled another dream as he made his debut with the<br />
senior national team at the 1985 EuroBasket in Germany.<br />
In the midst <strong>of</strong> a generation change, Yugoslavia finished<br />
seventh, but Cutura managed to average 9.2 points.<br />
With the same roster, Cibona started to defend its<br />
EuroLeague title in 1985-86. On April 3, 1986, the team<br />
reached the championship game in Budapest, where it<br />
would meet Zalgiris with Arvydas Sabonis. Again, the<br />
ref was Costas Rigas, but this time with Vittorio Fiorito<br />
<strong>of</strong> Italy. Cibona managed to defeat Zalgiris 94-82. Danko<br />
Cvjeticanin scored 24 points, Drazen 22, Cutura 16<br />
(with 2 <strong>of</strong> 2 free throws and 7 <strong>of</strong> 12 field goals). Sabonis<br />
scored 27 points and had 14 rebounds, but was ejected<br />
from the game in the 31st minute.<br />
Cutura’s role was, as usual, not that <strong>of</strong> a visible star,<br />
but that <strong>of</strong> the crucial player for his coaches and teammates.<br />
He was a team player and a star who maybe<br />
didn’t shine too bright, but never dimmed either. He<br />
was constant.<br />
In the summer <strong>of</strong> 1986, Cutura put a new medal<br />
around his neck as Yugoslavia won the bronze at the<br />
76<br />
77
World Cup in Spain. His contribution was 10.4 points<br />
per game. The following year he also won trophies.<br />
First, in March, Cibona defeated Scavolini Pesaro 89-74<br />
in Novi Sad to claim the Saporta Cup.<br />
Cosic, by then the Yugoslav national team coach,<br />
didn’t call Cutura for the 1987 EuroBasket in Athens,<br />
which saw the debut <strong>of</strong> Toni Kukoc, Vlade Divac, Dino<br />
Radja and Sasha Djordjevic. In 1988 Cibona won its last<br />
title in Yugoslavia. In the Yugoslav Cup final in Rijeka,<br />
the Zagreb team defeated Boza Maljkovic’s Jugoplastika<br />
82-80. Looking back on the end <strong>of</strong> the game, my<br />
friend Novosel shared a few thoughts:<br />
“The clock showed 20 seconds left and we had possession.<br />
I called for a timeout and I showed a play for<br />
Cutura. They expected Drazen to take the shot, which<br />
was logical, but I trusted Zoran. After good ball circulation,<br />
Zoran was left open and with a perfect shot, he<br />
gave us the win.”<br />
Cutura was the man <strong>of</strong> the game with 21 points and<br />
the game-winning shot. Drazen scored 15 points. On<br />
the other side, Dusko Ivanovic netted 15 and Kukoc 14.<br />
For the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, coach Dusan<br />
Ivkovic called Cutura back to the team. Yugoslavia<br />
won the silver medal, behind only the USSR, with 8.2<br />
points and 3.5 rebounds coming from Cutura. In 1989,<br />
he enjoyed EuroBasket at home, in front <strong>of</strong> his fans.<br />
Yugoslavia was back on top with uncontested superiority.<br />
With Drazen Petrovic as its absolute leader, the<br />
rest <strong>of</strong> the team was Divac, Kukoc, Radja, Zarko Paspalj,<br />
Jure Zdovc, Predrag Danilovic, Zoran Radovic, Mario Primorac,<br />
Stojan Vrankovic and Zradko Radulovic. Cutura<br />
contributed 5 points per game.<br />
World champion<br />
The following summer, almost the same team besides<br />
the injured Radja went on to win the World Cup in<br />
Buenos Aires with authority. Cutura was a part <strong>of</strong> that<br />
team too, the last <strong>of</strong> Yugoslavia as a unified country.<br />
In the 1990-91 season, Cutura played his last Yugoslav<br />
League because, after the breakup <strong>of</strong> the country,<br />
Slovenians and Croatians did not play the Yugoslav<br />
championship anymore. His 10 years in the first division<br />
ended with 269 games, 3,425 points and an average <strong>of</strong><br />
14.7 points. His best scoring seasons were 18.5 points<br />
in 1983-84 and 19.1 in the 1989-90 season.<br />
At age 30, he still had a lot to say on the court, but he<br />
didn’t make the Croatian national team for the Barcelona<br />
Olympics in 1992. In 1991-92 he played for Cibona in the<br />
first EuroLeague with more than one team per country.<br />
Because <strong>of</strong> the war in Croatia, Cibona played its home<br />
games in Spain. With Radulovic, Danko Cvjeticanin, Veljko<br />
Mrsic, Knego, Franjo Arapovic and Cutura, it was a<br />
solid team. Cutura did not play the 1993 EuroBasket in<br />
Germany either. That year, after 12 seasons with Cibona,<br />
Cutura decided to move to Split. In 1994 he won his last<br />
trophy, the Croatian Cup, before retiring in 1995.<br />
After his impressive run in Cibona, Split and the<br />
national team, Cutura had won 17 titles, a silver medal<br />
and two bronzes. He is one <strong>of</strong> the few greats from<br />
the former Yugoslavia who never played abroad. He<br />
explained several times that he had the chance to do<br />
so, but that his kids were in school and he didn’t want to<br />
leave without his family.<br />
After his career, Cutura became a colleague <strong>of</strong> mine.<br />
He is a well-known journalist, well respected because <strong>of</strong><br />
his basketball knowledge and clear and direct style. He is a<br />
perfect analyst, with the right words about any situation.<br />
Zoran Cutura<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
C
Drazen<br />
Dalipagic<br />
79
The sky jumper<br />
The history <strong>of</strong> Drazen Dalipagic is not<br />
your typical one, in which a great young<br />
talent has a brilliant junior career, then<br />
explodes later as a senior and meets all<br />
expectations. Simply put, Dalipagic was<br />
always a senior because at the age when<br />
Kresimir Cosic, Dragan Kicanovic, Zoran Slavnic,<br />
Mirza Delibasic and the rest were exploding into basketball<br />
and well before he would join them and form a<br />
great Yugoslavian national team, Dalipagic was playing<br />
... football. His nickname precisely comes from his<br />
football days. A central defender <strong>of</strong> FC Velez Mostar<br />
was called Prajo – and for some reason, Dalipagic also<br />
took that name, which in Belgrade would later become<br />
“Praja” (pronounced, pra-ya).<br />
Dalipagic, who was born on November 27, 1951 in<br />
Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina, came into basketball<br />
by chance. But with a talent for all ball sports, he soon<br />
became the best player in Lokomotiva, the local team<br />
from Mostar. His talent took him to the Bosnia-Herzegovina<br />
national team, with whom, in a tourney played<br />
in Zvornik <strong>of</strong> his native country, he destroyed Serbia in<br />
front <strong>of</strong> Ranko Zeravica, then the coach <strong>of</strong> Yugoslavia<br />
and the future Partizan coach starting in 1972. What<br />
Zeravica saw in Dalipagic was already known among<br />
Yugoslav scouts. Everybody wanted to sign him. Jugoplastika<br />
took the lead in that race and the young player<br />
even got some advance money from the deal. But Partizan<br />
persevered. At the end <strong>of</strong> the 1970-71 season, Partizan<br />
descended into the second division, but thanks to<br />
a change in the competition system, the team got back<br />
to the first division for the start <strong>of</strong> the next one because<br />
the second division had been played through the summer.<br />
Djordje Colovic, a smart Partizan man, convinced<br />
Dalipagic to travel to Belgrade by telling him about the<br />
club’s big plans to build a great team with Zeravica on<br />
the bench. Dalipagic would only accept under one condition:<br />
that Partizan was back in the first division. When<br />
Partizan met its side <strong>of</strong> the deal, Dalipagic did the same,<br />
even though breaking his agreement with Jugoplastika<br />
cost the player a six-month suspension from the Bosnian<br />
federation. He made his debut on the road against<br />
Zadar with only 3 points. But in the debut in front <strong>of</strong> his<br />
own fans, against Lokomotiva Zagreb (the future Cibona),<br />
he scored 21. That was the start <strong>of</strong> a brilliant career<br />
that would end at Crvena Zvezda in the 1990-91 season<br />
with the legendary Praja at 39 years <strong>of</strong> age.<br />
Shoot and jump<br />
Praja was not as talented as Cosic, as imaginative<br />
as Kicanovic, as elegant as Delibasic or as smart on the<br />
court as Slavnic. But he had two things that turned him<br />
into one <strong>of</strong> the best scorers ever. He could shoot and rebound.<br />
Or jump and shoot. Two inseparable elements.<br />
He jumped to grab the ball, he jumped to take a shot,<br />
especially from the corner, his favorite spot. We can add<br />
a third element, related to rebounds: dunks. His were<br />
spectacular, a combination <strong>of</strong> strength, quickness, confidence<br />
and, also, a great understanding with Dragan<br />
Kicanovic, who dished special assists to make Praja’s<br />
alley-oops easier. The press in Belgrade nicknamed him<br />
“The Sky Jumper”.<br />
After the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, Zeravica<br />
left the national team to build a great Partizan. Dalipagic<br />
was the first piece <strong>of</strong> the puzzle. In 1973, Kicanovic<br />
joined the team, and one <strong>of</strong> the best Yugoslavian<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Drazen Dalipagic<br />
D
Vladimir Stankovic<br />
basketball duos ever was born. The successor to Zeravica<br />
for the national team bench was Mirko Novosel,<br />
his assistant. For the 1973 EuroBasket in Barcelona,<br />
Novosel started a revolution: aside from the veterans<br />
like Cosic, Rato Tvrdic, Damir Solman, Vinko Jelovac<br />
and Nikola Plecas, he called Dalipagic, Kicanovic, Zeljko<br />
Jerkov, Dragan Ivkovic, Zoran Marovic and Slavnic, already<br />
a veteran at 24 whom Zeravica had not counted<br />
on. The outcome was spectacular: Yugoslavia’s first<br />
gold medal in a EuroBasket and the start <strong>of</strong> an era that<br />
would peak with the gold medal at the 1980 Olympics<br />
in Moscow. The core <strong>of</strong> this brilliant team was formed<br />
by Cosic (born in 1948), Slavnic (1949), Dalipagic (1951)<br />
and Kicanovic (1953). As can be seen, they were not<br />
from the same generation, but they connected on the<br />
court. They played in four different positions and they<br />
only needed a fifth man to form an unstoppable starting<br />
five. Usually, the fifth man was center Zeljko Jerkov.<br />
Owner <strong>of</strong> 12 medals<br />
When distributing roles, Praja had always the toughest<br />
one: scoring as much as possible. He started in Barcelona<br />
in 1973 with an average <strong>of</strong> 8 points per game. In<br />
Belgrade 1975 he had 12.1. Then came Montreal 1976<br />
(18.2 ppg.), Belgium 1977 (19.8), Manila 1978 (22.4) and<br />
Turin 1979 (14.0), Moscow 1980 (24.4), Prague 1981<br />
(17.0), Columbia 1982 (18.1), Nantes 1983 (18.3), Los<br />
Angeles 1984 (21.9) and Madrid 1986 (16.2). During<br />
his 13 years with the national team, in the three great<br />
competitions – EuroBasket, the World Cup, and the<br />
Olympic Games – he won 12 medals: 5 golds, 3 silvers<br />
and 4 bronzes. He played 246 games and scored 3,700<br />
points, 400 more than second-in-line Kicanovic and<br />
520 more than the third-best scorer, Cosic. Only Cosic,<br />
with 14, has more medals than Dalipagic. His scoring<br />
high for the national team was 46 points against Romania<br />
in 1976, the second-best mark ever on the team,<br />
surpassed only by Drazen Petrovic’s 47 points against<br />
the Netherlands in 1986.<br />
In his 10 years at Partizan, Dalipagic played a total<br />
<strong>of</strong> 305 games, scored 8,278 points (27.1 per game)<br />
and won two national leagues, one domestic cup and<br />
one Korac Cup, in 1976. He also played in Italy for<br />
Venezia, Udine and Verona, totaling 241 games with<br />
7,993 points and 47.1% three-point shooting. He was<br />
top scorer in Italy three times, with averages <strong>of</strong> 30.8,<br />
36.5 and 36.3 points per game. On January 25, 1987,<br />
playing for Venezia against Virtus Bologna (107-102) he<br />
scored ... 70 points! In Venezia, in the second division,<br />
his average for the 1981-82 season was ... 42.9 points!<br />
In the 1982-83 season, he played for Real Madrid, but<br />
only in the EuroLeague. In that team, he met fellow Bosnian<br />
Mirza Delibasic.<br />
At 39, Dalipagic accepted the call from his great<br />
friend Moka Slavnic, coach <strong>of</strong> Crvena Zvezda, for the<br />
1990-91 season and he didn’t disappoint. He scored<br />
321 points and his three-point accuracy was 38%. The<br />
esteemed players who achieved more than him that<br />
season are: Arian Komazec <strong>of</strong> Zadar was the best scorer<br />
(645), Zarko Paspalj <strong>of</strong> Partizan second (576), Toni<br />
Kukoc third (438). The best shooters from downtown<br />
were Zeljko Obradovic <strong>of</strong> Partizan (58.5%) and Velimir<br />
Perasovic <strong>of</strong> Jugoplastika (50%).<br />
Dalipagic could have been the first <strong>European</strong> in<br />
the NBA. After the Montreal Olympics in 1976, where<br />
Yugoslavia lost the final to the USA, the Boston Celtics<br />
called Praja. He spent two weeks in their summer camp<br />
and convinced everyone. But signing for an NBA team<br />
would mean losing his “amateur” status, which would<br />
deprive him <strong>of</strong> playing with Yugoslavia in FIBA competi-<br />
80<br />
81
After all, he was named the <strong>European</strong> player <strong>of</strong> the year<br />
three times - in 1977, 1978 and 1980!<br />
After his great playing career, Praja coached Gorizia<br />
<strong>of</strong> Italy for several years, and then was sports director<br />
from some humble teams <strong>of</strong> Belgrade. More recently, he<br />
has been living away from basketball. His son Davorin<br />
followed his footsteps and was a pro in Portugal, Italy,<br />
Cyprus and even played for Partizan for a short stint.<br />
But the weight <strong>of</strong> his name was too big despite him being<br />
a fine player.<br />
Because his father was too great.<br />
Drazen Dalipagic<br />
tions. It was too big a sacrifice for such a patriotic player.<br />
I think that, because <strong>of</strong> his playing style, his physical<br />
strength, his scoring and rebounding abilities, he would<br />
have been able to play in the NBA without a doubt. The<br />
<strong>European</strong> pioneers (Sarunas Marciulionis, Vlade Divac,<br />
Alexander Volkov, Drazen Petrovic) confirmed the <strong>European</strong><br />
potential some 10 years later. His greatness was<br />
recognized when Dalipagic was inducted into the Naismith<br />
Memorial <strong>Basketball</strong> Hall <strong>of</strong> Fame on September<br />
10, 2004. FIBA did the same on September 12, 2007.<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
D
Ivo<br />
Daneu<br />
83
The first great<br />
Slovenian<br />
He never won a <strong>European</strong> cup. In fact,<br />
he didn’t even play in any finals. He<br />
didn’t win any other titles since they<br />
didn’t even exist in his playing years.<br />
But believe me, Ivo Daneu was one <strong>of</strong><br />
the greats. Daneu, who was born on<br />
October 6, 1937, in Maribor, was the first Slovenian<br />
basketball superstar. Slovenia is a small country,<br />
with hardly two million people. But it has a long basketball<br />
tradition and many greats played alongside<br />
Daneu and after him. From the generations <strong>of</strong> Bors<br />
Kristancic, Vital Eiselt, Miha Lokar, Marjan Kandus,<br />
Bogdan Miler, Matija Dermastija, Borut Basin and Alosa<br />
Zorga, continuing with Peter Vilfan and Jure Zdovc,<br />
and leading us to modern stars like Rasho Nesterovic,<br />
Primoz Brezec, Erazem Lorbek, Jaka Lakovic, Bostjan<br />
Nachbar, Sasha Vujacic, Goran Dragic and, the latest,<br />
Luka Doncic.<br />
However, before all <strong>of</strong> them was Ivo Daneu, a<br />
1.84-meter guard who <strong>of</strong>fered whatever skill his team<br />
needed. If the team needed points, he scored them. If<br />
his teammates were in need <strong>of</strong> assists, he delivered in<br />
spades. If he had to guard the other team’s best scorer,<br />
there he was. He was one <strong>of</strong> those players who makes<br />
his teammates better, even above their real potential.<br />
In the old Yugoslavia, the name Daneu was quickly<br />
matched with Radivoj Korac. Almost from the same<br />
generation (Korac was born in 1938), they formed the<br />
greatest duo <strong>of</strong> early Yugoslav basketball and they<br />
were key cogs in the rise <strong>of</strong> that country’s basketball<br />
from mediocrity to elite.<br />
In his hometown <strong>of</strong> Maribor, which he had to leave<br />
when his family was thrown out by the Germans, like<br />
many other Slovenians, Daneu’s first love was tennis.<br />
After that, he tried football until, as luck would have it, a<br />
basketball hit him in the face. He was walking out <strong>of</strong> the<br />
stadium and not paying any attention. So he stopped<br />
by the basketball court, picked up the ball and scored.<br />
He never thought <strong>of</strong> any other sport again.<br />
His great talent didn’t go unnoticed at his local Maribor<br />
club, Branik. Several first-division teams wanted to<br />
sign him. Partizan Belgrade <strong>of</strong>fered him “coal and food”<br />
– a common remuneration in those years. But Ljubljana<br />
was closer. He signed for Olimpija in 1956, and the<br />
following year he led the team to its first title! With<br />
Maribor, he was already on the national team, but it was<br />
when he was with Olimpija that he was called – together<br />
with teammates Marjan Kandus, Boris Kristancic, Bogdan<br />
Miler and Matija Dermastija – by coach Aleksandar<br />
Nikolic to be in the 1957 EuroBasket squad in Istanbul.<br />
Yugoslavia finished sixth, and the scoring average <strong>of</strong> a<br />
20-year-old Daneu was 6.5 points. But Nikolic knew he<br />
had a leader for years to come.<br />
Real Madrid wanted him<br />
With Olimpija, Daneu won six Yugoslav League titles<br />
between 1957 and 1970, but there is no reliable statistical<br />
data. He took his team several times to the gates<br />
<strong>of</strong> the <strong>European</strong> final. At the 1967 Final Four in Madrid,<br />
together with Borut Basin (who scored 32 points), he<br />
drove the Real Madrid defense crazy, even though the<br />
Whites won 88-86. Santiago Bernabeu, the Real Madrid<br />
president, gave an order: “Sign this number 10 immediately.”<br />
No. 10 was, <strong>of</strong> course, Daneu. However, it was<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Ivo Daneu<br />
D
Vladimir Stankovic<br />
impossible for him to get out <strong>of</strong> Yugoslavia and even<br />
more difficult to sign for a team from Spain, a country<br />
with whom Yugoslavia didn’t have diplomatic relations.<br />
In the 1963 eighthfinals against Alsace Bagnolet <strong>of</strong><br />
France, Daneu was the unwilling protagonist <strong>of</strong> a scandal.<br />
Daneu was in the military service in Belgrade, and<br />
without him, Olimpija lost 80-61. For the second game,<br />
the club moved heaven and earth to try to get Daneu to<br />
play. Permission arrived at the last minute and he left<br />
in his car at about noon. It was a 635-kilometer drive<br />
to Ljubljana and at that time it took about eight hours<br />
due to bad roads and, especially, the snow. Olimpija<br />
waited for Daneu and delayed the start <strong>of</strong> the game for<br />
almost two hours. The French protested, but the game<br />
didn’t start until news reached the arena that Daneu<br />
was stranded in the middle <strong>of</strong> the snow. Without him,<br />
Olimpija won 128-94. The French team signed an <strong>of</strong>ficial<br />
protest to FIBA, who didn’t even want to hear about it.<br />
What is for sure and from what I saw, on television<br />
or in person – taking into account that I started working<br />
in the spring <strong>of</strong> 1967 – is that Daneu was Olimpija’s best<br />
player by far: a creator, a game director, the soul <strong>of</strong> his<br />
team. Unlike the lack <strong>of</strong> data on his league appearances,<br />
there is a lot <strong>of</strong> information from his national team<br />
years. At the 1959 EuroBasket in S<strong>of</strong>ia, with Korac by<br />
his side, Daneu averaged 8.1 points. In the Rome Olympics<br />
he was up to 9.9 and at the Belgrade EuroBasket,<br />
where Yugoslavia got its first medal, he reached 12.2.<br />
At the 1963 World Cup in Rio, he averaged 11.9 points<br />
with a decisive basket for a win over the United States.<br />
He averaged 13.6 at the Poland EuroBasket after that.<br />
At the Tokyo Olympics he scored 12.1 points and in<br />
1965 EuroBasket in Moscow he had 12.4. He reached<br />
15.0 points at the 1967 World Cup in Montevideo. At<br />
that championship – where his team won a silver medal<br />
– Daneu was chosen MVP <strong>of</strong> the event. When we talk<br />
about his scoring numbers, we must remember that<br />
he was not a natural scorer. He was all about smarts,<br />
game vision, assists and a secure hand for the last<br />
shot. His specialty, like Clifford Luyk, was the hook shot.<br />
He always dribbled to the right corner and, after leaving<br />
his rivals behind, he shot his sky hook from the corner,<br />
parallel to the backboard.<br />
For the 1967 EuroBasket in Helsinki, Yugoslav coach<br />
Ranko Zeravica wanted to inject young blood into the<br />
team and left out some veterans like Daneu and Korac.<br />
But after the failure <strong>of</strong> that team (ninth place), both were<br />
called again for the 1968 Olympics in Mexico. Daneu<br />
responded with brilliant play. His scoring average was<br />
13.9 points, but all the plays started in his hands, all<br />
the possessions were his first. In a dramatic semifinal<br />
against the USSR, with Yugoslavia trailing 58-57, a great<br />
assist from Daneu led to a foul on a young Kresimir<br />
Cosic, who scored both free throws. Petar Skansi, after<br />
a failed attack by the Soviets, increased the lead to 61-<br />
58. Anatoli Povidola scored for the rivals, but then, the<br />
most famous three seconds in Yugoslavian basketball<br />
took place: another pass from Daneu to Vladimir Cvetkovic,<br />
who was fouled. All <strong>of</strong> Yugoslavia stopped in front<br />
<strong>of</strong> the TV screen. Daneu walked up to Cvetkovic and told<br />
him: “Take it easy, you will score both.”<br />
And Cvetkovic did. The final basket, by Sergey Belov<br />
to make it 63-62, was not very useful. In the final, Yugoslavia<br />
lost to the United States, led by Spencer Haywood<br />
(21 points) and Jo Jo White (14), by the final score<br />
65-50. Only Daneu, who scored 16, stood out against<br />
the Americans.<br />
World champion<br />
After winning another silver medal at the 1969 Euro-<br />
84<br />
85
Basket, the 1970 World Cup arrived with the final stage<br />
in Ljubljana. Olimpija had won the league in 1970, but in<br />
the final games two things happened: Daneu suffered a<br />
serious muscle injury in a game against Crvena Zvezda,<br />
and there was a conflict between him and his national<br />
teammate Cvetkovic. Coach Zeravica faced a tough dilemma.<br />
He needed both, but he knew he could only take<br />
one. He chose Daneu because <strong>of</strong> his experience and<br />
the fact that the tourney would be played in Ljubljana in<br />
front <strong>of</strong> his fans. The injured Daneu didn’t play much. He<br />
only played in two games and scored only 8 points. But<br />
in the decisive game against the USA (70-63) he scored<br />
4 important points down the stretch and led Yugoslavia<br />
to its first world title. It was the pinnacle <strong>of</strong> his brilliant<br />
career. In 2010, to celebrate the 40th anniversary <strong>of</strong> that<br />
win, Daneu himself called upon his teammates from the<br />
team that won that historic gold medal to gather once<br />
again. Trajko Rajkovic and Cosic had since passed on.<br />
The rest spent three unforgettable days together.<br />
The record books show Daneu with 202 games<br />
played for the national team and 2,214 points scored<br />
(11.0 ppg.) to make him the seventh-best scorer <strong>of</strong> the<br />
team after Drazen Dalipagic, Dragan Kicanovic, Cosic,<br />
Korac, Drazen Petrovic and Vinko Jelovac. On 32 occasions,<br />
he was the high scorer on the team and he scored<br />
10 or more points in 105 games. He won eight medals<br />
– a World Cup gold, six World and EuroBasket silvers,<br />
and a EuroBasket bronze. In 1967, he was chosen as the<br />
best Yugoslav sportsman. On September 12, 2007, he<br />
was inducted into the FIBA Hall <strong>of</strong> Fame.<br />
And here is one unbelievable piece <strong>of</strong> data by today’s<br />
standards: During the whole length <strong>of</strong> his brilliant<br />
career, Daneu was a working man from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.,<br />
until he retired. Sometimes he had problems taking<br />
days <strong>of</strong>f so he could play. It was another era, but also<br />
with great players. His son, Jaka, was also an important<br />
player in Olimpija, but not quite at his father’s level. Ivo,<br />
Jaka, and Jaka’s sons were promoters for the 2013 EuroBasket,<br />
which took place in Slovenia, a small country<br />
size-wise, but a great one in terms <strong>of</strong> basketball.<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Ivo Daneu<br />
D
Richard<br />
Dacoury<br />
87
Pr<strong>of</strong>essional<br />
winner<br />
The best way for me to start this story,<br />
which is dedicated to – if not the best,<br />
then the most decorated French player <strong>of</strong><br />
all time (not including active players) – is<br />
a detail that Boza Maljkovic, the boss <strong>of</strong><br />
Limoges in the early 1990s, told me in<br />
October 2012.<br />
“When I arrived to Limoges, I had to build a new<br />
team from scratch,” Maljkovic said. “For different reasons,<br />
<strong>of</strong> the eight players that finished that season,<br />
only one was expected to stay for the following season,<br />
Richard Dacoury. He was a player I liked a lot because<br />
<strong>of</strong> his physical potential, his willingness to work, his<br />
strong winning character and a personality that is always<br />
welcome in any locker room. Also, he spoke good<br />
English, which was important to interact with Michael<br />
Young and Jure Zdovc, our foreigners back then.<br />
“One day, I was told that we had to go to some<br />
school that was to take the name <strong>of</strong> Richard Dacoury<br />
because he had decided to ... retire! It was hard for me to<br />
convince him not to do that. He was about 32 years old<br />
and thanks to his physical condition, he still had some<br />
basketball years in him. Plus, he was a key man in my<br />
defensive schemes. He was probably the best athlete I<br />
ever coached in my career. Fortunately, I convinced him,<br />
and he is thankful to me for that even today!”<br />
The biggest consequence <strong>of</strong> that decision happened<br />
on April 15, 1993, in Athens, at Peace and Friendship<br />
Stadium. Limoges was crowned <strong>European</strong> champion by<br />
beating Toni Kukoc’s Benetton Treviso 59-55. Two days<br />
before, in the semis, Limoges beat the other favorite:<br />
Arvydas Sabonis’s Real Madrid by the score <strong>of</strong> 62-52.<br />
I was there, at one <strong>of</strong> the 20 out <strong>of</strong> 24 Final Fours that I<br />
have attended, and I still think that was the biggest surprise<br />
in the EuroLeague to date! Nowadays, many people<br />
don’t give Maljkovic enough credit because <strong>of</strong> his<br />
style <strong>of</strong> “basket control” – or even “anti-basket” – which<br />
was based on few points and a slow pace. However, if<br />
the goal in sports is winning, especially in pro sports,<br />
what Maljkovic did with that “team <strong>of</strong> miners,” as he<br />
called his squad, is something to be studied through<br />
a technical, tactical and psychological point <strong>of</strong> view. It<br />
was the recipe <strong>of</strong> how a coach must adapt to the players<br />
he has in order to get the best out <strong>of</strong> them. Even<br />
Dacoury himself, on occasion <strong>of</strong> the 50th anniversary<br />
<strong>of</strong> <strong>European</strong> club competitions, celebrated at the 2008<br />
Final Four in Madrid, agreed.<br />
“Our coach did a huge psychological job on us,”<br />
Dacoury told EuroLeague.net. “I saw that later, but now<br />
I can say it: He did the best work ever on our confidence.<br />
He was so relaxed, especially if you compare him to the<br />
rest <strong>of</strong> season until that point. He smiled, laughed. We<br />
had no pressure. He told us that it was only pleasure.”<br />
Before surprising Real Madrid and Benetton, Limoges<br />
played the preliminary round to eliminate the Guildford<br />
Kings (with a tie in London!), while in the group<br />
stage it finished second behind PAOK Thessaloniki with<br />
a 7-5 record and on top <strong>of</strong> teams like Scavolini Pesaro,<br />
Knorr Bologna, Joventut Badalona, Cibona Zagreb and<br />
Maccabi Tel Aviv. In the quarterfinals, Limoges got rid<br />
<strong>of</strong> Olympiacos with a 2-1 series win, making good use<br />
<strong>of</strong> the home-court advantage.<br />
As the captain <strong>of</strong> that team, Dacoury lifted the EuroLeague<br />
trophy, the first title ever in a top continental<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Richard Dacoury<br />
D
Vladimir Stankovic<br />
competition for a French team in any sport. One month<br />
later, Olympique Marseille also won football’s <strong>European</strong><br />
Cup, but the honor <strong>of</strong> being first will always belong to<br />
Limoges CSP. The full cover <strong>of</strong> the newspaper L’Equipe,<br />
with Dacoury lifting the trophy, is history itself. Curiously,<br />
Dacoury was wearing a yellow jersey – even though<br />
the <strong>of</strong>ficial color <strong>of</strong> the team the previous years had<br />
been green. Maljkovic had managed to change the color<br />
– because yellow was fashionable and successful (think<br />
Jugoplastika Split, Maccabi Tel Aviv and Aris Thessaloniki)<br />
– and it worked! The No. 7 jersey <strong>of</strong> Dacoury hangs<br />
retired in the rafters <strong>of</strong> the Limoges arena, and it has<br />
both colors, the classic green and the yellow, which<br />
gave the club its most important title.<br />
The symbol <strong>of</strong> Limoges<br />
Even though he started his career in Lyon (from<br />
1976 to 1978) and finished it with Racing Paris (1996<br />
to 1998), winning his ninth French League title, the<br />
bulk <strong>of</strong> Richard Dacoury’s career was tied to Limoges.<br />
He wore the club’s jersey from 1978 to 1996, winning<br />
eight French Leagues, five French Cups, two Korac Cups<br />
(1982 and 1983), a Saporta Cup (1988) and the EuroLeague<br />
(1993). He was never a born scorer. His specialties<br />
were defense, rebounds, fighting, sacrifice and being<br />
the extension <strong>of</strong> the coach on the court. However, if the<br />
team needed points, he would happily provide them.<br />
His best numbers in the French League came in the<br />
1984-85 season, with 18.7 points per game on 55.9%<br />
field goal accuracy, 5 rebounds and 3 assists. In 1986-<br />
87 he averaged 18.2 points. During his 20-year career,<br />
only in the last three did he average below 10 points.<br />
In total, he played 495 games with an average <strong>of</strong> 12.6<br />
points.<br />
Dacoury made his debut with the French national<br />
team in Orleans on May 5, 1981, scoring his first 4<br />
points in a friendly game against Cuba (108-117). The<br />
last time he wore the blue jersey was on June 26, 1992,<br />
in Granada against Switzerland (108-65), saying goodbye<br />
with 22 points. He played 160 games with France,<br />
totaling 2,230 points (13.9 per game).<br />
I remember well the first time I saw Richard Dacoury<br />
play, in Korac Cup final that took place on March 18,<br />
1982, in Padua, Italy. Limoges faced Sibenik <strong>of</strong> Croatia,<br />
which had a young talent named Drazen Petrovic<br />
(19 points) and a golden veteran like Srecko Jaric (16<br />
points), Marko Jaric’s father. Limoges won 90-84,<br />
thanks to Ed Murphy’s 35 points. Dacoury contributed<br />
12 points, but you could see an enormous potential<br />
in him. One year later, on March 8, 1983, in Berlin, the<br />
same matchup took place in the same final and Limoges<br />
won again, 94-86. Murphy shined again with 34<br />
points, but Dacoury was already the star <strong>of</strong> the team<br />
as he scored 16 points. Looking through the data <strong>of</strong> the<br />
game, I discovered that the second-best scorer <strong>of</strong> the<br />
Dalmatian team was Predrag Saric (22 points), father <strong>of</strong><br />
Dario Saric. The father and son sagas still go on.<br />
Dacoury’s third continental trophy also arrived on<br />
neutral ground, on March 16, 1988, in Grenoble, where<br />
Limoges defeated Joventut Badalona <strong>of</strong> Spain in the<br />
Saporta Cup final by 96-89. Dan Collins was the big star<br />
with 28 points, but the fact that Dacoury played 33 minutes<br />
makes it clear that his contribution was way more<br />
than the 8 points he scored that night.<br />
From the court to the microphone<br />
I personally met Dacoury at the 1983 EuroBasket<br />
played in Limoges. It was his second continental tournament.<br />
After that, we met each other again several<br />
times, including at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los<br />
88<br />
89
Richard Dacoury<br />
Angeles. I was at his <strong>of</strong>ficial farewell game in Limoges,<br />
one day after the 1999 EuroBasket in Paris. We also<br />
saw each other again in London 2012, where he was<br />
there as a commentator for French television. Since<br />
his retirement, he has become the “voice <strong>of</strong> basketball”<br />
in France, where he is really popular due to his<br />
understanding <strong>of</strong> the game and because <strong>of</strong> the way<br />
he explained what was happening on the court. When<br />
I told him that I would be writing about him in my series<br />
dedicated to the past legends <strong>of</strong> the game, he only told<br />
me: “It will be an honor for me to be among the great<br />
players that appear in your series.”<br />
It’s also an honor for me to have known for so many<br />
years a player and person such as Richard Dacoury.<br />
With the ball or the microphone, his pr<strong>of</strong>ession is still<br />
the same: being a winner.<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
D
Predrag<br />
Danilovic<br />
91
Simply a champ<br />
It happened on the Serbian mountain <strong>of</strong> Zlatibor<br />
in the summer <strong>of</strong> 1986. Zeljko Obradovic, at that<br />
point a player for Partizan, was taking a course to<br />
become a basketball coach. It was a mandatory<br />
session for the students and Zeljko was a good<br />
pupil. His gift for this pr<strong>of</strong>ession showed from the<br />
first minute. There was a group <strong>of</strong> kids around 15 and<br />
16 years old in a basketball summer camp, and Zeljko<br />
spotted one <strong>of</strong> them who was tall and thin. The player<br />
caught his attention. Obradovic gave him a Partizan<br />
jersey and, once back in Belgrade, he told his head<br />
coach, Dusko Vujosevic: “Listen, I just saw a kid from<br />
Sarajevo that we have to sign right now. His name is<br />
Predrag Danilovic and he plays with Bosna Sarajevo.”<br />
He didn’t have to tell Vujosevic twice. The coach started<br />
pulling strings and the 16-year-old arrived in Belgrade<br />
shortly thereafter – but without documents. Bosna<br />
didn’t approve <strong>of</strong> the transaction because it also saw<br />
that it had a diamond in its hands. With the support <strong>of</strong><br />
his parents and his own will, Danilovic arrived in Belgrade<br />
with the intention <strong>of</strong> waiting as long as it would take to<br />
play for his favorite team.<br />
Two years inactive<br />
With the rules on its side, Bosna toughened up and<br />
didn’t give permission for the move. Young Danilovic spent<br />
a full year just practicing. Vujosevic dedicated a lot <strong>of</strong> time<br />
to him, with loads <strong>of</strong> individual practices, and that’s when<br />
a great friendship was born. It lasts to this day.<br />
When at the beginning <strong>of</strong> the 1987-88 season Bosna<br />
stood its ground, it was clear that Danilovic was going to<br />
miss another year. Then, Partizan decided to send him<br />
to a high school in the United States to finish school and<br />
learn English. He played basketball in Cookeville, Tennessee,<br />
but he says that he didn’t learn anything new<br />
because he was the best player in the school, by far.<br />
Finally, in the summer <strong>of</strong> 1988, he was back in Belgrade<br />
as a Partizan player. His brilliant career started with the triumph<br />
<strong>of</strong> Yugoslavia at the FIBA U18 <strong>European</strong> Championship<br />
in 1988, played in Srbobran in the Vojvodina region.<br />
The coach was Vujosevic, and he had a powerful team:<br />
Arijan Komazec, Zan Tabak, Rastko Cvetkovic, Dzevad Alihodzic<br />
and, <strong>of</strong> course, Danilovic. In the title game, which I<br />
saw live in the small gym, Yugoslavia defeated Vincenzo<br />
Esposito’s Italy by the score <strong>of</strong> 84-75. Big man Alihodzic<br />
had 23 points, shooting guard Komazec 20, and young<br />
Sasha had 14 with 4 <strong>of</strong> 4 free throws. His average for the<br />
tournament was 9.4 points. That was the first gold medal<br />
<strong>of</strong> his career, which truly started on that day.<br />
In the 1988-89 season, Danilovic made his debut<br />
with Partizan’s first team and ended with 123 points in<br />
21 games for a modest average <strong>of</strong> 5.6 points. But, by<br />
playing next to Zarko Paspalj, Vlade Divac, Sasha Djordjevic<br />
and his mentor, Obradovic, Danilovic gained valuable<br />
experience and also two trophies: the Yugoslav<br />
Cup, against a great Jugoplastika team <strong>of</strong> Boza Maljkovic<br />
that won that year’s EuroLeague, and the Korac Cup,<br />
in a great final against Cantu. In the first game <strong>of</strong> that<br />
Korac Cup final, played in Italy on March 16, 1989, Cantu,<br />
coached by Carlo Recalcati, won 89-76 as Kent Benson<br />
starred with 24 points and Antonello Riva scored<br />
19. The Italians arrived in Belgrade as clear favorites for<br />
the second game, on April 22. In the old gym <strong>of</strong> New<br />
Belgrade, which was packed to the rafters with 7,000<br />
fans, Partizan won <strong>101</strong>-82 with 30 points by Divac, 22<br />
by Paspalj, 21 by Djordjevic and 10 by Danilovic.<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Predrag Danilovic<br />
D
Vladimir Stankovic<br />
At the end <strong>of</strong> the season, national team head coach<br />
Dusan Ivkovic called young Danilovic for EuroBasket<br />
1989 in Zagreb – at 19 years old and after only one<br />
season in the first division! The kid played alongside<br />
Drazen Petrovic, Toni Kukoc, Divac, Paspalj and Dino<br />
Radja. He finished the tournament with an average <strong>of</strong><br />
8.2 points and he even scored 4 points in the title game<br />
against Greece, which Yugoslavia won 98-77. Not a bad<br />
start: four titles in four different competitions!<br />
The following season he only played 11 games due<br />
to a serious injury, but his numbers had increased to<br />
14.3 points per game. He missed the 1990 World Cup in<br />
Argentina because <strong>of</strong> the injury. In the 1990-91 season,<br />
he scored 13.9 points in the domestic league and won<br />
a new gold medal with Yugoslavia at the 1991 EuroBasket<br />
in Rome with 9 points in the title game against Italy.<br />
Miracle in Istanbul<br />
In the 1991-92 season, the Yugoslav League was<br />
already being played without Croatian and Slovenian<br />
teams, due to the war. Partizan won the cup and the<br />
league as Danilovic averaged 21.8 points. In the EuroLeague,<br />
his average was 19.4 points. Because <strong>of</strong> the war,<br />
Partizan had to play its EuroLeague home games in Fuenlabrada,<br />
Spain. The team made the Final Four in Istanbul,<br />
where it performed two miracles. First, in the semis, and<br />
for the third time that season, it defeated Philips Milan.<br />
Then, in the title game, on April 16, it defeated Joventut<br />
Badalona with the famous three-pointer by Djordjevic.<br />
However, the MVP <strong>of</strong> the final was Danilovic, who scored<br />
25 points – making 7 <strong>of</strong> 12 two-pointers, 2 <strong>of</strong> 4 threes<br />
and 5 <strong>of</strong> 6 free throws – and pulled 5 rebounds in 32 minutes.<br />
Djordjevic added 23 points on 6-for-7 three-point<br />
shooting. They worked as a great duo.<br />
The Istanbul heroes continued their careers in Italy.<br />
Djordjevic signed for Milano while Danilovic chose Knorr<br />
Bologna – or maybe Bologna chose him! – with young<br />
Ettore Messina on the bench. In three years, they won<br />
three Italian League titles. During the McDonald’s Open<br />
<strong>of</strong> 1993 in Munich, the New York Times wrote an article<br />
saying that Danilovic was the new Kukoc for the NBA.<br />
“The next Toni Kukoc, perhaps, is a shooting forward<br />
for an Italian team sponsored by a non-alcoholic beer.<br />
On Thursday night, his uniform was as black as his hair,<br />
bringing out the dusk around his eyes. Predrag Danilovic<br />
is a hard worker, which explains his surly expression<br />
and the joy <strong>of</strong> his efficient release. ‘He is an NBA<br />
shooter – not scorer, but shooter,’ said Hubie Brown,<br />
the former National <strong>Basketball</strong> Association coach.”<br />
A dunk over ... Sabonis<br />
Before trying his luck in the NBA, Danilovic won his third<br />
gold medal at the 1995 EuroBasket. In an unforgettable<br />
final, the best one I have ever seen, Yugoslavia defeated<br />
Lithuania 96-90 with 41 points from Djordjevic (9 <strong>of</strong> 12<br />
threes) and 23 by Danilovic, who was the undisputed protagonist<br />
<strong>of</strong> the game by dunking over ... Arvydas Sabonis!<br />
In that play, you can see the character <strong>of</strong> Danilovic: courage,<br />
fight, desire, ambition, ability. Only somebody who is<br />
sure <strong>of</strong> himself would even try, at hardly 2.01 meters, to<br />
dunk against a wall standing 2.21 meters tall:<br />
“I saw there was some free room and, out <strong>of</strong> intuition,<br />
I went for the dunk. I knew that I had Sabonis in<br />
front <strong>of</strong> me, but I thought that, at least, I would be able<br />
to get a foul from that. The play turned out well,” he recalled,<br />
as if it was just another <strong>of</strong> his many great plays.<br />
Some character! It was his third <strong>European</strong> crown and<br />
by the end <strong>of</strong> the season, he was chosen best player in<br />
Europe by FIBA.<br />
Hubie Brown was right: Danilovic was a shooter. In his<br />
92<br />
93
75 NBA games wearing Miami and Dallas jerseys, he averaged<br />
12.8 points while making 37.9% <strong>of</strong> his three-pointers.<br />
His stellar moment arrived in a game against New<br />
York in which he scored 21 points on 7 <strong>of</strong> 7 threes! He<br />
told me that he had better games, with 30 or 35 points,<br />
but that playing at Madison Square Garden was special.<br />
Despite playing solid basketball and being well regarded,<br />
Danilovic didn’t like the NBA or the American<br />
lifestyle so much. On February 1, 1997, I got a scoop:<br />
Sasha Danilovic was heading back to Europe. Not many<br />
people believed it, but it was confirmed in the end.<br />
Before coming back, not to leave America empty-handed,<br />
he played with Yugoslavia at the 1996 Olympics in<br />
Atlanta. Danilovic averaged 16.8 points as Yugoslavia<br />
took home the silver medal.<br />
Magic moments<br />
In the summer <strong>of</strong> 1997, back in Europe, Danilovic won<br />
his fourth EuroBasket title in Barcelona – four for four!<br />
He contributed 15.0 points on average and had 10 in a<br />
61-49 title-game win over Italy, which was coached by...<br />
Messina. For the 1997-98 season, Danilovic was back<br />
again with Bologna and played a brilliant season. First,<br />
in April 1988, Kinder won its first EuroLeague title in the<br />
Final Four played in Barcelona. In the title game, Kinder<br />
defeated AEK Athens 58-44 with Antoine Rigaudeau as<br />
its best scorer, with 14 points. Danilovic added 13 points<br />
plus 5 boards. There were also Savic, Hugo Sconochini,<br />
Alessandro Abbio, Augusto Binelli, Alessandro Frosini<br />
and, <strong>of</strong> course, Ettore Messina. Danilovic’s averages in the<br />
EuroLeague were 17.5 points, 3.8 boards and 3.2 assists.<br />
But the best was yet to come. In the finale <strong>of</strong> the Italian<br />
League play<strong>of</strong>f finals, with 16 seconds to go in Game<br />
5, Kinder’s archrival Fortitudo Bologna was ahead by 4<br />
points. Done deal, right? For everyone else, maybe, but<br />
not for Sasha. In a dream play, he shot from 8 meters<br />
and hit the three-pointer. But Dominique Wilkins, a<br />
former NBA star with more than 20,000 points in the<br />
league, put his hand where he was not supposed to. He<br />
fouled Sasha on the shot and Danilovic got the extra<br />
free throw. Of course, he made the shot and overtime<br />
was in order. Danilovic shined in the extra session with<br />
2 points, an assist for Binelli, another for Radoslav<br />
Nesterovic, then a three-pointer. Danilovic played 43<br />
<strong>of</strong> the 45 minutes and, with 20 points, was the hero <strong>of</strong><br />
the game that Kinder won 86-77. Danilovic was chosen<br />
MVP <strong>of</strong> the season.<br />
In the following season, 1998-99, Danilovic didn’t<br />
win anything with Kinder, but with Yugoslavia he won<br />
his fifth medal at the 1999 EuroBasket in France – this<br />
time a bronze. There, in France, he gave me a long interview<br />
in which he told me that he would not play for<br />
much longer. I admit I didn’t believe it because he was<br />
only 29 years old. But, after losing one <strong>of</strong> the few finals<br />
in his career – the Saporta Cup against AEK Athens on<br />
April 11, 2000, by the score <strong>of</strong> 76-83 – and after the fall<br />
<strong>of</strong> Yugoslavia in the quarterfinals <strong>of</strong> the 2000 Sydney<br />
Olympics against Steve Nash’s Canada, Danilovic decided<br />
to retire. At 30 years old!<br />
Kinder organized a big farewell to Danilovic by playing<br />
his last game against Partizan. I had the pleasure and privilege<br />
to attend the event as a EuroLeague representative.<br />
His character and qualities are explained here by<br />
Zoran Savic, his teammate with Kinder and the Yugoslav<br />
team:<br />
“Sasha was the man for the big games! The finals<br />
and the decisive games were his thing and inspired him<br />
in a special way. He was an unbelievable fighter.<br />
Predrag Danilovic<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
D
Mike<br />
D’Antoni<br />
95
The NBA’s first<br />
“<strong>European</strong>”<br />
head coach<br />
As you know, that title is not 100 percent<br />
accurate because Michael Andrew<br />
“Mike” D’Antoni is American by birth,<br />
since he was born May 9, 1951, in Mullens,<br />
West Virginia, United States. But<br />
it’s also not a mistake to say that he is<br />
the first <strong>European</strong> head coach in the NBA. After all, he<br />
also holds an Italian passport.<br />
Plus, his having played in Italy with Olimpia Milano<br />
between 1977 and 1990 and started his coaching career<br />
in the same country between 1990 and 1997, at<br />
Olimpia Milano and Benetton Treviso, left some traces<br />
in D’Antoni’s development as a coach. I am sure his<br />
American foundations, which started with his father,<br />
a long-time coach, were at least influenced by the<br />
<strong>European</strong> school <strong>of</strong> basketball. When he went back to<br />
the United States to join the Denver Nuggets in 1997,<br />
getting promoted to the head <strong>of</strong> the bench for the<br />
strike-shortened 1998-99 season, D’Antoni was a rookie<br />
coach in the most powerful league in the world. But<br />
his formation, skills and knowledge <strong>of</strong> the sport made<br />
him eligible to work in the NBA without a doubt. Only a<br />
few years later, D’Antoni was named the NBA’s Coach <strong>of</strong><br />
the Year in 2005, because <strong>of</strong> his great season with the<br />
Phoenix Suns. However, this is a story dedicated to the<br />
player in D’Antoni, one <strong>of</strong> the best Americans to ever<br />
grace <strong>European</strong> courts.<br />
After having played at Marshall University, D’Antoni<br />
was drafted in 1973 by Kansas City. He played there for<br />
two seasons and nine games <strong>of</strong> a third one. He spent<br />
the rest <strong>of</strong> that third season with the St. Louis Spirits<br />
<strong>of</strong> the ABA and then returned to the NBA for the next<br />
one with the San Antonio Spurs, but played little. When,<br />
in the summer <strong>of</strong> 1977, he landed in Milan to play with<br />
Olimpia, D’Antoni was literally unknown in Europe.<br />
His arrival was all due to the fact that Olimpia general<br />
manager Cesare Rubini and coach Filippo Faina - both<br />
backed by president Dr. Adolfo Bogoncelli - had positive<br />
reports <strong>of</strong> this player, who by then was 26 years old.<br />
Dan Peterson memories<br />
Dan Peterson, the famous American coach who<br />
worked with D’Antoni during many years in Milan, had<br />
this memory <strong>of</strong> his first time meeting Mike:<br />
“The first thing I did when I took over Olimpia Milan<br />
in 1978 was confirm Mike D’Antoni as one <strong>of</strong> my two<br />
allowed foreign players. I was still coaching Virtus Bologna<br />
in 1977-78 and Olimpia came in and beat us by<br />
15 points in Bologna, 104-89, as Mike D’Antoni stopped<br />
my top scorer, John Roche, and just simply tore us<br />
apart with his play-making ability, his quick hands, his<br />
defense, his steals, his leadership. That was a guy I<br />
wanted on my basketball team.”<br />
Peterson’s wish was granted fast. Olimpia Milan<br />
called Peterson to coach in 1978-79 and he stayed<br />
there until 1987. If anyone can describe Mike D’Antoni<br />
best, it’s Peterson:<br />
“We were together all nine years I coached Olimpia,<br />
1978-87. He was, as they say, a ‘coach on the floor’. I<br />
designed the <strong>of</strong>fense so that Mike could run it without<br />
calling hand signals or voice signals, using only ‘automatics’<br />
to ‘indicate’ the play. This let him dribble with-<br />
Mike D’Antoni<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
D
Vladimir Stankovic<br />
out any concerns. I also put in the ‘L’ play (Pick & Roll)<br />
to use his great dribbling-passing skills. Finally, I put in<br />
our ‘3’ defense, the 1-3-1 half-court zone trap, which<br />
became Mike’s ‘signature’. Mike led us to a historic era<br />
<strong>of</strong> success and I conferred with him <strong>of</strong>ten, <strong>of</strong>f the court,<br />
during timeouts or at halftime.”<br />
As Peterson mentions, Mike D’Antoni was always<br />
an extension <strong>of</strong> his coaches on the floor. He was one <strong>of</strong><br />
those players with a natural gift for seeing the game,<br />
reading the plays, improvising, and getting the best out<br />
<strong>of</strong> his teammates because he always fed them the ball at<br />
the right moment or ran plays that made it easier for his<br />
team to score. He was not a natural scorer, but if points<br />
were what the team needed, he was there to score 20<br />
or more. In 1990, he was chosen as the starting point<br />
guard on a hypothetical all-time Italian League team.<br />
Two-time <strong>European</strong> champ<br />
As a player, D’Antoni won five Italian Leagues (1982,<br />
1985, 1986, 1987 and 1989), two Italian Cups (1987,<br />
1988), one Korac Cup in 1985 and one Intercontinental<br />
Cup against Barcelona (102-91) in 1989. However, his<br />
biggest moments were the two <strong>European</strong> titles he won:<br />
in 1987 against Maccabi in Lausanne (71-69) and one<br />
year later in Ghent, Belgium in the first Final Four <strong>of</strong> the<br />
new era, once again against Maccabi, 90-84.<br />
In Lausanne, Peterson was coaching the team. In 36<br />
minutes on the floor, D’Antoni contributed 7 points, 6<br />
rebounds, 4 steals and 1 assist. In charge <strong>of</strong> scoring<br />
were Roberto Premier (23), Bob McAdoo (21 plus 9 rebounds)<br />
and Ken Barlow (18). A super team. In Ghent,<br />
D’Antoni played all 40 minutes. He scored 17 points<br />
with no two-point shots, making 4 <strong>of</strong> 11 threes and 5<br />
<strong>of</strong> 6 free throws. He added 2 rebounds, 2 steals and 2<br />
assists. He formed a great duo, again, with McAdoo (25<br />
points).<br />
“The big thing was it being the first Final Four,” D’Antoni<br />
told Euroleague.net on occasion <strong>of</strong> the 50 Years <strong>of</strong><br />
<strong>European</strong> Club Competitions celebration in 2008. Of<br />
course, he was among the 35 best players <strong>of</strong> all time in<br />
Europe, as chosen by a panel <strong>of</strong> experts put together by<br />
Euroleague <strong>Basketball</strong>. “There was a lot <strong>of</strong> excitement.<br />
We played the Greeks from Aris in the first game, and<br />
they had been our rivals for a long time. That was an<br />
exciting game, as was the final with Maccabi. The new<br />
format made it exciting and a good atmosphere. The<br />
kinks still had to be worked out. The floor was bad, the<br />
dressing rooms horrible. But they had it in Belgium, as<br />
I recall, because they wanted to promote basketball<br />
there. Of course, a lot has changed since then.”<br />
I can’t exactly pinpoint the first time I saw Mike D’Antoni,<br />
but I am sure it was on TV. I’d say it was in the EuroLeague<br />
in 1987-88. In Belgrade, Partizan won 92-85.<br />
I also saw D’Antoni in the 1989 EuroBasket in Zagreb.<br />
At some point before that, using his Italian heritage, he<br />
obtained an Italian passport and accepted playing for<br />
the national team. The Zagreb EuroBasket, with only<br />
eight teams, was rather short. In the semis, Yugoslavia<br />
(the eventual champ) beat Italy 97-80 with D’Antoni<br />
being held scoreless. His career in the blue jersey <strong>of</strong> the<br />
national team didn’t last long. He only played 11 games<br />
and scored 27 points. His numbers in the Italian League<br />
were radically different though: 452 games and 5,573<br />
points. That averaged out to 12.3 points per game to<br />
go with 2.9 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game. He also<br />
had good shooting percentages: 45.7% on two-pointers<br />
and 40.0% on threes.<br />
As a coach, first in Milan (1990 to 1994) and later<br />
in Benetton (1994 to 1997), D’Antoni won two Italian<br />
Leagues, one Italian Cup, a Saporta Cup and a Korac<br />
Cup. He had 212 wins in 306 games (69.2%) to rank<br />
96<br />
97
as his father, Lewis, won the West Virginia high school<br />
state championship with Mullens HS in 1955. Then,<br />
his older brother, Danny, was a successful high school<br />
coach at Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. But, most <strong>of</strong> all,<br />
I knew Mike had a genius quality about him. In fact, his<br />
super-fast play with the Phoenix Suns was the subject<br />
<strong>of</strong> a book, ‘Seven Seconds or Less’. So, his success in<br />
the NBA, Coach <strong>of</strong> the Year in 2005, came as no surprise<br />
to me. I knew all this back in 1978.”<br />
Mike D’Antoni, a great player pre-destined to be also<br />
a great coach.<br />
Mike D’Antoni<br />
among the best coaches all-time in the Italian League.<br />
He was an assistant coach to Mike Krzyzewski for Team<br />
USA at the World Cup 2006 in Japan, winning a bronze<br />
medal, and also at the 2012 London Olympics, winning<br />
the gold.<br />
To end this entry, I’d like to quote once more Dan<br />
Peterson, who gives us some more details and insight<br />
into D’Antoni:<br />
“Yes, I knew Mike was going to be a successful coach.<br />
For one thing, he came from a family <strong>of</strong> great coaches,<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
D
Mirza<br />
Delibasic<br />
99
The last<br />
romantic<br />
To start this entry, I want to say that the<br />
title <strong>of</strong> this post is not original. It is mine,<br />
however. I wrote it first for the website <strong>of</strong><br />
the Spanish League. And I cannot imagine<br />
anything better to define, in just a few<br />
words, the basketball genius <strong>of</strong> Mirza<br />
Delibasic, who was born on January 9, 1954, in Tuzla<br />
and died on December 8, 2001, in Sarajevo.<br />
From the first time I saw him at the U16 <strong>European</strong><br />
Championship in 1971 in Gorizia, Italy, and then at the<br />
U18 <strong>European</strong> Championship in1972 in Zadar, he was<br />
my favorite player, he and his great friend and teammate,<br />
Dragan Kicanovic. Together, they walked the<br />
same path from cadet <strong>European</strong> champs in 1971 to<br />
world champions in 1978 to Olympic gold medalists in<br />
1980, as well as EuroBasket winners in 1975 and 1977.<br />
Before becoming a great basketball player, Delibasic<br />
was a great tennis talent. He began a promising tennis<br />
career in his hometown <strong>of</strong> Tuzla and was even a Bosnia-Herzegovina<br />
champion in youth categories. However,<br />
when his tennis coach decided to take his own son<br />
to a championship instead <strong>of</strong> Mirza, Delibasic started<br />
thinking about changing sports. That was basketball’s<br />
good fortune.<br />
Talent and elegance<br />
Delibasic had supernatural talent and elegance.<br />
Every move he made on the court seemed so easy, so<br />
natural, that he made it look like there was nothing easier<br />
on Earth than scoring baskets, dribbling or making<br />
good passes. In the former Yugoslavia, with a well-organized<br />
network <strong>of</strong> scouts, it was practically impossible<br />
for a talent to go unnoticed. Mirko Novosel, who was<br />
the national coach <strong>of</strong> youth categories, called him for<br />
the U16 <strong>European</strong> Championship in 1971 in Gorizia,<br />
where Yugoslavia won the gold medal by defeating host<br />
Italy 74-60 in the final. Mirza finished the tourney as<br />
the best scorer, with 99 points – 9 more than Kicanovic.<br />
One year later, at the U18 <strong>European</strong> Championship in<br />
Zadar, Delibasic led Yugoslavia to another gold medal<br />
with 144 points, again ahead <strong>of</strong> Kicanovic (90). That<br />
same summer, Mirza signed for Bosna Sarajevo, and<br />
perhaps not even head coach Bogdan Tanjevic, a great<br />
architect <strong>of</strong> the game, knew yet that he had found the<br />
key piece <strong>of</strong> his opus.<br />
When Novosel was in charge <strong>of</strong> the national team,<br />
he gave Kicanovic his first major opportunity. Delibasic<br />
traveled to the World Cup 1974 in Puerto Rico as the 13th<br />
player, to observe and learn. He would have to wait until<br />
EuroBasket 1975 in Belgrade and the Mediterranean<br />
Games to become a fixture on the first team. From the<br />
EuroBasket in Belgrade to the World Cup 1982 in Spain,<br />
Delibasic won eight medals at major competitions:<br />
two EuroBasket golds (1975 and 1977), a silver (1981)<br />
and a bronze (1982). He was world champion in 1978,<br />
an Olympic champion in 1980 and an Olympic finalist<br />
in 1976. With the Yugoslavia national team, Delibasic<br />
played 176 games, with 147 wins and just 29 defeats.<br />
He scored 1,759 points for an average <strong>of</strong> 10 points per<br />
game. He ranks as the 10th best scorer in the history <strong>of</strong><br />
the former Yugoslavia’s national team. I had the privilege<br />
to witness his best scoring night. It took place at the Balkans<br />
Championship in Skopje in 1977, when he scored<br />
36 points against Bulgaria during a 96-90 victory.<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Mirza Delibasic<br />
D
Standing 1.97 meters, Delibasic played small forward,<br />
but he could play shooting guard and even the point. He<br />
had great game vision and a sixth sense for assists. I think<br />
he invented the bounce pass: instead <strong>of</strong> giving the ball<br />
directly to a teammate, he liked to pass the ball by bouncing<br />
it <strong>of</strong>f the floor, sometimes up to 10 or 15 meters away.<br />
Coming <strong>of</strong>f the bounce, the ball got into the hands <strong>of</strong> the<br />
teammate in an ideal position and with fewer chances <strong>of</strong><br />
traveling. It was a pass that was Made in Mirza.<br />
Vladimir Stankovic<br />
Leader <strong>of</strong> the great Bosna<br />
In the national team, surrounded by aces like Kreso<br />
Cosic, Drazen Dalipagic, Zoran Slavnic and Kicanovic,<br />
Delibasic was an important player, but just one <strong>of</strong><br />
a great group. At his club, Bosna, he was the boss<br />
because <strong>of</strong> his talent and versatility. His Bosna team<br />
was an example <strong>of</strong> something we cannot see anymore<br />
today because nobody has the patience to wait<br />
and see how a team can grow and develop. Tanjevic<br />
started with Bosna in the second division and called<br />
Svetislav Pesic from Partizan to become his starting<br />
point guard. He also signed Delibasic, discovered the<br />
“golden hand” <strong>of</strong> Zarko Varajic, and waited for Ratko<br />
Radovanovic to develop from an anti-talent into a crucial<br />
big man. In seven years, that team went from the<br />
second division to the peak <strong>of</strong> <strong>European</strong> basketball.<br />
The culmination <strong>of</strong> that masterpiece occurred on April<br />
5, 1979, in Grenoble, France. In that season’s EuroLeague<br />
title game, Bosna defeated the great Emerson<br />
Varese, playing its 10th straight final, 96-93 in an unforgettable<br />
<strong>of</strong>fensive festival. That was the night that<br />
Varajic scored 45 points, setting a scoring record for<br />
continental title games that still stands today. But Delibasic<br />
also played a great game, with 30 points, and<br />
the pace <strong>of</strong> the Bosna team was always in his hands.<br />
Bosna was, in fact, the first Yugoslav team ever to win<br />
the top <strong>European</strong> competition.<br />
When Delibasic signed for Real Madrid in 1981, he<br />
received the treatment he deserved as a true star.<br />
When he left, two years later, under his own will and<br />
with a year remaining on his contract because “the<br />
club needed a center”, he departed as an idol. Delibasic<br />
sacrificed himself and freed up a foreigner’s spot<br />
on the roster so that the team could be even better<br />
with that needed big man, who would have to be<br />
signed from outside Spain. Delibasic instead signed<br />
for Indesit Caserta, where he got together again with<br />
his favorite coach, Tanjevic. However, midway through<br />
the season, he suffered a brain hemorrhage. Delibasic<br />
survived, but at age 29, he had to say goodbye to<br />
basketball.<br />
100<br />
<strong>101</strong>
I am very proud <strong>of</strong> having been able to take him to<br />
Madrid in October 2000 for the inaugural game <strong>of</strong> the<br />
new EuroLeague between Real Madrid and Olympiacos.<br />
Delibasic was a golden guest at the event and received<br />
a standing ovation from the Real Madrid fans. His son<br />
Danko, then 15 years old, was with him and experienced<br />
it all with wide eyes. What he had heard before that, that<br />
his father was a Real Madrid legend, was more than a reality.<br />
That was Delibasic’s last visit to his beloved Madrid.<br />
He died in Sarajevo on December 8, 2001.<br />
But the legend <strong>of</strong> the last romantic <strong>of</strong> <strong>European</strong> basketball<br />
remained.<br />
In August 1983, basketball bid farewell to the “last<br />
romantic” as Delibasic was forced to retire. Nobody understood<br />
the game like he did – as a perfect mixture <strong>of</strong><br />
sports, competition, passion, beauty and, in some way,<br />
art. His main weapon was elegance and meaningful –<br />
but always beautiful – moves.<br />
Aside from the illness that took him away from the<br />
courts too soon, Mirza lived the last years <strong>of</strong> his life<br />
under tough conditions. The war in Bosnia caught him<br />
in Sarajevo and he never wanted to leave the city. He<br />
stayed with his family and friends, suffering like the rest.<br />
He was the national team coach and after that a sports<br />
director for Bosnia-Herzegovina. With his melancholic<br />
look and his philosophy that “you only live once,” Delibasic<br />
did not look after himself much. His health went<br />
from bad to worse, but Delibasic lived the life he chose.<br />
Mirza Delibasic<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
D
Dimitris<br />
Diamantidis<br />
103
A diamond<br />
on the court<br />
For many years, the great duo in the Greek national<br />
team that won the 2005 EuroBasket<br />
was formed by Vassilis Spanoulis and Dimitris<br />
Diamantidis. They also played together<br />
for Panathinaikos Athens before Spanoulis<br />
would end up with arch-rival Olympiacos<br />
Piraeus. Both are symbols for Greek basketball and<br />
icons in the sports capital <strong>of</strong> Athens, but not everyone<br />
knows that neither <strong>of</strong> them is from that city.<br />
Spanoulis started playing in Larissa, a town between<br />
Athens and Thessaloniki, while Diamantidis took<br />
his first basketball steps at 14 years old in Kastoria, located<br />
in the north <strong>of</strong> the Macedonian region <strong>of</strong> Greece,<br />
prior to signing, five years later, for Iraklis Thessaloniki.<br />
The key moment for Diamantidis was the EuroBasket<br />
won by Greece in 1987. Funny enough, his idols were<br />
not Nikos Galis nor Panagiotis Giannakis, the two big<br />
aces <strong>of</strong> Greek basketball back then. He explained that<br />
at the beginning he had no idols, but later he liked Fanis<br />
Christodoulou a lot “because he could do many things.”<br />
The home <strong>of</strong> his parents Maria and Tomas, in Kastoria,<br />
was right next to a school that had a basketball<br />
court where a young Diamantidis spent days and nights<br />
practicing, even in the summer, when he needed to ask<br />
for the keys so that he could open the locked doors to<br />
get on the court. In 1999-2000 he signed for Iraklis at<br />
age 19. His club <strong>of</strong> origin, Kastoria, would later put his<br />
name on its arena. Diamantidis stayed in Iraklis, where<br />
he started with humble numbers (1.8 points in only 9<br />
games played), until 2004. Those numbers truly hid the<br />
future star: 16 points in 9 games, only 29.4% accuracy<br />
on two-point shots, 0-for-3 in triples, and just 6 assists.<br />
More than one person said he would be a mediocre<br />
player.<br />
After five seasons in Iraklis, he moved left Thessaloniki<br />
with vastly different numbers: 14.8 points, 51.9%<br />
in two-point shots, 33.3% in threes, 6.3 rebounds and<br />
1.4 assists. He also earned 2003-04 MVP honor in<br />
Greece. In the 2004 Mediterranean Games, he made<br />
his debut with the national team. Watching at a distance<br />
was the Panathinaikos head coach at the time,<br />
Zeljko Obradovic, who signed him for the next season.<br />
In an interview with Frank Lawlor for EuroLeague.<br />
net in 2011, Diamantidis explained the changes he went<br />
through when he joined Panathinaikos:<br />
“When I was young, I watched basketball because I<br />
liked it. I didn’t follow any particular players. When you<br />
are so young, you cannot understand some elements<br />
<strong>of</strong> the game, how the game is really played. You watch<br />
the game and you simply enjoy watching it. I believe<br />
that I picked up more elements <strong>of</strong> my game from my<br />
coaches and not from other players. When I first came<br />
to Panathinaikos, my coaches showed me that basketball<br />
can be played in a different way than the one I knew<br />
until then. They showed me that there are other things<br />
that can be done and showed me the way to do them. I<br />
saw a different kind <strong>of</strong> basketball, which I liked.”<br />
Obradovic took notice <strong>of</strong> his defensive skills more<br />
than his talents on <strong>of</strong>fense. In his first season with the<br />
Greens, Diamantidis improved his percentages (59.3%<br />
twos, 35.8% threes), doubled his average in assists,<br />
and also performed great invisible jobs not always seen<br />
in the statistics.<br />
The best opposing scorers had real nightmares when<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Dimitris Diamantidis<br />
D
Vladimir Stankovic<br />
dealing with Diamantidis, but when the team needed<br />
points, his left hand was also a reliable source. His height<br />
(1.96 meters) allowed him to play at point or shooting<br />
guard, even small forward if the situation required. At<br />
100 kilos, he had a strong body that could take contact.<br />
However, his best weapons were his fast hands and<br />
his court vision. He collected many steals and he was<br />
a sure thing when dribbling the ball. Two seasons after<br />
his retirement, he is still the EuroLeague’s historic steals<br />
leader with 434 (1.56 per game). His total performance<br />
index rating (PIR) <strong>of</strong> 3,806 stands behind only Juan Carlos<br />
Navarro, who had 3,890, although played a lot fewer<br />
games. His total assists, 1,255, follows only Spanoulis,<br />
who has 1,275 – and counting. Diamantidis was the first<br />
player to reach 1,000 assists in the EuroLeague, which<br />
happened against Fenerbahce – with Obradovic now on<br />
the opposing bench – on October 14, 2014, in front <strong>of</strong> his<br />
home fans in Athens.<br />
However, Diamantidis always had a talent that was<br />
invisible to the stats sheets but crucial for Panathinaikos:<br />
his leadership. During his 12 years at Panathinaikos, 11<br />
<strong>of</strong> them with Obradovic on the bench, Diamantidis was<br />
always the extension <strong>of</strong> the coach’s hand on the court,<br />
the player who would always have the ball in money<br />
time. He had the freedom to choose whether to pass,<br />
shoot or penetrate. It’s not easy to count all his titles and<br />
accolades with the Greens and the national team, but I<br />
will try listing, let’s say, the most important ones:<br />
With Panathinaikos:<br />
• 3 EuroLeague titles: 2007, 2009 and 2011<br />
• 9 Greek League titles<br />
• 10 Greek Cup titles<br />
• Six-time best EuroLeague defender<br />
• EuroLeague MVP in 2011<br />
• EuroLeague Final Four MVP in 2007 and 2011<br />
• All-EuroLeague First Team: 2007, 2011, 2012, 2013<br />
• EuroLeague assists leader: 2011 and 2014<br />
• Six-time Greek League MVP<br />
• Two-time Greek Cup final MVP<br />
With the Greek national team:<br />
• EuroBasket champion in 2005 in Belgrade<br />
• Member <strong>of</strong> the all-tournament team in 2005<br />
• 2005 EuroBasket assists lead (5.0 per game)<br />
• Silver medal, 2006 World Cup in Japan<br />
I remember each <strong>of</strong> his EuroLeague titles for<br />
something. In Athens in 2007, the final between Panathinaikos<br />
and CSKA Moscow (93-91) was one <strong>of</strong> the<br />
best games I can remember. Diamantidis, after being<br />
discreet in the semis against Baskonia (67-53), shined<br />
in the title game with 15 points. In Berlin 2009, his mate<br />
Spanoulis was the MVP, but Diamantidis played more<br />
minutes and only needed 5 shots for his 10 points (1<br />
<strong>of</strong> 2 twos, 2 <strong>of</strong> 3 threes and 2 <strong>of</strong> 2 free throws), plus he<br />
had the highest PIR in his team. In 2011 in Barcelona, he<br />
dished 9 assists each in the semis against Montepaschi<br />
Siena (79-77) and in the final against Maccabi (78-70).<br />
He also added 16 points in the final. He had the huge<br />
quality <strong>of</strong> playing for the team at all times, but also taking<br />
over and scoring if that what was needed most.<br />
His personal records in the EuroLeague are 43<br />
minutes against CSKA in 2005, a PIR <strong>of</strong> 34 against<br />
Maccabi in 2012 (in a one-point victory in Game 5 <strong>of</strong> the<br />
play<strong>of</strong>fs), 26 points against FC Barcelona in 2011 (also<br />
in the play<strong>of</strong>fs), and 11 assists against Milan in 2014.<br />
His points average in 278 EuroLeague games is 9.0, but<br />
even if numbers can tell a great deal about basketball,<br />
with Diamantidis I think that personal opinions are way<br />
better. The eyes could see what the stats missed because<br />
his real influence was many times not reflected<br />
on a scoresheet. One could even say that stats were<br />
104<br />
105
against him many times, but luckily for us, there are videos<br />
<strong>of</strong> his feats that can show us his class. Of course,<br />
after retiring in 2016, he was named a Euroleague <strong>Basketball</strong><br />
Legend.<br />
I followed Diamantidis all his years in Panathinaikos,<br />
but in my memory, there’s a special place for a game<br />
he played with Greece. In semifinals against France at<br />
that 2005 EuroBasket, his team was losing 64-66 with a<br />
few seconds to go, but Greece had the last possession.<br />
Everyone among the 19,000 fans at the Stark Arena,<br />
home <strong>of</strong> the Final Four in 2018, knew that the last shot<br />
would be for Dimitris Diamantidis. And it was. And he<br />
nailed the three for a 67-66 win that would put Greece<br />
in the final that it won, 78-62, against Dirk Nowitzki’s<br />
Germany.<br />
The next summer, when Greece defeated the United<br />
States team with LeBron James, Dwayne Wade, Chris<br />
Paul and Dwight Howard in the semifinals <strong>of</strong> the 2006<br />
World Cup in Japan, Diamantidis had 12 points, 5 assists,<br />
3 rebounds and 2 steals. Many thought that was pro<strong>of</strong><br />
that he could play in the NBA. I honestly think that he<br />
would have played well there, but he chose to stay in his<br />
country and play a leading role always. He wore the national<br />
jersey 124 times and scored 760 points. He played<br />
in three EuroBaskets (2003, 2005 and 2007), two world<br />
championships (2006 and 2010) and two Olympics<br />
(2004 and 2008). He was the idol <strong>of</strong> the Panathinaikos<br />
fans, who gave him an original nickname: 3D. They were<br />
not wrong, either, as he was a multi-dimensional player.<br />
He was also called The Octopus and Spiderman, because<br />
<strong>of</strong> his long arms and sticky hands for steals.<br />
In 2016 he was voted the most popular player in the<br />
Greek League. That same year, Panathinaikos retired his<br />
jersey number 13 in a spectacular tribute. The tourney<br />
named Diamonds are Forever, in his honor, has seen<br />
teams like CSKA, Maccabi and Barcelona participate.<br />
In the Panathinaikos vs. CSKA game on September 16,<br />
2016, the action stopped 13 seconds before the break<br />
to honor Diamantidis.<br />
For many people, number 13 means bad luck, but<br />
Diamantidis showed that many times luck depends<br />
on your hard work, your talent, sacrifice, ambition...<br />
He admitted that it was the only free number when he<br />
joined Iraklis, but he also said he’s not superstitious. In<br />
Kastoria, he had worn number 5.<br />
Diamantidis was a real diamond on the court. In<br />
real life, he was almost an anti-star. He was always shy<br />
and humble and stayed away from the spotlight. He<br />
didn’t like the attention <strong>of</strong> the media, he hated <strong>of</strong>ficial<br />
appearances because he had to wear a suit and tie, and<br />
he didn’t like to deliver speeches. He was, one could<br />
say, a very disciplined ascetic who always took care <strong>of</strong><br />
himself. He hardly drank alcohol, for instance. He was a<br />
true example for young people.<br />
When EuroLeague chose the All-Decade Team between<br />
2001 and 2010, it was clear that Diamantidis<br />
had to be there. He was joined by Dejan Bodiroga, J.R.<br />
Holden, Sarunas Jasikevicius, Trajan Langdon, Juan<br />
Carlos Navarro, Theo Papaloukas, Anthony Parker, Ramunas<br />
Siskauskas and Nikola Vujcic. All <strong>of</strong> them are in<br />
this book except for Navarro, because he is still playing<br />
at this very moment, and the pr<strong>of</strong>iles are for retired<br />
players only.<br />
Diamantidis was the last <strong>of</strong> the other nine to retire.<br />
He was almost singular as a player who could dominate<br />
basketball games literally from any place on the floor<br />
and come up with every kind <strong>of</strong> big play, <strong>of</strong>fensive or<br />
defensive, to win them.<br />
Dimitris Diamantidis was truly a diamond, rare and<br />
unique.<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Dimitris Diamantidis<br />
D
Vlade<br />
Divac<br />
107
An icon without<br />
a ring<br />
Just seeing his number <strong>of</strong> titles or medals in<br />
the Olympics, World Cup and EuroBasket,<br />
there is no doubt that Vlade Divac, who<br />
was born on February 3, 1968, in Prijepolje,<br />
Serbia, is one <strong>of</strong> the most-crowned players<br />
in basketball. What’s more, he had a great<br />
NBA career. But despite his 20 years in basketball’s<br />
elite, he is missing something: an NBA title, although<br />
that’s something that almost happened for him, too.<br />
In the 2001-02 season, his Sacramento Kings were<br />
the NBA’s team <strong>of</strong> the moment, with a style <strong>of</strong> play<br />
that was joyful, fun and attractive. In that season’s<br />
Western Conference finals, the Kings were tied 3-3 in<br />
their best-<strong>of</strong>-seven series with the Los Angeles Lakers.<br />
Having won their division, the Kings played Game<br />
7 at home, but lost 112-106. The Lakers qualified for<br />
the NBA finals and erased the New Jersey Nets 4-0,<br />
the same as Sacramento would have done if it had<br />
reached the finals.<br />
But even without an NBA ring, Vlade Divac is still<br />
one <strong>of</strong> the greatest <strong>European</strong>s to have played in that<br />
competition, in addition to being one <strong>of</strong> its <strong>European</strong><br />
pioneers. From 1989 to 2005, he played 16 seasons<br />
with the Lakers (1989-1996, 2004-05), Charlotte<br />
(1996-98) and Sacramento (1998-2004). He appeared<br />
in 1,134 games, 979 <strong>of</strong> them as a starter, collecting<br />
13,398 points (11.8 on average), 9,326 rebounds (9.2),<br />
1,631 blocks (1.4). He earned one all-star appearance,<br />
in 2001.<br />
Pure talent<br />
Of all the players in this series, if I have to choose<br />
one who I knew best and have seen play hundreds <strong>of</strong><br />
times, it’s Vlade Divac. I can remember his first great<br />
game, the one in which he showed that he was a future<br />
star.<br />
It was the first week <strong>of</strong> the Yugoslav League <strong>of</strong><br />
1985-86. Crvena Zvezda played against Sloga Kraljevo<br />
at the Pinki arena in Zemun, a suburb <strong>of</strong> Belgrade on<br />
the banks <strong>of</strong> the Danube River. Crvena Zvezda won,<br />
but had to suffer to do so because <strong>of</strong> an unknown kid<br />
named Vlade Divac, author <strong>of</strong> 27 points that day and<br />
owner <strong>of</strong> a game that left no doubt about his enormous<br />
potential. The previous season, at 16 years old, Divac<br />
had debuted as a pro with Sloga. But his 22 points in 20<br />
games were nothing more than a sign <strong>of</strong> how his coach,<br />
Milan Bogojevic, believed in him.<br />
In fact, Bogojevic is to “blame” for Divac’s great<br />
career. As a kid, Divac left his hometown <strong>of</strong> Prijepolje<br />
and the home <strong>of</strong> his parents to live with his maternal<br />
grandmother in Kraljevo. One day, Bogojevic saw him<br />
in the street and immediately fixated on Divac’s height.<br />
He invited Divac to a Sloga practice, and that’s how it<br />
started. During the summer <strong>of</strong> 1984, while they were<br />
watching a game <strong>of</strong> the Olympics basketball tournament<br />
from Los Angeles, Bogojevic made a bold prediction,<br />
telling Divac: “Look, if you work a lot, you will play<br />
in the next Olympics in 1988 in Seoul.”<br />
Many times since then, Divac has said that those<br />
words from Bogojevic that day seemed like “science<br />
fiction”. But when four years later he returned from<br />
Seoul with a silver medal, Divac hung it around the neck<br />
<strong>of</strong> Milan Bogojevic.<br />
Divac’s pure talent for basketball never went unrecognized.<br />
The coaches <strong>of</strong> the Yugoslav federation, with their<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Vlade Divac<br />
D
Vladimir Stankovic<br />
perfect scouting program, were well aware <strong>of</strong> all available<br />
talents. In the summer <strong>of</strong> 1985, for the U16 <strong>European</strong><br />
Championship in Ruse, Bulgaria, Divac was selected for<br />
the team by Svetislav Pesic, who was then the coach <strong>of</strong><br />
Bosna Sarajevo. Together with Divac were Toni Kukoc,<br />
Nebojsa Ilic, Radenko Dobras, Slavisa Koprivica and<br />
Zoran Kalpic, all <strong>of</strong> whom would become <strong>European</strong> junior<br />
champions two years later in Bormio, Italy. Yugoslavia<br />
won the gold medal with Divac averaging 11.7 points.<br />
In his second season with Sloga, Divac was the<br />
team’s top scorer with 17.6 points per game and<br />
equally dominant at rebounds. All the major teams in<br />
Yugoslavia now wanted him, but Partizan Belgrade had<br />
a big advantage: already playing there was Aleksandar<br />
“Sasha” Djordjevic, the country’s most-promising point<br />
guard. Divac, who was smart, knew that he needed a<br />
great point guard, and so decided to join Partizan.<br />
During the 1985-86 season, Divac had the privilege<br />
to work individually with the great Kresimir Cosic, who<br />
was then the Yugoslav senior national team coach. A<br />
few times, Cosic spent up to a week in Kraljevo showing<br />
the young Divac the secrets <strong>of</strong> playing center. The result<br />
<strong>of</strong> their collaboration was Divac forming part <strong>of</strong> the<br />
Yugoslav men’s team at the World Cup <strong>of</strong> 1986 in Spain.<br />
There, in Madrid, during the semifinal against the Soviet<br />
Union, a historic anecdote unfolded: Yugoslavia<br />
was winning by 9 points with 40 seconds left, but the<br />
Soviets, led by Arvydas Sabonis, tied the game with 3<br />
three-point shots, forced overtime, and won the game.<br />
Before the last three-pointer from Valdis Valters that<br />
led to overtime, the young Vlade Divac had committed<br />
a turnover. Of that night, Divac has said: “I wanted to<br />
quit basketball.” But the next day, against Brazil in the<br />
bronze medal game, Cosic put Divac in the starting five.<br />
The message was clear: I believe in you.<br />
On his return home, Divac went directly from the<br />
airport to training camp for the U18 <strong>European</strong> Championship<br />
in Gmunden, Austria. Waiting for him were<br />
his teammates from Ruse, Djordjevic and Dino Radja.<br />
Little by little, Pesic had completed a great team that<br />
that would triumph the next year at the U19 World Cup<br />
in 1987 in Bormio, Italy. But before that would happen,<br />
some nice things occurred in Divac’s life.<br />
The great year <strong>of</strong> 1987<br />
In his first season with Partizan, that <strong>of</strong> 1986-87, Divac<br />
won two important titles. First came the Korac Cup,<br />
after two great battles with Cantu <strong>of</strong> Italy. In the first<br />
game, Cantu won at home 89-76 with 24 points from<br />
Kent Benson, 19 from Antonello Riva and 9 from Pierluigi<br />
Marzorati. Partizan had 28 points by Divac and 22<br />
by Djordjevic, then went home to Belgrade with some<br />
hopes for the rematch. In the second game, on March<br />
22 in the old arena at New Belgrade, we saw a great<br />
game featuring an explosion <strong>of</strong> talent from the young<br />
Partizan team. The trophy stayed in Belgrade thanks to<br />
a <strong>101</strong>-82 victory behind 30 points by Divac, 22 by Zarko<br />
Paspalj and 21 by Djordjevic. An excellent Riva, with 36<br />
points, wasn’t enough for Cantu to avoid defeat.<br />
In June 1987, the young Divac played at the senior<br />
EuroBasket in Athens together with his junior national<br />
teammates Radja, Kukoc and Djordjevic, and they returned<br />
with the bronze medal. They crowned their great<br />
year at the U19 World Cup in Bormio, where Yugoslavia<br />
became champion with seven wins, two against a great<br />
USA team, as Divac averaged 12.6 points and formed a<br />
great team with Kukoc, Djordjevic, Radja, Ilic, Koprivica,<br />
Teoman Alibegovic, Luka Pavicevic, Samir Avdic and<br />
Miroslav Pecarski.<br />
At the end <strong>of</strong> the 1986-87 club season, Partizan<br />
108<br />
109
had beaten Crvena Zvezda 2-0 in the Yugoslav League<br />
play<strong>of</strong>f finals, winning the right to play the next EuroLeague,<br />
the first with a new format <strong>of</strong> an eight-team group<br />
phase leading to a Final Four. Partizan finished first in<br />
the group after beating Barcelona twice, as well as Aris<br />
and Maccabi. But at the Final Four in Ghent, Belgium,<br />
they lost in the semifinals against Maccabi and finished<br />
third after beating Aris.<br />
In 1988, Divac won the silver medal with Yugoslavia<br />
at the Olympics in Seoul. In 1989, Partizan won a triple<br />
crown with the Yugoslav League, Yugoslav Cup and<br />
Korac Cup titles. Then the Yugoslav national team became<br />
EuroBasket 1989 champion in Zagreb. That same<br />
year, Divac was taken 26th in the NBA Draft by the Los<br />
Angeles Lakers. In record time, Divac had gone from<br />
unknown to famous, from Kraljevo to Los Angeles,<br />
from a more-than-modest team in Sloga to the bestknown<br />
team in the world, the Lakers. All thanks to his<br />
enormous talent.<br />
By his stature, 2.12 meters, Divac was a center. But<br />
in terms <strong>of</strong> skills, he was a small forward who shot<br />
three-pointers. When it came to assists, he was like a<br />
point guard. He had the timing <strong>of</strong> a shot-blocker and he<br />
was a fighter. What’s more, he was always well loved, a<br />
leader in the locker room, a joker with a thousand and<br />
one stories. In Los Angeles, Divac had the luck <strong>of</strong> playing<br />
with the great Magic Johnson and others who brought<br />
“Showtime” to the Lakers. And he had the opportunity<br />
to learn from the recently retired Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.<br />
The rest is history. World champion with Yugoslavia<br />
in 1990 and 2002; Olympics silver medalist in 1988 and<br />
1996; <strong>European</strong> gold medalist three times – in 1989,<br />
1991 and 1995 – plus a bronze in 1999; NBA all-rookie<br />
team member in 1989-90; his No. 21 retired by Sacramento;<br />
a member <strong>of</strong> the FIBA Hall <strong>of</strong> Fame since 2008;<br />
candidate for the Naismith Memorial <strong>Basketball</strong> Hall <strong>of</strong><br />
Fame this year. It was a brilliant career – even without<br />
an NBA ring.<br />
Together with his wife, Snezana, Divac has a foundation<br />
that bears their names and has helped many refugees<br />
in the ex-Yugoslavia, as well as other needy people<br />
around the world. His humanitarian effort is huge and<br />
perhaps Divac’s brightest medal <strong>of</strong> all.<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Vlade Divac<br />
D
Giuseppe-Pino<br />
Gjergja<br />
111
A Bob Cousy clone<br />
In this series <strong>of</strong> the best players from the past in <strong>European</strong><br />
basketball we normally see men who have<br />
won at least one <strong>European</strong> title. But, since every rule<br />
has an exception, for this entry I want to write about<br />
a basketball maestro who never won the crown, but<br />
who was, indeed, a great player: Giuseppe Gjergja<br />
– better known as “Pino” to his friends and all the<br />
basketball family. About the spelling <strong>of</strong> his name, it is<br />
something difficult to solve. In the <strong>of</strong>ficial page <strong>of</strong> his<br />
life-long club, KK Zadar, they spell it Giuseppe Giergia.<br />
But some other sources spell it as Gjergja. The spelling<br />
problem exists because his family is <strong>of</strong> Albanian origin<br />
and his ancestors moved to Zadar, the city on the Dalmatian<br />
coast, where they settled an area called Arbanasi,<br />
currently a suburb <strong>of</strong> the city.<br />
Giuseppe Gjergja was born on November 24, 1937,<br />
when Zadar belonged to Italy. That’s where the Italian version<br />
<strong>of</strong> his name – Giuseppe – comes from. After World War<br />
II, when Zadar joined Yugoslavia, he was re-named Josip. In<br />
the FIBA webpage, his entry goes under Josip Djerdja. I saw<br />
him play and later knew him as Josip Djerdja, so I will stick to<br />
this one, which is surely more phonetic than orthographic.<br />
However you choose to spell his first or last names, one<br />
thing remains true: he was a great player.<br />
A gift from the USA<br />
<strong>Basketball</strong> arrived in Zadar in 1929, but its true development<br />
occurred after the war. Djerdja had an aunt in the<br />
United States who in 1955 sent him a very original gift: a<br />
16mm film about the Boston Celtics and, especially, their<br />
leader Bob Cousy. Djerdja was already a basketball player,<br />
but when he managed to see the film by getting time in a<br />
local cinema during the morning, when nobody was there,<br />
he realized that he hardly knew how to play the game. He<br />
fell in love with Cousy, his technique, his way <strong>of</strong> handling<br />
the ball, his passes, his dribbling, his court vision. He<br />
decided that he would “play like Cousy” and dedicated<br />
months and months to individual work. Whenever he<br />
could, he saw the film again to study Cousy’s technique,<br />
and he discovered that the secret was “the extended<br />
hand”. That technique let Cousy avoid the ball coming in<br />
contact with the legs or the body. Little by little, Djerdja<br />
became a master with the ball. Even though he was rather<br />
short, at 1.76 meters, he was a good rebounder. That,<br />
matched with his fighting character, turned him into an<br />
attractive option for any team.<br />
Radivoj Korac <strong>of</strong> OKK Belgrade was a great scorer,<br />
Ivo Daneu <strong>of</strong> Union Olimpija Ljubljana a very complete<br />
player, but I agree with those who saw that a third man<br />
should be included in a “Trio <strong>of</strong> Saints”. And that man<br />
was Djerdja. Already in 1958, Djerdja made the Yugoslav<br />
national team for the 1960 Olympics in Rome and was<br />
an important piece in the first success <strong>of</strong> the team (sixth<br />
place). In Rome he got a chance to see Oscar Robertson,<br />
another American basketball magician. His style was different<br />
and attractive. He was a showman who did almost<br />
everything in the air. He was always there for rebounds;<br />
hardly ever shot with his legs on the floor; his penetrations<br />
were unstoppable; and his solutions against much<br />
bigger men were unbelievable. With a strong character,<br />
Robertson was always ready to fight with rivals, referees<br />
or even the crowds. He was a player hated by many fans<br />
but respected because <strong>of</strong> his enormous talent.<br />
Waiting for Cosic<br />
In the late 1950s and early ‘60s, the Yugoslav League<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Giuseppe-Pino Gjergja<br />
G
Vladimir Stankovic<br />
was dominated by Korac’s OKK Belgrade and Daneu’s<br />
Olimpija. Between 1957 and 1964 they won four titles<br />
each. In 1965, the title went to Zadar for the first time.<br />
Djerdja was back from the military service and the team<br />
had the likes <strong>of</strong> the Marcelic brothers, Bruno and Mile,<br />
Duro Stipcevic, Milan Komazec (Arian’s father), Miljenko<br />
Valcic, Jure Kosta, Marko Ostarcevic (known in Spain as<br />
the husband <strong>of</strong> artist Norma Duval) and a young boy<br />
named Kresimir Cosic. He was less than 17 years old, but<br />
his enormous talent could be seen from afar. He was thin,<br />
no muscles, but with great intelligence and talent. Zadar<br />
finished first, with an 18-4 record, two losses fewer than<br />
Olimpija. The best scorer was Korac with 695 points<br />
(34.8). Djerdja was sixth in total points (478) but since he<br />
had played 19 games, his average was 25.2, second best<br />
in the leage. The most important thing, however, was the<br />
birth <strong>of</strong> a great duo formed by Djerdja and Cosic. Djerdja<br />
was 11 years older, but the following 10 years they were<br />
an unbelievable duo that could win titles by themselves.<br />
It was the perfect combination <strong>of</strong> point guard and center.<br />
But Cosic was no ordinary center. He was way ahead <strong>of</strong><br />
his time. He was Arvydas Sabonis 20 years earlier and<br />
with 10 centimeters less. He was the first center to play<br />
far from the basket, had great court vision and was a<br />
generous passer, but also a great rebounder with big<br />
hands. Djerdja was the opposite: small but with excellent<br />
technique. He hardly ever turned the ball over and scored<br />
many points. If I had to compare him to a current player, I<br />
would say he was the Tony Parker <strong>of</strong> his time.<br />
Djerdja was a World Cup 1963 runner-up with Yugoslavia<br />
in Rio de Janeiro (8.8 points) and took part in the<br />
1964 Olympics in Tokyo (9.9 points), the 1965 EuroBasket<br />
in Moscow (silver, 10.3 points) and the 1967 World Cup<br />
in Montevideo, where he paired up with the young Cosic.<br />
They won the silver medal, but together they brought happiness<br />
to Zadar fans. They were Yugoslav League champs<br />
in 1967 (Cosic 21.2, Djerdja 17.3), 1968 (Cosic 21.3, Djerdja<br />
17.4), 1974 (Cosic 23.1, Djerdja 18.9) and 1975 with a 25-1<br />
record (Cosic 24.1, Djerdja 14.3 at 38 years old). In 1970<br />
they won the Yugoslav Cup against Jugoplastika by the<br />
score <strong>of</strong> 64-60 playing in Split. Djerdja scored 23 points,<br />
including the last 6 after a 57-57 tie, and Cosic added 19. I<br />
guess it was in those days that the famous sentence was<br />
born: “God created man and Zadar created basketball.”<br />
Rivalry with Real Madrid<br />
Zadar never won the EuroLeague <strong>of</strong> the time because<br />
it was unlucky enough to have faced the great Real Madrid<br />
teams <strong>of</strong> Pedro Ferrandiz a number <strong>of</strong> times. Zadar<br />
reached the semifinals several times, but Real Madrid<br />
was a better team. Madrid eliminated Zadar in 1967,<br />
1968, 1969 and 1975, in two unforgettable games. The<br />
first game, played in Madrid on March 20, the hosts<br />
won 109-82 with a great Walter Szczerbiak, who scored<br />
45 points, while Cosic stayed at 17 and Djerdja 8. Seven<br />
days later in Zadar, in front <strong>of</strong> 6,000 fans who created<br />
a great atmosphere, Zadar thought that it could come<br />
back from minus 21. To do that it didn’t hesitate to do<br />
anything it could, including manipulating the clock. The<br />
second hand ran so slowly that one second on the clock<br />
lasted for two real seconds. Real Madrid had already<br />
experienced a similar trick against OKK Belgrade on<br />
March 21, 1965, when the game lasted for 113 minutes.<br />
Zadar’s clock was even slower: the game finished after<br />
131 minutes. Ferrandiz’s complaints were useless in<br />
front <strong>of</strong> the indifference <strong>of</strong> referees Topuzoglu <strong>of</strong> Turkey<br />
and Anheuser from Germany and the commissioner,<br />
Lambeaux <strong>of</strong> Belgium. At the break, Zadar was winning<br />
by three (68-65!) but in the end, quality prevailed<br />
over lack <strong>of</strong> sportsmanship and Real Madrid took the<br />
112<br />
113
never-ending game by 117-130. The great Wayne Brabender<br />
scored 41 points, followed by Szczerbiak with<br />
26, Clifford Luyk with 25 and Rafa Rullan with 18. The<br />
duo <strong>of</strong> Cosic (31) and Djerdja (24) did its part, but Real<br />
Madrid had two more men: Camilo Cabrera (12 points)<br />
and Juan Antonio Corbalan (8). I remember the game,<br />
watched it on TV. So many masters <strong>of</strong> the game deserved<br />
to be remembered because <strong>of</strong> their talent, not<br />
because <strong>of</strong> the unsportsmanlike attempted swindle.<br />
With his 18 seasons in Zadar, “Pino” Djerdja shares<br />
the record – with Bogdan Muller <strong>of</strong> Olimpija – for the<br />
longest tenure with one team in the Yugoslav League.<br />
With 6,640 points in 315 games (21.1) he is the third<br />
best scorer <strong>of</strong> the Yugoslav League after Vinko Jelovac<br />
(Olimpija) and Radmilo Misovic (Borac Cacak). Between<br />
1968 and 1970, Djerdja played two seasons in humble<br />
Gorizia <strong>of</strong> Italy and helped the team reach the first division,<br />
but after that he was back to his Zadar.<br />
In the summer <strong>of</strong> 1966, he was about to play in Italy<br />
for Cantu. The coach <strong>of</strong> the team was Borislav Stankovic,<br />
the future FIBA secretary general, who knew Djerdja<br />
well. Stankovic’s idea was to try to convert Djerdja into<br />
an Italian player using the fact that Zadar was Italian<br />
when Djerdja was born. The rules only allowed for only<br />
one foreigner and Stankovic had already signed American<br />
center Bob Burgess.<br />
“Djerdja was a great player, atypical,” Stankovic<br />
remembered. “He was an unbelievable mix <strong>of</strong> an individualist<br />
and a team player. His plays were unpredictable.<br />
He had great technique and imagination with no<br />
limits. He was a great leader. He spent the winter with<br />
us because the Yugoslav League was played during the<br />
summer. He played some tourneys and friendly games<br />
but to obtain the Italian nationality he had to reject the<br />
Yugoslav one, and he didn’t want to do it.”<br />
Both Djerdja and Stankovic, among others, are<br />
protagonists <strong>of</strong> a great documentary with the title “We<br />
Were World Champions”, dedicated to the development<br />
<strong>of</strong> Yugoslav basketball from 1945 to 1970, the year <strong>of</strong><br />
the World Cup in Ljubljana.<br />
After putting an end to his brilliant career, Djerdja<br />
stayed in basketball as coach <strong>of</strong> Zadar, PAOK Thessaloniki<br />
and Livorno. He was national team coach <strong>of</strong> Yugoslavia<br />
at the 1983 EuroBasket but finished seventh because<br />
the Golden Generation was in its twilight (Cosic,<br />
Slavnic, Kicanovic, Dalipagic) while the youngsters<br />
like Drazen Petrovic had just started. With Croatia, he<br />
won the bronze medal at World Cup 1994 in Toronto,<br />
Canada with a great generation led by Toni Kukoc and<br />
Dino Radja. Djerdja’s son Dario (who, by the way, goes<br />
by Gjergja) is the current coach <strong>of</strong> Telenet Ostend,<br />
while his other son, Roko, also played basketball. “Pino”<br />
Djerdja still lives in Zadar. He is willing, at 80 years old,<br />
to challenge anyone older than 40 to play a game <strong>of</strong><br />
one-on-one.<br />
<strong>Basketball</strong> still runs through his veins.<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Giuseppe-Pino Gjergja<br />
D
Aleksandar<br />
Djordjevic<br />
115
“Alexander<br />
the Great”<br />
In the 1971-72 season, Crvena Zvezda won the<br />
Yugoslavian League with a powerful team formed<br />
by veteran Vladimir Cvetkovic, two young talents<br />
who were world champs already in 1970, Ljubodrag<br />
Simonovic and Dragan Kapicic, the great guard<br />
Zoran Slavnic and his substitute, Goran Rakocevic<br />
(father <strong>of</strong> Igor Rakocevic), the useful big man Dragisa<br />
Vucinic and many others. The coach <strong>of</strong> that team was<br />
Bratislav “Bata” Djordjevic, and behind the bench<br />
there used to be a curious kid who always had a ball in<br />
his hands. That was Aleksandar “Sasha” Djordjevic,<br />
born August 26, 1967, in Belgrade, the eldest son <strong>of</strong><br />
the Zvezda head coach. It was impossible to foresee<br />
that Sasha would be a great player, but it was clear<br />
that he was interested in the ball.<br />
The career <strong>of</strong> this future great guard in <strong>European</strong> basketball<br />
started in the youth categories <strong>of</strong> Crvena Zvezda<br />
and Radnicki Belgrade. But he had to go to Partizan to develop<br />
his great talent. In the 1983-84 season, at 16 years<br />
old, he made his debut with the first team, but in his first<br />
five games, he only scored 2 points. The following season<br />
he was already better, with 89 points in 22 games. Curiously<br />
enough, Svetislav Pesic, national team coach for<br />
the Yugoslav youth categories, never called Djordjevic for<br />
the 1985 U16 <strong>European</strong> Championship in Ruse, Bulgaria.<br />
In a team with Toni Kukoc, Vlade Divac, Neboja Ilic and<br />
others, the guards were Zoran Kalpic and Nenad Trunic.<br />
Djordjevic had similar numbers in the 1985-86 season<br />
with Partizan – 80 points in 21 games – showing his potential<br />
while he had already become a staple on the junior<br />
national team. In the 1986 U18 <strong>European</strong> Championship<br />
in Gmunden, Austria, he won a gold medal after seven<br />
victories, the last <strong>of</strong> them by 111-87 against USSR in the<br />
final. It was a great team with Djordjevic, Luka Pavicevic<br />
and Teoman Alibegovic as the main newcomers on a<br />
team that would have its best moments one year later at<br />
the U19 <strong>Basketball</strong> World Cup in Bormio.<br />
Duo with Divac<br />
In the summer <strong>of</strong> 1986, Vlade Divac left Sloga Kraljevo<br />
and joined Partizan at 18 years old. At that time,<br />
and because <strong>of</strong> stupid childish reasons, he didn’t talk<br />
to Djordjevic. But as smart as he was, Divac thought to<br />
himself: “I am a center and I need a great point guard,<br />
and the best is Djordjevic, so I am going to Partizan.”<br />
Said and done. That was the birth <strong>of</strong> a great duo that<br />
didn’t last long in Partizan, as Divac went to the Los<br />
Angeles Lakers in 1989. But on the Yugoslav national<br />
team, the tandem still had a long way to go.<br />
Since his childhood, Djordjevic showed he was leadership<br />
material. Smart by nature, he was a boss on the<br />
court, with authority to understand basketball better<br />
than his teammates thanks to having a personal coach<br />
at home. Sasha was the first violin in a great Partizan<br />
generation that sports director Dragan Kicanovic would<br />
build little by little. Djordjevic drew attention because<br />
<strong>of</strong> his impeccable technique, his great court vision, his<br />
excellent shot, and his courage to take responsibility<br />
when it mattered. I remember a game against Crvena<br />
Zvezda in Hala Pionir when he was still a junior. He<br />
came <strong>of</strong>f the bench and in successive possessions hit 4<br />
three-pointers to turn the game upside down.<br />
His first Yugoslav League title with Partizan arrived<br />
in 1987. That same summer, Kreso Cosic, a great vi-<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Aleksandar Djordjevic<br />
D
Vladimir Stankovic<br />
sionary, called him and three other future stars – Divac<br />
(who had already played the 1986 World Cup in Spain),<br />
Toni Kukoc and Dino Radja – for the 1987 EuroBasket in<br />
Athens. Djordjevic, coming <strong>of</strong>f the bench, would score 8<br />
points to help Yugoslavia win the bronze medal against<br />
Spain, 98-87. After Athens, the four youngsters went<br />
to the junior national team coached by Pesic to play the<br />
U19 <strong>Basketball</strong> World Cup in Bormio, Italy. On August<br />
5, as team captain, Djordjevic lifted the trophy after a<br />
great win in the final against an excellent USA Team.<br />
The following season, Djordjevic would lead Partizan<br />
with 16.7 points per game on its way to the first Euro-<br />
League Final Four in Ghent, in 1988. In 1989, that great<br />
Partizan generation first won the national cup against rival<br />
Jugoplastika and then lifted the Korac Cup. After losing<br />
to Cantu 89-76, despite great games by Divac (28) and<br />
Djordjevic (22), the chances to recover in the second game<br />
were scarce. But Partizan made it, winning the second and<br />
last game <strong>101</strong>-82 after the great duo scored 51 points (30<br />
by Divac, 21 by Djordjevic) plus 22 by Zarko Paspalj. It was<br />
enough to overcome a great night by Antonello Riva, who<br />
scored 36 points. After not having made the national team<br />
for the World Cup 1990 in Argentina, Djordjevic was back<br />
with it for the 1991 EuroBasket in Rome, where Yugoslavia,<br />
complete for the last time (save for Jure Zdovc, who left<br />
the team under Slovenian government orders on the eve<br />
<strong>of</strong> the semifinal), won the gold medal with great authority.<br />
Miracle in Istanbul<br />
The 1991-92 season has a privileged spot in the<br />
memory <strong>of</strong> all Partizan fans. It was the year <strong>of</strong> the triple<br />
crown: national league, national cup and EuroLeague<br />
titles, the latter won on an unforgettable final played in<br />
Istanbul against Joventut Badalona. With 8 seconds to<br />
go, Tomas J<strong>of</strong>resa scored a tough basket for a 70-68<br />
Joventut advantage. Instantly, Djordjevic got the ball<br />
from Slavisa Koprivica and raced upcourt to launch a<br />
shot almost on the buzzer for an amazing three-pointer<br />
that meant the only continental title ever for Partizan.<br />
Djordjevic finished the game with 23 points.<br />
At 25 years old, he moved to Italy to join Philips Milan,<br />
with whom he won his second Korac Cup, this one<br />
against Virtus Roma. In the first game in Rome, Milan<br />
won 95-90 with 29 points by Djordjevic. Back at home,<br />
Milan won again, 106-91, as Sasha hit 38 points, including<br />
6 <strong>of</strong> 11 threes, to go with 7 assists and 5 rebounds<br />
– in other words, a total fireworks display. However, one<br />
<strong>of</strong> the best games in Djordjevic’s career was in the title<br />
game <strong>of</strong> the 1995 EuroBasket in Athens against Lithuania.<br />
Yugoslavia won 96-90 with 41 points by Djordjevic,<br />
including 9 <strong>of</strong> 12 triples, while on the other side Sarunas<br />
Marciulionis shined with 32 points. It was the best Euro-<br />
Basket final I have ever seen. Djordjevic was enormously<br />
popular. The fans called him “Sale Nazionale” – with Sale<br />
being a nickname for Sasha – while the press christened<br />
him “Alexander the Great”.<br />
After two years in Milan, Sasha spent two more<br />
with Fortitudo Bologna, When, in the summer <strong>of</strong> 1996,<br />
he decided to try his luck in the NBA with the Portland<br />
Trail Blazers, he left behind four years in Italy with 218<br />
Italian League games played in which he averaged 18.2<br />
points and hit 44.7% <strong>of</strong> his shots from downtown. Sasha<br />
Djordjevic was a great passer, but he was a scoring<br />
playmaker, thanks to his great outside shot. Above all<br />
<strong>of</strong> his many qualities, he had a strong character. He was<br />
a natural-born winner, a fighter who never gave up. He<br />
had the thing that only great champions have: self-confidence<br />
to take responsibility, to shoot the last ball and,<br />
on top <strong>of</strong> that, to score it.<br />
Before starting in Portland, Djordjevic won the sil-<br />
116<br />
117
ver medal at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996. After that,<br />
his NBA adventure began, but it only lasted for a few<br />
months with modest numbers. In 8 games he scored<br />
25 points, averaging 7.6 minutes, but from the threepoint<br />
arc, he made 5 <strong>of</strong> 7 shots. In late December, he<br />
decided to come back to Europe and chose FC Barcelona.<br />
When he landed, with the character <strong>of</strong> a champ, he<br />
said: “I am the leader that Barça needs.” He made his<br />
debut on January 3, 1997, in Granada with an 85-90<br />
Barça win. Of his first 13 points in a Barça uniform that<br />
day, he scored 8 <strong>of</strong> them in money time, enough for the<br />
headline in the sports newspaper El Mundo Deportivo<br />
to read: “Djordjevic wins”. Two days later, against Caja<br />
San Fernando, an 84-90 victory, he scored 17 points<br />
and dished 11 assists. With Barcelona, he would win<br />
his first Spanish League title. That same summer, also<br />
in Barcelona, he would win a new gold medal with Yugoslavia<br />
at EuroBasket. Before beating Italy in the final,<br />
in the group stage in Badalona, Djordjevic hit a similar<br />
three-pointer to the Istanbul one: with 4 seconds to<br />
go, Croatia was winning by 2, but Djordjevic crossed<br />
the court again, pulled up and shot over Slaven Rimac<br />
for a three that gave Yugoslavia the victory. Djordjevic<br />
would eventually be chosen as MVP <strong>of</strong> the tournament.<br />
He stayed in Barcelona two more years and won his<br />
third Korac Cup against Estudiantes in 1999, with 20<br />
points in the game in Madrid and then 18 in Barcelona.<br />
But in April <strong>of</strong> 1997, he lost his second EuroLeague title<br />
try, against Olympiacos in Rome, in what was probably<br />
his worst game in a final. He only scored 7 points while<br />
on the other side, his direct opponent David Rivers<br />
shined with 23 points. At the 1998 World Cup in Athens,<br />
despite recovering from a recent knee injury, Djordjevic<br />
helped Dejan Bodiroga and Zeljko Rebraca lead Yugoslavia<br />
to another world crown.<br />
In the summer <strong>of</strong> 1999 Barcelona decided not to renew<br />
his contract. He then signed for Barça’s archrival,<br />
Real Madrid. He played three seasons there and he<br />
took a Spanish League title in 2000, winning Game 5 <strong>of</strong><br />
the final series in Barcelona against his old team. After<br />
Madrid, he played three more years in Italy (Scavolini<br />
Pesaro and, again, Milan) where he put an end to his<br />
brilliant career in June <strong>of</strong> 2005.<br />
He started his coaching career in Milan in the 2006-<br />
07 season and has since worked his way up, between<br />
other club jobs, to national team coach. In that role, he<br />
has lifted Serbia to silver medals at the 2014 World Cup<br />
in Spain, the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro and the<br />
2017 EuroBasket in Istanbul.<br />
It remains to be seen – only because he can’t take<br />
the last shots himself anymore – whether Djordjevic’s<br />
medal collection as a coach will someday exceed his<br />
vast one as a player.<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Aleksandar Djordjevic<br />
D
Juan Antonio<br />
San Epifanio<br />
119
A Spaniard with<br />
a Yugoslav wrist<br />
Juan Antonio San Epifanio, better known as<br />
Epi, is a Spanish basketball legend who for<br />
several reasons never managed to win the<br />
<strong>European</strong> crown. Just like life, sports are<br />
sometimes unfair. But despite not holding<br />
the top trophy in continental basketball,<br />
there’s no denying that Epi was a huge player on the<br />
court and a gentleman <strong>of</strong>f it. It has been almost 25<br />
years since FIBA organized a great homage to Epi<br />
for his retirement. That day, a selection <strong>of</strong> <strong>European</strong><br />
players defeated FC Barcelona 118-92, but the score<br />
was the least important thing. Some 8,000 fans<br />
packed Palau Blaugrana in Barcelona to show respect<br />
to a player who had been their hero for 19 years. Juan<br />
Antonio Samaranch, then the president <strong>of</strong> the International<br />
Olympic Committee, bestowed upon Epi the<br />
Olympic Order <strong>of</strong> Merit. The full board <strong>of</strong> directors for<br />
FIBA was also at the game, led by general secretary<br />
Borislav Stankovic and his closest collaborators, including<br />
Raimundo Saporta.<br />
In a very emotional appearance, Epi played for just<br />
5 minutes and missed both <strong>of</strong> his last 2 shot attempts,<br />
but he was already a retired player and dressed in his<br />
uniform only for this special occasion. His last <strong>of</strong>ficial<br />
game had been played at the end <strong>of</strong> the 1994-95 season,<br />
in the Spanish League play<strong>of</strong>fs. On May 25, in the<br />
fifth game <strong>of</strong> the final series against Unicaja, Barcelona<br />
beat the team from Malaga 73-64 to win the league.<br />
Thus, Epi retired with his seventh national title for Barcelona.<br />
He only played the last 26 seconds, enough to<br />
score 2 free throws, the last 2 points <strong>of</strong> the game, and<br />
more than enough for a long standing ovation. It was<br />
the end <strong>of</strong> a brilliant career for a one-<strong>of</strong>-a-kind player, a<br />
star on the court and a humble man on the street.<br />
Tagging along with his brother<br />
Epi, born on June 12, 1959, was the youngest <strong>of</strong><br />
three brothers <strong>of</strong> a family living in Zaragoza. The two<br />
elder brothers played basketball and Juan Antonio<br />
followed in their footsteps. But he suffered a big blow<br />
when the coach <strong>of</strong> Helios, the club where he played in<br />
the youth categories, left him <strong>of</strong>f the team because <strong>of</strong><br />
his “lack <strong>of</strong> talent.” Epi didn’t despair and didn’t waste<br />
the second chance he was <strong>of</strong>fered, at 15 years old,<br />
thanks to his brother Herminio. Barça had set its sights<br />
on Herminio, but he had one condition: that the club<br />
also sign his brother, Juan Antonio. Barcelona, though<br />
not convinced, accepted and made one <strong>of</strong> the best<br />
signings in the history <strong>of</strong> the club. After two years in<br />
the youth categories, Epi would become a hero to the<br />
Barcelona fans for 19 years. A man who never tired <strong>of</strong><br />
scoring more and more points, he was without a doubt<br />
the most pr<strong>of</strong>itable signing ever for the club.<br />
I can’t exactly remember when I first saw Epi play, but<br />
I do know when I heard his name for the first time. After<br />
the U18 <strong>European</strong> Championship in 1976 in Santiago<br />
de Compostela, Spain – where Yugoslavia (Aleksandar<br />
Petrovic, Predrag Bogosavljev, MVP Rade Vukosavljevic)<br />
won its third straight gold medal – Yugoslav<br />
coach Bogdan Tanjevic was talking about outstanding<br />
players. He spoke about Vladimir Tkachenko, but also<br />
about Juan Antonio San Epifanio, as future stars. As<br />
almost always, he was right. Spain finished third in that<br />
tournament with a great generation that gave a lot <strong>of</strong><br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Juan Antonio San Epifanio<br />
E
Vladimir Stankovic<br />
good things to Spanish basketball: Epi, Joaquin Costa,<br />
Nacho Solozabal, Fernando Romay, Juan Manuel López<br />
Iturriaga and Josean Querejeta, among others.<br />
If not before, I am sure that I saw San Epifanio at the<br />
1980 Olympic Games in Moscow. He was among the<br />
youngest players, but he finished the tourney as second-best<br />
scorer on the Spanish team, with 18 points<br />
per game, including 25 against Cuba, 22 against eventual<br />
champ Yugoslavia and 21 against the USSR. You<br />
could see at first sight that he had an incredibly easy<br />
time shooting the ball. Epi was a 1.98-meter forward<br />
and a natural attacker with skills to score from anywhere.<br />
His favorite spot was the corner, but he scored<br />
just the same from mid-range, on the fastbreak or penetrating<br />
to the rim. He was young enough to play before<br />
the three-point shot was adopted, though from 1984 it<br />
would become his main weapon.<br />
After Moscow 1980, I saw Epi many times, including<br />
at the 1983 EuroBasket in France, where Spain won the<br />
silver medal thanks to one <strong>of</strong> his baskets against the<br />
USSR in the semis; and at the 1984 Olympics in Los<br />
Angeles, with a silver medal for the ages for Spain, with<br />
Epi averaging 18.9 points. After that, I saw him also at<br />
the 1989 and 1991 EuroBaskets, the 1990 World Cup<br />
and the 1992 Olympic Games. And from the autumn <strong>of</strong><br />
1991, I also saw him play in many Spanish League and<br />
Spanish King’s Cup games, as well as with the Spanish<br />
national team. Once I told him that, in Yugoslavia, after<br />
one <strong>of</strong> his scoring fests, his surname was spelled as<br />
“Epifanich”. He laughed and took it with good humor –<br />
and as a compliment, because the Yugoslav shooters<br />
<strong>of</strong> the 1970s (Kicanovic, Delibasic, Dalipagic, Solman,<br />
Plecas, Simonovic, Vilfan) were among Europe’s and<br />
the world’s best. Epi really was a natural at shooting,<br />
with a level <strong>of</strong> skill that you can improve, but you can’t<br />
learn. It’s that famous combination <strong>of</strong> natural talent,<br />
hard work, sacrifice and personal ambition.<br />
A career with 25 trophies<br />
Starting with his debut on Barcelona’s first team<br />
in 1976-77, at only 17 years old, Epi set many records.<br />
He won 22 trophies at the club level: seven national<br />
leagues, 10 national cups, 2 Saporta Cups, 1 Korac Cup,<br />
1 Intercontinental Cup. Then, he also took the bronze<br />
and silver medals with the national team at the 1983<br />
and 1991 EuroBaskets, plus an Olympic silver in 1984.<br />
His numbers grew year after year:<br />
1976/77 – 6.6 points, 2.0 rebounds<br />
1977/78 – 9.6 ppg., 3.1 rpg. – Cup<br />
1978/79 – 12.0 ppg., 2.5 rpg. – Cup<br />
1979/80 – 13.1 ppg., 4.0 rpg. – Cup<br />
1980/81 – 15.6 ppg., 3.6 rpg. – League, Cup<br />
1981/82 – 19.3 ppg., 2.1 rpg. – Cup<br />
1982/83 – 24.1 ppg., 2.7 rpg. – League, Cup<br />
From 1983, when the Spanish League as we know it<br />
started, he played 421 games and scored 7,028 points<br />
(16.7 ppg). His last great season was in 1991-92, with<br />
18.6 points and 3.4 rebounds. He played less in the following<br />
two campaigns, but he still had decent numbers<br />
(10.9 and 9.9 points, respectively) to finish his career at<br />
age 36 with 2.9 points and his seventh league title.<br />
With the Spanish national team, Epi played 239<br />
times and scored 3,358 points. His career with the national<br />
team lasted for 15 years, 3 months and 19 days.<br />
There was no one like Epi. On October 10, 1993, in Malaga,<br />
he played his 222nd game with the national team<br />
against the Czech Republic and matched the record<br />
<strong>of</strong> Francesco “Nino” Buscato. But after that Epi played<br />
in the 1994 World Cup in Toronto and stretched his<br />
brilliant career for 15 more games. He played several<br />
120<br />
121
times with a <strong>European</strong> selection <strong>of</strong> players and L’Equipe<br />
named him the best <strong>European</strong> player <strong>of</strong> the 1980s.<br />
His most emotional and glorious moment came on<br />
July 25, 1992. He was the last bearer <strong>of</strong> the Olympic<br />
torch in his city, Barcelona, 12 years after Sergei Belov,<br />
another basketball player, had the same honor at the<br />
Moscow Olympics. With the torch flame, Epi lit an arrow<br />
that was then shot by Paralympic athlete Antonio<br />
Rebollo to ignite the Olympic cauldron, which was to be<br />
the symbol <strong>of</strong> the Games until August 9.<br />
On five occasions, Epi and his Barça teams tried to<br />
win the <strong>European</strong> crown. In 1984, they lost their first final<br />
to Banco di Roma (79-73) despite Epi’s 31 points. In<br />
1990 and 1991, Barça lost twice in the title game (72-67<br />
and 70-65) to the great Jugoplastika. Barça also went<br />
to two more Final Fours – in Munich in 1989 and Tel<br />
Aviv in 1994 – only to fall in the semis. But, even without<br />
this title on his résumé, Juan Antonio San Epifanio<br />
remained a Barcelona legend who always justified his<br />
popular nickname: “Super Epi”!<br />
Juan Antonio San Epifanio<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
E
Gregor<br />
Fucka<br />
123
Not your<br />
typical star<br />
I<br />
remember a scene that took place after the 1999<br />
EuroBasket in Paris. After Itay’s 64-56 victory<br />
over Spain in the final, the press conference was<br />
attended by coach Bogdan Tanjevic and the MVP<br />
<strong>of</strong> the tournament, Gregor Fucka. A few moments<br />
after they finished talking, the two hugged each<br />
other wholeheartedly, and Tanjevic said:<br />
“Grega, we did it.”<br />
Life was writing another novel. Tanjevic, <strong>of</strong> Montenegrin<br />
origins, and Fucka, who was born on August 7, 1971<br />
in Kranj, Slovenia, had triumphed in their new country,<br />
Italy. But their relationship had started exactly 10 years<br />
earlier. Tanjevic, a EuroLeague club champion with Bosna<br />
Sarajevo in 1979 and a <strong>European</strong> runner-up with Yugoslavia<br />
in the 1981 EuroBasket in Prague, had already<br />
been in Italy for eight years – first in Caserta and later in<br />
Trieste, where he had started a long-term project with<br />
the blessing and patience <strong>of</strong> Giuseppe Stefanel, a local<br />
businessman who happened to love basketball.<br />
Before winning the Italian double in 1995, Trieste<br />
would have to hit rock bottom in the third division. But<br />
Tanjevic knew what he wanted and one <strong>of</strong> the players<br />
he desired for his team was Gregor Fucka, a young Slovenian<br />
talent who was already playing at Union Olimpija<br />
Ljubljana. In the 1988-89 season, Olimpija coach Vinko<br />
Jelovac gave young Fucka his first minutes on the court.<br />
Fucka had an atypical physique, at 2.15 meters and<br />
about 80 kilos, he was very skinny and he didn’t look<br />
too promising at first sight. He played alongside Jure<br />
Zdovc, Peter Vilfan, Slavko Kotnik, Radislav Curcic, Zarko<br />
Djurisic and Veljko Petranovic. In 10 games he scored<br />
his first 6 points with the big boys, but Tanjevic’s great<br />
eye already saw the talent in him. Trieste and Ljubljana<br />
are only 90 kilometers apart, which allowed Tanjevic to<br />
keep a close eye on Fucka. When he discovered that the<br />
player had Italian origins, Tanjevic started moving the<br />
mechanisms to sign him. I remember that the Yugoslav<br />
press criticized Tanjevic for stealing away such a young<br />
talent, but he only made the best <strong>of</strong> the situation for the<br />
club that was paying him.<br />
Olimpija and the Yugoslav federation wouldn’t give<br />
their consent. After spending a year out <strong>of</strong> basketball,<br />
but with daily individual work overseen by Tanjevic,<br />
Fucka made his debut with the Italian junior national<br />
team at the U18 <strong>European</strong> Championship in 1990 in<br />
Groningen, the Netherlands, before making his debut<br />
with Stefanel Trieste. In the national team tournament,<br />
Fucka stood out with 11 points per game. After that, his<br />
first season in Trieste, with 8.7 points and 3.9 boards<br />
over 34 games, made it quite clear that Tanjevic had a<br />
diamond in his hands, just like he had before with Mirza<br />
Delibasic and Ratko Radovanovic in Sarajevo or Oscar<br />
Schmidt and Nando Gentile in Caserta.<br />
At the U19 World Cup 1991 in Edmonton, Canada,<br />
Italy ended up second after losing to the USA 90-85 as<br />
Fucka scored 20 points to average 15.1 for the tournament.<br />
In Edmonton, Fucka interacted with Dejan Bodiroga,<br />
who was playing for Yugoslavia, in what was the<br />
start <strong>of</strong> a friendship between the two. They would play<br />
together again in the future – also thanks to the courage<br />
and vision <strong>of</strong> Tanjevic – and they would experience<br />
unforgettable moments.<br />
From the very first steps he took on a basketball<br />
court, Fucka was a different player. He had many cen-<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Gregor Fucka<br />
F
Vladimir Stankovic<br />
timeters and few kilos, a difference that is normally<br />
not recommended for basketball players. Standing at<br />
2.15 meters, it was just natural that he played against<br />
big men. But weighing in at 80 kilos or 90 later (he<br />
never reached 100), Fucka was a coveted target for big<br />
centers. As such, he had to find his place between the<br />
small and power forward positions. Tanjevic worked a<br />
lot on Fucka’s long-range shot, and it paid <strong>of</strong>f. Fucka got<br />
out <strong>of</strong> the paint and shot from mid or long range, but<br />
by the time that opponents took note <strong>of</strong> the danger, it<br />
was already too late. That or Fucka simply changed his<br />
position and got closer to the rim. He was also good<br />
with assists, and it was not rare at all to see him driving<br />
the ball like a point guard. In other words, he was a<br />
versatile player who could play at several positions and<br />
always, or almost always, play at a similar level. In his 14<br />
seasons in Italy, only in his first one, when he was very<br />
young, and his last two, at 37 and 38 years old, did his<br />
scoring average fall below 10 points. His total averages<br />
in 490 Italian League games reflect his pr<strong>of</strong>ile: 27.1 minutes,<br />
12.7 points, 6.2 rebounds. His best season was<br />
1996-97 with Trieste, when he put up 18.7 points and<br />
7.5 rebounds per game.<br />
Three lost finals<br />
In the summer <strong>of</strong> 1991, listening to the advice <strong>of</strong> his<br />
friend, Zadar sports director Kresimir Cosic, Tanjevic<br />
signed another Yugoslav star, Dejan Bodiroga <strong>of</strong> Serbia.<br />
Bodiroga arrived from Zadar, a team he had ended up<br />
with when his talent slipped under the radar <strong>of</strong> Partizan<br />
and Crvena Zvezda scouts, but not from under Cosic’s.<br />
The start <strong>of</strong> the war in Yugoslavia forced Bodiroga to<br />
leave his team, but Cosic convinced Tanjevic to sign the<br />
18-year-old, who became the youngest foreigner ever<br />
in the Italian League.<br />
Due to bureaucratic problems, Bodiroga could not<br />
play in 1991-92, but he became a star the following<br />
season with 21.2 points per game. Aside from Tanjevic,<br />
his host in Trieste would be Gregor Fucka. The<br />
Slovenian spoke fluent Serbian and helped Bodiroga<br />
in his adaptation to everything. Their friendship would<br />
get stronger and would culminate 10 years later in<br />
Barcelona.<br />
However, before enjoying basketball glory, both had<br />
to endure bittersweet moments with their clubs and<br />
national teams. For instance, Trieste lost three straight<br />
Korac Cup finals, a trophy that the three protagonists<br />
in this story – Fucka, Bodiroga and Tanjevic – wanted<br />
to win for personal reasons. Tanjevic played at OKK<br />
Belgrade with Radivoj Korac, while for any kid from Yugoslavia,<br />
the name <strong>of</strong> Korac and his friend Ivo Daneu<br />
simply meant basketball. In the 1994 two-game final,<br />
Trieste fell to PAOK Thessaloniki; in 1995 it lost to ALBA<br />
Berlin; and in 1996 – now playing as Stefanel Milano –<br />
the three saw their dream dashed by Efes Pilsen. Those<br />
were three big disappointments, but Bodiroga found<br />
some consolation in 1995 with Yugoslavia winning EuroBasket<br />
1995 in Athens. In 1996, Stefanel Milano won<br />
the Italian League and Italian Cup with the two friends<br />
being a key part <strong>of</strong> that success. Those were their first<br />
two titles after so many years <strong>of</strong> hard work and sacrifice.<br />
Bodiroga completed a great season with a silver<br />
medal in the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, but at the 1997<br />
EuroBasket in Barcelona, Fucka and Bodiroga became<br />
rivals. Italy beat Yugoslavia 74-69 in the group stage,<br />
but Yugoslavia got the ultimate revenge, beating the<br />
Italians 61-49 in the final. Bodiroga, who was already<br />
playing with Real Madrid, scored 14 points and his<br />
friend Fucka 12. The following year, at the 1998 World<br />
Cup in Athens, Yugoslavia won the gold medal but lost<br />
124<br />
125
to Italy in the group stage, 61-60, with 16 points and 6<br />
boards from Fucka.<br />
Triumphs in Paris and Barcelona<br />
In the summer <strong>of</strong> 1996, the friends got separated,<br />
with Bodiroga going to Real Madrid and Fucka staying<br />
in Trieste one more season. But in 1997, Fucka also<br />
left and joined Fortitudo Bologna. Fucka and Bodiroga<br />
met again as rivals at the 1999 EuroBasket in Paris. In<br />
a dramatic semifinals game, Italy was ahead by 20 but<br />
Yugoslavia managed to tie the score. In the end, Italy<br />
prevailed 72-61. As coincidence would have it, both<br />
Fucka and Bodiroga ended up with 17 points. In the big<br />
final, Italy defeated Spain 64-56 with Fucka posting a<br />
double-double <strong>of</strong> 10 points and 10 boards. He was MVP<br />
<strong>of</strong> the tournament. The all-tournament team featured<br />
Carlton Myers, Andrea Meneghin, Alberto Herreros,<br />
Dejan Bodiroga and Gregor Fucka. Ten years after starting<br />
their relationship, Fucka and Tanjevic, coach <strong>of</strong> that<br />
EuroBasket-winning team, were at the top <strong>of</strong> <strong>European</strong><br />
basketball. Not with their club, but their Italian national<br />
team success was just as remarkable.<br />
Fucka stayed in Bologna until 2002, when another<br />
coach from the Yugoslav school, Svetislav Pesic, called<br />
both Fucka and Bodiroga for his new project in FC Barcelona.<br />
The two great friends were in their prime, and they<br />
arrived highly motivated to Barcelona. Bodiroga had<br />
already won two EuroLeague titles with Panathinaikos<br />
Athens, but Fucka was still missing the continental<br />
crown at the club level. Barcelona worked its way to the<br />
Final Four, which was held in its own city, at Palau Sant<br />
Jordi. In the semifinal, on May 9, 2003, Barcelona got<br />
rid <strong>of</strong> CSKA Moscow by 76-71 with 21 points by Fucka,<br />
his best total all season! His shot was almost perfect<br />
that night: 6 <strong>of</strong> 8 twos, 1 <strong>of</strong> 1 from at the three-point<br />
arc, and 6 <strong>of</strong> 6 free throws to go with 9 rebounds in<br />
29 minutes. His friend Bodiroga scored 17 points. The<br />
title game two days later, against Benetton Treviso,<br />
saw the two stars exchange roles: Bodiroga scored 20<br />
and pulled down 8 rebounds while Fucka had 17 points<br />
plus 6 rebounds for a 76-65 Barcelona win and another<br />
dream fulfilled.<br />
After four years in Barcelona, Fucka and Pesic met<br />
again in Girona where, in the 2006-07 season, they<br />
won the FIBA EuroCup. The final, played in Girona, saw<br />
Akasvayu Girona defeat Azovmash Mariupol by 79-72.<br />
Together with Fucka on the court were Fernando San<br />
Emeterio, Marc Gasol, Victor Sada, Arriel McDonald,<br />
Darryl Middleton and Bootsy Thornton – a great team.<br />
After five good years in Catalonia, Fucka returned to<br />
Italy. He played in Rome and for his old club, Fortitudo,<br />
where before putting an end to his brilliant career in<br />
2011, at age 39. He has remained in Bologna, where he<br />
currently has a basketball school.<br />
Apart from Tanjevic, there’s no better person to talk<br />
about Gregor Fucka than Dejan Bodiroga himself: “A<br />
great friend, a great man and a great player. He helped<br />
me a lot in my first months in Trieste. It was a pleasure<br />
to play alongside him and to spend some time with him<br />
<strong>of</strong>f the court. He was not a typical player. He was really<br />
smart and his versatility allowed him to play the three,<br />
four or five positions. His best weapons were his big<br />
hands. He was one <strong>of</strong> the players who made a difference.<br />
We are still in touch nowadays. Our friendship is<br />
forever.”<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Gregor Fucka<br />
F
Nikos<br />
Galis<br />
127
A scoring machine<br />
In the history <strong>of</strong> <strong>European</strong> club competitions, there<br />
have been several great players who, despite brilliant<br />
careers, are missing an important title: the EuroLeague.<br />
One <strong>of</strong> them is the legendary Nikos Galis,<br />
one <strong>of</strong> the biggest figures in <strong>European</strong> and world<br />
basketball <strong>of</strong> the 1980s. If I had to define Galis in a<br />
few words, it would be easy: a scoring machine. I have<br />
seen many great scorers, and it is hard to choose one<br />
<strong>of</strong> them as “The Best”. However, in any quick selection<br />
<strong>of</strong> the greatest that I have seen, I would surely include<br />
Radivoj Korac, Nikola Plecas, Drazen Petrovic, Oscar<br />
Schmidt, Drazen Dalipagic, Dragan Kicanovic, Manuel<br />
Raga, Bob Morse, Juan Antonio San Epifanio and, <strong>of</strong><br />
course, Nikos Galis.<br />
Compared to the rest <strong>of</strong> players on this list, Galis had a<br />
big disadvantage: his height. He was only 1.83 meters tall,<br />
which in theory is very short, even for point guards. But<br />
for most <strong>of</strong> his career, Galis was an unstoppable shooting<br />
guard! It was unbelievably easy for him to score and he<br />
could do it in every imaginable way. He could shoot from<br />
mid-range or behind the arc. He could penetrate, run the<br />
fastbreak or even jump higher than taller opponents. His<br />
specialty was shooting with contact, with the hand or the<br />
whole body <strong>of</strong> a defender on his right wrist. He was almost<br />
always shorter than his defenders, but he was also<br />
always stronger and better prepared physically. He could<br />
play 40 minutes with no problems and could jump high<br />
enough to always launch clean shots.<br />
From the ring to the court<br />
Nikos Galis was born in New Jersey, USA, on July 27,<br />
1957, as Nikolaos Georgallis. His parents, Georgios and<br />
Stela, were Greek emigrants with roots on the island <strong>of</strong><br />
Rhodes. Nikos’s father was an amateur boxer. He thought<br />
that boxing was ideal for his short, strong son. Until age<br />
15, Galis also boxed, but constant pressure from his<br />
mother led him to switch sports. He tried American football,<br />
but he soon turned to basketball, and in no time became<br />
the best player on his high school team, as a point<br />
guard. In 1975, he entered Seton Hall University, where<br />
coach Bill Raftery changed his position to shooting guard.<br />
The results were mind-blowing. In the 1978-79 season,<br />
Galis finished as the third best scorer in the NCAA with<br />
an average <strong>of</strong> 27.5 points per game, behind only Larry<br />
Bird (28.6) and Lawrence Butler (30.1). His scoring average<br />
over four years <strong>of</strong> college was 20.3 points. In April<br />
1979, he played in the college basketball all-star game<br />
in Hawaii and everything pointed towards a great future<br />
in the NBA. However, his agents seemed to be more focused<br />
on managing singer Diana Ross and Galis slipped<br />
to the fourth round, where he was selected by the Boston<br />
Celtics. He had to go through the summer camps and<br />
fight with several other players for one or two free spots<br />
on the team. An injury kept him sidelined, and when he<br />
returned, the Celtics’ roster was already closed, so coach<br />
Bill Fitch wished him better luck for the following year.<br />
It’s difficult to know whether Boston, with this decision,<br />
lost a great player. But there is no doubt that <strong>European</strong><br />
basketball, especially Greek basketball, got the<br />
better side <strong>of</strong> the deal. A neighbor in New Jersey who<br />
was also <strong>of</strong> Greek origin tried to convince Nikos to go to<br />
Greece to play for Panathinaikos. But Nikos didn’t want<br />
to go far from home and also refused an <strong>of</strong>fer from<br />
Olympiacos. The clubs only <strong>of</strong>fered him long contracts<br />
and he wanted a one-year deal so the next summer he<br />
could try for the NBA again. The third club that tried to<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Nikos Galis<br />
G
Vladimir Stankovic<br />
sign Nikos Georgallis was Aris Thessaloniki. The president<br />
<strong>of</strong> the club, Menelaos Hagigeorgiu, traveled to<br />
New Jersey, and with his sincere words he convinced<br />
Nikos’s parents and, after them, Nikos himself. But the<br />
deal was for one year only, until the end <strong>of</strong> the season.<br />
His arrival in Thessaloniki brought about many<br />
doubts, especially because <strong>of</strong> his physical stature. Instead<br />
<strong>of</strong> a shooting guard or a tall forward, here was a young<br />
kid whose body didn’t promise especially good things. He<br />
spoke Greek poorly and could not express himself well<br />
or understand what was wanted from him. But from the<br />
first practice, and later when the games started, the “little<br />
American” shut everyone’s mouths. He scored with unbelievable<br />
ease. Defenses would do everything against him,<br />
but nobody could stop the rain <strong>of</strong> points.<br />
His <strong>of</strong>ficial debut came on December 2, 1979, against<br />
Iraklis. Galis finished the game with 30 points. At the beginning<br />
<strong>of</strong> 1980, a new coach arrived to the Aris bench:<br />
Dusan Ivkovic, the Serbian coach who had led Partizan<br />
to the Yugoslav League title in 1979. He saw Galis’s enormous<br />
potential on the spot. Galis soon became the idol <strong>of</strong><br />
the fans – and not only Aris’s. He finished the season as<br />
the third-best scorer in the league, averaging 33.0 points.<br />
But there was a player who scored more than him, Panagiotis<br />
Giannakis <strong>of</strong> the small Athens club, Ionikos, with 36.5.<br />
Already in 1980, Galis made his debut with the Greek<br />
national team against Sweden and scored his first 12<br />
points. From then on, he enjoyed life in Greece and<br />
decided to forget about the NBA and signed again with<br />
Aris. He finished the next season with an average <strong>of</strong> 43.9<br />
points (!) and, against Ionikos, set a Greek League record<br />
with 63 points. However, Aris finished third behind<br />
Panathinaikos and Olympiacos in the standings. In the<br />
1983-84 season, Aris lost the title in a tiebreaker against<br />
Panathinaikos played on the island <strong>of</strong> Corfu. New coach<br />
Giannis Ioannidis was also becoming an important part<br />
<strong>of</strong> Galis’s career, but there was still something missing.<br />
When the club directors managed to sign Giannakis<br />
from Ionikos, and 2.17-meter big man Dimitris Kokolakis,<br />
all the pieces <strong>of</strong> the puzzle were in place.<br />
In their first season, the Galis-Giannakis duo worked<br />
perfectly. Aris won the Greek League with only one<br />
defeat and Galis was the best scorer with an average<br />
<strong>of</strong> 34.0 points. They key was that Galis and Giannakis<br />
switched between point guard and shooting guard as<br />
they pleased. It was the birth <strong>of</strong> one <strong>of</strong> the best duos<br />
ever in <strong>European</strong> basketball.<br />
Miracle in Piraeus<br />
For the 1986-87 season, a play<strong>of</strong>f was introduced<br />
in the Greek League. Aris won the title again – this time<br />
with no losses – and Galis scored a total <strong>of</strong> 808 points for<br />
an average <strong>of</strong> 40! To top it <strong>of</strong>f, Galis then led the Greek<br />
national team to the EuroBasket title in 1987 in Athens.<br />
Galis was already a well-known and respected player<br />
in Europe. At EuroBasket in both 1981 and 1983,<br />
he had been named to the all-tournament teams. He<br />
also had been the top scorer at the 1986 World Cup in<br />
Spain, with 33.3 points per game. There, with his personal<br />
best <strong>of</strong> 53 points against Panama, Galis for the<br />
first time outscored Oscar Schmidt in an international<br />
competition, averaging 33.7 points.<br />
Now, playing at home in the 1987 EuroBasket, the<br />
victims <strong>of</strong> Greece and Galis before the final were Romania<br />
(Galis, 44 points), Yugoslavia (44), Spain (35), USSR (31),<br />
France (34), Italy (38) and Yugoslavia, again, in the semis<br />
(30). But his big day was on June 17, 1987. In front <strong>of</strong> 17,000<br />
fans, Nikos Galis scored 40 points against the USSR and,<br />
thanks to him, Greece claimed the title in overtime, 103-<br />
<strong>101</strong>. His average was 37.8 points. He committed just 7<br />
128<br />
129
fouls throughout the tourney. He was chosen MVP <strong>of</strong> the<br />
tournament and was also named the best player in Europe<br />
through a survey in the Italian newspaper Gazzetta dello<br />
Sport. Galis was for a long time the only 1,000-point scorer<br />
in EuroBasket history and his career average <strong>of</strong> 31.2 points<br />
is by far the best ever in that tournament. He also owns the<br />
highest career scoring average in the World Cup, with 33.7<br />
points over his 10 games played in that event.<br />
He was a great scorer, but also a generous player.<br />
In FIBA competitions, his 23 assists in a Saporta Cup<br />
game in 1990 are still the record. But that historic game<br />
against the USSR marked a before and after in Greek<br />
basketball. Galis became the most popular sportsman<br />
ever in Greece. He was an idol, a sports icon and a symbol<br />
<strong>of</strong> national pride. Thanks to him, the Greek Federation<br />
saw the number <strong>of</strong> registered basketball players<br />
go from 92,731 in 1987 to 163,000 in 1991!<br />
The first <strong>European</strong> millionaire<br />
All the <strong>European</strong> greats wanted to sign Galis, but he<br />
loved Thessaloniki. He used his genius on the court and<br />
his popularity to make a lot <strong>of</strong> money. Prior to the 1987<br />
EuroBasket, he played for $150,000 a year. After that,<br />
he improved his salary to $700,000, and not much later<br />
Galis became the first <strong>European</strong> player with a contract<br />
higher than $1 million, apart from his many publicity contracts.<br />
In Greece, he was considered to be the player who<br />
earned the most money until then, but nobody could<br />
deny that he earned every penny. The fact that over<br />
12 seasons he only lost 6 games and appeared in 97%<br />
<strong>of</strong> them (including 99 in a row) says everything about<br />
his pr<strong>of</strong>essionalism. He won eight Greek League titles<br />
and seven Greek Cups. He was top scorer in the Greek<br />
League 11 times. He was the best passer four times and<br />
was <strong>European</strong> champion with his national team.<br />
With Aris, Galis went to three straight Final Fours:<br />
Ghent 1988, Munich 1989 and Zaragoza 1990. But despite<br />
his points, Aris always lost in the semis. At the 1989 EuroBasket,<br />
Greece won the silver medal and Galis finished<br />
with an average <strong>of</strong> 35.6 points. He was also a member<br />
<strong>of</strong> the all-tournament team with Drazen Petrovic, Zarko<br />
Paspalj, Vlade Divac and Arvydas Sabonis. Galis, like the<br />
legendary Korac, was the top scorer in four EuroBaskets.<br />
At the 1991 EuroBasket in Rome, Galis scored his 5,000th<br />
point for Greece against Czechoslovakia and FIBA allowed<br />
the game to be stopped so everybody could pay tribute to<br />
the legendary scorer. His international career ended with<br />
167 games and 5,130 points (30.5 per game).<br />
In the 1991-92 season, Galis lost the scoring throne<br />
despite posting 31.0 points per game. Paspalj, the new<br />
Olympiacos star, beat him. For the first time since 1985,<br />
Aris did not win the Greek title and was third behind PAOK<br />
and Olympiacos. His golden years at Aris were coming<br />
to an end. For the 1992-93 season, Galis finally left Thessaloniki<br />
and joined Panathinaikos, who used him as the<br />
answer to Olympiacos bringing in Paspalj. Galis finished<br />
with 23.6 points and 6.7 assists in the league as the<br />
Greens won the cup. The following year, he improved his<br />
numbers to 24.1 points and reached his fourth Final Four<br />
in Tel Aviv, but Panathinaikos lost in the semis against<br />
arch-rival Olympiacos. Galis finished his career at age 37<br />
during a 1994-95 season in which he posted averages <strong>of</strong><br />
22.5 points and 3.6 assists.<br />
In September <strong>of</strong> 2007, Galis entered the FIBA Hall <strong>of</strong><br />
Fame, and in 2008 he was chosen by Euroleague <strong>Basketball</strong><br />
as one <strong>of</strong> 35 players to be honored among the 50<br />
Greatest Contributors <strong>of</strong> the first 50 years <strong>of</strong> <strong>European</strong><br />
club competitions. The Naismith Hall <strong>of</strong> Fame in Springfield<br />
opened its doors to Galis in 2017.<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Nikos Galis<br />
G
Panagiotis<br />
Giannakis<br />
131
The Greek Dragon<br />
In the history <strong>of</strong> basketball, there are many cases<br />
in which the names <strong>of</strong> two players go hand in hand<br />
as if they were one. For instance, Kicanovic and<br />
Dalipagic at Partizan; Slavnic and Kicanovic on the<br />
Yugoslavia national team <strong>of</strong> the 1980s; Solozabal<br />
and Epi in Barcelona; Marzorati and Meneghin with<br />
Varese; Corbalan and Luyk in Real Madrid; and Gjergja<br />
and Cosic in Zadar. And one <strong>of</strong> the most outstanding<br />
cases <strong>of</strong> this phenomenon is, without a doubt, the<br />
duo that saw action in the Greek national team and<br />
Aris Thessaloniki during the 1980s: Nikos Galis and<br />
Panagiotis Giannakis.<br />
Neither <strong>of</strong> them is from Thessaloniki, but that’s<br />
where the most important part <strong>of</strong> their careers took<br />
place. Galis, who is 18 months older than Giannakis,<br />
was there first. The son <strong>of</strong> Greek emigrants to the United<br />
States, he made his debut on December 2, 1979, and<br />
finished the season with an incredible average <strong>of</strong> 33.0<br />
points per game. However, he was not the best scorer<br />
in the Greek League that year. That honor belonged<br />
to a player from the small Athens-based club, Ionikos<br />
Nikaias, for whom Panagiotis Giannakis finished with a<br />
36.5-point average! Giannakis was already a relatively<br />
well-known player. I saw him for the first time in Split<br />
during the Mediterranean Games, where in the final, he<br />
led Greece to victory over a solid Yugoslavia team 85-<br />
74. That Yugoslav team had names like Mirza Delibasic,<br />
Mihovil Nakic, Rajko Zizic, Andro Knego, Ratko Radovanovic,<br />
Ivica Dukan, Misko Maric and Boban Petrovic, but<br />
the Greeks were better. Thanks especially to 34 points<br />
from the hands <strong>of</strong> Giannakis.<br />
Curiously enough, Giannakis recorded his best scoring<br />
performance in the Greek League – 73 points! – in<br />
a game against Aris in 1981. That was just one more<br />
reason for Aris to sign him. Some years later, Aris managed<br />
to get Galis and Giannakis together, and that was<br />
the birth <strong>of</strong> one <strong>of</strong> the most famous duos in the history<br />
<strong>of</strong> <strong>European</strong> basketball. Once they were together, the<br />
dominance <strong>of</strong> Aris in Greece started right away and led<br />
the team to seven straight titles. In Europe, which began<br />
using the Final Four to decide the champion starting<br />
in 1988, Aris reached the final stage three straight<br />
times. But they never made it to the title game, finishing<br />
fourth twice and third once. Defeats in Ghent in 1988<br />
against Milano and Partizan were frustrating. One<br />
year later the same thing happened in Munich, where<br />
Maccabi was better in the semis despite 25 points by<br />
Galis. In the game for third place, Aris beat Barcelona<br />
88-71 with 36 points from Galis and 22 by Giannakis.<br />
The third time wasn’t a charm either, in Zaragoza in<br />
1990. First, Aris lost to Barcelona and later to Limoges,<br />
despite 43 points from Galis.<br />
Consolation in Turin<br />
This great duo finished their career together in Aris<br />
without any international titles. Galis decided to join<br />
Panathinaikos in 1992, but Giannakis stayed with Aris<br />
one more year. In that 1992-93 season, he managed<br />
to win with Aris the Saporta Cup, FIBA’s secondary trophy<br />
at the time, by beating Efes Pilsen 50-48. The final<br />
was played on March 16 in Turin, Italy, in front <strong>of</strong> 7,000<br />
mostly Aris and Efes fans. At the time, the diplomatic relationship<br />
between Greece and Turkey was not healthy<br />
and the game turned into one <strong>of</strong> the biggest scandals in<br />
the history <strong>of</strong> <strong>European</strong> basketball. There was a battle<br />
in the stands, with seats being turned into weapons.<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Panagiotis Giannakis<br />
G
Vladimir Stankovic<br />
Four Efes players and even the FIBA delegate wound up<br />
in the hospital. In a tense and ugly game, Efes was close<br />
to victory, but in the final minutes the experience <strong>of</strong> Roy<br />
Tarpley (19 points, 18 rebounds) and Giannakis himself,<br />
despite only 2 points, allowed Aris to take the win.<br />
Galis, meanwhile, was not lucky with Panathinaikos<br />
either. He managed to play in the 1994 Final Four in<br />
Tel Aviv, but in the end, he retired without fulfilling his<br />
dream <strong>of</strong> winning the continental crown. Giannakis was<br />
a bit luckier. He followed Galis’s footsteps and signed<br />
for Panathinaikos in 1994, after a season with Panionios.<br />
His first attempt at the Final Four with Panathinaikos,<br />
in Zaragoza in 1995, ended like the others with<br />
Aris. But on the second try, in Paris in 1996, Giannakis<br />
finally managed to lift the EuroLeague trophy. In a<br />
dramatic and historic game, marked by some serious<br />
mistakes by the referees and the <strong>of</strong>ficials’ table, Panathinaikos<br />
won 67-66. Giannakis, at 37 years old, played<br />
38 minutes and scored 9 points. His dream came true.<br />
That same summer he played at the 1996 Olympics in<br />
Atlanta and then retired. Behind him were 351 games<br />
with the Greek national team and 5,309 points, which<br />
remains the record. In the Greek League, he scored<br />
9,291 points, the third-best mark <strong>of</strong> all time.<br />
A miracle in Piraeus<br />
What Galis and Giannakis didn’t manage to do with<br />
Aris, they accomplished with the national team at Euro-<br />
Basket 1987. It was played in the then-new Peace and<br />
Friendship Stadium in Piraeus. Giannakis had played his<br />
first EuroBasket in 1979 in Turin and finished with a solid<br />
average <strong>of</strong> 7.8 points. Two years later in Prague, his<br />
average was already 10.2 points, and in 1983 in Nantes,<br />
he climbed to 15.3. In the 1986 World Cup in Spain, he<br />
had 17.3 points per game. Giannakis’s most brilliant<br />
moment occurred on June 14, 1987, when Greece, in<br />
the game known as “The Miracle <strong>of</strong> Piraeus”, managed<br />
to defeat the USSR in overtime 103-<strong>101</strong> to claim the <strong>European</strong><br />
title. Galis played all 45 minutes and scored 40<br />
points, but the leadership, vision, assists and security<br />
that Giannakis gave to his teammates turned him into<br />
the other hero <strong>of</strong> the game. Two years later, in Zagreb,<br />
Greece again reached the EuroBasket final but lost to<br />
Yugoslavia. At the 1990 World Cup in Argentina, Giannakis<br />
averaged 26.0 points, in the 1991 EuroBasket<br />
he scored 19.8 and in the 1993 EuroBasket, it was 19.3.<br />
Giannakis was a point guard, so by definition, he<br />
was supposed to be a player that helped the others. But<br />
his great abilities turned him into a great scorer. Since<br />
Galis could also play point without problems, <strong>of</strong>ten they<br />
switched positions during a game, causing confusion<br />
for the opponent. Giannakis stood taller than Galis, had<br />
a good outside shot, penetrated well and was also a<br />
solid rebounder. But most <strong>of</strong> all, Giannakis was a leader.<br />
In decisive moments, his teammates turned to him<br />
because his hands were like a safe around the ball, and<br />
he could also score. He was a life insurance policy for<br />
his teammates and coaches. He was also a sportsman<br />
<strong>of</strong> true excellence, without a single stain in his résumé,<br />
a player loved by all, even by rivals, who respected his<br />
pr<strong>of</strong>essionalism.<br />
EuroBasket history-maker<br />
Panagiotis Giannakis is the only man in basketball<br />
to have been <strong>European</strong> national champion both as a<br />
player and coach. Svetislav Pesic did it at the club level<br />
with Bosna in 1979 as a player and with Barcelona in<br />
2003 as a coach. However, at the international level,<br />
only Giannakis has EuroBasket titles as a player (1987<br />
Piraeus) and as a coach (2005 Belgrade).<br />
132<br />
133
next stop would be Maroussi, but in 2004 he was back<br />
on the national team bench for the 2004 Olympics in<br />
Athens. Greece finished fifth, but the following year, in<br />
Belgrade, it won the <strong>European</strong> title. In 2006, Giannakis<br />
led Greece to a historic semifinal victory over Team USA<br />
at the World Cup in Japan but had to settle for the silver<br />
medal after falling to a great Spain team in the final.<br />
From 2008 to 2010, Giannakis coached Olympiacos<br />
and reached the EuroLeague Final Four twice. In 2009<br />
the Reds fell to Panathinaikos in the semis in Berlin, and<br />
in 2010 Olympiacos lost against Barcelona in the title<br />
game in Paris. He also helped the Reds snap a long title<br />
drought at home with the 2010 Greek Cup.<br />
In 2008, Giannakis was rightfully selected by Euroleague<br />
<strong>Basketball</strong> among the 50 Greatest Contributors to<br />
the first 50 years <strong>of</strong> the <strong>European</strong> club competitions. He<br />
is Panagiotis Giannakis, the dragon <strong>of</strong> Greek basketball.<br />
Panagiotis Giannakis<br />
After putting an end to his brilliant playing career,<br />
Giannakis turned to coaching the Greek national team<br />
and already at EuroBasket 1997 in Barcelona, he led<br />
the team to the semifinals. He did the same one year<br />
later at the 1998 World Cup in Athens. After that, he<br />
coached Panionios and stayed there until 2002. His<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
G
Atanas<br />
Golomeev<br />
135
Bulgarian legend<br />
In the second edition <strong>of</strong> the U18 <strong>European</strong> Championship,<br />
played in Italy in 1966, a lot <strong>of</strong> future stars<br />
emerged: Dino Meneghin, Marino Zanatta and<br />
Giulio Iellini <strong>of</strong> Italy; Kresimir Cosic, Damir Solman,<br />
Ljubodrag Simonovic and Aljosa Zorga <strong>of</strong> Yugoslavia,<br />
who would become the 1970 world champion;<br />
Zdenek Dousa <strong>of</strong> Czechoslovakia and Aleksandar<br />
Boloshev <strong>of</strong> Russia. However, the top scorer <strong>of</strong> the<br />
competition was from Bulgaria.<br />
His name was Atanas Golomeev, who was born in<br />
S<strong>of</strong>ia on July 5, 1947. He averaged 17.6 points, including<br />
34 points against France and 32 against Spain. Only<br />
two years later, at 19 years old, he made his debut in the<br />
senior EuroBasket in Naples and his 5.5-point average<br />
didn’t hint at a future scoring champ. However, at the<br />
1971 EuroBasket in Germany, Golomeev was already<br />
averaging 18.6 points. And by the 1973 EuroBasket in<br />
Barcelona, he was the top scorer, with 22.3 points per<br />
game, above Wayne Brabender, Sergei Belov, Tal Brody,<br />
Jiri Zidek, Kresimir Cosic and Modestas Paulauskas.<br />
Golomeev also made the all-tournament team with<br />
Nino Buscató and Brabender <strong>of</strong> Spain, Belov <strong>of</strong> the USSR<br />
and Cosic <strong>of</strong> Yugoslavia. As a man <strong>of</strong> habit, Golomeev<br />
also became the top scorer at the 1975 EuroBasket in<br />
Belgrade, with 23.1 points, again ahead <strong>of</strong> many superstars.<br />
In 1977, at EuroBasket in Belgium, Golomeev<br />
again scored a high average (20.1) in what was his last<br />
big competition.<br />
I was lucky to follow him live in Belgrade and Belgium<br />
and I have no doubts that he was one <strong>of</strong> the finest<br />
centers <strong>of</strong> his era. And, mind you, he was playing<br />
against Cosic, Meneghin, Zidek, Clifford Luyk, Vladimir<br />
Andreev, Vinko Jelovac, Vladimir Tkachenko, Alexander<br />
Belostenny and others. It’s funny that Golomeev<br />
was shorter, standing at 2.02 meters, more <strong>of</strong> a power<br />
forward than a center. But thanks to his physique and<br />
especially the needs <strong>of</strong> his teams, he normally played<br />
at the center position. He had good rebounding skills<br />
and a sixth sense <strong>of</strong> knowing where the ball would fall,<br />
making up for his lack <strong>of</strong> centimeters.<br />
This was a brief history <strong>of</strong> the appearances in<br />
EuroBasket <strong>of</strong> one <strong>of</strong> the best Bulgarian players ever.<br />
However, his complete story, both personal and pr<strong>of</strong>essional,<br />
qualify him to belong in this series dedicated to<br />
the best players <strong>of</strong> the past.<br />
It all started with the Universiada World University<br />
Summer Games played in 1961 in S<strong>of</strong>ia. Atanas Golomeev,<br />
“Nasko” to his friends, received by chance some<br />
free tickets to go see the basketball tournament. As<br />
he said, he fell in love with the game by watching the<br />
attractive Brazilian players and the better Bulgarian<br />
players like Ljubomir Panov and Viktor Radev. The man<br />
who discovered Golomeev’s talent in 1964 at the Todro<br />
Minkov school was Ventsi Yanev. Nasko was a natural<br />
born talent for many sports. He was a goalkeeper on<br />
the school football team, in athletics he did the high<br />
jump and discus. He was also a good swimmer, but Yanev<br />
saw clearly that Golomeev had been born for basketball.<br />
He took Golomeev to the Spartak school and<br />
then he signed for CSKA S<strong>of</strong>ia at 18 years old, while in<br />
the military service.<br />
Explosion in ... Canada<br />
At 20 years old, Golomeev already stood out, but<br />
who knows how his career would have evolved if his<br />
father had not been sent to Montreal, Canada as a rep-<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Atanas Golomeev<br />
G
Vladimir Stankovic<br />
resentative <strong>of</strong> the Chamber <strong>of</strong> Commerce <strong>of</strong> Bulgaria.<br />
Golomeev studied at the prestigious McGill College,<br />
founded in 1821, and he quickly earned a reputation as<br />
the best player on the basketball team.<br />
“They called me last year,” Golomeev recalled a few<br />
years ago from Torremolinos, Spain, where he spends<br />
his winters playing golf. “On April 12, they wanted to<br />
celebrate something because some <strong>of</strong> my records are<br />
still standing after 35 years! My average <strong>of</strong> 37.5 points<br />
is still untouchable, as well as the 57 points I scored<br />
in a game that we played as visitors. Such a shame I<br />
couldn’t make it, but I am happy that they still remember<br />
me.”<br />
His games at McGill caught the attention <strong>of</strong> several<br />
NBA teams, specifically New York, who was seriously<br />
interested in signing the Bulgarian player. But the idea<br />
<strong>of</strong> becoming a pr<strong>of</strong>essional basketball player never,<br />
ever crossed Golomeev’s mind. Interestingly, another<br />
Bulgarian, Georgi Glouchkov, became the first <strong>European</strong><br />
player ever in the NBA, in 1986. But that’s another<br />
story. It was almost impossible for Golomeev due to<br />
the nature <strong>of</strong> his father’s job and because <strong>of</strong> the rules<br />
back then. The Bulgarian federation would never have<br />
granted him permission to play in the NBA because<br />
that would have meant that Golomeev could no longer<br />
participate in the national team.<br />
He chose to go back home, but this time he signed<br />
for Akademik. In the 1969-70 EuroLeague season, the<br />
Spanish giants Real Madrid saw his potential in their<br />
quarterfinals duel. Madrid won at home, 97-83, and<br />
Golomeev scored 19 points, but lost the duel against<br />
Luyk (34). However, one week later, his revenge was<br />
complete as Akademik won <strong>101</strong>-86 and Golomeev<br />
nailed 38 points!<br />
“The only thing I remember from that game was the<br />
helplessness <strong>of</strong> my players in trying to stop Golomeev,”<br />
Pedro Ferrandiz, the legendary Real Madrid coach, told<br />
me once. “He scored when and how he wanted. He beat<br />
us by himself. He was a false five, he lacked height, but<br />
he had great technique and great shooting. Yes, he was<br />
a great player.”<br />
After six years with Akademik, from 1970 to 1976,<br />
Golomeev signed for Levski-Spartak, where he played<br />
until 1981. In a game against Slavia S<strong>of</strong>ia, he scored 63<br />
points, the standing record in Bulgaria. He was a fighter<br />
willing to battle against anybody to win. He had the reputation<br />
<strong>of</strong> having a bad attitude because <strong>of</strong> his constant<br />
replies to referees on the court, and he was called for<br />
many technical fouls. But outside the court Golomeev<br />
was kind and well-mannered. At 34 years old, he entered<br />
the Bulgarian history books as the first player ever with<br />
legal permission to play abroad. He signed for Adana <strong>of</strong><br />
Turkey, who had just won the second division. Of course,<br />
he was the best scorer in the league, and teams like<br />
Efes Pilsen, Fenerbahce and Besiktas lost in Adana that<br />
season. There is no reliable data about his averages,<br />
but Golomeev says that he hardly ever scored less than<br />
30 points. It was just not fair that such a great player as<br />
Golomeev never had the chance to play for a great <strong>European</strong><br />
club. But life isn’t always fair.<br />
After his great performance at the 1973 EuroBasket<br />
in Barcelona, rumor had it that Golomeev had an <strong>of</strong>fer<br />
to play in Spain. In an interview published in “Rebote”<br />
magazine in Barcelona after the tourney, Golomeev<br />
himself said that “two Spanish teams wanted to sign<br />
me”. He said he could not reveal the names, but that<br />
“one was from Catalonia”. Many years later, with a smile<br />
on his lips, he confirmed everything:<br />
“Yes, Barcelona had new directors and they wanted to<br />
136<br />
137
sign me, but it was impossible,” he said. “I was 26 years<br />
old and I wasn’t allowed to play abroad until I was 34.”<br />
In the FIBA Hall <strong>of</strong> Fame<br />
When he returned home from Turkey, Golomeev<br />
played two more years for Levski-Spartak and put an<br />
end to his career in 1985, at 38 years old. After the<br />
1987 EuroBasket in Greece, a farewell game for Atanas<br />
Golomeev was played on June 21 between Bulgaria and<br />
an all-<strong>European</strong> team with Drazen Petrovic and Stojan<br />
Vrankovic (Yugoslavia), Nikos Galis and Panagiotis<br />
Giannakis (Greece), Antonello Riva and Walter Magnifico<br />
(Italy), Mickey Berkowitz and Doron Jamchi (Israel),<br />
Richard Dacoury (France), Stanislav Kropilak (Czechoslovakia)<br />
and Rik Smits (Netherlands). The coach was<br />
Pavel Petera (Czechoslovakia) and Europe won 129-82.<br />
It was the last game <strong>of</strong> the great Atanas Golomeev.<br />
He remembers his great rivals, especially Kreso<br />
Cosic who, aside from being tall, was smart and with<br />
great court vision and great assists.<br />
When FIBA, on occasion <strong>of</strong> the basketball centennial,<br />
chose the 50 best players ever, it could not forget<br />
about Golomeev. It was a recognition for 25 years <strong>of</strong> a<br />
brilliant career that could have been even better if not<br />
for political circumstances. Golomeev was a Bulgarian<br />
club champion 12 times, 10 as a player and two as a<br />
coach. From 1991 to 1993, he was president <strong>of</strong> the<br />
Bulgarian federation. He was also a member <strong>of</strong> several<br />
FIBA committees, but his passion eventually changed<br />
from the “big ball” to the smaller one <strong>of</strong> golf.<br />
Mihail-Misha Delev, a prestigious Bulgarian journalist,<br />
together with Lilia Yankova and Hari Latifyan, wrote<br />
two volumes on the history <strong>of</strong> Bulgarian basketball and<br />
has this opinion about Golomeev:<br />
“I cannot categorically say that Golomeev was the<br />
best Bulgarian player ever, but with Ilia Mirchev, Viktor<br />
Radev and Georgi Glouchkov, he was definitely among<br />
the best four big men ever in Bulgaria. He could score<br />
with impressive ease.”<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Atanas Golomeev<br />
G
Alberto<br />
Herreros<br />
139
A three-point<br />
pr<strong>of</strong>essional<br />
If an elite sportsman has a dream, it probably revolves<br />
around scoring the last goal, the last shot<br />
or the last point so that his team wins an important<br />
title. Alberto Herreros was lucky enough to live<br />
that moment. It was June 26, 2005, and the finals<br />
<strong>of</strong> the Spanish League play<strong>of</strong>fs between Real Madrid<br />
and Tau Ceramica had reached the fifth and final<br />
game. Both finalists had won a road game in the series,<br />
but Game 5 was being played in Vitoria because<br />
Tau had the home-court advantage. The Tau Ceramica<br />
fans were expecting the win and the title. In the final<br />
minute, with their team ahead 69-61, they started to<br />
celebrate.<br />
A three-pointer for the ages<br />
It was then that one <strong>of</strong> those miracles that only can<br />
happen in basketball occurred. Without any apparent<br />
reason, the hosts started committing mistakes: Luis<br />
Scola and Jose Manuel Calderon missed free throws;<br />
Pablo Prigioni and Tiago Splitter turned the ball over.<br />
Real Madrid got within 2 points, 67-69, but the title was<br />
still in Tau’s hands. Herreros didn’t play much in the<br />
series, but after a disappointing performance by Louis<br />
Bullock, the best scorer for Madrid then (he fouled out<br />
with 11 points after making just 2 <strong>of</strong> 9 three-pointers),<br />
head coach Boza Maljkovic decided to go with the experience<br />
<strong>of</strong> Herreros. His only shot during the 3 minutes<br />
he was on the court happened 6 seconds before the<br />
final buzzer. Herreros got the ball in the right corner,<br />
his favorite position. He pulled up, took the shot and<br />
hit nothing but net. It was the 1,233rd triple <strong>of</strong> his<br />
Spanish League career, a difficult-to-beat record. But<br />
this three-pointer meant a title for his team, Real Madrid.<br />
Officially, Herreros didn’t know it would be his last<br />
game. But at 36 years old and with a basket like this, he<br />
could not find a better way to say farewell to the courts<br />
after 17 seasons in the elite, with 654 games and 9,759<br />
points, the most ever scored in the Spanish League.<br />
<strong>Basketball</strong> had been fair to Herreros, a great scorer and<br />
a modern forward with a privileged shooting hand. In<br />
just a moment, basketball gave it all back to him after<br />
so many years.<br />
From Estudiantes to Real<br />
Alberto Herreros, who was born on April 20, 1969,<br />
in Madrid, started playing for local club Estudiantes.<br />
But like many others (Fernando and Antonio Martin,<br />
Alfonso and Felipe Reyes, Juan Antonio Orenga and<br />
Jose Miguel Antunez) he moved on to Real Madrid. His<br />
only trophy with Estudiantes was a Spanish King’s Cup<br />
in 1992. Estudiantes had last won that trophy 29 years<br />
earlier. In the quarterfinals, Estudiantes eliminated<br />
Real Madrid 82-80 as Herreros scored 19 points. In<br />
the semis, they beat Joventut Badalona 78-77 with 13<br />
points from Herreros. In the final game, Estu defeated<br />
CAI Zaragoza 61-56 as Herreros and Rickie Winslow<br />
had 16 points apiece and John Pinone was named<br />
MVP in his eighth season with the team.<br />
In 1996, after eight years with Estudiantes, Herreros<br />
made the decision to switch teams in the Spanish<br />
capital. The Estudiantes fans never forgave him for<br />
that, but it was a rightful ambition on his part: to<br />
evolve and win titles, a great player needed to be on<br />
a big team. With Real Madrid, he won two league titles<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Alberto Herreros<br />
H
Vladimir Stankovic<br />
(2000 and 2005) and a Saporta Cup. The Saporta Cup<br />
final was played in Nicosia, Cyprus, on April 15, 1997.<br />
The opponent was Scaligera Basket Verona. Real<br />
Madrid, coached by Zeljko Obradovic, and with Dejan<br />
Bodiroga as the best scorer in the competition (20.2<br />
points), won 78-64. Herreros scored 19 points with<br />
great numbers: 5 <strong>of</strong> 5 two-pointers, 2 <strong>of</strong> 3 triples and<br />
3 <strong>of</strong> 3 from the stripe. It was his only <strong>European</strong> title at<br />
the club level. Real Madrid had a powerful team, with<br />
Bodiroga, Herreros, Joe Arlauckas, Alberto Angulo<br />
and Juan Antonio Orenga. But it had failed to make the<br />
EuroLeague that year.<br />
In the EuroLeague, the closest Hererros came to a<br />
title was in the1991-92 season. Estudiantes took part<br />
in the Final Four in Istanbul that year but fell in the semis<br />
to Joventut Badalona in an all-Spanish game. Joventut<br />
was led by Jordi Villacampa with 28 points and the final<br />
score was 69-91. Curiously, Estudiantes had defeated<br />
Partizan Belgrade twice in the group stage, 75-95 and<br />
75-72, as the Serbian team had to play its home games<br />
in Fuenlabrada, Spain – near Madrid – under FIBA orders<br />
due to the war in the former Yugoslavia. However,<br />
Partizan would win the final against Joventut thanks<br />
to the famous three-pointer by Sasha Djordjevic in the<br />
last seconds. Such is basketball.<br />
Estudiantes had a great team in its first participation<br />
in the EuroLeague that year, under a new format,<br />
with three representatives from the most powerful<br />
countries in the sport. We must not forget that FIBA<br />
applied this formula one year before UEFA did it with<br />
the Champions League in 1992-93. The averages for<br />
Winslow were 18.5 points, Herreros had 18.0, Pinone<br />
had 14.3 and Orenga 11.2. Estudiantes was the first<br />
team to debut in the competition and make the Final<br />
Four the same season.<br />
Even without winning titles, Alberto Herreros left<br />
his imprint on <strong>European</strong> competitions. His personal<br />
record <strong>of</strong> 42 points was achieved on December 7,<br />
1993, in a 97-81 loss against Reggio Emilia. He was<br />
almost perfect: 10 <strong>of</strong> 11 two-pointers, 5 <strong>of</strong> 7 threes,<br />
7 <strong>of</strong> 7 from the line. His thing was scoring. A lot. But<br />
once, against Bayer Leverkusen in the Korac Cup, he<br />
pulled down 10 rebounds. Not bad for a player just<br />
1.99 meters tall!<br />
EuroBasket, World Cup top scorer<br />
Alberto Herreros made his debut for the Spanish<br />
national team in 1990 against Czechoslovakia, scoring<br />
his first 11 points. Until 2003 he would be a major<br />
factor on the team, an important scorer in all competitions.<br />
His average in FIBA events was 12.5 points, from<br />
the 10.5 at the 1990 World Cup in Argentina to the 3.3<br />
at the 2003 EuroBasket in Sweden. His best moments<br />
with the team were, without a doubt, silver-medal finishes<br />
at the 1999 and 2003 EuroBaskets. In the latter,<br />
in Paris, his average was 19.2 points. He was the best<br />
scorer and a member <strong>of</strong> the all-tournament team with<br />
Carlton Myers, Andrea Meneghin, Dejan Bodiroga and<br />
Gregor Fucka.<br />
Herreros’s best average in a World Cup had happened<br />
a year before in Athens. Spain finished fifth in<br />
1998, but Herreros, with 17.9 points, was the top scorer<br />
over Mohamed Acha <strong>of</strong> Nigeria (17.5), Arturas Karnisovas<br />
<strong>of</strong> Lithuania (17.1), Shane Heal <strong>of</strong> Australia (17.0),<br />
Andrew Gaze <strong>of</strong> Australia (16.9) and Puerto Rico’s Jose<br />
“Piculin” Ortiz (16.5).<br />
Herreros was a born scorer with a great wrist, a fast<br />
man who could score a lot on the break, but his best<br />
weapon was his shot. He didn’t care if he launched<br />
two- or three-pointers. Whenever he had the minimum<br />
140<br />
141
NBA even though the Indiana Pacers took an interest<br />
in him. But his world was <strong>European</strong> basketball for Real<br />
Madrid and the Spanish national team. Since his retirement,<br />
he has been working as sports director for Real<br />
Madrid.<br />
Alberto Herreros<br />
space, he took the shot – and succeeded most <strong>of</strong> the<br />
time, which is most important. His personal high in the<br />
Spanish League was 38 points against Leon.<br />
On December 29, 1998, he played in a FIBA all-star<br />
game in Berlin. He was a starting member <strong>of</strong> the West<br />
team, who lost to the East 104-98 in one <strong>of</strong> his last<br />
events <strong>of</strong> this kind. Herreros was never drafted into the<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
H
Jon Robert<br />
Holden<br />
143
The golden Russian<br />
The case <strong>of</strong> Jon Robert “J.R.” Holden is not<br />
the first nor the last to confirm a rule <strong>of</strong><br />
life: it’s not how you start, but how you<br />
finish. What’s also true is that his pro<br />
career was unusual because <strong>of</strong> many<br />
things. His path to glory was neither fast<br />
nor easy. Holden, who was born on August 10, 1976,<br />
in Pittsburgh, had to go step by step, from third-level<br />
clubs to the elite; from countries with no basketball<br />
tradition to a world power in the sport, which he led to<br />
a new <strong>European</strong> crown after a long wait.<br />
After four years in Bucknell University, where he averaged<br />
17.8 and 18.1 points in the last two, Holden was not<br />
drafted into the NBA. In fact, his future looked unlikely<br />
to involve basketball at all. But as <strong>of</strong>ten happens, chance<br />
would change his life. A Finnish agent <strong>of</strong>fered Holden a<br />
tryout with ASK Broceni Riga, a team that existed for just<br />
10 seasons total, between 1992 and 2001. Many years<br />
later, when remembering the start <strong>of</strong> his <strong>European</strong> adventure,<br />
Holden admitted he had problems locating Latvia<br />
on a map. He had no clue about the country, and he<br />
went there for 400 dollars a week. He is still grateful to<br />
Larry Daniels, who also played for Riga, and who helped<br />
him a lot during his first days there. In the 1998-99 season,<br />
ASK Broceni played in Belgrade against Partizan and<br />
won 89-87 with 18 points and 4 assists from Holden.<br />
After winning the Latvian League title, Holden switched<br />
countries and signed for Telindus Ostend in Belgium.<br />
In the 2000-01 FIBA SuproLeague, he would again play<br />
Partizan in Belgrade. This time, Partizan prevailed 89-80<br />
thanks to 38 points by Miroslav Beric. But Holden netted<br />
30 points, confirming the impression he had left the previous<br />
season. He was a talented player who deserved to<br />
play on a more powerful team.<br />
Explosion in AEK<br />
After a couple <strong>of</strong> conversations with Vlade Divac,<br />
who then was a player for the Sacramento Kings but also<br />
the president <strong>of</strong> Partizan, Holden was really close to<br />
signing for the team, but eventually he would stay one<br />
more season at Ostend. In the summer <strong>of</strong> 2001, after<br />
winning the Belgian League and Belgian Cup, his next<br />
stop was Athens, Greece, but the club was the humble<br />
AEK. Humble? Maybe because <strong>of</strong> the budget, especially<br />
if compared to Panathinaikos or Olympiacos, but not<br />
for its history and a group <strong>of</strong> excellent players Holden<br />
found there. Head coach Dragan Sakota had with him<br />
Dimos Dikoudis, Michalis Kakiouzis, Nikos Chatzis,<br />
Nikos Zisis, Jim Bilba, Andy Betts and Holden, a huge<br />
Holden. The result? AEK won the Greek League, the<br />
only title that Panathinaikos didn’t win between 1998<br />
and 2011. Coach Sakota tells us about what happened:<br />
“We had not played against Holden; his signing was<br />
the result <strong>of</strong> general scouting. We looked at several<br />
players and I concluded that Holden would be the one<br />
who would contribute more. Officially, the MVP <strong>of</strong> the<br />
season was Dikoudis, but Holden was the most consistent<br />
player. He was irreplaceable.”<br />
Sakota highlights a feature by Holden that not many<br />
people know.<br />
“He was a relentless player. At the beginning <strong>of</strong> the<br />
season, some people criticized me for having him 35 to<br />
40 minutes on the court, but his body just didn’t need<br />
any rest. He was able to play at the same intensity all<br />
the time. In a technical sense, his best weapon was his<br />
speed and, after that, his fighting character. He was not<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Jon Robert Holden<br />
H
Vladimir Stankovic<br />
such a big deal with long-range shooting or assists, but<br />
he was correct in everything and with his huge speed,<br />
everything looked much better. I knew we would not be<br />
able to keep him for the following season.”<br />
The kid who played his first season in Europe for some<br />
6,000 dollars per year signed for the powerhouse <strong>of</strong> CS-<br />
KA Moscow just four years later, with a multi-million-dollar<br />
deal at the start <strong>of</strong> a big project meant to take CSKA to the<br />
top again. CSKA’s last EuroLeague title was more than 30<br />
years before that, in 1971. During Holden’s first season in<br />
Moscow, CSKA reached the EuroLeague Final Four, played<br />
in Barcelona. The seven following years, Holden and CSKA<br />
would become regular guests at the end-<strong>of</strong>-season event<br />
in the top <strong>European</strong> competition.<br />
Due to the restrictions on foreign players in the Russian<br />
League, Holden was <strong>of</strong>fered a Russian passport so<br />
that he could play as a national in the league, and he<br />
accepted. On October 20, 2003, under the signature <strong>of</strong><br />
president Vladimir Putin, Jon Robert Holden became a<br />
Russian citizen. It was a decision that changed his life,<br />
but also the history <strong>of</strong> basketball. As the USSR, the<br />
country had been <strong>European</strong> champ 14 times and won<br />
three silvers and four bronzes, as well. But as Russia,<br />
it had only a silver medal from the 1993 EuroBasket in<br />
Munich. But that would soon change.<br />
History in Prague and Madrid<br />
However, before winning the 2007 EuroBasket in<br />
Madrid with Russia, Holden took CSKA Moscow to the<br />
top again, 35 years after its last EuroLeague crown.<br />
After a 10-4 record in the regular season, a 5-1 run<br />
through the Top 16 and a 2-0 sweep <strong>of</strong> Efes Pilsen in<br />
the play<strong>of</strong>fs, CSKA reached the Prague Final Four – its<br />
fourth in a row – with a great desire to finally triumph after<br />
three consecutive semifinals defeats. The first rival<br />
was FC Barcelona, whom CSKA defeated 84-75, led by<br />
the great duo <strong>of</strong> Holden and Theo Papaloukas. Each <strong>of</strong><br />
them scored 19 points, but Holden played 35 minutes,<br />
controlling the tempo <strong>of</strong> the game. In the title game<br />
against Maccabi Tel Aviv, Holden didn’t shine as against<br />
Barcelona, but coach Ettore Messina kept him on the<br />
floor for 36 minutes and CSKA won 73-69. Points were<br />
provided by Papaloukas (18) and David Vanterpool (16).<br />
Holden got stuck at 6 points and 4 assists, but his averages<br />
for those two games also showed 2.5 steals and<br />
just 1.5 turnovers in more than 35 minutes, plus 12.5<br />
points with 45.5% two-point accuracy and 41.7% on<br />
three-pointers. As always, his defense on the ball was<br />
impeccable and the basis for CSKA’s league-leading<br />
points-against average. The title, won after 35 years,<br />
was dedicated to the father <strong>of</strong> Russian basketball, Alexander<br />
Gomelskiy, who had died a few months earlier.<br />
In 2007, at the Athens Final Four, CSKA lost in the<br />
title game against Panathinaikos, 93-91, in an unforgettable<br />
game. But some months later, Holden lived one<br />
<strong>of</strong> the best moments in his sports life with what is the<br />
dream <strong>of</strong> any player: winning an important title with a<br />
basket by him on the last play <strong>of</strong> the game.<br />
His sweet moment took place on September 16,<br />
2007, at the Palacio de los Deportes in Madrid, during<br />
the EuroBasket final between Russia and Spain. The<br />
hosts were the world champions at the time and big<br />
favorites. During halftime, the organizers even handed<br />
out invitations for the Spanish title celebration. But Holden’s<br />
Russia didn’t agree to that. A slight Spain advantage<br />
was reduced to only two points at the start <strong>of</strong> the final<br />
quarter with a triple by Holden at 51-49. The game would<br />
remain close until the last 43 seconds, when Spain led<br />
59-58 and had the ball. But the hosts didn’t get a shot <strong>of</strong>f<br />
on that possession because Holden stole the ball from<br />
144<br />
145
Pau Gasol. The ball stayed in his hands until, with a little<br />
over 2 seconds left, Holden rose on the right wing to<br />
shoot over Jose Manuel Calderon. The ball hit two sides<br />
<strong>of</strong> the rim and then high <strong>of</strong>f the backboard before falling<br />
in. A timeout by Spanish coach Pepu Hernandez was<br />
useless even though Gasol managed to take a final shot<br />
that missed by a hair. Russian basketball was back with a<br />
new title, thanks to Holden’s shot.<br />
The coach for Russia in 2007, David Blatt, told me<br />
about the game and that last play:<br />
“When Spain missed its play, I didn’t have another<br />
timeout, so I just shouted to J.R. to wait a little and finish<br />
<strong>of</strong>f the play by himself. What he did reminded me a little<br />
<strong>of</strong> that famous play by Michael Jordan in the sixth game<br />
<strong>of</strong> the NBA Finals in 1998. Holden almost did the same.”<br />
About Holden’s general features, Blatt said: “He was<br />
a leader but also a team player, with lots <strong>of</strong> self-confidence<br />
and trust in his teammates. His path to glory was<br />
slow, but more than deserved.”<br />
Madrid was now a good-luck city for Holden. In the<br />
spring <strong>of</strong> 2008, he celebrated his second EuroLeague<br />
title with CSKA on the same stage where he had become<br />
the Russian hero the previous summer. In the Final Four,<br />
CSKA defeated Tau Ceramica in the semis by 83-79 with<br />
15 points by Holden, while in the title game against Maccabi<br />
it was a bit easier, 91-77, with J.R. scoring 14 points.<br />
After the triumph in Madrid, Holden played in the<br />
2008 Olympics in Beijing, fulfilling another dream. Although<br />
Russia didn’t prosper and finished ninth, Holden<br />
played really well, with 17.6 points and 4.8 assists<br />
on average. It was his last appearance with the Russian<br />
national team.<br />
Holden would play four more seasons for CSKA,<br />
where he retired in 2012 at 36 years old. He left behind<br />
two EuroLeague crowns, a EuroBasket gold medal with<br />
Russia, plus six national league and five cup titles won<br />
in Latvia, Belgium, Greece and Russia. He also earned<br />
a spot on the EuroLeague all-decade team for 2000<br />
to 2010. One <strong>of</strong> Holden’s most remarkable feats he<br />
shares with Papaloukas, his former backcourt partner:<br />
eight consecutive Final Four appearances, a record that<br />
will be hard for anyone to break. All <strong>of</strong> this for a player<br />
who literally played his first season in Europe for a fistful<br />
<strong>of</strong> dollars.<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Jon Robert Holden<br />
H
Dusko<br />
Ivanovic<br />
147
I<br />
Dusko Ivanovic<br />
Montenegro’s<br />
Holy Hand<br />
At the end <strong>of</strong> the 1982-83 season, the<br />
list <strong>of</strong> the top scorers in the powerful<br />
Yugoslav League was: Dusko Ivanovic<br />
<strong>of</strong> Buducnost Podgorica, 603 points<br />
(27.4 ppg.); Drazen Petrovic <strong>of</strong> Sibenka,<br />
561 points (25.5 ppg.); and Peter Vilfan<br />
<strong>of</strong> Olimpija Ljubljana, 535 points (25.4 ppg.). Granted,<br />
Petrovic was barely 18 years old, but he was already<br />
a star in the making and that same summer he made<br />
his debut with the Yugoslavia national team at the<br />
1983 EuroBasket in Limoges and Nantes.<br />
Dusko Ivanovic, born in Bijelo Polje, Montenegro, on<br />
September 1, 1957, was almost 26 years old and was one<br />
<strong>of</strong> the players who stood out in the league. However, he<br />
was stuck with the reputation <strong>of</strong> being “a good player, but<br />
only for smaller teams.” Nothing could be more wrong,<br />
but he was not the only player who wore that label.<br />
The story <strong>of</strong> Dusko Ivanovic the player starts at the<br />
end <strong>of</strong> the 1960s in his native Bijelo Polje. Just a few meters<br />
from where he lived with his parents and his older<br />
brother Dragan there was a basketball court. But the key<br />
moment occurred when some plastic backboards were<br />
installed to replace the old wooden ones. Following in<br />
the footsteps <strong>of</strong> Dragan, who was a couple <strong>of</strong> years older,<br />
little Dusko started to shoot the ball into the basket.<br />
From the very first practices in the street to his first<br />
basketball lessons at local club Jedinstvo, the best attribute<br />
<strong>of</strong> the young Dusko was his shot. He had a great<br />
touch and it didn’t go unnoticed. He was only 16 years<br />
when he made his debut in the first team for coach Bratko<br />
Ilic, who realized the great talent he had and took a leap <strong>of</strong><br />
faith with him. At age 17, Dusko was already in the starting<br />
five; at 18 he was already on the radar <strong>of</strong> many big teams<br />
in Yugoslavia. At 19 years old, Ivanovic decided to try his<br />
luck with Crvena Zvezda, but during the preseason, at<br />
Zlatibor mountain, Dusko decided to leave the team:<br />
“I didn’t like the atmosphere in that team,” Ivanovic recalled<br />
much later. “There was no camaraderie. Everyone<br />
did his own thing and I wasn’t very well received. I decided<br />
to move to Podgorica, so I could study law, even though<br />
coach Bratislav Djordjevic tried to convince me to stay.”<br />
Ivanovic signed for Buducnost, where he played with<br />
his brother Dragan, who had just come back from OKK<br />
Belgrade. The beginning was not easy, as coach Nikola<br />
Sekulovic didn’t trust young Dusko much. One day, a<br />
confident Dusko approached his coach. “I proposed a<br />
deal to him. He would put me on the court for 30 minutes<br />
during a game. If I didn’t play well, I would leave.”<br />
Said and done. In the game against Mornar Bar, in<br />
the second division, Dusko scored 35 points and never<br />
left the starting five during the following nine seasons.<br />
That was the career-starter for this great shooter, one<br />
<strong>of</strong> the best in the former Yugoslavia.<br />
Scoring lawyer<br />
When Buducnost reached the Yugoslav first division,<br />
in his first season with the elite, Ivanovic finished<br />
with an average <strong>of</strong> 24.1 points. In his second season,<br />
the one mentioned at the start <strong>of</strong> this post, he was the<br />
best scorer in the league with 27.4 points. The following<br />
four years he posted 22.6 points, 10.4 points (a season<br />
in which he didn’t play much due to military service),<br />
26.8 points and, in his last wearing the Buducnost jersey,<br />
27.8 points per game.<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball
Vladimir Stankovic<br />
Despite spending much <strong>of</strong> his time training for basketball,<br />
Dusko Ivanovic was a good law student. He finished<br />
his degree in the expected time, four years, and then<br />
started working for the Podgorica town council. For three<br />
years, he was a player and a public worker. In 1986 he married<br />
Ljiljana, a medical student, and in 1987 his son Stefan<br />
was born. Everything pointed to a future in Podgorica.<br />
When Ivanovic tried to play for Partizan, the club<br />
from Belgrade replied that it was not interested. Then<br />
came the call from Olimpija Ljubljana. Dusko went to<br />
the meeting alone, without an agent – something totally<br />
unheard <strong>of</strong> then in Yugoslavia. The club made an <strong>of</strong>fer<br />
and Dusko explained his demands for a radical change<br />
in his life, but the sides did not agree, and he went back<br />
to Podgorica. He then got the call from Boza Maljkovic,<br />
who was at the start <strong>of</strong> a great project in Split with a<br />
Jugoplastika team full <strong>of</strong> talent.<br />
“I saw a team with loads <strong>of</strong> talent, but too young. I<br />
was looking for an experienced player, a leader, an authority<br />
for the players, but also for the referees,” Maljkovic<br />
told me many times. “I chose Dusko and, luckily,<br />
he accepted. He was a key piece in the building <strong>of</strong> the<br />
great Jugoplastika.”<br />
Maljkovic didn’t convince Ivanovic with money – Dusko<br />
himself says that it was “less than half <strong>of</strong> what Olimpija<br />
<strong>of</strong>fered” – but rather with a splendid future. Both were<br />
aware that they had an extraordinary group <strong>of</strong> players<br />
on their hands. The first season, 1987-88, Jugoplastika<br />
played the Korac Cup and finished third in the group, tied<br />
with Cantu, but with a worse point differential. In Split,<br />
Jugoplastika defeated CAI Zaragoza 87-83 behind 18<br />
points from Toni Kukoc and 15 from Ivanovic.<br />
Jugoplastika won the 1987-88 Yugoslav League<br />
with overwhelming authority. Its regular season record<br />
was 21-1 and Dusko was its best scorer with 418 points<br />
(19.9 per game), in front <strong>of</strong> Dino Radja, Kukoc and Velimir<br />
Perasovic. In the play<strong>of</strong>fs, the team defeated Sibenka<br />
and Olimpija 2-0 and in the final series, the victim was<br />
Partizan, 2-1. With 139 points (19.8 ppg.), Ivanovic was<br />
again the top scorer on the team. Maljkovic had hit a<br />
home run as Ivanovic was the piece that made all that<br />
talent jell as a team.<br />
In autumn <strong>of</strong> 1988, Jugoplastika was back in the EuroLeague,<br />
but nobody gave any chance to such a young<br />
team. It was, however, one <strong>of</strong> those times when talent,<br />
ambition and hard work defeated money to create a<br />
sporting miracle. The fact that Jugoplastika reached the<br />
Final Four in Munich was already a surprise and it certainly<br />
arrived as an outsider. In the semifinal, its victim was FC<br />
Barcelona with Juan Antonio “Epi” San Epifanio, Nacho<br />
Solozabal, Audie Norris, Ferran Martinez and company.<br />
The score was 87-77 thanks to 24 points from Kukoc and<br />
20 from Dusko. Maccabi Tel Aviv was waiting in the title<br />
game and was also the big favorite, but Jugoplastika prevailed<br />
again, 75-69. Radja shined this time with 20 points,<br />
Kukoc added 18 and Ivanovic had 12. What Dusko Ivanovic<br />
meant to this team is explained by the fact that he was the<br />
team captain in only his second year there.<br />
The following year, the same thing happened. Jugoplastika<br />
first won the national cup, then the EuroLeague<br />
in Zaragoza, and in the end, the Yugoslav League for a<br />
triple crown. In the national league, Ivanovic was “only”<br />
the team’s third-best scorer, behind Kukoc and Radja,<br />
two diamonds that had grown a lot at Dusko Ivanovic’s<br />
side. In the Zaragoza Final Four, Jugoplastika defeated<br />
Limoges in the semis <strong>101</strong>-83 behind 24 points by Perasovic<br />
and 20 by Ivanovic, while in the title game the victim<br />
was, again, Barcelona. A 72-67 score gave Jugoplastika<br />
another title as Kukoc netted 20 points and three players<br />
contributed 12 apiece: Ivanovic, Radja and Perasovic.<br />
148<br />
149
I<br />
Dusko Ivanovic<br />
Going abroad<br />
After 10 seasons in the first division – a total <strong>of</strong><br />
226 games and 4,551 points (23.3 ppg.) – Dusko Ivanovic<br />
was the 10th best scorer all-time in the Yugoslav<br />
League. With two EuroLeague crowns under the belt,<br />
his last chance to play somewhere else was approaching.<br />
Dusko was already 32, an age which is the end, or<br />
the beginning <strong>of</strong> the end, <strong>of</strong> many careers. But for him,<br />
it was just the start <strong>of</strong> the third phase <strong>of</strong> his career:<br />
playing abroad.<br />
Since his law career had been set aside, he decided<br />
to continue with what he did best: scoring points. Ivanovic<br />
didn’t have many <strong>of</strong>fers; the best one was from<br />
Valvi Girona, a humble team in Spain.<br />
Not much time went by when it could be seen that<br />
the team from Girona had signed an excellent shooter. If<br />
Oscar Schmidt is the Holy Hand for his fellow Brazilians,<br />
Dusko Ivanovic was the same for Montenegro, a country<br />
that gave birth to many great players: Zarko Paspalj, Nikola<br />
Pekovic, Nikola Vucevic and Nikola Mirotic, among<br />
many others. He scored from everywhere with good<br />
numbers, he ran the breaks and he was a pr<strong>of</strong>essional<br />
who set an example in every sense. On November 11,<br />
1990, Girona won in Manresa 67-87 as Ivanovic netted<br />
43 points! He made 20 <strong>of</strong> 25 two-pointers and 3 <strong>of</strong> 3<br />
free throws. His performance index rating was 44. He<br />
finished that season with an average <strong>of</strong> 27.0 points and<br />
only Walter Berry was in front <strong>of</strong> him.<br />
Curiously enough for such a great shooter, in Ivanovic’s<br />
first season in Spain, he didn’t shoot many<br />
threes and he wasn’t very accurate at that, 2 <strong>of</strong> 22. The<br />
following season, his numbers “plummeted” to 19.7<br />
points per game, but his shooting percentage from<br />
behind the arc increased to 45% (34 <strong>of</strong> 76).<br />
A back injury and surgery threatened to put an end<br />
to his career and Valvi did not renew his contract, so at<br />
the start <strong>of</strong> the 1992-93 season, Ivanovic was left without<br />
a team. He was about to turn 35 when an old friend<br />
called him up. Boza Maljkovic, already at Limoges, <strong>of</strong>fered<br />
him a chance. Yes, it was a temporary contract to<br />
fill in for the injured Jure Zdovc, but Ivanovic used his<br />
chance. In six French League games, he averaged 16.4<br />
points with good shooting percentages. Valvi decided<br />
to call Dusko back and his numbers were more than<br />
decent, 16.5 points. But Dusko himself admits that he<br />
was not the same player as before the operation.<br />
The final stop<br />
For the 1994-95 season, Ivanovic was <strong>of</strong>fered a contract<br />
in Fribourg, Switzerland, where at 37 years old he<br />
played a great season. He then came back to Girona to<br />
become the assistant coach <strong>of</strong> Quim Costa at Valvi, but<br />
he wasn’t renewed at the end <strong>of</strong> the season, so it was<br />
back to Switzerland. He became a player/coach at Fribourg<br />
and averaged 18.8 points. The Holy Hand was still<br />
in good shape. Of course, Fribourg won the league, and<br />
did so again the following two seasons, but with Ivanovic<br />
as only its head coach now. He was also the coach <strong>of</strong> the<br />
Swiss national team between 1997 and 2000.<br />
In the summer <strong>of</strong> 1999, Ivanovic took another important<br />
decision in his life: he accepted an <strong>of</strong>fer from Limoges<br />
to be the head coach there. It was not an easy decision.<br />
His wife, a doctor, had a job in Fribourg, the kids went to<br />
school there and they had formed a circle <strong>of</strong> friends. But<br />
he knew that if he wanted to become a good head coach,<br />
he would have to leave. Ivanovic spent only one year in<br />
Limoges and won the French Cup, the Korac Cup and the<br />
French championship. It was then when he got the call<br />
from Baskonia in Vitoria, a team with a strong project.<br />
The rest <strong>of</strong> the story is well-known.<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball
Sarunas<br />
Jasikevicius<br />
151
Mr. <strong>Basketball</strong><br />
A<br />
famous Brazilian footballer, Waldyr<br />
Pereira, also known as Didi, who was<br />
a world champion in 1958 and 1962,<br />
had “Mr. Football” as his nickname. I<br />
am going to paraphrase that because<br />
for Sarunas Jasikevicius, I cannot find<br />
anything better. Mr. <strong>Basketball</strong>. Those two words explain<br />
what he was – and is – all about: his greatness,<br />
his huge talent, his character, his basketball IQ, his<br />
shot, his genius assists and the joy he spread to<br />
teammates, fans and sometimes even opponents.<br />
Sagadin, the discoverer<br />
The story <strong>of</strong> Sarunas Jasikevicius could start in many<br />
ways. But I think that the first graphs belong to the man<br />
who discovered Saras for <strong>European</strong> basketball: Zmago<br />
Sagadin. The Slovenian coach, a former boss <strong>of</strong> Union<br />
Olimpija and the Slovenian national team, told me about<br />
his decision to bring Jasikevicius to his Olimpija team.<br />
“My sources in the United States, where Sarunas<br />
played, told me about his talent and sent me a few videos,<br />
and it is true that I liked him on the spot. I also had<br />
some reports from Lithuania but decided to see him<br />
live in France at EuroBasket 1999. I spent 10 days following<br />
Sarunas, but he didn’t play much, not enough to<br />
convince me. I had to trust the videos and my instinct.<br />
I decided to sign him, and I can safely say it was one<br />
<strong>of</strong> the best decisions <strong>of</strong> my life. Sarunas was a brilliant<br />
player. He had it all: talent, technique, character, leadership.<br />
He was also a hard worker. For me, he’s among the<br />
top 10 players ever in <strong>European</strong> basketball.”<br />
Sagadin highlights the final game against Olympiacos<br />
Piraeus <strong>of</strong> their 1999-2000 EuroLeague play<strong>of</strong>f series,<br />
which was tied at 1-1. The decisive game was played<br />
in Ljubljana, where Olimpija won 85-67 as Jasikevicius<br />
netted 30 points and made 7 <strong>of</strong> 7 three-pointers.<br />
“He played a flawless game,” Sagadin said.<br />
Olimpija had a good team, with Marko Milic, Sani<br />
Becirovic, Primoz Brezec, Slavko Kotnik and Jure Zdovc.<br />
In the quarterfinals, FC Barcelona ousted Olimpija 2-1<br />
but struggled to do so and advance to the Thessaloniki<br />
Final Four. However, Coach Aito Garcia Reneses laid<br />
his eyes on Jasikevicius and asked his club to sign the<br />
guard as a top priority.<br />
Signing for Barcelona in the summer <strong>of</strong> 2000 was a<br />
key step in the career <strong>of</strong> Jasikevicius. He was already<br />
24 years old, the perfect moment to clear the doubts<br />
about whether he was just another strong Lithuanian<br />
talent or a top-class player who could play on great<br />
teams to achieve great things.<br />
I can say that Jasikevicius is one <strong>of</strong> the players that I<br />
have seen the most in person. I saw him at EuroBaskets<br />
in 1997, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2007 and 2011. Also, at the<br />
Sydney Olympics in 2000, Athens in 2004, and London<br />
in 2012. I saw him in all <strong>of</strong> his Final Fours and, especially,<br />
in the four seasons that Saras spent in Barcelona. I can<br />
also say that it has been a privilege to enjoy his game.<br />
Sports roots<br />
Rita Jasikeviciene, the mother <strong>of</strong> Sarunas Jasikevicius,<br />
was an important handball player in her day and<br />
a member <strong>of</strong> the USSR national team that won medals<br />
at the world championships in the early 1970s. But she<br />
would skip the 1976 Olympic Games in order to give<br />
birth to Sarunas, who arrived on March 5 <strong>of</strong> that year.<br />
Igor Turcin, the team’s head coach, was mad at Rita<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Sarunas Jasikevicius<br />
J
Vladimir Stankovic<br />
because her absence disrupted his plans for the first<br />
Olympics with women’s handball. He never called Rita<br />
to the team again.<br />
Rita gave preference to his motherhood over her<br />
sports career. Many years later, she told her son that he<br />
“owed her an Olympics.” In Sydney 2000, Saras bought<br />
two tickets for his parents. His father Linas was a table<br />
tennis player. Sarunas for sure didn’t lack for sports<br />
genes. His parents say that he was a lively kid, always on<br />
the move. His worst punishment was having to be still<br />
and sitting down. When he started playing basketball,<br />
his coach Feliksas Mitkevicius quickly saw his talent, but<br />
Sarunas wasn’t sure his future was in basketball and at<br />
12 years old, he decided to switch to tennis.<br />
Mitkevicius went to the Jasikevicius’ household to<br />
explain that Saras had a huge talent and a bright future<br />
in basketball. The three <strong>of</strong> them convinced Saras<br />
to stay in basketball, even though he has admitted<br />
that he didn’t see himself in basketball until he was 14<br />
years old. The first calls to the cadet Lithuanian national<br />
team sparked his ambition and his competitiveness.<br />
Little by little he realized that he played well, that it was<br />
easy for him and that he had fun. This last one, his joy<br />
for the game, would become his career trademark. In<br />
1994, when he won the U18 <strong>European</strong> Championship<br />
with Lithuania in Tel Aviv (73-71 against Croatia and<br />
two years later 85-81 against Spain in the U22 World<br />
Championship), his future was decided.<br />
At 17 years old, Jasikevicius moved to the United<br />
States to study at Solanco High School in Quarryville,<br />
Pennsylvania. The next logical step was college. He<br />
chose the University <strong>of</strong> Maryland, but when four years<br />
later the NBA showed no interest, he moved back home<br />
and signed his first pro contract with Lietuvos Rytas for<br />
$50,000. He went from Vilnius to Ljubljana and then<br />
from Slovenia to Barcelona, where he started rewriting<br />
basketball history as the point guard for the club’s first,<br />
long-awaited EuroLeague title. He would continue later<br />
in Tel Aviv, Istanbul and Athens and then, to finish<br />
his career, in his native Kaunas. After winning his first<br />
EuroLeague with Barcelona in 2003 at Palau Sant Jordi<br />
against Benetton Treviso in the final, he signed for<br />
Maccabi and they won back-to-back <strong>European</strong> crowns.<br />
Since the days <strong>of</strong> the great Jugoplastika, there had been<br />
no players with three consecutive titles. He entered a<br />
select list with Toni Kukoc, Velimir Perasovic, Zoran Sretenovic,<br />
Luka Pavicevic and Zan Tabak. His fourth title<br />
arrived in 2008-09 with Panathinaikos. Nobody except<br />
him has ever won the EuroLeague with three different<br />
teams.<br />
Exhibition in Sweden<br />
I was a direct witness to his four continental club<br />
crowns, but I think that the one that brought him even<br />
more happiness was a fifth one, won with Lithuania at<br />
EuroBasket 2003 in Sweden, where his national team<br />
lifted the trophy for the first time in 64 years. In the<br />
big final, Lithuania defeated Spain, 93-84. Jasikevicius<br />
ended up with 14.0 points and 8.2 assists per game.<br />
In the final he scored 10 points but dished 9 assists. It<br />
was his great moment. In May that year he had won his<br />
first EuroLeague trophy with Barcelona, and months<br />
later his first EuroBasket. Lithuania had a great team:<br />
Ramunas Siskauskas, Saulius Stombergas, Arvydas<br />
Macijauskas, Eurelijus Zukauskas, Mindaugas Zukauskas,<br />
Ksist<strong>of</strong> Lavrinovic, Darius Songaila and Donatas<br />
Slanina. They averaged over 90 points in six games at<br />
the tournament. It was an <strong>of</strong>fensive display <strong>of</strong> happy<br />
basketball, with imagination and improvisation that<br />
152<br />
153
could only come with huge talent. The tournament<br />
MVP? Of course, it was Jasikevicius.<br />
One year later at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, I saw<br />
the victory <strong>of</strong> Lithuania over the United States, 94-90,<br />
one <strong>of</strong> the best in his career. In 32 minutes, he scored 32<br />
points with 7 <strong>of</strong> 12 threes and 4 assists. It was his particular<br />
revenge for the semifinal defeat in 2000 Sydney<br />
Olympics (83-85), in which the Lithuanians missed the<br />
last shot. The bronze medal was a good consolation.<br />
It’s not easy to count all the titles he has won. If I am<br />
not mistaken, he was a champ nine times in five different<br />
national leagues: Greece (3), Spain (2), Israel (2),<br />
Turkey (1) and Lithuania (1). He won 10 national cups in<br />
five countries: Olimpija (1), Barcelona (3), Panathinaikos<br />
(3), Maccabi (2) and Fenerbahce (1). His individual accolades<br />
ask for a lot <strong>of</strong> space. One <strong>of</strong> the biggest accolades<br />
<strong>of</strong>f the court has been the naming <strong>of</strong> one <strong>of</strong> the<br />
meeting rooms at Euroleague <strong>Basketball</strong> headquarters<br />
in Barcelona after him. This is how the stars that leave<br />
their mark in the competition should be respected.<br />
In 2015, Jasikevicius was honored as a Euroleague<br />
<strong>Basketball</strong> Legend before the Top 16 game between<br />
Zalgiris Kaunas and Real Madrid. Before a long, standing<br />
ovation from his hometown fans, a video was shown at<br />
Zalgirio Arena in which some <strong>of</strong> his best moments appeared,<br />
along with statements from former teammates<br />
like Juan Carlos Navarro, or his coach in Panathinaikos,<br />
Zeljko Obradovic.<br />
I am happy to see him on the Zalgiris bench now. It<br />
was the club <strong>of</strong> his dreams, in his native city. With basketball<br />
in his blood, it was only a matter <strong>of</strong> time before<br />
we saw him become a head coach, too.<br />
If somebody must teach how basketball is played,<br />
then it is Mr. <strong>Basketball</strong>, Sarunas Jasikevicius.<br />
Sarunas Jasikevicius<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
J
Arturas<br />
Karnisovas<br />
155
King without<br />
a crown<br />
I<br />
remember perfectly when I saw Arturas Karnisovas<br />
play for the first time. It was at the 1992<br />
Olympics in Barcelona. However, more than his 17<br />
points against Puerto Rico, 15 against Brazil or his<br />
average <strong>of</strong> 11.2 throughout the games, I remember<br />
a scene that I had never witnessed before or since.<br />
In the game between Lithuania and the United States,<br />
Karnisovas only played for 13 minutes, but he scored 10<br />
points. In the final minutes, he was sitting on the bench<br />
and somehow pulled a small camera from somewhere,<br />
sat down by the basket closest to his team’s bench and,<br />
like a photographer, recorded some unforgettable moments.<br />
His native Lithuania, in its first appearance after<br />
regaining independence, was playing against the first<br />
and unrepeatable Dream Team, the American team that<br />
took the courts by storm. The U.S.A. team won 127-76,<br />
Michael Jordan finished with 21 points, Karl Malone had<br />
18. Meanwhile, young Karnisovas took pictures <strong>of</strong> the<br />
American stars but also <strong>of</strong> his own teammates: Arvydas<br />
Sabonis, Sarunas Marciulionis, Voldemaras Chomicius<br />
and Rimas Kurtinaitis – all <strong>of</strong> them Olympic champs<br />
four years prior in Seoul with the USSR stars – as well as<br />
Sergejus Jovaisa, Gintaras Krapikas and Gintaras Einikis.<br />
Lithuania won the bronze medal, the first important<br />
trophy in Karnisovas’s career. He was the youngest<br />
member <strong>of</strong> the team. He was 21 years old, 15 years<br />
younger than Jovaisa, 12 years younger than Chomicius<br />
and seven years younger than Sabonis. However,<br />
those Olympics were not his international debut. At 16,<br />
he was selected to play with the USSR in the U16 <strong>European</strong><br />
Championship <strong>of</strong> 1987 in Hungary. The USSR finished<br />
third, beating Spain 84-76 in the duel for bronze.<br />
A star in Seton Hall<br />
With an obvious talent, Karnisovas, who was born in<br />
Klaipeda, Lithuania on April 27, 1972, left behind his beginnings<br />
in Stayba Vilnius and in 1990 he moved to the<br />
United States to study at Seton Hall and play basketball.<br />
Both things turned out well. His studies in economics<br />
were no problem for him while in his four basketball<br />
seasons his numbers pointed towards a future star:<br />
11.2 points and 4.5 rebounds in 1990-91; 17.3 plus 4.2<br />
in 1991-92; 14.8 plus 6.0 in 1992-93; and 18.4 plus 6.8<br />
in 1993-94. His numbers almost guaranteed a draft pick<br />
that summer, but he was not chosen. His height was that<br />
<strong>of</strong> a power forward, 2.04 meters, but he lacked muscle<br />
and weight. So maybe those were the reasons why the<br />
NBA teams didn’t trust him, apart from the fact that<br />
there was not the same kind <strong>of</strong> confidence there is nowadays<br />
when signing a <strong>European</strong> player.<br />
While the criteria <strong>of</strong> the NBA teams could be understood,<br />
it is harder to wrap one’s head around the fact<br />
that no major <strong>European</strong> team grabbed Karnisovas. He<br />
had to sign for humble Cholet in France, but he was<br />
looking for a platform. And he found it. Karnisovas<br />
ended up the 1995-95 season with 20.5 points and 6.5<br />
rebounds on average. In the Korac Cup, those numbers<br />
were even better (22.2 and 4.8). On November 30 <strong>of</strong><br />
1994, Cholet faced <strong>of</strong>f against Fortitudo Bologna and<br />
won 83-79. The duo formed by Antoine Rigaudeau (27<br />
points) and Karnisovas (21) defeated the one on the<br />
other side formed by Vincenzo Esposito (26) and Djordjevic<br />
(18). Not long afterward, Djordjevic and Karnisovas<br />
would be teammates in Barcelona.<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Arturas Karnisovas<br />
K
Vladimir Stankovic<br />
That same season, playing with Lithuania in the 1995<br />
EuroBasket qualifiers, Karnisovas averaged 24.5 points, 6<br />
rebounds and 4 assists. A star was born. In the 1995 EuroBasket<br />
in Athens, where Lithuania won the silver after<br />
falling to Yugoslavia in the final (96-90) in an unforgettable<br />
game, Karnisovas averaged 19.8 points, 5.1 rebounds<br />
and 2.1 assists. He was his team’s third-best scorer<br />
behind Sabonis (23.7) and Marciulionis (22.0). All the big<br />
teams in Europe tried to sign him, but Barcelona was<br />
fastest. On July 3, one day after the Athens final, the Catalan<br />
club announced the signing. In the summer <strong>of</strong> 1995,<br />
then, Karnisovas returned to the city where he was first<br />
noticed, three years earlier. His debut was exceptional: 30<br />
points on 7 <strong>of</strong> 8 three-point shooting. His coach then, Aito<br />
Garcia Reneses, remembered Karnisovas in this way:<br />
“Arturas was very fast, ran the fastbreak well and penetrated<br />
well from both sides. He was also a good shooter<br />
and correct in everything else. I remember his first game<br />
with Barcelona in Vitoria, in the opening game <strong>of</strong> the<br />
Spanish League, where he left everybody watching in<br />
awe. After that, his game was hurt by the tendency <strong>of</strong> the<br />
refs to call him for traveling, especially on breakaways.”<br />
Two lost finals<br />
In his first season with Barcelona, Karnisovas won<br />
the Spanish League while averaging 20.9 points, but<br />
the big goal <strong>of</strong> the club was winning, at last, the Euro-<br />
League. Barcelona reached the Final Four in Paris with<br />
ambition, boosted by having defeated the Real Madrid<br />
<strong>of</strong> Zeljko Obradovic in the semifinals 76-66 after trailing<br />
by 4 points at the break. The man <strong>of</strong> the comeback was<br />
Karnisovas, who netted 24 points and pulled down 6<br />
rebounds in 36 minutes. In the final, the rival was Panathinaikos,<br />
coached by Boza Maljkovic, the former coach<br />
<strong>of</strong> Barcelona. The game ended with a 67-66 win for the<br />
Greens, but with great controversy. The Catalans still<br />
consider that the title was stolen from them due to an<br />
illegal block by Stojko Vrankovic on Jose Montero when,<br />
in the last seconds, he was running alone to the basket<br />
for a bucket that was worth a title. I saw the game live<br />
and I think the same now as I did then: the block was<br />
illegal. But the whole play itself was also illegal because<br />
the <strong>of</strong>ficial clock was stuck at 5.4 seconds. Why the clock<br />
had stopped is another story, unforgivable in such a big<br />
game, but that’s the way it happened. Dominique Wilkins<br />
was the MVP, but there is no doubt that if Barca had won,<br />
the MVP would have been Karnisovas, who netted 23<br />
points plus 8 rebounds and 6 assists in 38 minutes.<br />
The spring <strong>of</strong> that season I had the pleasure <strong>of</strong> telling<br />
Karnisovas that he had been elected MVP <strong>of</strong> the<br />
season by FIBA <strong>Basketball</strong>, the <strong>of</strong>ficial magazine those<br />
days for the international organization. He gave me a<br />
good interview for that magazine. Since then, we have<br />
had a very good relationship.<br />
In the summer <strong>of</strong> 1996, Arturas won his second Olympic<br />
bronze with Lithuania, this time in Atlanta. His contribution<br />
was 16.3 points and 5.1 rebounds as he was the<br />
second-best scorer <strong>of</strong> the team, after Sabonis (16.9).<br />
Midway through the 1996-97 season, Barcelona<br />
inked Sasha Djordjevic and together he and Karnisovas<br />
formed one <strong>of</strong> the best foreign duos ever seen in <strong>European</strong><br />
basketball. The two players, previously rivals with<br />
their former clubs and especially national teams, established<br />
an excellent relationship. On the court, they just<br />
understood each other and in private they had a good<br />
friendship. Barcelona reached the Rome Final Four with<br />
no problems. In the semis, the team defeated ASVEL<br />
Villeurbanne 77-70 with 17 points from Djordjevic, 16 by<br />
Jimenez and 9 by Karnisovas. Olympiacos awaited in the<br />
final, but Barcelona experienced another Greek tragedy.<br />
156<br />
157
Olympiacos won 73-58 led by an excellent David Rivers,<br />
who scored 26 points.<br />
Gone and back<br />
Another failed attempt at the EuroLeague forced a<br />
new coaching change in Barcelona, with Manel Comas<br />
arriving. The club made a bold move and let Karnisovas<br />
go. The Lithuanian chose Olympiacos. He played the<br />
McDonald’s Open with the Reds in Paris and scored<br />
19 points (10 <strong>of</strong> 10 free throws) plus 3 boards and 4<br />
assists against the Chicago Bulls <strong>of</strong> Michael Jordan (27<br />
points). That was the pro<strong>of</strong> that he had a place in the<br />
NBA, but his ambition to play there had faded. Karnisovas’<br />
third attempt at the <strong>European</strong> crown was not the<br />
charm either as Olympiacos fell in the quarterfinals<br />
to Partizan and was out <strong>of</strong> the Barcelona Final Four in<br />
1998. Karnisovas was the best scorer on the team with<br />
17.1 points plus 5.2 rebounds, but he didn’t win any<br />
titles that season.<br />
At the 1998 World Cup in Athens, Lithuania finished<br />
seventh. Karnisovas scored 17.1 points and was the<br />
third-best scorer <strong>of</strong> the tournament behind Alberto<br />
Herreros (Spain) with 17.9 and Mohamed Acha (Nigeria)<br />
with 17.5. Karnisovas also added 5 rebounds per game.<br />
His next go at the EuroLeague was in Italy with Fortitudo,<br />
but he didn’t win it the next two seasons either. In<br />
the Munich in 1999, he played his third Final Four but his<br />
team fell in the semis against local archrival, Virtus Bologna,<br />
62-57. In 1999-2000, Fortitudo lost its quarterfinal<br />
series with Maccabi Tel Aviv 2-1 and didn’t reach the Final<br />
Four. The team did, however, win the Italian League.<br />
At the turn <strong>of</strong> the century, Karnisovas decided to<br />
go back to Barcelona, something not very usual in the<br />
history <strong>of</strong> the club. In the last 20 years, only Zoran<br />
Savic, Juan Carlos Navarro and Sarunas Jasikevicius,<br />
apart from Karnisovas, have managed to play two different<br />
stints at the club. His last two attempts to win<br />
the EuroLeague were with Barcelona, but he was not<br />
successful back there either. In 2000-01, Barcelona<br />
stepped down to Benetton Treviso in the eighth-finals,<br />
2-0. The following season, the team finished the Top 16<br />
with a 4-2 record, just like Benetton, but with a worse<br />
point differential, so it didn’t make the Final Four again.<br />
In those two seasons, Karnisovas showed a solid level<br />
in the EuroLeague, 13.9 points, with similar numbers<br />
in the Spanish League, where against Cantabria Lobos<br />
he established his personal high <strong>of</strong> 40 points scored.<br />
In 2001, he won the Spanish King’s Cup and again the<br />
league in 2002, but at 31 years old, he decided to retire.<br />
That was the end <strong>of</strong> a great career with many national<br />
titles and several medals with the national team, but<br />
without a EuroLeague title. He was a king without a<br />
crown, but his name stayed in conversations reserved<br />
only for the greats.<br />
I was fortunate to follow his games during his four<br />
seasons in Barcelona, the Olympics in Barcelona and<br />
Atlanta, the EuroBaskets <strong>of</strong> 1995 and 1999, and the<br />
1998 World Cup. That was more than enough to confirm<br />
that Karnisovas was a great player, especially a<br />
great shooter. He was able to run the fastbreak but also<br />
to grab many rebounds. He was a smart player, complete<br />
and always an example <strong>of</strong> fair play.<br />
His former coach, Aito, comments:<br />
“If I had to find a flaw in him, it would have been his<br />
overall understanding <strong>of</strong> the game. That’s why it surprised<br />
me later that he worked as a scout for the NBA<br />
and how well he did it. Nowadays, he shows magnificent<br />
criteria and reading <strong>of</strong> players, and he has a good analysis<br />
<strong>of</strong> team play. All <strong>of</strong> which means that he has kept<br />
maturing personally and gaining more knowledge.”<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Arturas Karnisovas<br />
K
Oded<br />
Kattash<br />
159
The King <strong>of</strong> Israel<br />
Life was unfair to the sporting career <strong>of</strong> Oded<br />
Kattash. Due to serious knee injuries, he<br />
had to retire at age 26. Despite such a short<br />
career, he had great accomplishments. He<br />
left his imprint forever not only on Israeli<br />
basketball but also in Europe. He was the<br />
best scorer at the 1997 EuroBasket in Barcelona and a<br />
<strong>European</strong> club champion with Panathinaikos in 2000.<br />
Kattash, who was born on October 10, 1974, in the<br />
Tel Aviv suburb <strong>of</strong> Ramat Gan, started his career with<br />
Maccabi Tel Aviv. At the 1991 U16 <strong>European</strong> Championship<br />
in Greece, where some important players <strong>of</strong> the future<br />
– like Andrea Meneghin <strong>of</strong> Italy, Ibrahim Kutluay <strong>of</strong><br />
Turkey, Fragiskos Alvertis <strong>of</strong> Greece and Jose Antunez<br />
<strong>of</strong> Spain – started to shine, Oded Kattash and his 11.6<br />
points per game were not the highlight <strong>of</strong> the Israeli<br />
team. But his 25 points against Bulgaria and 21 against<br />
Czechoslovakia caught the eye <strong>of</strong> many. Gur Shelef was<br />
the top scorer on that Israel team, with 15.7 points,<br />
but Kattash showed enough talent to foretell a bright<br />
future. The following year, at the 1992 U18 <strong>European</strong><br />
Championship in Hungary, his numbers dipped (8.7<br />
ppg.) but he stood out against Spain with 20 points.<br />
Kattash debuted at the senior level while on loan from<br />
Maccabi Tel Aviv to Maccabi Ramat Gan. At the U22<br />
World Cup in Spain in 1993, he left no doubts. The young<br />
shooting guard, who could easily play point guard, ended<br />
up as the fourth-best scorer <strong>of</strong> the tourney with 16.7<br />
points per game. He was behind the untouchable Moon<br />
Kyung-Eun <strong>of</strong> Korea (29.4 ppg.), Rogerio Klafke <strong>of</strong> Brazil<br />
(19.8) and Oscar Racca <strong>of</strong> Argentina (18.9), but in front<br />
<strong>of</strong> Marcelo Nicola <strong>of</strong> Argentina (16.6), Yann Bonato <strong>of</strong><br />
France (16.3) and Gregor Fucka <strong>of</strong> Italy (15.3).<br />
Kattash played the following season, 1994-95, again<br />
on loan, this time at Hapoel Galil Elyon, and proved himself<br />
as one <strong>of</strong> the Israeli League’s top young players. In<br />
1995, Kattash was back to Maccabi and his real rise to<br />
glory began. Those were tough years for the popular<br />
Tel Aviv team, as it was far from reaching the final stages<br />
in the EuroLeague. Little by little, however, Kattash<br />
started earning the fans’ admiration.<br />
Too good for Maccabi<br />
My friend Yarone Arbel, a direct witness <strong>of</strong> the<br />
growth <strong>of</strong> Kattash, remembers those years:<br />
“When Mickey Berkowitz was the hero <strong>of</strong> Yad Eliyahu,<br />
the fans had a song for him. In Jewish tradition, there’s a<br />
very famous song for King David. The fans changed the<br />
lyrics from David to Mickey and sang to him that he was<br />
The King <strong>of</strong> Israel. Nobody else had that honor until Oded<br />
showed up. Oded was the new king. He was the face <strong>of</strong><br />
a team that wasn’t very good. Those were dark years<br />
for Maccabi. The mid-1990s is a period when Maccabi<br />
never managed to make the Final Four and didn’t even<br />
make the quarterfinals. Year after year, they lost in the<br />
eighth-finals. They were years when Yad Eliyahu wasn’t<br />
sold out every night, except the die-hard fans who always<br />
showed up and loved that team because <strong>of</strong> Oded<br />
and [Doron] Sheffer and [Nadav] Henefeld. But Kattash<br />
was … the king,” Arbel remembered. “Maccabi didn’t<br />
have the money to fight the elite <strong>of</strong> Europe. In those<br />
years, the Greeks and Italians and Turks were spending<br />
huge money that Maccabi didn’t have. Maccabi president<br />
Shimon Mizrahi said after one home loss on TV that Maccabi<br />
can’t fight with those teams in the current situation.<br />
It was clear: Oded was ‘too good’ for Maccabi.”<br />
Oded Kattash<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
K
Vladimir Stankovic<br />
At the 1997 EuroBasket in Barcelona, Israel fell in the<br />
eighth-finals against Russia, 87-69, but Kattash ended<br />
up as the top scorer with 22.0 points, ahead <strong>of</strong> Ainars<br />
Bagatskis <strong>of</strong> Latvia (21.8 ppg.), Nenad Markovic <strong>of</strong> Bosnia-Herzegovina<br />
(21.4) and Arturas Karnisovas <strong>of</strong> Lithuania<br />
(20.7). Kattash was hardly <strong>of</strong>f the floor, as he averaged<br />
38.4 minutes <strong>of</strong> play. After three great years in Maccabi,<br />
Kattash was on the agenda <strong>of</strong> the big clubs <strong>of</strong> Europe and<br />
also several NBA teams tried to sign him. The New York<br />
Knicks were fastest and, in the summer <strong>of</strong> 1998, Kattash<br />
was about to become the first Israeli ever in the NBA.<br />
However, the NBA season did not open on time due to the<br />
lockout, no signings were allowed, and there was even<br />
talk <strong>of</strong> the season being canceled. Kattash grew tired <strong>of</strong><br />
waiting and returned to Maccabi. He finished the season<br />
with averages <strong>of</strong> 16.1 points, 5 assists and 2.3 rebounds.<br />
His next stop would be Athens, where Panathinaikos<br />
signed him along with new coach Zeljko Obradovic.<br />
The Greens started the 1999-2000 season strong.<br />
They finished first in the group stage with a 9-1 record,<br />
the only loss coming at home to ALBA Berlin, 72-70. In<br />
the second phase, Panathinaikos also ended up on top<br />
(13-3 overall). In the eighth-finals, the Greens eliminated<br />
Buducnost 2-1 and got rid <strong>of</strong> Cibona in the quarterfinals,<br />
2-0. The first goal was accomplished: the team<br />
was on its way to the Final Four in Thessaloniki. It wasn’t<br />
home, but almost.<br />
Unforgettable Thessaloniki<br />
In the semifinal against Efes Pilsen, Panathinaikos<br />
won 81-71, but Kattash probably played his worst<br />
game <strong>of</strong> the season. He only scored 5 points with<br />
awful shooting percentages: 0 <strong>of</strong> 3 two-pointers, 1 <strong>of</strong><br />
4 threes and 2 <strong>of</strong> 2 free throws plus 2 rebounds and<br />
3 assists. However, Obradovic kept him on the court<br />
for 21 minutes. Dejan Bodiroga (22 points) and Zeljko<br />
Rebraca (15) saved the day for Panathinaikos that night.<br />
Maccabi Tel Aviv was waiting in the title game.<br />
Zeljko Obradovic has told me many times: “On the<br />
eve <strong>of</strong> the final, Oded told me ‘Coach, I did not play well<br />
against Efes, but the final will be my game. I know them<br />
very well and I know they cannot stop me. We will win.<br />
For sure.’ I have never seen a player so convinced that<br />
victory could not slip away from him.”<br />
I was in Thessaloniki and I remember the final well.<br />
Maccabi was winning 36-29 before the break, but a<br />
7-0 run by the Greens allowed them to tie the score at<br />
intermission, 36-36. A great start to the second half<br />
by Panathinaikos, led by Antonis Fotsis and Kattash,<br />
allowed them to build an 11-point margin, 57-46. In<br />
money time, when Maccabi pulled within 3 points, one<br />
<strong>of</strong> their own, Kattash, broke the game open in favor <strong>of</strong><br />
Panathinaikos. He replied with a three-pointer to give<br />
his team some air, and then he made 4 <strong>of</strong> 6 free throws.<br />
He finished the game with 17 points (0 <strong>of</strong> 1 twos, 2 <strong>of</strong><br />
3 threes and 11 <strong>of</strong> 14 free throws). His famous penetrations<br />
could only be stopped with fouls by Maccabi’s<br />
players, and Kattash had a good night from the stripe.<br />
What I did not remember, because I had not seen it,<br />
was what Yarone Arbel relates: “The scenes from the<br />
ceremony were amazing. The TV caught him right after<br />
the buzzer. All he said to the camera was ‘It’s the happiest<br />
and the saddest day <strong>of</strong> my basketball career.’ All the<br />
Maccabi fans were hugging him. He didn’t really know<br />
how to celebrate. He looked so confused.”<br />
The following day, Yarone was also a privileged witness<br />
to a scene in the Thessaloniki airport: “I was lucky<br />
to be there. Panathinaikos arrived at the Thessaloniki<br />
airport to take the flight back to Athens. In the airport<br />
were already thousands <strong>of</strong> Maccabi fans waiting for<br />
160<br />
161
their charter flight back to Israel. Panathinaikos thought<br />
that Oded was in danger. They thought the fans would<br />
attack him. At first, they didn’t leave the bus. They<br />
called for heavy security. When Oded understood<br />
what was going on, he told Panathinaikos not to worry,<br />
that the fans wouldn’t harm him. When he entered the<br />
airport all Maccabi fans started to celebrate with him.<br />
They took him on their shoulders, danced with him and<br />
with the cup as if they had won it.<br />
“Back then for Maccabi fans to be in the Final Four was<br />
amazing, so it wasn’t such a bad feeling to lose the cup –<br />
as much as losing isn’t that bad for Maccabi – since their<br />
king won it. It was an amazing scene. Kattash on their<br />
shoulders carried around the airport in celebrations <strong>of</strong><br />
yellow and blue. I was standing next to two Panathinaikos<br />
players. One <strong>of</strong> them was Greek and he told the<br />
other player, ‘This is amazing. If it was the other way and<br />
I’d won the EuroLeague for Maccabi over Panathinaikos,<br />
the Panathinaikos fans would have killed me.’”<br />
Kattash himself, in an interview for Euroleague.net<br />
dedicated to all the Final Fours, explained his feelings<br />
in Thessaloniki: “So many things ... Everything around<br />
me was so confusing. It was like being part <strong>of</strong> a movie.<br />
Emotionally, those days were extremely hard to take. I<br />
was very excited because on one hand, I got to the <strong>European</strong><br />
final for the first time in my life. That’s the kind<br />
<strong>of</strong> moment you dream about. On the other hand, I had<br />
to play against Maccabi.<br />
“I knew how important this game was to Maccabi<br />
fans and to the guys <strong>of</strong> Panathinaikos. I felt very lonely.<br />
I couldn’t get connected to Panathinaikos fans because<br />
they were afraid I might give the game to Maccabi. They<br />
were not sure I would be able to play good enough under<br />
these circumstances. Also, I could not be seen with Maccabi<br />
fans, since I was their enemy at least for one night.”<br />
Unfortunately, that great game was Kattash’s last<br />
one in the EuroLeague. In 32 Greek League games that<br />
season, 24 in the regular season and eight in the play<strong>of</strong>fs,<br />
before getting injured, he averaged 9.1 points, 3<br />
assists and 1.7 rebounds. An awful knee injury during<br />
the play<strong>of</strong>fs caused him to miss the entire following<br />
season. He underwent surgery several times, but there<br />
was no way to fix it. A brilliant career was stopped suddenly,<br />
at 26 years old. He was a guard that could be a<br />
playmaker, with a great shot and excellent penetration,<br />
his two main weapons. His favorite play was the oneon-one,<br />
dribbling and penetration. The opponents<br />
knew how he played, but most <strong>of</strong> the time they could<br />
do nothing against him because he was faster, smarter<br />
and more talented. Also, it was unpredictable as to<br />
whether he would penetrate or use his excellent shot.<br />
“He was a player with loads <strong>of</strong> self-confidence,” remembers<br />
Obradovic. “A born winner.”<br />
Kattash could not continue his career as a player but,<br />
fortunately, basketball didn’t lose him. He continued as<br />
a coach and did well. He led Hapoel Galil Elyon to a second-place<br />
Israeli League finish in his first season, 2004-<br />
05. He spent three seasons there and, shortly after losing<br />
to Maccabi in the 2007 semifinals, his former club hired<br />
him as head coach. Sadly, for both sides, the marriage did<br />
not end well and after a string <strong>of</strong> poor results, Kattash resigned<br />
midway through the season. But he returned the<br />
following season to Hapoel Galil Elyon, with whom he won<br />
the 2010 Israeli League by defeating Maccabi in the final.<br />
His subsequent club teams were also called Hapoel –Jerusalem,<br />
Eilat and Tel Aviv – and he has also been named the<br />
Israeli national team head coach.<br />
However, for the Maccabi Tel Aviv fans, he remains<br />
“The King <strong>of</strong> Israel”.<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Oded Kattash<br />
A
Dragan<br />
Kicanovic<br />
163
The Cacak genius<br />
Probably the last thing that Zeljko Obradovic<br />
and Vladimir Androic thought about<br />
in the mid-1970s, when over a four-year<br />
period they shared rooms on road trips<br />
as Borac Cacak players, was that one day<br />
they would coach against each other in the<br />
Turkish Airlines EuroLeague. Androic and Obradovic<br />
are much more than two former teammates from a<br />
humble team. They are close friends and best men<br />
at each other’s weddings, a relationship that is very<br />
important to Serbian people. Behind many technical<br />
decisions made by Obradovic, there has been a<br />
lot <strong>of</strong> advice sought from Androic. They have spent<br />
summers together and engaged in long talks about<br />
basketball.<br />
The matchups in the 2011-12 EuroLeague between<br />
these two men from Cacak – Obradovic on the Panathinaikos<br />
bench and Androic on that <strong>of</strong> KK Zagreb – brought<br />
to mind a true genius <strong>of</strong> the game who was born in the<br />
same city and was also very important in the life <strong>of</strong> Obradovic.<br />
That is none other than Dragan “Kicha” Kicanovic.<br />
To me, he is one <strong>of</strong> the best three players from the<br />
former Yugoslavia that I have ever seen – the other two<br />
being Kresimir Cosic and Drazen Petrovic.<br />
Kicha and Mirza, Gorizia 1971<br />
Kicanovic was born on August 17, 1953, but before<br />
him, Cacak had another huge star, scoring ace Radmilo<br />
Misovic. His fame never crossed many borders, however,<br />
because Misovic, due to his character, always stayed<br />
close to home, close to Cacak. He liked to go fishing in<br />
the Morava River and keep his quiet life rather than sign<br />
for a big team in Belgrade or elsewhere. Misovic was<br />
the Yugoslav League’s top scorer five times: 1968 (29.2<br />
ppg.), 1969 (28.4), 1971 (29.3), 1972 (30.0) and 1974<br />
(31.7). He played in Borac while Kicanovic started with<br />
the other team from the city, the smaller and humbler<br />
Zeleznicar. Like a diamond in the rough, Kicanovic was<br />
selected by cadet national team coach Mirko Novosel<br />
for the first U16 <strong>European</strong> Championship, played in<br />
1971 in Gorizia, Italy. Along with him, the team had<br />
other future stars, like Mirza Delibasic, Rajko Zizic and<br />
Dragan Todoric. Yugoslavia became champion by defeating<br />
Italy in the final 74-60. It was the first trophy<br />
for Kicha. He finished as the team’s second-best scorer<br />
with 90 points, behind only his friend Delibasic, with 99.<br />
That same year, not yet <strong>of</strong> legal age and still a member<br />
<strong>of</strong> a second-division team, Kicanovic made his debut<br />
on the senior national team at the Mediterranean<br />
Games in Izmir, Turkey. He played alongside world<br />
champions like Damir Solman and Vinko Jelovac, as<br />
well as with other future staples <strong>of</strong> the national team<br />
Zarko Knezevic, Milun Marovic, Miroljub Damjanovic<br />
and Dragi Ivkovic. Kicanovic scored his first 40 points<br />
for the national team and won his second gold medal.<br />
All the big teams wanted to sign him, but in Cacak<br />
they managed to put Misovic and Kicanovic together.<br />
“Kicha” signed for Borac and the 1971-72 season stays<br />
in my memory because <strong>of</strong> the brilliant displays by<br />
those two geniuses: one was a veteran, the other was<br />
just starting his brilliant career. In the summer <strong>of</strong> 1972,<br />
Kicanovic’s age group played the fifth U18 <strong>European</strong><br />
Championship in Zadar, another symbolic city for basketball.<br />
Novosel was the coach <strong>of</strong> that team and – together<br />
with Kicha, Mirza, Zizic and Todoric – new names<br />
came on board: Zeljko Jerkov, Branko Macura and<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Dragan Kicanovic<br />
K
Vladimir Stankovic<br />
Cedomir Perincic. The results were seven wins in seven<br />
games and a gold medal. Delibasic had 114 points, Kicanovic<br />
90, Perincic 68.<br />
Kicha and Praja in Belgrade<br />
When landing in Partizan, Kicanovic was greeted by<br />
Ranko Zeravica, the former coach <strong>of</strong> the national team<br />
and the best pupil <strong>of</strong> the famous Pr<strong>of</strong>essor Aleksandar<br />
Nikolic. One year earlier, in 1971, Zeravica had managed<br />
to sign Drazen Dalipagic, who had played football until<br />
he was 15. Dalipagic’s nickname, Praja, came from a local<br />
defensive player <strong>of</strong> the football team in Velez. That’s<br />
how, in the summer <strong>of</strong> 1972, the best duo on the court<br />
that I have probably ever seen, Kicha and Praja, was<br />
born. They were never close friends. There was always<br />
some kind <strong>of</strong> rivalry issue between them. But as the two<br />
smart men that they were, they connected instantly on<br />
the court. Simply put, they needed each other.<br />
Dalipagic was a strong forward, great shooter and<br />
spectacular jumper. Kicanovic was a super-smart guard<br />
who could play at point for the full 40 minutes. He was<br />
unstoppable in one-on-one situations and had great<br />
court vision and shooting. There was no Partizan game<br />
without some spectacular alley-oops by Dalipagic from<br />
Kicanovic’s assists. They were the two idols who helped<br />
Partizan win their first Yugoslav League title in 1976.<br />
But they helped the national team even more. When<br />
Mirko Novosel took the reins <strong>of</strong> the team for the 1973<br />
EuroBasket in Barcelona, Spain, he called up several<br />
young players. Of course, Kicanovic was among them.<br />
So were Dalipagic and Zoran “Moka” Slavnic, who made<br />
his debut at 24 years old. With the added experience<br />
<strong>of</strong> Cosic, Rato Tvrdic, Nikola Plecas and Damir Solman,<br />
Yugoslavia won its first <strong>European</strong> title. The following<br />
year, Yugoslavia was second at the World Cup in Puerto<br />
Rico. Kicanovic was the best player and best scorer on<br />
the team with 139 points (19.9 per game), including 34<br />
against Canada and 26 against the USA.<br />
Kicha was a complete player, technically perfect. But<br />
what makes the difference between a great talent and a<br />
great player is the character. Kicanovic was a born winner<br />
and a fighter; he didn’t like to lose at anything. He<br />
had strong character and was willing to fight for victory,<br />
no matter the circumstances. He didn’t fear hostile<br />
atmospheres, either. His winning character could be<br />
seen at the EuroBasket 1975 final at the legendary Pionir<br />
Arena in Belgrade. The game was against the USSR<br />
and after 39 tight minutes, Yugoslavia led 86-84. The<br />
ball reached Kicha, who drove past, if memory serves,<br />
Aleksander Salnikov. He pulled up and with his perfect<br />
shot decided the game with his 22nd point <strong>of</strong> the night.<br />
At the 1976 Olympics in Montreal, Kicanovic won the<br />
silver medal. In 1977 he made it a three-peat with Yugoslavia<br />
by winning the EuroBasket final in Liege against<br />
the USSR. That game featured a famous “volleyball”<br />
passing scene between Kicha and Slavnic, in which they<br />
tapped the ball back and forth to each other a few times<br />
without either actually catching or holding it, to fool the<br />
defense. In the 1978 World Cup in Manila, he and Dalipagic<br />
led Yugoslavia to another title. Praja finished with<br />
an average <strong>of</strong> 22.2 points and Kicha with 18.2.<br />
At the club level, after winning its first Yugoslav<br />
League title in 1976, Partizan also took its first <strong>European</strong><br />
trophy on March 21, 1978, after an unforgettable Korac<br />
Cup final in Banja Luka against Bosna Sarajevo. The game<br />
ended 117-110 after overtime. The end <strong>of</strong> regulation time<br />
showed a <strong>101</strong>-<strong>101</strong> score. It was an <strong>of</strong>fensive festival,<br />
with 48 points by Dalipagic, 33 by Kicanovic and 21 by<br />
Misko Maric. For Bosna, Mirza Delibasic had 33 points,<br />
Zarko Varajic 22, Ratko Radovanovic 20 and Svetislav<br />
164<br />
165
Pesic 14. That season Bosna won the domestic league<br />
and the following year it took the EuroLeague crown. In<br />
1979, Partizan also won the Korac Cup, defeating Arrigoni<br />
<strong>of</strong> Italy 109-98 in the final played at Pionir Arena. The<br />
hero was, <strong>of</strong> course, Kicanovic, who scored 41 points<br />
despite playing injured and covering for the also-injured<br />
Dalipagic. Pionir gave a standing ovation to Kicha for a<br />
great win against a great rival, led by the American duo<br />
<strong>of</strong> Cliff Meely (30 points) and Willie Sojourner (29), alongside<br />
Roberto Brunamonti (12 points).<br />
Olympic champion<br />
At the 1980 Olympics in Moscow, without no U.S.<br />
team, Yugoslavia won the gold medal with Kicanovic<br />
and Dalipagic as leaders. In 1981 and 1982, Gazzetta<br />
dello Sport <strong>of</strong> Italy elected Kicha as the player <strong>of</strong> the<br />
year in its prestigious survey. In 1981, he won the Yugoslav<br />
League with Partizan and the silver medal with<br />
the national team at EuroBasket in Prague. When the<br />
summer <strong>of</strong> 1981 arrived, Kicanovic accepted the call<br />
from Petar Skansi, an assistant to Pr<strong>of</strong>essor Nikolic<br />
with the national team in 1978 in Manila and the head<br />
coach at the 1979 EuroBasket. As a result, Kicanovic<br />
joined Scavolini Pesaro in Italy, a team that also signed<br />
his national teammate Zeljko Jerkov. He played two<br />
seasons there, averaging 23.4 points, 3.4 assists and<br />
2.8 rebounds in 72 Italian League games. At the 1982<br />
World Cup in Colombia, Kicanovic won the bronze medal.<br />
He then won the Saporta Cup with Scavolini against<br />
ASVEL in a 111-99 final, scoring 31.<br />
That same year, after a seventh-place finish for<br />
Yugoslavia at the EuroBasket in France, and a big fight<br />
with Italy, Kicanovic decided to leave that country. He<br />
signed for Racing Paris, but in the spring <strong>of</strong> 1984, at 30<br />
years and 8 months old, he decided to retire. It was a<br />
shame because he could have surely played well for<br />
longer, but it was a personal choice. Behind him, he left<br />
216 games with the Yugoslav national team and 3,330<br />
points (which ranked second after Dalipagic, with 3,700,<br />
although Kicanovic player fewer years. He collected 10<br />
medals – five gold, three silver and two bronze – with<br />
the national team. At Partizan, he played 167 games<br />
and scored 4,699 points (28.1 ppg.).<br />
After retiring, Kicanovic was the sports director<br />
at Partizan, where his masterpiece was the <strong>European</strong><br />
crown <strong>of</strong> 1992. To reach that goal he worked hard for<br />
many years and signed players like Vlade Divac, Zarko<br />
Paspalj, Goran Grbovic, Ivo Nakic and Zeljko Rebraca. He<br />
had the patience to nurture the talents <strong>of</strong> Djordjevic and<br />
Predrag Danilovic. He convinced his friend Zeljko Obradovic<br />
to put an end to his playing career at 31 years old<br />
and become a head coach almost overnight. As in the<br />
game itself, Kicha had great vision. In his life after basketball,<br />
during a brief stint, he was Minister <strong>of</strong> Sports in Serbia<br />
and for eight years was the president <strong>of</strong> the Serbian<br />
Olympic committee. He was inducted into the FIBA Hall<br />
<strong>of</strong> Fame and deserves to be in the one in Springfield, too,<br />
where Dalipagic, his great teammate for Partizan and the<br />
Yugoslav national team, already is.<br />
On a personal note, it remains a regret <strong>of</strong> mine that<br />
Dragan Kicanovic was not included in the list <strong>of</strong> 35 players<br />
that were recognized by Euroleague <strong>Basketball</strong> to<br />
celebrate the competition’s 50th anniversary. The jury<br />
was more than qualified, but the genius <strong>of</strong> Kicanovic<br />
escaped their decision. It’s true that he didn’t win any<br />
EuroLeague titles, that he didn’t play for any big teams<br />
in Europe, and that he retired young. But he was one <strong>of</strong><br />
the <strong>Greats</strong>, with a capital G.<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Dragan Kicanovic<br />
K
Radivoj<br />
Korac<br />
167
The legend<br />
that lives on<br />
The basketball world, especially the older<br />
generations, knows the sporting history<br />
<strong>of</strong> the great player Radivoj Korac, whose<br />
humble character was the opposite <strong>of</strong><br />
his on-court greatness. He was the best,<br />
but for Korac, there was no such thing<br />
as “me”. All the praise he received – from the press,<br />
the crowds, his teammates – he always handled with<br />
incredible modesty and almost as if it didn’t have anything<br />
to do with him. He was very kind, generous and<br />
always surrounded by friends.<br />
Korac was a well-mannered man with many interests.<br />
There was no theater premiere in Belgrade at<br />
which he was not present. His circle <strong>of</strong> friends included<br />
actors, singers and artists <strong>of</strong> all kinds. His record<br />
collection was the biggest and best in Belgrade as he<br />
always brought new records with him after every trip<br />
abroad. Thanks to him in fact, a music show at Radio<br />
Belgrade was able to play The Beatles for the first time<br />
ever, and his comment was: “This band will be huge.”<br />
He was a lover <strong>of</strong> movies and literature, and his favorite<br />
writers were James Joyce, Norman Mailer, George<br />
Bernard Shaw and William Faulkner. His other passion<br />
was ... jerseys. He had hundreds <strong>of</strong> them, <strong>of</strong> all colors.<br />
He only wore a suit on very special occasions. He was<br />
a good student <strong>of</strong> electrical engineering, even though<br />
he never got his degree. He nearly finished it but left<br />
the finishing touches “for later, when I am done with my<br />
career”. Unfortunately, his life ended sooner.<br />
Some records are simply not meant to be broken,<br />
and in <strong>European</strong> basketball, the most prestigious one<br />
– single-game scoring – belongs to Korac. Playing for<br />
the club he grew up with, OKK Belgrade, Korac set an<br />
incredible scoring mark that still stands as the most<br />
points scored in the history <strong>of</strong> the EuroLeague. In an<br />
eighth-finals game against Alvik BK Stockholm <strong>of</strong> Sweden,<br />
played in Belgrade on January 14, 1965, he scored<br />
an incredible 99 points – in 40 minutes, with no threepoint<br />
shot or shot clock, and without knowing his point<br />
total as the game progressed. OKK won by 155-57<br />
(after having led by 60-17 at the break). The game was<br />
the stage for several other records apart from Korac’s<br />
99 points: in the second half OKK scored 95 points;<br />
the team’s total <strong>of</strong> 155 points was also a new record,<br />
as was the final victory margin <strong>of</strong> 98 points. Amazingly<br />
enough, in the first game between the teams, played<br />
exactly one week earlier in Sweden, OKK Belgrade had<br />
won by 90-136 as Korac scores 71 points. Combining<br />
them, the legendary left-hander had an incredible 170<br />
points – an average <strong>of</strong> 85 – in a single two-game series!<br />
A scoring machine<br />
Korac himself said once that his first meeting with<br />
basketball came in the early 1950s in Karlovac, Croatia,<br />
where his parents – Zagorka and Bogdan – visited<br />
relatives. He started playing in Belgrade at a late age<br />
by today’s standards. He was 16 years old, but he was<br />
the tallest kid in class and played center. Korac played<br />
the same position for the OKK Belgrade juniors in 1954,<br />
despite being only 1.93 meters. From the start <strong>of</strong> his<br />
career, he wore number 5 on his jersey; he viewed it as<br />
good luck because he was born on November 5, 1938.<br />
Aside from boasting a great sense for scoring from any<br />
spot on the floor – something that he taught himself<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Radivoj Korac<br />
K
Vladimir Stankovic<br />
– his great weapon was rebounding. Korac was able<br />
to fight for the ball with men taller than himself. The<br />
<strong>of</strong>ficial stat sheet <strong>of</strong> the Yugoslav national team shows<br />
that Korac shares the top spot with Kresimir Cosic in<br />
this category; each averaged 7 rebounds per game.<br />
Korac’s best friend and godfather, Dragutin Tosic, a<br />
school friend and teammate at OKK, told the story that<br />
in his first game as a junior, they defeated Pancevo 33-<br />
28 as Korac scored ... 33 points! In 1956, Korac made his<br />
debut in the OKK first team and over the following eight<br />
years he was the league’s leading scorer seven times. His<br />
averages were quite impressive: in 1957 - 29.1 points; in<br />
1958, 35.2; in 1960, 37.0; in 1962, 30.5; in 1963, 34.5; in<br />
1964, 26.3; and in 1965, 31.6. With OKK, Korac won four<br />
Yugoslav League titles and three domestic cups. His first<br />
coach at the junior level was Dragutin Glisic, and in the<br />
first senior team, his coach was Borislav Stankovic, the<br />
future secretary general <strong>of</strong> FIBA.<br />
Korac also played football – his brother Djordje, a<br />
sculptor, was the goalkeeper at Radnicki Belgrade –<br />
handball and athletics, where he excelled in the high<br />
jump. Korac’s great goal was to jump higher than his<br />
own height, 1.93 meters – and accomplished that.<br />
During his military service, Korac was the champion<br />
in that discipline. He was also the best chess player<br />
among his mates. His coaches and teammates always<br />
said that at first sight, Korac seemed like a slow and<br />
clumsy player, like he was not interested in what was<br />
happening around him. This impression fooled many<br />
<strong>of</strong> the players that guarded him because he was the<br />
opposite: fast with the ball, strong, left-handed, a good<br />
jumper. His famous left hand was precise, but he shot<br />
his free throws in a very peculiar manner by that era’s<br />
standards and virtually non-existent today: “granny<br />
style”, underhand, with both hands down. He held the<br />
ball between his legs, one hand on each side. And he<br />
hardly missed.<br />
Free throws: 100 <strong>of</strong> 100 on TV<br />
After leaving Yugoslavia, Korac played in Belgium,<br />
where he was the star <strong>of</strong> national champion Standard<br />
Liege. In a live television interview in French – a language<br />
he learned in three months – they asked him how many<br />
free throws he would make out <strong>of</strong> 100 attempts. His<br />
answer was “about 80.” The host <strong>of</strong> the show asked immediately,<br />
“Can you prove that?” When Korac said that<br />
he could, a curtain opened and a real basket appeared.<br />
Korac accepted the challenge, took <strong>of</strong>f his jacket and<br />
shirt, and with his dress pants and shoes on, started<br />
scoring – 10, 25, 47, 62, 88, 99 ... and 100! No misses!<br />
During his time in Belgium, the president <strong>of</strong> Standard<br />
gave him a car, a new model Volkswagen. Korac<br />
loved to drive, even though it’s been said that he was<br />
not very good behind the wheel. In the summer <strong>of</strong> 1969,<br />
after spending a season playing for Arqua Petrarca in<br />
Italy, where <strong>of</strong> course he was the best scorer in the<br />
league, Korac drove to Belgrade in this car. The national<br />
team had a friendly game scheduled in Sarajevo and he<br />
wanted to make the trip in his car. On June 1, 1969, Yugoslavia<br />
beat Bosnia and Herzegovina 131-93 behind<br />
35 points by Korac. Nobody would have even imagined<br />
that those were his last points. The following day, June<br />
2, after breakfast, two cars started for Belgrade from<br />
Sarajevo. The first one was occupied by Coach Ranko<br />
Zeravica and his wife Zaga, the second by Radivoj Korac.<br />
Just a few kilometers outside <strong>of</strong> Sarajevo, near the<br />
town <strong>of</strong> Kamenica, Korac tried to pass another car while<br />
driving uphill. The other car wouldn’t let him. In the opposite<br />
lane, a truck appeared. Ranko and Zaga Zeravica<br />
saw the collision in their rearview mirror. They were the<br />
168<br />
169
first ones to try to help him. While Ranko drove to the<br />
hospital, Korac spent the last moments <strong>of</strong> his life in the<br />
backseat with Zaga. He died a few hours later. On June<br />
3, a line <strong>of</strong> mourners more than two kilometers long<br />
said goodbye to Korac in Sarajevo. He was later laid to<br />
rest in the “Alley <strong>of</strong> Distinguished Citizens” at the Novo<br />
Groblje cemetery complex in Belgrade. He was the first<br />
sportsman to be buried there among politicians and<br />
other celebrities.<br />
I attended his funeral as a young journalist, with<br />
only a few months on the job under my belt, but I would<br />
have been there anyway as a fan <strong>of</strong> basketball. Radivoj<br />
Korac was an icon for us. Two years later, under a proposal<br />
from the secretary general <strong>of</strong> FIBA then, William<br />
Jones, the third club competition in Europe was named<br />
in Korac’s memory. When the competition disappeared<br />
in 2001, the Serbian Federation rescued the name for<br />
its national cup. A street in Belgrade was also named<br />
for Radivoj Korac in the neighborhood where he lived.<br />
In 2012, the City <strong>of</strong> Belgrade unveiled a plaque to mark<br />
“Radivoj Korac Corner”, at the foot <strong>of</strong> Knez Mihailova<br />
Street in the town center, near the café where he had<br />
his friends met daily.<br />
Korac was not an elegant player, but he was rational.<br />
For him, the best players he saw were Oscar Robertson,<br />
Wilt Chamberlain and Jerry Lucas. Among the<br />
Yugoslavs, he considered his best friend Ivo Daneu,<br />
Nemanja Djuric and Trajko Rajkovic to be the greatest.<br />
With the Yugoslav national team, Korac won six<br />
medals: silver at EuroBasket in 1961 and 1965, bronze<br />
in 1963; silver at the 1963 and 1967 World Cups; and an<br />
Olympic silver medal in Mexico City in 1968. He was the<br />
best scorer at EuroBasket in 1961, 1963 and 1965, and<br />
at the Rome Olympics in 1960. With 3,107 points, he is<br />
the fourth-best scorer in the national team behind only<br />
Drazen Dalipagic (3,700), Dragan Kicanovic (3,330) and<br />
Kresimir Cosic (3,180), all <strong>of</strong> them with many more than<br />
his 146 games played. His average was 21.3 points per<br />
game, more than even Drazen Petrovic (21.0 ppg.). His<br />
best marks with the team were 42 points scored against<br />
Israel and 40 against Peru. According to a calculation<br />
based on minutes played, he was the best performer in<br />
the history <strong>of</strong> the national team. Second was Petrovic<br />
and third was Vlade Divac. After them, Kukoc, Dalipagic,<br />
Kicanovic, Radja, Rebraca, Bodiroga and Cosic. What a<br />
brilliant lineup! Korac was the top scorer in a game 91<br />
times; he scored more than 20 points 83 times and four<br />
times scored more than 30.<br />
In 1963, when during an OKK tour <strong>of</strong> Italy, they made<br />
it to Padua, the signs advertising the game boasted<br />
“Petrarca vs. Korac!”<br />
A few years ago, 4,000 spectators filled the Sava<br />
Centar in Belgrade to capacity for the <strong>of</strong>ficial premiere<br />
<strong>of</strong> a film about Korac. Directed by Goran Matic, the title<br />
is “Ginger” – the English translation <strong>of</strong> his nickname,<br />
“Zucko”, or red-head. It is a documentary with reenacted<br />
scenes from his life based on the testimonials <strong>of</strong> his<br />
friends and rivals. The movie has won several awards at<br />
international festivals.<br />
Radivoj Korac, the legend that lives on.<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Radivoj Korac<br />
K
Toni<br />
Kukoc<br />
171
The Pink Panther<br />
<strong>of</strong> basketball<br />
It was April <strong>of</strong> 1991.The final series <strong>of</strong> the Yugoslav<br />
League between the great Jugoplastika Split and<br />
its biggest rival those years, Partizan Belgrade.<br />
After winning the first game in Split, 85-74, Jugoplastika<br />
also won the second game in Belgrade by<br />
the score <strong>of</strong> 95-91. The third game was also played<br />
in Belgrade but Jugoplastika didn’t wait to celebrate<br />
the title at home. With an 86-64 victory, Jugoplastika<br />
swept the series and lifted its fourth straight trophy.<br />
With 4 minutes and 18 seconds left in the game, Split<br />
coach Zeljko Pavlicevic decided to sit Toni Kukoc. Then<br />
something unforgettable happened: the Partizan fans,<br />
even if hurt by the tough defeat <strong>of</strong> their team, rose to<br />
their feet and gave Kukoc a one-minute-long standing<br />
ovation. It was a gesture <strong>of</strong> admiration towards a basketball<br />
genius, but also with a feeling that that would<br />
be the last time that Kukoc would play in Belgrade.<br />
Even though in June <strong>of</strong> that year the Croatian players<br />
would be on the Yugoslav team that won EuroBasket<br />
1991 in Rome, the political climate was very tense already.<br />
The basketball world was already making plans<br />
for a united league the following season under the direction<br />
<strong>of</strong> YUBA, a recently formed club association. However,<br />
it was pretty clear that the third game <strong>of</strong> that final<br />
series was to be the last <strong>of</strong> the history <strong>of</strong> the Yugoslav<br />
championships, and that Jugoplastika would be the last<br />
champion <strong>of</strong> a country that gave so much to basketball.<br />
I don’t know if Djordjevic still feels the same way<br />
about that, but I do know people who would agree with<br />
every word that he said 22 years ago. Bozidar Maljkovic,<br />
the coach and builder <strong>of</strong> the great Jugoplastika, doesn’t<br />
compare Kukoc to players from other eras, but he does<br />
say: “Toni Kukoc is the best player I ever coached. Huge<br />
talent, versatile, able to play all five positions. He also<br />
won all the important titles.”<br />
Signed at the beach<br />
If genes have something to do with a career as a<br />
sportsman, Toni Kukoc was somehow destined for<br />
sports because <strong>of</strong> his father, Ante, who had been a<br />
goalkeeper on the teams <strong>of</strong> Nada and Split and was<br />
crazy about any sport. Since he was a child, Kukoc, who<br />
was born on September 18, 1968, showed a talent for<br />
all sports, but basketball would enter his life rather late.<br />
First, there was table tennis. Radojka, Toni’s mother,<br />
was happy to enroll him in table tennis because practices<br />
took place in Gripe pavilion, just a hundred meters<br />
away from the Kukoc family apartment.<br />
Soon enough, Toni showed a great talent for the<br />
sport and at just 10 years old, he was champion <strong>of</strong> Dalmatia,<br />
a coastal region <strong>of</strong> Croatia. However, his true love<br />
was football and, like any kid in Split, his dream was one<br />
day wearing the jersey <strong>of</strong> the famous local club Hajduk.<br />
With the support <strong>of</strong> his father, Kukoc passed the texts<br />
at 11 and joined the Hajduk cadet team. He was good,<br />
some even say very good, but problems started when<br />
he began growing fast. At 13 years old he was already<br />
1.90 meters, but he was very thin, too, and that earned<br />
him the nickname “Olive” – after Popeye’s girlfriend in<br />
the comic strip.<br />
Kukoc kept playing football until he was 15. In the<br />
summer <strong>of</strong> 1983, Igor Karkovic – a young talent scout<br />
for Jugoplastika – saw a group <strong>of</strong> young kids playing<br />
several sports on a beach close to Split. His attention<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Toni Kukoc<br />
K
Vladimir Stankovic<br />
was caught strongly, however, by a very tall kid with<br />
great movements and coordination who was also a<br />
great swimmer. Karkovic was surprised when the kid<br />
told him that he didn’t play basketball at all. So Krakovic<br />
invited him to a tryout, to which Toni agreed. He<br />
practiced football and basketball at the same time for<br />
a while, but – fortunately – basketball won.<br />
That was the start <strong>of</strong> a brilliant career. He was a<br />
starter soon after that, but in his first final, against<br />
Cibona for the Croatian title, he suffered his first disappointment,<br />
a loss at home in front <strong>of</strong> all his people. He<br />
felt some consolation with the Yugoslav championship<br />
played in Kraljevo (Serbia) where Jugoplastika dominated<br />
strong opponents like host Sloga – who had a<br />
pair <strong>of</strong> future NBA big men like Vlade Divac and Milos<br />
Babic – or Buducnost Podgorica, with Zarko Paspalj,<br />
Zdravko Radulovic and Luka Pavicevic.<br />
In the summer <strong>of</strong> 1985, coach Svetislav Pesic called<br />
Kukoc for the U16 <strong>European</strong> Championship in Ruse,<br />
Bulgaria, where Yugoslavia won the gold medal in what<br />
was only the first step <strong>of</strong> a great generation, with Divac,<br />
Nebosja Ilic, Slavisa Koprivica, Radenko Dobras, Emilio<br />
Kovacic and Zoran Kalpic. Jugoplastika coach Slavko<br />
Trninic included Kukoc in the first team at 16 years old.<br />
He made his debut in Podgorica against Buducnost. In<br />
the 1985-86 season, he played 20 games, totaling 52<br />
points (2.6 ppg). In Ruse, Kukoc had a scoring average <strong>of</strong><br />
5.5 but he already increased that number to 12.6 in the<br />
summer <strong>of</strong> 1986 for the U18 <strong>European</strong> Championship in<br />
Gmunden, Austria. More new players came to the team,<br />
like Pavicevic Dino Radja, Sasha Djordjevic, Teoman<br />
Alibegovic, Pavicevic and Samir Avdic. The following<br />
season, with Zoran “Moka” Slavnic on the Jugoplastika<br />
bench, Kukoc scored 317 points in 22 league games<br />
(14.4) and 46 more in three play<strong>of</strong>f games.<br />
The great summer <strong>of</strong> 1987<br />
For the 1987 EuroBasket in Athens, Yugoslav coach<br />
Kresimir Cosic called four kids to the team: Divac, Radja,<br />
Djordjevic and Kukoc. They won the bronze medal and right<br />
after that, they joined the expedition <strong>of</strong> the junior team<br />
to the U19 World Cup in Bormio, Italy. Pesic put together<br />
a great team that won all <strong>of</strong> its six games, including two<br />
against a powerful American team with Larry Johnson,<br />
Gary Payton, Stacey Augmon, Kevin Pritchard, Lionel Simmons,<br />
Scott Williams, Dwayne Schintzius, Brian Williams<br />
and Larry Brown as coach. The scoring average <strong>of</strong> that<br />
team was 112 points per game! The showdown against<br />
the Americans in the first stage ended 110-95 with Kukoc<br />
in a state <strong>of</strong> grace: 37 points on 11 <strong>of</strong> 12 three-pointers!<br />
“Never, ever, in my career would I get even close to<br />
those numbers,” Kukoc told me much later. “The high<br />
for me in a game for triples was five or six, but that day<br />
everything was going in. I felt extremely comfortable.”<br />
In the final game, the Americans’ attention went to Kukoc<br />
but the heroes <strong>of</strong> the game would be the big men: Divac<br />
scored 21 points and Radja had 20 as Yugoslavia won 86-76.<br />
Toni Kukoc’s career skyrocketed after that. In 1988,<br />
he won his first Yugoslav League title with Jugoplastika.<br />
On April 6, 1989, a very young team for Jugoplastika<br />
surprised everyone at the EuroLeague Final Four in Munich<br />
by defeating FC Barcelona in the semis and then<br />
Maccabi Tel Aviv in the final, 75-69, with 18 points by<br />
Kukoc. At the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, he won the silver<br />
medal with Yugoslavia after losing the final to the<br />
USSR. At the 1989 EuroBasket in Zagreb, Yugoslavia<br />
rolled to the gold just as they did at the 1990 World Cup<br />
in Buenos Aires, where Kukoc was named MVP <strong>of</strong> the<br />
tournament. I remember the ovation he got in the final<br />
against the USSR, a few minutes before the buzzer. A<br />
man by my side rose up and yelled: “Thank you, skinny!”<br />
172<br />
173
Before Buenos Aires, Jugoplastika repeated the<br />
double crown with the Yugoslav League and the EuroLeague<br />
titles – the latter against FC Barcelona in the final<br />
in Zaragoza by the score <strong>of</strong> 72-67, with 20 points from<br />
Kukoc. The same thing would happen again in 1991<br />
even though Dino Radja, Dusko Ivanovic and coach<br />
Boza Maljkovic were no longer with the team. However,<br />
the genius Kukoc stayed and was backed by Velimir Perasovic,<br />
Zoran Savic, Luka Pavicevic, Zan Tabak, Zoran<br />
Sretenovic, Aramis Naglic and Petar Naumoski. At the<br />
Paris Final Four the victim was, once more, FC Barcelona,<br />
in a 70-65 Jugoplastika win with 14 points from<br />
Kukoc – and with Maljkovic coaching Barça.<br />
In his last three Yugoslav League seasons, Kukoc’s<br />
numbers were almost identical: 411 points (11.6 average)<br />
in 1988-89; 413 (18.7) in 1989-90 and 438 (19.9) in 1990-<br />
91. But more than his points, he was admired by everything<br />
he displayed on the court. If I had to choose only<br />
one word to describe his game, I would say “elegance”.<br />
He made everything seem so easy, so natural. Like there<br />
was nothing easier than scoring a basket, pulling down a<br />
rebound or dishing an assist. Because <strong>of</strong> his basketball<br />
genius, his moves with the ball, his long hands and his thin<br />
body, he earned the nickname <strong>of</strong> Pink Panther. We can also<br />
thank him for a great basketball quote: “A basket makes<br />
one man happy while an assist makes two men happy.”<br />
In the summer <strong>of</strong> 1991, Kukoc had a problem with<br />
his future. The Chicago Bulls – who had chosen him with<br />
the 29th pick in the NBA Draft – and Benetton Treviso,<br />
coached by Split legend Petar Skansi, were knocking on<br />
his door. Kukoc went to Italy, so the NBA could wait. In<br />
two years in Italy, he won a league title and a cup title<br />
playing a total <strong>of</strong> 68 games with averages <strong>of</strong> 19.8 points,<br />
6.0 rebounds and 5.2 assists. After so many successful<br />
years, Kukoc had a great disappointment at the 1993<br />
Final Four in Athens. Benetton was the favorite to win<br />
against Boza Maljkovic’s Limoges, but the Italian team<br />
– could not defeat the French team, with Michael Young<br />
and Jure Zdovc, losing 59-55.<br />
Triumph in the NBA<br />
Before leaving for the NBA, Kukoc was part <strong>of</strong> the<br />
Croatian “Dream Team” with Drazen Petrovic, Dino<br />
Radja, Stojan Vrankovic, Danko Cvjeticanin, Velimir Perasovic,<br />
Arijan Komazec and company at the 1992 Olympics<br />
in Barcelona. Kukoc would add a new silver medal<br />
to his already impressive collection. His numbers were<br />
11.5 points, 3.1 boards and 6.0 assists. He would win<br />
more medals with Croatia: bronze at the 1994 World<br />
Cup and 1995 EuroBasket. But his true triumphs after<br />
that would come in the NBA. He got there right when<br />
Michael Jordan retired, but since the legend was back<br />
two years later, Toni could fulfill his dream <strong>of</strong> playing<br />
alongside the best. Kukoc is a proud owner <strong>of</strong> three<br />
NBA championship rings from 1996, 1997 and 1998.<br />
We know almost everything about his NBA career.<br />
In 15 years playing in Chicago (7 seasons), Philadelphia<br />
(2), Atlanta (2) and Milwaukee (4) he played 846 games,<br />
scored 9,810 points (11.6), grabbed 3,550 rebounds<br />
(4.2) and dished 3,118 assists (3.7). Until Dirk Nowitzki,<br />
Kukoc was the most relevant <strong>European</strong> player in the<br />
NBA. One detail explains it all: on May 13, 1994, in the<br />
third game <strong>of</strong> the Eastern Conference Finals against the<br />
New York Knicks, with the score tied 102-102 and 1.8<br />
seconds to go, coach Phil Jackson designed a play in<br />
the timeout for Toni Kukoc. Afterward, Scottie Pippen<br />
remained on the bench mad at the coach and refused<br />
Jackson’s orders to get back on the court. Jackson insisted<br />
on the play and Kukoc scored the basket to give<br />
Chicago the victory. A true champion.<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Toni Kukoc<br />
K
Trajan<br />
Langdon<br />
175
The Alaskan<br />
Assassin<br />
I<br />
saw Trajan Langdon for the first time at the 1998<br />
World Cup in Athens, but I admit I don’t remember<br />
him there. His numbers justify my lack <strong>of</strong> memory.<br />
They were below the 4 he wore on his jersey: 2.9<br />
points, 0.9 rebounds and 0.4 assists. However, due<br />
to the NBA players’ strike, he ended up on a national<br />
team that took a bronze medal, his first important<br />
trophy.<br />
Three years earlier, on the same Athens stage, a<br />
young Langdon had taken part in the U19 World Cup<br />
1995 with the USA. That team recorded four wins and<br />
four losses, and the Americans finished eighth. More<br />
was certainly expected from a team with Stephon Marbury<br />
(17.5 points), Vince Carter and Langdon himself<br />
(8.5 points). His shooting was far from perfect: 48%<br />
on two-pointers, 30.8% on threes. Although his two<br />
experiences in Greece didn’t set the tone for his future<br />
career in Europe, it would be that way in his three years<br />
in the NBA.<br />
After finishing East High School in Anchorage in<br />
his native Alaska, where he scored 2,200 points and<br />
earned his nickname “The Alaskan Assassin”, Langdon<br />
chose to play college basketball at prestigious Duke<br />
University. He finished his career there with averages<br />
<strong>of</strong> 14.5 points and 2.9 rebounds, plus a school record in<br />
three-pointers made. Standing at 1.92 meters, he was<br />
the typical shooting guard, but he also had solid rebounding<br />
skills. His numbers in the NCAA were enough<br />
for Langdon to be picked 11th overall in the 1999 NBA<br />
Draft by the Cleveland Cavaliers. As a side note, Langdon<br />
had already been drafted in 1994 into another<br />
pro sport, baseball, but continued playing basketball<br />
instead. He stayed in Cleveland for three seasons with<br />
discreet numbers: 5.4 points and 1.3 rebounds. It was<br />
not enough for an ambitious player who was right in<br />
thinking he could do more. It was then that Langdon<br />
decided to come to Europe.<br />
Treviso, Istanbul, Moscow<br />
At the time, Benetton Treviso was a standard-bearer<br />
in Italian basketball, with Ettore Messina on the<br />
bench and Maurizio Gherardini in the front <strong>of</strong>fice.<br />
They signed Langdon and were right once again. In<br />
his first season there, Langdon won the Italian League<br />
and Italian Cup double. He played 46 games, scored<br />
703 points (15.3 per game) with 52.1% two-point and<br />
44.7% three-point shooting. The team reached the<br />
EuroLeague Final Four in Barcelona in 2003, but after<br />
defeating Montepaschi Siena in the semis 65-62, FC<br />
Barcelona was better than Treviso in the final and won<br />
76-65. Treviso’s mistake was signing Langdon for only<br />
one year. His season caught everyone’s attention. Efes<br />
Pilsen made its move and Langdon moved to the Bosphorus,<br />
where he also won the Turkish League with<br />
similar numbers: 14.3 points per game. Efes couldn’t<br />
keep him either, however, as an <strong>of</strong>fer for the next<br />
season from Dynamo Moscow was better. He moved<br />
to the Russian capital without even thinking that he<br />
would stay there for six years and, in fact, finish his<br />
career there. He didn’t do that with Dynamo, but rather<br />
at CSKA Moscow, the most powerful club in Russia.<br />
After another good season at Dynamo (14.4 points),<br />
CSKA signed Langdon for a new project.<br />
Ettore Messina, who had become CSKA’s head coach<br />
Trajan Langdon<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
L
Vladimir Stankovic<br />
by then, shared with us some details about the signings<br />
made in the summer <strong>of</strong> 2005, just after he landed:<br />
“Trajan was, together with Matjaz Smodis and David<br />
Vanterpool, the signings I put as a condition for me to<br />
jump on board. I thought that with them, I could try to<br />
win the EuroLeague. Trajan had an unbelievable work<br />
ethic. Everybody remembers the shooter, but I also<br />
took notice <strong>of</strong> his great defensive fundamentals. On<br />
<strong>of</strong>fense, he was an old-school shooter. He was able to<br />
play and shoot after contact, a feature <strong>of</strong> the greats.<br />
Also, he was a very well-educated man, with a great<br />
college formation. I think he had finished two degrees,<br />
math and history.”<br />
Langdon’s education was a family thing. His father,<br />
Dr. Steve Langdon, was an anthropology pr<strong>of</strong>essor<br />
at the University <strong>of</strong> Alaska Anchorage. Trajan went<br />
with his father on many <strong>of</strong> his trips around Alaska.<br />
His name Trajan comes from the Roman emperor<br />
(98-117 BC), known as the man who stopped chasing<br />
the Christians. Langdon’s father helped him a lot between<br />
the ages <strong>of</strong> 8 and 13, getting him ready for the<br />
life <strong>of</strong> an elite sportsman. When his father was sure<br />
that his son was ready for the top, he sent a letter<br />
in the spring <strong>of</strong> 1992 to Tommy Amaker, an assistant<br />
coach for Mike Krzyzewski at Duke. Once there, Langdon<br />
started his true career, which would make him<br />
into one <strong>of</strong> the best Americans to play in Europe in<br />
the 21st century.<br />
Shooters are, in most cases, a bit selfish, but Messina<br />
assures us that Langdon was not your usual shooter<br />
in that way:<br />
“He was always a team player, with a strong personality<br />
in the locker room, but always by the coach’s side.”<br />
In the final stretch <strong>of</strong> Langdon’s first season in CS-<br />
KA, the team made the 2006 EuroLeague Final Four<br />
in Prague. It was another attempt at the crown, to try<br />
to win it for the first time since 1971. In the semifinal<br />
against Barcelona, which CSKA won 84-75, Langdon<br />
was not the best man on the court, but he scored 13<br />
points as great support for J.R. Holden (29 points) and<br />
Smodis (17). The big final against Maccabi Tel Aviv was<br />
waiting. CSKA won 73-69 and Langdon ended up with<br />
11 points, but Messina gives us more insight into Langdon’s<br />
performance:<br />
“In the final game he hardly took any shots during<br />
the second half, but when Maccabi erased our advantage<br />
and even jumped ahead by a point with six minutes<br />
left, I called for a play for Trajan. He answered with<br />
a three. We never lost the lead again and we won that<br />
game. Without trying to take credit from anyone else, I<br />
think that was the basket <strong>of</strong> the game.”<br />
Final Four MVP <strong>of</strong> 2008<br />
Trajan Langdon won his second <strong>European</strong> crown<br />
two years later, in Madrid in 2008, on the 50th anniversary<br />
<strong>of</strong> <strong>European</strong> club competitions that had started<br />
in 1958. CSKA won 83-79 in the semifinal against<br />
Tau Ceramica and Langdon scored 9 points. But in the<br />
final, he scored 17 points, making 4 <strong>of</strong> 5 threes, and<br />
went on to claim Final Four MVP honors. His performance<br />
index rating <strong>of</strong> 33 was the second best in any<br />
single-game final this century. He was also selected<br />
for the All-EuroLeague First Team in 2007 and 2008,<br />
after having been on the second team in 2006. His<br />
personal records in the EuroLeague are 45 minutes<br />
played against Partizan on May 9, 2010, in the thirdplace<br />
game at that year’s Final Four. He also matched<br />
his career high with 32 points in that game and had an<br />
index rating <strong>of</strong> 37, his best ever and the best seen in<br />
any Final Four game this century.<br />
176<br />
177
great technique, flawless fakes, and an ability to escape<br />
and receive the ball to shoot. The hands <strong>of</strong> players guarding<br />
him were never an obstacle. He was one <strong>of</strong> those<br />
players who rarely played bad games. You could always<br />
expect a high standard from him, at the very least. That’s<br />
why he was always among his coaches’ favorites.<br />
Trajan Langdon<br />
Langdon stayed in Moscow with CSKA until he announced<br />
his retirement on June 18, 2011. He was 35<br />
years old and left behind a great career. He said that<br />
the first Final Four he won in Prague has a special place<br />
in his memory:<br />
“I had lost a Final Four at college and another with<br />
Benetton. It was my third chance to win an important<br />
tourney. And we did it against all odds. The second EuroLeague<br />
was a gift for my newborn son.”<br />
Even though Messina highlights his defense, Langdon’s<br />
main weapon was his shot. He had a steady hand,<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
L
Mieczyslaw<br />
Lopatka<br />
179
The Polish legend<br />
Who was the top scorer at the<br />
World Cup 1967 in Montevideo,<br />
Uruguay? A question like that in a<br />
trivia contest would test even the<br />
most knowledgeable experts in<br />
world basketball history.<br />
The answer is Mieczyslaw Lopatka, a Polish forward<br />
considered to be the best scorer <strong>of</strong> all times in his country.<br />
In Montevideo, he scored 177 points for an average<br />
<strong>of</strong> 19.7 per game. His Polish national team finished fifth,<br />
but it also had the tournament’s second-best scorer,<br />
Bogdan Likszo, with 19.3 points per game. Finishing as<br />
the eighth-best scorer was Radivoj Korac (at 14.6 ppg)<br />
and 10th-best was tournament MVP Ivo Daneu (14.0<br />
ppg) – both <strong>of</strong> Yugoslavia. In the All-Tournament Team<br />
with Daneu were Lopatka, Luiz Claudio Menon <strong>of</strong> Brazil,<br />
Korac and Modestas Paulauskas <strong>of</strong> the Soviet Union.<br />
Lopatka, who was born on October 10, 1939, in<br />
Drachowo, Poland, was a star <strong>of</strong> <strong>European</strong> basketball<br />
in the 1960s. Poland, at the time, was one <strong>of</strong> the best<br />
national teams and won medals at the <strong>European</strong> championships.<br />
It’s true that Poland never took the top step<br />
on the medals podiums, but its principal star, Lopatka,<br />
has three <strong>European</strong> medals: silver from EuroBasket<br />
1963 in Wroclaw, and bronzes from EuroBasket 1965 in<br />
Moscow and EuroBasket 1967 in Helsinki.<br />
Before becoming an outstanding basketball player,<br />
the young Mieczyslaw practiced various sports. He<br />
started with field hockey, continued as a soccer goalkeeper,<br />
but abandoned that sport after giving up nine<br />
goals in one game. Lopatka started to train as a boxer,<br />
but when his engineer father heard about it, he had to<br />
give that up. Then he discovered handball, where coaches<br />
saw in him a great player, due to his size, 1.96 meters<br />
and 95 kilos. But it was a physical education teacher,<br />
Alexander Kwiecinski, who discovered Lopatka’s talent<br />
for basketball.<br />
Lopatka needed few games to become a key part<br />
<strong>of</strong> his school team. In one game, his team scored 150<br />
points and Lopatka had 130 by himself! Soon, in 1955,<br />
he began to play for Kolejarz Gniezno, in a small town<br />
near the village where he was born.<br />
Eyes open in Rome<br />
The best Polish clubs fixated on the young Lopatka,<br />
who, despite not reaching 2 meters, played center<br />
thanks to his strength and excellent rebounding. In 1958,<br />
he was signed by Lech Poznan and two years later participated<br />
in the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome. It’s true that<br />
Lopatka was on the Polish national team as a substitute<br />
for the injured Wlodek Pawlak, who was hurt in practice<br />
crashing into a teammate. But Lopatka’s average <strong>of</strong> 8<br />
points wasn’t bad at all for the young player. Just like other<br />
<strong>European</strong> players, Lopatka returned home from Rome<br />
enamored with the basketball played by the American<br />
“Dream Team” <strong>of</strong> that time, with Oscar Robertson, Jerry<br />
West, Walt Bellamy, Jerry Lucas and others. It was another<br />
kind <strong>of</strong> basketball the Polish had not seen before,<br />
and it motivated Lopatka to work harder.<br />
In 1961, Lopatka for the first time became the top<br />
scorer in the Polish League with 582 points. He would<br />
repeat that feat three more times: in 1963, 1966 and<br />
1967. In the 1962-63 season, playing for Slask, he<br />
scored 77 <strong>of</strong> his team’s 96 points in a game against AZS<br />
Gdansk. That remained the league record until seven<br />
years later, when Edward Jurkiewicz scored 84, to be<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Mieczyslaw Lopatka<br />
L
Vladimir Stankovic<br />
later topped by Mieczyslaw Mlynarski’s 90 points in<br />
1975. With Slask, Lopatka was national club champion<br />
twice, in 1965 and 1969, when he was also chosen MVP<br />
<strong>of</strong> the competition for the second time.<br />
By the time that Poland hosted EuroBasket in 1963<br />
in Wroclaw, Lopatka was already a player <strong>of</strong> reference<br />
who had to be on the national team. Poland started<br />
with a respectable 64-54 loss against the USSR, but<br />
proceeded to string together six consecutive victories<br />
and qualify for the semifinals, where the runner-up<br />
from the 1961 EuroBasket, Yugoslavia, was waiting. In<br />
a game that earned a place in Polish basketball history,<br />
the hosts won 82-73. Lopatka was his team’s top scorer,<br />
with 18 points, followed by Likszo (13) and Janusz<br />
Wichowski (12). The silver was assured. In the final, the<br />
USSR won again 61-45 behind 17 points from the giant<br />
Janis Krumins, 14 from Gennadi Volnov and 13 from<br />
Aleksandar Petrov. Radivoj Korac was the top scorer <strong>of</strong><br />
the tournament with 26.4 points per game, while Lopatka<br />
finished seventh at 15.9. His best games were 26<br />
points against France and 14 against Czechoslovakia.<br />
In an interview a few years ago, the principal hero <strong>of</strong><br />
that silver medal recalled the prize the team won: “They<br />
had given 20 dollars to each <strong>of</strong> us. Such were the times<br />
that our other prizes were a radio (that didn’t work), a refrigerator<br />
(without ice) and some tickets to buy suit fabric.”<br />
Lopatka’s second Olympic Games were in Tokyo in<br />
1964, where he scored 9.7 points per game. In 1965, he<br />
was for the first time Polish League player <strong>of</strong> the year<br />
and also won the bronze medal with Poland at Euro-<br />
Basket in Moscow, scoring 13 points per game. In 1967,<br />
in addition to shining in the World Cup at Montevideo,<br />
Lopatka won the <strong>European</strong> bronze at Helsinki.<br />
In 1968, Lopatka should have continued his career<br />
outside Poland, something that was not easy at the time<br />
for sportsmen from countries in the Soviet bloc. Standard<br />
Liege <strong>of</strong> Belgium wanted to sign him to form what<br />
would have been a fearful duo with the recently-arrived<br />
Korac. The signing deadline was August 31. Lopatka had<br />
a promise that he could leave his country due to his merits<br />
as a sportsman, but the passport was delivered to<br />
him on … September 1. He didn’t blame anyone, but he<br />
knew, as everyone did, that it was a bureaucratic means<br />
<strong>of</strong> preventing his departure to “the capitalist world.”<br />
Lopatka had to stay home, and in October <strong>of</strong> 1968,<br />
he participated in his third Olympic Games, in Mexico<br />
City, where he again was among the top performers<br />
with 19.2 points per game. In autumn <strong>of</strong> 1969, he received<br />
a great recognition by being chosen for the <strong>European</strong><br />
selection that played in Belgrade against Yugoslavia<br />
to celebrate the 25th anniversary <strong>of</strong> the Yugoslav<br />
<strong>Basketball</strong> Federation.<br />
In that game, after many years or watching Lopatka<br />
on TV, I finally had the opportunity to see him in person.<br />
It was a great <strong>European</strong> all-star team, with Paulauskas,<br />
Volnov, Sergei Belov (who had 25 points) <strong>of</strong> CSKA Moscow,<br />
Clifford Luyk and Emiliano Rodriguez <strong>of</strong> Real Madrid,<br />
Francisco Nino Buscato <strong>of</strong> Joventut Badalona, Jiri<br />
Zednicek <strong>of</strong> USK Prague and Robert Mifka <strong>of</strong> Zbrojovka<br />
Brno, among others. They defeated Yugoslavia – with<br />
veterans like Daneu, Vladimir Cvetkovic, Nemanja Djuric<br />
and Trajko Rajkovic, plus young lions like Ljubodrag Simonovic,<br />
Dragan Kapicic, Nikola Plecas and Vinko Jelovac<br />
– by the score <strong>of</strong> 93-90.<br />
Ahead <strong>of</strong> his time<br />
Buscato, a great point guard from the Spanish national<br />
team <strong>of</strong> the 1960s and ‘70s, played in that game<br />
in Belgrade with Lopatka. But he also knew Lopatka well<br />
180<br />
181
same hotel, we had the chance afterward to chat about<br />
the games. Off the court, he was very nice, open and<br />
well-mannered.”<br />
At age 33, Lopatka participated in his fourth Olympic<br />
Games in Munich in 1972. That ended his national<br />
team career after 13 years. He finished with 236 games,<br />
3,522 points and an average <strong>of</strong> 14.9 points per game.<br />
When he returned from Munich, he finally received permission<br />
to play abroad. He went to France to become<br />
player-coach with third division Montbrison. Lopatka<br />
returned home in 1976 and began to work as a head<br />
coach, and did not do badly at all. In 10 seasons with<br />
Slask Wroclaw, he was Polish League champion eight<br />
times. His son Miroslaw was taller than his father, at<br />
2.13 meters, but was far from being as dominant.<br />
Eventually, Mieczyslaw Lopatka was awarded the<br />
status <strong>of</strong> adopted son in the town <strong>of</strong> Gniezno, where<br />
his pro career started. But no matter how you look at it,<br />
his impact on the courts applies to the whole country.<br />
Mieczyslaw Lopatka is a legend in Polish basketball.<br />
Mieczyslaw Lopatka<br />
from their battles in the EuroBaskets. He remembered<br />
Mieczyslaw Lopatka like this:<br />
“He was a great player, a ‘four’ height-wise, but a<br />
‘five’ for his body and rebounding capacity,” Buscato<br />
told me. “He played excellently facing the basket, shot<br />
with both hands and moved well. He formed a great<br />
tandem with Likszo, who was tougher; Lopatka was<br />
smarter. The game <strong>of</strong> the Polish team depended on<br />
those two players, but more on Lopatka. He had what<br />
the great champions have – a winning character. In the<br />
1960s, he was one <strong>of</strong> the big players in Europe, and<br />
ahead <strong>of</strong> his time. Since our teams usually stayed in the<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
L
Clifford<br />
Luyk<br />
183
The first great<br />
naturalized player<br />
Among the many good things that Pedro<br />
Ferrandiz did for Real Madrid, one<br />
<strong>of</strong> the best was signing Clifford Luyk.<br />
It happened in the summer <strong>of</strong> 1962,<br />
when having American players was<br />
still something rare among <strong>European</strong><br />
teams and far before it turned into something normal<br />
and later, even, almost mandatory.<br />
After losing the EuroLeague final in 1962 against<br />
Dinamo Tbilisi <strong>of</strong> the USSR 90-83 in Geneva, Ferrandiz<br />
decided to leave the bench to Joaquin Hernandez, while<br />
he became what later would be known as the general<br />
manager or sports director. To make the dream <strong>of</strong> the<br />
Real Madrid fans finally a reality and make the basketball<br />
section <strong>of</strong> the club a <strong>European</strong> champ – something<br />
that the football players had already achieved five times<br />
between 1955 and 1960 – Ferrandiz knew he needed a<br />
couple <strong>of</strong> excellent American players. In his tour <strong>of</strong> the<br />
United States, in a preseason game between the New<br />
York Knicks and the Boston Celtics, he set his eyes on<br />
a not-so-tall center (2.02 meters), but a big man with<br />
a strong body, solid scoring ability and almost perfect<br />
technique. In 3 minutes he scored 8 points for the<br />
Knicks. Ferrandiz asked for his name and the answer<br />
was: Clifford Luyk, born in Syracuse on June 28, 1941,<br />
and a student at the University <strong>of</strong> Florida. Led by his<br />
instinct, Ferrandiz decided to sign Luyk, and he managed<br />
to also sign center Bob Burgess, as well. That’s<br />
how the great duo, just what the team needed for the<br />
1962-63 season, was born. The roster was completed<br />
with Emiliano Rodriguez, Carlos Sevillano, Lolo Sainz,<br />
Lorenzo Alocen and others. Luyk and Burgess weren’t<br />
the first American players at Real Madrid, but they were<br />
definitely the best to that point.<br />
Red Army in Madrid<br />
At the end <strong>of</strong> the season, July 23, 1963, was a date<br />
that made the history books as the one on which “the<br />
Red Army entered Madrid”. To everyone’s surprise,<br />
Spain’s General Franco allowed the CSKA Moscow<br />
team into Spain and Real Madrid to travel to Moscow.<br />
In previous years, these games were played on neutral<br />
ground or Real Madrid simply refused to play. In the<br />
first game, Madrid won 86-69 with 26 points by Sevillano,<br />
24 by Emiliano, 21 by Burgess and 14 by Luyk. The<br />
second game, played seven days later at Lenin football<br />
stadium in front <strong>of</strong> 20,000 people, was won by CSKA<br />
91-74 despite 22 points by Luyk.<br />
The aggregate score after the two games was tied<br />
and according to the rules at the time, a third game was<br />
forced to be played in the same place. On August 1, CS-<br />
KA won 99-80. The dream <strong>of</strong> Real Madrid would have<br />
to wait another year. The Spanish team won its first<br />
EuroLeague crown in 1964 by beating Spartak Brno in<br />
the final behind 18 points by Luyk. However, the title<br />
didn’t feel complete somehow because that year CSKA<br />
Moscow didn’t play because it wanted to concentrate<br />
on the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo. Finally, in 1965,<br />
Real Madrid got its revenge. After losing by 7 points in<br />
Moscow, 88-81, with Luyk’s 30 points, the Whites won<br />
76-62 in Madrid. Emiliano scored 24 and Luyk and Burgess<br />
had 18 and 16 points, respectively.<br />
Little by little, Luyk won over everybody’s heart in<br />
Madrid. Apart from his great performances on the<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Clifford Luyk<br />
L
Vladimir Stankovic<br />
court, his personality was liked by everyone around<br />
him. He adapted to the Madrid life quite easily to the<br />
point in which, during a trip, he told club president Raimundo<br />
Saporta, that he wouldn’t mind at all getting a<br />
Spanish passport. Luyk’s wish was really convenient for<br />
Saporta, especially since the Spanish League, in 1965,<br />
decided to play with no foreigners. Saporta’s famous<br />
sentence was, “If Luyk and Burgess cannot play as foreigners,<br />
they will play as Spaniards.” He didn’t fulfill his<br />
word to the letter because Burgess refused a Spanish<br />
passport, but Luyk was more than enough. The following<br />
year, in a non-<strong>of</strong>ficial world championship in Chile,<br />
Luyk made his debut with the Spanish national team<br />
against the United States.<br />
Real Madrid’s long domination in the Spanish<br />
League is owed a lot to Luyk. From his arrival in 1962<br />
until his retirement in 1978, Real Madrid won 14 league<br />
titles, 10 national cups, six EuroLeague titles and three<br />
Intercontinental Cups. He also played with the Spanish<br />
national team until 1975 and won a silver medal at the<br />
1973 EuroBasket in Barcelona, where he averaged 9.3<br />
points. His best numbers with the national team were<br />
in the 1968 Mexico Olympics (20.2 ppg.), the 1969<br />
EuroBasket in Italy (17.9 ppg.), the 1971 EuroBasket in<br />
West Germany (17.6 ppg.) and the 1972 Olympics in<br />
Munich (16.0 ppg.).<br />
The man <strong>of</strong> the finals<br />
From childhood, Luyk was a natural sportsman. At<br />
eight years old he played tennis, basketball and swam.<br />
But most <strong>of</strong> all, his favorite sport was baseball. At 12<br />
years old, and already quite tall, he finally chose basketball.<br />
After a fine high school career, Luyk received many<br />
<strong>of</strong>fers from prestigious colleges. His choice surprised<br />
everyone: Florida. He said that he wanted to go as far<br />
away from home as possible to become independent.<br />
Also, he liked the life in the South, which was a much<br />
more laid-back lifestyle. Later in Madrid, he would say<br />
that a big factor in his quick adaptation to the new<br />
country was the time he spent in Florida.<br />
Luyk had that feature that only the true greats have:<br />
stability. It seemed impossible that he would ever play<br />
a bad game. On his worst days, he always helped the<br />
team. If he didn’t score his usual amount <strong>of</strong> points, he<br />
would grab more rebounds or he would draw more<br />
fouls to eliminate rivals. Simply put, his mere presence<br />
on the court gave more security to the coach, his teammates<br />
and the fans.<br />
Luyk’s special shot was the hook. The shot that was<br />
perfected by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was something few<br />
in Europe could execute as well as Luyk. He had an almost<br />
perfect mid-range shot, a great nose for rebounding and<br />
the instinct to play even better in important games. In<br />
the years when Real Madrid won the EuroLeague, his<br />
contribution was always paramount. He scored 18<br />
points in 1964, 30 and 18 in 1965, 17 in 1967, 24 in 1968,<br />
20 in 1969 and 14 in 1974. Luyk didn’t play the 1978 final,<br />
but during that season he had played several games.<br />
The word “pressure” simply did not exist for him, and<br />
even less the word “fear”. He was a tough player, rocky<br />
and aggressive. He liked contact because his speed and<br />
technique were always an advantage over his rivals,<br />
even if they were taller and/or bigger.<br />
In 1967, Real Madrid signed Wayne Brabender,<br />
who was four years younger than Luyk, and who had<br />
followed in the footsteps <strong>of</strong> his fellow countryman. Brabender<br />
picked up a Spanish passport and played 190<br />
times for the Spanish national team. He also stayed<br />
in Real Madrid until 1983. Brabender won 13 Spanish<br />
Leagues titles, seven cups, four EuroLeagues and three<br />
184<br />
185
had as a superstar, he had an even greater reason to<br />
stay: Paquita Torres, Miss Spain <strong>of</strong> 1968. Their marriage<br />
was on the cover <strong>of</strong> many newspapers and raised a lot<br />
<strong>of</strong> interest back in the day.<br />
After his great career as a player, Luyk would start another<br />
as a coach. He worked from 1978 to 1981 with the<br />
Real Madrid junior team and during that stint, his team<br />
never lost a game. After that, he was an assistant coach<br />
for Lolo Sainz during six seasons (1983 to 1989) and<br />
for another year with George Karl (1989-90). Luyk left<br />
Real Madrid to be the coach <strong>of</strong> Atletico Madrid Villalba<br />
in 1990-91 and Murcia in 1991-92. He came back to Real<br />
Madrid as head coach and won two Spanish Leagues,<br />
a national cup and a Saporta Cup. What he had won so<br />
many times as a player, the <strong>European</strong> crown, he would<br />
lose in 1993 to Limoges in Athens, in a game marked<br />
by low scoring (59-55). Points that, on a good day, Luyk<br />
would have scored by himself as a player.<br />
Clifford Luyk<br />
Intercontinental Cups. The two naturalized Americans<br />
formed a great duo and set an example for everyone.<br />
Luyk’s performance in Europe caught the attention<br />
<strong>of</strong> several teams in the NBA and the ABA, especially<br />
after a friendly game in 1968. Luyk scored 26 points<br />
against the Cincinnati Royals, but the attempts to take<br />
him back to the States always clashed with Luyk’s desire<br />
to stay in Madrid. Apart from all the privileges he<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
L
Kevin<br />
Magee<br />
187
A mythical<br />
figure lacking<br />
only titles<br />
If a player loses four finals in <strong>European</strong> competitions<br />
– three <strong>of</strong> them at the top level – maybe<br />
someone could wonder what that player is doing<br />
in a series dedicated, basically, to the greats <strong>of</strong> the<br />
past, stars who normally lifted trophies in the best<br />
continental competitions. But the case <strong>of</strong> Kevin<br />
Magee is the exception that confirms the rule.<br />
Also, the title <strong>of</strong> this entry is not perfectly accurate<br />
because even if Magee didn’t win any <strong>European</strong> trophy,<br />
he did win a national one with CAI Zaragoza, the Spanish<br />
King’s Cup in 1983. Nonetheless, when surveys are<br />
taken to name the best foreigner ever to play at Maccabi<br />
Tel Aviv, Kevin Magee’s name always deserves strong<br />
consideration. From a personal point <strong>of</strong> view, I didn’t<br />
see Magee <strong>of</strong>ten in person, but a couple games live plus<br />
many on television are enough for me to consider him<br />
one <strong>of</strong> the greats.<br />
A mistake by Phoenix<br />
After his brilliant years in high school and at Saddleback<br />
Junior College (29.3 points in the 1979-80<br />
season), Kevin Magee – who was born in Gary, Indiana<br />
on January 24, 1959, and died in Amite, Louisiana on<br />
October 23, 2003 – followed his coach Bill Mulligan to<br />
University <strong>of</strong> California-Irvine. Magee had excellent<br />
scoring averages: 27.5 points per game in 1980-81 and<br />
25.2 in 1981-82. His 46 points against Loyola Marymount<br />
and 25 rebounds against Long Beach State were<br />
school records. After his first year at the university,<br />
Magee was chosen for the USA team at the University<br />
Games in Bucharest. In the final, the USA defeated the<br />
USSR 91-87 thanks to 27 points from Magee, who also<br />
led the team with 7.1 boards per game.<br />
In the 1982 NBA draft, Magee was selected by the<br />
Phoenix Suns with the number 39 pick, but after the<br />
summer camp the club could not <strong>of</strong>fer him a guaranteed<br />
contract until September. He didn’t want to wait<br />
to start playing and he accepted an <strong>of</strong>fer from Italy that<br />
he could not refuse. He would play with Varese, a multiple<br />
<strong>European</strong> champion which was then looking for<br />
someone to fill in for a living legend, Dino Meneghin,<br />
who had moved to Milano two seasons prior. Magee’s<br />
debut could hardly have been better: 28 points and<br />
17 rebounds against the <strong>European</strong> champion, Ford<br />
Cantu.<br />
After a great season in Italy, Magee wanted back in<br />
the NBA. But in October <strong>of</strong> 1983, the Suns made the<br />
same mistake for the second time: they cut Magee and<br />
forced him to go back to Europe. This time he would go<br />
to Spain, where he joined modest CAI Zaragoza, a club<br />
that was growing season after season. For the 1983-<br />
84 season, the city <strong>of</strong> Zaragoza was awarded with the<br />
organization <strong>of</strong> the Spanish King’s Cup tourney, which<br />
was to feature a Final Four format for the first time.<br />
However, unlike now, the host team had to earn its way<br />
into the final phase. The key game was against Real Madrid.<br />
Only three days after his arrival to Zaragoza, Magee<br />
helped Zaragoza with 14 points and 14 rebounds to<br />
defeat Real Madrid for the first time, 83-82. In the Final<br />
Four, played on November 30 and December 1 <strong>of</strong> 1983,<br />
Zaragoza defeated Joventut Badalona 87-83 in the first<br />
game, with 36 points, 17 rebounds and 2 blocks by<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Kevin Magee<br />
M
Vladimir Stankovic<br />
Magee. Against FC Barcelona in the title game, it was<br />
even closer, but Zaragoza won 81-78 with 19 points by<br />
Magee and 18 by Jim Allen, with whom Magee formed<br />
a great duo.<br />
That same season, CAI Zaragoza played the Korac<br />
Cup and reached the semifinals. Magee shined, with 34<br />
and 23 points against Tours, 23 and 37 against Trieste,<br />
26 and 30 against Sibenka. But in the semifinal, despite<br />
Magee’s 28 and 27 points and Zaragoza’s 108-87 victory<br />
at home in the first leg, Crvena Zvezda eliminated<br />
them with a 130-100 triumph in Belgrade, which was<br />
the first time I saw Magee live.<br />
An idol in Tel Aviv<br />
Despite its ambition and growth, it was clear that<br />
CAI Zaragoza would not be able to retain such a big<br />
star. Enter Maccabi Tel Aviv from Israel, which appeared<br />
on the scene with a superior <strong>of</strong>fer. The media at the<br />
time talked about $250,000 for Kevin Magee and Lee<br />
Johnson, a dream duo that had to put Maccabi back to<br />
the top in Europe.<br />
During the next six years, Maccabi won six national<br />
league titles and five Israeli cups. But the most coveted<br />
title, that <strong>of</strong> the EuroLeague, it never got back. In three<br />
straight finals, Maccabi was always the loser: 1987 in<br />
Lausanne against Tracer Milan (71-69), 1988 in Ghent<br />
against the same opponent (90-84), and 1989 in Munich<br />
against Jugoplastika Split (75-69). I saw Magee<br />
twice in the 1987-88 season, first in Belgrade where<br />
Maccabi fell to Partizan with young Vlade Divac by<br />
85-77, and later in Tel Aviv with a 98-84 Maccabi win,<br />
although both teams had already qualified for the first<br />
Final Four.<br />
Magee was not a tall player – <strong>of</strong>ficially he was 2.03<br />
meters – but his rebounding abilities were immense.<br />
He was a strong player, and he liked contact because<br />
his physical potential granted him superiority over the<br />
opponent. But he also had a good mid-range shooting<br />
touch. He normally reached double-doubles, meaning<br />
he was like life insurance for his team. Maybe he<br />
wouldn’t have his best day sometimes, but that didn’t<br />
mean he was having his worst day, because he was<br />
never below a certain standard.<br />
In the EuroLeague <strong>of</strong> the time, Magee scored 2,081<br />
points for Maccabi, a total that ranks among the club’s<br />
best. Magee was an idol among Maccabi fans and<br />
nobody even blinked when, in a survey long after his<br />
departure from Tel Aviv, he was still chosen by fans as<br />
the best foreigner to have ever played in Maccabi, even<br />
ahead <strong>of</strong> Earl Williams.<br />
A tragic accident<br />
For the 1990-91 season, Magee was back to Spain<br />
to play with his CAI Zaragoza again. In a new attempt to<br />
win a continental trophy, he led his team to the Saporta<br />
Cup final against PAOK Thessaloniki, played on March<br />
26 <strong>of</strong> 1991 in Geneva. It was a shameful game because<br />
<strong>of</strong> the violent behavior <strong>of</strong> the Greek fans. On the court,<br />
Zaragoza was a better team for 30 minutes, but with<br />
2 minutes to go the score was 72-72. Some mistakes<br />
down the stretch cost Zaragoza the final win.<br />
For Magee, not even the fourth time was the<br />
charm. He finished the season with 406 rebounds,<br />
the best rebounder in the Spanish League, and then<br />
he moved back to Italy to play with Reggio Emilia. In<br />
his two Spanish League stints, he played 57 games,<br />
averaging 24.6 points and 12.1 rebounds, while in<br />
the Italian League he played 65 games and averaged<br />
23.8 points and 14.1 rebounds. His next stop would<br />
be Racing Paris, where he also earned honors as the<br />
188<br />
189
was involved in a car crash against which not even the<br />
big fighter like him had a chance, and he died. For we<br />
who were lucky enough to know him through his great<br />
points and rebounds, there remains the memory <strong>of</strong> a<br />
great player who maybe lacked titles, but was still one<br />
<strong>of</strong> the greats.<br />
Kevin Magee<br />
best rebounder in the French League. His last team<br />
would be Maccabi Rishon in Israel in1993-94. Magee<br />
retired at 36 years old and moved back to the United<br />
States where, in 1996, the University <strong>of</strong> California-Irvine<br />
retired his jersey.<br />
After that, he was dedicated to his business and his<br />
family, as he had three kids. In the summer <strong>of</strong> 2003, his<br />
family moved from California to Louisiana. There, while<br />
driving back home from work on October 23, Magee<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
M
Fernando<br />
Martín<br />
191
A pioneer gone<br />
too soon<br />
Under the name <strong>of</strong> Fernando Martin,<br />
there are not many numbers in the<br />
NBA data storage. He played 24 games<br />
with the Portland jersey for a total<br />
146 minutes and had 22 points and<br />
28 rebounds. Looking only at those<br />
numbers, it’s difficult to call the man behind them a<br />
“pioneer in the NBA”, but the case <strong>of</strong> Fernando Martin<br />
is justified when we look at the year we are talking<br />
about: the 1986-87 season.<br />
Martin, who was born March 25, 1962, in Madrid and<br />
died December 3, 1989, was just the second <strong>European</strong><br />
player in the NBA. Nowadays, only the veteran connoisseurs<br />
<strong>of</strong> <strong>European</strong> basketball and the NBA know that<br />
the honor <strong>of</strong> being the first belongs to Georgi Glouchkov<br />
<strong>of</strong> Bulgaria. In the summer <strong>of</strong> 1985, Glouchkov<br />
signed a guaranteed contract with the Phoenix Suns for<br />
two years, thus making the history books.<br />
Fernando Martin was the next one but had double<br />
bad luck. First, a constant flurry <strong>of</strong> injuries prevented<br />
him from playing at his best and, second, he suffered<br />
from a total lack <strong>of</strong> trust for <strong>European</strong> players on the<br />
part <strong>of</strong> his coaches. That is something that many<br />
others like Vlade Divac, Alexander Volkov, Sarunas<br />
Marciulionis and Drazen Petrovic suffered later, too,<br />
even though they got more opportunities to show<br />
their skills.<br />
The signing <strong>of</strong> Martin by Portland changed the way<br />
the NBA was treated in Spain. Until then, newspapers<br />
published very little content about the league, television<br />
didn’t even air games and the best-known NBA<br />
players were nobodies in Spain. With Fernando Martin,<br />
everything changed.<br />
A star in Damascus in 1979<br />
I remember the name <strong>of</strong> Fernando Martin well because<br />
I heard it for the first time at the U16 <strong>European</strong><br />
Championship 1979, which took place in Damascus,<br />
Syria! The Middle East was then part <strong>of</strong> FIBA Europe.<br />
Luka Stancic, the Yugoslav head coach, led his team<br />
to victory in the final against Italy by the score <strong>of</strong><br />
103-100. However, Stancic talked to me about “some<br />
Fernando Martin,” the big man <strong>of</strong> the Spanish team<br />
which, coached by Aito Garcia Reneses, won the bronze<br />
medal. In the first game, which Yugoslavia won by only<br />
one point, 89-88, Martin scored 23 points and overwhelmed<br />
all the big men <strong>of</strong> the Yugoslav team. With<br />
a total 123 points (17.6 average), Martin was the best<br />
Spanish scorer and one <strong>of</strong> the outstanding players in<br />
the tourney that gave <strong>European</strong> basketball other greats<br />
such as Antonello Riva (Italy), Valeri Tikhonenko (USSR),<br />
Uwe Blab (Germany), Zoran Cutura (Yugoslavia) and<br />
Andres Jimenez (Spain).<br />
One year later, at the U18 <strong>European</strong> Championship<br />
in Celje, Slovenia, I could see the enormous potential<br />
<strong>of</strong> Martin with my own eyes. In the first game<br />
against Israel, he scored 37 points, against Belgium<br />
18, against France 11, against Czechoslovakia 34,<br />
against Bulgaria 25, against the USSR 33. He would<br />
put up 30 points against Bulgaria in the game for the<br />
bronze medal that Spain lost 96-90. He was a dominant<br />
center despite being just 2.05 meters tall. His<br />
broad shoulders, long hands and rebounding abilities<br />
made him play bigger than his height. His phys-<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Fernando Martín<br />
M
Vladimir Stankovic<br />
ical power went hand in hand with good technique,<br />
a solid mid-range shot and, most <strong>of</strong> all, his winning<br />
character. He was a natural-born fighter, a man who<br />
never surrendered and never acknowledged a loss<br />
before the final buzzer.<br />
Born and raised in Madrid, Martin started playing in<br />
the Estudiantes basketball school, which has produced<br />
so many other great players. He was one <strong>of</strong> those kids<br />
with a talent for just about any sport. He excelled at<br />
handball, table tennis and swimming. In 1980, he made<br />
his debut on the Estudiantes first team and starting in<br />
1981 he was a staple in the starting five. It was clear<br />
that Spanish basketball had its new jewel. Many clubs<br />
put their eyes on him. It is normally said that he had a<br />
pre-agreement with Joventut Badalona, but an <strong>of</strong>fer<br />
from Real Madrid together with the fact that he would<br />
be able to stay in Madrid made him sign for the Whites<br />
in the end.<br />
He made his debut with the Spanish national men’s<br />
team, coached by Antonio Diaz Miguel, on May 13,<br />
1981, in Bordeaux against France and scored his first<br />
2 points with the red jersey that he would wear a total<br />
<strong>of</strong> 86 times. After playing in the World Cup 1982<br />
in Colombia (13.1 points per game), Martin was also<br />
a very important man in the Spain team that won the<br />
silver medal at EuroBasket 1983 in France. I saw him live<br />
there once again, as I did at the Los Angeles Olympics in<br />
1984, where Spain won the silver again and where Martin<br />
averaged 16.6 points. That summer, in the qualifying<br />
tournament for the Olympics, played in France, Martin<br />
led his team with 23.6 points. As always, he played<br />
each and every game with maximum effort, fighting<br />
with much bigger men than him. He was a coach and<br />
a fan favorite. He was an example and a leader on the<br />
court. In the 1985 EuroBasket in Germany, Martin also<br />
had good numbers (16.6) as he did in the 1986 World<br />
Cup in Spain (15.3).<br />
With Drazen, against Drazen<br />
During his first stint with Real Madrid, Fernando<br />
Martin won four Spanish League titles, two Spanish<br />
King’s Cups and one Saporta Cup. The latter came in<br />
1984 in Ostend, Belgium against Dino Meneghin’s Simac<br />
Milano by the score <strong>of</strong> 82-81, with Martin posting<br />
12 points and 10 rebounds. On April 3, 1985, he played<br />
his only EuroLeague final against Cibona Zagreb, but<br />
Madrid lost 87-78. Drazen Petrovic was the executor in<br />
that game with 36 points, while Martin had 14.<br />
After a year in Portland, Martin went back to Real<br />
Madrid in 1987 and in the Korac Cup final, a two-game<br />
series, Real Madrid got some revenge against Cibona.<br />
In Madrid, the Whites won 102-89 and in Zagreb they<br />
lost 94-93 (47 points by Petrovic), but Martin did not<br />
play the games due to a serious injury that had him<br />
away from the courts for a long time. One <strong>of</strong> the few<br />
games he played that year was in Belgrade, against<br />
Crvena Zvezda, in February <strong>of</strong> 1988. Madrid won 89-82<br />
with 11 points from Martin.<br />
In the summer <strong>of</strong> 1988, Real Madrid signed Drazen<br />
Petrovic and the old rivals became teammates. In<br />
November <strong>of</strong> that year, Real Madrid won the Spanish<br />
King’s Cup. In the quarterfinals, it defeated Huesca<br />
easily 88-64 with Martin’s 17 points. In the semis,<br />
against Joventut, Real Madrid won by 26 points, 90-74,<br />
as Martin scored 11. In the title game, the victim was FC<br />
Barcelona by the score <strong>of</strong> 85-81. Martin scored another<br />
11 points and Petrovic led the way with 27.<br />
The highlight <strong>of</strong> that year was a win in the Saporta<br />
Cup final against Snaidero Caserta in Athens on March<br />
14, 1989. It was the same stage on which Martin lost<br />
192<br />
193
Nobody could imagine that was the last trophy Fernando<br />
Martin would lift.<br />
On December 3, 1989, Fernando Martin left his<br />
house to drive to a home game against CAI Zaragoza<br />
– a game which, by the way, he was not going to play in<br />
due to some back problems he had been dealing with<br />
for some time. On the M30 highway that circles Madrid,<br />
he lost control <strong>of</strong> his Lancia in the middle <strong>of</strong> the afternoon<br />
and he died in the accident. Martin was only 27<br />
years old and still had a long career ahead <strong>of</strong> him. The<br />
game was suspended, and his funeral drew the presence<br />
<strong>of</strong> many big names in Spanish sports, including<br />
his on-court rivals like Epi and Audie Norris. Real Madrid<br />
retired his jersey number 10 and in 2007 he was inducted<br />
into the FIBA Hall <strong>of</strong> Fame.<br />
The Martin name was present for a few more years<br />
in Spanish basketball through Antonio, Fernando’s little<br />
brother, who followed his footsteps in Estudiantes, Real<br />
Madrid and the Spanish national team. Also, Jan Martin<br />
played for a few years in Estudiantes, Real Madrid and<br />
Fuenlabrada. Jan, the son <strong>of</strong> Fernando and Petra Sonneborn,<br />
an Israeli model, also played in several clubs in<br />
his mother’s country.<br />
So, the Martin saga lives on – if not on the courts,<br />
then surely in the memories <strong>of</strong> all <strong>of</strong> us who were lucky<br />
enough to enjoy the game <strong>of</strong> Fernando Martin.<br />
Fernando Martín<br />
the <strong>European</strong> crown to Petrovic in 1985. It was an unforgettable<br />
game that Madrid won 117-113, with overtime<br />
included after the fourth quarter ended 102-102. In an<br />
<strong>of</strong>fensive festival, Petrovic shined with 62 points (8 <strong>of</strong><br />
16 threes in 45 minutes) while on the other side, Oscar<br />
Schmidt had 44 points in 44 minutes (6 <strong>of</strong> 11 threes).<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
M
Bob<br />
McAdoo<br />
195
NBA and<br />
EuroLeague champ<br />
There are players who have won the NCAA<br />
and the EuroLeague, such as Jiri Zidek Jr.,<br />
color commentator for Euroleague TV.<br />
There have also been players who first<br />
won the EuroLeague title and then that <strong>of</strong><br />
the NBA, like Zan Tabak, Toni Kukoc and<br />
Manu Ginobili. But I really can’t recall anyone like Bob<br />
McAdoo, who first won the NBA and later the EuroLeague!<br />
The brilliant career <strong>of</strong> McAdoo, who was born in<br />
Greensboro, North Carolina on September 25, 1951,<br />
started at Vincennes Junior College <strong>of</strong> Indiana, where<br />
he played from 1969 to 1971. It was then that he moved<br />
on to the University <strong>of</strong> North Carolina and during the<br />
1971-72 season took his team to third place at the<br />
NCAA Final Four. His great season, with averages <strong>of</strong><br />
19.5 points and 10.5 rebounds, made McAdoo one <strong>of</strong><br />
the most desired players around. In the NBA draft held<br />
on April 10, 1972, the Buffalo Braves (today’s LA Clippers)<br />
chose McAdoo as the second overall pick.<br />
NBA top scorer three-peat<br />
McAdoo won the Rookie <strong>of</strong> the Year award for<br />
the 1972-73 NBA season with 18.0 points and 9.1 rebounds<br />
per game. In his sophomore season as a pro,<br />
he averaged a double-double, with a league-leading<br />
30.6 points and 15.1 rebounds. Since then, no player<br />
has averaged 30 and 15 in a single season. His field<br />
goal accuracy, 54.7%, was also great. Obviously, he<br />
was selected to the all-star game, something he would<br />
repeat four more times. After the 1974-75 season,<br />
McAdoo was named MVP and finished as the league’s<br />
top scorer with an average <strong>of</strong> 34.5 points, in addition<br />
to 14.1 rebounds and 2.1 blocks per game. He also<br />
shot 51.2 percent from the field and 80.5 percent on<br />
free throws. That year he was the top vote-getter for<br />
the all-star game with 98,325 votes. In the 1975-76<br />
season, still in Buffalo, his average was 31.1 points,<br />
leading the league in scoring for a third consecutive<br />
season.<br />
After the Braves, McAdoo joined the New York<br />
Knicks from 1976 to 1979 and later played for the Boston<br />
Celtics (1979), Detroit Pistons (1979-1981), New<br />
Jersey Nets (1981), Los Angeles Lakers (1981-1985)<br />
and Philadelphia 76ers (1986). With the Lakers, he was<br />
part <strong>of</strong> the great team formed by Magic Johnson, Kareem<br />
Abdul-Jabbar and James Worthy. Together, they<br />
won NBA championships in 1982 and 1985. McAdoo’s<br />
brilliant career in the NBA came to an end with 18,887<br />
points (22.1 ppg.), 8,048 rebounds (8.4 rpg.) and 1,147<br />
blocks (1.5 bpg.).<br />
When, in the summer <strong>of</strong> 1986, McAdoo signed for<br />
a Tracer Milano, which was then coached by Dan Peterson,<br />
he was almost 35 years old and many doubted<br />
his ability to play at a high level. The start <strong>of</strong> the <strong>European</strong><br />
season confirmed the doubts. On October 30,<br />
1986, Tracer lost in Thessaloniki to Aris by 31 points,<br />
98-67. Nikos Galis destroyed the team with 44 points.<br />
Aris already led by 60-34 at the halftime break. In the<br />
rematch, played on November 6 in Milan, one <strong>of</strong> the<br />
biggest comebacks ever in <strong>European</strong> competitions<br />
took place. Tracer won 83-49 to take the two-game,<br />
home-and-away series. After a quiet first half, McAdoo<br />
led his team with 21 points and 9 rebounds. When it<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Bob McAdoo<br />
M
Vladimir Stankovic<br />
finished, McAdoo told his coach that it had been the<br />
most intense game <strong>of</strong> his career.<br />
Second youth in Italy<br />
After that miracle, Tracer Milano marched towards<br />
the EuroLeague final ... and won it! The rival in the final –<br />
played on April 2, 1987, in Lausanne, Switzerland – was<br />
Maccabi Tel Aviv. Tracer won 71-69 and McAdoo was<br />
the second-best scorer on his team (21 points), after<br />
Roberto Premier (23), and the best rebounder with 9<br />
boards. The team from Milan was <strong>European</strong> champion<br />
again after 21 years.<br />
The following year, with Franco Casalini as head<br />
coach, Tracer repeated the victory in the first Final Four<br />
196<br />
197
<strong>of</strong> the modern era. (Two experimental Final Fours had<br />
taken place back in 1966 – won by Milano – and in 1967<br />
– won by Real Madrid). After a round-robin phase with<br />
eight teams, Partizan – with Vlade Divac, Sasha Djordjevic,<br />
Zarko Paspalj and Zeljko Obradovic – reached the<br />
Final Four in Ghent as leaders with 10 wins and 4 losses.<br />
Galis and Panagiotis Giannakis took Aris to 9-5 to<br />
finish second in a tiebreaker over Tracer Milano – with<br />
Mike D’Antoni, Dino Meneghin, Rickey Brown, Premier<br />
and McAdoo. Maccabi, led by Miki Berkowitz, Doron<br />
Jamchy, Kevin Magee and Ken Barlow, finished fourth<br />
with an 8-6 record. In the semifinals, Maccabi defeated<br />
Partizan 97-82 and Tracer defeated Aris by the same<br />
score. In the big final, a brilliant McAdoo (25 points, 12<br />
rebounds) led Tracer to another win over Maccabi.<br />
McAdoo played in Milan until 1990. The following<br />
two years, he played in Forli with averages <strong>of</strong> 31.7 points<br />
and 9.6 rebounds. He put an end to his career with<br />
Teamsystem Fabriano in 1992-93 at 42 years old. Over<br />
seven seasons in Italy, he played 201 games, scored<br />
5,427 points (27.3 ppg.) and averaged 9.0 boards per<br />
game. He won the Italian League twice, the Italian Cup<br />
once and one Intercontinental Cup – all with Milano.<br />
Bob McAdoo was not very tall. At 2.06 meters, he<br />
was more <strong>of</strong> a power forward than a center, and sometimes<br />
he played small forward because he had good<br />
shooting skills, including from three-point range. He<br />
was also a great rebounder, showing skills that nobody<br />
had seen until then.<br />
Many believe that the NBA was not fair when, for the<br />
league’s 50th anniversary, McAdoo was left out <strong>of</strong> its<br />
list <strong>of</strong> the 50 greatest players. In 2000, he was inducted<br />
into the Naismith Memorial <strong>Basketball</strong> Hall <strong>of</strong> Fame in<br />
Springfield. And in 2008, when celebrating the 50th<br />
anniversary <strong>of</strong> <strong>European</strong> competitions, Euroleague<br />
<strong>Basketball</strong> chose him among the 35 players to have<br />
contributed most to the game on the Old Continent. On<br />
that occasion, McAdoo said:<br />
“Being here is a fantastic honor. When I heard about<br />
it, I jumped <strong>of</strong>f my chair because I remember my time in<br />
Italy as fantastic. As a matter <strong>of</strong> fact, I loved my Italian<br />
stay probably better than my NBA stay for 14 years.<br />
It is a great honor for me and I am proud to be here. I<br />
remember the two <strong>European</strong> Cup championship games<br />
against Maccabi Tel Aviv, they were very tough games.<br />
The evolution <strong>of</strong> <strong>European</strong> basketball has been tremendous<br />
since I last played here. For instance, when you<br />
look at the last Olympics, the Italian national team got<br />
the silver medal. A lot <strong>of</strong> <strong>European</strong> players make major<br />
contributions in the NBA these days, too.”<br />
McAdoo later won three more NBA titles – in 2006,<br />
2012 and 2013 – as an assistant coach with the Miami<br />
Heat, a position he held for 18 years.<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Bob McAdoo<br />
M
Sarunas<br />
Marciulionis<br />
199
The Lithuanian<br />
machine<br />
It was August 28, 1982, the day <strong>of</strong> the final <strong>of</strong> the<br />
junior <strong>European</strong> Championship, played in Bulgaria.<br />
In the big game, the finalists were the USSR<br />
and Yugoslavia. On one side, Jose Biriukov, Igors<br />
Miglinieks, Valeri Tikhonenko and Sarunas Marciulionis;<br />
on the other, Drazen Petrovic, Velimir<br />
Perasovic, Danko Cvjeticanin, Stojko Vrankovic. The<br />
Soviets won 97-87 after a great first half (55-35).<br />
One year later, in Palma de Mallorca in the final <strong>of</strong><br />
the second junior World Cup, the USSR lost to the<br />
United States 82-78 even though it had a stronger<br />
team with Arvydas Sabonis (29 points), Alexander<br />
Volkov, Tiit Sokk, plus Tikhonenko, Marciulionis and<br />
Miglinieks. The Americans also had a solid team with<br />
Kenny Walker (22 points) and Scott Skiles (15).<br />
Those were the first two finals, the first two medals,<br />
in the successful career <strong>of</strong> Sarunas Marciulionis, who<br />
was born in Kaunas, Lithuania on June 13, 1964. He remains<br />
one <strong>of</strong> the greatest Lithuanian players ever and<br />
one <strong>of</strong> the <strong>European</strong> pioneers in the NBA. While it’s true<br />
that in Bulgaria, Marciulionis didn’t have a starring role,<br />
by 1983 his influence on the Soviet team was starting<br />
to get noticed.<br />
From Kaunas to Vilnius<br />
As a kid, until he was 10, Marciulionis played tennis<br />
in his native Kaunas. But after growing 11 centimeters<br />
in one year, he was kicked out <strong>of</strong> the sport for being<br />
“too big.” The next stop was the basketball court.<br />
Left-handed, strong and with evident talent, he progressed<br />
quickly, but it wasn’t easy to earn a spot in<br />
Zalgiris, the cradle <strong>of</strong> so many Lithuanian talents.<br />
After talking to his parents, he decided to move<br />
to Vilnius to join the rival Statyba – today known as<br />
Lietuvos Rytas – where he played from 1981 to 1987.<br />
In September <strong>of</strong> 1987, he finally got to wear the jersey<br />
<strong>of</strong> Zalgiris. In that year’s Intercontinental Cup, played<br />
in Milan, Marciulionis was invited to reinforce the team<br />
due to the fact that Sabonis was injured. It didn’t help<br />
much, however, because Zalgiris finished last, eighth,<br />
while the Tracer Milan team with Mike D’Antoni and<br />
Bob McAdoo defeated the FC Barcelona by the score<br />
<strong>of</strong> 100-84.<br />
In June <strong>of</strong> 1987, Marciulionis experienced both disappointment<br />
and great joy in succession. In the title<br />
game <strong>of</strong> EuroBasket in Athens, Greece defeated the<br />
USSR overtime 103-<strong>101</strong> thanks to 40 points by Nikos<br />
Galis. Marciulionis scored 16 points, Valdis Valters 23<br />
and Tikhonenko 17, but it was not enough to stop one<br />
<strong>of</strong> the biggest surprises ever in EuroBasket. Only eight<br />
days later, in the NBA draft, Marciulionis was chosen by<br />
the Golden State Warriors with pick number 127 in the<br />
seventh round.<br />
Gold in Seoul and NBA debut<br />
Before leaving for the NBA as one <strong>of</strong> the <strong>European</strong><br />
pioneers, Marciulionis put the icing on the cake <strong>of</strong><br />
his <strong>European</strong> career with the gold medal at the Seoul<br />
Olympics in 1988. The foundation <strong>of</strong> that great USSR<br />
team was formed by the big four Lithuanians – Marciulionis,<br />
Sabonis, Rimas Kurtinaitis and Valdemaras<br />
Chomicius – in addition to Volkov, Tikhonenko, Sokk,<br />
Miglinieks, Alexander Belostenny and Sergei Tarakanov.<br />
After losing to Yugoslavia in the first stage, 92-79,<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Sarunas Marciulionis<br />
M
Vladimir Stankovic<br />
the teams met again in the final. The USSR was not<br />
the favorite but won by a clear 76-63 score with 21<br />
points by Marciulionis in 36 minutes. He made 7 <strong>of</strong> 11<br />
two-point shots, 3 <strong>of</strong> 6 three-pointers and 4 <strong>of</strong> 4 free<br />
throws to go with 3 rebounds and 6 assists. Sabonis<br />
added 20 points, but Marciulionis was the soul <strong>of</strong> that<br />
team.<br />
On November 3, 1989, Marciulionis made his NBA<br />
debut. And he did so in style despite his team’s 136-<br />
106 loss to Phoenix. The starting five for Golden State<br />
was Chris Mullin (24 points), Mitch Richmond (8), Tim<br />
Hardaway (0), Rod Higgins (15) and Uwe Blab (2) from<br />
Germany, while <strong>of</strong>f the bench they had Marciulionis (19<br />
points in 24 minutes), Terry Teagle and Manute Bol.<br />
Thus, started the NBA career <strong>of</strong> one <strong>of</strong> the best<br />
<strong>European</strong>s to ever play in the league. Although interrupted<br />
by several serious injuries, Marciulionis played<br />
seven seasons with the Warriors, Seattle SuperSonics,<br />
Sacramento Kings and Denver Nuggets for a total <strong>of</strong><br />
363 games. He scored 4,631 points for an average <strong>of</strong><br />
12.8. His career high was 35 points against the New<br />
Jersey Nets in 1992.<br />
At 1.96 meters, Marciulionis was a shooting guard<br />
but he could play point easily thanks to his solid technique.<br />
His physical power also allowed him to grab<br />
a lot <strong>of</strong> rebounds. In the NBA, he pulled 9 rebounds<br />
several times while his assists record was 10. If I had<br />
to choose one element <strong>of</strong> his game to highlight, it<br />
would be his precise shooting. His fighting character<br />
was another thing that helped him become a great<br />
player.<br />
At the 1989 EuroBasket in Zagreb, Marciulionis, Sabonis,<br />
Chomicius and Kurtinaitis played for the USSR for<br />
the last time, winning the bronze medal. Marciulionis,<br />
coming <strong>of</strong>f his first NBA season, was that team’s best<br />
scorer, with an average <strong>of</strong> 18 points. Their dream <strong>of</strong><br />
playing for a Lithuanian national team came true three<br />
years later, at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona. Lithuania<br />
had previously been <strong>European</strong> champion in 1937 and<br />
1939, prior to losing its independence. Now, after going<br />
through the Olympics qualifying round in Zaragoza,<br />
the Lithuanians won the bronze medal for their again<br />
independent country. Marciulionis and Sabonis – who<br />
had been born the same year in Kaunas – led the way to<br />
that historic medal. Marciulionis averaged 23.4 points<br />
and Sabonis 23.9.<br />
In a surprise, however, Lithuania failed to qualify for<br />
the 1993 EuroBasket in Germany. Without Sabonis, who<br />
was injured, and with Marciulionis not at 100 percent,<br />
the team couldn’t get through the Wroclaw preliminary<br />
phase. Much later, I interviewed Marciulionis and he told<br />
me that Wroclaw was the worst moment <strong>of</strong> his career.<br />
He shouldn’t have traveled in the first place because he<br />
was injured. Once there, although he had committed to<br />
helping in any way he could, he was physically unable<br />
to do much.<br />
The great final in 1995<br />
I have been following basketball for more than 50<br />
years, watching an average <strong>of</strong> three or four games per<br />
week. If you were to ask what my favorite game was in<br />
all that time, I would have a hard time finding an answer.<br />
I won’t even bother trying. But I am sure that among the<br />
best five I ever saw was the 1995 EuroBasket final in<br />
Athens between Yugoslavia and Lithuania. Yugoslavia<br />
won 96-90 in an <strong>of</strong>fensive festival and a great show put<br />
on by stars on both sides.<br />
It was the game <strong>of</strong> a lifetime for Sasha Djordjevic<br />
<strong>of</strong> Yugoslavia, who finished with 41 points on 9-for-12<br />
three-point shooting. But on the other side, there was<br />
200<br />
201
Lithuania found some consolation with a new bronze<br />
medal after beating Australia 80-74 behind 30 points<br />
from Sabonis, 21 from Karnisovas and 16 from Marciulionis.<br />
The following year, after a season in Denver, Marciulionis<br />
retired. In 2014, Marciulionis was honored by<br />
being inducted into the Naismith Memorial <strong>Basketball</strong><br />
Hall <strong>of</strong> Fame, and one year later, he was given the same<br />
distinction by the FIBA Hall <strong>of</strong> Fame.<br />
Sarunas Marciulionis, the Lithuanian machine.<br />
Sarunas Marciulionis<br />
Marciulionis, with 32 points on 8 <strong>of</strong> 9 two-pointers and<br />
3 <strong>of</strong> 5 threes. That was also the famous game in which<br />
Predrag Danilovic dunked over Sabonis; the game in<br />
which Sabonis scored 20 points and pulled 8 rebounds,<br />
one less than Vlade Divac; and the game in which a<br />
young Dejan Bodiroga confirmed his great talent with<br />
12 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists, as did Arturas Karnisovas,<br />
with 19 points for Lithuania. Yes, it was a great<br />
final, with the added spice <strong>of</strong> controversial refereeing<br />
decisions.<br />
The following year, at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta,<br />
Yugoslavia won their battle in the semis, 66-58, but<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
M
Pierluigi<br />
Marzorati<br />
203
A Cantu legend<br />
When Bennet Cantu rejoined the<br />
EuroLeague for a couple <strong>of</strong> seasons<br />
earlier this decade and I<br />
saw again the great atmosphere<br />
in the arena there, it was time<br />
to remember the greatest star<br />
ever for that club, Pierluigi Marzorati.<br />
A historic club from a small town near Milan, Cantu<br />
has 12 international trophies – two EuroLeagues Cups,<br />
four Saporta Cups, four Korac Cups and two Intercontinental<br />
Cups – not to mention three Italian Leagues<br />
and four Italian Cups. If someone only looks at the list<br />
<strong>of</strong> the winners <strong>of</strong> the old <strong>European</strong> competitions, he<br />
could become confused by the variety <strong>of</strong> names beside<br />
Cantu: Forst, Squib, Ford, Gabetti, Clear. But all <strong>of</strong> them<br />
refer to the same club, Pallacanestro Cantu. The glory<br />
<strong>of</strong> this humble club, founded in 1936, started with its<br />
first Italian League trophy in 1968. Borislav Stankovic,<br />
the future Secretary General <strong>of</strong> FIBA, was on the bench<br />
and Carlo Recalcati was the best player. The following<br />
season, at only 17 years old, a youngster named Pierluigi<br />
Marzorati arrived to the team. He was considered a<br />
great prospect for Italian basketball, and with his arrival,<br />
a golden era <strong>of</strong> Cantu basketball was ready to begin.<br />
Twelve titles<br />
Behind a skinny body, 1.87 meters tall, one could<br />
find in Pierluigi Marzorati, who was born on September<br />
12, 1952, a scorer with great technique and a passer<br />
with heavenly court vision. Marzorati was one <strong>of</strong> those<br />
point guards who could score 25 points if necessary or<br />
just a couple if, on those nights, his teammates needed<br />
only to follow his perfect floor generalship and assists.<br />
Upon arrival in Cantu, Marzorati formed a lethal guard<br />
duo with Recalcati. Over the next years, many good<br />
foreigners arrived to help build the great Cantu, but<br />
that Marzorati-Recalcati tandem, backed by several<br />
more good Italian players, was the key to success. The<br />
foreigners came and went, but Marzorati and his Italian<br />
teammates were always there.<br />
The first big success for the humble club was the<br />
1973 Korac Cup. Under the name Forst Pallacanestro,<br />
the team from Cantu beat Maes Pils <strong>of</strong> Belgium in two<br />
games, with Recalcati (30 points) and Bill Drozdiak (24)<br />
as the stars, but Marzorati was already an important<br />
player. The following season, Forst defended the title<br />
by beating Partizan Belgrade in the final. In Cantu, they<br />
won 99-86 and in Belgrade, Cantu prevailed again 75-<br />
68. That was the first time I saw Marzorati live. In 1975,<br />
Forst took its third straight Korac Cup, this time against<br />
FC Barcelona, winning 71-69 in Barcelona, with 16<br />
points from Marzorati, and then by 110-85 at home as<br />
the great guard scored 27 points. That same year, at the<br />
EuroBasket played in Yugoslavia, I saw Marzorati with<br />
the Italian national team and I remember a close, 69-<br />
65 defeat to the USSR despite his 14-point effort. I saw<br />
him again in March 1977 on neutral ground in Palma de<br />
Mallorca, Spain, when Forst won its first Saporta Cup,<br />
beating Radnicki Belgrade 87-86 despite a great game<br />
by Srecko Jaric, the father <strong>of</strong> Marko Jaric, who scored<br />
30 points. Radnicki’s second-best scorer in that game<br />
was the late Milun Marovic (29 points), an engineer like<br />
Marzorati, who died in 2009 in a car accident in Libya.<br />
We met again at the 1977 EuroBasket in Liege,<br />
Belgium, where Italy reached the semis; at the 1980<br />
Olympics in Moscow (the final was an 86-77 Yugoslavia<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Pierluigi Marzorati<br />
M
Vladimir Stankovic<br />
win over Italy); and at the 1981 EuroBasket in Nantes<br />
(Italy’s first win against Spain by the score <strong>of</strong> 105-96<br />
featured 12 points from Marzorati). Between 1977<br />
and 1981, Cantu – under the names Forst, Gabetti and<br />
Squib – played five Saporta Cup finals and won four <strong>of</strong><br />
them, losing only to its archrival, Varese, by 90-88 after<br />
overtime. In all <strong>of</strong> those finals, Marzorati had a protagonist’s<br />
role, together with Recalcati, Antonello Riva,<br />
Fabrizio Della Fiori, Renzo Bariviera, John Newman,<br />
Tom Boswell and Bruce Flowers. In the 1981 final, Cantu<br />
defeated the Barcelona team <strong>of</strong> Juan Antonio San Epifanio,<br />
Joan Creus, Nacho Solozabal, Chicho Sibilio, Jeff<br />
Ruland and Mike Phillips.<br />
But the best years for Cantu were yet to come. After<br />
a first failed attempt in 1975-76, when the team reached<br />
the semifinals but lost to its nemesis Varese, and after<br />
204<br />
205
having just lifted its third Italian League trophy, Cantu<br />
managed to win the EuroLeague in 1982 by beating<br />
Maccabi Tel Aviv in the final 86-80 on March 25 <strong>of</strong> that<br />
year. Charles Kupec and Bruce Flowers were the best<br />
scorers, with 23 and 21 points, respectively, but the<br />
man <strong>of</strong> the game was Marzorati, who scored 18 points<br />
and won his particular duel with Maccabi playmaker<br />
Motti Aroesti.<br />
In the 1982-83 season, Ford Cantu played the EuroLeague<br />
as the defending champion. Milano had won<br />
the Italian League that year, so two Italian teams were<br />
in the competition and they happened to meet in the title<br />
game. After a 40-minute drama, Cantu escaped with<br />
a 69-68 victory after a missed shot by Franco Boselli<br />
with 3 seconds to go and a legendary block by Jim<br />
Brewer on Vittorio Gallinari after his own <strong>of</strong>fensive rebound.<br />
Cantu was the back-to-back continental champion.<br />
Cantu’s list <strong>of</strong> trophies was completed with two<br />
Intercontinental Cups, in1975 and 1982. The pictures<br />
<strong>of</strong> the great captain Marzorati with the trophy have a<br />
privileged spot in the club <strong>of</strong>fices nowadays.<br />
Comeback at 54 years old<br />
Pierluigi Marzorati played with Pallacanestro Cantu<br />
from 1969 to 1991. He won 12 trophies, played 692<br />
games and scored 8,659 points. He also scored 2,209<br />
points in 278 Italian national team games. Looking at<br />
the calendar, he played for the club <strong>of</strong> his life during<br />
four different decades. In October <strong>of</strong> 2006, for the 70th<br />
anniversary <strong>of</strong> the club, Marzorati came back to play<br />
against Benetton Treviso at the age <strong>of</strong> 54. He spent less<br />
than 2 minutes on the court, but Cantu won 70-69 and<br />
its gesture to the great captain remains as a curiosity<br />
for the history books.<br />
After his retirement, Cantu had suffered a lot and<br />
even descended into second division in 1994. The recovery<br />
was slow, but eventually, Bennet Cantu managed<br />
to reach two finals in Italy and earned the right to return<br />
to the EuroLeague. Marzorati blamed the problems <strong>of</strong><br />
Cantu on the Bosman ruling and the excessive number<br />
<strong>of</strong> foreign players, which closed the door for many<br />
national talents. When I spoke to him not long ago, he<br />
had no doubt that the best players <strong>of</strong> his era could have<br />
played in the NBA with no problems. He didn’t want to<br />
give me any names, but he highlighted his great rivals<br />
Dragan Kicanovic and Juan Antonio Corbalan. While he<br />
was still playing, Marzorati finished his degree in engineering.<br />
Upon retirement, he formed his own company.<br />
He did not have any role in the club, but he never misses<br />
a Cantu game, if he can help it.<br />
Perluigi Marzorati, a Cantu legend.<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Pierluigi Marzorati<br />
M
Dino<br />
Meneghin<br />
207
The eternal<br />
champion<br />
In a hypothetical quiz <strong>of</strong> <strong>European</strong> basketball history<br />
knowledge, these could be 10 questions:<br />
1. What player spent 28 years in a very competitive<br />
league?<br />
2. What player won 10 <strong>European</strong> trophies?<br />
3. What player reached 10 straight EuroLeague finals<br />
and won five <strong>of</strong> them?<br />
4. What player won four Intercontinental Cups?<br />
5. What player played against his son in a league game?<br />
6. What player and his 16-year younger son played together<br />
and became <strong>European</strong> champions with their<br />
national team?<br />
7. What player and his son were national club champions<br />
with the same club?<br />
8. What player was the first <strong>European</strong> to be chosen in<br />
the NBA draft?<br />
9. What player was a member <strong>of</strong> the national team, a<br />
national team manager and president <strong>of</strong> his country’s<br />
federation?<br />
10. What Italian player is featured both in the Springfield<br />
and FIBA Halls <strong>of</strong> Fame?<br />
I could add some more to the list, but the answer<br />
would always be Dino Meneghin. His brilliant career<br />
cannot be compared to anyone or anything. He is an<br />
unprecedented example in the history <strong>of</strong> our sport and<br />
probably <strong>of</strong> any sport. Nobody, be it as a player or as a<br />
director, has ever lasted so long and given so much to<br />
basketball as Dino “Nacionale”.<br />
Debut at 16 years old<br />
The sporting career <strong>of</strong> a young, tall and strong Dino<br />
Meneghin started in the late 1950s, when the young<br />
man was with his older brother Ren-zo on the athletics<br />
track at Varese stadium. Renzo was a middle-distance<br />
runner while Dino, because <strong>of</strong> his physical build, was<br />
to choose between the shot put and discus. But destiny,<br />
as so many other times, changed a life forever. In<br />
1963, there was a basketball tournament among a few<br />
schools in Varese. The physical education teacher at Dino’s<br />
school was Nicola Messina, who also happened to<br />
be collaborating with Ignis Varese, the local basketball<br />
club. As he was looking for players for the team to play<br />
in the tournament, Messina took a long look at Dino, a<br />
tall kid with broad shoulders.<br />
“Have you ever played basketball before?” was the<br />
question from Messina to Dino. “No, never” was the<br />
answer. “Run back and forth and do some moves,” the<br />
coach’s said next. A couple <strong>of</strong> sprints were enough for<br />
Messina to recognize a talent. His next words were:<br />
“Come to practice tomorrow with a pair <strong>of</strong> basketball<br />
shoes.”<br />
In his autobiography, “Passi da Gigante”, Meneghin<br />
joyfully recalls how he went to his mother to ask for<br />
“scarpe da basket” (basketball shoes) and the answer<br />
he got from his mom was: “Dino, what is basketball?”<br />
Only three years later, on November 20, 1966, in a<br />
game between Ignis Varese and Cassera Bologna that<br />
his team won 76-54, Dino Meneghin’s name appeared<br />
for the first time on a box score. He was 16 years and 11<br />
months old. Not even Dino himself could have imagined<br />
then that a brilliant career that would last 28 years and<br />
earn him 36 trophies was just beginning.<br />
Dino Meneghin is not, by any means, the biggest<br />
natural talent that I have ever seen. But nobody ever<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Dino Meneghin<br />
M
Vladimir Stankovic<br />
earned so much respect due to his pr<strong>of</strong>essionalism,<br />
sacrifice, desire to win, character, charisma, leadership<br />
or indisputable authority. At “only” 2.04 meters, he<br />
was not a pure center, not even during his time, but he<br />
always played close to the boards and battled against<br />
men bigger than him. His body was like the statue <strong>of</strong> a<br />
Greek god: broad shoulders, long hands and a natural<br />
strength that allowed him to fight and prevail over bigger<br />
rivals.<br />
The long list <strong>of</strong> records<br />
If I remember correctly, I saw Meneghin for the first<br />
time in the 1969 EuroBasket, played in Caserta and<br />
Naples. He was younger than team-mates Aldo Ossola,<br />
Carlo Recalcati, Enzo Bariviera, Massimo Masini, Marino<br />
Zanatta, Giuseppe Brumatti and Ivan Bisson. But the<br />
first game I vividly remember with him was between<br />
Italy and Yugoslavia at the World Cup 1970 in Ljubljana.<br />
It was the first game, very tense, and only decided on<br />
the final plays thanks to the genius Kresimir Cosic, who<br />
authored 27 points and 22 rebounds. Meneghin finished<br />
with 10 points in his first duel with Cosic, who was<br />
two years older. Their rivalry would last for another 13<br />
years, until the final <strong>of</strong> the 1983 EuroBasket in Nantes,<br />
France, with a win for Italy, 91-76. But above everything,<br />
there was always the maximum respect between the<br />
two big men, the best <strong>of</strong> their era. It’s not by chance<br />
that Meneghin remembers with respect and love his<br />
biggest rival, Kresimir Cosic.<br />
In the same year <strong>of</strong> 1970, Dino Meneghin also became<br />
the first Europe-an player to be selected in the<br />
NBA draft. Yes, he was chosen in the 11th and final<br />
round by the Atlanta Hawks, but he never played in the<br />
NBA because, at the time, that meant giving up playing<br />
for the national team. Dino’s world was Europe and<br />
for many years he played in his first club, Ignis Varese.<br />
From his debut in 1966 until 1980, he played there<br />
and won seven Italian Leagues, four Italian Cups and<br />
five EuroLeagues while reaching an unprecedented 10<br />
consecutive finals in the top <strong>European</strong> competition.<br />
There were also three Intercontinental Cup and a pair <strong>of</strong><br />
Saporta Cup titles, too. Truth be told, Meneghin did not<br />
play the 1975 final against Real Madrid, a 79-66 win for<br />
Varese, because he broke his hand one week before the<br />
big game, but the win was also his. In the nine EuroLeague<br />
finals he played with Varese, he scored more than<br />
20 points six times.<br />
When Dino decided to sign for Olimpia Milano in the<br />
1980-81 season, he was already a veteran. However, in<br />
the following nine years he would extend his résumé by<br />
winning five more Italian Leagues, two Italian Cups, two<br />
EuroLeagues, another Intercontinental Cup, and his<br />
first Korac Cup. In 1990, at age 40, he accepted the call<br />
from Bogdan Tanjevic, then the coach <strong>of</strong> Stefanel Trieste,<br />
who was starting to build a great team by signing<br />
future stars like Gregor Fucka, Claudio Pilutti and Alessandro<br />
de Pol. All that was missing was an expert hand,<br />
and Dino Meneghin, despite his age, was the perfect<br />
solution. The following year Tanjevic would also have<br />
Dejan Bodiroga on the team, and a great team finally<br />
jelled to win the double crown in Italy – the league and<br />
the cup – in 1995-96. Dino did not play on that team,<br />
having retired at the end <strong>of</strong> the 1994-95 season, but<br />
the triumph had a lot to do with him, too.<br />
Behind him were 28 Italian League seasons spanning<br />
836 games, 8,560 points (10.3 per game) and<br />
5,588 rebounds (6.7 per game). For the Italian national<br />
team, he played 271 and scored 2,947 points. Only the<br />
great shooter Antonello Riva scored more. I was lucky to<br />
see Meneghin’s biggest successes with Italy: a bronze<br />
208<br />
209
medal in the 1975 EuroBasket in Belgrade; a silver<br />
medal at the 1980 Moscow Olympics; and, most <strong>of</strong> all,<br />
the gold medal at the 1983 EuroBasket in Nantes. He<br />
was part <strong>of</strong> a great Italian team that year with Pierluigi<br />
Marzorati, Marco Bonamico, Ario Costa, Renato Villalta,<br />
Antonello Riva, Romeo Sacchetti, Roberto Brunamonti,<br />
Alberto Tonut and Renzo Vecchiato. Meneghin finished<br />
in the tourney with 11.3 points per game, but he was a<br />
player whose real importance could never be revealed<br />
by stats alone. He was a leader and an authority for his<br />
teammates, rivals, fans and even the referees.<br />
The most emotional moment <strong>of</strong> his career was probably<br />
on November 15, 1990, when, playing for Trieste,<br />
he had to face his former Varese team, where Andrea<br />
Meneghin, a 16-year old kid, was playing. It was a fatherand-son<br />
duel. The father won 93-89 as Dino scored 6<br />
points and pulled down 4 boards while Andrea didn’t<br />
score in 7 minutes on the court. Andrea made his debut<br />
in the first team at the same age as his father did and<br />
scored 15 points when Varese won the Italian League<br />
title on May 6, 1999, with a 77-71 victory against Benetton<br />
Treviso. That same year, Italy won its second gold<br />
medal in a EuroBasket in France, with Andrea Meneghin<br />
playing a key role, averaging 11.2 points in more than<br />
30 minutes per game. Dino was on the bench as the<br />
team manager and the coach was Tanjevic, an important<br />
man for the two Meneghins.<br />
In 2003, Dino Meneghin entered the Naismith Memorial<br />
<strong>Basketball</strong> Hall <strong>of</strong> Fame in Springfield and thus<br />
became the second Italian to achieve that honor, after<br />
Cesare Rubini. In 2010 Meneghin was inducted into the<br />
FIBA Hall <strong>of</strong> Fame. He has also served as president <strong>of</strong><br />
the Italian <strong>Basketball</strong> Federation in an effort to take Italy<br />
back to the level it had been at when he was playing,<br />
when he was as great as a basketball Dino-saur!<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Dino Meneghin<br />
M
Bob<br />
Morse<br />
211
The legend<br />
<strong>of</strong> Varese<br />
In modern <strong>European</strong> basketball, there are few cases<br />
<strong>of</strong> foreign players who stay with the same team<br />
for more than two or three seasons. However, 30<br />
or 40 years ago, it wasn’t that unusual to see players<br />
wearing the same jersey for five or even more<br />
years. One <strong>of</strong> the cases that stood out most was<br />
that <strong>of</strong> Robert “Bob” Morse, the great American scorer<br />
who rejected an NBA career – he was drafted by the<br />
Buffalo Braves – to chase glory in Europe. Morse was<br />
born on January 4, 1951, near Philadelphia and, after<br />
standing out in high school, the next logical step for<br />
him was entering the University <strong>of</strong> Pennsylvania.<br />
With a height <strong>of</strong> 2.03 meters, Morse was a power<br />
forward with the shooting touch <strong>of</strong> a small forward<br />
and the rebounding skills <strong>of</strong> a classic center. He was a<br />
natural scorer, with a steady hand from all distances.<br />
His last three years in college with the Penn Quakers,<br />
from 1969 to 1972, are still considered the best in the<br />
long history <strong>of</strong> the school, which dates back to its first<br />
game against Yale on March 20, 1897. It is a fact that<br />
the only time that Penn reached the NCAA Final Four<br />
was in 1979 in Salt Lake City, where they were stopped<br />
by the Michigan State squad led by the legendary Magic<br />
Johnson. But the longest period <strong>of</strong> steady quality coincided<br />
with the Morse’s time on the team. There were<br />
also good players like Dave Wohl, Steve Bilsky and<br />
Corky Calhoun, but the leader was Bob Morse. He finished<br />
his college days with 1,381 points after being the<br />
team’s top scorer for three seasons. The team’s record<br />
in those years was 25-2 (1969-70), 28-1 (1970-71) and<br />
25-3 (1971-72).<br />
While everyone expected a good NBA career out<br />
<strong>of</strong> Morse, he surprised many with the decision to play<br />
in Europe. He was going to Varese, a place most <strong>of</strong> his<br />
teammates would have a hard time locating on a map<br />
<strong>of</strong> Italy. But this small town had a great basketball team,<br />
which was already a double <strong>European</strong> champ (1970,<br />
1972) and had a great coach, Aleksandar Nikolic, who<br />
insisted on his signing. As a result, Morse became the<br />
key man on the team in his new <strong>European</strong> adventure.<br />
Aca Nikolic’s influence<br />
On the occasion <strong>of</strong> the celebration <strong>of</strong> 50 Years <strong>of</strong> <strong>European</strong><br />
Competitions at the 2008 EuroLeague Final Four<br />
in Madrid, Morse, who was elected by a board <strong>of</strong> experts<br />
among the 35 best players during that period, had this<br />
to say about coach Nikolic in a EuroLeague.net interview:<br />
“I got to know the city <strong>of</strong> Varese, the team members<br />
and our coach, Aleksandar Nikolic, especially. He was<br />
impressed enough to sign me to a two-year contract.<br />
My real education came when I first arrived for training<br />
camp. We didn’t go to Varese, but instead to a bunch<br />
<strong>of</strong> exhibition tournament games, which were mostly<br />
outdoors at the time, 10 or 11 on the road at different<br />
resorts around Italy. I was impressed by Nikolic’s<br />
coaching. He was really strong on physical conditioning<br />
and had a special coach for that, which at the time was<br />
unusual. I think that was the key for me that first season,<br />
in which we won the EuroLeague, the International<br />
Cup in Brazil, as well as the Italian League and Italian<br />
Cup, and I won the Italian League scoring title.”<br />
Morse continued: Nikolic was also big on shooting,<br />
which was my forte already. But he did some things that<br />
I had never experienced in the U.S. He was big on funda-<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Bob Morse<br />
M
Vladimir Stankovic<br />
mentals, both individual defense and team defense, help<br />
and recover. He had us get up on Sunday morning before<br />
games for exhaustive team meetings, more than an hour,<br />
with scouting reports for each opposing player, telling us<br />
their tendencies, what to expect, their weak points and<br />
strong points, how to shut them down. He was an amazing<br />
tactician, too, and just really understood the game <strong>of</strong><br />
basketball. He was very adamant that we had to play the<br />
way he wanted. If we ran a play, we had to run it the way<br />
it was drawn. He wasn’t big on individual improvising. He<br />
was certainly a great coach who deserves his place in the<br />
Hall <strong>of</strong> Fame. I had good coaches in college, one <strong>of</strong> which<br />
was Chuck Daly, a great people manager and motivator.<br />
But in terms <strong>of</strong> tactics and the technical side <strong>of</strong> the game,<br />
I don’t think anyone surpassed Nikolic, in my opinion.”<br />
The start was not easy at all. Morse arrived in a city that<br />
already had a foreign idol, Manuel Raga, the “Flying Mexican”.<br />
The two could play together in the EuroLeague, but<br />
not in the Italian League, which only allowed one foreigner.<br />
So Nikolic chose Morse over Raga. In the first game, according<br />
to Morse himself, he felt pressure and missed the<br />
first 6 shots he attempted. The fans in the stands started<br />
chanting Raga’s name. Things changed when he made<br />
the next 10 shots he took. A new star was born.<br />
Real Madrid, the eternal rival<br />
His first season featured a great finale. First, Varese’s<br />
third <strong>European</strong> crown arrived after a victory over<br />
CSKA Moscow in the final, played on March 22 in Liege,<br />
Belgium. Raga scored 25 points, Morse 16 and the team<br />
held on to win 71-66 despite 34 points from the great<br />
Sergei Belov. After that, Varese won the Italian Cup and<br />
Italian League titles, too. It would become not only a<br />
triple-crown season, but the year <strong>of</strong> four titles because<br />
Varese also won the Intercontinental Cup in Brazil by<br />
defeating the local team <strong>of</strong> Sirio.<br />
While CSKA Moscow was Varese’s main opponent<br />
in the early 1970s, starting in 1974 the number one<br />
enemy for the Italian team would be Real Madrid. In<br />
the 1974 <strong>European</strong> final, played on April 3 in Nantes,<br />
France, Madrid won 84-82. Wayne Brabender led the<br />
Whites with 22 points in a good team effort, while on<br />
the Varese side Dino Meneghin had 25 points, Morse<br />
24 and Raga 17. The following year, Madrid and Varese<br />
met again for the title in Antwerp, Belgium, on April 10.<br />
Real Madrid entered the game as the favorite, especially<br />
because <strong>of</strong> the absence <strong>of</strong> Meneghin with a hand<br />
injury. However, Varese won 79-66 with a huge effort<br />
by Morse, who played 40 minutes, scored 29 points<br />
on 12 <strong>of</strong> 19 two-point shooting and 5 <strong>of</strong> 6 free throws,<br />
and pulled 14 rebounds. What’s more, on defense he<br />
played as a center!<br />
On April 1, 1976, in Geneva, Switzerland, Varese and<br />
Madrid played their third straight <strong>European</strong> final and<br />
the Italians won again, 81-74, behind 28 points from<br />
Morse (13 <strong>of</strong> 19 two-point shooting in 40 minutes) and<br />
23 by Meneghin. Varese was also in the 1977 final, but<br />
this time the rival was Maccabi Tel Aviv. In a final full<br />
<strong>of</strong> drama, which I witnessed live at Pionir Arena in Belgrade,<br />
Maccabi won its first <strong>European</strong> crown 78-77. The<br />
duo <strong>of</strong> Morse (20 points) and Meneghin (21) didn’t let<br />
anyone down, but the Israeli team had an unstoppable<br />
Jim Boatwright (26) and a star in the making, Miki Berkowitz<br />
(21). Varese and Real Madrid squared <strong>of</strong>f once<br />
more in the 1978 final, on April 6 at the Olympiahalle in<br />
Munich. Madrid won 75-67 thanks to the great duo <strong>of</strong><br />
Walter Szczerbiak (26) and Brabender (16), while Morse<br />
and Meneghin had 12 and 23 points, respectively.<br />
On April 5, 1979, Varese set a record that will be diffi-<br />
212<br />
213
cult to top by playing in its 10th straight <strong>European</strong> final.<br />
The great novelty this time was the rival. It was not the<br />
usual Real Madrid, CSKA Moscow or even Maccabi Tel<br />
Aviv, but rather a young and ambitious Bosna Sarajevo.<br />
Led by the great Mirza Delibasic on the court and young<br />
coach Bogdan Tanjevic on the bench, the team had gone<br />
from the Yugoslav second division to the continental final<br />
in just seven years. Bosna took the title 96-93 in an <strong>of</strong>fensive<br />
festival. Zarko Varajic scored 45 points – an individual<br />
final-game record still standing to this day – while Delibasic<br />
had 30 and Ratko Radovanovic scored 18. A guard on<br />
that team who didn’t play much due to injury was a young<br />
Svetislav Pesic. Morse had his usual numbers, with 28<br />
points, and Charlie Yelverton had 27, but the 75 points<br />
scored by the duo <strong>of</strong> Delibasic and Varajic was too much.<br />
Eleven years later, I met Morse at the 1990 World<br />
Cup in Buenos Aires, where he was working with an organization<br />
for players shorter than 2.00 meters. During<br />
our talk in Luna Park, Varajic, who was then a member<br />
<strong>of</strong> the Yugoslav national team, walked by at a distance. I<br />
asked Morse whether he knew who that “tall man” was.<br />
He was not sure. I told him: “That is Zarko Varajic, the<br />
guy who scored 43 points against you in the final.”<br />
“No, he scored 45,” Morse corrected me, proving<br />
that he had not forgotten that day.<br />
Morse’s stint in Varese ended like it had started,<br />
with a triumph. In the 1980 Saporta Cup final in Milan,<br />
an Italian duel between Varese and Cantu – two teams<br />
with a collection <strong>of</strong> <strong>European</strong> and national trophies over<br />
the previous decade – took place. Varese won 90-88 in<br />
overtime. Bruce Seals scored 26 points and Morse 22.<br />
From Italy to France and back<br />
During nine seasons in Varese, Morse won four<br />
Italian Leagues titles (1973, 1974, 1977 and 1978), one<br />
Italian Cup (1973), three EuroLeague titles (1973, 1975<br />
and 1976), an Intercontinental Cup (1973) and a Saporta<br />
Cup (1980). He was the best scorer in Italy for six years<br />
with a total average <strong>of</strong> 26.5 points over 259 games. His<br />
personal record <strong>of</strong> 62 points took place in a 108-86 win<br />
over Napoli. With 9,785 points, he ranks fourth in Italian<br />
League history, though his 302 games played are<br />
far fewer than the players above him – Antonello Riva,<br />
Oscar Schmidt and Carlton Myers.<br />
For the 1980-81 season, Morse decided to not only<br />
switch teams, but also switch countries. He joined<br />
Olympic Antibes <strong>of</strong> France. Curiously, in a league theoretically<br />
inferior to the Italian one, Morse never won the<br />
award as the top scorer despite similar numbers from<br />
his Italian days. With 23.0 points in the first year, he<br />
was the seventh-best scorer. The following year he improved<br />
to 24.7 and was fourth. In his last season there,<br />
1983-84, he averaged 26.9 points but was third as Ed<br />
Murphy (32.3 ppg.) <strong>of</strong> Limoges won the scoring title.<br />
After that season, Morse decided to travel back to<br />
Italy and signed for Pallacanestro Reggiana. He was just<br />
in time to score the first three-pointer ever in the Italian<br />
League following the regulation change established by<br />
FIBA that season. At the end <strong>of</strong> that season, he became<br />
the first three-point shooting leader ever in Italy with impressive<br />
numbers – 46 <strong>of</strong> 77 (59.7%)! He was also great<br />
on free throws – 100 <strong>of</strong> 108 (92.6%). Can you imagine<br />
Morse’s numbers with three-pointers from 1979, when<br />
they were introduced by the NBA, instead <strong>of</strong> 1984? His<br />
main weapon was his shot from anywhere and he was<br />
a nightmare to guard, but a joy for basketball lovers<br />
to watch. Today he is an Italian teacher, a language he<br />
learned, one could say, in Varese’s locker room.<br />
Bob Morse, the Varese legend.<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Bob Morse<br />
M
Carlton<br />
Myers<br />
215
The 87-point man<br />
Forum Valladolid was never one <strong>of</strong> the big<br />
clubs in Spain. It never won any titles, but<br />
it has the honor <strong>of</strong> having had on its roster<br />
three <strong>of</strong> the greatest players in <strong>European</strong><br />
basketball: Arvydas Sabonis, Oscar Schmidt<br />
and Carlton Myers. The “Lithuanian Tzar”<br />
and the “Brazilian Holy Hand” were perhaps better<br />
known than the Italian shooter with Jamaican origins,<br />
but he was nearly as prolific. Carlton Ettore Francesco<br />
Myers was born on March 30, 1971, in London, where<br />
his parents worked. When he was 10 years old, the<br />
family moved to Rimini, a small Italian city on the<br />
Adriatic coast where, until he turned 17, nobody saw<br />
Carlton as a future basketball star.<br />
Trading in the flute<br />
Carlton’s father was a musician, a saxophonist, and it<br />
was logical that his son would follow his footsteps, even<br />
though he chose the flute. In between school and music<br />
lessons, young Myers played basketball. But before turning<br />
17, it was only a hobby. Little by little, however, basketball<br />
started taking over and ended up defeating the flute.<br />
Carlton Myers dropped music school, convinced that his<br />
future was in basketball. From 1988 to 1992 he played in<br />
the Italian second division for Mar Rimini. He started out<br />
scoring 2.5 points in the 1988-89 season, and in the next<br />
one, he improved to 5.9 points. His true explosion came<br />
in 1991-92, when he averaged 26.8 points! After shining<br />
in the Italian second division, he signed for Scavolini Pesaro<br />
as the great prospect <strong>of</strong> Italian basketball. During his<br />
first season, in 39 games, he averaged 16.8 points while<br />
shooting 33.5% from the arc, his biggest weapon in the<br />
decade that was about to follow.<br />
In a story published in Spanish newspaper Mundo<br />
Deportivo during the holiday break <strong>of</strong> 1992, his Scavolini<br />
teammate Haywoode Workman explained Scavolini’s<br />
playing system: “It’s pretty simple. It’s about giving<br />
the ball to Carlton so that he decides what to do with it<br />
at the right time.”<br />
That’s the same recipe used by all coaches who<br />
were fortunate enough to have Myers on their team.<br />
Standing at 1.92 meters, he was a natural-born shooting<br />
guard, but his talent had much more in store. His<br />
shot, especially from downtown, was his lethal weapon,<br />
but many times he was the best passer or rebounder<br />
on his team, too.<br />
Index rating 94!<br />
During his second season with Scavolini, Myers’<br />
scoring average was already 25.1 points and he was<br />
shooting 40.7% on threes. For the 1994-95 season, he<br />
went back to Rimini, in the second division, where he<br />
scored 29.6 points per game. On January 26, 1995, he<br />
etched his name in the history books <strong>of</strong> Italian and <strong>European</strong><br />
basketball by scoring 87 points against Udine,<br />
the most ever at the Italian pr<strong>of</strong>essional level. His previous<br />
personal high was 51 points with Scavolini in the<br />
first division. Against Udine, Myers had an incredible<br />
shooting night: 14 <strong>of</strong> 22 two-pointers, 9 <strong>of</strong> 19 threes<br />
and 32 <strong>of</strong> 35 free throws. His final index rating was 94!<br />
As far as I know, nobody in the modern era <strong>of</strong> <strong>European</strong><br />
basketball has reached those numbers, even though<br />
Myers did it in the Italian second division. Nikola Mirotic<br />
<strong>of</strong> Real Madrid had an index rating <strong>of</strong> 84 at the Euroleague<br />
<strong>Basketball</strong> ADIDAS NEXT GENERATION TOURNA-<br />
MENT Ciutat de L’Hospitalet tournament in 2008.<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Carlton Myers<br />
M
Vladimir Stankovic<br />
Those 87 points by Myers are not a <strong>European</strong> record,<br />
however. The world record at the pr<strong>of</strong>essional<br />
level belongs to Erman Kunter, who managed to score<br />
153 points, 81 in the first half, with Fenerbahce in the<br />
Turkish League against Hilaspor in 1988. Other great<br />
performances include Radivoj Korac scoring 99 points<br />
against Alvik Stockholm during the 1965 EuroLeague;<br />
Drazen Petrovic destroying the Union Olimpija junior<br />
team (sent to the game by the club’s decision after a<br />
sanction) with 112 points in the first game <strong>of</strong> the 1985-<br />
86 season; and Zdenko Babic <strong>of</strong> Zadar tallying 144<br />
points against Apoel <strong>of</strong> Cyprus in a Korac Cup game a<br />
week later. But in the last 25 years in Europe, nobody<br />
has touched Carlton Myers’ mark. What is true about<br />
Myers’ performance is that, after three quarters, the<br />
coach and his teammates realized it could be a historic<br />
milestone and they looked for Myers on each play.<br />
EuroLeague record<br />
Between 1995 and 2001 Myers played with Fortitudo<br />
Bologna, before playing the following three seasons<br />
with Virtus Roma and then spending the first half <strong>of</strong><br />
the 2004-05 season with Montepaschi Siena and the<br />
second half in Spain with Forum Valladolid (21.3 points<br />
in 28 games). After that, Myers went back to Italy and<br />
Scavolini and then, in 2010, he put an end to a brilliant<br />
career with Riviera <strong>of</strong> Rimini. Behind him were 637 Italian<br />
League games with an average <strong>of</strong> 19.5 points. Over<br />
those many games, he had made 39.4% <strong>of</strong> his threepoint<br />
shots, 51.4% <strong>of</strong> his two-pointers and 85.2% <strong>of</strong> his<br />
free throws. Myers was Italian champ with Fortitudo in<br />
2000 and also won the Italian Supercup and Italian Cup<br />
with the same team in 1998, being named MVP <strong>of</strong> the<br />
final. He was named MVP <strong>of</strong> the Italian League twice, in<br />
1994 and 1997, and he was the top scorer <strong>of</strong> the EuroLeague<br />
in 1997. But one can see that he is still missing<br />
a <strong>European</strong> title at the club level. He tried several<br />
times, but he never went farther than the semifinals.<br />
However, Myers still holds a EuroLeague record: his 41<br />
points against Real Madrid on March 7, 2001, is still – together<br />
with Alphonso Ford, Bobby Brown and Kaspars<br />
Kambala – the best scoring mark in the modern-day<br />
EuroLeague since 2000. In that game, which Fortitudo<br />
won 88-70, Myers had also a performance index rating<br />
<strong>of</strong> 45, his highest.<br />
Crown in Paris<br />
However, Myers’ results with the Italian national<br />
team made up for his lack <strong>of</strong> international titles with<br />
clubs. He made his debut in blue during the 1993 Euro-<br />
Basket in Germany and did well, scoring 14.3 points per<br />
game. After missing the 1995 EuroBasket in Athens,<br />
he was back for the following one in 1997 in Barcelona<br />
and he won the silver medal after Italy fell to Yugoslavia<br />
in the final 61-49. Myers was the top scorer in that<br />
final, with 17 points. In the group stage, Italy defeated<br />
Yugoslavia 74-69 thanks to 24 points from Myers, but<br />
in the title game, Yugoslavia was better with Predrag<br />
Danilovic at the helm. The rivalry between Myers and<br />
Danilovic had moved from Bologna – the former with<br />
Fortitudo, the latter with Virtus – to the international<br />
stage. At the 1997 EuroBasket, Carlton Myers’ final<br />
figures were 15.8 points, 1.2 rebounds and 2.6 assists.<br />
The best was yet to come, though. In the 1999 Euro-<br />
Basket in France, Myers led Italy all the way to the gold<br />
medal. His 16.3 points, 3.0 assists and 1.6 rebounds in<br />
30 minutes per game were key for the Italian triumph. In<br />
the title game against Spain, a 64-56 victory, he scored<br />
18 points. He nailed 22 against Turkey, Russia and Bosnia-Herzegovina<br />
and then had 20 points against the<br />
216<br />
217
Carlton Myers was recognized by the Italian Olympic<br />
Committee, too, as he was chosen to be the Italian flag<br />
bearer during the Parade <strong>of</strong> Nations at the Opening<br />
Ceremony.<br />
Myers scored 40 or more points 17 times in the Italian<br />
League, however, his feats did not always result in a win.<br />
“Scoring more than 40 points and losing the game<br />
kills me,” he said many times. “It’s just a useless performance<br />
and the truth is that it makes me feel bad<br />
because we didn’t reach the main goal, which is winning<br />
the game.” An example was him scoring 41 points in<br />
the fifth game <strong>of</strong> the final series <strong>of</strong> the Italian League in<br />
1997 with Fortitudo against Benetton Treviso. His team<br />
lost the game, and the title, by the score <strong>of</strong> 84-82.<br />
When Myers retired, at 40 years old, the then president<br />
<strong>of</strong> the Italian basketball federation, legend Dino<br />
Meneghin, said about him:<br />
“I hope that young players today can watch and<br />
study the videos to see how he played. Carlton Myers<br />
was an example for everyone.”<br />
I agree 100 percent. If young players want to see<br />
how a great shooting guard should do his job, I also<br />
recommend watching Carlton Myers videos.<br />
Carlton Myers<br />
Czech Republic. Coach Bogdan Tanjevic had a kind <strong>of</strong><br />
life insurance with Carlton Myers, the man who scored<br />
when the team needed it most. He scored many points<br />
from the foul line because he kept drawing fouls when<br />
shooting or penetrating. However, fouling him was not a<br />
very good idea because he hardly ever missed from the<br />
line. Over his career, Myers made 85% <strong>of</strong> his free throws.<br />
At the Sydney Olympics in 2000, the great career <strong>of</strong><br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
M
Mihovil<br />
Nakic<br />
219
An octopus<br />
under the rims<br />
When speaking about basketball<br />
in Zagreb, the first associations<br />
are normally Cibona, KK<br />
Zagreb, lately Cedevita and,<br />
<strong>of</strong> course, some great players<br />
from there. But few people<br />
know that the Croatian capital also has a small club<br />
that produced two world champions and one Olympic<br />
gold medalist, plus several silver and bronze<br />
medalists in great national competitions. And<br />
these three players are the owners <strong>of</strong> seven continental<br />
titles at the club level, as well. This small club<br />
is Mladost, which translates to “Youth”, and those<br />
three players are Nikola Plecas, Damir Solman and<br />
Mihovil Nakic.<br />
The first two won gold medals with Yugoslavia at the<br />
1970 World Cup in Ljubljana. Two years earlier, they had<br />
won the silver medal at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico<br />
City, too. Nakic was an Olympic champion at Moscow<br />
in 1980 and has an Olympic bronze from Los Angeles<br />
in 1984. All three <strong>of</strong> the players won several medals<br />
at EuroBaskets: Solman and Plecas gold at Barcelona<br />
in 1973 and Belgrade in 1975, plus silver at Naples in<br />
1969; and Nakic has a bronze from Turin in 1979. At the<br />
club level, Nakic was a EuroLeague champion with Cibona<br />
in 1985 and 1986 and a Saporta Cup title-winner in<br />
1982 and 1987; Solman won two Korac Cup titles, with<br />
Jugoplastika in 1976 and 1977; and Plecas was the first<br />
winner in that competition, in 1972, with Lokomotiva<br />
Zagreb.<br />
From Orleans to Moscow<br />
Mihovil Nakic, who was born on July 13, 1955, in<br />
Drnis, Croatia, was also a gold medalist at the 1974<br />
<strong>European</strong> Championship for Junior Men in Orleans,<br />
France. Yugoslavia won all <strong>of</strong> its nine games and in the<br />
final defeated Spain by the score <strong>of</strong> 80-79. Nakic averaged<br />
5 points, with a high <strong>of</strong> 14 against Greece. That<br />
was also the first time we saw the gigantic Soviet center<br />
Vladimir Tkachenko (2.20 meters). The best scorer <strong>of</strong> the<br />
tournament was Polish player Eugeniusz Kijewski (27.2<br />
points). For Italy, there was Renato Villalta, while France<br />
had a good generation with Eric Beugnot (the second<br />
best scorer, with 19.7 points) and Herve Dubuisson.<br />
The Yugoslav team, coached by Bogdan Tanjevic, then<br />
the young coach <strong>of</strong> Bosna Sarajevo, featured among<br />
others Branko Skroce (best scorer with 17.7 points),<br />
Rajko Zizic, Andro Knego, Ratko Radovanovic and Nakic.<br />
Six years later, the five <strong>of</strong> them were Olympic champs<br />
in Moscow. Except for Skroce, a left-handed guard and<br />
great shooter, the rest were big men. The shortest one<br />
was Nakic, but despite being only 2.03 meters he had a<br />
great rebounding ability. Many times he ended games<br />
as the best rebounder.<br />
Nakic, known in the world <strong>of</strong> basketball as “Nik”,<br />
was not a big media star. He was not a player who drew<br />
attention because <strong>of</strong> his elegance or brilliant technique,<br />
but he was a great player – life insurance, if you will, for<br />
his coaches. Points were not his thing, even though<br />
he would score more than 20. He was the key man on<br />
defense: rebounds, blocks, guarding the best opposing<br />
big man regardless <strong>of</strong> his height. His big hands, rebounding<br />
ability and great timing for rebounds made<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Mihovil Nakic<br />
N
Vladimir Stankovic<br />
his defensive game easier. With his long arms and long<br />
hands, Nakic sometimes looked like an octopus that<br />
grabbed everything within reach. On <strong>of</strong>fense, he used<br />
his jumping ability and had a very precise hook shot. He<br />
was a team player and many times the key man for his<br />
teams, although he also had the privilege to play alongside<br />
fellow legends like Kreso Cosic, Drazen Petrovic,<br />
Dragan Kicanovic and Drazen Dalipagic. In a certain<br />
way, that led him to have less presence in the media.<br />
At 18 years old, Nakic left Mladost, which normally<br />
played in the second or third division, to move up to the<br />
first division with Industromontaza, which at the beginning<br />
<strong>of</strong> the 1970s was the second team in Zagreb. After<br />
three years, he went to the United States and signed<br />
for Brigham Young University, the same school where<br />
Cosic also studied and shined. But Nakic stayed there<br />
for only six months. He was back home in 1977 to sign<br />
with Cibona. He spent the next 12 seasons there, except<br />
for one with Udine <strong>of</strong> Italy, in 1987-88, and another in<br />
military service, in 1982-83. It was the golden age <strong>of</strong> the<br />
team built by head coach Mirko Novosel. With Cibona,<br />
Nakic won 12 titles, ranking him third in the club’s history<br />
in trophies won. He played 414 games and scored<br />
4,830 points and is the sixth-best scorer in club history.<br />
Nakic made his national team debut with Yugoslavia<br />
in 1977 and kept going until 1985. Along the way,<br />
he played 75 games as an international, as well as 25<br />
more with the Yugoslav B team. He scored 133 points<br />
and played under several coaches. He made his debut<br />
with “Pr<strong>of</strong>essor” Aleksandar Nikolic before winning the<br />
bronze medal at EuroBasket 1979 in Italy with Petar<br />
Skansi. Ranko Zeravica was the coach when Yugoslavia<br />
became the Olympic champion in 1980. With Novosel,<br />
Nakic won the bronze at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles<br />
and he played at the 1985 EuroBasket under Cosic.<br />
Just 10 years after winning his first international trophy,<br />
the Korac Cup in 1972, with only eight participants,<br />
Cibona won its second <strong>European</strong> trophy in 1982. In the<br />
Saporta Cup final, played in Brussels in 1982, Cibona<br />
defeated Real Madrid 96-95 in overtime after an 88-88<br />
tie through four quarters. Andro Knego was the hero<br />
<strong>of</strong> the game with 34 points, while Cosic added 22 and<br />
Nakic had 6 points.<br />
Unforgettable Piraeus<br />
One <strong>of</strong> the happiest days in Nakic’s brilliant career<br />
was April 3, 1985. At the final <strong>of</strong> the EuroLeague, again<br />
it was Cibona vs. Real Madrid. At Peace and Friendship<br />
Stadium in Piraeus, Greece, some 14,500 fans witnessed<br />
a great game. Cibona won 87-78 with Drazen<br />
Petrovic as the star with 36 points. Nakic played 40<br />
minutes, scored 7 points and pulled down 11 boards –<br />
<strong>of</strong>ficially, although he thinks it was 21! He also blocked<br />
8 shots and grabbed 3 steals. Aleksandar Petrovic also<br />
played 40 minutes while Drazen Petrovic played 39,<br />
Knego 37, Zoran Cutura 33 minutes and three other<br />
players combined for 11 minutes (Sven Usic 7, Branko<br />
Vukicevic 3 and Adnan Becic 1). In other words, there<br />
were no rotations for Novosel.<br />
Just a year later in Budapest, Cibona won its second<br />
straight EuroLeague final, 94-82 against Zalgiris<br />
Kaunas, whose star center Arvydas Sabonis was disqualified<br />
midway through the second half for punching<br />
Nakic. In his usual 40 minutes, Nakic scored 7 points,<br />
grabbed 6 boards, blocked 4 shots and stole 2 balls.<br />
There were others in charge <strong>of</strong> scoring for Cibona, like<br />
Danko Cvjeticanin (23 points), Sven Usic (23) and Drazen<br />
Petrovic (22).<br />
In the 1987-88 season, Cibona could not defend<br />
the EuroLeague title, but it didn’t skip a beat in winning<br />
220<br />
221
others. At the final <strong>of</strong> the Saporta Cup in Novi Sad, on<br />
March 17, 1987, Cibona defeated Scavolini 89-74 as<br />
Petrovic scored 28 points and Nakic had 17 points and<br />
9 boards.<br />
After a solid season in Fantoni Udine (13.7 points,<br />
8.7 rebounds), Nakic was back to Cibona and after the<br />
1988-89 season, he put an end to his career. His number<br />
4 was eventually retired by the club, joining Drazen<br />
Petrovic’s 10 and Knego’s 11. Nakic went on to serve as<br />
Cibona’s sports director. Just as he was admired as a<br />
player, Nakic was respected as a director for being always<br />
keen on new ideas to improve basketball.<br />
Mihovil Nakic<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
N
Petar<br />
Naumoski<br />
223
The Macedonian<br />
pearl<br />
If someone were to ask me who was the best Macedonian<br />
player <strong>of</strong> all time, my initial debate would be<br />
between Blagoja Georgijevski and Petar Naumoski.<br />
The former was the leader <strong>of</strong> a great Rabotnicki<br />
team during the 1970s. He played in the Olympics<br />
twice with Yugoslavia (1972 and 1976) and was also<br />
the all-time top scorer for Rabotnicki (4,500 points<br />
in the national league).<br />
Naumoski, meanwhile, had a great career at the club<br />
level, played for several great teams in Europe and won<br />
five <strong>European</strong> trophies. He also participated in several<br />
FIBA all-star games. If I had to choose, I would probably<br />
go with Naumoski, because <strong>of</strong> his international success<br />
and his 24 titles won in Yugoslavia, Turkey and Italy.<br />
Maljkovic, the prophet<br />
Petar Naumoski – Peca for his friends – was born on<br />
August 27, 1968, in Prilep, a town located in southern<br />
FYROM, some 130 kilometers away from the capital,<br />
Skopje. At 16 years old he was already playing with<br />
Rabotnicki Skopje, the best Macedonian team in the Yugoslav<br />
League for many years. Standing at 1.94 meters<br />
in the younger categories, he used to play both guard<br />
positions as well as small forward. His natural place<br />
was playmaker, however, because <strong>of</strong> his ball control and<br />
court vision. He could also play shooting guard easily,<br />
thanks to his great shot. He was a natural talent, one <strong>of</strong><br />
many to come out <strong>of</strong> Yugoslavia, but he never played on<br />
the cadet or junior national teams.<br />
Boza Maljkovic arrived in Split to build the great Jugoplastika<br />
teams based on the talent <strong>of</strong> Toni Kukoc, Dino<br />
Radja, Zan Tabak and others, but from the start, he<br />
knew he’d have to go fishing in waters away from Split.<br />
That’s how Dusko Ivanovic <strong>of</strong> Buducnost Podgorica<br />
arrived with his experience, and how Zoran Sretenovic<br />
from Crvena Zvezda and Luka Pavicevic from Cibona<br />
Zagreb came to play point guard. Later came Zoran<br />
Savic from Zenica and Aramis Naglic from Rijeka. They<br />
all played right away, but Maljkovic was always looking<br />
ahead and took note <strong>of</strong> youngsters who had promising<br />
futures and would be called to take over eventually.<br />
That’s how Split welcomed a young forward from Montenegro,<br />
Velibor-Borko Radovic, and a young guard<br />
from Macedonia named Petar Naumoski.<br />
The two youngsters’ names appear in the Jugoplastika<br />
roster that won the EuroLeague in 1990 and 1991,<br />
both times against FC Barcelona in the final, but their<br />
contribution was merely symbolic. From the bench,<br />
they enjoyed the play <strong>of</strong> their teammates, gained experience<br />
and got ready to step in a couple years later.<br />
Naumoski’s discoverer, Maljkovic, told me that Peca<br />
was a unique case:<br />
“I told him: ‘You will be practicing hard, almost eight<br />
hours a day, but you will not be playing.’ And he just agreed<br />
to it,” Maljkovic says. “I never knew <strong>of</strong> a similar case, a<br />
player willing to work hard without playing. But Naumoski<br />
was self-confident and he took the situation as an investment.<br />
In practice, he was fantastic. He won all one-on-one<br />
situations, had a great shot, and I just knew he would be<br />
one <strong>of</strong> the best point guards in Europe. I am proud that I<br />
could see his talent when he was an unknown young kid.”<br />
Then, during the autumn <strong>of</strong> 1991, the war broke out<br />
in former Yugoslavia. Jugoplastika, as a multi-ethnic<br />
team, just disintegrated. Players from outside Croatia,<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Petar Naumoski<br />
N
Vladimir Stankovic<br />
save for Sretenovic, left the club. Savic signed for Barcelona,<br />
Pavicevic for Radnicki Belgrade, while Radovic and<br />
Naumoski went back home to Buducnost and Rabotnicki,<br />
respectively. In the 1991-92 Yugoslav League, without<br />
teams from Croatia and Slovenia, Naumoski shined<br />
for Rabotnicki. After his discreet numbers during two<br />
years in Split (39 games, 73 points, 1.9 points per<br />
game), Naumoski scored 388 points in 22 games (17.6<br />
average). I remember a game <strong>of</strong> his in Belgrade against<br />
Partizan (the eventual EuroLeague champion that season)<br />
that Naumoski practically won alone. He finished<br />
the season as the ninth-best scorer <strong>of</strong> the league with<br />
tough competition like Boban Jankovic, Predrag Danilovic<br />
and his former teammates Pavicevic (third with<br />
464 points) and Radovic (eighth with 390). Rabotnicki<br />
reached the semifinals and lost to Crvena Zvezda.<br />
Breakthrough in Efes and triumph in Benetton<br />
After that great season, Efes Pilsen <strong>of</strong> Turkey took<br />
notice <strong>of</strong> Naumoski and managed to make one <strong>of</strong> the<br />
club’s best signings ever. After Naumoski’s arrival,<br />
Efes started its rise in Europe. On March 16, 1993,<br />
Efes became the first Turkish team ever to reach a<br />
continental final, the Korac Cup. The brain <strong>of</strong> that team<br />
was Naumoski. He played 31.2 minutes per game,<br />
averaged 17.0 points and 3.0 assists, and made 25 <strong>of</strong><br />
52 three-pointers (48.1%). However, that year’s Korac<br />
Cup title game against Aris Thessaloniki in Turin will not<br />
be remembered because <strong>of</strong> the play on the court, but<br />
rather for a disgraceful battle between fans from both<br />
sides in the stands. The game ended with a 50-48 win<br />
for Aris, but four Efes players ended up in the hospital.<br />
At the end <strong>of</strong> that season, Efes won the Turkish<br />
League and Naumoski had a main role, <strong>of</strong> course. The<br />
following season, Efes won the Turkish double crown<br />
and that was enough for Benetton Treviso to call Naumoski.<br />
He signed, moved to Italy and had a great season<br />
there, too, as Benetton reached the 1995 Saporta Cup<br />
final. The opponent was Taugres Vitoria <strong>of</strong> Spain and<br />
the game was played at Abdi Ipekci Arena in Istanbul,<br />
Naumoski’s former home court. The same teams had<br />
already met in a quarterfinals group, with each winning<br />
its home game, Taugres by the score <strong>of</strong> 80-71 in Vitoria<br />
and Benetton 99-89 in Treviso. In the final, Benetton<br />
was the better team and won 94-86 with Naumoski and<br />
Orlando Woolridge as a lethal duo, scoring 26 points<br />
apiece. Naumoski made 5 <strong>of</strong> 5 two-point shots, 2 <strong>of</strong> 5<br />
threes and 10 <strong>of</strong> 11 free throws to go with 2 rebounds<br />
and 5 assists. He played all 40 minutes. On the other<br />
side was Velimir Perasovic, his former teammate in<br />
Jugoplastika. It was Naumoski’s third <strong>European</strong> trophy,<br />
but this time he was in the spotlight. His average for the<br />
competition was 20.8 points. He had the most points<br />
for his team (353 points) although Woolridge had a better<br />
average (22.5) playing three fewer games.<br />
In the Italian League, Naumoski averaged 18.3<br />
points, 2.9 rebounds and 2.8 assists. His three-point<br />
shooting was over 50% as he made 95 <strong>of</strong> 189 attempts.<br />
With those percentages, he led the ranking ahead <strong>of</strong><br />
players like Sasha Djordjevic (47.2%), Henry Williams<br />
(47,1%) and Arijan Komazec (46,8%). Naumoski was<br />
also the fifth-best assist-maker that season. Benetton<br />
featured a terrific team (Riccardo Pittis, Riccardo Esposito,<br />
Ken Barlow, Stefano Rusconi, Alberto Vianini,<br />
Denis Marconato, Andrea Gracis, Woolridge.) but lost<br />
the Italian League finals against Buckler Bologna 3-0.<br />
Nonetheless, the team managed to take the Italian Cup<br />
against Trieste by 81-77 with 16 points from Naumoski.<br />
In Turkey, Efes Pilsen realized that losing Naumoski<br />
had turned them into a whole different team. The club<br />
224<br />
225
made a big effort and managed to bring him back to<br />
Istanbul. In March, Efes Pilsen advanced to the Korac<br />
Cup final again, this time facing a Milano team that had<br />
monster talent: Dejan Bodiroga, Nando Gentile, Gregor<br />
Fucka and Rolando Blackman. In the first leg <strong>of</strong> the<br />
two-game series, in Istanbul, Efes won 76-68 behind a<br />
brilliant Naumoski, who poured in 31 points. He made<br />
8 <strong>of</strong> 10 two-pointers and 5 <strong>of</strong> 11 threes to go with 3<br />
rebounds and 10 assists in 40 minutes. Despite being<br />
behind by 8 points before Game 2, Milano remained the<br />
favorite, but only managed to win by 7 at home, 77-70,<br />
with 20 points from Fucka, 15 by Gentile and 14 by Bodiroga.<br />
By a single point, the title went to Efes, and the<br />
man <strong>of</strong> the game was, once more, Naumoski, with 26<br />
points on 3 <strong>of</strong> 5 two-pointers, 4 <strong>of</strong> 8 threes and 8 <strong>of</strong> 8<br />
free throws. It was his fourth <strong>European</strong> trophy.<br />
That same month, Naumoski got his Turkish passport<br />
with the name Namik Polat, but he never would<br />
play with the Turkish national team. His dream was<br />
to wear the Macedonia jersey in a big competition.<br />
His golden years at Efes went on: the double national<br />
crown in 1997 and the Turkish Cup and President’s<br />
Cup in 1998. He would stay at Efes until 1999 and that<br />
summer he managed to fulfill his dream <strong>of</strong> playing EuroBasket<br />
with Macedonia in France. The team featured<br />
Naumoski, Vrbica Stefanov and a young Vlado Ilievski<br />
in a great backcourt, but at the same time lacked big<br />
men and experience. FYROM could only come home<br />
with 13th place out <strong>of</strong> 16 teams. Naumoski was the top<br />
scorer <strong>of</strong> the team at 15 points per game.<br />
Return to Italy<br />
At the end <strong>of</strong> the 20th century, Naumoski was voted<br />
best Macedonian player <strong>of</strong> the millennium. For the<br />
2000-01 season, he went back to Italy, joining Benetton<br />
again. He was still on good form, with 16.9 points on<br />
average, and still posted high percentages from the arc<br />
(130 <strong>of</strong> 273, or 47.3%). He made his debut in the new<br />
EuroLeague with 16.2 points for the season. For the following<br />
one, he signed with Montepaschi Siena and won<br />
his fifth <strong>European</strong> trophy, the Saporta Cup. In the final,<br />
played in Lyon, Siena defeated Valencia by the score <strong>of</strong><br />
81-71. The MVP, you ask? Why, <strong>of</strong> course, it was Petar<br />
Naumoski, who netted 23 points, including 5 <strong>of</strong> 8 triple,<br />
and had good help from Vrbica Stefanov, who scored<br />
17. Naumoski stayed in Italy for two more years, but<br />
this time in Milano, averaging 17.9 and 15.1 points while<br />
shooting 45.1% and a 42.6% from the arc, respectively.<br />
At 35 years old, he was able to score 48 points against<br />
Virtus Bologna. In 2003-04, at almost 36, he played his<br />
last EuroLeague season, averaging 11.5 points.<br />
It wasn’t time to retire yet, however. He was back to<br />
Turkey to join Ulker and won the Turkish Cup, his last trophy.<br />
He played in Italy again, this time with humble teams<br />
like Pallacanestro Guido Rossi and Derthona Basket, but<br />
he decided to put an end to his brilliant career in Macedonia<br />
with the MZT Skopje jersey. In 2011 he played the<br />
national cup final against Rabotnicki, his team <strong>of</strong> origin,<br />
but lost 74-69. The circle closed where it had started, in<br />
Skopje, with more than 25 years in between.<br />
Naumoski was a playmaker but maybe “basket-maker”<br />
is a term that would suit him better. He scored a lot<br />
<strong>of</strong> points as one <strong>of</strong> those old-school point guards who<br />
could really shoot. He used the backboard a lot, too,<br />
with a double intent: more security and a guaranteed<br />
basket if the rivals touched the ball. He was a complete<br />
player, smart and with a winning character. He always<br />
triumphed wherever he played.<br />
Petar Naumoski, the Macedonian pearl.<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Petar Naumoski<br />
N
Audie<br />
Norris<br />
227
Barcelona’s<br />
adopted son<br />
With so many great players who<br />
have worn the Barcelona jersey<br />
over the years, I cannot be 100%<br />
certain that Audie Norris was<br />
the best foreign player ever on<br />
that team. But if there was ever<br />
a poll to determine the most beloved foreigner by the<br />
Barcelona fans, I am sure he would win by a lot.<br />
As appreciated and admired as Norris was – and, in<br />
fact, still is – that can only be achieved with the ultimate<br />
mix <strong>of</strong> sporting and humane qualities. Audie had both<br />
to spare. He was an excellent player and a great human<br />
being. During his six years in Barcelona, he became the<br />
biggest idol at Palau Blaugrana, the club’s classic arena.<br />
Today, whenever Norris comes to the gym to see a<br />
game – which he <strong>of</strong>ten does because <strong>of</strong> his great love<br />
for the club and the city – the fans still rise and give him<br />
an ovation.<br />
A mistake for Real Madrid<br />
Audie James Norris, who was born on December<br />
18, 1960, arrived in Europe as a well-known player.<br />
After an excellent college basketball career at Jackson<br />
State University, the NBA team <strong>of</strong> his native Portland,<br />
the Trail Blazers, selected him with the 37th overall<br />
pick in the 1982 draft. But after three years and 187<br />
games, during which he averaged 4.4 points and 3.8<br />
rebounds per night, Norris decided to try playing in<br />
Europe. He chose to start with what, at the time, was a<br />
humble Benetton Treviso team in Italy. Known later as<br />
a perennial contender for <strong>European</strong> trophies, Benetton<br />
then was mostly fighting just to stay in the Italian first<br />
division. He enjoyed a brilliant debut season with 21.2<br />
points and 10.1 rebounds per game. Of course, big<br />
clubs began to eye the “Atomic Dog”, as he had been<br />
nicknamed by Mychal Thompson because <strong>of</strong> his physical<br />
attributes.<br />
Norris landed next in the Spanish capital and everything<br />
pointed to an imminent deal with Real Madrid, but<br />
a contract difference <strong>of</strong> $10,000, according to Norris,<br />
torpedoed the deal. Neither side was willing to budge<br />
even a single dollar, the negotiations fell apart and, in<br />
the end, Benetton won, as it was able to extend Norris<br />
for another season. Norris shined again with 20.1<br />
points and 10.6 rebounds per game. He deservedly<br />
won the award for the best foreign player in the Italian<br />
League that season.<br />
In the summer <strong>of</strong> 1987, several teams fought again<br />
to sign Norris. Something that had not happened<br />
before, and has not happened since, took place. According<br />
to the excellent book “Foreigners in the ACB”,<br />
Barcelona and Bologna agreed to share the services<br />
<strong>of</strong> Norris. He would play two years in Barcelona and<br />
then go to play in Bologna. In the end it didn’t happen,<br />
<strong>of</strong> course, because Norris, with his performances and<br />
behavior, practically forced Barcelona to break the<br />
agreement - and pay for it.<br />
Aito Garcia Reneses, who was the Barcelona coach<br />
at that time, had seen Norris play for Portland in the<br />
San Diego summer league and from the first moment<br />
he knew that he wanted that player for his Barça. It finally<br />
happened three years later. Norris went on to stay<br />
in Barcelona for six seasons, winning three Spanish<br />
Leagues (1988, 1989 and 1990) and two Spanish King’s<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Audie Norris<br />
N
Vladimir Stankovic<br />
Cups (1988 and 1991). But his career is a clear example,<br />
and quite a rare one in sports, that results do not always<br />
define the image <strong>of</strong> a player.<br />
The Euroleague was always missing in Norris’s trophy<br />
case, as it was during so many years for Barcelona,<br />
which back then had only lost one final still, in 1984<br />
against Roma. The second chance arrived in Munich in<br />
1989, but a young Jugoplastika Split led by Toni Kukoc<br />
and Dino Radja on the court and Boza Maljkovic – who<br />
would later coach Norris in Barcelona – on the bench,<br />
surprised everyone by beating Barça in the semis, 87-<br />
77, and later beating Maccabi Tel Aviv in the final, 75-69.<br />
Norris scored 15 points in that semifinal, but Kukoc<br />
was huge for Jugoplastika (24), which also got contributions<br />
from Dusko Ivanovic (21) and Radja (18). The<br />
following year in Zaragoza, Barça and Jugoplastika met<br />
again – this time in the final – and Jugoplastika won<br />
again, 72-67, despite 18 points and 10 boards from<br />
Norris. The third consecutive duel between the teams<br />
took place in the 1991 final in Paris, this time with Mal-<br />
228<br />
229
jkovic coaching Barcelona. Nevertheless, Jugoplastika<br />
won it again behind the brilliant Zoran Savic (27 points),<br />
who would also be a future teammate <strong>of</strong> Norris in<br />
Barcelona. Norris scored 8 points and pulled down 3<br />
boards, but he was playing after a long hiatus due to a<br />
shoulder injury.<br />
Injuries, the worst enemy<br />
During Norris’ career, his weak spot was injuries,<br />
especially his knees. He missed many games and spent<br />
weeks and even months with Toni Bove, Barcelona’s<br />
physiotherapist, but always came back. In the Spanish<br />
League, where he averaged 14.2 points and 7.6 rebounds<br />
over six years, his duels with the late Fernando<br />
Martin <strong>of</strong> Real Madrid are greater than legend. He also<br />
fought in the paint with Arvydas Sabonis in his prime<br />
as well as great stars and legends like Dino Meneghin,<br />
Radja, Vlade Divac and Panagiotis Fasoulas in <strong>European</strong><br />
contests. Norris stood only 2.06 meters, but he looked<br />
bigger because <strong>of</strong> his big body and long arms.<br />
Jose Luis Galilea, one <strong>of</strong> his teammates in Barcelona<br />
in the early 1990s, defined Norris in an article for Solo<br />
Basket magazine:<br />
“An old school big man who created from the low<br />
post. An excellent passer thanks to his great understanding<br />
<strong>of</strong> the game and huge hands, which made the<br />
ball look like a handball. And great character. He was a<br />
man who, despite being a star, was close to anybody<br />
who would approach him. He treated with the same<br />
respect and love the cleaning ladies at Palau Blaugrana<br />
and the President <strong>of</strong> the Generalitat (the regional government<br />
<strong>of</strong> Catalonia), the veteran player or the junior<br />
rookie. He was loved by all, even by people who didn’t<br />
follow basketball closely. He was generous in his game<br />
and the way he related to everyone else, on and <strong>of</strong>f the<br />
court. He was a mentor for the youngest ones like Santi<br />
Abad, Lisard Gonzalez, Roger Esteller, Angel Almeida ...<br />
even myself. Young kids that were starting out and trying<br />
to find our place in the pr<strong>of</strong>essional world. He even<br />
taught me, together with Piculin Ortiz, to speak English.”<br />
I personally met Norris during his last season in Barcelona.<br />
He made for an excellent duo with Savic. Today<br />
it’s always a pleasure running into the man at the Palau<br />
or any place. He continues hosting basketball camps in<br />
and around Barcelona and the kids that attend will get<br />
a chance to learn about basketball and more from one<br />
<strong>of</strong> the best.<br />
Audie Norris, the idol <strong>of</strong> Palau.<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Audie Norris<br />
N
Fabricio<br />
Oberto<br />
231
Hard-working star<br />
I<br />
remember seeing Fabricio Oberto for the first time<br />
at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, but I admit that in a<br />
tournament full <strong>of</strong> stars, I didn’t pay much attention<br />
to an Argentina squad that finished ninth. It was easy<br />
to miss the talent <strong>of</strong> a kid on a national team that was<br />
not yet what it would become. However, Oberto, who<br />
was born on March 21, 1975, in Las Varillas, Argentina,<br />
did not need much time to prove that he was worthy <strong>of</strong><br />
sharing the stage with the game’s greats.<br />
Only one year later, at the McDonald’s Open in Paris<br />
– in my opinion the best <strong>of</strong> those events in the 1990s –<br />
the all-tournament team was made up <strong>of</strong> Michael Jordan<br />
(Chicago Bulls), Eric Struelens (Paris Saint Germain),<br />
Arturas Karnisovas (FC Barcelona), Dragan Tarlac (Olympiacos)<br />
and Oberto (Atenas de Córdoba). Aside from<br />
the aforementioned clubs, the other participant was<br />
Benetton Treviso, with the likes <strong>of</strong> Riccardo Pittis, Zeljko<br />
Rebraca and Denis Marconato, plus Zeljko Obradovic on<br />
the bench. FC Barcelona had stars such as Sasha Djordjevic,<br />
Rafa J<strong>of</strong>resa, Andres Jimenez and Marcelo Nicola;<br />
Olympiacos featured Johnny Rogers and Panagiotis<br />
Fasoulas; PSG had Stephane Risacher, Richard Dacoury<br />
and Alfonso Reyes; and the Bulls had names like Toni<br />
Kukoc, Ron Harper, Steve Kerr and Luc Longley.<br />
The opening game was on October 16, 1997, between<br />
Benetton and Atenas. It proved to be the first upset, 87-<br />
78 for the Argentinians. With veterans like Hector Campana<br />
(33 years old), Marcelo Milanesio (32) and Diego<br />
Osella (28), a 22-year-old Oberto looked like a young kid<br />
on the Atenas team. But his 22 points and 11 rebounds<br />
against Benetton started his road to glory. In an 89-86<br />
loss against Olympiacos, Oberto scored 16 points and<br />
added 6 rebounds and 3 assists, which is probably when<br />
Dusan Ivkovic, then coach <strong>of</strong> the Reds, decided to sign the<br />
2.08-meter Argentinian big man. Oberto’s game, at first<br />
sight, might have looked simple, but that is a hard thing to<br />
achieve in any sport: doing things as second nature, as if<br />
anyone could do them. If I had to define his game in one<br />
word it would be “efficiency”. When he got the ball, he won<br />
position with ease and played well with his back to the<br />
basket and so hardly ever missed when close. If we add<br />
rebounding, good defense and solid passing, we have a<br />
complete player with simple but efficient solutions.<br />
From Atenas to Athens<br />
In the summer <strong>of</strong> 1998, after winning the league title<br />
and being elected MVP in Argentina, Oberto changed<br />
addresses from Atenas to Athens, where he joined Olympiacos<br />
in Greece. Before making his Olympiacos debut,<br />
he played for Argentina at the 1998 World Cup in Athens.<br />
I would say that the great Argentina we came to know,<br />
which six years later won the Olympic gold medal in the<br />
same city, started its golden generation that year. You<br />
had the experience <strong>of</strong> Milanesio – who was Oberto’s idol<br />
during his childhood – Juan Alberto Espil (30), Esteban de<br />
la Fuente (30), Diego Osella (29), Marcelo Nicola (27), Hugo<br />
Sconochini (27), Carlos Simoni (27), Alejandro Montecchia<br />
(26) and Ruben Wolkowyski (25) as well as young players<br />
like Manu Ginobili (21), Pepe Sanchez (21) and Oberto<br />
(23). Yugoslavia won the title, but its most difficult game<br />
was in the quarterfinals against Argentina. On August 7,<br />
1998, Yugoslavia won 70-62, but for some 30 minutes,<br />
Argentina was the better team. This was also the first time<br />
that Dejan Tomasevic (10 points, 11 boards) and Oberto<br />
(6 points, 8 rebounds) – a great duo later at Tau Ceramica<br />
and Valencia – would play against each other.<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Fabricio Oberto<br />
O
Vladimir Stankovic<br />
After taking ninth place in Atlanta, Argentina placed<br />
eighth in Athens and Oberto finished the tournament<br />
with 8.3 points and 3.6 rebounds, enough to expect a<br />
good season with Olympiacos. But that didn’t happen.<br />
His adaptation to <strong>European</strong> basketball was slower than<br />
expected and Ivkovic didn’t give him much playing time.<br />
In 22 EuroLeague games, Oberto averaged 5.3 points<br />
and 3.9 rebounds over 16 minutes. Olympiacos reached<br />
the Final Four in Munich but lost in the semifinal against<br />
eventual champion Zalgiris, 87-71, and defeated Fortitudo<br />
Bologna for third place, 74-63, with Oberto contributing<br />
9 points and 8 rebounds in 20 minutes.<br />
My friend Alejandro Perez, a Buenos Aires-based<br />
journalist and a connoisseur <strong>of</strong> South American basketball,<br />
told me the story <strong>of</strong> how once, in the summer<br />
<strong>of</strong> 1999, a disappointed Oberto told him that he was<br />
thinking <strong>of</strong> going back home. But then the <strong>of</strong>fer that<br />
changed his life arrived. Dusko Ivanovic <strong>of</strong> Tau Ceramica<br />
called him. In his first season in the Spanish League,<br />
Oberto improved his numbers to 9.5 points and 7.0<br />
boards even though Tau would fall to eventual champ<br />
AEK Athens in the Saporta Cup. Oberto missed a few<br />
games in the Spanish League due to injuries.<br />
Oberto’s second season in Vitoria, 2000-01, was<br />
much better. He played all 34 regular season Spanish<br />
League games plus nine in the play<strong>of</strong>fs and amassed<br />
9.0 points and 6.2 rebounds. Tau fell in the semifinals<br />
to Real Madrid 3-2 but reached the finals <strong>of</strong> the first<br />
edition <strong>of</strong> the modern EuroLeague, where it lost 3-2<br />
to Kinder Bologna. Oberto posted 10.9 points and 7.3<br />
rebounds in the EuroLeague.<br />
24 seconds in Indianapolis<br />
The arrival <strong>of</strong> Tomasevic to Vitoria in the summer<br />
<strong>of</strong> 2001 triggered the birth <strong>of</strong> a great duo <strong>of</strong> big men.<br />
They both had the same height (2.08 meters), they<br />
shared some attributes (scoring, rebounding, a sense<br />
for assists, high basketball IQ) and a winning mentality.<br />
In their first season together, they first won the Spanish<br />
King’s Cup at home. Tau Ceramica worked hard to defeat<br />
Joventut Badalona 74-72, topped Unicaja 83-72 and<br />
then edged Barcelona in the final against 85-83. Tomasevic<br />
was named MVP <strong>of</strong> the tournament, but Oberto<br />
was also a main contributor. Tau had a great team with<br />
Sconochini, Luis Scola, Andres Nocioni, Elmer Bennett,<br />
Laurent Foirest, Chris Corchiani and Sergi Vidal. A few<br />
months later they would also win the Spanish League<br />
title against Unicaja, sweeping the finals 3-0.<br />
When the season ended, the big news in Spain was<br />
that both Tomasevic and Oberto were moving together<br />
to Pamesa Valencia. However, before the start <strong>of</strong> that<br />
season, the two friends had a new commitment, the<br />
2002 World Cup in Indianapolis. Argentina and Yugoslavia<br />
reached the title game, the former with great authority<br />
and the latter after struggling in the first phase,<br />
but with a great win over host USA in the quarterfinals.<br />
A brilliant Oberto (28 points, 10 boards) had his team<br />
on the brink <strong>of</strong> the gold medal with 24 seconds to go.<br />
However, two threes by Dejan Bodiroga and questionable<br />
defense by Vlade Divac on Sconochini on the last<br />
play forced overtime, in which Yugoslavia was better<br />
and won, 84-77.<br />
Together again, Oberto and Tomasevic led Pamesa<br />
Valencia all the way to the club’s first <strong>European</strong> title, the<br />
2002-03 EuroCup, in the first edition <strong>of</strong> the competition,<br />
which was then called the ULEB Cup and organized<br />
by Euroleague <strong>Basketball</strong>. On April 15, 2003, Valencia<br />
defeated KRKA, on the road in Novo Mesto, by a score<br />
<strong>of</strong> 78-90 behind 14 points and 7 rebounds from Oberto.<br />
Seven days later, at home in Valencia, the win was clos-<br />
232<br />
233
er, 78-76, but the title stayed in Spain. The duo formed<br />
by Oberto (13 points, 8 rebounds) and Tomasevic (28<br />
points, 11 rebounds and MVP honors) shined again.<br />
As EuroCup champ, Valencia earned the right to<br />
play in the EuroLeague the following season, making its<br />
debut in the top <strong>European</strong> competition. The team had<br />
a good season and reached the Top 16 but missed a<br />
Final Four appearance. Valencia was tied with Maccabi<br />
Tel Aviv in their Top 16 group with a 4-2 record but lost<br />
the tiebreaker to reach the Final Four. Maccabi had won<br />
their first game in Valencia by a 74-89 score, and then<br />
Valencia suffered a 20-0 defeat in the rematch for refusing<br />
to travel to Tel Aviv.<br />
In the summer <strong>of</strong> 2004, Argentina soared in the<br />
Athens Olympics. The key game was in the semifinals<br />
against the USA. Argentina, led by Ginobili with 29<br />
points, won 89-81. In the final against Italy, the team had<br />
no problems and cruised 84-69 to claim the gold medal,<br />
even though Oberto had to miss the game due to injury.<br />
The ring in San Antonio<br />
In the summer <strong>of</strong> 2005, Oberto decided to leave<br />
Valencia and try his luck in the NBA. He left behind 219<br />
games in the Spanish League, with averages <strong>of</strong> 11.0<br />
points, 5.8 rebounds and 1.7 assists. At 31 years old, he<br />
became the San Antonio Spurs’ oldest rookie ever, but<br />
head coach Gregg Popovich trusted Oberto. His role<br />
was helping the second team and he delivered. In the<br />
2006-07 season, in the first two games <strong>of</strong> the Western<br />
Conference Finals, he played 31 minutes and averaged<br />
14.0 points, way above his usual numbers, which were<br />
between 4 and 5 points. The Spurs would go on to win<br />
the title, Oberto’s crowning moment in five NBA seasons.<br />
At the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, Oberto won his<br />
second medal, a bronze, after an 87-75 win over Lithuania.<br />
After four years in San Antonio, where he played<br />
alongside his friend Ginobili, he played one season in<br />
Washington and a few games <strong>of</strong> another in Portland.<br />
Oberto then suffered some heart problems and had to<br />
stop playing. In November <strong>of</strong> 2011, he announced his<br />
retirement. He had played 336 regular season games<br />
in the NBA (3.2 points and 3.5 boards) and 46 play<strong>of</strong>f<br />
games (4.2 points and 3.9 rebounds).<br />
When he had recovered, Oberto played once more<br />
with his first club, Atenas Cordoba, and even with the<br />
national team in the pre-Olympic tournament <strong>of</strong> 2012<br />
in Mar del Plata.<br />
Alejandro Perez pointed out that Oberto had traveled<br />
to the 1993 World Cup in Toronto as the 13th player,<br />
not to play, but to gain valuable experience early in<br />
his career. I remember Mirko Novosel having done the<br />
same thing 20 years earlier, with Mirza Delibasic in the<br />
World Cup in Puerto Rico.<br />
“I am the result <strong>of</strong> hard work. I don’t have the talent.<br />
Everything I ever did was because I practiced hard. I<br />
practiced in my career what others would need three<br />
lives for. That’s the number <strong>of</strong> hours I spent in the gym,”<br />
Oberto said.<br />
Once retired for good, Oberto lived in Cordoba and<br />
worked as a music journalist with his own radio show,<br />
something he had done for fun in Valencia. Oberto also<br />
appeared on a TV show doing exclusive interviews with<br />
well-known people from Ginobili to Eva Longoria. He<br />
also owned a winery with a friend that produced some<br />
400,000 bottles a year. He plays guitar, enjoys rock and<br />
roll and spending time with his daughter. He once said:<br />
“I prefer that Wikipedia says about me that I was a better<br />
person than a player.”<br />
Why not both? The great player he was and the great<br />
person he is.<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Fabricio Oberto<br />
O
Aldo<br />
Ossola<br />
235
Von Karajan <strong>of</strong><br />
Italian basketball<br />
On May 4, 1949, Italian sports suffered<br />
a great tragedy. A plane crashed on<br />
the hill <strong>of</strong> Superga, near Turin. Among<br />
the 31 victims were 18 players from<br />
the great football team Torino, the<br />
best Italian team at the time and winner<br />
<strong>of</strong> five league titles and one national cup between<br />
1942 and 1949. There were no survivors, but two<br />
great names from that tragedy would be passed on<br />
to resurrect Italian sports. One <strong>of</strong> the crash victims,<br />
Valentino Mazzola, was the big star <strong>of</strong> Torino and the<br />
Italian national team, just like his son Sandro Mazzola<br />
would become in the 1970s for Inter Milan and the Italian<br />
national team. Another victim, Franco Ossola, had<br />
a little brother, Aldo, who was only 4 years old at the<br />
time <strong>of</strong> the tragedy. Aldo would grow up to triumph in<br />
another sport, basketball, while another brother, Luigi,<br />
also chose football and played in the first division<br />
with Varese, Roma and Mantova.<br />
Aldo Ossola’s case is not typical. He starred at basketball<br />
without thriving at what is for many the most<br />
important part <strong>of</strong> the game: shooting. Scoring was not<br />
his strong point, even though he knew how to surprise<br />
his teammates and rivals alike from time to time. His<br />
strengths were organizing the game, vision, passing,<br />
great defense and leadership. He was a tall guard, at<br />
1.92 meters, which allowed him to be a solid rebounder,<br />
too. In Italian, there is a word that defines his role<br />
perfectly: “regista”. Ossola was a great guard and a<br />
great floor director who earned his nickname – the<br />
Von Karajan <strong>of</strong> Italian basketball – because he could<br />
orchestrate a basketball game like the world-famous<br />
classical music conductor <strong>of</strong> that time, Herbert Von<br />
Karajan.<br />
Ten finals in a row<br />
Ossola was like the director <strong>of</strong> an orchestra, the<br />
great Ignis Varese <strong>of</strong> the golden era, between 1969 and<br />
1979. The team played an unprecedented 10 consecutive<br />
finals in the EuroLeague, winning five and losing<br />
five. The secret was great balance between great foreign<br />
players like Manuel Raga, Ricky Jones, John Fultz,<br />
Bob Morse, Charlie Yelverton and Randy Meister, with<br />
great Italians like Ossola himself, Dino Meneghin, Dodo<br />
Rusconi, Marino Zanatta, Ottorino Flaborea, Ivan<br />
Bisson and Giulio Iellini. That’s not to forget their great<br />
coaches, Aleksandar Nikolic, Giancarlo Primo and Sandro<br />
Gamba.<br />
This unbelievable run began on April 9, 1970, in<br />
Sarajevo, where Ignis defeated the reigning champ,<br />
CSKA Moscow, 79-74. The stats show that Meneghin<br />
scored 20 points and Raga 18, but Ossola’s contribution<br />
was much greater than his 4 points. He the<br />
brain <strong>of</strong> his team, a leader, a great guard, a man with<br />
the confidence <strong>of</strong> his coach, the legendary Pr<strong>of</strong>essor<br />
Nikolic. He wore number 10 and he was a 10 as a<br />
player. The following year, in Antwerp, CSKA paid back<br />
Varese with interest, 67-53. Ossola was stuck at 4<br />
points again. In his third straight final, 1972 in Tel Aviv,<br />
Ignis defeated Jugoplastika by the score <strong>of</strong> 70-69 with<br />
21 points by Meneghin and 20 by Raga and, again, 4<br />
points from Ossola.<br />
In another final against CSKA, 1973 in Liege, Varese<br />
won 71-66 behind 25 points by Raga and 6 by Ossola.<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Aldo Ossola<br />
O
Vladimir Stankovic<br />
But in 1974 in Nantes, where they lost 84-82 to Real<br />
Madrid, Ossola was back to his customary 4 points.<br />
The next year the final was a rematch in Antwerp, where<br />
Varese prevailed, 79-76, <strong>of</strong> course with 4 points coming<br />
from Ossola in 37 minutes on the floor. His fifth and<br />
last title came in 1976 in Geneva, again against Real Madrid,<br />
81-74. But for that one, Ossola set his best scoring<br />
mark in a final: 9 points. Morse (28) and Meneghin (23)<br />
shined for the champs. Over the next three years, Ossola<br />
and Varese would play as many continental finals,<br />
but lost to Maccabi, Real Madrid and Bosna Sarajevo,<br />
respectively. Ossola’s sixth <strong>European</strong> trophy came in<br />
1980 in Milan against Gabetti Cantu, 90-88 in overtime,<br />
in the Saporta Cup.<br />
“He was a great playmaker, but he had no shot,”<br />
Borislav Stankovic, ex-secretary general <strong>of</strong> FIBA,<br />
remembered <strong>of</strong> Ossola. In 1968, Stankovic became<br />
Italian champion with Orasonda Cantu, thus becoming<br />
the first foreign coach to win the title. “He lacked a shot<br />
but made up for that with game vision, speed, aggressiveness<br />
on defense. He was the soul and spirit <strong>of</strong> that<br />
team. He reminded me <strong>of</strong> Moka Slavnic, but without the<br />
shooting.”<br />
Luca Chiabotti, the prestigious former La Gazzetta<br />
dello Sport basketball expert, also recalled Ossola’s<br />
scoring ability: “In the third game <strong>of</strong> the Italian League<br />
finals <strong>of</strong> 1978 against Synudine Bologna, with Dan Peterson<br />
on the bench, Ossola, already 33, was always<br />
free because the rivals never thought he could shoot.<br />
The stats were on their side: in 27 previous games, he<br />
had totaled 52 points, less than 2 per game. But in that<br />
decisive duel, he scored 11, a huge amount for him and<br />
he was a key player to take the title.”<br />
Another thing, almost unthinkable today: during<br />
his whole career Ossola worked a day job at a family<br />
business <strong>of</strong> jewelry and opticians. In 2005, he played<br />
again in an <strong>of</strong>ficial game at the age <strong>of</strong> 60 with his son<br />
Emanuele, who was born in 1970. The Italian federation<br />
had to change some rules to allow Ossola play at this<br />
age, but his great friend Meneghin, then the president<br />
<strong>of</strong> the federation, said, “For Aldo, we will even change<br />
the constitution”. The doctors green-lighted the issue<br />
because, thanks to his lifestyle, Ossola was in great<br />
health.<br />
A title collector<br />
Ossola’s family may have had a jewelry shop,<br />
but he had one <strong>of</strong> his own stuffed with medals and<br />
trophies. Aside from the five <strong>European</strong> crowns and<br />
the Saporta Cup title, Ossola won the Italian League<br />
seven times, the Italian Cup four times and Intercontinental<br />
Cups twice, in 1970 and 1973, for a total <strong>of</strong> 19<br />
major titles. He has said that he won “everything that<br />
can be won.”<br />
While Ossola triumphed in Varese (plus a brief<br />
stay at Onesta Milano from 1965 to 1968), he had<br />
less luck with the Italian national team. He played the<br />
1969 EuroBasket in Naples with a discreet 1.8 points<br />
per game. He only played 25 games with the national<br />
team. When Italy started winning titles, Coach Giancarlo<br />
Primo preferred Pierluigi Marzorati and Giulio<br />
Iellini. But despite lacking titles at the international<br />
level, Ossola has one <strong>of</strong> the most complete careers<br />
ever <strong>of</strong> an Italian player together with Dino Meneghin.<br />
In fact, Ossola and Meneghin formed a duo that, for<br />
many, is still the best guard-center combination ever<br />
in Italian basketball.<br />
Of course, when Euroleague <strong>Basketball</strong> chose in<br />
2008 to identify the 35 best players during the celebration<br />
<strong>of</strong> 50 years <strong>of</strong> <strong>European</strong> club competitions,<br />
236<br />
237
Ossola was among the names. Sandro Gamba, one <strong>of</strong><br />
his coaches during the great Varese dynasty, defined<br />
Ossola in statements he made to Corriere della Sera<br />
in 2005: “He always saw the game as something fun.<br />
That’s why he never wasted his physical strength. To<br />
me, he was the best Italian point guard <strong>of</strong> all time.”<br />
Aldo Ossola<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
O
Theodoros<br />
Papaloukas<br />
239
MVP <strong>of</strong>f the bench<br />
On his ID you can see that Theo Papaloukas<br />
was born on May 8, 1977,<br />
in the Neo Psychiko neighborhood<br />
<strong>of</strong> Athens. However, his basketball<br />
birthday was a little more than a decade<br />
later, on June 14, 1987. That day,<br />
Papaloukas was, as all <strong>of</strong> Greece, glued to the television<br />
screen watching the EuroBasket 1987 final played<br />
at Peace and Friendship Stadium in Piraeus. Greece<br />
beat the USSR 103-<strong>101</strong> in overtime with 40 points by<br />
Nikos Galis. After that historic win, the streets <strong>of</strong> Athens<br />
turned into a huge party. A young Papaloukas, 10<br />
years old, was amongst the hundreds <strong>of</strong> thousands<br />
<strong>of</strong> euphoric fans, together with his younger brother<br />
Costas. The direct consequence <strong>of</strong> that day was Theo<br />
Papaloukas saying: “I am going to play basketball.”<br />
The fact that his parents’ home was only 20 meters<br />
away from the Ethnikos Ellinoroson court made things<br />
easier. That’s where the career <strong>of</strong> this future Greek and<br />
<strong>European</strong> superstar started. Witnesses from those<br />
days say that even then Papaloukas had more fun<br />
making assists than scoring points. That generosity<br />
would become his trademark during a brilliant career.<br />
His progress was immense, and he kept rising through<br />
categories despite his one physical flaw: he was too<br />
skinny. The next step was signing for Ampelokipoi,<br />
where in the 1995-96 season he played nine games and<br />
scored the same amount <strong>of</strong> points, his first ever in the<br />
Greek League. In his second season, now in the Greek<br />
second division, he played many minutes as a small<br />
forward, which completed his technical formation. In<br />
fact, when he was 20 years old and signed for Dafni, he<br />
was already a complete player capable <strong>of</strong> playing point<br />
guard, shooting guard and small forward.<br />
Assists were always Papaloukas’s best quality, but<br />
he had many more: his speed and lightning-fast hands<br />
allowed him to make many steals, while he could also<br />
run fastbreaks, penetrate, shoot and even rebound,<br />
due to his 2.0-meter height. After two seasons in Dafni,<br />
Papaloukas signed for Panionios where he played for<br />
two seasons. In the second one, 2000-01, his coach was<br />
Slobodan Subotic, who put a lot <strong>of</strong> trust in him and gave<br />
him a lot <strong>of</strong> playing time. Papaloukas ended the season<br />
with 14.5 points, 5.5 assists and 2.1 steals per game.<br />
Olympiacos noticed his qualities and signed him for the<br />
2001-02 season. It was his rookie season in the EuroLeague<br />
and he finished it with 8.4 points, 4 assists and 2.9<br />
steals per game, but due to a shock overtime home loss<br />
to previously winless Union Olimpija in the fifth game <strong>of</strong><br />
the Top 16, it was eternal archrival Panathinaikos who<br />
made that year’s Final Four from their group instead <strong>of</strong><br />
Olympiacos – and won it!<br />
Papaloukas didn’t stay in Piraeus, however. Dusan<br />
Ivkovic was starting a big project in CSKA Moscow, and<br />
as a true expert on Greek basketball, he asked his new<br />
club to sign Papaloukas, a key player in his plan.<br />
Eight consecutive Final Fours<br />
If he failed to make his first shot at a Final Four a<br />
reality, Papaloukas became a familiar face at the event<br />
after that, with eight straight appearances, a record he<br />
shares with his long-time back-court mate, J.R. Holden!<br />
In their first three seasons with CSKA Moscow, they<br />
reached the Final Four all three times. But in each <strong>of</strong><br />
them, they were defeated in the semis: against Barcelona<br />
in 2003 and Maccabi in 2004 – both host teams<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Theodoros Papaloukas<br />
P
Vladimir Stankovic<br />
who went on to win those titles – but also against Tau<br />
Ceramica in 2005, which hurt the most as that Final<br />
Four was played in Moscow.<br />
Finally, in his fifth attempt, Papaloukas went all the<br />
way. In the 2005-06 season, with Ettore Messina now<br />
on the bench, CSKA Moscow won its first EuroLeague<br />
title in 35 years by defeating Maccabi Tel Aviv in the final<br />
73-69 at the Sazka Arena in Prague. Papaloukas shined<br />
in the game with his 18 points and 7 assists. He was also<br />
chosen as Final Four MVP with a scoring average for the<br />
weekend <strong>of</strong> 18.5 points, way above his season average.<br />
Crowned MVP in his hometown<br />
A year later, in Papaloukas’ native city, CSKA lost the<br />
EuroLeague title game against Panathinaikos, 93-91, in<br />
one <strong>of</strong> the greatest finals ever played, an electric night <strong>of</strong><br />
back-and-forth brilliance between the dominant teams<br />
<strong>of</strong> the moment. The night before that loss, however,<br />
something unique in basketball history happened as<br />
Papaloukas was voted the MVP for the EuroLeague season.<br />
He had started only three EuroLeague games that<br />
season and just four <strong>of</strong> his 134 EuroLeague games in a<br />
CSKA uniform until that night. He would be a starter in<br />
just three more EuroLeague games in six more seasons<br />
after that.<br />
As such, Papaloukas was the first nearly full-time<br />
substitute to be voted MVP <strong>of</strong> an elite competition like<br />
the EuroLeague. Some might have wondered why, when<br />
his averages that season were a more-than-solid but<br />
not spectacular 9.8 points, 5.4 assists, 3.2 rebounds<br />
and 1.7 steals. They were not wondering 24 hours later,<br />
however, as Papaloukas had a brilliant game on the biggest<br />
stage <strong>of</strong> all: 23 points and 8 assists while missing<br />
just 2 shots – a two-pointer and free throw – as a visiting<br />
player on one <strong>of</strong> the hottest courts in history, with<br />
18,500 Panathinaikos fans making more noise than<br />
you could imagine. His performance index rating in that<br />
game, the same 28 he had while being named MVP the<br />
year before, is the second-best by a losing player in a<br />
title game, behind only Manu Ginobili <strong>of</strong> Kinder Bologna<br />
(34) in 2002.<br />
One year later, however, CSKA and Papaloukas got<br />
their title back. As the EuroLeague celebrated the 50<br />
Years <strong>of</strong> <strong>European</strong> club competitions in Madrid, they<br />
climbed to the top <strong>of</strong> the podium again with a 91-77 win<br />
in the title game, again over Maccabi, with 12 points<br />
and 4 assists by Papaloukas. Together, Papaloukas and<br />
CSKA had come one three-point shot short <strong>of</strong> three<br />
EuroLeague titles in a row.<br />
Homeward bound<br />
After seven great seasons in CSKA, Papaloukas returned<br />
to Greece and Olympiacos, but he didn’t drop<br />
the habit <strong>of</strong> being in the Final Four. In Berlin 2009, Panathinaikos<br />
was better in the semis than Olympiacos,<br />
while in Paris 2010, Barcelona was better in the title<br />
game. Papaloukas would miss his first date with a Final<br />
Four in nine years in 2011, when Panathinaikos won<br />
in Barcelona. Olympiacos had fallen in the play<strong>of</strong>fs to<br />
Montepaschi Siena 3-1 despite having won their first<br />
game 89-41! That’s basketball.<br />
If at the beginning <strong>of</strong> his career he had to play in<br />
humble teams, at the peak <strong>of</strong> his career Papaloukas<br />
wore only the jerseys <strong>of</strong> the great teams. He played<br />
the 2011-12 season with Maccabi and won the Israeli<br />
League, Israeli Cup and the Adriatic League, but the<br />
team was eliminated in the EuroLeague Play<strong>of</strong>fs by<br />
Panathinaikos in a dramatic series that ended 3-2 for<br />
the Greens and 86-85 in the fifth game.<br />
Semi-retired, Papaloukas didn’t start the 2012-13<br />
240<br />
241
season, but when in mid-December he got the call from<br />
“his” CSKA, he didn’t hesitate. He helped the team<br />
reach the London Final Four, but in the semifinals, they<br />
fell to his other club, Olympiacos, 69-52, on its way to<br />
the title.<br />
The duel against FC Barcelona for third place, a 74-<br />
73 win, was the last important game in the long and<br />
brilliant career <strong>of</strong> Theo Papaloukas. After those last 40<br />
minutes as an active player, Papaloukas said:<br />
“I am fortunate because my career started in a team<br />
from the Athens regional league, Ethnikos Ellinoroson,<br />
and I have been able to live all the basketball experiences<br />
with the Greek national team, CSKA, Olympiacos and<br />
Maccabi. A career like that is a blessing and a privilege<br />
for any player. It is a very emotional moment for me. I<br />
try to control myself and it’s not easy. My family is here<br />
with me. It was a beautiful moment and I am happy it<br />
ended up with a win.”<br />
Triumph in Belgrade<br />
When Papaloukas took to the streets <strong>of</strong> Athens at<br />
10 years old to celebrate Greece’s title, the last thing<br />
that could have crossed his mind was that he would repeat<br />
the feat at EuroBasket 2005 with a win in Belgrade.<br />
In the title game, Greece defeated Germany and its star,<br />
Dirk Nowitzki, by a score <strong>of</strong> 78-62 with a great team effort.<br />
But the key man was Papaloukas, with 22 points on<br />
almost perfect shooting (6 <strong>of</strong> 10 twos, 3 <strong>of</strong> 4 threes and<br />
1 <strong>of</strong> 2 free throws), 6 assists, 4 rebounds and 3 steals.<br />
He committed only 1 turnover in 34 minutes, the same<br />
playing time as Nikos Zisis. The win was in the hands <strong>of</strong><br />
the guards, especially Papaloukas. The all-tournament<br />
team was formed by Papaloukas, Diamantidis, Nowitzki,<br />
Juan Carlos Navarro and Boris Diaw.<br />
One year later, the golden generation <strong>of</strong> Greece also<br />
made it to the 2006 World Cup title game in Japan after<br />
knocking <strong>of</strong>f the favorite, Team USA, in the semis by<br />
a <strong>101</strong>-95 score. Spanoulis was the top scorer with 22<br />
points, follows by Kakiouzis with 15, S<strong>of</strong>oklis Schortsanitis<br />
with 14 and Diamantidis with 12. But Papaloukas,<br />
who scored 8, was pulling all the strings, dishing 12<br />
<strong>of</strong> Greece’s 19 assists and pulling 5 rebounds – second-best<br />
on the team – in 33 minutes. Alas, in the final,<br />
Greece fell big to a great Spain with a painful loss, 70-<br />
47, but those silver medals were more than well earned.<br />
At the end <strong>of</strong> that year, FIBA Europe chose its Player <strong>of</strong><br />
the Year: Theo Papaloukas.<br />
Final Four records<br />
I was fortunate enough to follow Papaloukas for<br />
many years. I saw him in all his Final Fours, in the EuroBaskets<br />
<strong>of</strong> 2001, 2003, 2005 and 2007, the Olympic<br />
Games <strong>of</strong> 2004 and many EuroLeague games. I was<br />
always fascinated by his way <strong>of</strong> playing: everything he<br />
did looked easy, natural, logical. He was a very smart<br />
player and his ideas were as fast as his passes. His<br />
shooting was lethal for the rivals, and his penetrations<br />
with changes <strong>of</strong> direction were unstoppable.<br />
Of course, the EuroLeague All-Decade Team for<br />
2001 to 2010 could not be imagined without Papaloukas.<br />
He is there alongside Dejan Bodiroga, Dimitris<br />
Diamantidis, J.R. Holden, Sarunas Jasikevicius, Trajan<br />
Langdon, Juan Carlos Navarro, Anthony Parker, Ramunas<br />
Siskauskas and Nikola Vujcic.<br />
He would have gladly come <strong>of</strong>f the bench for that<br />
team, too, but more likely than not – even in that superstar<br />
company – Theo Papaloukas would have been on<br />
the court at the end <strong>of</strong> any important game, as he was<br />
at all the big moments <strong>of</strong> his unique career.<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Theodoros Papaloukas<br />
P
Anthony<br />
Parker<br />
243
Two-time<br />
EuroLeague MVP<br />
The number <strong>of</strong> American players who<br />
played in Europe is, at this point, almost<br />
unimaginably huge, but we can count on<br />
one hand the ones who won three Final<br />
Fours. There are now three <strong>of</strong> them:<br />
Anthony Parker with Maccabi Tel Aviv<br />
in 2001, 2004 and 2005, Mike Batiste with Panathinaikos<br />
in 2007, 2009 and 2011; and Kyle Hines with<br />
Olympiacos in 2012 and 2013, plus CSKA Moscow in<br />
2016. As good as the others have been, only Parker<br />
can claim to have been votes as a full-season Euro-<br />
League MVP two times, the only player to have that<br />
distinction so far.<br />
<strong>Basketball</strong> in the genes<br />
Parker, who was born on June 19, 1975, in Naperville,<br />
Illinois, was an excellent shooting guard. With a<br />
father who played basketball at the University <strong>of</strong> Iowa,<br />
a mother who was a basketball cheerleader, a brother,<br />
Marcus, who also was a player, and a sister, Candace,<br />
who became a star in the WNBA, there’s no doubt that<br />
Anthony had basketball in his veins.<br />
As all future stars, Parker already stood out in his<br />
high school years in his hometown, and even more at<br />
Bradley University, where he averaged 11.0 points and<br />
4 rebounds in his freshman year. However, a couple <strong>of</strong><br />
years later he was already putting up 18.8 points, 6.5<br />
rebounds and 3.5 assists per game. His best weapon<br />
was his three-point shot (42%). You could see he was<br />
a great shooter from the beginning. In 1996, he was a<br />
member <strong>of</strong> the U22 USA team together with Tim Duncan<br />
and Paul Pierce. In the title game against Canada for<br />
the Americas Championship, he scored 19 points and<br />
helped the USA advance to the 1997 World Championship<br />
for Junior Men.<br />
In the 1997 NBA draft, Parker was selected by the<br />
New Jersey Nets with the 21st pick <strong>of</strong> the first round<br />
and immediately traded to the Philadelphia 76ers. However,<br />
his NBA dream didn’t become reality because <strong>of</strong><br />
injuries and other circumstances. After spending three<br />
seasons between the NBA and the Continental <strong>Basketball</strong><br />
Association, Parker made the best decision <strong>of</strong> his<br />
sports life: He moved to Europe. Likewise, the Old Continent<br />
was fortunate enough to see the arrival <strong>of</strong> one <strong>of</strong><br />
the finest Americans ever to play here.<br />
Parker managed to adapt little by little and produced<br />
a very good season with Israeli League and national cup<br />
titles. But the big achievement was winning the 2000-<br />
01 FIBA SuproLeague in that season <strong>of</strong> two top-level<br />
competitions on the continent. In the Israeli League,<br />
Parker averaged 14 points (48% three-point shooting),<br />
4.1 rebounds and 2.7 assists. In the SuproLeague he<br />
had similar numbers: 14 points and 5.3 rebounds. The<br />
FIBA Final Four was played in Paris with Maccabi, Panathinaikos,<br />
CSKA Moscow and Efes Pilsen. In the semis,<br />
Maccabi defeated CSKA 86-80 with 17 points from Nate<br />
Huffman and 14 by Parker. In the final, Maccabi beat<br />
Panathinaikos 81-67 in the start <strong>of</strong> a rivalry that would<br />
mark the start <strong>of</strong> the 21st century. Huffman and Arriel<br />
McDonald scored 21 apiece, while Parker had 13 points.<br />
Tel Aviv to Rome to Tel Aviv<br />
Parker took a break for the start <strong>of</strong> the 2002-03 season<br />
to be with his wife for the birth <strong>of</strong> their first child.<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Anthony Parker<br />
P
Vladimir Stankovic<br />
Midway through that season, he decided to return to action<br />
and accepted an <strong>of</strong>fer from Virtus Roma. He played<br />
27 games there, with his usual numbers: 14.5 points,<br />
5.6 rebounds and 2.4 assists. To everyone’s surprise, at<br />
the end <strong>of</strong> that season, he returned to Maccabi, where<br />
he would become a key player in the coming years, a<br />
true star. I remember a talk with Dusan Ivkovic, coach <strong>of</strong><br />
CSKA between 2002 and 2005, in which he admitted to<br />
me that it was a mistake <strong>of</strong> his not signing Parker, who<br />
had been <strong>of</strong>fered to the Russian club. Parker was a player<br />
that could turn any contender into a champion.<br />
In the 2003-04 season, Maccabi and Zalgiris faced<br />
<strong>of</strong>f in the final game <strong>of</strong> the EuroLeague Top 16 with a<br />
spot in the Final Four at stake. The game was in Tel Aviv<br />
but Maccabi won 107-99 after Derrick Sharp’s miracle<br />
three-pointer forced overtime. Zalgiris legend Arvydas<br />
Sabonis, who was back to his boyhood club at 40 years<br />
old, was brilliant, and he admitted in his published<br />
memoirs that it was one <strong>of</strong> the toughest losses <strong>of</strong> his<br />
career. Maccabi entered the 2004 Final Four in Tel Aviv<br />
as the big favorite, and it lived up to the expectations.<br />
In the semis, Maccabi won 93-85 against a very strong<br />
CSKA team with 27 points from Parker, who had great<br />
shooting accuracy: 7 <strong>of</strong> 12 twos, 2 <strong>of</strong> 3 threes and 7 <strong>of</strong> 8<br />
free throws to go with 6 rebounds and 2 assists. In the<br />
title game, the record-setting 118-74 rout <strong>of</strong> Skipper<br />
Bologna, Parker scored 21 points in 29 minutes. There<br />
was no doubt about the Final Four MVP: Anthony Parker.<br />
Of course, Parker made the All-EuroLeague First<br />
Team after having averaged 16.0 points, 5.7 rebounds<br />
and 3.5 assists. There would be no season-long MVP<br />
award until the following year, or else Parker might have<br />
won that, too. His career highs in the EuroLeague were<br />
a performance index rating <strong>of</strong> 47 against ASVEL Villeurbanne<br />
on November 18, 2004, and 33 points in the same<br />
game, plus 10 assists early that year against Zalgiris. It<br />
was a pleasure to see him in action. He had elegance,<br />
technique, shooting, rebounding, passing, blocks and<br />
fighting spirit. Parker was an all-around player, someone<br />
who, even if not winning by himself, could change the<br />
course <strong>of</strong> a game, set the rhythm and find the path to<br />
victory for his team. And Pini Gershon, his coach those<br />
years, knew how to use those qualities very well.<br />
The 2004-05 season was a copy <strong>of</strong> the previous one:<br />
a double crown in Israel and another EuroLeague title. At<br />
the 2005 Final Four in Moscow, Maccabi defeated Panathinaikos<br />
in the semis 91-82 with 20 points by Sharp, 14<br />
by Maceo Baston and 13 each by Sarunas Jasikevicius<br />
and Parker. In the championship game, on May 8, Maccabi<br />
outplayed a powerful Tau Ceramica 90-78. Tau,<br />
coached by Dusko Ivanovic, featured Jose Manuel Calderon,<br />
Arvydas Macijauskas, Travis Hansen, Luis Scola,<br />
Pablo Prigioni and Tiago Splitter. However, there was a<br />
great team on the other side: Jasikevicius (22 points in<br />
the final), Baston (18), Nikola Vujcic (13), Nestoras Kommatos<br />
(13), Parker (12 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists), Tal<br />
Burstein (8) and Sharp. With two titles in as many years,<br />
Maccabi became the first team capable <strong>of</strong> repeating as<br />
EuroLeague champion since Jugoplastika Split had won<br />
three in a row from 1989 to 1991. Although Jasikevicius<br />
was the Final Four MVP, Parker was chosen as the Euro-<br />
League’s first full-season MVP.<br />
In the 2005-06 season, Maccabi just fell short <strong>of</strong><br />
matching Jugoplastika’s three-peat. The team reached<br />
the championship game again at the Final Four in<br />
Prague, but CSKA Moscow managed to win that night by<br />
73-69 for its first continental crown in 35 years, a title<br />
that was dedicated to legendary head coach Alexander<br />
Gomelskiy, who had died a few months earlier. Parker,<br />
however, claimed his second full-season EuroLeague<br />
244<br />
245
MVP award in a row for another spectacular campaign.<br />
He remains the only player in that award’s first 13 years<br />
to win it twice, let alone back to back.<br />
A brilliant NBA return<br />
For the 2006-07 season, Parker, at 31 years old,<br />
returned to the NBA. But in some ways, we could say<br />
that he had signed for the Toronto Raptors on October<br />
16, 2005. Maccabi, as EuroLeague champion, was on<br />
a North American tour. It’s true that the Raptors were<br />
in the middle <strong>of</strong> the preseason, but nobody in Toronto<br />
expected such a tough game and such a tough loss.<br />
With 11 seconds to go and the score tied at 103-103,<br />
the 17,281 fans in the Raptors’ arena saw the best <strong>of</strong><br />
Anthony Parker. The ball was in his hands on the right<br />
side <strong>of</strong> the court and it was clear that he would take it<br />
one-on-one. Morris Peterson’s defense looked good,<br />
but Parker used a side-step move to pull up for a favorite,<br />
high-arced shot <strong>of</strong> his. It was an impeccable shot,<br />
as if taken from a manual, one that youngsters should<br />
study to see perfection on an individual play. And, <strong>of</strong><br />
course, it was good. Parker finished the game with 24<br />
points and said after, “It was really fun, it’s fun to be<br />
part <strong>of</strong> history.”<br />
It was the first loss by an NBA team at home against<br />
a team from Europe and the first such defeat, home or<br />
away, in more than 20 years since Maccabi itself had<br />
beaten Phoenix and New Jersey two nights apart in<br />
Tel Aviv during the 1984 preseason. Previously, Maccabi<br />
had also beaten the NBA defending champion<br />
Washington Bullets 98-97 in Tel Aviv in September <strong>of</strong><br />
1978. The big Jewish community in Toronto celebrated<br />
the magnificent win for Maccabi and was even happier<br />
when they learned that Parker would play with the Raptors<br />
in 2006.<br />
At Maccabi, he wore number 8 and in Toronto, he<br />
wore 18, the Hebrew number symbolizing life. Soon, he<br />
was in Toronto’s starting five, earning the respect <strong>of</strong> his<br />
teammates, the media and opponents. He averaged<br />
12.4 points, 3.9 rebounds and 1.3 assists. He was the<br />
team leader in three-point accuracy (44.1%) and ranked<br />
fourth in the league. Call it a coincidence or not, but<br />
that season Toronto was a division champion for the<br />
first time and was back in the play<strong>of</strong>fs after a four-year<br />
absence.<br />
In three seasons in Toronto, Parker played 243 regular<br />
season games out <strong>of</strong> the possible 246 and shot<br />
44.1%, 43.8% and 39.0%, respectively, from threepoint<br />
distance. After the third season, he would go<br />
back home to the United States on a three-year deal<br />
with the Cleveland Cavaliers. He lowered his scoring<br />
numbers (7.3, 8.3 and 7.2) but he shot his threes just<br />
as well: 43.4%, 39.9% and 36.2% in his last active season,<br />
2011-12. In two stints, he had totaled nine seasons<br />
in the NBA with 494 games, averaging 9.1 points and<br />
shooting 40.4% on threes. In 22 play<strong>of</strong>f games, (11 with<br />
Toronto in two seasons and 11 more with Cleveland in<br />
one) Parker shot 43.4% on threes and averaged 10.9<br />
points. His highest scoring game was 27 points against<br />
the Chicago Bulls in 2007. He announced the end <strong>of</strong> his<br />
playing career on June 27, 2012, and shortly thereafter<br />
signed with Orlando as a scout.<br />
Anthony Parker was a great player who shined in<br />
Europe, Canada and – eventually – at home.<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Anthony Parker<br />
P
Zarko<br />
Paspalj<br />
247
The man who<br />
changed the Greek<br />
League<br />
Greece became the 1987 <strong>European</strong> national<br />
champion in Piraeus and during<br />
that decade discovered its biggest<br />
star in Nikos Galis, who arrived from<br />
the United States to give a big boost to<br />
Greek basketball. However, experts may<br />
debate whether the big explosion <strong>of</strong> the Greek League<br />
started with the arrival <strong>of</strong> Zarko Paspalj. Simply put,<br />
he was the first foreign superstar to play in the league.<br />
After him, many followed, and Greek teams have since<br />
won the EuroLeague title eight times. But someone<br />
had to be the first to show the others the way.<br />
Paspalj coming to Olympiacos in September <strong>of</strong> 1991<br />
was the first stone <strong>of</strong> a big project that sought to turn<br />
the Greek League into one <strong>of</strong> the best in Europe. I was a<br />
direct witness to Paspalj’s arrival. Back then, I was the<br />
director <strong>of</strong> Kos, a basketball magazine in Belgrade, and<br />
I was invited to his presentation in Athens. I traveled together<br />
with Zarko and his wife Milka. Not even he knew<br />
what was in store for him. In the old Athens airport, in<br />
the Glyfada area, thousands <strong>of</strong> fans were awaiting their<br />
new idol. The famous trumpet with the well-known<br />
melody <strong>of</strong> the Olympiacos fans welcomed the new star.<br />
The <strong>of</strong>ficial act was also spectacular. Without scoring<br />
a single point or even wearing the jersey, Paspalj was<br />
already a superstar.<br />
It’s true that Paspalj came to Olympiacos, at 25 years<br />
old, with an already successful career. He was a member<br />
<strong>of</strong> the great Yugoslav national team; he had played<br />
in a more-than-talented Partizan club; and he had been<br />
among the <strong>European</strong> pioneers in the NBA. A highly-rated<br />
player, Paspalj was a modern forward, a player ahead <strong>of</strong><br />
his time. With a height <strong>of</strong> 2.07 meters, he was a forward<br />
by definition, but he was very versatile and fast, with<br />
big hands. He was left-handed, which always made it a<br />
little more difficult for defenders. He had a good shot,<br />
but his speed allowed him to get quick fastbreak points. I<br />
already lost count <strong>of</strong> the times I saw, in both Partizan and<br />
the Yugoslav national team, Vlade Divac take a rebound<br />
and fire a long pass to his great friend Paspalj, who was<br />
already on his way to the opponent’s basket. His talent<br />
would serve to revolutionize basketball in Greece.<br />
“He is one <strong>of</strong> the most important foreign players in<br />
the history <strong>of</strong> Greek basketball, and many people here<br />
think that Paspalj has to be ranked No. 1 for everything<br />
he has done for his teams and the whole Greek<br />
basketball system,” my colleague, the eminent Greek<br />
basketball journalist Vassilis Skountis, told me. “But it<br />
was not only his basketball class and his special style as<br />
a left-hander and a point-scoring machine. The fans fell<br />
in love with him because <strong>of</strong> his personality, dedication<br />
and great character.”<br />
From Podgorica to Belgrade<br />
Zarko Paspalj is Montenegrin, born on March 27 <strong>of</strong><br />
1966 in the small town <strong>of</strong> Pljevlja, like the great coach<br />
Bogdan Tanjevic. When he was 10 years old, his family<br />
moved to Podgorica, where Zarko started playing for<br />
the youth categories at Buducnost. There, he met Luka<br />
Pavicevic and Zdravko Radulovic, two future stars <strong>of</strong><br />
Yugoslav basketball. Paspalj made his debut in the first<br />
division at only 17 years old, in the 1983-84 season,<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Zarko Paspalj<br />
P
Vladimir Stankovic<br />
thanks to an unusual situation. Due to some administrative<br />
problem, Buducnost had to play a game in Belgrade<br />
without its starters, and coach Cedomir Djuraskovic was<br />
forced to take some kids with him, Zarko among them.<br />
After that game, Paspalj never left the first team again.<br />
He was already on the radar <strong>of</strong> the flawless scouting<br />
system <strong>of</strong> the Yugoslav federation. In the 1983 <strong>European</strong><br />
Championship for Cadets, which took place in<br />
Ludwigsburg, Germany, Paspalj was a player who stood<br />
out amidst a very good generation <strong>of</strong> players. Branislav<br />
Prelevic, Jure Zdovc, Miroslav Pecarski, Ivo Nakic, Ivica<br />
Mavrenksi, Pavicevic, Paspalj and the rest were crowned<br />
champs after winning the final against Spain, with Juan<br />
Antonio Orenga, Antonio Martin and Rafa J<strong>of</strong>resa, after<br />
two overtimes. The score had been 70-70 after regulation<br />
time and 78-78 after the first extra session. It ended 89-<br />
86 as Paspalj contributed 13 points, going 5 for 6 on free<br />
throws in the overtimes. It was his first important title.<br />
From that moment on, Paspalj was on the agenda<br />
<strong>of</strong> the best Yugoslav teams. In 1986, he was about to<br />
sign for Bosna Sarajevo, like Radulovic. He was already<br />
in Sarajevo, in fact, when Partizan, in a turning <strong>of</strong> the<br />
tables worthy <strong>of</strong> a movie script, managed to “kidnap”<br />
him and take him to Belgrade, where he signed for Partizan.<br />
The reason for his “kidnapping” was the project<br />
to build a great team. Partizan already had players like<br />
Sasha Djordjevic, Slavisa Koprivica, Milenko Savovic<br />
and Goran Grbovic, but in that same summer <strong>of</strong> 1986,<br />
sports director Dragan Kicanovic managed also to sign<br />
Vlade Divac, Ivo Nakic, Zeljko Obradovic and Paspalj.<br />
There is no doubt that his stint at Partizan was key to<br />
Paspalj’s career. He was a member <strong>of</strong> the men’s national<br />
team at the 1987 EuroBasket and won a bronze medal<br />
while averaging 10.6 points. He averaged the same 10.6<br />
points in taking a silver medal at the 1988 Olympics in<br />
Seoul. For his first <strong>European</strong> national title, won in Zagreb<br />
the next summer, his scoring rose to 13.8 points<br />
per game. The following year, Yugoslavia was the 1990<br />
World Cup champion in Argentina with Paspalj averaging<br />
13 points. And at the 1991 EuroBasket in Italy, where<br />
Yugoslavia played with all its players for the last time, he<br />
averaged 9.4 points. Paspalj played the same position<br />
as Toni Kukoc, but for coach Dusan Ivkovic it was a real<br />
luxury to have two modern and versatile players like Toni<br />
and Palja, as Paspalj was nicknamed by his friends.<br />
A god in Greece<br />
While at Partizan, Paspalj won a Yugoslav League<br />
title (1987), a national cup (1989) and a Korac Cup<br />
(1989), against Cantu. The team was also in the first<br />
EuroLeague Final Four in Ghent in 1988, where they finished<br />
third. The final <strong>of</strong> the Korac Cup was played in two<br />
games. In Cantu, the hosts were led by Kent Benson (24<br />
points), Antonello Riva (19) and Pierluigi Marzorati (9) in<br />
defeating Partizan 89-76 despite Divac’s 28 points, 22<br />
by Djordjevic, 11 by Paspalj and 10 by Predrag Danilovic.<br />
In the second game, the old arena in New Belgrade was<br />
a full-on party. A <strong>101</strong>-82 win for Partizan featured 30<br />
points by Divac and 22 by Paspalj.<br />
In 1989, together with Divac and Petrovic, Paspalj<br />
started his NBA adventure. He signed for the San Antonio<br />
Spurs, but after 28 games he was back at Partizan.<br />
Paspalj had averaged only 6.5 minutes and 2.6 points<br />
in the NBA. Those were different times and <strong>European</strong><br />
players still didn’t have the trust <strong>of</strong> American coaches.<br />
Petrovic underwent similar problems while in Portland<br />
and he had to wait until he moved to New Jersey to<br />
show his real level.<br />
After another solid season in Belgrade, Paspalj accepted<br />
the <strong>of</strong>fer from Olympiacos and, apart from having<br />
248<br />
249
signed with Partizan in 1986, made the best decision <strong>of</strong><br />
his career. In Greece, he became a real god on the court.<br />
Olympiacos had finished the previous season in eighth<br />
place, and so to build a new team with high ambitions, the<br />
best thing to do was to sign a great player. Paspalj obliged<br />
with a brilliant season. He was the best scorer in the country,<br />
with an average <strong>of</strong> 33.7 points, and took Olympiacos<br />
to the Greek League finals, although PAOK Thessaloniki<br />
won the title. In his second year with the Reds, he led the<br />
team to its first league title in 15 years. Paspalj was the<br />
best player on a great team with Walter Berry, Dragan Tarlac,<br />
Panagiotis Fasoulas, Giorgos Sigalas and Milan Tomic.<br />
Against Aris, Paspalj scored 44 points, but his Greek<br />
League record was 56 points against Dafni.<br />
In the 1993-94 season, Olympiacos reached its first<br />
Final Four, in Tel Aviv. In the all-Greek semifinals, Olympiacos<br />
defeated archrival Panathinaikos by the score <strong>of</strong><br />
77-72 with 22 points by Paspalj and 21 by Roy Tarpley. In<br />
the title game, Olympiacos fell to Joventut Badalona 59-<br />
57. Paspalj, who scored 16 points, probably is not fond<br />
<strong>of</strong> remembering that game because he missed 2 free<br />
throws and a subsequent shot <strong>of</strong>f the <strong>of</strong>fensive rebound<br />
that would have forced overtime. A few weeks earlier, he<br />
had made 23 <strong>of</strong> 23 free throws in a Greek League game.<br />
Maybe it was this game that caused him to switch<br />
teams to ... Panathinaikos! It was a shocking decision,<br />
but Paspalj took on the challenge and played a good<br />
season that had a happy ending for him. Yugoslavia,<br />
after three years <strong>of</strong> sanctions, was back on the international<br />
scene and continued where it had left it <strong>of</strong>f<br />
in 1991, with a gold medal at the 1995 EuroBasket in<br />
Athens. In the unforgettable final game against Lithuania,<br />
which Yugoslavia won by a score <strong>of</strong> 96-90, Paspalj<br />
scored 5 points, below his tournament average <strong>of</strong> 8.0<br />
plus 2.7 rebounds, but he was happy anyway.<br />
The following year, after having a very good season<br />
with Panionios, where he played for Dusan Ivkovic, his<br />
favorite coach, Paspalj almost opened the NBA doors for<br />
himself again at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. In the final<br />
against a very powerful Team USA (Gary Payton, Reggie<br />
Miller, Scottie Pippen, Hakeem Olajuwon, John Stockton,<br />
Penny Hardaway, Charles Barkley, David Robinson,<br />
Shaquille O’Neal), Paspalj scored 19 points, 16 <strong>of</strong> them in<br />
the first half, after which the Americans were leading by<br />
just 5 points, 43-38. The Atlanta Hawks invited Paspalj to<br />
their summer camp, but since he was not <strong>of</strong>fered a guaranteed<br />
contract, he remained in Europe. He signed with<br />
Racing Paris and helped the team lift the French League<br />
title for the first time in 43 years. His last trophy, the Greek<br />
Cup, he won with Aris in the 1997-98 season. Paspalj put<br />
an end to his career at Kinder Bologna in 1998-99 with a<br />
humble average – by Paspalj’s standards –<strong>of</strong> 5.4 points<br />
and 3.7 rebounds. He retired at 32 years old.<br />
In his last seasons, his shooting was not what it<br />
had once been, as if something had happened to his<br />
body. Maybe it was a sign that his health was not in top<br />
condition. In March <strong>of</strong> 2005, he suffered a heart attack<br />
and was hospitalized. After that, he underwent several<br />
more crises and had to undergo surgery to have a pacemaker<br />
installed.<br />
Between 2003 and 2005 he was the director <strong>of</strong> the<br />
Yugoslavia national team coached by Zeljko Obradovic.<br />
From 2009 and 2017, Paspalj served as the vice president<br />
<strong>of</strong> the Serbian Olympic Committee, presided over<br />
by his friend, Divac. He lives in Belgrade. Paspalj is a<br />
joyful person, loved by everyone around him. Those<br />
who have not seen him play should look for some videos<br />
on the Internet. They will see a true superstar who<br />
changed the Greek League.<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Zarko Paspalj<br />
P
Modestas<br />
Paulauskas<br />
251
The first<br />
Lithuanian “king”<br />
It was early April 1964. FIBA had just inaugurated<br />
its first <strong>European</strong> Championship for Junior Men<br />
in Naples, Italy. Only eight teams took part in<br />
that tourney – Spain, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia,<br />
Bulgaria, Italy, France, Poland and the USSR<br />
– and in the title game, the Soviet team defeated<br />
France 62-41. The first player to receive the trophy<br />
was number 10, Modestas Paulauskas, who was<br />
born in Kretinga, Lithuania on March 19, 1945. He<br />
had just scored 14 points in the final that would<br />
make the USSR the first junior champ in Europe.<br />
It was a lot less than his average <strong>of</strong> 21.2 points –<br />
against Yugoslavia, he had scored 36 and against<br />
host Italy, 26 – but enough to be chosen, un<strong>of</strong>ficially,<br />
as the MVP <strong>of</strong> the tourney.<br />
Ranko Zeravica, at the helm <strong>of</strong> the Yugoslav team,<br />
said when he got back home that he had just seen<br />
“a phenomenal player.” From that USSR generation,<br />
aside from Paulauskas, there would be another<br />
player to leave a strong mark in basketball, Zurab<br />
Sakandelidze. But at the same tournament, there<br />
were other interesting players and future superstars,<br />
like Aldo Ossola and Carlo Recalcati for Italy,<br />
Jiri Zednicek <strong>of</strong> Czechoslovakia, Bogdan Tanjevic <strong>of</strong><br />
Yugoslavia (even though he would become better<br />
known as a coach), and Vicente Ramos and Juan<br />
Martinez for Spain.<br />
Many years later, Paulauskas revealed that it was<br />
fate that drove him to this title. The Soviet team, for<br />
some reason, missed the flight that was to take them<br />
to the tournament. That plane crashed and left no survivors.<br />
The young players avoided the tragedy and also<br />
won the <strong>European</strong> Championship. Only a year later, at<br />
the 1965 EuroBasket for men, Paulauskas was already<br />
a big star. In the final, a 58-49 win over Yugoslavia, he<br />
was the top scorer <strong>of</strong> his team with 16 points. He was<br />
named MVP <strong>of</strong> the tournament with an average <strong>of</strong> 13.8<br />
points. He was just 20 years old. He was a shooting<br />
guard by size (1.94 meters) but he was able to play<br />
point guard or, due to his great rebounding skills, small<br />
forward. It was clear that the USSR had a true star for<br />
the future.<br />
Unforgettable Munich<br />
In the next nine years, the USSR would win three<br />
more EuroBasket golds (1967, 1969, 1971) and a<br />
bronze medal (1973) with Paulauskas, as well as the<br />
World Cup gold (1974, Puerto Rico) and bronze (1970,<br />
Ljubljana) medals, an Olympic gold (1972, Munich) and<br />
an Olympic bronze (1968, Mexico City). Paulauskas<br />
lacks titles at the club level because he spent his entire<br />
career, from 1962 to 1976, with Zalgiris Kaunas,<br />
which was always behind CSKA Moscow and Spartak<br />
St. Petersburg in those years. However, his wish was<br />
to stay with the club he started with, and so he did. “I<br />
had <strong>of</strong>fers from CSKA and Spartak, but I didn’t want to<br />
leave my club or my city,” he said many times. “It was<br />
my choice and I don’t regret it.”<br />
If he was short on titles with Zalgiris, he had no<br />
room for more with the national team. He shined in<br />
each and every tournament that he played. In the<br />
final <strong>of</strong> the 1967 EuroBasket in Helsinki, against<br />
Czechoslovakia, an 89-77 victory, he scored 19<br />
points, even though the MVP was Jiri Zednicek, his<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Modestas Paulauskas<br />
P
Vladimir Stankovic<br />
peer from that first junior tournament in 1964. In the<br />
final <strong>of</strong> the 1969 EuroBasket in Naples, his favorite<br />
city, the USSR beat Yugoslavia by the score <strong>of</strong> 81-72,<br />
with 20 points from Paulauskas and also 20 by big<br />
man Vladimir Andreev, even though the MVP <strong>of</strong> the<br />
tourney was Sergei Belov, another great. After a dip<br />
at the 1970 World Cup in Ljubljana, where the USSR<br />
“only” took the bronze (11.4 points for Paulauskas),<br />
at the next EuroBasket, in Essen, Germany, the USSR<br />
beat Yugoslavia again in the final game, 69-64, with<br />
12 points by Paulauskas and 16 by Alzhan Zharmukhamedov.<br />
The all-tournament team was formed<br />
by Belov, Paulauskas, Edward Jurkiewicz <strong>of</strong> Poland,<br />
Kreso Cosic <strong>of</strong> Yugoslavia and Atanas Golomeev <strong>of</strong><br />
Bulgaria.<br />
At the Mexico City Olympics <strong>of</strong> 1968, the USSR<br />
lost to Yugoslavia in the semis and took the bronze<br />
with an average <strong>of</strong> 16 points by Paulauskas. But four<br />
years later, at the 1972 Olympics in Munich, the gold<br />
would go to the Soviets. The final against the United<br />
States will always be infamous for the last three<br />
seconds being replayed on orders by FIBA secretary<br />
general William Jones due to a mistake by the <strong>of</strong>ficial’s<br />
table. The USSR turned an apparent 50-49 loss<br />
into a 51-50 victory thanks to a basket by Alexander<br />
Belov. Paulauskas only scored 3 points that day, on<br />
3 <strong>of</strong> 4 free throws, but he was one <strong>of</strong> the team’s best<br />
rebounders at 3.9 per game during the tournament.<br />
Even though he normally puts all his triumphs and<br />
medals at the same level, Paulauskas admits that<br />
Munich does have a privileged spot in his memories:<br />
“Because <strong>of</strong> the circumstances, its importance, the<br />
rival... basically because <strong>of</strong> everything implied by<br />
beating the United States in an Olympic final, Munich<br />
1972 is something unforgettable,” Paulauskas<br />
said in an interview with a Lithuanian newspaper in<br />
2005.<br />
Best sportsman seven times<br />
For Lithuanian basketball connoisseurs today, the<br />
basketball stars from that country are Arvydas Sabonis,<br />
Sarunas Jasikevicius, Arturas Karnisovas, Sarunas<br />
Marculionis, Valdemaras Chomicius and Rimas<br />
Kurtinaitis. But for those with older memories, the first<br />
great Lithuanian was Modestas Paulauskas, a complete<br />
player. For coaches, he was like life insurance,<br />
a player who never let you down. Of course, he could<br />
not always play at the highest level, but he never went<br />
down to a point that he was not recognizably himself<br />
on the court. His averages in big competitions were<br />
always similar, the minimum was 11.1 points in Munich<br />
1972 and the maximum was 17.0 points at the 1969<br />
EuroBasket. His average in FIBA competitions was<br />
13.7, just like in most <strong>of</strong> the tournaments he played.<br />
His popularity in Lithuania was huge. He was named<br />
the best sportsman in Lithuania seven times between<br />
1965 and 1972, only missing the distinction in 1968.<br />
The first “king” <strong>of</strong> Lithuanian basketball retired at just<br />
32 years old because he felt that “the batteries had<br />
run dry”. He stayed in basketball as a coach, but far<br />
from the spotlight. “Maybe destiny had it for me to be<br />
a player and not a coach,” Paulauskas said. “Just as it<br />
decided that we did not catch that plane in 1964.”<br />
In 1991, FIBA chose Paulauskas among the best 50<br />
players <strong>of</strong> all time. In that list (until 1991, <strong>of</strong> course)<br />
there are 12 names from the former Yugoslavia and<br />
10 from the USSR: Sergei Belov, Alexander Belov, Stepas<br />
Butautas, Otar Korkia, Sarunas Marculionis, Anatoly<br />
Myshkin, Modestas Paulauskas, Arvydas Sabonis,<br />
Alexander Volkov and Viktor Zubkov.<br />
252<br />
253
As the first <strong>of</strong> the three most important things<br />
in his life, Paulauskas highlights the fact that he was<br />
raised in a sports family, with elder brothers and one<br />
<strong>of</strong> his sisters having been athletes as well. In second<br />
place, he names his club, Zalgiris, and in third, his family.<br />
He was once asked, if it was really a second religion<br />
in Lithuania, who was the god <strong>of</strong> basketball? His answer:<br />
“Many, but today I would say Arvydas Sabonis. I<br />
admire his talent and I even feel a little envy.”<br />
Paulauskas had his childhood idols in Stepas<br />
Butautas and Stasys Stonkus, the best Lithuanian<br />
players in the early 1960s. Talking about talent, Paulauskas<br />
believes that nowadays in basketball “there is<br />
more desire than talent.” He thinks that a sportsman,<br />
to succeed, aside from talent, has to be hungry and<br />
ready to sacrifice himself.<br />
And if anybody wants to see a very talented player,<br />
versatile, able to play as many as four positions, try to<br />
track down a video <strong>of</strong> Paulauskas in his prime. One <strong>of</strong><br />
the greats.<br />
Modestas Paulauskas<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
P
Velimir<br />
Perasovic<br />
255
The pr<strong>of</strong>essional<br />
scorer<br />
In the history <strong>of</strong> <strong>European</strong> cups, there are few players<br />
who can say that they played in six finals and<br />
won four <strong>of</strong> them. One such player is Velimir Perasovic,<br />
who was born on February 9, 1965, in Stobrec,<br />
Croatia. He was a triple EuroLeague champ<br />
with Jugoplastika (1989, 1990, 1991), a Saporta<br />
Cup champ in 1996 with Taugres Vitoria, and also a<br />
finalist in the latter competition in 1994 and 1995. If<br />
we add his titles with the Yugoslav and Croatian national<br />
teams, and his individual marks with his teams<br />
in Yugoslavia and Spain, we have the story <strong>of</strong> one <strong>of</strong><br />
the most-crowned players in the history <strong>of</strong> <strong>European</strong><br />
basketball.<br />
In a brilliant career that lasted for 24 years, Perasovic<br />
was always an outstanding scorer, a killer in whom<br />
his coaches always showed the utmost confidence. He<br />
played alongside other great scorers, like Toni Kukoc<br />
and Dusko Ivanovic in Split, or Drazen Petrovic, Zarko<br />
Paspalj, Sasha Djordjevic, Predrag Danilovic and Danko<br />
Cvjeticanin on the national teams. But many times, the<br />
last shot was for Perasovic. He had an excellent shot, a<br />
wonderful touch. Curiously enough, <strong>of</strong> the hundreds<br />
<strong>of</strong> baskets by him that I saw live or on TV, the one that<br />
I remember the most is a triple that beat the buzzer...in<br />
the first half. In the 1990 EuroLeague final in Zaragoza,<br />
Jugoplastika was always ahead but the difference was<br />
slim, and it always looked like FC Barcelona could come<br />
back at any given moment. With seconds left in the first<br />
half, Jugoplastika was winning 37-36, but Barcelona had<br />
the ball and the chance to hit the locker rooms ahead on<br />
the scoreboard. But they missed their shot, and the ball<br />
made it to Perasovic’s hands. He ran a few meters and,<br />
from mid-court, shot and hit the three-pointer for a 40-<br />
36 lead at the break. It was one <strong>of</strong> those shots that affect<br />
opponents psychologically. In the second half, Barcelona<br />
was always behind and, in the end, lost 70-65.<br />
Alongside Drazen<br />
The great Drazen Petrovic was only three months<br />
older than Perasovic. Drazen was born in October <strong>of</strong><br />
1964 and Peras, as almost everybody calls him, in the<br />
winter <strong>of</strong> 1965. They belonged to the same generation.<br />
In some ways, this worked against Perasovic because<br />
Petrovic was a true star on the court and also a media<br />
reference point. But, while they played together for 11<br />
years on the national teams <strong>of</strong> Yugoslavia and Croatia,<br />
Peras earned his place in the basketball history <strong>of</strong> both<br />
countries.<br />
If I remember correctly, we heard the name Perasovic<br />
for the first time when the Yugoslav federation<br />
announced the list <strong>of</strong> players for the 1981 <strong>European</strong><br />
Championship for Cadets in Athens. The names were<br />
Drazen Petrovic, Stojko Vrankovic, Zoran Sretenovic,<br />
Sasa Radunovic and Velimir Perasovic, among others.<br />
Drazen wowed everyone by averaging 32.4 points, and<br />
he surpassed 40 points three times. But Perasovic averaged<br />
13 points and he caught everyone’s attention, too.<br />
Despite being a great team, Yugoslavia finished fifth.<br />
In the 1981-82 season, Perasovic made his debut with<br />
Jugoplastika’s first team, but in the Yugoslavian second<br />
division. In 1982, the same generation <strong>of</strong> players plus<br />
Cvjeticanin and Goran Sobin won the silver medal at the<br />
1983 <strong>European</strong> Championship for Junior Men. Perasovic<br />
took part in the 1983 World Championship for Junior<br />
Velimir Perasovic<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
P
Vladimir Stankovic<br />
Men in Spain (13.9 points) and in 1984 he still played at<br />
the <strong>European</strong> Championship for Junior Men in Sweden,<br />
alongside Jure Zdovc, Zarko Paspalj, Ivo Nakic and Miroslav<br />
Pecarski, among others. They won the silver medal<br />
and Perasovic had an average <strong>of</strong> 24.7 points. On his club<br />
team, Jugoplastika, he was already a steady starter with<br />
17.5 points per game in 1984-85 and 25.5 in 1985-86.<br />
Mastered by Maljkovic<br />
The arrival <strong>of</strong> Boza Maljkovic to the Jugoplastika<br />
bench was key, not only for the club but also for most<br />
<strong>of</strong> its young players. Signing Dusko Ivanovic to have an<br />
expert player on a very young team, Maljkovic achieved<br />
the balance he was striving for between the enormous<br />
talent he had seen – in Toni Kukoc, Radja, Peras, Sobin<br />
and the others – and their lack <strong>of</strong> experience. But, before<br />
turning his pupils into stars, the players had to<br />
suffer and work hard. Perasovic himself, in an interview<br />
for the <strong>of</strong>ficial website <strong>of</strong> the Spanish League at the end<br />
<strong>of</strong> his career in 2004, remembered the beginnings <strong>of</strong><br />
his relationship with Maljkovic:<br />
“We had Boza sitting on our bench. Without a<br />
doubt, he was the best coach I ever had and the one<br />
who left the biggest impression on me. But, mind you, I<br />
hated his guts because he mistreated me sports-wise.<br />
I had many sleepless nights thinking he had something<br />
against me. However, he was only trying to get the best<br />
out <strong>of</strong> me. He said I had blood in my eyes and that he<br />
should be able to control it. I don’t know what he does<br />
today, but then he didn’t allow for the slightest mistake.<br />
He was very tough, and he always got the best out <strong>of</strong><br />
us. I learned a lot from him.”<br />
The fruits <strong>of</strong> that work with Maljkovic arrived soon:<br />
four straight Yugoslav League titles (from 1988 through<br />
1991), two Yugoslav Cups (1990 and 1991) and three<br />
EuroLeague titles (1989 to 1991). In four years, they<br />
won nine top trophies. Perasovic was not the hero in<br />
any <strong>of</strong> the three <strong>European</strong> finals – against Maccabi in<br />
1989 he scored 1 point; against Barcelona in 1990, he<br />
had 12; and in 1991 he had 6 points – but on such a great<br />
team that was logical. Kukoc, Radja, Ivanovic, Zoran<br />
Savic, Sretenovic, Luka Pavicevic, Sobin, youngsters<br />
Zan Tabak and Petar Naumoski formed a great team<br />
that dominated Europe for three years, something that<br />
has not been matched since then.<br />
The competition to make the Yugoslav national<br />
team was tough, and Perasovic was left <strong>of</strong>f the 1988<br />
Olympics runner-up roster in Seoul and the title-winning<br />
1989 EuroBasket team in Zagreb. But coach Dusan<br />
Ivkovic could not leave Peras out for the 1990 World<br />
Cup in Buenos Aires. The backcourt, formed by Petrovic,<br />
Zdovc, Zeljko Obradovic and Perasovic, worked<br />
flawlessly. They came back as world champs and Peras<br />
averaged 8.4 points per game. The following year, he<br />
would add the EuroBasket champions’ title in Rome<br />
to an already impressive résumé, scoring 9 points per<br />
game in the last competition <strong>of</strong> the great Yugoslavia<br />
teams. Before wearing the Croatia jersey, Perasovic<br />
had played 62 games with Yugoslavia (plus 43 in youth<br />
categories) with a total 669 points.<br />
Scoring king in Spain<br />
During the 1991-92 season, due to the war in Yugoslavia,<br />
FIBA made Partizan, Cibona and Slobodna Dalmacija<br />
(the new name <strong>of</strong> Jugoplastika) to play outside <strong>of</strong><br />
their countries. The three <strong>of</strong> them chose Spain. Slobodna<br />
played in La Coruña, Cibona in Puerto Real and Partizan<br />
in Fuenlabrada. In the duel against Cibona – they<br />
were in the same group – Perasovic scored 45 points, his<br />
personal record in Europe! Against Caserta, he scored<br />
256<br />
257
37. Perasovic finished that season with 25.8 points on<br />
average. He was the last <strong>of</strong> the Mohicans from the great<br />
Jugoplastika. Before leaving Split, he played with Croatia<br />
in the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona and won the silver<br />
medal (7.9 points) together with Petrovic, Kukoc, Radja,<br />
Vrankovic, Cvjeticanin and Arijan Komazec. A humble<br />
Spanish team, Breogan, had a better sense than some<br />
big <strong>European</strong> clubs and signed Peras in his prime, at 27<br />
years old. At the end <strong>of</strong> the season, after his 24.5-point<br />
average made him the Spanish League’s top scorer, many<br />
noticed the diamond in their midst. His good season<br />
ended at the 1993 EuroBasket in Germany with a bronze<br />
medal for Croatia, thanks to his 19.1 points per game.<br />
The smartest team was Taugres Vitoria. Coincidence<br />
or not, in the same season that it signed Perasovic, the<br />
team reached its first <strong>European</strong> final. In Lausanne on<br />
March 15, 1994, the Saporta Cup final between Union<br />
Olimpija and Taugres took place. Olimpija won, 91-81<br />
thanks to some unbelievable three-point accuracy,<br />
especially by Roman Horvat, who scored 33 points<br />
including 9 <strong>of</strong> 14 threes. He was well accompanied by<br />
Dusan Hauptman with 27 points. On the other side,<br />
Ken Bannister scored 32 points and Peras had 22. I was<br />
at that game and what impressed me the most was the<br />
love <strong>of</strong> the Vitoria fans for their team despite the loss.<br />
In March <strong>of</strong> 1995, Peras and Taugres won their first<br />
trophy, the Spanish King’s Cup. In the final tourney,<br />
played in Granada, the team from Vitoria defeated Joventut<br />
96-89 in the quarterfinals. In the semis, the team<br />
dealt with the Real Madrid <strong>of</strong> coach Zeljko Obradovic and<br />
Arvydas Sabonis – the same team that three months<br />
later would be EuroLeague champ – by the score <strong>of</strong> 86-<br />
79 with a nearly perfect Perasovic: 34 points with 6 <strong>of</strong> 8<br />
two-pointers, 4 <strong>of</strong> 4 threes and 10 <strong>of</strong> 11 free throws in 40<br />
minutes. In the final, Taugres defeated CAI Zaragoza 88-<br />
80. Perasovic and Marcelo Nicola had 17 points apiece,<br />
Pablo Laso added 11. The MVP <strong>of</strong> the tournament, you<br />
ask? Well, <strong>of</strong> course, it was Velimir Perasovic.<br />
On March 12, 1996, in Vitoria, I was a witness to the<br />
first <strong>European</strong> trophy for Baskonia. The third final was<br />
the charm. At home, with its great fans, Taugres defeated<br />
PAOK Thessaloniki with a great game by Ramon<br />
Rivas, who scored 31 points. Nicola added 19 points<br />
and Perasovic had 17. Branislav Prelevic shined for the<br />
Greek team with 34 points and young Peja Stojakovic<br />
confirmed his talent with 20 points. It was Perasovic’s<br />
sixth <strong>European</strong> final and his fourth title at the club level.<br />
With Croatia, he won the bronze medal in the 1995<br />
EuroBasket in Athens, scoring 10.5 points on average.<br />
At the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, his contribution was a<br />
modest 2.7 points and Croatia finished seventh. Back<br />
at the 1997 EuroBasket in Spain, his average rose again<br />
to 12.0 points, but Croatia dropped to 11th place. That<br />
year, at 32 years old, he signed with Fuenlabrada. He<br />
was like good wine: he improved with age.<br />
In the 1998-99 season, he was again the Spanish<br />
League’s top scorer with 22.5 points per game. He repeated<br />
that award in 2000-01 and 2001-02 with 22.9<br />
and 22.4 points, respectively. In 2002, he signed for<br />
Lucentum Alicante, where he put an end to his brilliant<br />
career two years later after having averaged 17.9 points<br />
at 37 years old. In his 11 seasons in the Spanish League,<br />
Perasovic put in 7,387 points and still ranks ninth all-time<br />
in total scoring. He averaged 20.9 points over 354 games<br />
and played more than 12,000 minutes. He is the fourth<br />
best three-point shooter with 882 made, after Alberto<br />
Herreros Juan Carlos Navarro and Alex Mumbru – all <strong>of</strong><br />
whom played at least 300 more games than Peras.<br />
As a player, he was a natural born scorer. As a coach,<br />
Velimir Perasovic is a winner.<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Velimir Perasovic<br />
P
Drazen<br />
Petrovic<br />
259
An unfinished<br />
symphony<br />
It was in the fall <strong>of</strong> 1979 when I heard the name <strong>of</strong><br />
Drazen Petrovic for the first time. The one who uttered<br />
it, before a group <strong>of</strong> journalists at a game in<br />
Belgrade, was Zoran “Moka” Slavnic, who by then<br />
was a player-coach at Sibenka. “In Sibenik there<br />
is a kid who will be better than me or Dragan Kicanovic,”<br />
Slavnic said. “He is a natural-born talent and<br />
he also has a great work ethic. He is very ambitious<br />
and does unbelievable things. His name is Drazen<br />
Petrovic. Remember this name.”<br />
And I did remember. Some months later, in a game on<br />
December 29, 1979, between Sibenka and OOK Belgrade,<br />
Drazen Petrovic scored his first points in the Yugoslav<br />
first division. Slavnic had left the court and substituted<br />
himself with the kid who would become a legend. With his<br />
first basket, Petrovic showed his character to everyone.<br />
He crossed the paint, found 2.01-meter big man Rajko<br />
Zizic in the way, and with a combination <strong>of</strong> courage and<br />
easiness – the virtues <strong>of</strong> the greats – Petrovic dropped a<br />
hook shot. He was 15 years, 2 months and 7 days old.<br />
At the 1981 <strong>European</strong> Championship for Cadets in<br />
Greece, despite being part <strong>of</strong> a strong class <strong>of</strong> players<br />
– Velimir Perasovic, Stojan Vrankovic, Zoran Sretenovic,<br />
Sasa Radunovic and others – Drazen was already the<br />
undisputed leader. There was no TV at the tournament,<br />
but we could follow his records through the press: 31<br />
points against Finland, 41 against Spain, 42 against<br />
Israel, 37 against France and 43 against Greece. He totaled<br />
227 points, averaging 32.5. A star was born.<br />
That was the launch <strong>of</strong> a brilliant career that, unfortunately,<br />
lasted for just 14 years. On June 7, 1993, a car<br />
accident on a German highway put an end to the life <strong>of</strong><br />
a great basketball player. Petrovic was only 28 years old<br />
and still had many brilliant seasons ahead <strong>of</strong> him. As a<br />
matter <strong>of</strong> fact, the 1992-93 season had been his best in<br />
the NBA, as he played 70 games with the New Jersey<br />
Nets, averaging 22.3 points and securing a spot on the<br />
All-NBA team. That season he also had great numbers<br />
from beyond the arc – 75 <strong>of</strong> 167 for an accuracy <strong>of</strong> 45%.<br />
He was about to sign a new contract.<br />
His job: winner<br />
His talent exploded in the 1981-82 season, which he<br />
finished with a 16.3-point scoring average in the Yugoslav<br />
League. The next season, he went on to become the<br />
clear leader <strong>of</strong> Sibenka, with an average <strong>of</strong> 24.5 points.<br />
Unfortunately, that great 1982-83 season finished with<br />
a scandal in the finals between Sibenka and Bosna. The<br />
third and final game <strong>of</strong> the series was played at Sibenka,<br />
the regular season champion. In the final minutes,<br />
and after losing a 19-point advantage because <strong>of</strong> Drazen’s<br />
scoring, Bosna was only one point ahead, 82-81,<br />
and the last possession was for the hosts. With 2 seconds<br />
to go, young Petrovic got the ball, pulled up and<br />
... missed the shot. The end? No, because the referee<br />
called a foul on Sabit Hadzic, sending Drazen to the foul<br />
line. With the roar <strong>of</strong> the crowd in the stands and after<br />
a long timeout, Petrovic, as the champion that he was,<br />
hit both attempts to give himself 40 points and win the<br />
game, 83-82. The champion received his trophy and<br />
the city <strong>of</strong> Sibenik celebrated all night long.<br />
Early the next morning, an emergency meeting <strong>of</strong><br />
the executive body <strong>of</strong> the basketball federation concluded<br />
that, due to a “the clear mistake by the referee,”<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Drazen Petrovic<br />
P
Vladimir Stankovic<br />
the final result was nullified and the game had to be<br />
replayed one week later on neutral ground in the city<br />
<strong>of</strong> Novi Sad. It was one o’clock in the afternoon and the<br />
Petrovic family still had not awoken from the previous<br />
long night when I told them the bad news. First, I told<br />
Biserka, and after her, Drazen. His answer was fast and<br />
sure: “I am not going to Novi Sad, and I don’t think the<br />
rest <strong>of</strong> the team will either. We are the champions and<br />
nobody will take this title away from us. “<br />
Said and done. Sibenka never appeared in Novi Sad<br />
and Bosna was declared champion without even playing<br />
the game.<br />
The coach <strong>of</strong> Sibenka those days, Vlado Djurovic, explained<br />
Petrovic’s winning character some years later<br />
when he told me some details about that famous final.<br />
“During the timeout before the free throws, I begged<br />
Drazen to score only the first one and miss the second<br />
so that we could play overtime. We had the feeling that<br />
there would be trouble, and we were convinced that<br />
we would win easily in the extra period. But no. Drazen<br />
didn’t want to miss a free throw on purpose.”<br />
With Sibenka, Petrovic lost two Korac Cup finals,<br />
both against the same rival, Limoges <strong>of</strong> France. My<br />
guess is that he wanted revenge on the French team<br />
and that’s why on January 23, 1986, in a Cibona vs.<br />
Limoges game in the EuroLeague, he did everything he<br />
could. In minute 13, with a score <strong>of</strong> 43-27, things looked<br />
bad for Cibona, but then Drazen had one <strong>of</strong> his unforgettable<br />
moments. He scored 7 straight three-pointers<br />
on 7 straight possessions! Cibona ended up winning,<br />
116-106. Drazen finished with 51 points after shooting<br />
70% from the field, but he also had 10 assists.<br />
Drazen’s Cibona team won the EuroLeague twice<br />
and then also won a Saporta Cup. Every home game he<br />
played drew 12,000 fans. Those were the years when<br />
my Italian colleague Enrico Campana, from La Gazzetta<br />
dello Sport, called him “Mozart” for the first time. Soon<br />
after, Drazen gave his café-bar in the Cibona arena the<br />
name “Amadeus”.<br />
Collector <strong>of</strong> records<br />
In 1988, after the Olympic Games in Seoul, Petrovic’s<br />
cycle in the former Yugoslavia came to an end after 197<br />
games with Sibenka and Cibona. He had combined for<br />
5,113 points between them, an average <strong>of</strong> 26.0 points<br />
per game. Drazen was searching for new challenges<br />
and Real Madrid <strong>of</strong> Spain became his destination. He<br />
played a great season with impressive numbers (28.2<br />
points in 36 regular-season and 11 play<strong>of</strong>f games). But<br />
one <strong>of</strong> his best games ever came in the final <strong>of</strong> the Saporta<br />
Cup in Athens, against Snaidero Caserta <strong>of</strong> Italy.<br />
He scored 62 points to win a direct duel with Oscar<br />
Schmidt, one <strong>of</strong> the best shooters ever in world basketball.<br />
Drazen’s personal scoring record was 112 points<br />
for Cibona against Olimpija Ljubljana, even though it’s<br />
worth noting that Olimpija was sanctioned to play that<br />
game with junior players.<br />
I was a witness to Petrovic’s debut with the Yugoslav<br />
senior national team at the 1983 EuroBasket in Limoges<br />
and Nantes, France. He was the youngest player on<br />
the team. On one side, there were legends in the sunset<br />
<strong>of</strong> their careers – Kresimir Cosic, Dragan Kicanovic or<br />
erstwhile coach, Slavnic – and on the other Drazen, the<br />
new star. His debut did not end very happily because<br />
Yugoslavia finished seventh. The following year, at the<br />
1984 Los Angeles Olympics, Yugoslavia won the bronze<br />
medal after having lost to Spain in semis. It was his first<br />
big trophy if we ignore the “lost” league title <strong>of</strong> 1983.<br />
At the 1986 World Cup in Spain, where Yugoslavia<br />
won the bronze medal, Petrovic was already an<br />
260<br />
261
international star. It was the same as at the 1987<br />
EuroBasket in Athens (bronze) or the 1988 Olympics<br />
(silver). Finally, the gold arrived at the 1989 EuroBasket<br />
in Zagreb, on the court where he had starred from<br />
1984 to 1988, winning everything that could be won<br />
with Cibona. His EuroBasket scoring average was 30<br />
points. The following year, at the 1990 World Cup in<br />
Buenos Aires, he won the gold again – and it would be<br />
his last one. Drazen had landed at the tournament as<br />
an NBA player already, after a not-so-happy debut with<br />
the Portland Trail Blazers, where coach Rick Adelman<br />
never trusted him.<br />
After seven years with the Yugoslav national team,<br />
Petrovic had played 135 games and had scored 2,830<br />
points. Ahead <strong>of</strong> him, with many more games played,<br />
were only Drazen Dalipagic, Dragan Kicanovic, Kresimir<br />
Cosic and Radivoj Korac. But if we add up all Petrovic’s<br />
points in all categories <strong>of</strong> the national team, Drazen is<br />
the top scorer with 3,979 points. His 47 points against<br />
the Netherlands in Spain in 1986 are still his best individual<br />
mark. He scored more than 30 points 27 times<br />
and more than 20 points 75 times. Of his 135 games<br />
with the national team, he was the top scorer on 79<br />
occasions. He was a truly relentless scoring machine.<br />
Starting in 1992, he played a total <strong>of</strong> 40 games for<br />
the Croatian national team and scored 1,004 points<br />
(25.1 per game). He won the silver medal at the 1992<br />
Olympics in Barcelona, a great prize for him and his<br />
teammates.<br />
Legacy left too early<br />
His last game with the Croatian team was in Wroclaw,<br />
Poland, on June 6, 1993, in a qualifying tournament for<br />
EuroBasket in Germany later that summer. There he<br />
scored his last 30 points, against Slovenia. The following<br />
day, destiny led Petrovic to make a fateful decision.<br />
Instead <strong>of</strong> going back to Zagreb with his teammates, he<br />
decided to spend a couple days <strong>of</strong>f in Germany with a<br />
friend, where he died in that tragic car crash.<br />
What kind <strong>of</strong> person was Drazen Petrovic? I would<br />
say that there were two personalities inside him. On the<br />
court, he was a lion who didn’t fear anything or anyone.<br />
But in his private life he was quiet, well-mannered and<br />
kind. <strong>Basketball</strong> was his life. Maybe he took practices<br />
too far, but that made him happy. Coaches helped him<br />
with the technical work, but most <strong>of</strong> what he accomplished,<br />
he did on his own. When it was time to practice,<br />
he never seemed to get enough. Starting in his junior<br />
years in Sibenik, he maintained an unbelievable pace.<br />
He arrived at 7 in the morning, before going to school,<br />
taking several hundred free throws every day.<br />
What kind <strong>of</strong> player was Drazen Petrovic? He was an<br />
individualist, great at going one-on-one, with a perfect<br />
shot, speed and strength, especially in his final NBA<br />
years. He played primarily as a playmaker and did so<br />
very well, even though he preferred being the shooting<br />
guard. He was the classic killer who could almost beat<br />
a team by himself. Was he also arrogant, egocentric<br />
and selfish? Maybe in some moments, but only when<br />
the game called for it and the atmosphere made him<br />
take flight. But if we take a look at his number <strong>of</strong> assists,<br />
especially with the national teams, we find another Drazen,<br />
the one who made the Toni Kukoc observation a<br />
reality: “A basket makes one player happy, but an assist<br />
makes two players happy.” Petrovic brought happiness<br />
to all basketball lovers with his game. His way <strong>of</strong> understanding<br />
life was apparently – only apparently – simple:<br />
“Today, I want to improve more than yesterday, but less<br />
than tomorrow.”<br />
And he did so, until that tragic day <strong>of</strong> June 7, 1993.<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Drazen Petrovic<br />
P
Ratko<br />
Radovanovic<br />
263
Mind over matter<br />
On most <strong>of</strong> the biographies that one<br />
can find on the internet about Ratko<br />
Radovanovic, who was born on<br />
October 16, 1956, in Nevesinje, Bosnia-Herzegovina,<br />
it states that he<br />
played at Bosna Sarajevo between<br />
1977 and 1983. But he really started his brilliant career<br />
way before that. In October 1972, when Bosna<br />
was in the second division, a tall and slim kid <strong>of</strong> 2.07<br />
meters and barely 80 kilos left his parents’ home in<br />
Niksic, Montenegro, and landed in Sarajevo with a<br />
suitcase and dreams <strong>of</strong> being a basketball player.<br />
Bogdan Tanjevic, his coach during the following decade<br />
and his basketball father, recalled the first steps<br />
<strong>of</strong> Radovanovic in Bosna:<br />
“Vukasin Vukalovic, Bosna’s sports director, informed<br />
me that he had found a kid that I had to see.<br />
I remember his first game with the junior team. He<br />
scored 13 points, but he showed incredible intelligence.<br />
He was very thin, but he was also very smart. Also, in<br />
practices he showed a lot <strong>of</strong> character, desire to work<br />
hard, to learn, to evolve. Already in the 1972-73 season,<br />
I put him on the first team. You could notice his talent<br />
and I was sure he would be a great big man.”<br />
I must admit, I didn’t get that impression when I saw<br />
Radovanovic for the first time in 1973-74 at the old arena<br />
in New Belgrade. Granted, he had what, according<br />
to Americans, you cannot teach: height. But he was so<br />
thin that his jersey was too loose on him. He had long<br />
hands, but you could see more bone than muscle on his<br />
fragile body. But that is why I am not a coach and Tanjevic<br />
is what he is: a great discoverer <strong>of</strong> talent like Mirza Delibasic,<br />
Nando Gentile, Dejan Bodiroga and Gregor Fucka.<br />
Nevesinje is a small town in Herzegovina, a region<br />
that has given the world a lot <strong>of</strong> basketball talent. Milenko<br />
Savovic, Dejan Bodiroga, Zoran Savic, Milan Gurovic,<br />
even the father <strong>of</strong> Aco and Drazen Petrovic – all were<br />
born in towns <strong>of</strong> this region. Radovanovic’s parents<br />
moved to Niksic, where due to his height, he started<br />
playing basketball in 1969. His ultimate motivation<br />
came when Yugoslavia won the gold medal at the 1970<br />
World Cup in Ljubljana. Partizan wanted to sign him, but<br />
he followed his family’s advice and went to Sarajevo to<br />
be closer to home.<br />
The title collector<br />
In the summer <strong>of</strong> 1973, Radovanovic was already selected<br />
for the FIBA <strong>European</strong> Championship for Cadets<br />
in Italy. His contribution was discreet (2.2 points) but<br />
after playing 17 games and scoring his first 43 points<br />
in the Yugoslav League in 1973-74, he was already an<br />
important player at the following 1974 FIBA <strong>European</strong><br />
Championship for Junior Men in France. Yugoslavia,<br />
with Tanjevic as the coach, won the gold medal. Radovanovic<br />
contributed 13.8 points on average and netted<br />
24 against Greece. Branko Skroce, Mihovil Nakic, Andro<br />
Knego, Rajko Zizic and Radovanovic were the most important<br />
players. Skroce was the top scorer (17.7) and<br />
Radovanovic was second.<br />
At Bosna, Radovanovic’s status with the team increased<br />
with every game. Delibasic and Zarko Varajic<br />
led the team and were in charge <strong>of</strong> scoring most <strong>of</strong><br />
the points, but little by little that duo became a trio.<br />
And even nowadays, those three great players remain<br />
among the top five scorers ever for Bosna: 1. Delibasic<br />
4,901 points, 2. Varajic 4,625, 3. Predrag Benacek 3,517,<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Ratko Radovanovic<br />
R
Vladimir Stankovic<br />
4. Radovanovic 2,906, 5. Boro Vucevic (Orlando Magic<br />
star Nikola Vucevic’s father) 2,331 points.<br />
With those three pillars and several good players<br />
(Benacek, Bosko Bosiocic, Svetislav Pesic, Ante Djogic<br />
and Sabit Hadzic) Tanjevic lived a fairy tale, taking his<br />
team from the second division to the top <strong>of</strong> Europe in<br />
just seven years – with the same group <strong>of</strong> players and<br />
with the same enthusiasm. Radovanovic’s progress<br />
was obvious. In the 1974-75 season, his scoring average<br />
increased to 5.8 points. In July <strong>of</strong> 1975, he made his<br />
debut with the senior national team, against Canada<br />
(97-87) at the Intercontinental Cup. I was at that game,<br />
played at Pinki Arena in Zemun (a part <strong>of</strong> Belgrade), but I<br />
had to go to my notes to see that Radovanovic netted 7<br />
points including 3 <strong>of</strong> 4 free throws. He played alongside<br />
Dragan Kicanovic, Zoran Slavnic, Drazen Dalipagic, Delibasic,<br />
Zeljko Jerkov and Varajic.<br />
In the 1975-76 season, Radovanovic’s scoring went<br />
up to 13.3 points per game. I don’t have the data for<br />
rebounds, but he was already an important center who<br />
played at the same level as Olimpija’s Vinko Jelovac,<br />
Jugoplastika’s Zeljko Jerkov, Cibona’s Andro Knego,<br />
OKK’s Rajko Zizic or Radnicki’s Milun Marovic. Despite<br />
playing a great season, Radovanovic missed the Montreal<br />
Olympics in 1976 and that, thinking about it today,<br />
feels like an injustice. Despite being disappointed by<br />
that, he never lost his desire to work hard – just the opposite.<br />
After another great 1976-77 season with 14.6<br />
points per game, his inclusion among the 12 chosen<br />
for the 1977 EuroBasket in Belgium was unavoidable.<br />
Coach Aleksandar Nikolic had two great centers, Kresimir<br />
Cosic and Jelovac, but the help <strong>of</strong> Radovanovic, especially<br />
in the title game against Vladimir Tkachenko <strong>of</strong><br />
the USSR, was very important. Radovanovic averaged<br />
7.3 points per game.<br />
Radovanovic’s second golden year was 1978. Bosna,<br />
finally, won the Yugoslav League and also the national<br />
cup, while the national team won the gold medal<br />
at the 1978 World Cup in the Philippines. Radovanovic<br />
was one <strong>of</strong> the main players on the team. The duo <strong>of</strong><br />
Dalipagic (22.4) and Kicanovic (18.0) was unstoppable,<br />
but the third-best scorer was Radovanovic at 12.3<br />
points per game. He even started improving his free<br />
throw percentage, a weak spot <strong>of</strong> his for many years. In<br />
Manila, he reached 69% and some years later he would<br />
even reach 80% – more pro<strong>of</strong> that desire and hard work<br />
can overcome any weaknesses.<br />
Bosna, <strong>European</strong> champion<br />
The best was yet to come. In the 1978-79 season,<br />
Bosna started its first adventure in the EuroLeague –<br />
and won it! As the first Yugoslav team to do so, as well.<br />
It was a huge, but well-deserved, surprise. In the title<br />
game, the opponent was a Varese team playing its 10th<br />
straight continental final! A great game by Varajic (45<br />
points, still the record in a title game) and Delibasic (30<br />
points) is in the history books. But the unsung hero <strong>of</strong><br />
the game was Radovanovic.<br />
“On the eve <strong>of</strong> the final, the team doctor told me that<br />
Rasha had a fever, more than 39 degrees. I knew that<br />
without him we could not win,” Tanjevic remembers.<br />
“Varese had Dino Meneghin and Radovanovic was<br />
the man who would have to stop him. Not even I could<br />
imagine the game that Varajic and Delibasic would play,<br />
but Radovanovic appeared and added 10 points, the<br />
same as Meneghin. His sacrifice was huge, but he was<br />
just that way. He was a great fighter, a very smart man<br />
who tricked his opponents with technique and speed,<br />
scoring with both hands and running the breaks. It was<br />
a pleasure to work with him, to help him grow and be-<br />
264<br />
265
come one <strong>of</strong> the best big men in the history <strong>of</strong> the game<br />
in Europe. He had what only the greats have: the ability<br />
to play even better when the team needs it the most.”<br />
Svetislav Pesic, who was a Bosna teammate <strong>of</strong> Radovanovic’s<br />
until 1979, and later his coach, says this:<br />
“He was pure talent. He achieved a lot through hard<br />
work, but without the talent that he had in his veins, he<br />
would never have reached those heights. He was a very<br />
fast player for his height; his legs resembled those <strong>of</strong> a<br />
boxer in the lighter categories. Also, he didn’t know the<br />
meaning <strong>of</strong> the word ‘fear’.”<br />
Radovanovic was a staple in the national team. He<br />
won bronze at the 1979 EuroBasket, then gold at the<br />
1980 Olympics, silver at the 1981 EuroBasket and<br />
bronze at the 1982 World Cup. He finished seventh<br />
at the 1983 EuroBasket in France as Yugoslavia’s top<br />
scorer (21.6 ppg) in front <strong>of</strong> Dalipagic (18.3), Kicanovic<br />
(14.8) and Drazen Petrovic (13.4). Radovanovic came<br />
back home from the 1984 Olympics with a new bronze<br />
medal, then missed the 1985 EuroBasket, but was back<br />
for the 1986 World Cup in Spain, where he won bronze<br />
with 12 points per game. He also finished third, too, at<br />
the 1987 EuroBasket in Athens with 9.4 points on average.<br />
He was 31 years old and was now playing with<br />
Vlade Divac, Dino Radja, Toni Kukoc and Sasha Djordjevic,<br />
the inheritors <strong>of</strong> the previous golden generation.<br />
Radovanovic was a bridge between those two great<br />
generations <strong>of</strong> the Yugoslav national team. Altogether,<br />
he won nine medals at major competitions.<br />
With Bosna, Radovanovic won two more domestic<br />
league titles, 1980 and 1983. At 27 years old he signed<br />
with Stade France <strong>of</strong> Paris, where he played with Kicanovic.<br />
Thanks to those two masters, a humble team<br />
managed to finish in fourth place in France, but at the<br />
end <strong>of</strong> the season, Kicanovic decided to retire at 31<br />
years old! Radovanovic stayed for two more seasons,<br />
and in 1984-85 his average was 20.7 points plus 8 rebounds<br />
and 2.1 assists. In 1985-86, he averaged 18.1<br />
points plus 6.3 rebounds. At 30 years old, he signed his<br />
best contract with Reyer Venice. In four seasons there,<br />
Radovanovic played 105 games and averaged 21.8<br />
points and 7.1 rebounds. His individual highs were 35<br />
points against Stefanel Trieste and 22 boards against<br />
Varese. In Venice, he played with another teammate<br />
from the national team, Dalipagic.<br />
At 34 years old, Radovanovic retired and started a<br />
business in Sarajevo, but then the war started. In 1972,<br />
he arrived with a suitcase, and in 1992, he left with almost<br />
nothing, but he held no grudge. He is a rich man<br />
in his memory, proud <strong>of</strong> his career. He lives in Belgrade,<br />
where he owns a café bar. He was sports director for<br />
FMP Zeleznik for many years and became an important<br />
figure in the growth <strong>of</strong> the small team <strong>of</strong> the industrial<br />
suburb <strong>of</strong> Belgrade. He has stayed away from basketball<br />
lately, but he will be back. <strong>Basketball</strong> needs him.<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Ratko Radovanovic<br />
R
Nikola<br />
Plecas<br />
267
Saint Nikola<br />
If someone were to ask me who were the best<br />
players ever from Zagreb, my answer would be Nikola<br />
Plecas (PLEH-chash), Mihovil Nakic and Zoran<br />
Cutura – in that order. Surprised? Where is Drazen<br />
Petrovic? And I would agree with you, but the catch<br />
is I am talking about players who left a big mark<br />
and were born or raised in Zagreb. Plecas was born<br />
on January 10, 1948 in Bruvno and arrived in Zagreb<br />
at age 6. He started his brilliant career there and, in<br />
fact, he still lives there, even if he is not very involved<br />
in basketball anymore. He’s from my generation and<br />
I admit a certain subjectivity towards him, but I do<br />
believe that the facts, numbers and witnesses justify<br />
his presence among the great players <strong>of</strong> the past.<br />
To introduce Plecas to the youngsters who were not<br />
lucky enough to see him in action, let me tell you a story<br />
about the first Korac Cup final in the 1971-72 season. FI-<br />
BA had established this competition to honor the great<br />
Serbian scorer Radivoj Korac, who passed way in a car<br />
crash on June 2, 1969. Only eight teams signed up: two<br />
from Spain (Manresa and Picadero JC), two from France<br />
(Olympique Antibes and Caen), two from Yugoslavia<br />
(Lokomotiva Zagreb and OKK Belgrade, Korac’s club <strong>of</strong><br />
origin), and one each from Germany (USC Munich) and<br />
Belgium (Standard Liege). The first final featured the two<br />
Yugoslav teams, and the format was a home-and-away<br />
two-game series. I was at the game played in the old<br />
Sports Palace <strong>of</strong> New Belgrade on February 29, 1972.<br />
OKK won 83-71 despite 29 points scored by Plecas for<br />
Lokomotiva Zagreb, the guests. On March 7, the second<br />
game was played in Zagreb. At the break, OKK was<br />
ahead, 48-40, which added up to a 20-point aggregate<br />
advantage with the 12 from the first game. <strong>Basketball</strong> is a<br />
collective sport, but that game turned into evidence that<br />
a single player can win a game by himself. Lokomotiva<br />
ended up winning the game, 94-73 (54-25 in the second<br />
half) and took the trophy! Plecas finished the game with<br />
40 points, most <strong>of</strong> them in the second half.<br />
Pero Zlatar, a prestigious Croatian journalist and<br />
president <strong>of</strong> Lokomotiva in the 1970s – before the<br />
club changed its name to Cibona, by the way – was the<br />
man who set the foundations <strong>of</strong> what would be one <strong>of</strong><br />
the great clubs in Europe in the following years. Zlatar<br />
wrote an article about Plecas in which he said:<br />
“At the break in the final against OKK Belgrade,<br />
aside from trailing by 8 points, Lokomotiva was about<br />
to fall into the abyss because Plecas already had four<br />
fouls. Despite all that, he stepped on the court like a lion<br />
and in just a few minutes, Lokomotiva scored 21 points,<br />
most <strong>of</strong> them by Plecas, and allowed only 1. Plecas<br />
made each and every shot, from every position. It was<br />
unforgettable.”<br />
Zlatar also assures us that during the 1970s, Nikola<br />
Plecas was the most popular sportsman in Zagreb, ahead<br />
<strong>of</strong> the aces from other sports – football included. He was<br />
an idol for the fans, who dubbed him “Saint Nikola”.<br />
Duo with Solman<br />
There may have been no humbler club in the world<br />
than Mladost <strong>of</strong> Zagreb, which produced two world<br />
champions and an Olympic champion, who also won<br />
several <strong>European</strong> titles at the club and national team<br />
levels. I am referring to Mihovil Nakic, Damir Solman<br />
and Nikola Plecas. The latter two played together there,<br />
as they were the same age, and together they caught<br />
the attention <strong>of</strong> the big clubs.<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Nikola Plecas<br />
P
Vladimir Stankovic<br />
Lokomotiva wanted to sign both, but Jugoplastika <strong>of</strong>fered<br />
Solman terms that the Zagreb club could not match,<br />
and therefore he went to Split. (That’s why he’s not on my<br />
Zagreb list, because he played most <strong>of</strong> his career in Split).<br />
Plecas decided to accept Lokomotiva’s <strong>of</strong>fer, but Mladost<br />
wouldn’t release his papers. He had to spend 10 months<br />
without playing, but in the end the federation gave the<br />
green light, and Plecas was registered by Lokomotiva at<br />
noon on July 12, 1967. That same night he made his debut<br />
against Crvena Zvezda. He starred with 26 points. The Yugoslav<br />
League was still played during the summer, then,<br />
but would start to be played in arenas the following year.<br />
Lokomotiva won 106-96 against a strong Crvena Zvezda<br />
team with veterans Vladimir Cvetkovic and Sreten Dragojlovic,<br />
plus youngsters like Ljubodrag Simonovic, Dragan<br />
Kapicic and Dragisa Vucinic. Soon, in the Yugoslav Cup<br />
final, Lokomotiva defeated Olimpija 78-77 for what would<br />
become Plecas’s first big trophy.<br />
Although it was his debut in the league that year,<br />
Plecas was already an established talent. The flawless<br />
scouting service <strong>of</strong> the Yugoslav federation had all the top<br />
talents on file. Solman had made his debut in the national<br />
team in 1964 and Plecas did the same one year later, in<br />
the Balkans championship in Kraljevo, Serbia. Yugoslavia<br />
ended up second despite playing at home because it lost<br />
to Bulgaria. However, Coach Ranko Zeravica had four players<br />
on the team who, only five years later, would be world<br />
champions with him still on the bench. They were Plecas,<br />
Simonovic, Kapicic and Aljosa Zorga. Bogdan Tanjevic, a<br />
future great coach, was also there. Talk about vision.<br />
Zeravica took some youngsters to the 1967 EuroBasket<br />
in Helsinki, but not Plecas, whose debut on the great<br />
international stage was postponed until the 1968 Olympics<br />
in Mexico. He returned from Mexico with a silver<br />
medal around his neck, contributing 9 points per game.<br />
Triumph in Ljubljana<br />
Plecas’s career lasted until the late 1970s, but his<br />
peak came at the 1970 World Cup in Ljubljana. At only<br />
22 years <strong>of</strong> age, he became a world champion with<br />
players like Kreso Cosic, Kapicic, Solman, Zorga and<br />
Simonovic, who was one year younger. In the decisive<br />
game against the United States, a 70-63 victory, Cosic<br />
netted 15 points, Petar Skansi scored 14 and Plecas<br />
had 12 points on 8-<strong>of</strong>-10 free throw shooting. He could<br />
always be identified by his moustache, but the following<br />
day, he honored a bet and shaved it <strong>of</strong>f completely.<br />
The following year, Plecas got a call from Aleksandar<br />
Nikolic, the coach at Ignis Varese, the <strong>European</strong> champ<br />
at the time. The <strong>of</strong>fer was for $60,000 per season to<br />
play at the Italian club, a lot <strong>of</strong> money back then, not at<br />
all comparable to what he was getting at Cibona. But<br />
he could not leave. The regulations <strong>of</strong> the federation<br />
said that players had to be at least 28 years old to play<br />
outside the country.<br />
Plecas played with the national team until 1975. He<br />
won gold medals at the 1973 EuroBasket in Barcelona<br />
(the first for Yugoslavia) and the 1975 EuroBasket in<br />
Belgrade. He had previously one two EuroBasket silver<br />
medals, in Naples in 1969 and in Essen in 1971, then<br />
added a silver at the 1974 World Cup in San Juan.<br />
Plecas also took part in the 1972 Olympics in Munich,<br />
where the team finished fifth. In the meantime, he was<br />
also a starter for his team every year. He broke countless<br />
records – in one game against Partizan, he scored<br />
67 points – and he was the league’s top scorer twice, in<br />
1969-70 (30.9 points per game) and 1974-75 (33.1). In<br />
between, the top scorer for the 1972-73 season was his<br />
friend Damir Solman for Jugoplastika (31.0).<br />
In researching data on Plecas, I found an interesting<br />
figure: between 1957 and 1982 – that’s 25 years – the<br />
268<br />
269
top scorers <strong>of</strong> the Yugoslav League averaged below 30<br />
points, and then by a small margin, just three times!<br />
Those three times were all by Radmilo Misovic <strong>of</strong> Borac<br />
Cacak, with 29.5 points in 1967-68, 28.2 points in 1968-<br />
69 and 29.4 points in 1970-71. That league featured<br />
some true scoring aces, ranging from Korac (38.0 ppg.<br />
in 1958) to Misovic, Solman and Plecas and finally to<br />
Dragan Kicanovic and Drazen Dalipagic.<br />
On the eve <strong>of</strong> the 1976 Olympics in Montreal, Plecas<br />
was pulled from the national team for a reason that<br />
would seem incomprehensible today. He was kicked out<br />
for “violating the principles <strong>of</strong> amateurism” because he<br />
had featured in a commercial for tea! In the federation,<br />
they were worried about the possible reaction by the<br />
International Olympic Committee with American Avery<br />
Brundage, who was very conservative, at the helm. Plecas<br />
was convinced that it was some sort <strong>of</strong> scheme to<br />
free one place for another player.<br />
Over seven years, Plecas had been a fixture on the<br />
national team, playing 215 games and scoring 1,315<br />
points. After that, his relationship with Mirko Novosel, the<br />
coach <strong>of</strong> the national team and, starting in the fall <strong>of</strong> 1976,<br />
Cibona, got worse. After 10 years, 204 games and 5,404<br />
points (26.5 per game!) in the Yugoslav League, Plecas<br />
decided to leave Cibona. He signed for modest Kvarner Rijeka<br />
and played at his usual level the first season, averaging<br />
28.9 points. But in his second season there, he played<br />
just nine games, and at 30 years old practically vanished<br />
into thin air. With 6,192 points scored, he ranks seventh all<br />
time and his scoring average is sixth all time.<br />
Plecas was a scoring machine. Standing at 1.87 meters,<br />
he was a shooting guard who could also play the<br />
point because <strong>of</strong> his technique. He was a natural scorer<br />
with a privileged touch. His shooting percentages were<br />
always high and his numbers, impressive ... and without<br />
three-pointers! With those, Plecas would have scored<br />
even more. He was also a good rebounder, but his main<br />
weapons were his shot and his penetration. He was able<br />
to drive through the forests <strong>of</strong> arms and legs to find the<br />
spot to score. Also, he was a fighter with strong character.<br />
His special play was what they would call today the<br />
Euro-step. Plecas patented that shot on the third step,<br />
using the backboard a lot. He says that many coaches<br />
tried to correct his “irregular shot” but Marijan Katineli,<br />
his coach at Mladost and later at Lokomotiva, saw it as<br />
an advantage and encouraged him to perfect it.<br />
Ivica Dukan, who was a forward at Jugoplastika<br />
Split for 11 years and has been with the Chicago Bulls<br />
as assistant general manager for the last 20 years, told<br />
me: “I agree with your list <strong>of</strong> best players from Zagreb.<br />
Plecas was number one, a great player. I played against<br />
him and I remember that it was very hard to stop him<br />
because <strong>of</strong> his atypical shot, on the third step, without<br />
any balance and from impossible angles.”<br />
Plecas explained that he never lifted weights and<br />
that his practices were always with the ball. He says<br />
that in his era, <strong>of</strong>fensive plays lasted from 7 to 11<br />
seconds and now they take about 20 seconds. When<br />
teams score 55 points, he says, everybody talks about<br />
“good defense” and not about bad <strong>of</strong>fense. His idols<br />
were Ivo Daneu <strong>of</strong> Olimpija (because <strong>of</strong> his perfection<br />
and vision), Miodrag Nikolic <strong>of</strong> OKK Belgrade (because<br />
<strong>of</strong> his technique) and Pino Djerdja <strong>of</strong> Zadar (because <strong>of</strong><br />
his will, desire, hustle and leadership). Daneu was the<br />
captain <strong>of</strong> the great Yugoslav team with whom Plecas<br />
won the 1970 World Cup. But through his game, his<br />
points and his artful baskets, Nikola Plecas earned a<br />
place forever in the memories <strong>of</strong> those who were fortunate<br />
enough to see him play.<br />
It was a true privilege.<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Nikola Plecas<br />
P
Manuel<br />
Raga<br />
271
The Flying Mexican<br />
In a hypothetical quiz about basketball knowledge,<br />
I doubt there would be a lot <strong>of</strong> correct answers<br />
if the first question were: “Who was the first<br />
non-American player ever drafted by an NBA<br />
team?” I am guessing most people would point<br />
to some <strong>European</strong> legend, but the right answer is<br />
Manuel Raga Navarro <strong>of</strong> Mexico. This unforgettable<br />
player was born on March 14, 1944, in Villa Aldama,<br />
in the Mexican state <strong>of</strong> Tamaulipas. He was chosen<br />
by the Atlanta Hawks with pick number 167 in the<br />
10th round <strong>of</strong> the 1970 draft. In the following round,<br />
the 11th, the first <strong>European</strong> was picked, big man Dino<br />
Meneghin <strong>of</strong> Italy, also by the Atlanta Hawks. But the<br />
first non-American was always Raga.<br />
Marty Blake, the general manager in Atlanta, had<br />
seen that Raga and Meneghin were a great duo at Ignis<br />
Varese, the <strong>European</strong> champion at that time, and both<br />
were capable <strong>of</strong> playing in the NBA. But that was a different<br />
time and teams in the United States didn’t trust players<br />
developed outside <strong>of</strong> the country. Maybe that’s the<br />
reason why the Hawks didn’t want to pay the $35,000 to<br />
free Raga from Varese. The Italian team didn’t even want<br />
to hear about a buyout for Meneghin, who would be its<br />
undisputed star throughout the next decade.<br />
Key part <strong>of</strong> the great Ignis Varese<br />
The name <strong>of</strong> Manuel Raga is found for the first<br />
time in a major competition at the 1963 World Cup in<br />
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He was only 19 years old, but<br />
he was already a regular for his national team. Mexico<br />
finished that competition in ninth place, but the young,<br />
1.88-meter guard caught everybody’s attention. He finished<br />
the tourney with 12.3 points per game, with highs<br />
<strong>of</strong> 24 points against Canada and 20 against Uruguay.<br />
Four years later, at the 1967 World Cup in Uruguay, Raga<br />
increased his numbers to 15.6 points and sank Italy<br />
with 31 points. However, the decisive moment in his<br />
career came at the 1968 Olympic Games in his home<br />
country <strong>of</strong> Mexico. The Mexican team, coached by<br />
American Lester Lane, an Olympic champ from Rome<br />
1960, finished fifth thanks to two excellent players: Raga<br />
and Arturo Guerrero. At the same time, Ignis Varese<br />
president Alberto Tedeschi had asked his club’s director,<br />
Giancarlo Gualco, to renew the team. But instead <strong>of</strong><br />
bringing in a well-known American, Gualco brought in a<br />
rather unknown Mexican player. Shortly after his arrival<br />
in Varese, Raga earned the nickname Indian, but shortly<br />
afterward it was changed for two others: The Flying<br />
Mexican and The Phenomenon.<br />
Already in his first season in Italy, in 1968-69, Raga<br />
earned the respect <strong>of</strong> all his colleagues, the admiration<br />
<strong>of</strong> the audience and the kudos <strong>of</strong> the press. Despite<br />
being short, he jumped like nobody else (an estimated<br />
1.1 meters from a standing position). It was said that<br />
he could touch the rim with his elbow. Ignis Varese won<br />
the Italian League with 418 points by Raga, an average<br />
<strong>of</strong> 19.0 over 22 games, enough to finish eighth in the<br />
top scorers’ list <strong>of</strong> the league in which the leader was<br />
ace scorer Radivoj Korac with an average <strong>of</strong> 26 points<br />
even though his Padova team was relegated to the second<br />
division. Raga was also the third-best rebounder <strong>of</strong><br />
the team, with 98 boards, only 5 fewer than Meneghin,<br />
while the leader on the team was Ottorino Flaborea<br />
with 136. Winning the league, Ignis earned the right to<br />
play the EuroLeague, and on April 9, 1970, in Sarajevo’s<br />
new Skenderija Arena (which now bears the name <strong>of</strong><br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Manuel Raga<br />
R
Vladimir Stankovic<br />
the legendary Mirza Delibasic), Varese beat CSKA Moscow<br />
79-74 and won its first continental crown.<br />
That began a golden decade in which Varese would<br />
play 10 straight finals, still a record. Raga scored 19<br />
points, one fewer than Meneghin. On the other side,<br />
the legendary Sergei Belov scored 21 points and Aleksandr<br />
Sidjakin posted 18. Before beating CSKA in the<br />
title game, both teams had met before in a quarterfinals<br />
group. In Moscow, CSKA took the win by the score<br />
<strong>of</strong> 83-60 despite 26 points by Raga, and Varese won<br />
on its own court 79-59 with 17 points by Raga. Both<br />
teams advanced, and in the semifinals CSKA got rid <strong>of</strong><br />
Slavia Prague while Varese outlasted Real Madrid 90-<br />
86 in Madrid (Raga with 22 points, Ricky Jones 29) and<br />
108-73 in Varese (Raga 18 points, Jones 36).<br />
Love in Sarajevo<br />
The 1970 title game in Sarajevo was also a turning<br />
point in the private life <strong>of</strong> Raga. It was there where he<br />
met Esma Smais, a player at the local Zeljeznicar club,<br />
and shortly thereafter they got married. They had<br />
two children, Fidel and Manuel Jr., the latter <strong>of</strong> whom<br />
would become an outstanding player at Lugano <strong>of</strong><br />
Switzerland and played in the EuroLeague in 2000-01.<br />
Lugano was also the city where his father put an end<br />
to his career.<br />
The following season, 1970-71, Varese repeated<br />
the national club title with Raga as the second-best<br />
scorer in the league, averaging 25.6 points, behind<br />
only Elnardo Webster <strong>of</strong> Gorizia’s 26.9 per game. In<br />
the EuroLeague, Varese and CSKA repeated the title<br />
game, this time in Antwerp, Belgium. The Soviet champ<br />
took revenge with a 67-53 win, possibly because Raga<br />
scored just ... 3 points! The following season Varese lost<br />
the Italian championship to Simmenthal Milano. Raga<br />
was the best scorer on the team and the fourth-best<br />
in the league (22.7 average). In the EuroLeague, Varese<br />
reached the final again, this time against Jugoplastika<br />
Split in Tel Aviv, and won its second continental crown<br />
by a single point, 70-69, with 21 points from Meneghin<br />
and 20 from Raga.<br />
For the 1972-73 season, the coach <strong>of</strong> Varese, pr<strong>of</strong>essor<br />
Aleksandar Nikolic, decided to sign a new American,<br />
Bob Morse, and for the Italian League he had to<br />
sacrifice Raga, as only one foreigner was allowed to<br />
play. But in Europe, Morse and Raga were a lethal pair.<br />
Ignis won the Italian title back with no problems and in<br />
the next EuroLeague final, on March 22 in Liege, Belgium,<br />
the Italian team faced archrival CSKA Moscow<br />
again. Varese won 71-66 with 25 points from Raga<br />
and 20 from Morse. That was Raga’s third and last<br />
<strong>European</strong> title with Varese. In 1973-74 he also played<br />
in <strong>European</strong> competition only, and Ignis reached its<br />
fifth straight final but lost in Nantes, France against<br />
Real Madrid by the score <strong>of</strong> 84-82. The trio formed by<br />
Meneghin (25 points), Morse (22) and Raga (17 points)<br />
did its job, but Real Madrid shared the points better<br />
with Wayne Brabender (22 points), Carmelo Cabrera<br />
(16), Walter Szczerbiak (14), Clifford Luyk (14) and Rafael<br />
Rullan (14) all scoring in double figures under the<br />
masterful floor generalship <strong>of</strong> Juan Antonio Corbalan.<br />
In 1974-75 Varese was not the Italian champ, but<br />
it was <strong>European</strong> champ again. It got revenge against<br />
Real Madrid in Antwerp with a 79-66 victory but did so<br />
without “The Flying Mexican” Raga, who had moved to<br />
Lugano. But before that, during the summer at the 1974<br />
World Cup in Puerto Rico, Raga was the tourney’s top<br />
scorer with 155 points (25.8 points per game). He the<br />
Philippines with 38 points and scored 29 against both<br />
the USSR and Argentina. In four years at Lugano, Raga<br />
272<br />
273
won two league and two cup titles. His last big competition<br />
was the Olympic Games in Montreal in 1976.<br />
Honorary citizen, hall <strong>of</strong> famer<br />
Raga returned to Europe thanks to a great initiative<br />
by Euroleague <strong>Basketball</strong> during the 2008 Final Four<br />
in Madrid. There, the 50th anniversary <strong>of</strong> <strong>European</strong><br />
competitions spawned a voted list <strong>of</strong> the 50 biggest<br />
contributors to our sport during all those years. Of<br />
course, Manuel Raga could not miss being on that list.<br />
In Madrid, he was moved by the recognition and he<br />
managed to meet many old teammates and rivals to<br />
reminisce about the golden years. He also returned to<br />
Varese on March 12, 2010, to receive the recognition as<br />
an honorary citizen <strong>of</strong> that city in front <strong>of</strong> 2,500 people.<br />
Varese had not forgotten about its idol during the<br />
1970s, a great player who could jump like a big man and<br />
had an extraordinary fadeaway jumper as he waited for<br />
the rival to fall first to the floor. He was incredibly fast<br />
and capable <strong>of</strong> flying over rivals and playing above the<br />
rim, which inspired Enrico Campana, then a journalist at<br />
La Gazzetta dello Sport, to call him the Helicopter Man.<br />
In 1991, Raga was an assistant coach on the Mexico<br />
national team that won the silver medal at the Pan<br />
American Games in Havana, Cuba. He lives now with<br />
his second wife, a former volleyball player from Cuba,<br />
Lucia Urgelles. He works at the Sports Department <strong>of</strong><br />
Tamaulipas, where a gym bears his name. In 2016, he<br />
was inducted into the FIBA Hall <strong>of</strong> Fame.<br />
On March 2, 1997, Horacio Llamas made history<br />
by becoming the first Mexican to ever play in the NBA<br />
with the Dallas Mavericks. But 30 years earlier a fellow<br />
Mexican could have done so with no problems as the<br />
first non-American in the league. <strong>European</strong> basketball<br />
should be grateful to the Atlanta Hawks for not spending<br />
those $35,000, because if they did, we would not<br />
have been able to enjoy the genius abilities <strong>of</strong> The Flying<br />
Mexican.<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Manuel Raga<br />
R
Dino<br />
Radja<br />
275
The legend <strong>of</strong> Split<br />
In the world <strong>of</strong> basketball there are many players<br />
who share the name, but among the greats – if I am<br />
not mistaken – there are just two who are called<br />
Dino. One is Meneghin, the other, Radja. Both are,<br />
oddly enough, centers. When Dino Radja came into<br />
the world in Split, Croatia on April 24, 1967, Meneghin<br />
was already a pro player, a major prospect for<br />
Ignis Varese and Italian basketball. Because Meneghin<br />
had such a long career, the Dinos had time to face<br />
each other in club domestic, EuroLeague and national<br />
team competitions, in part due to Radja spending<br />
three seasons in the Italian League before leaving for<br />
the NBA to play with the Boston Celtics.<br />
From the beginning <strong>of</strong> the 1960s until the mid-1990s,<br />
Split was a great basketball center. The yellow jersey <strong>of</strong><br />
Jugoplastika has been worn by many greats over several<br />
generations. The first great team there, coached by<br />
Branko Radovic – who is considered the father <strong>of</strong> basketball<br />
in Split – was formed by Petar Skansi, the three Tvrdic<br />
brothers – Rato, Lovre and Drazen – Damir Solman,<br />
Zdenko Prug and Mihajlo Manovic. After that, they had<br />
Zeljko Jerkov, Duje Krstulovic, Ivica Dukan and Goran<br />
Sobin. They led up to the generation <strong>of</strong> the likes <strong>of</strong> Radja,<br />
Toni Kukoc, Zan Tabak, Velimir Perasovic and the others<br />
who won three EuroLeague crowns in a row from 1989<br />
to 1991, the first two <strong>of</strong> which came under the orders <strong>of</strong><br />
Boza Maljkovic, the creator <strong>of</strong> that great team.<br />
When talking about the great Jugoplastika, the<br />
names <strong>of</strong> Kukoc and Radja were almost always pronounced<br />
together as the two main pillars on which the<br />
success <strong>of</strong> that team was based. Radja is one year older<br />
than Kukoc. He started playing at the humble KK Dalvin<br />
club in Split, but as a junior he already made the jump to<br />
Jugoplastika. By the 1983-84 season, he had played his<br />
first minutes on the first team for Kreso Cosic, a great<br />
former player and a not-so-great coach, but one who<br />
had the courage and the eye to promote young talent<br />
into the sport. Radja scored his first basket on December<br />
15, 1984, in Belgrade against Partizan. After Cosic,<br />
the Jugoplastika bench saw other names like Slavko<br />
Trninic and Pino Grdovic (together) and later Zoran<br />
Slavnic, who, true to his style, said: “Dino Radja will be a<br />
miracle player.” Slavnic had said something similar, and<br />
he had been absolutely right, a few years earlier about<br />
a certain Drazen Petrovic, whom he trained in Sibenik.<br />
Slavnic was right again.<br />
The young center Radja progressed with giant steps.<br />
His talent opened the doors <strong>of</strong> the national team, even<br />
though he didn’t make the cut to be at the 1985 <strong>European</strong><br />
Championship for Cadets in Ruse, Bulgaria. There,<br />
Vlade Divac, Kukoc, Nebojsa Ilic, Slavisa Koprivica and<br />
Radenko Dobras started a path that would culminate<br />
two years later at the 1987 U19 <strong>Basketball</strong> World Cup in<br />
Bormio, Italy. Before that, however, for the 1986 <strong>European</strong><br />
Championship for Junior Men tourney in Gmunden,<br />
Austria, Radja formed a duo with Divac as a key piece<br />
<strong>of</strong> the team coached by Svetislav Pesic. Yugoslavia was<br />
an even stronger team then – with new faces like Radja,<br />
Aleksandar Djordjevic, Luka Pavicevic and Teoman<br />
Alibegovic – and won another title. For the 1987 Euro-<br />
Basket in Athens, Cosic called the four great prospects:<br />
Kukoc, Divac, Djordjevic and Radja. They came back<br />
home with the bronze medal and then, in August, went<br />
back to their junior team for the U19 World Cup in Bormio.<br />
There, they won the gold medal by twice beating<br />
a great USA Team, coached by Larry Brown, with Kevin<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Dino Radja<br />
R
Vladimir Stankovic<br />
Pritchard, Larry Johnson, Gary Payton, Scott Williams,<br />
Stacey Augmon, Dwayne Schintzius, Brian Williams<br />
and Stephen Thompson. In the group stage game – a<br />
110-95 victory – Kukoc shined with 27 points, including<br />
11 <strong>of</strong> 12 triples, while in the title game, Pesic changed<br />
the strategy and went for the inside game, where Divac<br />
and Radja shined with 21 and 20 points, respectively.<br />
Title after title<br />
Since 1987, Dino Radja was a must in all the plans<br />
for the Yugoslav national team and for Jugoplastika,<br />
which by then had Maljkovic on the bench. In 1987-88,<br />
Jugoplastika would win the first <strong>of</strong> four domestic titles<br />
in a row. Then, at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, Radja<br />
won a silver medal after losing his first big final with the<br />
national team against the USSR. In 1989, Jugoplastika<br />
would win its first EuroLeague crown at the Final Four in<br />
Munich. In the semis against FC Barcelona (87-77), Radja<br />
scored 18 points, and in the final against Maccabi Tel<br />
Aviv (75-69), he collected 20 points and 10 rebounds. He<br />
was named MVP <strong>of</strong> the Final Four. That same summer,<br />
after he was selected 22nd by the Boston Celtics in the<br />
1989 NBA draft, he triumphed with Yugoslavia at the<br />
1989 EuroBasket in Zagreb with an average <strong>of</strong> 9.0 points.<br />
In the summer <strong>of</strong> 1989, Radja wanted to try his<br />
luck with the Celtics in the NBA. However, in a curious<br />
case, Jugoplastika won a trial in London against the<br />
mighty NBA franchise by proving that Radja still had<br />
a valid contract and could not leave without the club’s<br />
permission. Boston accepted the administrative defeat<br />
and Radja stayed one more year in Split, winning<br />
both the Yugoslav cup and league and, once again, a<br />
EuroLeague crown, this time in Zaragoza, Spain. In the<br />
semis, Jugoplastika defeated Limoges by the score <strong>of</strong><br />
<strong>101</strong>-83 as Radja had 10 points. In a 72-67 victory in the<br />
final against FC Barcelona, Radja had 12 points. Later<br />
that year, because <strong>of</strong> an injury that he had suffered at<br />
the Goodwill Games in Seattle, Radja missed the 1990<br />
World Cup in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where Yugoslavia<br />
won the gold medal.<br />
Radja was a modern center. He was tall (2.10 meters)<br />
and strong enough, but also fast, with good fundamentals,<br />
rebounding skills and a great shot close to the rim.<br />
He played equally well facing the basket or with his back<br />
to it. He was normally faster than his defenders and<br />
that allowed him to score many points. He was always a<br />
reliable contributor for his team and his coaches.<br />
Rome instead <strong>of</strong> Boston<br />
In the summer <strong>of</strong> 1990, Radja could finally leave<br />
Jugoplastika and the country, but in a surprise move,<br />
he chose Il Messaggero <strong>of</strong> Rome. At the same time, the<br />
club signed Rick Mahorn, a former NBA star. Rome’s <strong>of</strong>fer<br />
to Radja was way higher than the one from Boston.<br />
Over the next three years, Radja would average 18.1,<br />
20.2 and 21.5 points with more than 10 rebounds per<br />
game in each season.<br />
It was also on Italian soil where Radja won his last gold<br />
medal with Yugoslavia. The 1991 EuroBasket was played<br />
in June, while the war started in Slovenia, which forced<br />
Jure Zdovc to leave the team before the semifinals.<br />
That was the last time that the great Yugoslavia played<br />
together, and it won the gold medal with no opposition.<br />
Radja’s average was 18.0 points. With Messaggero,<br />
he won the Korac Cup in 1991-92 despite a first-game<br />
tie at home against fellow Italian club Scavolini Pesaro<br />
as Radja had 34 points and 9 rebounds. His team won<br />
the second and final game 99-86 in Pesaro with a big<br />
double-double from Radja, 17 points and 13 rebounds.<br />
That was his third <strong>European</strong> trophy. The following year,<br />
276<br />
277
he played another Korac Cup final against another Italian<br />
team, Olimpia Milano, but this time Radja and his teammates<br />
could not succeed despite his two good games,<br />
especially in Rome (30 points, 11 rebounds). On the other<br />
side there was Djordjevic, who had 29 points in Rome<br />
in Game 1 and then 38 points in Milan.<br />
In 1992, Radja fulfilled one <strong>of</strong> his dreams, playing<br />
with Croatia in the Barcelona Olympics, winning the silver<br />
medal after losing in the final to the real USA Dream<br />
Team. It was a great Croatian team with Petrovic, Kukoc,<br />
Perasovic, Danko Cvjeticanin and Stojan Vrankovic,<br />
among others. Radja averaged 18 points and 6.9 rebounds,<br />
and he scored 23 points in the final.<br />
The next three years, Radja would win bronze medals<br />
with Croatia at the EuroBaskets <strong>of</strong> 1993 in Germany (17.1<br />
points) and 1995 in Greece (13.9 points and 5.7 rebounds),<br />
and also at the 1994 World Cup in Toronto (22.4 points<br />
and 8.5 rebounds). He also played at the 1996 Olympics<br />
in Atlanta and the 1999 EuroBasket in France but could<br />
not come home with any hardware from those events.<br />
Radja finally played with the Boston Celtics between<br />
1993 and 1997. In his first season, Radja averaged 15.1<br />
points and 7.2 boards, enough for him to make the<br />
all-rookie second team. He totaled 224 games with 16.7<br />
points and 8.4 rebounds in the NBA. In the summer <strong>of</strong><br />
1997, he was traded to the Philadelphia 76ers, but the<br />
doctors there doubted that his knees could take four<br />
games per week, so nobody opposed it when Radja<br />
asked to come back to Europe. His new destination was<br />
Greece, where he joined Panathinaikos, the team that<br />
had won its first EuroLeague title the previous season<br />
with his old coach, Boza Maljkovic. But by the time Radja<br />
got there, Maljkovic had already left. He played two years<br />
with the Greens and won two Greek Leagues. For the<br />
1999-2000 season, he was back to the Dalmatian coast,<br />
not with KK Split (the former Jugoplastika), but rather<br />
with KK Zadar, whom he helped win the Croatian League.<br />
The first basket in the new EuroLeague<br />
The following year Radja was back in Greece, but this<br />
time he signed for Olympiacos. In the opening game<br />
<strong>of</strong> the new EuroLeague on October 16, 2000, against<br />
Real Madrid, Dino Radja became the player to score the<br />
first basket in the new competition organized by the<br />
clubs themselves and the ULEB. Real Madrid won 75-<br />
73 and Radja finished the game with 13 points and 17<br />
rebounds against a Real Madrid that included Jiri Zidek,<br />
Sasha Djordjevic, Raul Lopez, Marko Milic, Eric Struelens<br />
and Alberto Angulo. It was a historic game with a<br />
historic shot by Radja.<br />
After a year in Olympiacos, Radja was back in Croatia<br />
and during a brief period <strong>of</strong> the 2001-02 season and<br />
played with Cibona. But he played his final season with<br />
Split and helped a lot, too, as the team won the Croatian<br />
League with the help <strong>of</strong> Zdovc and Josip Sesar for Petar<br />
Skansi on the bench. With the win, Split broke Cibona’s<br />
streak <strong>of</strong> 11 consecutive titles. Radja celebrated by<br />
smoking a cigar “Red Auerbach-style”.<br />
It was the perfect moment to retire. Radja was 36<br />
years old, had won almost everything, and had come<br />
full circle back to Split. He had also fulfilled almost all his<br />
dreams. It was time to start a different career. For more<br />
than 10 years, Radja served as president <strong>of</strong> KK Split.<br />
During that time, Radja was honored among the 50<br />
Greatest EuroLeague Contributors to the first-half-century<br />
<strong>of</strong> <strong>European</strong> club competitions at a ceremony organized<br />
by Euroleague <strong>Basketball</strong> for the 2008 Final Four<br />
in Madrid. In 2018, Radja became the eighth <strong>European</strong><br />
player ever to be chosen for induction into the Naismith<br />
Memorial <strong>Basketball</strong> Hall <strong>of</strong> Fame.<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Dino Radja<br />
R
Igor<br />
Rakocevic<br />
279
A killer<br />
on the court<br />
Goran Rakocevic was a truly solid point<br />
guard who played for Crvena Zvezda<br />
in the 1970s, but who had the bad<br />
luck <strong>of</strong> being on the same team as<br />
Zoran Slavnic, a genius floor general<br />
who limited Rakocevic’s playing time<br />
at Zvezda and closed the national team doors to<br />
him. Goran played for Zvezda from 1969 to 1979<br />
for a total <strong>of</strong> 190 games, scoring 1,229 points (6.5<br />
per game). With Zvezda, Rakocevic won the Yugoslav<br />
League title in 1972 and lifted the Saporta Cup<br />
trophy in 1974, downing Spartak Brno 86-75. His<br />
friends, however, joke about the fact that the best<br />
thing he ever did for the club was to take his little<br />
son Igor to the outdoor courts at Kalemegdan Fortress,<br />
where Zvezda was born in 1945 and still has<br />
its home.<br />
A peculiar way <strong>of</strong> training<br />
Young Igor Rakocevic, who was born in Belgrade<br />
on March 29, 1978, had Michael Jordan as his idol. He<br />
dreamed <strong>of</strong> flying like Mike, <strong>of</strong> shooting and jumping like<br />
him, and he was willing to work hard to become a wellknown,<br />
respected player. Due to his height, 1.91 meters,<br />
Igor became a shooting guard who could also play<br />
point guard. But if you look at his stats, you see that he<br />
rebounded a lot, too. He told me his “secret” not long<br />
ago: as a kid, he lived on the 18th floor <strong>of</strong> a building in<br />
New Belgrade, but he rarely used the elevator. He would<br />
walk up and down the stairs several times a day. That<br />
very peculiar practice strengthened his legs, which<br />
improved the lift on his jump shot and his rebounding<br />
skills a lot. Years later, he was admired for his dunks and<br />
spectacular jumps.<br />
Igor had the complete package: natural talent, work<br />
ethic, physical skills, “Yugoslav” touch, speed and good<br />
moves. Since his first-team debut with Zvezda in the<br />
1995-96 season, you could tell he would be a top player.<br />
At age 19, the next season, he was already a starter, averaging<br />
12.9 points per game and shooting a really high<br />
percentage (45.5%) from beyond the three-point line. Of<br />
course, he was a key player for the Yugoslav junior team.<br />
After the 1996 U18 <strong>European</strong> Championship in France,<br />
all the scouts returned home with Rakocevic’s name<br />
marked in red. He averaged 25.4 points, 3.6 assists<br />
and 1.7 rebounds and came back with a bronze medal,<br />
his first achievement. He had 35 points against Russia,<br />
22 against Croatia, 28 against Belgium and 27 against<br />
Italy. In the summer <strong>of</strong> 1997, he helped Yugoslavia win<br />
a bronze medal at the U22 World Cup, played in Melbourne,<br />
Australia, but his triumphant year was 1998.<br />
First, he won the Yugoslav League title with Zvezda (averaging<br />
12.9 points) and in summer, Yugoslavia won the<br />
gold medal at the U22 <strong>European</strong> Championship with a<br />
powerful team: Rakocevic, Marko Jaric, Dejan Milojevic<br />
and Jovo Stanojevic. Rakocevic had a stellar role, averaging<br />
21.1 points, 1.9 rebounds and 1.2 assists. As with<br />
the true greats, his best game came in the final against<br />
Slovenia. He scored 37 points in 34 minutes, hitting 6 <strong>of</strong><br />
11 two-point shots, 4 <strong>of</strong> 5 three-point shots and 13 <strong>of</strong><br />
15 free throws! Slovenia also had a great team, led by<br />
Jaka Lakovic and Primoz Brezec, but Yugoslavia had an<br />
unstoppable Rakocevic. Of course, he was the MVP <strong>of</strong><br />
that tournament, a trophy which nowadays, after so ma-<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Igor Rakocevic<br />
R
Vladimir Stankovic<br />
ny years and a brilliant career, still holds a special place<br />
for him.<br />
A dream come true<br />
From the start <strong>of</strong> his career, Igor knew that his main<br />
goal was playing in the NBA. Every step he took was<br />
making sure he got closer to realizing his dream. After<br />
the 1999-00 season, still with Crvena Zvezda, he<br />
spent the pre-draft camp with the Washington Bullets,<br />
but once the draft arrived, it was Minnesota that drafted<br />
him with the 51st pick. That very same summer,<br />
Rakocevic played with Yugoslavia at the 2000 Olympic<br />
Games in Sydney, Australia without much success.<br />
Canada, led by Steve Nash, eliminated his team in the<br />
quarterfinals. Rakocevic signed a one-year contract<br />
with Minnesota but terminated it before the start <strong>of</strong><br />
the season and returned to Yugoslavia. However, he<br />
did not go back to Zvezda. Instead, he joined Buducnost<br />
Podgorica. Signing with the Montenegrin team<br />
allowed him to make his debut in the newly-found<br />
EuroLeague. In his first season, Rakocevic averaged<br />
14 points.<br />
The following summer, he made another dream come<br />
true, winning the gold medal with Yugoslavia at EuroBasket<br />
2001. The following season, he averaged 17.7 points<br />
in the EuroLeague and in August <strong>of</strong> 2002, he added the<br />
World Cup title to his personal roll <strong>of</strong> honors. Rakocevic<br />
helped Yugoslavia become 2002 world champions in<br />
Indianapolis with a great team that also featured the<br />
likes <strong>of</strong> Vlade Divac, Predrag Stojakovic, Dejan Bodiroga,<br />
Milan Gurovic, Marko Jaric, and Milos Vujanic.<br />
Rakocevic helped Buducnost win two Yugoslav<br />
League titles and added a Yugoslav Cup trophy in<br />
2001. Finally, Rakocevic made his NBA dream come<br />
true in the 2002-03 season, signing for the Minnesota<br />
Timberwolves. He played 42 games before being<br />
sidelined in spring due to an ankle injury. His numbers<br />
were quite different than those he put up in Europe<br />
(1.9 ppg.), but at least his biggest wish had come true.<br />
Rakocevic still dreamed about the NBA and played the<br />
2003 summer league with Minnesota, then another<br />
one with San Antonio, but ended up signing with ...<br />
Zvezda!<br />
Spain, a second home<br />
Putting away his NBA plans, Rakocevic had looked<br />
for an opportunity to sign a good contract in Europe.<br />
Instead, he returned to his original club and took that as<br />
a second-chance possibility, making the most out <strong>of</strong> it.<br />
He averaged 19.3 points in the 2002-03 EuroCup, 23.2<br />
points in the Adriatic League and 22.6 points in the<br />
Yugoslav League, more than enough for some teams<br />
to keep an eye on him. Valencia Basket <strong>of</strong>fered him a<br />
one-year contract and he didn’t hesitate to sign. He was<br />
sure that playing in one <strong>of</strong> the best domestic leagues<br />
in Europe was just what he needed. He averaged 18.6<br />
points in the next season’s EuroCup and 21 points on<br />
47% three-point shooting in the Spanish League. At<br />
that point, Rakocevic getting a call from Real Madrid did<br />
not surprise anyone.<br />
Things did not go too well for him in the Spanish<br />
capital, even though his numbers and shooting percentages<br />
(14.8 ppg., 40% 3FG) were not bad. He missed<br />
a good part <strong>of</strong> the season and was sick with parotitis<br />
(mumps) in the play<strong>of</strong>fs. Apparently, the club did not<br />
have confidence in his physical condition, unlike Tau<br />
Ceramica, which <strong>of</strong>fered him a three-year contract. Rakocevic<br />
accepted, and it happened to be a great move.<br />
Rakocevic says now that he spent the best three years<br />
<strong>of</strong> his pr<strong>of</strong>essional career in Vitoria.<br />
280<br />
281
Playing for Tau, Rakocevic won the EuroLeague’s<br />
Alphonso Ford Top Scorer Trophy twice, was chosen to<br />
the 2008-09 All-Euroleague First Team and was chosen<br />
as the weekly and monthly MVP several times. In Spain,<br />
he helped Tau to lift the Spanish League trophy in 2007-<br />
08 and the King’s Cup title in 2008-09. His personal<br />
EuroLeague scoring record is 31 points and his highest<br />
performance index rating was 36, both marks coming<br />
against Virtus Rome in 2009. He also had 8 rebounds<br />
in that game.<br />
Once he parted ways with Tau, Rakocevic played<br />
four more seasons – two with Efes Pilsen, one with<br />
Montepaschi Siena and the final one, 2012-13, back at<br />
Zvezda. His five years in Spain, however, were the best<br />
in his career. He also played at the 2007 and 2008 Final<br />
Fours with Tau, averaging 12.3 points in four games.<br />
EuroLeague top scorer record<br />
Rakocevic may have changed countries, but not<br />
habits. With Efes, je won his third Alphonso Ford Top<br />
Scorer Trophy, one more than any other player in the<br />
award’s first 14 years. All told, he won national cup titles<br />
in Yugoslavia, Serbia, Spain, Italy and Turkey; was a<br />
league champ in Yugoslavia, Spain and Italy; and lifted<br />
several supercup trophies. The only failure in his career<br />
was the 2005 EuroBasket, played in Serbia & Montenegro.<br />
Rakocevic and the host team were expected to win<br />
the gold medal but ended up being eliminated in the<br />
Play-<strong>of</strong>f stage by France, with Tony Parker and Antoine<br />
Rigaudeau as leaders.<br />
Rakocevic played a total <strong>of</strong> 159 EuroLeague games<br />
over nine seasons and finished with a scoring average<br />
<strong>of</strong> 14.6 points. Only one player has played more than<br />
150 EuroLeague games this century with a higher scoring<br />
average: Marcus Brown (179 games, 15.3 ppg.).<br />
For some people, Rakocevic was selfish sometimes,<br />
but I don’t know any great scorers without a little bit<br />
<strong>of</strong> selfishness. Those who shoot best and score more<br />
always have had the right to shoot more and even<br />
miss some shots because their points help teams win<br />
games many more times than their mistakes cost their<br />
teams losses.<br />
Teammates <strong>of</strong>ten look for the best player to take<br />
responsibility – and Igor Rakocevic was always there<br />
to take the big shot. That was Igor Rakocevic as a<br />
basketball player: a natural-born winner, a killer on<br />
the court and an ambitious all-around player. He was<br />
a shooter above all but could <strong>of</strong>fer many other things<br />
to his teams.<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Igor Rakocevic<br />
R
Zeljko<br />
Rebraca<br />
283
Blocks master<br />
The year was 1987. The place was Pula, on<br />
the coast <strong>of</strong> Croatia’s Istria peninsula.<br />
The event was a FIBA youth camp. The<br />
main teaching guest was the great Sergei<br />
Belov. The protagonists were young<br />
talents from all over Europe. Current<br />
Philadelphia 76ers scout Marin Sedlacek, one <strong>of</strong> the<br />
coaches at that camp and a long-time coach <strong>of</strong> the<br />
World Select Team at the annual Nike Hoop Summit,<br />
highlighted two kids from the class <strong>of</strong> 1987: Zeljko<br />
Rebraca and Dragan Tarlac.<br />
“I cannot say for sure that back then if you could<br />
clearly see that they would be future <strong>European</strong> and<br />
world champs, or players that would end up in the NBA,<br />
but it was clear they had good predispositions,” Sedlacek<br />
told me later. “Tarlac caught everyone’s attention<br />
more because he was stronger, while Rebraca was<br />
pretty thin and his body didn’t show that he could do<br />
big things in basketball. But with years <strong>of</strong> great work,<br />
he managed to earn his place in basketball. Back then,<br />
at 15 years old, he was taller than 2 meters and had a<br />
knack for blocking shots. I was impressed with the ease<br />
with which he blocked the shots <strong>of</strong> stronger rivals. He<br />
had great timing for when to jump and long hands.”<br />
Zeljko Rebraca, who was born April 9, 1972, in Prigrevica,<br />
Serbia, was not an unknown player at 15 years<br />
old. He played in OKK Apatin and his first coach was<br />
Vlado Tasevski. When he turned 16, Rebraca moved to<br />
Novi Sad to try his luck on bigger teams. Talent scouting<br />
in the former Yugoslavia worked well, so it was unusual<br />
that good talent went unnoticed. For the FIBA <strong>European</strong><br />
Championship for Junior Men in 1990, in the Netherlands,<br />
coach Dusko Vujosevic gathered a solid team,<br />
including Dejan Bodiroga, Velko Mrsic, Nikola Loncar, Roman<br />
Horvat, Mladjan Silobad, Rebraca and Tarlac, among<br />
others. The team finished fifth, with losses against<br />
Romania with Gheorghe Muresan, Spain with Alfonso<br />
Reyes, and Poland with Maciej Zielinski. But most <strong>of</strong> all it<br />
gained players, especially Bodiroga, Tarlac and Rebraca,<br />
three future <strong>European</strong> and world champions. The same<br />
coach used almost the same team the following year to<br />
play the 1991 FIBA World Championship for Junior Men<br />
in Edmonton, Canada. Yugoslavia would finish fourth as<br />
Rebraca raised his numbers from 5.9 points in the Netherlands<br />
to 9.1 points per game in Canada.<br />
During the 1990-91 season, Sasha Djordjevic, the<br />
point guard for Partizan and the national team, served in<br />
the military in Novi Sad. From time to time he practiced<br />
with the NAP team, a humble club at which two future<br />
world champs took their first steps: Rebraca (in 1998)<br />
and Milan Gurovic (2002). With the great nose <strong>of</strong> a future<br />
coach, Djordjevic sensed the huge potential in Rebraca<br />
and secretly took him to two practices with Partizan –<br />
Novi Sad is only 70 kilometers from Belgrade – and recommended<br />
that the club sign him. Said and done.<br />
“One day, without permission from the military authorities,<br />
I escaped by car from Novi Sad with Rebraca,”<br />
Djordjevic recalled to me. “We sent a message to his<br />
coach saying he was sick. I was sure he was a future star.”<br />
In that summer <strong>of</strong> 1991, Rebraca, who was just 19<br />
years old, signed with Partizan. Nobody expected a lot<br />
from him because <strong>of</strong> his young age and his inexperience,<br />
but a debut coach – Zeljko Obradovic – and a legend<br />
who happened to be his consultant – Aleksandar<br />
Nikolic – saw a future superstar in the thin kid. Rebraca<br />
soon made it into the starting five with Djordjevic, Pre-<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Zeljko Rebraca<br />
R
Vladimir Stankovic<br />
drag Danilovic, Ivo Nakic and Slavisa Koprivica. In April<br />
<strong>of</strong> the next spring, together with Silobad, Loncar, Vladimir<br />
Dragutinovic, Zoran Stevanovic and Dragisa Saric,<br />
this would win the 1992 EuroLeague title, Partizan’s<br />
first and only continental crown. In the semis, Partizan<br />
defeated Olimpia Milano, and in the final, Djordjevic and<br />
his famous three-pointer on the run near the buzzer<br />
snatched the title from Joventut Badalona.<br />
In the career <strong>of</strong> Rebraca, nothing after that happened<br />
suddenly. His way was slow but steady. His progression<br />
coincided with the development <strong>of</strong> his body. With each<br />
kilo he gained and each muscle that got bigger, that body<br />
shouted “superstar”. His specialty was, <strong>of</strong> course, blocking<br />
shots. His super-long arms terrified opponents, while<br />
the rest <strong>of</strong> his game, both on defense and <strong>of</strong>fense, was<br />
like life insurance for his coaches. He was one <strong>of</strong> the rational<br />
players: high shooting percentages, secure from the<br />
line, good rebounder and excellent blocker. Coaches knew<br />
it for sure: it was just a matter <strong>of</strong> time before he exploded.<br />
Rebraca was still green, especially in the physical aspect,<br />
when he entered the 1994 NBA Draft and ended up being<br />
picked 54th. Before even entering the NBA, his draft rights<br />
were traded to a number <strong>of</strong> teams, going from Seattle to<br />
Minnesota to Toronto and then Detroit – the last <strong>of</strong> those<br />
moves coming in 2001. But the NBA would have to wait.<br />
three years <strong>of</strong> isolation due to international sanctions.<br />
The team returned in S<strong>of</strong>ia in a qualifying tournament that<br />
FIBA created after the country missed the 1992 Olympics<br />
in Barcelona, the 1993 EuroBasket in Germany and the<br />
1994 World Cup in Canada. Yugoslavia advanced and<br />
made the 1995 EuroBasket in Athens. With its own version<br />
<strong>of</strong> the Dream Team – Djordjevic, Danilovic, Bodiroga,<br />
Vlade Divac, Zarko Paspalj, Zoran Savic, Sasa Obradovic<br />
and Dejan Tomasevic, Rebraca was too young to have an<br />
important role, but his 4.8 points and 3.6 rebounds were<br />
still part <strong>of</strong> the gold medal won by his team. In the title<br />
game against Lithuania, Rebraca only scored 1 point and<br />
grabbed 1 rebound, but he played 14 minutes, meaning<br />
that coaches Dusan Ivkovic and Zeljko Obradovic counted<br />
on him. The following year, his worth was re-confirmed as<br />
Yugoslavia won the 1996 Olympics silver medal in Atlanta<br />
with Rebraca contributing 10.6 points and 3.8 rebounds.<br />
In Treviso, Rebraca started working with coach Mike<br />
D’Antoni. In the 1996-97 season, the team won the<br />
Italian League after a dramatic final series. Benetton<br />
defeated Teamsystem Bologna 3-2. Rebraca shined,<br />
especially in the fourth game, which Benetton won 79-<br />
67 at home in overtime. Rebraca scored 32 points and<br />
pulled 12 rebounds in 41 minutes. Benetton also won<br />
Game 5 with 6 points and 8 rebounds by Rebraca.<br />
To Italy with D’Antoni<br />
After four years, 110 games, 1,292 points, two domestic<br />
league titles, two cups and one EuroLeague crown<br />
with Partizan, the time came for Rebraca to take a new<br />
step in his career. Maurizio Gherardini, then the general<br />
manager <strong>of</strong> Benetton Treviso, with his impeccable eye<br />
for young talent, decided to sign Rebraca in the summer<br />
<strong>of</strong> 1996. Before moving to Italy, Rebraca made his debut<br />
with the Yugoslav national team, which reappeared after<br />
Again with Obradovic<br />
The summer <strong>of</strong> 1997 saw Yugoslavia repeat the<br />
continental title at the Barcelona EuroBasket. Rebraca<br />
was the third-best scorer on his team, after only Danilovic<br />
and Djordjevic, with 11.1 points, and was its top<br />
rebounder with 5.0 rebounds per game. The coach was<br />
Zeljko Obradovic, who would leave Real Madrid that<br />
summer to sign with Benetton. Right <strong>of</strong>f the bat, the<br />
team won the Italian Supercup against Kinder Bologna,<br />
284<br />
285
78-58, with 12 points from Rebraca. In the 1997-98<br />
EuroLeague, Benetton reached the Final Four played<br />
in Barcelona but fell to AEK Athens in the semis 69-66.<br />
Getting third place by beating Partizan 96-89 was no<br />
big consolation. The following year, Benetton lost the<br />
Italian Cup final to Kinder 73-55, but Rebraca’s empty<br />
season at the club level was compensated with a Yugoslavia<br />
win at the 1998 World Cup in Athens. Even though<br />
the MVP <strong>of</strong> the tourney was Bodiroga, many believed<br />
that Rebraca deserved the accolade because he averaged<br />
13.1 points and 9.1 rebounds. In the final, a 64-62<br />
win against Russia, Rebraca was the key man with 16<br />
points and 11 rebounds. The all-tournament team included<br />
Rebraca, Bodiroga, Vasily Karasev, Alberto Herreros<br />
and Gregor Fucka. At the end <strong>of</strong> the year, at a FIBA<br />
all-star event in Berlin – where he had 14 points and 10<br />
rebounds and was MVP <strong>of</strong> the game – Rebraca received<br />
the award for best <strong>European</strong> player <strong>of</strong> the year, chosen<br />
in a survey <strong>of</strong> the magazine FIBA <strong>Basketball</strong> Monthly,<br />
which gave the award an <strong>of</strong>ficial status.<br />
In Rebraca’s third season, Benetton ended up with a<br />
triumph in the Saporta Cup. On April 13, 1999, in Zaragoza,<br />
Spain, Benetton defeated Pamesa Valencia 64-60 with<br />
6 points and 5 rebounds by Rebraca. It was his second<br />
<strong>European</strong> trophy, again with Obradovic on the bench.<br />
After four years, 143 games, 2,029 points (14.3 per<br />
game) and 6.5 rebounds in Treviso, Rebraca moved<br />
with Obradovic to Panathinaikos, where he played with<br />
his friend and national teammate Dejan Bodiroga. At<br />
the 2000 Final Four in Thessaloniki, Panathinaikos defeated<br />
Efes Pilsen in the semifinal, 81-71, with 22 points<br />
from Bodiroga and 15 from Rebraca. In the title game,<br />
the Greens overcame Maccabi Tel Aviv, their biggest<br />
rival at the turn <strong>of</strong> the century, by the score <strong>of</strong> 82-74.<br />
Rebraca was brilliant, with 20 points and 8 rebounds in<br />
30 minutes. He made 5 <strong>of</strong> 6 field goals and 10 <strong>of</strong> 14 free<br />
throws. Of course, he was chosen MVP.<br />
That season, Panathinaikos also won the Greek<br />
League and Greek Cup, with Rebraca being voted MVP<br />
<strong>of</strong> the league. His big dream was winning the gold medal<br />
with Yugoslavia in the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, but Steve<br />
Nash and Canada ended that dream in the quarterfinals.<br />
Going to the NBA<br />
Eventually, in the summer <strong>of</strong> 2001, at 29 years old,<br />
Rebraca decided to try the NBA. He spent more than six<br />
seasons there, suffering several injuries that kept him<br />
sidelined. He played for Detroit, Atlanta and the Los<br />
Angeles Clippers for a total 215 games, averaging 5.9<br />
points and 3.2 rebounds. As in Europe, his main asset<br />
was that you could always count on getting what you<br />
expected from him. He was not a star in the NBA, but<br />
he was a solid player.<br />
I was a direct witness to almost all <strong>of</strong> Rebraca’s<br />
successes in Europe. The trophies he won in Istanbul,<br />
Zaragoza and Thessaloniki, the gold medals at the<br />
1995 and 1997 EuroBaskets, the Olympic silver in Atlanta<br />
1996, the World Cup gold in 1998. But I also saw<br />
his disappointments in Sydney 2000 and, especially,<br />
the Belgrade EuroBasket in 2005. Obradovic was back<br />
to the bench <strong>of</strong> the national team after five years away,<br />
just like Rebraca. It was to be the perfect goodbye at<br />
home to Bodiroga, Tomasevic and Rebraca. But in one<br />
<strong>of</strong> the biggest upsets in EuroBasket history, Yugoslavia<br />
was eliminated in the Play-Off stage by the Tony Parker-led<br />
France 74-71.<br />
He now lives in Apatin, his childhood town, away<br />
from basketball. He loves the Danube River and family<br />
life. He has three kids, two girls and a boy, and many<br />
nice memories from his career.<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Zeljko Rebraca<br />
A
Carlo<br />
Recalcati<br />
287
Owner <strong>of</strong> two<br />
<strong>European</strong> threepeats<br />
It was in 1963 when somebody at FIBA had a great<br />
idea: organizing continental tournaments for the<br />
junior category. The first edition <strong>of</strong> the FIBA <strong>European</strong><br />
Championship for Junior Men was in 1964 in<br />
Naples, Italy with only eight teams: USSR, France,<br />
Yugoslavia and Spain in Group A, and Bulgaria, Italy,<br />
Poland and Czechoslovakia in Group B. From that<br />
first edition came many future stars: Modestas Paulauskas<br />
and Zurab Sakandelidze (USSR), Jiri Zednicek<br />
(Czechoslovakia), Aldo Ossola and Carlo Recalcati<br />
(Italy) and Vicente Ramos (Spain). The Yugoslav team<br />
included a future prominent head coach, Bogdan Tanjevic,<br />
just like Recalcati would also become.<br />
The top scorer <strong>of</strong> that tournament was Paulauskas<br />
with 21.2 points, including 36 points against Yugoslavia.<br />
The first champ was the USSR, a 62-41 winner<br />
against France in the final. Italy won the bronze against<br />
Bulgaria, 73-72. Recalcati’s point column was empty in<br />
that game and his biggest contribution was in the game<br />
against the USSR, with 8 points.<br />
That first tournament was played in early April. Carlo<br />
Recalcati, who was born on September 11, 1945, was<br />
18 years old and had a bright future ahead. He was a<br />
shooting guard who, standing 1.84 meters, could also<br />
play at point guard, depending on his team’s needs. He<br />
started in Pavia and at 14 years old he was already in<br />
Cantu with a clear idea <strong>of</strong> making a living in basketball.<br />
He was taken to Cantu by Gianni Corsolini, one <strong>of</strong> the<br />
three men whom Recalcati himself considers most important<br />
to his career as a player.<br />
The other two men are coaches Arnaldo Taurisano<br />
and Borislav Stankovic. In an article written by Recalcati,<br />
he explained that he learned “technical things” from<br />
Taurisano, “political things” from Stankovic and “the relationship<br />
with teammates” from Corsolini. Stankovic,<br />
the future FIBA secretary general, had been a Yugoslav<br />
champion coach with OKK Belgrade, starring Radivoj<br />
Korac, and had reached the semifinals <strong>of</strong> the EuroLeague.<br />
In 1967-68, Stankovic coached Orasonda Cantu<br />
and became the first foreign coach to win the Italian<br />
League title. Cantu won 18 games and only lost four,<br />
and it had a balanced team. Recalcati was its top scorer,<br />
with 18.5 points, 10th best in the league. When I spoke<br />
to him 47 years later, Stankovic had these memories <strong>of</strong><br />
that season and <strong>of</strong> Recalcati:<br />
“It was a team that won the league with, essentially,<br />
six players. There were more, but six played all the time:<br />
Recalcati, [Antonio] Frigerio, [Carlos] D’Aquila, [Alberto]<br />
De Simone, [Bob] Burgess and [Alberto] Merlati. Carlo<br />
was a confident shooter. He didn’t waste too many possessions.<br />
He was a very ‘economical’ player, with high<br />
precision. He was lacking a bit in the physical aspect<br />
and a couple more centimeters would have helped him<br />
become a superstar. But despite all that, he was a great<br />
player.”<br />
Stankovic says that back then, he could not see the<br />
coaching potential in Recalcati:<br />
“He showed interest in basketball. He liked to discuss<br />
the theory <strong>of</strong> the game, but I never realized he<br />
wanted to be a coach. But he was very young. He would<br />
play for 10 more years and discovered his talent for the<br />
bench a little further down the road.”<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Carlo Recalcati<br />
R
Vladimir Stankovic<br />
The legendary Stankovic was very proud <strong>of</strong> that title<br />
in Italy:<br />
“Cantu was a small town and our title was a big sensation.<br />
However, it established the foundations for a great<br />
team in a small town that would later become <strong>European</strong><br />
champion. We played with three big men – Merlati, Burgess,<br />
who had arrived from Real Madrid, and helped us a<br />
lot on defense, and De Simone – and that was new. The<br />
Italian press called these three players the ‘Cantu Wall’.<br />
In the backcourt were two smaller men, one <strong>of</strong> them always<br />
Recalcati, who ran a lot. And it worked.”<br />
The league title in 1968 was the first in a successful<br />
career for Carlo Recalcati. Before he retired in 1981, he<br />
would win eight more: another league crown in 1975,<br />
three Korac Cups, three Saporta Cups, and the Intercontinental<br />
Cup <strong>of</strong> 1975. With seven titles in international<br />
cups, he is one <strong>of</strong> the most decorated players in<br />
<strong>European</strong> history.<br />
Before that unforgettable 1967-68 season, Recalcati<br />
had made his debut with the Italian senior national<br />
team as well. On May 13, 1967, he played his first game<br />
in Naples against Poland. That same year he played at<br />
his first World Cup, in Uruguay, and scored his first 3<br />
points with the national jersey against Mexico. He ended<br />
up with an average <strong>of</strong> 7 points in that tournament.<br />
That fall, still in 1967, he played the EuroBasket in Helsinki<br />
(9.1 points) and in 1968 he represented Italy in the<br />
Olympics in Mexico (9.1 points). In 1969 he was back to<br />
Naples to play another EuroBasket (10.0 points) already<br />
as a national team leader.<br />
Recalcati’s career in the national team came to<br />
an end in 1975 after 166 games and a total <strong>of</strong> 1,239<br />
points. He had won two bronze medals, in the 1971<br />
and 1975 EuroBaskets, and played in the 1970 World<br />
Cup in Ljubljana. I am sure I had seen Recalcati during<br />
those EuroBaskets or the Mexico Olympics, but my first<br />
memory <strong>of</strong> him is from that Ljubljana tournament. In<br />
a tense game between Italy and Yugoslavia, the latter<br />
won 66-63 thanks only to the genius <strong>of</strong> Kresimir Cosic,<br />
who had 27 points and 22 rebounds. Recalcati shined<br />
for the Italian team with his 22 points including 4 <strong>of</strong> 4<br />
free throws. His average in Ljubljana was 11.2 points.<br />
Three-peat in the Korac Cup<br />
After a discreet EuroBasket in 1971 (2.3 points but<br />
with a bronze medal) Recalcati won his first international<br />
trophy, the Korac Cup, in 1973. In a two-leg final,<br />
Cantu defeated Maes Pils <strong>of</strong> Belgium 106-75 at home<br />
with 21 points by Pierluigi Marzorati and 20 from Recalcati.<br />
In the second game, the Belgian team won by just 9<br />
points, 94-85, as Recalcati netted 30 points.<br />
The following season, Cantu reached the final again<br />
in the same competition, and this time the opponent<br />
was Partizan Belgrade, coached by Ranko Zeravica,<br />
with Dragan Kicanovic and Drazen Dalipagic as its main<br />
weapons. It was a great showdown between probably<br />
the best duos in Europe at that moment: Marzorati and<br />
Recalcati against Kicanovic and Dalipagic. In the first<br />
game, Cantu won at home 99-86 with 24 points by Recalcati,<br />
22 by Bob Lienhard, 20 by Fabrizio Della Fiori and<br />
18 by Marzorati. Kicanovic led Partizan with 24 points<br />
and Dalipagic added 22. In the second game, Partizan<br />
won 75-68, but it just couldn’t make up the point difference.<br />
Dalipagic (25) and Kicanovic (22) were not enough<br />
as Cantu had a better team and distributed points more<br />
evenly: Marzorati and Antonio Farina had 18 points each<br />
while Recalcati and Lienhard both scored 12.<br />
The Korac Cup three-peat for Cantu and Recalcati<br />
came in 1974-75. The opponent in the final was FC Barcelona,<br />
with Zeravica on the bench. In Barcelona on March<br />
288<br />
289
18, Cantu defeated Barça by the score <strong>of</strong> 71-69 with 20<br />
points by Lienhard, 18 by Della Fiori and 16 from Marzorati.<br />
Recalcati got stuck at 4 points in that game. The<br />
second game in Cantu turned into an <strong>of</strong>fensive festival for<br />
the hosts, who won 110-85. Marzorati led the way with<br />
27 points, Lienhard had 18 and Recalcati contributed 14.<br />
Golden year<br />
The year 1975 was golden one Recalcati and Cantu.<br />
After winning that third Korac Cup, their second league<br />
title followed. Cantu and Ignis Varese were tied with<br />
22-4 records after the regular season, but in the phase<br />
for the title, Cantu was best. Recalcati, already 30 years<br />
old, was the top scorer <strong>of</strong> his team with 19.7 points.<br />
In the 1975 EuroBasket in Belgrade, Italy won the<br />
bronze medal, the second in Recalcati’s career, as he<br />
averaged 6.0 points. To top that year <strong>of</strong>f, Cantu was<br />
also Intercontinental Cup champ. In a six-team tourney,<br />
Cantu was the host. The decisive game was on the<br />
fourth day against Real Madrid. After 40 minutes, the<br />
score was tied at 86-86. In overtime, Cantu won 96-94.<br />
Despite having lost to Varese in the previous game,<br />
Cantu became champ by defeating Madrid, with whom<br />
it shared a 4-1 record, in their direct duel. Marzorati<br />
scored 21 points, Lienhard had 13 and Recalcati added<br />
10. The 1976 Olympics in Montreal was Recalcati’s last<br />
big competition at the international level.<br />
Luca Chiabotti, a prestigious journalist at La<br />
Gazzetta dello Sport in Italy, highlighted Recalcati’s<br />
<strong>of</strong>fensive style as follows:<br />
“Carlo was an <strong>of</strong>fensive player, a shooter, a natural<br />
scorer. He had good technical foundations. His style<br />
resembled that <strong>of</strong> the Americans in the 1960s and the<br />
1970s. On top <strong>of</strong> that, he understood the game and you<br />
could see he could be a great coach.”<br />
Three-peat in the Saporta Cup<br />
In the 1976-77 season, Cantu played the Saporta<br />
Cup, the second <strong>European</strong> competition, reaching the<br />
final in Palma de Mallorca, Spain. The opponent was<br />
Radnicki Belgrade, whose golden generation had been<br />
Yugoslav champion in 1973. I was at this dramatic<br />
game, which Cantu won 87-86 thanks to 21 points by<br />
Recalcati and 18 by Marzorati. On the other side, Srecko<br />
Jaric – the father <strong>of</strong> Marko Jaric –nailed 30 points and<br />
big man Milun Marovic had 29. On a negative side, I<br />
remember also having to write from Palma about the<br />
tragic airplane accident that occurred two days before<br />
that final on another Spanish island, Tenerife, where<br />
a collision between two planes on the runway caused<br />
more than 500 deaths.<br />
The following year, Cantu repeated the Saporta Cup<br />
title by beating Synudine Bologna in the final 84-82.<br />
Della Fiori (26 points) and Recalcati (14) were the top<br />
scorers. The three-peat occurred in 1979 against Den<br />
Bosch <strong>of</strong> the Netherlands in the coastal town <strong>of</strong> Porec<br />
in Croatia. Cantu won 83-73 with a team that still had<br />
Marzorati (6 points) and Recalcati (2), but already with<br />
new names like Renzo Bariviera (16 points) and Americans<br />
Johnny Neumann and David Batton, each with 20<br />
points. It was the sixth <strong>European</strong> trophy for Recalcati.<br />
Cantu would go on to win two EuroLeague crowns, in<br />
1982 and 1983, but by then Recalcati was no longer on<br />
the team, having left in 1979 and then retired in 1981<br />
from Pallacanestro Parma. He had scored 6,396 points<br />
in the Italian first division. He is still among the top 50<br />
scorers <strong>of</strong> all time in the competition.<br />
The same year he retired, 1981, Recalcati started his<br />
brilliant career as a coach.<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Carlo Recalcati<br />
R
Antoine<br />
Rigaudeau<br />
291
“Le Roi”<br />
The 1990 <strong>European</strong> Championship for Junior<br />
Men, which was played in Groningen,<br />
the Netherlands, was quite a harvest <strong>of</strong><br />
talent. On the Italian team, which won<br />
the trophy, there were Gregor Fucka and<br />
Flavio Portaluppi; the runner-up Soviet<br />
Union team had Vasily Karasev and Igor Kudelin;<br />
fourth-placed Romania featured Gheorghe Muresan<br />
and Constantin Popa; while fifth-placed Yugoslavia<br />
included Dejan Bodiroga, Zeljko Rebraca, Veljko Mrsic<br />
and Nikola Loncar; and seventh-placed France’s<br />
squad was highlighted by Yann Bonato (the team’s top<br />
scorer with 19.4 points per game), Stephane Risacher<br />
and Antoine Rigaudeau, who was not yet 19 years old,<br />
having been born on December 17, 1971, in Cholet. But<br />
Rigaudeau was already considered the biggest talent<br />
in French basketball.<br />
Rigaudeau had debuted for Cholet’s pr<strong>of</strong>essional<br />
team shortly after turning 16, in the 1987-88 season. He<br />
played only four games averaging less than a point that<br />
season, moving up to six games and 1.8 points in the<br />
next one. But by the 1989-90 season, he was a regular,<br />
playing 33 games and averaging 11.5 points. By 1991,<br />
he was already on the senior national team for EuroBasket<br />
in Rome, on a solid squad with names like Richard<br />
Dacoury, Frederic Forte, Philippe Szanyiel, Stephane<br />
Ostrowski, Hugues Occansey, Didier Gadou and Jim Bilba.<br />
France finished fourth despite a record <strong>of</strong> 1-4! That’s<br />
because only eight teams participated, and France took<br />
advantage <strong>of</strong> a better point difference against Czechoslovakia<br />
and Greece to reach the semifinals with a 1-2<br />
record. Antoine Rigaudeau was by then a recognized<br />
scorer, putting up 10 points against Czechoslovakia and<br />
18 against Greece. In the semis against eventual champion<br />
Yugoslavia, he scored 5 points, and in a <strong>101</strong>-83<br />
bronze-medal game loss to Spain, he had 18.<br />
I believe that is when I first saw Rigaudeau play,<br />
against Yugoslavia and Spain. He had an unusual style:<br />
when he rose to shoot, Rigaudeau seemed not to have<br />
good balance, but his shot was impeccable nonetheless.<br />
By his height, 2.00 meters, he was more <strong>of</strong> a small<br />
forward than a shooting guard, but for most <strong>of</strong> his career,<br />
he played point guard. In other words, he was an<br />
all-around player, an insurance policy for his coaches,<br />
able to score but also to play for the team.<br />
After eight seasons in Cholet, Rigaudeau signed<br />
in 1995 for Pau-Orthez. In the summer <strong>of</strong> that year, he<br />
played for France at the 1995 EuroBasket in Athens,<br />
where the team finished eighth and he averaged 13.3<br />
points. At the end <strong>of</strong> the 1995-96 season, he achieved his<br />
first important title as Pau-Orthez was proclaimed French<br />
League champion. Rigaudeau put up 18.2 points and 3.2<br />
rebounds per game. After one more season averaging<br />
14.1 points in the French League and 20.1 points in the<br />
EuroLeague for Pau-Orthez, Rigaudeau signed in 1997<br />
with Kinder Bologna, coached by Ettore Messina. Behind<br />
him he left 218 games and 3,259 points, 14.9 points per<br />
game, in the French League, where he was named MVP<br />
five times: in 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994 and 1996.<br />
Two-time champion <strong>of</strong> Europe<br />
Messina had sought a final piece to complete the<br />
mosaic <strong>of</strong> a team that could, finally, win the EuroLeague,<br />
and Rigaudeau had the same goal – to play on a<br />
team that was capable <strong>of</strong> winning Europe’s top prize.<br />
Combined with the return <strong>of</strong> Predrag Danilovic from the<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Antoine igaudeau<br />
R
Vladimir Stankovic<br />
NBA, Messina had formed a potent team that included<br />
Alessandro Abbio, Augusto Binelli, Alessandro Frosini,<br />
Hugo Sconochini, Zoran Savic and Radoslav Nesterovic.<br />
They lost just three <strong>of</strong> 16 games in the EuroLeague’s<br />
first two phases. In the eighth-finals, Kinder eliminated<br />
Estudiantes <strong>of</strong> Spain 2-0 and in the quarterfinals topped<br />
its archrival Teamsystem Bologna 2-0, as well. As such,<br />
Kinder arrived at the 1998 Final Four in Barcelona as the<br />
favorite. And it met those expectations. In the semifinal,<br />
Kinder beat Partizan Belgrade 83-61 with Rigaudeau<br />
scoring 12 points. In the final, Kinder topped AEK Athens<br />
58-44. Rigaudeau had 14 points, not only the most in the<br />
game but double anyone on the losing team. Two dreams<br />
had come true, Rigaudeau’s and Kinder Bologna’s.<br />
The team went on to win the Italian League in 1998<br />
and the Italian Cup the next year. Rigaudeau averaged<br />
15.5 points in the 1999 EuroBasket in Paris and in 2000<br />
he won the Italian league-cup double before contributing<br />
12.2 points per game to the French silver-medal<br />
team at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney.<br />
In those years, the best <strong>of</strong> his career, Rigaudeau<br />
was nicknamed “Le Roi” (The King), much like the soccer<br />
legend Pele was called “O Rei” in his day. In sports,<br />
there are lots <strong>of</strong> nicknames for great stars, but few are<br />
called kings. Antoine Rigaudeau was one <strong>of</strong> them. And<br />
in 2000, he received the highest recognition from his<br />
country, the Legion <strong>of</strong> Honour.<br />
In the 2000-01 season, Kinder was a protagonist<br />
in the new EuroLeague, organized by the clubs themselves.<br />
Kinder finished the first phase with a 9-1 record<br />
and in the eighth-finals again eliminated Estudiantes<br />
2-0. In the quarterfinals, the victim was Union Olimpija,<br />
also with a 2-0 sweep. In the semifinals, another best<strong>of</strong>-three<br />
series, Kinder again beat its archrival Teamsystem<br />
2-0. As such, Kinder qualified for the first final <strong>of</strong><br />
the new era <strong>of</strong> the EuroLeague. Its opponent was Tau<br />
Ceramica <strong>of</strong> Vitoria, Spain. In this first year <strong>of</strong> the new<br />
EuroLeague, there was no Final Four, but rather a best<strong>of</strong>-five<br />
final series played in Bologna and Vitoria.<br />
In Game 1, Kinder lost at home 78-65 to Tau.<br />
Rigaudeau, who was held to just 4 points, stayed in the<br />
shadow <strong>of</strong> Tau’s own Frenchman, Laurent Foirest, who<br />
scored 20. In the second game, the tables were turned:<br />
Kinder won 94-73 at home with 23 from Rigaudeau,<br />
while Foirest had 2 points. In Game 3 in Vitoria, Kinder<br />
showed all its potential, winning 80-60 with Manu<br />
Ginobili as its star (27 points), while Rigaudeau (15),<br />
Matjaz Smodis (13), Abbio (11 points) and Marko Jaric<br />
(7 points, 7 rebounds) all made solid contributions. Tau<br />
tied the series at two wins each with a 96-79 victory in<br />
Game 4, with Rigaudeau scoring 14 points. So the series<br />
returned to Bologna for a fifth game to decide the title.<br />
Kinder won 82-74 behind 18 points from Rigaudeau.<br />
The MVP was Ginobili, but Rigaudeau was a major part<br />
<strong>of</strong> the championship victory after leading Kinder that<br />
season with 56% shooting from the three-point line<br />
and 88.1% on free throws.<br />
Ettore Messina, his coach at Kinder, once described<br />
his ex-student to me this way:<br />
“Antoine was a very serious person about his work,<br />
with a maniacal attention to detail and a strong sense<br />
<strong>of</strong> team. At the same time, he gave importance to the<br />
need for all players to win their individual duels with<br />
their direct rivals so that the team could win the game.<br />
The year we won the EuroLeague, Italian League and<br />
Italian Cup with Kinder, in 2001, he was very intelligent,<br />
because while we left the role <strong>of</strong> starting point guard<br />
to Jaric, so that he would gain confidence, at the same<br />
time Rigaudeau played ‘point forward’ – which is to say<br />
that from his small forward spot, he helped with his<br />
292<br />
293
wisdom to mature Ginobili, Jaric, Smodis and David<br />
Andersen, who at that time were all very young.”<br />
And, Messina concluded about Rigaudeau: “He was<br />
a gentleman both on and <strong>of</strong>f the court.”<br />
Medal in Belgrade<br />
Before the 2001 EuroBasket in Turkey, Rigaudeau<br />
announced his retirement from the national team. He<br />
stayed two more seasons with Kinder and after 181<br />
games in the Italian league, averaging 13.4 points, 2.5<br />
rebounds and 1.7 assists, he decided to go to the NBA.<br />
He was 32 years old then and it was a last chance to try<br />
his luck. He signed with Dallas but didn’t find his place.<br />
After playing in just 11 games and scoring 17 points with<br />
Dallas and Golden State, he decided to return to Europe.<br />
Rigaudeau’s next stop was Valencia, where he<br />
signed for three seasons. He returned to the EuroLeague<br />
in 2003-04 because the previous season, Valencia<br />
had won the Eurocup. In 19 games, Rigaudeau<br />
contributed as always: 14.8 points, 2.3 assists, 1.8<br />
rebounds. In the regular season against ALBA Berlin,<br />
he scored 25 points. In the Top 16 against Zalgiris, he<br />
scored 21. Over two years in the Spanish League, his<br />
average through 49 games was 13.4 points. 2.6 assists<br />
and 1.8 rebounds.<br />
Rigaudeau surprised everyone by deciding to return<br />
to the French national team for the 2005 EuroBasket in<br />
Belgrade, Serbia.<br />
I was in Novi Sad for what was the biggest upset <strong>of</strong><br />
the tournament: Serbia & Montenegro 71, France 74.<br />
Zeljko Obradovic’s “Dream Team” – with Bodiroga, Darko<br />
Milicic, Vladimir Radmanovic, Igor Rakocevic, Marko<br />
Jaric, Zeljko Rebraca, Nenad Krstic, Dejan Tomasevic,<br />
Milan Gurovic, Dejan Milojevic and Vule Avdalovic –<br />
crashed out against the French team with Rigaudeau<br />
(14 points), Tony Parker (13), Mickael Gelabale (12), Boris<br />
Diaw (10), Mickael Pietrus (8), Cyril Julian (6), Florent<br />
Pietrus (5) and Frederic Weis (4). Rigaudeau’s average<br />
for the tournament was 7.9 points, just the fifth-best<br />
scorer for France. But in that decisive battle in Novi Sad,<br />
he played brilliantly, with good shooting as well as 5<br />
rebounds and 2 assists in 28 minutes. Later in the tournament,<br />
France beat Spain for the bronze medal, taking<br />
its first place on a EuroBasket podium in 46 years.<br />
On October 30, 2005, despite having a year left on<br />
his contract with Valencia, Rigaudeau announced his<br />
retirement. “Voices inside me advised me that I should<br />
stop,” Rigaudeau said. A decade later, in 2015, he was<br />
recognized for his great career with induction into the<br />
FIBA Hall <strong>of</strong> Fame. Later that year, after a short stint <strong>of</strong><br />
coaching at Paris Levallois, Rigaudeau decided that the<br />
bench was not for him. As such, <strong>European</strong> basketball<br />
still awaits the return <strong>of</strong> “Le Roi”.<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Antoine igaudeau<br />
R
Antonello<br />
Riva<br />
295
The Italian bomber<br />
It was April 9, 2000, a game between Bipop Reggio<br />
Emilia and Canturina Cantu. The hosts won 97-80<br />
but that date went into the record books <strong>of</strong> Italian<br />
basketball because that’s the day when Antonello<br />
Riva, who was born on February 28, 1962, in Rovagnate,<br />
scored 19 points to surpass Oscar Schmidt<br />
and become the leading scorer <strong>of</strong> all time in the Italian<br />
League. That day, Riva reached 13,965 points, 8 more<br />
than “Holy Hand” Schmidt, but he ended up finishing<br />
with a total <strong>of</strong> 14,397 points. The game was interrupted<br />
due to a standing ovation from the home crowd,<br />
which lasted for two full minutes! It was a great and<br />
deserved homage. Riva played 25 seasons in five different<br />
first-division teams. He added two more seasons<br />
at humble Rieti in the lower divisions, and when<br />
he was already 40 played with son Ivan, who then was<br />
19. Antonello Riva finally retired on November 21,<br />
2004.<br />
It was the final period <strong>of</strong> a brilliant career that broke<br />
many records in Italian basketball, both in the league<br />
and with the national team. Riva wore the Italian senior<br />
national team jersey 213 times while scoring 3,795<br />
points (17.6 average), more than 900 points higher<br />
than the second-best scorer, legend Dino Meneghin.<br />
A born scorer<br />
Valerio Bianchini, the legendary Italian coach, said<br />
that the great talent <strong>of</strong> Antonello Riva could already be<br />
seen in his junior years in Cantu. What drew the most<br />
attention was Riva’s physical potential and his excellent<br />
shot. By height (1.96 meters) he was a shooting guard,<br />
but as the great shooter he was, he could play any position<br />
in the backcourt. His body allowed him also to fight<br />
for rebounds inside, too, but he liked to stick to shooting<br />
– from any distance or spot on the court. He needed only<br />
minimal space or a momentary loss <strong>of</strong> concentration by<br />
the player guarding him to shoot and score.<br />
Sometimes, his defenders did everything well, but<br />
Riva was still able to shoot over them, even while being<br />
fouled. He was one <strong>of</strong> those shooters who are almost<br />
impossible to stop. Bianchini highlighted Riva’s physical<br />
and mental strength, his cold blood in crunch time, and<br />
the courage he had in taking responsibility. “Already, at<br />
17 years old, he had a perfect jump shot,” remembers<br />
Bianchini.<br />
Luca Chiabotti, the prestigious Italian journalist<br />
and basketball director at La Gazzetta dello Sport, described<br />
Riva as follows: “Using football talk, Riva was a<br />
‘9’, a pure center forward. At just 19, he exploded in Cantu<br />
with Bianchini, and he was a great novelty in Italian<br />
basketball. He was a fast shooting guard, very strong<br />
and superior in one-on-one situations. And <strong>of</strong> course,<br />
his shot. He shot threes when they didn’t even exist in<br />
Europe. He didn’t have great ball-handling, he was not a<br />
great passer, but he was a great finisher backed by his<br />
exceptional physique, which allowed him to play until he<br />
was 40. He was the perfect pr<strong>of</strong>essional, always concentrated<br />
and obsessed with points, but through the<br />
years his defensive game improved a lot. His explosion<br />
coincided with two EuroLeague titles for Cantu and<br />
the Italian gold [at EuroBasket 1983] in Nantes. As all<br />
the great scorers, he needed a good playmaker by his<br />
side and he had that in Pierluigi Marzorati, forming an<br />
almost flawless duo. In Milan, after his record buyout,<br />
he didn’t find a partner <strong>of</strong> that level.”<br />
I have seen Riva many times, among them his best<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Antonello Riva<br />
R
Vladimir Stankovic<br />
moments with the Italian national team, at the 1983<br />
EuroBasket in Nantes (gold), the Los Angeles Olympics<br />
in 1984 (where he was chosen for the all-tournament<br />
team) and the 1991 EuroBasket in Rome (silver). However,<br />
I like to think <strong>of</strong> him at the 1989 EuroBasket in Zagreb<br />
because <strong>of</strong> the <strong>of</strong>fensive festival held there by five great<br />
scorers. Nikos Galis <strong>of</strong> Greece finished the tourney with<br />
35.6 points per game. Drazen Petrovic <strong>of</strong> Yugoslavia<br />
averaged 30.0, Stephane Ostrowski <strong>of</strong> France poured<br />
in 24.4, Riva had 23.3 and France’s Richard Dacoury<br />
averaged 22.0.<br />
In Italy, Riva was nicknamed Bomber and also Nembo<br />
Kid, an Italian version <strong>of</strong> Superman. Both are accurate<br />
because he “flew” over the court and “bombed”<br />
the rim <strong>of</strong> the rival.<br />
His first trophy, even if he did not take part in the<br />
final, was the Saporta Cup <strong>of</strong> 1978, won by Cantu in Milan<br />
on March 23 against Virtus Bologna, 84-82. Riva’s<br />
name is on the deep roster but still without a jersey<br />
number. One year later, in the title game <strong>of</strong> the same<br />
competition in Porec, Croatia, he didn’t play in an 83-73<br />
win against Den Bosch <strong>of</strong> the Netherlands, either, but<br />
he was already wearing his number 12. In the summer<br />
<strong>of</strong> 1979, Riva took part in the first FIBA World Championship<br />
for Junior Men in Brazil together with Walter<br />
Magnifico, Alberto Tonut, Denis Innocentin and Ario<br />
Costa. Italy finished sixth, but the 13.4 points averaged<br />
by Riva showed signs <strong>of</strong> a great future.<br />
His first great season was 1980-81. He and Cantu<br />
won a third consecutive Saporta Cup in Rome, beating<br />
FC Barcelona 86-82. Riva had 16 points and Barcelona’s<br />
Juan Antonio San Epifanio scored 28. Some months<br />
later, Cantu also won the Italian League title by defeating<br />
Billy Milano in the final series 2-1. On March 3, 1981,<br />
Riva made his debut with the Italian national team in an<br />
exhibition game <strong>of</strong> Italy vs. Italian all-stars, but his first<br />
<strong>of</strong>ficial game in blue was on April 20 in Rimini against<br />
Germany. He had a scoreless debut in a 68-62 defeat,<br />
but after that he went on to win many games and scored<br />
those 3,785 points, starting with 16 in Tel Aviv against<br />
Israel on May 12, 1981.<br />
Unforgettable Nantes<br />
The following year, 1982, Riva won the EuroLeague<br />
with Squibb Cantu against Maccabi Tel Aviv in Cologne<br />
by the score <strong>of</strong> 86-80. Riva scored 16 points, Marzorati<br />
had 18, Bruce Flowers scored 21, CJ Kupec tallied 21<br />
and Innocentin chipped in 6 points in a game in which<br />
the starting five <strong>of</strong> Cantu scored 84 <strong>of</strong> the team’s 86<br />
total points. The other 2 were scored by Giorgio Cattini.<br />
Fausto Bargna played but was scoreless. Cantu won<br />
using seven players. In October <strong>of</strong> that same year, Cantu<br />
won the Intercontinental Cup against Nashua Den<br />
Bosch (70-68) with 22 points from Riva. However, I am<br />
sure that the favorite year in his memories is 1983. That<br />
year, his son Ivan was born and he repeated the EuroLeague<br />
title with Ford Cantu, this time against Billy Milan<br />
in Grenoble, 69-68. Riva scored 18 points. The culmination<br />
<strong>of</strong> that golden year came at the 1983 EuroBasket in<br />
Nantes as Italy defeated Spain in the final game 105-96<br />
with Riva hitting for 8 points.<br />
From then until 1992, Riva never skipped a beat with<br />
the national team and he always had good numbers.<br />
At the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, he averaged<br />
23.4 points to be on the all-tournament team, together<br />
with Michael Jordan and Drazen Petrovic. At the 1986<br />
World Cup in Spain, Riva scored 19.2 points per game.<br />
He averaged 26.8 points at the 1987 EuroBasket in Athens,<br />
while in the 1989 edition in Zagreb he posted 23.3<br />
points per game. Riva averaged 30.2 points at the 1990<br />
296<br />
297
His only trophy not won with Cantu came with<br />
Philips Milan, the team he joined in 1989 after 12 years<br />
in Cantu. Riva was the most expensive transfer in the<br />
history <strong>of</strong> Italian basketball at the time. With Milan, he<br />
won the 1993 Korac Cup in Rome, against Virtus Bologna,<br />
by the score <strong>of</strong> 95-90. Milan had a great trio with<br />
Riccardo Pittis (31 points), Sasha Djordjevic (29) and<br />
Riva (18 points). One year before that, Milan and Riva<br />
had been at the 1992 EuroLeague Final Four in Istanbul<br />
but lost in semis to eventual champ Partizan Belgrade,<br />
led by Djordjevic and Predrag Danilovic. In the domestic<br />
league, Milan lost the fifth game <strong>of</strong> the final series in<br />
1991 against Caserta, 88-97, despite playing the decisive<br />
game at home.<br />
After Milan, Riva played two years in Scavolini Pesaro<br />
and two more in Pallacanestro Gorizia before going<br />
back to Cantu from 1998 until 2002. After that, he went<br />
to Rieti. Since retiring, Riva has more time for his family<br />
and his passions: mountain climbing, motorbikes, movies,<br />
books, skiing...<br />
Antonello Riva, the Italian bomber.<br />
Antonello Riva<br />
World Cup in Argentina and then scored 14.0 points a<br />
game at the 1991 EuroBasket in Rome before tallying<br />
22.1 points at the 1992 Olympic Qualifying Tournament.<br />
If you talk about Antonello Riva, you have to talk<br />
about points and records. He set many records and<br />
some <strong>of</strong> them are still standing today. For instance,<br />
both his 797 games in the Italian League and his 23,269<br />
minutes played are still records.<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
R
David<br />
Rivers<br />
299
The man <strong>of</strong> the final<br />
Everything pointed to a splendid future in<br />
the NBA for David Lee Rivers. He spent four<br />
brilliant years at the University <strong>of</strong> Notre<br />
Dame, where he was the fourth-best scorer<br />
all-time with 2,058 points and second in<br />
assists with 586. And he was picked by the<br />
Los Angeles Lakers in the first round <strong>of</strong> the 1988 NBA<br />
Draft. All this despite a car accident that could have<br />
put an end not only to his career, but to his life, two<br />
years earlier.<br />
After several operations, Rivers, who was born on<br />
January 20, 1965, in Jersey City, New Jersey, managed<br />
to overcome every single obstacle. The fact that he was<br />
selected by one <strong>of</strong> the best teams in the NBA did have a<br />
bad side though: he would have strong competition. At<br />
his position was none other than Magic Johnson, which<br />
meant that Rivers would not play many minutes. But<br />
under Pat Riley’s command, he practiced alongside the<br />
likes <strong>of</strong> Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, James Worthy, Orlando<br />
Woolridge, A.C. Green, Byron Scott, Michael Cooper,<br />
Jeff Lamp and Mychal Thompson. Rivers finished the<br />
season with 1.9 points and 2.3 assists. A little frustrated,<br />
he decided to switch teams but stayed in the same<br />
city. He signed for the Los Angeles Clippers, where he<br />
managed to improve his figures the following season,<br />
though not by a lot: 4.2 points and 3.0 assists. Between<br />
injuries and rehabilitation, he chose another team, Tulsa<br />
<strong>of</strong> the Continental <strong>Basketball</strong> Association, and he<br />
got his confidence back with 16.1 points and 7.6 assists<br />
per game. He even improved his averages in La Crosse,<br />
another CBA team, with 20.3 points and 11.8 assists.<br />
But it was not what he wanted, nor what he deserved.<br />
Europe, his new kingdom<br />
In one <strong>of</strong> those decisions that can change one’s<br />
life, Rivers took an <strong>of</strong>fer from Antibes <strong>of</strong> France. In that<br />
country, he discovered another kind <strong>of</strong> basketball, another<br />
culture, another lifestyle. He adapted easily and<br />
quickly to it because his qualities allowed him to be a<br />
team leader. Soon enough he was the idol <strong>of</strong> the fans. In<br />
his first season in Europe, in 1992-93, he averaged 16.9<br />
points and 6.6 assists, but he got better the following<br />
campaign. Antibes won the French League title and he<br />
was MVP with 22.4 points and 7.0 assists. The big clubs<br />
<strong>of</strong> Europe started noticing David Rivers.<br />
The fastest team to act with a more concrete <strong>of</strong>fer<br />
was Olympiacos Piraeus <strong>of</strong> Greece. In his first season in<br />
Greece, Rivers won the 1995-96 domestic league title<br />
with decent numbers, 13.6 points and 4.3 assists. But<br />
the fact that Panathinaikos that year became the first<br />
Greek team to win the EuroLeague was a sting that created<br />
an urge for an answer among the Reds. The 1996-<br />
97 season would see veteran coach Dusan Ivkovic put<br />
together a strong roster, but the start <strong>of</strong> the campaign<br />
didn’t look too promising.<br />
In the EuroLeague, Olympiacos finished fifth with<br />
a 5-5 record in the same group with Fortitudo, Estudiantes,<br />
Cibona, ALBA Berlin and Charleroi. The Reds lost<br />
twice to ALBA and once to Estudiantes, Cibona and<br />
Fortitudo. The team was only saved by the competition<br />
system: all 24 teams continued, mixing up the first<br />
three teams in each group with the last three <strong>of</strong> the other.<br />
In the second phase, Olympiacos got better playing<br />
against Olimpia Milano, CSKA Moscow and Maccabi Tel<br />
Aviv. It won 4 games and lost 2 for a total record <strong>of</strong> 9-7<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
David Rivers<br />
R
Vladimir Stankovic<br />
to finish third in the group and advance to the play<strong>of</strong>fs.<br />
But its opponent in that play<strong>of</strong>f, Partizan Belgrade, had<br />
the home-court advantage for having taken second<br />
place in its own group.<br />
In Belgrade, despite a great game by Predrag Drobnjak<br />
<strong>of</strong> Partizan, with 19 points and 14 rebounds, Olympiacos<br />
won 81-71. However, the Reds went home and<br />
lost the second game, 61-60. The series was decided<br />
in the third game, once more with the legendary Hala<br />
Pionir packed by more than 7,000 fans. Olympiacos, led<br />
by Rivers with 21 points and 5 assists, won 74-69.<br />
In the quarterfinals, it would come to a showdown<br />
against Olympiacos’s archrival and the defending EuroLeague<br />
champion, Panathinaikos. At home, in front<br />
<strong>of</strong> 15,000 fans, Olympiacos won 65-57 with 12 points<br />
by Rivers. The advantage was not too large, but in the<br />
second game, we got to see one <strong>of</strong> the biggest shows<br />
ever by a team in a derby <strong>of</strong> this magnitude. Against<br />
18,000 Panathinaikos fans, Olympiacos won 49-69.<br />
Rivers played 40 minutes and had good numbers: 2 <strong>of</strong> 6<br />
two-pointers, 2 <strong>of</strong> 2 triples and 7 <strong>of</strong> 7 free throws for 17<br />
points plus 5 assists. Olympiacos had advanced to the<br />
Final Four, where it would join Olimpija Ljubljana, ASVEL<br />
Villeurbanne and FC Barcelona.<br />
Two rhapsodies in Rome<br />
The main feature <strong>of</strong> great players is playing better<br />
when it matters the most. David Rivers made that<br />
assertion ring true in Rome in 1997. In the semifinal<br />
against Union Olimpija – which had Rasho Nesterovic,<br />
Marko Milic, Arriel McDonald, Vladimir Stepania, Roman<br />
Horvat, Marko Tusek, Jaka Daneu and the rest – Rivers<br />
scored 28 points, his season high, for a 74-65 win. In<br />
the other semifinal, Barcelona defeated ASVEL 77-70<br />
with Sasha Djordjevic as its best scorer with 16 points.<br />
The big final was played on April 24, 1997, at the<br />
Olympic Arena in Rome. It was a much-anticipated final<br />
between the two favorites, a battle that was to be<br />
marked by the individual duel between Djordjevic and<br />
Rivers, the best two guards in Europe at that moment.<br />
Halfway through the season, Djordjevic had left Portland<br />
<strong>of</strong> the NBA and joined Barcelona, becoming an<br />
immediate star and the leader <strong>of</strong> the team. He formed a<br />
great duo with forward Arturas Karnisovas.<br />
After a bad start to the game, falling behind 9-2,<br />
Olympiacos rallied behind 10 points from Rivers for an<br />
18-18 tie. Once the Reds stepped ahead, there was no<br />
turning back. They won 73-58 with Rivers as MVP. He<br />
scored 27 points, grabbed 6 boards, dished 3 assists<br />
and had 3 steals in 39 minutes. Dragan Tarlac, the other<br />
hero <strong>of</strong> the Greek team, had 11 points and 14 rebounds.<br />
On the other side, Djordjevic scored only 6 points, very<br />
far from the 13.9 points he had been averaging up to<br />
that game. It wasn’t the first duel between the two<br />
guards. In the 1993-94 Korac Cup quarterfinals, when<br />
Djordjevic played for Olimpia Milano and Rivers for Antibes,<br />
the Italian team won the first game 98-85 but the<br />
individual duel was a tie, 23 points for each. In the second<br />
game, Antibes won 95-88, but Djordjevic finished<br />
with 31 points and Rivers had 20.<br />
Many years after the Rome duel, Djordjevic told me<br />
from Milano about Rivers:<br />
“I knew him since he was at Notre Dame. One summer<br />
a group <strong>of</strong> friends that included Jure Zdovc, Slavko<br />
Kotnik and Vlada Dragutinovic played against him, Ken<br />
Barlow, Tim Kempton. Right then and there, I already<br />
saw what was confirmed later in <strong>European</strong> basketball:<br />
he was a great player. He was one <strong>of</strong> the best, if not the<br />
best, American guards that ever played in Europe. His<br />
game was like poetry. He had explosive legs, fast hands<br />
300<br />
301
and ideas, solutions. He had talent in every part <strong>of</strong> his<br />
body.”<br />
Vassilis Skountis, the prestigious Greek journalist,<br />
remembers that there were many doubts about Rivers’<br />
contribution, but after the “two rhapsodies in Rome”<br />
everything changed. In 23 games in Europe, Rivers<br />
averaged 37.9 minutes <strong>of</strong> play. After the win in Rome,<br />
Olympiacos won the double crown in Greece, the league<br />
and the cup. Rivers was MVP <strong>of</strong> the season and the best<br />
player <strong>of</strong> the year according to FIBA. He was 32 years<br />
old, but for Ivkovic he was the key man, the extension<br />
<strong>of</strong> his hand on the court. Rivers was pure security for<br />
his coaches: a scoring guard, typical <strong>of</strong> the American<br />
school. He had it all: court vision, excellent technique, a<br />
good shot, leadership qualities and, most <strong>of</strong> all, speed –<br />
both in his head and in his body – on the court. There is<br />
a video <strong>of</strong> him racing coast-to-coast in 3 seconds!<br />
Trophies in Italy and Turkey<br />
After achieving glory with Olympiacos, Rivers<br />
accepted an <strong>of</strong>fer from Teamsystem Bologna, which<br />
was trying to build a great team and had attracted<br />
Dominique Wilkins from Panathinaikos, as well. Both<br />
veterans helped the team win the Italian Cup in the<br />
final against Benetton Treviso, 73-55. Wilkins scored<br />
21 points, but the MVP was Carlton Myers. Rivers’ next<br />
destination would be T<strong>of</strong>as Bursa <strong>of</strong> Turkey, where in<br />
two seasons he won two league crowns and one cup. In<br />
2000-01, he was back with Olympiacos and at 37 years<br />
old still scored 10.3 points and dished 2.3 assists.<br />
In May <strong>of</strong> 2009, Rivers received a well-deserved<br />
tribute in Piraeus. He received his red jersey with number<br />
15 and, most <strong>of</strong> all, the love <strong>of</strong> the fans who did not<br />
forget what he did for the club. David Rivers was one<br />
<strong>of</strong> the best and most successful Americans who ever<br />
played in Europe. He was champion in all four countries<br />
where he played, and in three he also won the national<br />
cup. He was MVP <strong>of</strong> the season in France and Greece,<br />
as well as MVP <strong>of</strong> the Final Four, and he played in the<br />
FIBA all-star game in 1997 and 1998. That was more<br />
than enough to make up for a frustrated career in the<br />
NBA, where it was not because <strong>of</strong> his abilities that he<br />
did not triumph, but for being at the wrong place at the<br />
wrong time.<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
David Rivers<br />
R
Emiliano<br />
Rodriguez<br />
303
The Great Captain<br />
In the long and successful history <strong>of</strong> a great club<br />
like Real Madrid, with so many stars and historic<br />
players, it’s impossible to choose one over the<br />
others to say who was the best. However, if we<br />
were to limit ourselves to choosing just Spanish<br />
players, I think that most observers – those with<br />
long enough memories, that is – would probably<br />
choose Emiliano Rodriguez as the best. After a brilliant<br />
career as a player for Real Madrid from 1960 to<br />
1973, he remains part <strong>of</strong> the club as the president <strong>of</strong><br />
the association <strong>of</strong> former players and the honorific<br />
president <strong>of</strong> the basketball section. His service to<br />
Real Madrid has lasted for more than half a century.<br />
He is one <strong>of</strong> the biggest legends at a legendary club.<br />
Born on June 10, 1938, in San Feliz, Leon, Rodriguez<br />
started playing in the humble Escolarios Bilbao,<br />
and his first pro team was Aismalibar Barcelona from<br />
1958 to 1960. Rodriguez was already an international<br />
player (he made his debut with the national team in<br />
1958) when he signed for Real Madrid. He immediately<br />
became the new hero for the Madrid fans. He had a<br />
great ability to score thanks to an extensive repertoire:<br />
a good jump shot; something he learned at the start<br />
<strong>of</strong> his career; good ability to penetrate; and his specialty,<br />
running fastbreaks. Rodriguez was super fast<br />
and always the first in line to convert a pass from a<br />
teammate into an easy basket. Above all, he displayed<br />
a charming character. He was very enthusiastic and<br />
always optimistic, which are all valuable traits on any<br />
sports team.<br />
On January 18, 1961, Emiliano made his debut in<br />
the EuroLeague against EK Engelmann <strong>of</strong> Vienna and in<br />
two sizeable Real Madrid wins he contributed 20 and<br />
24 points. The next victim was Antwerp <strong>of</strong> Belgium,<br />
against whom he nailed 37 and 15 points. Madrid’s<br />
path was stopped at neutral courts in Paris and Prague,<br />
in the semifinals against the dominant ASK Riga, the<br />
team that took the first three <strong>European</strong> titles in a row.<br />
Historic win in 1964<br />
Rodriguez’s second attempt at the <strong>European</strong> crown,<br />
in 1962, was also cut short, this time in the title game<br />
against Dynamo Tbilisi in Geneva, a 90-83 defeat in<br />
which Emiliano scored 21 points. The following year<br />
Madrid was in the title game once again, but this time<br />
lost to CSKA Moscow in the tiebreaking game, played<br />
in Moscow like the second one. In three those three<br />
games, Rodriguez scored 24, 18 and 21 points, respectively.<br />
Eventually, in 1964, Real Madrid became the first<br />
team from western Europe to win the title and break<br />
the domination <strong>of</strong> the Soviet teams. Spartak Brno won<br />
in Prague 110-99 despite Rodriguez’s 31 points, but<br />
at home, Madrid won handily, 84-64, and Rodriguez<br />
shined again with 28 points.<br />
I believe that I saw Emiliano Rodriguez for the first<br />
time in Belgrade in March 1965, in a never-ending<br />
game against OKK Belgrade. Madrid had won the first<br />
game at home 84-61 with 18 points from Rodriguez,<br />
but the Yugoslav champ thought that it would be able<br />
to come back in the second game. To do so, they used<br />
all the tricks in the book, especially manipulating the<br />
clock to make each minute last for two full minutes.<br />
Radivoj Korac scored 56 points, but it was not enough.<br />
After 113 minutes – 47 minutes in the first half and 66<br />
in the second – OKK Belgrade had to admit it was an<br />
impossible mission, despite winning 113-96. The best<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Emiliano Rodriguez<br />
R
man for the Whites was Rodriguez, <strong>of</strong> course, with 25<br />
points.<br />
Vladimir Stankovic<br />
Rivalry and friendship with Korac<br />
That wasn’t his first duel with Korac, who by then<br />
was the best scorer in Europe. Rodriguez and Korac met<br />
for the first time at the 1959 EuroBasket in Istanbul,<br />
and after that at the 1960 Olympics in Rome, the 1961<br />
EuroBasket in Belgrade and the 1963 EuroBasket in<br />
Wroclaw, Poland. In that 1963 edition in Poland, Korac<br />
was again the best scorer <strong>of</strong> the tournament, with 26.6<br />
points, but Rodriguez averaged 20.3 and was chosen<br />
as the first MVP <strong>of</strong> the competition. He received 132<br />
votes from the journalists, 26 more than Aleksandr<br />
Petrov <strong>of</strong> the USSR, who was second. Rodriguez himself<br />
acknowledged Korac as a great player; while focusing<br />
on Spain, he liked Clifford Luyk and Nino Buscato. At the<br />
1960 Olympics, Rodriguez had the chance to see players<br />
like Oscar Robertson, Jerry Lucas and Jerry West.<br />
The latter was his favorite.<br />
At the 1965 and 1967 EuroBaskets, Rodriguez also<br />
had high scoring averages – 21.6 and 21.8 points – but<br />
his problem was a mediocre Spain team that finished<br />
11th and 10th, respectively, among 16 participants. At<br />
Real Madrid, Rodriguez had the help <strong>of</strong> great players<br />
who made it easier to win four EuroLeague crowns and<br />
take part in several more finals. In 1965, Real Madrid<br />
defended the title against old rival CSKA Moscow. Madrid<br />
won 88-81 as Rodriguez had 11 points in Moscow<br />
and 84-64 at home behind his 24 points. The third title<br />
came in 1967 at home against Simental Milano, 91-83,<br />
as the great Rodriguez scored 29 points. The fourth title<br />
followed the next year in Lyon against Spartak Brno, 98-<br />
95. Rodriguez only scored 6 points in that final, but was<br />
an important figure for the team. In 1969, in Barcelona,<br />
one <strong>of</strong> the most dramatic EuroLeague finals ever took<br />
place. Real Madrid and CSKA Moscow played for 50<br />
minutes and CSKA won thanks to big man Vladimir Andreev,<br />
who played the game <strong>of</strong> a lifetime with 37 points.<br />
Rodriguez scored 18, Wayne Brabender and Luyk had<br />
20 apiece, and Miles Aiken led Madrid with 24 points,<br />
but it was not enough to stop Andreev and Sergei Belov<br />
(19 points), who played all 50 minutes.<br />
Emiliano Rodriguez played the 1971 EuroBasket in<br />
304<br />
305
In a brilliant career, Rodriguez won 12 Spanish<br />
Leagues, nine Spanish Cups, four EuroLeague crowns,<br />
two titles as the Spanish League’s best scorer (1963<br />
and 1966) and two EuroBasket MVP titles (1963 and<br />
1969). He was also honored six times on the <strong>European</strong><br />
selection <strong>of</strong> players and scored more than 20,000<br />
points in a Real Madrid jersey. For the Spanish national<br />
team, Rodriguez played 175 games and scored 2,834<br />
points. In September <strong>of</strong> 2007, he was among the first<br />
players inducted into the FIBA Hall <strong>of</strong> Fame.<br />
Hats <strong>of</strong>f to Emiliano Rodriguez, the Great Captain.<br />
Emiliano Rodriguez<br />
Germany (7.4 ppg.) and one more season in Real Madrid.<br />
In 1973, on the eve <strong>of</strong> the Barcelona EuroBasket,<br />
where Spain finally won the silver medal after losing to<br />
Yugoslavia in the final, he put an end to his career as<br />
a player. Justice would have been served if Rodriguez<br />
would have taken part in this tournament to finish his<br />
great career with a deserved medal, but even without<br />
the trophy, he has a privileged spot in the history <strong>of</strong><br />
basketball in Spain and Europe.<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
R
Johnny<br />
Rogers<br />
307
A champ by any<br />
measure<br />
When in the summer <strong>of</strong> 1988 he<br />
decided to move to Europe to<br />
have more playing time, Johnny<br />
Rogers probably never imagined<br />
that he would only be back to his<br />
native California occasionally to<br />
visit his family and friends. He would live in Europe for<br />
a quarter <strong>of</strong> a century after that between Spain, Italy<br />
and Greece. He played in all three countries, got married<br />
in Spain, and represented the Spanish national<br />
team at the Sydney Olympics in 2000.<br />
Since 2004, the year he retired, Rogers has remained<br />
involved with basketball in other ways. He<br />
worked as an NBA scout while also becoming a color<br />
commentator on EuroLeague.TV. He hosted a shooting<br />
camp in Valencia for young players. Most recently, he<br />
has been the Director <strong>of</strong> Pro Player Personnel for the<br />
NBA’s Los Angeles Clippers.<br />
After a good run at Stanford University and University<br />
<strong>of</strong> California-Irvine (21.7 and 20.7 points plus 7.4<br />
and 8.6 rebounds, respectively, in his last two years),<br />
Rogers was selected in the second round <strong>of</strong> the 1986<br />
NBA draft by the Sacramento Kings. In his rookie season<br />
with Sacramento, he averaged 10.5 minutes and<br />
4.2 points. His second year, after being traded to Cleveland,<br />
he played in 24 games for 7 minutes on average<br />
and scored 2.4 points. With a strong will to play, Rogers<br />
crossed the Atlantic Ocean and decided to try Europe.<br />
An <strong>of</strong>fer from Real Madrid was good enough for him to<br />
start his <strong>European</strong> adventure.<br />
The year with Drazen<br />
His first season in Spain started early because <strong>of</strong><br />
national cup games. Curiously enough, the final <strong>of</strong> the<br />
cup tournament for 1989 was played in 1988. Eight<br />
teams played the tourney in several towns in the Galicia<br />
region, with Real Madrid eliminating Magia Huesca in<br />
the quarterfinals, 88-64, and Joventut Badalona in the<br />
semis, 99-74. That led to the dream final, Real Madrid<br />
vs. FC Barcelona, being held in La Coruña. It was a clash<br />
<strong>of</strong> titans, a game that half <strong>of</strong> Spain stopped to watch.<br />
Rogers still remembered many details decades later:<br />
“We got to the arena one and a half hours before<br />
the game and the stands were already full,” he recalled<br />
to me. “There was an unbelievable atmosphere. Barcelona<br />
had the lead for a long time, but in the end, we<br />
prevailed 85-81. It was my first trophy.”<br />
The media <strong>of</strong> that time highlighted Rogers as the<br />
man <strong>of</strong> the final. Drazen Petrovic, who had recently arrived<br />
from Cibona, scored 27 points. But Rogers had 23<br />
points on 7 <strong>of</strong> 11 two-pointers, 1 <strong>of</strong> 1 threes and 6 <strong>of</strong> 6<br />
free throws, plus 6 rebounds. He was decisive in his 40<br />
minutes on the court.<br />
That same season, on March 14, 1989, Rogers won<br />
his second trophy – and first at an international level –<br />
with Madrid in Athens. In an unforgettable title game<br />
<strong>of</strong> the Saporta Cup, Real Madrid beat Juventus Caserta<br />
117-113 in overtime. The epic game had been 60-57 for<br />
Madrid at halftime and was tied 102-102 at the end <strong>of</strong><br />
regulation. The game was marked by an unbelievable<br />
performance by Petrovic, who scored 62 points. For<br />
Caserta, there was the “Holy Hand” <strong>of</strong> Oscar Schmidt,<br />
who scored 44. Rogers contributed 14 points in 21 min-<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Johnny Rogers<br />
R
Vladimir Stankovic<br />
utes. It was the <strong>European</strong> final with the most points,<br />
230. With its 117 points, Madrid matched the record <strong>of</strong><br />
Partizan against Bosna in the 1978 Korac Cup final, but<br />
that was broken later when Maccabi Tel Aviv scored 118<br />
points in the 2004 EuroLeague championship game.<br />
“It was an impressive game, an <strong>of</strong>fensive feast, a<br />
true show,” Rogers recalled. “Fernando Martin played<br />
slightly injured and Drazen had to pull the wagon and<br />
he did it in unforgettable fashion. Some criticized him<br />
for being egocentric, but he did what he had to do. Drazen<br />
was a great player, a natural-born winner. We beat<br />
a great opponent that had a great team, not only Oscar.<br />
Nando Gentile also hit 34 points that night.”<br />
Despite his good year with Los Blancos, Johnny<br />
Rogers didn’t stay in Madrid. His next stop would be<br />
Pamesa Valencia. After a good season there (20.5<br />
points) he played little in the following campaign due to<br />
an injury. At the end <strong>of</strong> the season he signed for Philips<br />
Milan and there, with Mike D’Antoni as head coach, Rogers<br />
changed positions. Until then, he had played small<br />
forward, making use <strong>of</strong> his excellent outside shot to<br />
hurt rivals. But D’Antoni’s idea was to get Rogers closer<br />
to the rim. Rogers was a modern player, versatile, capable<br />
<strong>of</strong> running, jumping and scoring, almost the ideal<br />
player for any coach. He also had a fighting character<br />
and never played bad games. You could always expect<br />
something from Rogers: points, rebounds, big shots,<br />
fastbreaks and, many times, a good combination <strong>of</strong> all<br />
<strong>of</strong> the above.<br />
In the 1991-92 season, Philips had a good team –<br />
Antonello Riva, Darryl Dawkins, Riccardo Pittis, Davide<br />
Pessina and Rogers – and reached the EuroLeague Final<br />
Four in Istanbul. But in the semifinals, it lost to Partizan<br />
for the third time that season, although that was not<br />
the biggest disappointment in Rogers’ career. After two<br />
more years in Italy with Varese and Forli, and three more<br />
in Spain with Murcia, Caceres and, again, Valencia, in<br />
the summer <strong>of</strong> 1997 and with the title <strong>of</strong> “best Spanish<br />
player <strong>of</strong> the season”, he joined the <strong>European</strong> champs.<br />
He flew to Greece and signed with Olympiacos. He was<br />
34 years old, but the best was yet to come.<br />
Two titles with Panathinaikos<br />
At Olympiacos, Rogers met Dusan Ivkovic and his<br />
assistant, Milan Minic, the most important coaches,<br />
together with Zeljko Obradovic, that Rogers would have<br />
by the end <strong>of</strong> his career:<br />
“I learned something from each coach I had, but<br />
these three, together with my father Clifford, who<br />
played college ball and was a coach after that, were the<br />
ones that helped me the most,” says Rogers.<br />
It was during his time at Olympiacos, from 1997 to<br />
1999, that Rogers has the memory <strong>of</strong> his most painful<br />
loss, which came in the fifth game <strong>of</strong> the final play<strong>of</strong>fs<br />
series <strong>of</strong> the Greek League against archrival Panathinaikos.<br />
Olympiacos was playing at home in front <strong>of</strong> its<br />
fans, who were preparing a big celebration, but it was<br />
not to be.<br />
At 36 years old, when most players think about putting<br />
an end to their careers, Rogers received an <strong>of</strong>fer<br />
from ... Panathinaikos! Obradovic, who had recently<br />
arrived from Benetton Treviso, had started to build a<br />
team to win the EuroLeague and reached the conclusion<br />
that he needed an experienced player at power<br />
forward. He wanted someone who could contribute<br />
without needing a lot <strong>of</strong> minutes, a role that Johnny<br />
Rogers fit perfectly.<br />
“In Panathinaikos, I met many players whom I had<br />
played against throughout my career: with Gentile I had<br />
fought in that final in Athens; against Zeljko Rebraca<br />
308<br />
309
with Partizan in 1992; with Dejan Bodiroga in our duels<br />
in Italy; with Oded Kattash and Michael Koch in several<br />
<strong>European</strong> duels,” Rogers said. “It was a great group <strong>of</strong><br />
people, people who spoke several languages but understood<br />
each other perfectly. Friendships were born<br />
in that team that last to this day. Also, we fulfilled the<br />
dream <strong>of</strong> the Greens as we won the crown in Thessaloniki<br />
against Maccabi 73-67.”<br />
It was April 20, 2000, the last chance to win a continental<br />
crown in the 20th century – and Rogers took it at<br />
36 years old. He played 27 minutes, scored 4 points and<br />
grabbed 2 boards. Just what Obradovic expected from<br />
him. The following year, in the season <strong>of</strong> the two Euro-<br />
Leagues, due to the conflict between FIBA and ULEB.<br />
The only three powerful teams who chose FIBA over<br />
ULEB were Panathinaikos, Maccabi and CSKA Moscow,<br />
even though the Russian champ was not as powerful<br />
in those days as it has been since. The three <strong>of</strong> them,<br />
together with Efes Pilsen, reached the SuproLeague<br />
Final Four in Paris, where Maccabi, led by Nate Huffman<br />
and his 21 points, got revenge over Panathinaikos for<br />
the previous year’s loss despite 27 points by Bodiroga.<br />
Maccabi won 81-67.<br />
For the 2001-02 season, all the best teams in Europe<br />
got together again to play a single competition, the<br />
EuroLeague. The Final Four that year – the first for the<br />
new EuroLeague after a play<strong>of</strong>f series that Kinder Bologna<br />
won over Tau Ceramica 3-2 decided the previous<br />
year’s title – would be played in Bologna. Panathinaikos<br />
reached the Final Four, but it wasn’t the favorite for the<br />
title. Not even close. Things changed after its unexpected<br />
83-75 win over Maccabi in the semifinal. However,<br />
Kinder was waiting in the title game. The home team<br />
was coached by Ettore Messina and had several stars.<br />
It is true that many <strong>of</strong> its best players were still very<br />
young – like Manu Ginobili, Marko Jaric and Matjaz Smodis<br />
– but one could see a bright future for all <strong>of</strong> them.<br />
The game started badly for Panathinaikos and at<br />
halftime, Kinder was winning 48-40. But in the second<br />
half, several Panathinaikos players took their turns<br />
starring for the team. Young center Lazaros Papadopoulos<br />
had 12 points, veteran Rogers added 7, and the<br />
full orchestra was conducted by Ibrahim Kutluay with<br />
22 points and Bodiroga, with 21. In the end, the Greens<br />
won by the score <strong>of</strong> 89-83. Rogers, at 38 years old, was<br />
<strong>European</strong> champ for the second time. The Greens also<br />
won the Greek League, his first national league title.<br />
It was a perfect time to retire, but Rogers still relished<br />
more battles. He signed for Lleida, where he did<br />
more than well in the Spanish League and the ULEB Cup<br />
for two years. When he retired in 2004, he left behind<br />
267 Spanish league games, averaging 16.6 points, 5.8<br />
rebounds and an index rating <strong>of</strong> 15.6. His accuracy from<br />
the arc was impressive, at 42%. He also made 56% <strong>of</strong> his<br />
two-pointers and 85% <strong>of</strong> his free throws – no bad for a<br />
2.08-meter big man. In the Italian League he played 113<br />
games with averages <strong>of</strong> 20.2 points and 7.5 rebounds.<br />
At Olympiacos, with whom he had reached another<br />
Final Four in 1999, his averages were 15.5 points and<br />
8.6 boards. At Panathinaikos, in his late 30s, he was<br />
still able to score 10.0 points and pull down almost 4<br />
rebounds per game<br />
Johnny Rogers was a great player, but all <strong>of</strong> those<br />
who know him would tell you he is an even better person,<br />
a great teammate and a true friend in every situation,<br />
a champion in every sense <strong>of</strong> the word.<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Johnny Rogers<br />
R
Arvydas<br />
Sabonis<br />
311
The Lithuanian Tsar<br />
At the 1983 EuroBasket in Nantes,<br />
France, I came across Arvydas Sabonis<br />
in a nearby mall. At that time, he was<br />
the young center <strong>of</strong> the USSR team. It<br />
was his second competition at a senior<br />
level because, with his enormous talent,<br />
he basically skipped the junior period in his career.<br />
After having played at the FIBA <strong>European</strong> Championship<br />
for Cadets in 1981 in Greece, where the USSR<br />
was crowned champion behind his 17 points per game,<br />
Sabonis was already a great talent. One year later, while<br />
his generational peers – Sarunas Marciulionis, Valery<br />
Tikhonenko, Jose Biriukov, Igors Miglinieks and others<br />
– played in the FIBA <strong>European</strong> Championship for Junior<br />
Men, Sabonis was at the World Cup 1982 in Colombia with<br />
the seniors, alongside Sergei Tarakanov, Valdis Valters,<br />
Vladimir Tkachenko, Anatoly Myshkin, Aleksandar Belosteny,<br />
Sergejus Jovaisa and Valdemaras Chomicius.<br />
Sabonis was less than 18 years old at the time, having<br />
been born on December 19, 1964, in Kaunas, Lithuania.<br />
The USSR became world champion by beating the USA<br />
95-94 with Sabonis going scoreless, even though his<br />
talent had helped his team reach the title game. For instance,<br />
he scored 28 points against the hosts, Colombia.<br />
Let me go back to my encounter with Sabonis. We<br />
had a cup <strong>of</strong> c<strong>of</strong>fee, he was very kind. We talked only a little,<br />
but enough for me to put together a short interview<br />
with the future superstar <strong>of</strong> world basketball. From our<br />
conversation, I only remember a single sentence: “I will<br />
never play for CSKA Moscow.” When I was back home,<br />
looking through the pages <strong>of</strong> the Borba newspaper, <strong>of</strong><br />
which I was sports chief then, I could not find the interview<br />
with Sabonis. When I asked my co-workers what<br />
had happened, they told me: “We didn’t have much<br />
space those days, and since he is an unknown player...”<br />
Shortly thereafter, interviews with Sabonis were<br />
world exclusives. My newspaper peers had made the<br />
typical mistake <strong>of</strong> a coach who fires a young player<br />
from a club because he has “no talent” – and then he<br />
becomes a superstar. Years later, fortunately, I had the<br />
chance to know Arvydas a little better, to make several<br />
interviews with him and to talk several more times in a<br />
casual way. Most <strong>of</strong> all, though, I enjoyed his game.<br />
Pure talent<br />
Arvydas Sabonis was one <strong>of</strong> a kind. In my almost 50<br />
years following basketball, I have never seen a player<br />
like him. There were taller players, more celebrated<br />
players, but never did someone with his height (2.20<br />
meters) have that much talent. I couldn’t even mention<br />
what aspect <strong>of</strong> the game was his strongest point: rebounds,<br />
shooting, assists, court vision, leadership. He<br />
was a natural-born talent, a giant born to play basketball<br />
and do big things in this sport.<br />
If I had to compare Sabonis to someone I can only<br />
think about Kresimir Cosic, the great Croatian center<br />
<strong>of</strong> Zadar and the Yugoslav national team. Even though<br />
both played center, they didn’t look like each other<br />
physically, but their games had many similar attributes.<br />
Cosic was a visionary, the first big man to ever play<br />
at all positions. He had great court vision, went to the<br />
perimeter to deliver assists like a playmaker, and mainly<br />
understood basketball like nobody else. His main<br />
weapon was his basketball IQ. Sabonis was like his<br />
pupil, but with even a few more qualities in him: he was<br />
10 centimeters taller, had a stronger body and a better<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Arvydas Sabonis<br />
S
Vladimir Stankovic<br />
long-range shot. Both changed basketball, were icons<br />
<strong>of</strong> their respective eras, and led their club teams and<br />
national teams to the top.<br />
After missing the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles due<br />
to the USSR boycott, Sabas was back on the big stage<br />
at the 1985 EuroBasket in Stuttgart, where the USSR’s<br />
domination was overwhelming and he was chosen MVP.<br />
In the final, Czechoslovakia fell 120-89 with 23 points<br />
and 15 rebounds from Sabonis. His scoring average<br />
was 20 points. The all-tournament team included Valdis<br />
Valters (USSR), Drazen Petrovic (Yugoslavia), Detlef<br />
Schrempf (West Germany), Fernando Martin (Spain)<br />
and Arvydas Sabonis (USSR). Some starting five! That<br />
same year, on March 19, his club team, Zalgiris Kaunas,<br />
reached its first <strong>European</strong> final. It was the Saporta Cup<br />
against FC Barcelona in Grenoble and Zalgiris lost 77-73<br />
despite Rimas Kurtinaitis’s 36 points. Sabonis had one<br />
<strong>of</strong> his usual double-doubles, 14 points and 16 rebounds.<br />
The following year, Zalgiris, as the USSR domestic<br />
champion, represented the country in the EuroLeague<br />
and reached the title game, where it had to square <strong>of</strong>f<br />
against Cibona Zagreb, the defending champ that had<br />
beaten Real Madrid the previous year in Athens. The<br />
game was played in Budapest on April 3 and didn’t end<br />
well for Sabas. His team lost 94-82 after referees Costas<br />
Rigas <strong>of</strong> Greece and Vittorio Fiorito <strong>of</strong> Italy disqualified<br />
Sabonis, who until that point had 27 points and 14 rebounds.<br />
In the first minute <strong>of</strong> the fourth quarter, Sabonis<br />
punched Mihovil Nakic in the face as his answer to a<br />
provocation. Sabonis’s <strong>European</strong> dream at the club level<br />
would have to wait.<br />
Olympic gold<br />
In the middle <strong>of</strong> the 1980s, Sabonis started to suffer<br />
injuries, which would become his biggest enemies<br />
throughout his career. Ankles, knees and especially his<br />
tendons started to suffer the consequences <strong>of</strong> such an<br />
effort made by such a big man. After missing almost all<br />
<strong>of</strong> 1987, he was back for the 1988 Olympics in Seoul,<br />
South Korea. His start was not that promising, however,<br />
as the USSR lost in the first game against Yugoslavia,<br />
92-79. But after beating the USA in the semis 82-74 with<br />
his 13 points and 11 boards, the Soviets prevailed in<br />
the final against Yugoslavia 83-76 thanks to 20 points<br />
and 15 rebounds from Sabonis. His dream was fulfilled.<br />
Also, after several political changes during the Perestroika<br />
era <strong>of</strong> Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev, the<br />
doors were opened for the best players <strong>of</strong> the country<br />
to show their talent in other places.<br />
At the 1989 EuroBasket in Zagreb, Sabonis and<br />
his Lithuanian teammates (Marciulionis, Chomicius<br />
and Kurtinaitis) would win the last medal (bronze) for<br />
a multi-nation USSR with Ukrainians Alexander Volkov<br />
and Belosteny, Latvian Gundars Vetra, Estonian Tiit<br />
Sokk, and Russians Tikhonenko and Valery Goborov.<br />
At the 1990 World Cup in Buenos Aires, the Lithuanian<br />
players would already not be around, as their dream <strong>of</strong><br />
playing for Lithuania was coming soon.<br />
As a kind <strong>of</strong> prize for the 1988 Olympic gold, the<br />
best USSR players obtained legal permits to leave the<br />
country. Sabonis went to Spain to play with Forum Valladolid.<br />
The surprise was big: one <strong>of</strong> the best players in<br />
the world was signing for a humble team in Spain. The<br />
reason was that the biggest teams in Europe were not<br />
that confident in Sabas’s physical condition.<br />
Sabonis was not in top form when he arrived, because<br />
<strong>of</strong> the injuries, but a great job done by the medical<br />
services <strong>of</strong> the club made a sports miracle easier.<br />
In his debut, a friendly game against Real Madrid, he<br />
scored 27 points and pulled down 10 boards despite<br />
312<br />
313
his team’s loss (95-81), but he made it clear that Spain<br />
was in for a real treat with a new superstar. In the following<br />
three seasons, he would play 37, 37 and 36 games,<br />
averaging 23.6 points, 13.0 rebounds and 1.9 assists,<br />
taking Valladolid to the play<strong>of</strong>fs for three straight years<br />
and in 1992-93 to the Korac Cup semifinals, where the<br />
team lost to a strong Il Messaggero Roma team, with<br />
Dino Radja, Roberto Premier and Rick Mahorn.<br />
EuroLeague crown with Madrid<br />
In the summer <strong>of</strong> 1992, after three brilliant seasons<br />
in Valladolid, two important things happened in<br />
the life <strong>of</strong> Sabas. First, he signed with Real Madrid for<br />
three seasons. Second, he won the bronze medal with<br />
Lithuania, already an independent country, at the 1992<br />
Olympics in Barcelona. Sabonis’s averages in Barcelona<br />
were 23.9 points, 13 rebounds and 1.8 assists. He<br />
was 28 years old and in his prime.<br />
With his arrival at Real Madrid, Sabonis’s main goal<br />
was winning the <strong>European</strong> crown. But before doing that<br />
in 1995, he suffered another disappointment. At the<br />
1993 Final Four in Athens, Real Madrid lost, unexpectedly,<br />
against Limoges – the eventual surprise champ – by 62-52<br />
in the semis. The arrival <strong>of</strong> Zeljko Obradovic to the bench<br />
<strong>of</strong> Real Madrid would be the start <strong>of</strong> a great collaboration<br />
between a player and a coach that evolved into a great<br />
friendship between two men who have given a lot to basketball.<br />
On April 13, 1995, in Zaragoza, Spain, the basketball<br />
giant Arvydas Sabonis fulfilled his dream: winning the<br />
EuroLeague crown and also being named MVP <strong>of</strong> the Final<br />
Four in the process. In the semis, Real Madrid got revenge<br />
against Limoges with a 62-42 victory, while in the title<br />
game, the Spanish team defeated Olympiacos Piraeus.<br />
The Lithuanian Tsar had 23 points and 7 rebounds.<br />
At 31 years old, Sabonis was leaving the Spanish<br />
League after 235 games and averages <strong>of</strong> 20.3 points,<br />
12.4 rebounds and 2.0 assists in 33 minutes on court,<br />
to take the next important step in his career: signing<br />
for the Portland Trail Blazers <strong>of</strong> the NBA. The club also<br />
fulfilled its dream <strong>of</strong> bringing Sabas to the USA almost<br />
a decade after having chosen him in the 1986 draft with<br />
pick number 24.<br />
At 31, when some players retire, Sabonis showed<br />
the world that he still knew how to do a lot <strong>of</strong> things.<br />
Never did such a veteran rookie attract as much media<br />
attention as he did, but Sabas justified it all. He won<br />
Player <strong>of</strong> the Week awards, was part <strong>of</strong> the all-rookie<br />
team, was Best Sixth Man, and was Rookie <strong>of</strong> the Year<br />
runner-up. In seven NBA seasons averaging more than<br />
24 minutes per game, he averaged 12 points (32% on<br />
threes) and 7.3 rebounds.<br />
After fulfilling all <strong>of</strong> his dreams, at 39 years old, Sabonis<br />
decided to have his biggest wish granted: dressing<br />
again in the jersey <strong>of</strong> his Zalgiris. He literally played for<br />
his own team, since he had just bought most <strong>of</strong> the<br />
stock in the club. He signed for the club <strong>of</strong> his heart<br />
and immediately became a EuroLeague star again: in<br />
the 2003-04 season, he was named MVP <strong>of</strong> the regular<br />
season and the Top 16, playing 28 minutes per game<br />
with 16.7 points, 10.7 rebounds and 26.3 index rating<br />
averages. At 40 years old.<br />
In Lithuania, he remains a national idol. He has been<br />
president <strong>of</strong> the Lithuanian basketball since 2011, the<br />
same year that was chosen for the Naismith Hall <strong>of</strong><br />
Fame. One year earlier, he had become a member <strong>of</strong><br />
the FIBA Hall <strong>of</strong> Fame, as well. His three sons play basketball,<br />
with one <strong>of</strong> them, Donatas, having followed his<br />
father into the EuroLeague and the NBA. But they have<br />
a great handicap: the Sabonis name is a great burden in<br />
the basketball world.<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Arvydas Sabonis<br />
S
Zoran<br />
Savic<br />
315
The title collector<br />
During the 1988-89 season, the impeccable<br />
scouting <strong>of</strong> the great Jugoplastika<br />
team coached by Boza Maljkovic followed<br />
closely an unknown center who<br />
played in Celik Zenica <strong>of</strong> Bosnia-Herzegovina,<br />
on what was then a second-division<br />
team. The reports were positive and in the summer<br />
<strong>of</strong> 1989 the club from Split, the defending EuroLeague<br />
champion, announced the signing <strong>of</strong> one Zoran Savic,<br />
who was born on November 18, 1966, in Zenica. Savic<br />
was a center who was almost 23 years old, but few<br />
could have imagined that Jugoplastika had just made a<br />
great signing and even fewer that Yugoslav basketball<br />
had just added a new name to its list <strong>of</strong> greats.<br />
The first game <strong>of</strong> the 1989-90 Yugoslav League,<br />
which I saw on TV, had Jugoplastika as the visiting<br />
team, I don’t remember against whom, but perhaps<br />
Cibona Zagreb. What I do remember, however, was that<br />
alongside those great players that had surprisingly<br />
won the <strong>European</strong> crown in Munich the previous season<br />
– Toni Kukoc, Dino Radja, Dusko Ivanovic, Velimir<br />
Perasovic, Luka Pavicevic, Zoran Sretenovic and Goran<br />
Sobin – a rookie wearing number 13 stood out. Defensive<br />
rebound, two points, <strong>of</strong>fensive rebound, assists,<br />
another rebound, fastbreak, foul drawn, free throw<br />
made. As Bogdan Tanjevic perfectly defines it: “Talent<br />
is like a shorter leg. You can see it right away.”<br />
That’s how Zoran Savic started his career, in style.<br />
He was not a young talent who had starred on youth<br />
teams <strong>of</strong> a great club in the old Yugoslavia. In fact, until<br />
he was 16 years old, Savic didn’t even play basketball.<br />
His path was slow, with obstacles, and most <strong>of</strong> all, with<br />
lots <strong>of</strong> hard work. At that age, he was sent on loan to Capljina<br />
Borac where he played with Jasmin Repesa – with<br />
whom he later won the Italian League title at Fortitudo<br />
Bologna. But life was fair to Savic. His great will to work<br />
paid <strong>of</strong>f with the chance given to him by Maljkovic – and<br />
Savic used it. In his first season playing elite basketball,<br />
he played more like a veteran than a rookie. The first<br />
title arrived in February, when Jugoplastika defeated<br />
Crvena Zvezda 79-77 in the Yugoslav Cup final played<br />
in Dubrovnik. On April 19, in Zaragoza, Jugoplastika<br />
won its second straight <strong>European</strong> crown by defeating<br />
FC Barcelona in the final 72-67 with 4 points and 7 rebounds<br />
from Savic. In May, Jugoplastika won its third<br />
straight Yugoslav League title and coach Dusan Ivkovic<br />
called Savic among the candidates for the Yugoslavia<br />
team at the 1990 World Cup in Argentina.<br />
A rookie world champion<br />
Against tradition and custom, Savic made his debut<br />
in the top national team at 24 years <strong>of</strong> age. He stayed<br />
with the team until he voluntarily retired after the 1997<br />
EuroBasket in Barcelona. Yugoslavia, first as a united<br />
country including all its regions, and later in a reduced<br />
version only with Serbia and Montenegro, always had<br />
talented players with world fame like Drazen Petrovic,<br />
Vlade Divac, Toni Kukoc, Sasha Djordjevic, Predrag<br />
Danilovic, Zarko Paspalj or Dejan Bodiroga. But in all its<br />
schemes and systems, first with Coach Ivkovic and later<br />
with Zeljko Obradovic, there was a key piece: Zoran<br />
Savic.<br />
Year after year, Savic improved his technique and<br />
his physical strength, and with a great work ethic he became<br />
a very useful player. He lacked height, but he had<br />
everything else: rebounds, good shooting, assists and<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Zoran Savic<br />
S
Vladimir Stankovic<br />
broad shoulders to keep taller, stronger opponents at<br />
bay. Also, he was very smart, because he understood<br />
the game like few big men. He came back from Buenos<br />
Aires in 1990 as a world champion, having averaged 8.6<br />
points and 2.7 boards. He was the fourth-best scorer<br />
on a very powerful team, after Petrovic (18.4), Kukoc<br />
(16.5) and Paspalj (13.0), but ahead <strong>of</strong> Divac (8.2). In the<br />
semifinals against a good Team USA, playing against<br />
Alonzo Mourning, Savic scored 14 points and added 5<br />
rebounds.<br />
Half a year later, on April 18, 1991, in Paris, Jugoplastika<br />
won its third straight continental final, once<br />
again beating FC Barcelona, which was now coached<br />
by Maljkovic. The Split team, with Zeljko Pavlicevic now<br />
at the helm, won by the score <strong>of</strong> 70-65. The MVP <strong>of</strong><br />
the tourney was Kukoc, but the man <strong>of</strong> the final was<br />
Savic, who scored 27 points and added 4 rebounds.<br />
That’s still the scoring record <strong>of</strong> a Final Four championship<br />
game, shared with a few other players. In the<br />
summer <strong>of</strong> that year, at the 1991 EuroBasket in Rome,<br />
Savic won the gold medal with a complete Yugoslavia<br />
for the last time (even though Slovenian Jure Zdovc<br />
had to leave the team before the semifinals). With the<br />
start <strong>of</strong> the war in Yugoslavia, Savic left Split and in<br />
October <strong>of</strong> 1991 signed for FC Barcelona. Two years<br />
later he moved to Greece to play with PAOK Thessaloniki.<br />
Those are the “empty” years <strong>of</strong> his career, as he<br />
did not add any titles. With PAOK, in 1994, he won his<br />
third <strong>European</strong> trophy, the Korac Cup, after two wins<br />
over Stefanel Trieste. In the game in Thessaloniki,<br />
a 75-66 victory, Savic contributed 15 points and 10<br />
boards while in Trieste, a 100-91 win, he had 8 points<br />
and 2 rebounds. In his second PAOK season, Savic<br />
won the Greek Cup. Due to international sanctions, he<br />
could not play at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona with<br />
Yugoslavia, the 1993 EuroBasket in Germany or the<br />
1994 World Cup in Toronto.<br />
Success in 19 <strong>of</strong> 21 finals<br />
Yugoslavia was back for the 1995 EuroBasket in<br />
Athens and was back in style: taking the gold in an<br />
unforgettable title game victory, 96-90 against a Lithuania<br />
team with Arvydas Sabonis, Sarunas Marculionis,<br />
Rimas Kurtinaitis, Valdemaras Chomicius and Arturas<br />
Karnisovas. On the other side were Divac, Bodiroga,<br />
Djordjevic (41 points, 9 <strong>of</strong> 12 threes), Danilovic, Paspalj,<br />
Dejan Tomasevic and Savic. For the tournament, Savic<br />
averaged 11 points and 4 rebounds.<br />
After his great tournament, Zeljko Obradovic, the<br />
national team coach, took Savic to Real Madrid with<br />
him. He played a solid season (16.4 ppg) but in the 1996<br />
Final Four in Paris, Real Madrid lost to FC Barcelona in<br />
the semifinals. Savic’s next stop was Italy as he signed<br />
for Kinder Bologna under Ettore Messina. In the summer<br />
<strong>of</strong> 1996, Savic took a silver medal with Yugoslavia<br />
at the Atlanta Olympics, but he missed the title game<br />
against the USA due to a twisted ankle from the semis<br />
against Lithuania.<br />
Savic’s first year in Bologna ended up blank, but<br />
he found some consolation at the 1997 EuroBasket in<br />
Barcelona as Yugoslavia won the gold medal, Savic’s<br />
sixth, to go with an Olympic silver, plus a Korac Cup and<br />
a Greek Cup. In the 1997-98 season, he won the triple<br />
crown: EuroLeague, Italian League and Italian Cup with<br />
Kinder. He won his third <strong>European</strong> crown at Palau Sant<br />
Jordi in Barcelona, just where he had started his international<br />
career years earlier. He played alongside Danilovic,<br />
Augusto Binelli, Hugo Sconochini, Alessandro<br />
Abbio and Radoslav Nesterovic to defeat AEK Athens in<br />
316<br />
317
etired, the numbers said the between clubs and the<br />
national team, he had won 19 <strong>of</strong> the 21 finals he played,<br />
a rate <strong>of</strong> 90.5%! Indeed, Savic was a title collector. If we<br />
add in two Yugoslav Supercups he has 20 titles and an<br />
Olympic medal, though “only” a silver.<br />
After his great career as a player, Savic worked as<br />
the general manager <strong>of</strong> Fortitudo Bologna from 2002<br />
to 2005, reaching the 2004 EuroLeague title game and<br />
winning the 2005 Italian League alongside head coach<br />
Jasmin Repesa, his old teammate at Capljina. Savic held<br />
the same position at FC Barcelona later, when the club<br />
won a Spanish King’s Cup title and reached the 2006<br />
EuroLeague Final Four in Prague. Since 2010, he is a<br />
founding member and owner <strong>of</strong> the Invictus Sports<br />
Group, representing players and some coaches like<br />
Xavi Pascual, Simone Pianigiani and Zan Tabak.<br />
Zoran Savic<br />
the final 58-44, after which Savic was chosen MVP. His<br />
trophy collection had reached the double figures.<br />
Later in 1998, Savic started his Turkish adventure,<br />
signing with an ambitious Efes Pilsen, but a serious injury<br />
had him sidelined most <strong>of</strong> that year. Despite that,<br />
he added a new title, that country’s President’s Cup. In<br />
the 2000-01 season, at 34 years old, Savic went back<br />
to Barcelona and won the Spanish King’s Cup plus the<br />
Spanish League. He played one more year in Bologna,<br />
this time on the other side, with Fortitudo. When he<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
S
Chicho<br />
Sibilio<br />
319
The Dominican<br />
shooter<br />
At the end <strong>of</strong> a recent Spanish League<br />
regular season, some breaking news<br />
emerged: Alberto Corbacho <strong>of</strong> Blusens<br />
Monbus had established a new record<br />
with an average <strong>of</strong> 3.21 three-pointers<br />
made per game. Corbacho put an end<br />
to the reign <strong>of</strong> Chicho Sibilio and his record from 1986-<br />
87 <strong>of</strong> 3.14 threes per contest – a record that lasted 26<br />
years. I am sure that some <strong>of</strong> the younger fans are<br />
wondering who Chicho Sibilio is.<br />
This is the story <strong>of</strong> a great player who arrived from a<br />
small country in the Caribbean that did not have a powerful<br />
national team but featured some interesting players<br />
and a great star: Cándido Antonio Sibilio Hughes,<br />
who was born on October 3, 1958 in San Cristobal,<br />
Dominican Republic, and is simply known as “Chicho”<br />
by the basketball world.<br />
In a great story about him in “Informe Robinson”,<br />
a show on Spanish TV hosted by Mike Robinson, the<br />
player himself said that the great Serbian coach Ranko<br />
Zeravica “fell in love” with him in the mid-1970s. I talked<br />
to Zeravica and he told me an interesting story about<br />
Chicho:<br />
“Through several sources, we got word that in the<br />
Dominican Republic there was a very interesting player.<br />
A shooting guard with NBA potential, whose name<br />
I don’t remember now. So, with Eduardo Portela, then<br />
with FC Barcelona, we set up a tour <strong>of</strong> the Dominican<br />
national team with the idea <strong>of</strong> watching that other player<br />
and signing him if he convinced us. It so happened<br />
that I saw a slim small forward who had the touch <strong>of</strong><br />
the very best shooters. I told Portela right away that<br />
I wanted this forward and that we had to sign him no<br />
matter what. That’s how we signed Chicho Sibilio at 17<br />
years old.”<br />
That was the start <strong>of</strong> a brilliant career that ended<br />
in 1993, after 13 years in Barcelona and four more in<br />
Taugres Baskonia <strong>of</strong> Vitoria. Sibilio played 348 Spanish<br />
League games in which he averaged 28 minutes, 17.3<br />
points on 42% three-point shooting, 58% accuracy on<br />
two-pointers and 79% on free throws. But behind the<br />
numbers we find a versatile player whose 2.00-meter<br />
height allowed him to play every position except point<br />
guard and center. “He was a smart player and he learned<br />
fast, he was willing to work,” explained Zeravica. “However,<br />
his main weapon was always his shooting. Too<br />
bad that triples arrived only in 1984. He spent almost<br />
half <strong>of</strong> his career without three-pointers.”.<br />
With the arrival <strong>of</strong> Sibilio, Barcelona formed a lethal<br />
duo <strong>of</strong> forwards completed by legend Juan Antonio<br />
“Epi” San Epifanio. With a great floor general in Nacho<br />
Solozabal, Barcelona had the core <strong>of</strong> a great team for<br />
many years. With that team, Sibilio won five Spanish<br />
Leagues (1981, 1983, 1987, 1988 and 1989), eight<br />
Spanish King’s Cups (1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982,<br />
1983, 1987 and 1988), two Saporta Cups (1985, 1986),<br />
one Korac Cup (1987) and one Intercontinental Cup<br />
(1985). In 1992, Sibilio scored his 650th triple and on<br />
April 4, 1993, he became the first Spanish League player<br />
with 6,000 career points.<br />
No EuroLeague crown<br />
Realizing the rough diamond that it held in its<br />
hands, FC Barcelona managed to get a quick nation-<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Chicho Sibilio<br />
S
Vladimir Stankovic<br />
alization for Sibilio, which also benefitted the Spanish<br />
national team. Sibilio made his debut at the 1980<br />
Olympics in Moscow. He played 87 games with the red<br />
jersey, scoring 1,324 points and winning a silver medal<br />
at EuroBasket 1983 in Nantes. His last big tourney<br />
with Spain was the 1987 EuroBasket in Athens. Over<br />
the course <strong>of</strong> those years, Sibilio averaged 16.7 points<br />
per game in FIBA competitions, from the 21.6 at those<br />
Moscow Olympics in 1980 to 10.0 at the 1987 Euro-<br />
Basket.<br />
I think I saw Sibilio live for the first time in Moscow in<br />
1980. After that, our paths crossed at several EuroBaskets<br />
and other competitions. I still remember how the<br />
ease with which he shot caught everyone’s attention.<br />
He needed minimal space to create his shots, which<br />
were true bombs that formed a high arc and almost<br />
always went in! His moves and sixth sense to choose<br />
the best spot for a shot would be a valuable lesson<br />
nowadays in any school for shooters.<br />
Sibilio was also a fast player who was able to run<br />
the break and was a good rebounder. As sometimes<br />
happens with shooters, he was <strong>of</strong>ten called out for not<br />
caring much about defending his man, but I always say<br />
it is easier to find or create a defensive specialist than a<br />
great shooter.<br />
Ultimately, throughout his great career, there was<br />
something missing, as has happened with other greats <strong>of</strong><br />
<strong>European</strong> basketball: a EuroLeague title. Sibilio was close<br />
two times, but on both occasions the trophy slipped away.<br />
Barcelona played the 1984 final against Banco di Roma<br />
and lost 79-73 despite Epi’s 31 points. Chicho was not at<br />
his best with only 4 points and poor 2-for-10 shooting that<br />
night. His second chance came in 1989 in Munich, but in<br />
semifinals, Jugoplastika Split, the eventual champ, won<br />
87-77 with the great trio formed by Toni Kukoc (24 points),<br />
Dusko Ivanovic (21) and Dino Radja (18) outdueling Epi<br />
(16), Audie Norris (15) and Chicho (15). In the aftermath <strong>of</strong><br />
that defeat in Munich, Sibilio left the team. He then signed<br />
for Baskonia where, with less pressure, he played four<br />
good seasons before retiring at age 35.<br />
There were also other <strong>European</strong> competitions, <strong>of</strong><br />
course. In 1981, Barca lost the Saporta Cup final against<br />
Squib Cantu with just a symbolic contribution by Sibilio<br />
<strong>of</strong> 3 points. In 1985, in the same competition, Barcelona<br />
defeated Zalgiris Kaunas with Arvydas Sabonis (14<br />
points, 16 rebounds), Rimas Kurtinaitis (36 points) and<br />
Valdemaras Chomicius in the final. Sibilio scored 29<br />
points on great shooting: 8 <strong>of</strong> 16 twos, 3 <strong>of</strong> 3 threes<br />
and 4 <strong>of</strong> 4 free throws. That same year, Barcelona won<br />
the Intercontinental Cup against Monte Libano <strong>of</strong> Brazil<br />
(93-89) with 39 points by Epi and 27 by Sibilio. Marcel<br />
de Souza had 38 for the opponents. It was a celebration<br />
<strong>of</strong> three great shooters.<br />
One year later, Barcelona repeated the Saporta<br />
Cup title, this time beating Scavolini Pesaro <strong>101</strong>-86 as<br />
Chicho scored 25 points and Epi 20. Sibilio’s trophy<br />
case was completed with the 1987 Korac Cup after a<br />
double win over Limoges as Sibilio totaled 33 points in<br />
the two-game series.<br />
Natural talent<br />
Sibilio’s teammates in Barcelona and with the<br />
Spanish national team described him as a “natural<br />
talent” (Juanma Lopez Iturriaga); “the first pure forward”<br />
(Fernando Romay); “excellent, even without<br />
practicing a lot” (Solozabal). He had something that<br />
great shooters have: it looked like everything he did<br />
was easy, natural, effortless. Of course, it was not like<br />
that, and it was his talent that made so many shots go<br />
in as if it were second nature. He was the top scorer<br />
320<br />
321
Centrobasket Championship. The Dominican Republic,<br />
the host <strong>of</strong> the event, finished fourth behind Mexico,<br />
Puerto Rico and Cuba. Sibilio never lost his connection<br />
with his home country, where he currently lives. He<br />
coached several local teams and was also a member<br />
<strong>of</strong> the technical staff <strong>of</strong> the federation. However, his<br />
biggest job was in his academy, given his desire to produce<br />
a player with the same talent as him. It is a difficult<br />
challenge because Chicho was very good. For me – if we<br />
exclude big powers with long traditions like Argentina,<br />
Brazil and Puerto Rico – he’s the best Latino player ever,<br />
together with Manuel Raga.<br />
Chicho Sibilio<br />
in the Spanish League twice (1986-87 and 1987-88)<br />
and he was chosen MVP <strong>of</strong> the all-star game in 1990<br />
in Zaragoza.<br />
Even though Sibilio was internationally recognized<br />
as a Spanish player, prior to signing with Barcelona in<br />
1975, he already caught everyone’s attention at the<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
S
Lou<br />
Silver<br />
323
The man with the<br />
wrong name<br />
His name is Louis ‘Lou’ Grant Silver, but<br />
after everything he did in basketball,<br />
his name should have been Gold. Silver,<br />
who was born on November 27, 1953,<br />
played and studied in the United States.<br />
He was drafted in 1975 by the Kentucky<br />
Colonels <strong>of</strong> the now-defunct American <strong>Basketball</strong> Association<br />
with pick number 73. But that same year, he<br />
signed with Maccabi Tel Aviv with the idea <strong>of</strong> playing<br />
there for one year and then returning to the United<br />
States. He stayed with Maccabi for 10 years. During<br />
that period, he won 10 Israeli League championships,<br />
lifted eight national cups, played in four EuroLeague<br />
finals and won two <strong>of</strong> them.<br />
Silver’s time in Maccabi coincided with the Golden<br />
Age <strong>of</strong> the club. In the early 1970s, legendary club president<br />
Shimon Mizrahi and his collaborators started a<br />
project they called the “Great Maccabi”. The first key<br />
move was the signing and naturalization <strong>of</strong> Tal Brody.<br />
The second was the development <strong>of</strong> the great talent <strong>of</strong><br />
Mickey Berkowitz. The third move was choosing good<br />
Americans. The duo formed by Lou Silver and Jim Boatwright,<br />
together with Aulcie Perry, met the third condition<br />
without a problem.<br />
History in Belgrade<br />
During the 1970s, Maccabi was already a super-dominant<br />
force in Israel, but the directors, the fans and, in<br />
some way, the country itself expected something big in<br />
the EuroLeague. The moment <strong>of</strong> glory arrived at the end<br />
<strong>of</strong> the 1976-77 season, Lou Silver’s second with the team.<br />
The EuroLeague started that season with the champions<br />
<strong>of</strong> 22 countries – including Maccabi and Al Gezira <strong>of</strong> Egypt,<br />
though the latter withdrew before the start <strong>of</strong> the competition<br />
– and the defending champ, Mobilgirgi Varese. Italy<br />
was the only country with two representatives. Maccabi<br />
played in Group E with Olympiacos, Dinamo Bucharest<br />
and Synudine Bologna, finishing first with a 5-1 record, its<br />
only defeat coming in Bologna, 76-60.<br />
In the final stage, Maccabi finished second with a 6-4<br />
record, even though two <strong>of</strong> those games were forfeits.<br />
Due to political issues, Zbrojovka Brno <strong>of</strong> the former<br />
Czechoslovakia and CSKA Moscow refused to play in Tel<br />
Aviv. FIBA gave the wins to Maccabi with 2-0 scores. The<br />
return games were played in Belgium. Against CSKA,<br />
Maccabi won 91-79, but in the group, Maccabi lost four<br />
games: twice against Varese (109-79 in Bologna and 81-<br />
70 in Tel Aviv) and once each versus Real Madrid (106-<br />
94) and Racing Maes Pils (75-66). In a three-way tie with<br />
CSKA and Madrid, all at 6-4, Maccabi finished second behind<br />
first-place Varese. According to the rules, the first<br />
two teams would face <strong>of</strong>f in the final on neutral ground.<br />
The site <strong>of</strong> the title game was the legendary Hala Pionir<br />
in Belgrade. FIBA had chosen Belgrade earlier, but when<br />
the two finalists were known, a problem surfaced. Yugoslavia<br />
didn’t have any diplomatic relationship with Israel<br />
and the entry <strong>of</strong> Israeli citizens to the country was complicated.<br />
However, the government showed great flexibility<br />
and, in the end, more than half <strong>of</strong> the 6,000 fans packing<br />
the arena were Maccabi supporters. Their arrival marked<br />
the first time ever that a jumbo jet landed in Belgrade.<br />
I was at the game and I have good memories <strong>of</strong> it,<br />
especially because <strong>of</strong> the atmosphere created in the<br />
stands by the so-called Yellow Army. On the court, with<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Lou Silver<br />
S
Vladimir Stankovic<br />
many masters <strong>of</strong> the game on both sides, a special player<br />
caught everyone’s eye. He was Maccabi’s number 12, Lou<br />
Silver. We knew him by name, but seeing him in action was<br />
a pleasure, mainly because <strong>of</strong> his special way <strong>of</strong> shooting.<br />
He was a power forward standing at 2.03 meters. He<br />
could jump well, but his main asset was scoring. He had a<br />
peculiar way <strong>of</strong> shooting the ball, with his hands and the<br />
ball starting the shot almost completely from behind his<br />
head. That peculiar style made it almost impossible for<br />
defenders to block his shot, because it started at an angle<br />
that was impossible to reach. Maccabi dominated from the<br />
start thanks to Boatwright and Berkowitz, but also thanks<br />
to great defense. Bob Morse, the great Varese scorer,<br />
had his first points in the eighth minute and finished with<br />
20 – below his usual numbers. At the break, Maccabi was<br />
ahead 39-30, but Perry had 4 fouls that were provoked by<br />
Dino Meneghin. In minute 26, the Italian team managed<br />
to pull within 47-45 and in minute 33 it was tied at 61-61.<br />
The ending was full <strong>of</strong> drama. With Maccabi leading 78-77<br />
and 12 seconds left on the clock, Silver missed a shot, but<br />
grabbed the <strong>of</strong>fensive rebound for a new possession. It<br />
looked like Maccabi would win, but British referee David<br />
Turner, a FIBA favorite at the time, called for a traveling<br />
violation that no one else saw. Varese had 7 seconds to<br />
win, but great Maccabi defense forced a bad pass and a<br />
turnover. Maccabi had won its first continental crown. It<br />
was April 7, 1977, a date for the history books in Israeli<br />
basketball. Boatwright was the hero <strong>of</strong> the game, with 26<br />
points, followed by Berkowitz with 17 and Perry with 16.<br />
Silver scored 6, but his behind-the-head shot remained in<br />
all our memories.<br />
Silver for Silver<br />
Before playing more <strong>European</strong> finals with Maccabi,<br />
Silver made his debut with the Israeli national team at<br />
the 1979 EuroBasket in Italy. He helped the team a lot<br />
on its way to the silver medal. It was a total surprise,<br />
one <strong>of</strong> the biggest in the history <strong>of</strong> EuroBasket. On the<br />
way to the final, Israel defeated Yugoslavia’s golden<br />
generation, a three-peat <strong>European</strong> champion at the<br />
time (1973, 1975, 1977) and the defending world champion.<br />
Israel prevailed 77-76. In the title game, Israel<br />
lost to the USSR 98-76, but history had already been<br />
written. The names <strong>of</strong> Berkowitz, Silver, Motti Aroesti,<br />
Eric Menkin, Shuki Schwartz, Shai Sherf, Boaz Yanay,<br />
Barry Leibowitz and the rest, coached by Ralph Klein,<br />
were national heroes. Silver scored 27 points against<br />
Czechoslovakia, 18 against Poland, 14 against France.<br />
His average for the tourney was 14.3 points per game.<br />
The next four years, Silver would play for Israel with<br />
excellent numbers: 19.8 points at the 1980 pre-Olympic<br />
event in Switzerland, 14.5 at the 1981 EuroBasket, 15.3<br />
at the 1983 EuroBasket and 14.1 points at the 1984<br />
pre-Olympic tournament.<br />
Silver played his second EuroLeague final on March<br />
27, 1980, in Berlin against Real Madrid, who won 89-85,<br />
perhaps because Silver had one <strong>of</strong> the few bad days in<br />
his career. He did not score a single point that night. As<br />
EuroLeague runner-up, Maccabi took part in the Intercontinental<br />
Cup in Sarajevo in 1980 and won the trophy<br />
after defeating Franca <strong>of</strong> Brazil 88-74 with Earl Williams<br />
as the best scorer with 28 points for the winners.<br />
The following year in Strasbourg, Maccabi won its<br />
second EuroLeague title by downing Synudine Bologna<br />
80-79. Berkowitz was the best scorer with 21 points,<br />
followed by Williams with 20. Silver contributed 6 points.<br />
The last EuroLeague final for Silver was on March 25,<br />
1982, in Cologne, Germany, where Squib Cantu was better<br />
than Maccabi, 86-80. Silver and Berkowitz scored 16<br />
points each, but on the other side were Charles Kupec<br />
324<br />
325
(23 points), Bruce Flowers (21), Pierluigi Marzorati (18)<br />
and Antonello Riva (16).<br />
Mike Karnon, the excellent former press chief at Maccabi,<br />
describes Silver as “an all-around player, very clever<br />
with a great understanding <strong>of</strong> the game. He was known<br />
for his unique double-handed, over-the-head jump shot.”<br />
Karnon also <strong>of</strong>fers some gems for the data lovers<br />
direct from his own documentation: In his ten seasons in<br />
Tel Aviv, Sliver scored 3,035 points in 196 Israeli League<br />
games (15.4 ppg.) and 1,999 points in 138 <strong>European</strong><br />
games (14.4 ppg.). Silver also played 66 games for the<br />
national team, in which he scored 961 points (14.5 ppg.).<br />
About Silver’s personality, Karnon adds: “Silver, a<br />
s<strong>of</strong>t-spoken man, always preferred to remain behind<br />
the scenes and away from the media. On the other<br />
hand, he was a tough customer when it came to negotiating<br />
his contract. During his days with Maccabi, he<br />
studied at Tel Aviv University School <strong>of</strong> Law, graduating<br />
with a bachelor’s degree, and later got a Master <strong>of</strong> Law<br />
degree from New York University School <strong>of</strong> Law.”<br />
Great tribute<br />
After having retired, in July <strong>of</strong> 1987, Silver received<br />
a great tribute. Maccabi played against a <strong>European</strong> allstar<br />
team with Drazen Petrovic, Nikos Galis, Richard<br />
Dacoury, Panagiotis Giannakis, Stanislav Kropilak and<br />
Antonello Riva, among others. Europe won 108-87 but<br />
the only important thing that night was the farewell to a<br />
great player loved by the fans.<br />
At the start <strong>of</strong> the 2013-14 season, before a game<br />
between Maccabi and Crvena Zvezda, in a small but emotional<br />
ceremony in the middle <strong>of</strong> the court, Silver received<br />
standing ovations once more as a new member <strong>of</strong> the Maccabi<br />
Hall <strong>of</strong> Fame. His great teammate Boatwright, who had<br />
died earlier that year, also received posthumous honors.<br />
After retiring as a player, Lou Silver turned his head<br />
to business, making good use <strong>of</strong> his education as a<br />
banking and finance expert. Nowadays he is a businessman<br />
and attorney, as well as a director in several<br />
other companies, and moves between London and<br />
New York.<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Lou Silver<br />
S
Ljubodrag<br />
Simonovic<br />
327
The rebel<br />
genius<br />
I<br />
guess that for many basketball lovers, the name<br />
<strong>of</strong> Ljubodrag “Duci” Simonovic does not mean a<br />
lot. However, those whose memory reaches back<br />
to the 1970s will surely remember a great player<br />
whose brilliant talent clashed with his strong personality<br />
and ideas, a combination that shortened<br />
a career that could have been much bigger. In the<br />
world <strong>of</strong> basketball, there are many players with university<br />
degrees and, in this respect, Duci Simonovic<br />
is not an exception. He got a degree in law at 23 years<br />
old and later he added a Ph.D. in philosophy. This is<br />
his story.<br />
The second FIBA <strong>European</strong> Championship for Junior<br />
Men took place in Porto San Giorgio, Italy, in 1966. Ranko<br />
Zeravica, the coach <strong>of</strong> the Yugoslav national team,<br />
had a golden generation on his hands: Kresimir Cosic,<br />
Dragan Kapicic, Damir Solman, Aljosa Zorga, Bogdan<br />
Tanjevic, Mihajlo Manovic and a certain Duci Simonovic,<br />
a 17-year-old from the humble second-division team <strong>of</strong><br />
Sloga Kraljevo. The flawless scouting <strong>of</strong> the federation<br />
never let any talent go undiscovered. Yugoslavia ended<br />
up finishing second, but Zeravica knew that he had a lot<br />
<strong>of</strong> potential in a team that just needed some time.<br />
World champ at 21<br />
The following year, Duci, who was born on January<br />
1, 1949, in Vrnjacka Banja, arrived in Belgrade to study<br />
law and signed for Crvena Zvezda. He also made his debut<br />
for the senior national team at the Mediterranean<br />
Games in Tunisia. A strong team with veteran players<br />
like Vladimir Cvetkovic, Rato Tvrdic and Petar Skansi,<br />
plus young talent in Cosic, Nikola Plecas, Solman, Zorga<br />
and Simonovic, had an easy path to the gold medal. It<br />
was the first one in Simonovic’s career.<br />
That same year, Zeravica some <strong>of</strong> this young team –<br />
including Cosic, Kapicic, Solman, Zorga and Simonovic<br />
– to the 1967 EuroBasket in Helsinki. But this time the<br />
result was not good at all. Yugoslavia, the runner-up<br />
in the previous edition, finished in ninth place this<br />
time. The press blamed it on Zeravica, who reacted by<br />
changing his choice <strong>of</strong> players for the 1968 Olympics<br />
in Mexico. Veterans like Ivo Daneu, Radivoje Korac and<br />
Cvetkovic would be in command <strong>of</strong> the team this time,<br />
their experience seconded by that <strong>of</strong> Trajko Rajkovic,<br />
Dragutin Cermak, Dragoslav Raznatovic and Petar<br />
Skansi. Among the youngsters, Zeravica brought only<br />
Cosic, Solman, Plecas and Zorga. Simonovic had to stay<br />
home. That team won the country’s first Olympics basketball<br />
medal, a silver, after defeating the USSR in the<br />
semifinals with two historic free throws by Cvetkovic<br />
with 3 seconds to go.<br />
In the Yugoslav League <strong>of</strong> 1968-69, Crvena Zvezda<br />
took the title with Cvetkovic, Kapicic, Moka Slavnic and<br />
Dragisa Vucinic as leaders. The national team was back<br />
for the 1969 EuroBasket in Naples, Italy, and with it Simonovic.<br />
three years after winning the silver medal as<br />
a junior, Duci won another silver with the men’s senior<br />
national team at barely 20 years old.<br />
The peak <strong>of</strong> Simonovic’s career came at the 1970<br />
World Cup in Ljubljana. Zeravica, true to his vision, took<br />
several youngsters with him: Cosic, Simonovic, Plecas,<br />
Solman, Zorga and Vinko Jelovac, all <strong>of</strong> them born in<br />
1948 or 1949 – the same group that had failed at the<br />
Helsinki EuroBasket. Zeravica mixed them with veter-<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Ljubodrag Simonovic<br />
S
Vladimir Stankovic<br />
ans like Daneu and Rajkovic, while Cermak, Tvrdic and<br />
Skansi were from the generation in the middle. All the<br />
young players had an important role as Yugoslavia won<br />
its first gold medal in a big competition. Duci Simonovic<br />
averaged 6.3 points, but in some games, especially<br />
the decisive duel against the United States, his great<br />
defense was the foundation <strong>of</strong> the team’s collective<br />
success.<br />
Duci was a modern player, way ahead <strong>of</strong> his time. He<br />
played shooting guard, but he could rebound like a power<br />
forward. He was a pure athlete, physically powerful<br />
but with good technique. I remember one time when he<br />
scored 59 points against Partizan – with no three-pointers!<br />
He was a real talent, but he also worked a lot to<br />
reach that high level. For him, work was everything.<br />
Even though he was playing elite basketball, he passed<br />
his university exams with good grades. He knew that<br />
basketball was not his future. At the 1971 EuroBasket,<br />
with an average <strong>of</strong> 13.3 points, Simonovic was the second-best<br />
scorer <strong>of</strong> the team after Cosic (15.7). A new<br />
silver medal was the least that was expected from the<br />
world champions. In the 1971-72 season he won his<br />
second league crown with Crvena Zvezda and took his<br />
team to the final <strong>of</strong> the Saporta Cup, played in Thessaloniki,<br />
Greece, but Simmenthal Milano took the cup by<br />
the score <strong>of</strong> 74-70.<br />
Walking out <strong>of</strong> the 1972 Olympics<br />
Then, during the summer <strong>of</strong> 1972, the Munich Olympics<br />
arrived and that was the beginning <strong>of</strong> the end <strong>of</strong><br />
Simonovic’s brilliant career. In the game against Puerto<br />
Rico, Yugoslavia lost 79-74 against all odds. Duci scored<br />
10 points. Nobody could know those would be his last<br />
10 points for the national team. As it turned out, the<br />
Puerto Rican players tested positive in a doping test. A<br />
symbolic fine by the IOC enraged the Yugoslav Olympic<br />
Committee and the team itself. In a meeting, the players<br />
decided to walk out <strong>of</strong> the competition in protest!<br />
The federation directors, fearing a severe fine, intervened<br />
to avoid the exodus <strong>of</strong> the players. All the players<br />
changed their decision – all except one. Duci Simonovic<br />
took his bags and walked out <strong>of</strong> the Olympic Village. To<br />
this day, he is still angry that nobody walked out with<br />
him or said goodbye to him.<br />
Back home, Simonovic kept playing for Crvena<br />
Zvezda, but he never went back to the national team.<br />
His numbers with the club’s jersey ended up at 110<br />
games (90 wins) and 1,018 points. In 1974, Zvezda<br />
won the Saporta Cup final in Udine against Spartak<br />
Brno 86-75 as Kapicic posted 23 points and Duci added<br />
19. The following season, Crvena Zvezda returned<br />
to the title game <strong>of</strong> the same competition in Nantes,<br />
France, but lost to Spartak St. Petersburg by a single<br />
point 63-62.<br />
In 1977, after 10 years at Crvena Zvezda, Simonovic<br />
moved to Germany to play with Bamberg and to complete<br />
his studies. After that, and for many years, he kind<br />
<strong>of</strong> disappeared. He kept a low pr<strong>of</strong>ile. He reappeared<br />
many years later as a great critic against deceit, irregularities<br />
and everything false in pr<strong>of</strong>essional sports.<br />
It could be argued that Simonovic was the first anti-globalist<br />
in sports. He dedicated himself to fighting<br />
double morals, doping, ruthless commercialization <strong>of</strong><br />
sports and basically everything he considered wrong.<br />
His obsession was the Olympic movement. His book<br />
“The Olympic Deceit <strong>of</strong> The ‘Divine Baron’ – Pierre de<br />
Coubertin” has been translated into several languages.<br />
About Pierre de Coubertin, the founder <strong>of</strong> the modern<br />
Olympics, Simonovic said that he was “a plagiarist<br />
who had a friendly correspondence with Adolf Hitler,”<br />
328<br />
329
two marriages. He lives in Belgrade with his dog and<br />
writes books. He is a left-wing man with high morals,<br />
loyal to his ideas and his rebel character. He stays away<br />
from basketball and from time to time he appears on TV<br />
defending his ideas, regardless <strong>of</strong> the consequences.<br />
Everybody can have his own opinion about the<br />
things that Simonovic stands for, but those who remember<br />
him don’t have a doubt that he was one <strong>of</strong> the<br />
greats on the basketball court.<br />
Ljubodrag Simonovic<br />
while Juan Antonio Samaranch was a “Franco supporter<br />
with a fascist past.” Because <strong>of</strong> his character and<br />
speaking his mind, Simonovic had a lot <strong>of</strong> problems everywhere<br />
he worked. In Norway, he was fired because<br />
he told his students that Sonja Henie, a national hero in<br />
figure skating, “danced the tango with Hitler.” In Yugoslavia,<br />
he was not able to find a job.<br />
In an interview, Simonovic admitted that his dog<br />
“lived better than him because some neighbors threw<br />
some bones to him.” For some years now, he has been<br />
doing a little better because, as a world champion, he<br />
has a national pension. Simonovic has three sons from<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
S
Ramunas<br />
Siskauskas<br />
331
Mr. Three-Pointers<br />
While the 2.20-meter giant Arvydas<br />
Sabonis is the greatest<br />
talent to come from Lithuania,<br />
most <strong>of</strong> the other great players<br />
from the country were point<br />
guards or wing players – all great<br />
shooters. Sarunas Marciulionis, Valdemaras Chomicius,<br />
Sarunas Jasikevicius, Arvydas Macijauskas,<br />
Saulius Stombergas and Arturas Karnisovas are just<br />
a few. Also belonging to that elite group is Ramunas<br />
Siskauskas, who was born on September 10, 1979, in<br />
Kaisiadorys, Lithuania, and was a small forward who<br />
retired in the summer <strong>of</strong> 2012 after 14 years as a pro.<br />
Siskauskas’s basketball resume shows that he<br />
started at the humble Baltija Kais club with very good<br />
numbers during the 1994-95 (16.5 points per game)<br />
and 1995-96 (17.3 ppg.) seasons. From the beginning<br />
<strong>of</strong> his career, his best weapon was his shot. He needed<br />
minimal space to shoot. Though many players shoot<br />
like he did, not many actually put the ball in the net like<br />
he did. He was fast and tall (1.98 meters) and strong for<br />
his position; he jumped well, could run the fast break<br />
and played positions one through four. He was most<br />
efficient on half-court plays with good ball circulation<br />
that were designed to showcase his shooting touch.<br />
The most serious part <strong>of</strong> his career started with his<br />
signing at Sakalai in the summer <strong>of</strong> 1996. Siskauskas<br />
played there for two seasons and was called up to the Lithuanian<br />
team for the FIBA U22 <strong>European</strong> Championship in<br />
1998 in Trapani, Italy. Lithuania didn’t do great things at<br />
that tournament, but it developed some great players.<br />
Kestutis Sestokas, Darius Songaila, Rimantas Kaukenas,<br />
Donatas Slanina, Marius Janulis, Arturas Javtokas and<br />
Siskauskas himself would take Lithuanian basketball to<br />
the top in the following years. In Trapani, Siskauskas was<br />
the fourth-best scorer on his team with 10 points per<br />
game and 4.3 rebounds, but you could already see his<br />
potential. Witnesses still remember his duel against Dirk<br />
Nowitzki in the game between Germany and Lithuania<br />
for seventh place. Germany won 97-95 because Nowitzki<br />
scored 34 points, while Siskauskas had 21.<br />
That same summer, Siskauskas took another<br />
important step in his career, joining Lietuvos Rytas<br />
Vilnius. There, Siskauskas made his debut in <strong>European</strong><br />
competition in the Saporta Cup. In the 1998-99 season,<br />
he averaged 17.5 points and 5.0 rebounds, and in the<br />
following one, he had 14.2 points, 5.8 boards and 2.0<br />
assists per game. If I remember correctly, I saw him for<br />
the first time at the Sydney Olympics in 2000. In the<br />
quarterfinals, Lithuania, who would go on to win the<br />
bronze medal, eliminated Yugoslavia, 76-63. Gintaras<br />
Einikis was the main Lithuanian executioner that day,<br />
with 26 points and 8 rebounds, but Siskauskas contributed<br />
9 points. In the ensuing years, I would follow<br />
this great player with admiration at the EuroBaskets<br />
<strong>of</strong> 2001, 2003, 2005 and 2007, at the 2004 Olympics<br />
in Athens, and, <strong>of</strong> course, in many EuroLeague games,<br />
especially his Final Fours.<br />
Explosion in Stockholm<br />
During the 1990s, Yugoslavia was the black beast<br />
for Lithuania, but at the turn <strong>of</strong> the century, things<br />
changed. After the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Lithuania<br />
again eliminated Yugoslavia in the quarterfinals at the<br />
2003 EuroBasket in Sweden. Yugoslavia said goodbye<br />
to its throne by falling 98-82. It was only a warning <strong>of</strong><br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Ramunas Siskauskas<br />
S
Vladimir Stankovic<br />
what was about to happen. Siskauskas was the best<br />
player, with 27 points and 4 rebounds in 28 minutes<br />
<strong>of</strong> lethal shooting: 6 for 8 on two-pointers, 3 for 6 on<br />
threes and 6 for 7 at the free throw line. In the semis,<br />
Lithuania disposed <strong>of</strong> France and Tony Parker 74-70<br />
and did the same in the title game with Pau Gasol’s<br />
Spain, 93-84. Lithuania had nine scorers that night, led<br />
by Arvydas Macijauskas (21 points) and Eurelijus Zukauskas<br />
(18). Siskauskas finished the tourney with an<br />
average <strong>of</strong> 14.8 points, one less than Macijauskas, but<br />
with almost two more rebounds per game (4.7).<br />
I still remember the great party <strong>of</strong> the Lithuanian<br />
fans, who had traveled en masse to celebrate that first<br />
<strong>European</strong> title for their team since 1939. With players<br />
like Jasikevicius, Macijauskas, Stombergas, Siskauskas,<br />
Songaila, Slanina, Eurelijus and Mindaugas Zukauskas,<br />
Dainius Salenga and Ksist<strong>of</strong> Lavrinovic, Lithuania played<br />
<strong>of</strong>fensively fun-to-watch basketball, with imagination<br />
and great shooters. Macijauskas made 42.3% <strong>of</strong> his<br />
shots from the arc, Stombergas was even better (44.4%),<br />
and Jasikevicius shot 34.2%. It was impossible for opponents<br />
to play defense because some guy in green was<br />
always ready to bury the shot. Unforgettable.<br />
Treviso, Athens, Moscow<br />
In the summer <strong>of</strong> 2004, at nearly 26 years <strong>of</strong> age,<br />
Siskauskas left his country with two league titles (2000,<br />
2002). His first stop was Benetton Treviso, coached by<br />
Ettore Messina, who was looking precisely for a great<br />
shooter like Siskauskas. During two years in Treviso,<br />
Siskauskas didn’t shine, but delivered, with 12 points<br />
per game in the EuroLeague and 41.9% shooting from<br />
downtown. In the Italian League, his numbers were<br />
even better, 14.8 points and 14.0 in his two seasons.<br />
In 2005-06, coached by David Blatt, Benetton won the<br />
Italian League title. Climamio Bologna had won the<br />
regular season, but in the finals, Benetton took homecourt<br />
advantage with a 77-69 road win in Game 1 and<br />
finished the series 3-1. Siskauskas shined in the finals<br />
with 19, 17, 22 and 18 points in four decisive performances.<br />
His overall average in Italy was 14.6 points and<br />
42.7% from beyond the arc.<br />
After two years in Treviso, Zeljko Obradovic set his<br />
eyes on “Siska” and managed to sign him for Panathinaikos.<br />
The results were impressive: a triple crown in<br />
the 2006-07 season, consisting <strong>of</strong> the Greek League,<br />
national cup and the EuroLeague title, the team’s first<br />
in five years. Siskauskas’s numbers with the Greens<br />
dropped to 10.9 points over 20 games, but Obradovic<br />
didn’t need more. Siskauskas’s accuracy from behind<br />
the arc – 33 <strong>of</strong> 70, or 47.1% – was the highest <strong>of</strong> his<br />
career, Also, he played his best when his team needed<br />
him the most, especially in the unforgettable 2007 EuroLeague<br />
championship game against Messina’s CSKA<br />
Moscow, a 93-91 win for Panathinaikos in which Siska<br />
scored 20 points despite missing all 5 <strong>of</strong> his three-pointers!<br />
He more than made up for those by making 4 <strong>of</strong> 4<br />
two-pointers and 12 <strong>of</strong> 17 free throws, plus contributing<br />
4 rebounds and 5 assists in 37 minutes.<br />
That same summer, at the 2007 EuroBasket in Spain,<br />
Lithuania won the bronze medal as Siskauskas tallied<br />
13.8 points, 3.9 rebounds and 2.6 assists. At the end <strong>of</strong><br />
the year, he was named the best Lithuanian sportsman<br />
for 2007. From that summer, I still can remember how<br />
angry Obradovic was when Panathinaikos let Siskauskas<br />
go. As if that wasn’t bad enough, he was joining a<br />
big rival, CSKA.<br />
Moscow would become Siska’s last stop. He stayed<br />
in the Russian capital for five seasons and won another<br />
EuroLeague title in 2008 to go with Russian League tri-<br />
332<br />
333
umphs. In the 2008 semis in Madrid against Tau Ceramica<br />
Vitoria, Siskauskas scored 16 points and then had<br />
13 in the title game against Maccabi. He was chosen<br />
as the EuroLeague’s full-season MVP. In 24 games, his<br />
numbers were the usual: 14 points plus 3.2 rebounds<br />
and 1.4 assists. In the summer <strong>of</strong> 2008, he retired from<br />
the national team after the Beijing Olympics. where he<br />
was worth 11 points and 4 rebounds per game.<br />
Coming from nowhere<br />
In Berlin 2009, Siskauskas played his third straight EuroLeague<br />
championship game, but this time he did not lift<br />
the trophy, even if it was as close as ever. Panathinaikos<br />
led CSKA Moscow by 20 points (48-28), but CSKA rallied<br />
in the second half and had possession to win it all in the<br />
last seconds. The score was 73-71 for Panathinaikos and<br />
CSKA, <strong>of</strong> course, looked for Siska on the last play. This<br />
time, however, the ball did not go in, though just barely. It<br />
was one <strong>of</strong> the few important shots he ever missed.<br />
In the summer <strong>of</strong> 2009, with Messina on the bench at<br />
Real Madrid, it was rumored that Siskauskas would travel<br />
to Spain, but he decided to stay in Moscow. He wasn’t interested<br />
in the NBA either. “I don’t want to go there to see<br />
games from the bench,” was his response to this issue.<br />
Berlin would not be his last Final Four, as he went<br />
to his next one in 2010 in Paris, but fell in the semis to<br />
eventual champion FC Barcelona. Then, in 2012, he was<br />
a part <strong>of</strong> the CSKA Moscow team that fell to the famous<br />
Georgios Printezis shot that gave a title to Olympiacos<br />
in the last second in Istanbul.<br />
Before the 2011-12 season, Siskauskas told Euroleague.net:<br />
“I didn’t go to any sports school when I was a kid. I<br />
was just playing outside with my friends. I can say that<br />
I came from nowhere. Let’s say from outside, from the<br />
field, I came to basketball. And I reached a lot <strong>of</strong> things.<br />
The only thing I wanted was to play the highest level.<br />
And my dream came true.”<br />
After the game in Istanbul, Siskauskas decided to<br />
retire, and he announced it on May 21, 2012. On the<br />
CSKA website he explained:<br />
“It was not a sudden decision. I made my choice in the<br />
middle <strong>of</strong> the season. It was not connected with anything<br />
specific – I just feel I should stop. I can only be excited<br />
about my career. God led me to numerous accomplishments<br />
though I started playing basketball late and I don’t<br />
have any basketball school behind my back. I was happy<br />
to play for several great teams, to win a number <strong>of</strong> titles.<br />
I am glad I was able to quit as a significant player, playing<br />
for such great team and organization as CSKA Moscow.”<br />
Siskauskas played a total <strong>of</strong> 143 EuroLeague games<br />
for three teams and averaged 11.6 points with 41.9%<br />
shooting from beyond the arc.<br />
Messina recalled coaching Siskauskas fondly: “He<br />
is an excellent person, a pr<strong>of</strong>essional with a great work<br />
ethic, and an honest man who always looks you in the<br />
eyes. He was reserved but not closed, with personality<br />
and curiosity to learn.”<br />
Ettore Messina considered him a “silent killer” who<br />
could score in the low post and penetrate. He was never<br />
afraid to take on more responsibility.<br />
Nowadays, Ramunas Siskauskas enjoys fishing<br />
and walking in nature. He returned to basketball as an<br />
assistant coach for the Lithuanian national team last<br />
year. He was a champion in four countries, had some<br />
national cups thrown in, and won a <strong>European</strong> national<br />
championship and some Olympic metals with his national<br />
team. He is a two-time EuroLeague winner, was<br />
chosen as the EuroLeague MVP and was included in the<br />
EuroLeague’s All-Decade Team for 2000 to 2010.<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Ramunas Siskauskas<br />
S
Zoran<br />
Slavnic<br />
335
The first showman<br />
To the long list <strong>of</strong> great players from the<br />
past who never won the top <strong>European</strong><br />
title – among them Kresimir Cosic, Oscar<br />
Schmidt, Dragan Kicanovic, Nikos Galis,<br />
Drazen Dalipagic, Ivo Daneu and Juan Antonio<br />
San Epifanio – I add one more: Zoran<br />
“Moka” Slavnic. Without a doubt, he belongs to that<br />
list <strong>of</strong> stars from the past.<br />
He made up for the lack <strong>of</strong> trophies at the club level<br />
with great triumphs playing for the Yugoslav national<br />
team. Slavnic won eight major honors with the national<br />
team. He was an Olympic champion in Moscow in 1980<br />
and silver medalist in Montreal 1976. He was also a<br />
world champ in 1978 in Manila and runner-up in that<br />
competition in 1974 in San Juan. Slavnic also tasted<br />
EuroBasket glory in 1973 in Barcelona, 1975 in Belgrade<br />
and 1977 in Liege, in addition to a bronze medal in<br />
1979 in Turin. In total, he earned eight medals in major<br />
competitions over 10 years from his debut at the 1973<br />
EuroBasket until his retirement after the 1983 edition<br />
<strong>of</strong> the same tournament.<br />
It might have been more, but Slavnic, who was born<br />
on October 26, 1949, in Belgrade, did not make his debut<br />
with the national team at a major competition until<br />
he was 24 years old! It was Mirko Novosel who gave the<br />
Crvena Zvezda guard a shot after the previous boss,<br />
Ranko Zeravica, overlooked Slavnic. Zeravica considered<br />
Slavnic “an undisciplined player.” What Zeravica<br />
thought was wrong about Moka – who got his nickname<br />
from childhood friends due to his love <strong>of</strong> mocha-flavored<br />
cakes – was what Novosel thought to be his most<br />
brilliant feature: creativity.<br />
Slavnic was not your usual player. His imagination<br />
was above any tactics or orders from a coach. He was,<br />
simply put, the Improv King. He was guided by his gut,<br />
always with the idea that basketball is just a game and<br />
you had to have fun. Sometimes he had too much fun,<br />
but he also gave fans a lot <strong>of</strong> joy. He was willing to do<br />
anything to make people laugh, applaud or admire him.<br />
He even caused hatred from opponents, who were ridiculed<br />
by some <strong>of</strong> his plays; passes between the legs <strong>of</strong><br />
the rival, assists behind the back or some other invention<br />
<strong>of</strong> his. At just 1.81 meters, Slavnic was not able to<br />
dunk, but once on a fastbreak, he tried to do it anyway<br />
– with a teammate who lifted him up! I would say that<br />
Moka Slavnic was the first showman in <strong>European</strong> basketball.<br />
Better late than never<br />
As a junior player, Slavnic showed talent in many<br />
sports, from handball to swimming to athletics and<br />
basketball. His first coach in Crvena Zvezda, Zdravko<br />
Kubat, soon saw the talent in him and paired him on a<br />
team with Dragan Kapicic. Slavnic made his debut with<br />
the Yugoslav junior national team in 1967 at the qualifying<br />
tournament for the 1968 FIBA <strong>European</strong> Championship<br />
for Junior Men in Vigo, Spain, where Yugoslavia<br />
finished second after losing to the USSR in the final,<br />
82-73. Along with Slavnic, there were players like Vinko<br />
Jelovac, Ljubodrag Simonovic, Damir Solman, Dragisa<br />
Vucinic, Mihajlo Manovic and Ivan Sarjanovic. Only two<br />
years later, at the 1970 World Cup in Ljubljana, Slovenia,<br />
several <strong>of</strong> them – Jelovac, Simonovic, Solman and Kapicic<br />
– were world champs at 22 years old, while Slavnic<br />
could only watch the games on TV.<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Zoran Slavnic<br />
S
Vladimir Stankovic<br />
Slavnic made his <strong>of</strong>ficial debut with the Yugoslav<br />
first team in 1970 in some exhibition games, but Zeravica<br />
didn’t trust him and he didn’t play in the 1971 Euro-<br />
Basket or the 1972 Olympics in Munich. With his special<br />
sense <strong>of</strong> humor, Slavnic accepted the situation, saying<br />
<strong>of</strong> Zeravica, “Even the best are also wrong sometimes.”<br />
He added with irony that Zeravica “made my career longer<br />
because I started to damage myself later.”<br />
At the 1973 EuroBasket in Barcelona, where Yugoslavia<br />
won its first medal, Slavnic finished the tournament<br />
with 8.1 points per game. He made the national<br />
team and did not leave it until he retired in 1983 after<br />
EuroBasket in Nantes. His career average was 8.3<br />
points per game, with his highest being 12.5 points at<br />
the 1976 Olympics in Montreal. It was there that Slavnic<br />
scored one <strong>of</strong> the most important baskets <strong>of</strong> his career.<br />
In the game against Italy to decide the second semifinalist,<br />
the Italians were ahead at the break, 57-41. It<br />
looked like a desperate situation, but little by little the<br />
Yugoslavs trimmed the deficit. On the game’s last possession,<br />
with the ball in their hands, the Blues were only<br />
one point down. After good ball circulation, Slavnic was<br />
left open, and from about 7 meters out, he scored at<br />
the buzzer the basket that would take Yugoslavia to the<br />
semis and later to the final.<br />
During those 10 years, Slavnic was the starting<br />
point guard <strong>of</strong> a great Yugoslav team. In the end, he<br />
played 179 games (150 wins, 29 losses) and scored<br />
1,465 points. Scoring was not his thing, but he is still<br />
one <strong>of</strong> the best scorers in the history <strong>of</strong> the national<br />
team. The ball in his hands was like it had been inside<br />
a safe. He turned over very few balls and he had many<br />
more steals. He was good at shooting and especially<br />
had great court vision for unbelievable assists. Usually,<br />
the starting five on the team was Slavnic, Kicanovic,<br />
Dalipagic, Jelovac (or Zeljko Jerkov) and Cosic. Even<br />
though he had the ball in his hands most <strong>of</strong> the time,<br />
Slavnic himself acknowledged that Kreso Cosic was the<br />
leader <strong>of</strong> that team. For Slavnic, and many others, Cosic<br />
was the best Yugoslav player ever.<br />
If Cosic was the basketball leader, Slavnic surely was<br />
the main attraction. He was also willing to joke or find<br />
a way to motivate his teammates. At the 1978 World<br />
Cup in Manila, in a crucial moment during a tough game<br />
against Brazil, the team was in a timeout just before<br />
Mirza Delibasic was to take free throws. Slavnic <strong>of</strong>fered<br />
a bet to Mirza: “I bet you 100 dollars that you do not<br />
score both attempts.”<br />
Delibasic took the bet and calmly scored both free<br />
throws, which was what Moka wanted.<br />
With Crvena Zvezda, Slavnic won two Yugoslav<br />
League titles, in 1962 and 1972. He played twice in<br />
the EuroLeague, but without remarkable results. He<br />
would not be empty-handed at the club level, however.<br />
After losing the 1972 Saporta Cup final in Thessaloniki<br />
against Simmenthal Milano 74-70, despite Slavnic’s 12<br />
points, Crvena Zvezda won the same competition in<br />
1974 in Udine, Italy. The team beat Spartak Brno 86-<br />
75 with 20 points by Slavnic, 19 by Simonovic and 23<br />
by Kapicic. The following year, in the final <strong>of</strong> the same<br />
competition in Nantes, Zvezda lost to Spartak Saint<br />
Petersburg, led by Aleksandar Belov, 63-62. Slavnic<br />
scored 21 points, but Simonovic (5) and Kapicic (3)<br />
were not at their expected level. Slavnic made his debut<br />
in the Crvena Zvezda first team in 1968-69 under coach<br />
Milan Bjegojevic and stayed through 1977, playing 222<br />
games and scoring 2,829 points (12.7 ppg.) for the club.<br />
Champion with Joventut<br />
After the 1977 EuroBasket in Belgium, Slavnic<br />
336<br />
337
moved to Spain and signed with Joventut Badalona.<br />
There, he found competitive teammates – Josep Maria<br />
Margall, Luis Miguel Santillana, Joan Filba and Manuel<br />
Bosch – who just needed a floor general. Slavnic’s pr<strong>of</strong>ile<br />
fit perfectly and the team won the Spanish League in<br />
1977-78. He stayed one more season in Badalona and<br />
after that he joined Sibenka, where he was player-coach<br />
and allowed a 15-year old Drazen Petrovic to play his<br />
first minutes. Despite being known for having said “I<br />
hate Partizan more than I love Crvena Zvezda,” Slavnic<br />
played for Partizan in the 1981-82 season. Slavnic finished<br />
his career with Juventus Caserta in Italy with fair<br />
numbers: 17.2 points, 3.4 rebounds and 3.3 assists in<br />
37 minutes per game.<br />
After a brilliant playing career, Slavnic turned to<br />
coaching, but he was far less successful. He had a good<br />
eye for young talent, however, and encouraged the debut<br />
<strong>of</strong> many young players. He started in Sibenka with<br />
Petrovic and then did the same in Jugoplastika with<br />
players like Toni Kukoc and Dino Radja. The same thing<br />
happened for Partizan, with Sasha Djordjevic and Dragan<br />
Tarlac, as well as for Crvena Zvezda, with Sasa Obradovic.<br />
Slavnic worked in Spain and Germany and for<br />
the 2007 EuroBasket <strong>of</strong> Spain, where he achieved his<br />
dream <strong>of</strong> coaching the Yugoslav national team. However,<br />
Slavnic’s place in history is as a player – a great one.<br />
Zoran Slavnic<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
S
Oscar<br />
Schmidt
339<br />
The Holy Hand<br />
FIBA used to run a competition, the Intercontinental<br />
Cup, that existed between 1966 and<br />
1982 and made a brief revival recently. South<br />
American champion Sirio de Sao Paulo, Brazil<br />
faced EuroLeague winner Bosna Sarajevo<br />
in the 1979 title game. Sirio won 100-96 in<br />
overtime at home in Sao Paulo, which led to a big oncourt<br />
celebration, Brazilian style. Oscar Schmidt was<br />
20 years old back then and finished the game with<br />
42 points, shocking head coach Bogdan Tanjevic <strong>of</strong><br />
Bosna with his extraordinary talent. Decades later,<br />
Tanjevic told me a fact from that game.<br />
“Never before or since in my entire life did I see<br />
a player who played a great game even though he<br />
couldn’t stop ... crying,” Tanjevic said. “Bosna, my<br />
team, led for almost 35 minutes and Oscar was crying<br />
for real because he thought that the world champion<br />
title was slipping away from him in front <strong>of</strong> his fans.<br />
He forced overtime and single-handedly beat us in<br />
the extra period. That is when I decided that if I ever<br />
coached a team outside Yugoslavia, he would be one<br />
<strong>of</strong> my foreign players – Oscar Schmidt. His talent was<br />
beyond all doubt and those tears <strong>of</strong> his proved his<br />
winning mentality.”<br />
Tanjevic moved to Indesit Caserta in 1982 and kept<br />
his own promise by signing Oscar Schmidt along with<br />
a Serbian point guard, veteran Zoran “Moka” Slavnic.<br />
Tanjevic was known throughout his career for having<br />
the courage to give playing time to very young players<br />
like Mirza Delibasic, Ratko Radovanovic, Nando Gentile,<br />
Dejan Bodiroga and Gregor Fucka. Now, he had brought<br />
an outstanding young player to Caserta. Schmidt would<br />
become a fan idol for eight years, a relentless scorer,<br />
a truly one-<strong>of</strong>-a-kind player who, with all respect to<br />
Caserta, deserved to play on a <strong>European</strong> superpower.<br />
Tanjevic has an explanation for Schmidt’s loyalty: “Oscar<br />
is a very honest man. He was thankful to me, the<br />
club and to an entire city that welcomed him with open<br />
arms. He had <strong>of</strong>fers to go to other clubs but stayed<br />
there for eight years.”<br />
Mano Santa<br />
Oscar Daniel Bezerra Schmidt was born on February<br />
16, 1958, into a family with German origins in Natal,<br />
capital <strong>of</strong> the state <strong>of</strong> Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil.<br />
He started playing for Palmeiras at age 16. He went<br />
to his first major international competition, the 1978<br />
World Cup in Manila, the Philippines, still as a Palmeiras<br />
player. Brazil finished third and young Oscar was the<br />
second-best scorer on the team with 159 points (17.7<br />
per game), right behind Marcel de Souza, who had 189<br />
points (18.9 ppg.). Schmidt signed for Sirio right after<br />
the World Cup and, as mentioned, won the Intercontinental<br />
Cup in 1979. I saw him live for the first time at<br />
the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow. It was the first <strong>of</strong><br />
his five Olympics appearances. I also followed him at<br />
Los Angeles 1984, Barcelona 1992, Atlanta 1996 and<br />
at the 1990 World Cup in Argentina. Tanjevic places<br />
Oscar among the “best three <strong>of</strong>fensive players <strong>of</strong> all<br />
time,” and I fully agree with him. Oscar Schmidt’s nickname<br />
was Mano Santa - Holy Hand - and it was more<br />
than justified: he shot and scored with fascinating ease.<br />
The Brazilian press nicknamed him “basketball’s Pele”.<br />
He surely was not the most all-around player, but if we<br />
speak about shooting, I really don’t know whom I would<br />
rank over him.<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Oscar Schmidt<br />
S
Vladimir Stankovic<br />
“I practiced all my life to become the best basketball<br />
player ever, and didn’t make it, but I am really proud<br />
<strong>of</strong> what I did,” Oscar said on May 26, 2003, the day he<br />
retired at age 45 after playing for 32 years. He couldn’t<br />
hide the tears that day, which were so different from<br />
those in 1979, at the start <strong>of</strong> his brilliant career. He<br />
left some impressive milestones behind. He was 297<br />
points short <strong>of</strong> getting 50,000 for his career, but still<br />
owns the mark for the most points by any player in basketball<br />
history. Some years before that, he had beaten<br />
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s scoring record – 46,272 points<br />
– established in 1989.<br />
Even though Schmidt played until age 45, his golden<br />
years were those in Caserta, a humble club in southern<br />
Italy that Oscar led to an Italian Cup title in 1988. He<br />
also played the Italian League finals in 1986 and 1987,<br />
as well as reaching the Saporta Cup title game in 1989,<br />
in an unforgettable showdown against Real Madrid in<br />
Athens. The game was one <strong>of</strong> the biggest duels ever<br />
between two great scorers. Madrid beat Caserta 117-<br />
113 in overtime behind 62 points from Drazen Petrovic,<br />
who played all 45 minutes. Oscar “rested” a little bit<br />
and had 44 points in as many minutes. Drazen made<br />
8 <strong>of</strong> 16 three-pointers while Oscar drained 6 <strong>of</strong> 11 from<br />
downtown. Three years before that, in 1986, Caserta<br />
lost the Korac Cup final against Banco Di Roma despite<br />
33 points by Oscar in the first leg and 20 in the decisive<br />
game.<br />
The man who beat the United States<br />
One <strong>of</strong> Oscar’s best games came against the United<br />
States, in the 1987 Pan American Games in Indianapolis,<br />
where Brazil downed the hosts 120-115. Oscar<br />
finished the game with 47 points! The victory was<br />
history-making in two ways: it was the first defeat for a<br />
U.S. team on its own soil and the first in which the U.S.<br />
allowed more than 100 points.<br />
His size (2.05 meters), weight (106 kilograms) and<br />
big feet (size 48) made him a strong forward and a<br />
good rebounder, but Oscar’s best basketball weapon<br />
was shooting. He was able to score from any position<br />
and at any distance, with his opponents’ hands in front<br />
<strong>of</strong> him, despite being fouled, wide open, mid-range or<br />
long-range. He started to play when the three-point line<br />
was not yet implemented in world basketball but had<br />
the luck to benefit from it starting in 1984. It was the<br />
perfect rule for a shooter like him. Once he left Caserta,<br />
Oscar played in Pavia, Italy for three years. He scored<br />
340<br />
341
1,760 points in 40 games in the 1990-91 season, an<br />
incredible 44-point average! Throughout the most important<br />
part <strong>of</strong> his career in Italy, he played 403 games<br />
in 11 seasons, scoring 13,957 points (34.6 ppg.). At age<br />
39, Oscar moved to Spain and signed for Valladolid,<br />
where he scored 2,009 points in two years (28.3 ppg.)<br />
and finished as the Spanish League’s top scorer both<br />
seasons. He fired in 11 <strong>of</strong> 19 three-pointers in one<br />
game against Murcia.<br />
Speaking <strong>of</strong> three-pointers, Schmidt once made 22<br />
<strong>of</strong> 25 shots from downtown in the three-point contest<br />
at the Italian League all-star game. In a public exhibition,<br />
Oscar once made 196 consecutive free throws and 86<br />
straight three-pointers. Once he finished playing in<br />
Spain, Oscar went back to Brazil and played for Corinthians<br />
(1995-97), Banco Bandeirantes Brasil (1997-98),<br />
Gremio (1998-99) and Flamengo (1999 to 2003). He<br />
played his last game with Flamengo on May 26, 2003,<br />
as the club retired his jersey, number 14.<br />
Oscar’s list <strong>of</strong> records is very long and some <strong>of</strong><br />
them seem impossible to reach. He holds the all-time<br />
Olympic records for points, rebounds, minutes played,<br />
two-pointers, three-pointers and free throws made.<br />
Oscar had 55 points against Spain at the 1988 Olympic<br />
Games in Seoul, an Olympic record. He played 35 World<br />
Cup games, scoring 916 points, another record. Oscar<br />
had 7,693 points total in 326 games with Brazil. He had<br />
several chances to go to the NBA but refused them.<br />
New Jersey called him three consecutive years, from<br />
1984 to 1986, but Schmidt always rejected them because<br />
back in those days, going to the NBA meant not<br />
playing with his national team again – and this was the<br />
last thing Oscar would do. Oscar successfully survived<br />
brain surgery in 2001.<br />
If it were up to me, I would name the top scoring<br />
award <strong>of</strong> any competition “The Oscar Trophy”. I would<br />
do that for Mano Santa, Oscar Schmidt and the double<br />
meaning <strong>of</strong> his nickname.<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Oscar Schmidt<br />
S
Matjaz<br />
Smodis<br />
343
The humble champ<br />
Imagine this team for just a moment: Marko Jaric,<br />
Gordan Giricek, Rimantas Kaukenas, Igor Rakocevic,<br />
Ramunas Siskauskas, Dirk Nowitzki, Jorge<br />
Garbajosa, Matjaz Smodis, Hedo Turkoglu, Mehmet<br />
Okur, Jaka Lakovic, Darius Songaila. Twelve<br />
<strong>European</strong>s in the NBA? Not exactly. Some <strong>of</strong> them<br />
never got to play there. A <strong>European</strong> all-star team, you<br />
might ask? Could have been, but it wasn’t. A list <strong>of</strong><br />
great talents during the turn <strong>of</strong> the century? That’s<br />
also a possible reading, but no. That was the excellent<br />
generation <strong>of</strong> the <strong>European</strong> Championship for Men 22<br />
and Under, played in 1998 in Trapani, Italy. All <strong>of</strong> these<br />
excellent players, future stars, played for their national<br />
teams in the tournament. There are even more<br />
names, too: Dimos Dikoudis, Primoz Brezec, Kestutis<br />
Sestokas, Marko Pesic, Jovo Stanojevic and Kerem<br />
Tunceri. I cannot recall such a concentration <strong>of</strong> talent<br />
in one single competition, many <strong>of</strong> them true future<br />
stars.<br />
In the final, played on July 23, 1998, Yugoslavia defeated<br />
Slovenia 92-73 with Igor Rakocevic as the star,<br />
scoring 37 points. On the other side, Primoz Brezec<br />
scored 21 points and pulled down 10 boards, but if we<br />
look closely at the scoresheet, we can notice that Slovenia<br />
really played with 11 players. There was one missing,<br />
and not just any player: Matjaz Smodis, who was<br />
born in Trbovlje, Slovenia on December 13, 1979. In the<br />
accumulated stats <strong>of</strong> that tournament, he appears as<br />
the leader <strong>of</strong> his team – 17.7 points and 8.7 rebounds –<br />
but he played just three games. An injury kept him from<br />
playing more, but three games were more than enough<br />
for most scouts to notice his talent and potential. He<br />
would shortly move to Italy to start his career as a true<br />
pro, but before that he would play two more seasons<br />
with his club <strong>of</strong> origin, Krka (the name <strong>of</strong> the river that<br />
crosses the city) Novo Mesto, located some 70 kilometers<br />
away from Ljubljana.<br />
From Novo Mesto to Bologna<br />
In the 1998-99 season, FC Barcelona played the<br />
Korac Cup, and in the eighth-finals round, the eventual<br />
champion <strong>of</strong> that competition traveled to Novo Mesto<br />
knowing almost nothing about its opponent. Barca<br />
won 75-66 on December 9, 1988, but it met a tough<br />
rival with a young forward named Matjaz Smodis.<br />
Three days before his 19th birthday, Smodis had 24<br />
points and 14 rebounds in 38 minutes, shooting 62.5%<br />
on two-pointers and 60% on threes. His talent was<br />
obvious, and Barcelona put Smodis’s name on its list<br />
<strong>of</strong> future signings. But Ettore Messina, coach <strong>of</strong> Kinder<br />
Bologna, was quicker. In the summer <strong>of</strong> 2000, after winning<br />
the Slovenian League with Krka, Messina took the<br />
chance and signed Smodis, who was 20 years old.<br />
Much later, Messina sent me his memories <strong>of</strong> the<br />
young Smodis:<br />
“Matjaz landed in Bologna at a very young age. He<br />
still had a lot <strong>of</strong> work ahead <strong>of</strong> him to get to success, but<br />
he also had a lot <strong>of</strong> predisposition. What first caught<br />
our attention was his balance, despite his weight, and<br />
his ability to play with physical contact, plus his basketball<br />
IQ. Then, day after day, he learned from the fire he<br />
had in his heart and which, later, would turn him into a<br />
true leader, by word and example, in all the teams he<br />
played.”<br />
During his first season in Italy, Smodis played all<br />
38 games, averaging 19 minutes, 8.6 points and 3.9<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Matjaz Smodis<br />
S
Vladimir Stankovic<br />
rebounds with excellent numbers from the arc: 46 <strong>of</strong><br />
98 for a 47% accuracy rate. Not bad for a 21-year-old<br />
forward standing 2.05 meters.<br />
Three-time Euroleague champ<br />
In Italy, in February <strong>of</strong> 2001, Smodis won his first<br />
title: the Italian Cup. In the first edition <strong>of</strong> the modern<br />
EuroLeague, he played 21 games with a little over 15<br />
minutes on the court, averaging 7.5 points and 2.2 rebounds.<br />
His personal high was 23 points against Spirou<br />
Charleroi. However, playing alongside Manu Ginobili,<br />
Alessandro Abbio, David Andersen, Antoine Rigaudeau,<br />
Alessandro Frosini and Marko Jaric, Smodis’ role was<br />
to learn, evolve and help as much as he could. In the EuroLeague’s<br />
five-game final series against Tau Ceramica,<br />
Smodis totaled 36 points and won his first EuroLeague<br />
title.<br />
Right after that, Kinder also won the Italian League<br />
for the triple crown, so Smodis’ first year in Italy could<br />
not have been better. During the next two seasons, he<br />
just managed to win one more Italian Cup title, in 2002,<br />
the same year that he and Kinder were runners-up<br />
for the EuroLeague title. But then Kinder had financial<br />
problems and, in the summer <strong>of</strong> 2003, Smodis joined<br />
Fortitudo, the eternal cross-town rival. His decision was<br />
not welcomed by the fans <strong>of</strong> either side, but thanks to<br />
his pr<strong>of</strong>essionalism, he won the hearts <strong>of</strong> the Fortitudo<br />
fans soon enough. He took his new team to the EuroLeague<br />
Final Four in Tel Aviv, but Maccabi was way superior<br />
and won 118-74. On top <strong>of</strong> that, Smodis played one<br />
<strong>of</strong> the worst important games in his career: 2 points<br />
and 0 rebounds in 14 minutes.<br />
After five years and 167 games in Italy, averaging<br />
10.1 points and 4.7 rebounds, Smodis decided to<br />
change countries and climate. He moved to Russia,<br />
signed by CSKA Moscow, by express petition from<br />
Coach Messina, who explained:<br />
“When I signed for CSKA in the summer <strong>of</strong> 2005,<br />
I asked my president, Sergey Kushchenko, for three<br />
players to try to win the EuroLeague: Trajan Langdon,<br />
David Vanterpool and Matjaz. It was not easy, because<br />
there was another big club that wanted to sign him, but<br />
we made it. If Matjaz had not been with us during those<br />
wonderful years, CSKA would not have won two Euro-<br />
League titles after 35 years.”<br />
For his part, in an interview published on April 15,<br />
2009, Smodis said about Messina:<br />
“He’s a great teacher, a great coach, and surely<br />
someone who has helped me, and not just on the court,<br />
but also growing up as a person. As I grow on the court,<br />
I also grow <strong>of</strong>f the court. Basically, it has been a learning<br />
experience with him, and for sure he’s a big part <strong>of</strong> my<br />
life. I am very grateful to be able to work with him.”<br />
Smodis was always one <strong>of</strong> those players who rarely<br />
disappointed or failed to meet expectations. He had<br />
the character <strong>of</strong> a warrior, but you need more than your<br />
character to score points and grab rebounds. He also<br />
had the talent and physical strength. He could play<br />
close to the rim or away from it. During many seasons,<br />
his percentage from beyond the arc was above 40%.<br />
He was a versatile player, a fighter, a leader like Messina<br />
says. At the end <strong>of</strong> his first season with CSKA, he added<br />
another triple crown: the Russian League, the Russian<br />
Cup and, 35 years after CSKA had last won it, the Euro-<br />
League crown, the second for Smodis.<br />
In the 2006 Final Four in Prague, CSKA defeated FC<br />
Barcelona in the semis, 85-74, with 17 points and 12<br />
rebounds from Smodis, who performed well over his<br />
season averages <strong>of</strong> 12 points and 5.5 boards. In the title<br />
game against Maccabi, won by the score <strong>of</strong> 73-69, he<br />
344<br />
345
played at his usual level, with 12 points and 8 rebounds<br />
in 35 minutes. The following season, CSKA would play<br />
the final once again against Panathinaikos in Athens.<br />
In an unforgettable game, Panathinaikos won by just<br />
2 points, 93-91, despite another great Smodis performance:<br />
18 points and 3 rebounds.<br />
The following season, during the celebration <strong>of</strong> the<br />
50th Anniversary <strong>of</strong> <strong>European</strong> competition in Madrid,<br />
Smodis would lift his third EuroLeague title. The victim<br />
was, once more, Maccabi (91-77) as Smodis had 13<br />
points and 5 rebounds in the final. Before the start <strong>of</strong><br />
the 2008-09 season, Smodis was named the captain <strong>of</strong><br />
the CSKA team, becoming the first non-Russian player<br />
ever to be given that honor. He played the EuroLeague<br />
title game again in Berlin in 2009, but Panathinaikos<br />
won again by two points, 73-71. His last Final Four would<br />
be in 2010 in Paris, where FC Barcelona, the eventual<br />
champ, was better in the semis, 65-54. Although his<br />
numbers say Smodis had a bad game – 0 points and 3<br />
rebounds – he had just returned from a serious back injury<br />
and operation. The only two games he played that<br />
EuroLeague season were at the Final Four.<br />
A triumphant return to home<br />
After six wonderful years in CSKA, two EuroLeague,<br />
six Russian Leagues and two Russian Cup titles, in the<br />
summer <strong>of</strong> 2011, Smodis joined Cedevita Zagreb at 33<br />
years old. It was very much a homecoming because<br />
Novo Mesto is only 60 kilometers away. After 10 years<br />
in the EuroLeague, he played a solid season in the Euro-<br />
Cup with 8.2 points and 3.8 rebounds. At the end <strong>of</strong> the<br />
season, he went back home, to Novo Mesto. He didn’t<br />
play at the start <strong>of</strong> the season, but he would join the<br />
team in the second half <strong>of</strong> the season and helped Krka<br />
win the Slovenian League title. And how. They swept<br />
the series, 3-0, against archrival Union Olimpija Ljubljana.<br />
The third and last game was played in Ljubljana and<br />
Krka won 71-61 with 21 points by Smodis, including<br />
3 three-pointers, earning him the Final MVP honor.<br />
He ended his career in 2013 as he had started it up in<br />
2000, winning the title.<br />
On the court, he was a fighter and a winner. Off the<br />
court, he was a kind person, humble and easy going.<br />
In the aforementioned interview, he was asked if at the<br />
beginning <strong>of</strong> his career he would have imagined that he<br />
could make it that far. Honestly, he replied:<br />
“I wouldn’t have imagined it at all. At that point, I<br />
was just leaving to find security for my family, trying to<br />
do my best and earn money for them. It wasn’t about<br />
winning or doing something special. It was just about<br />
putting myself in a position to do well for my family.”<br />
Once retired, Smodis opened a basketball school.<br />
The fortunate kids who attend his school are learning<br />
from one <strong>of</strong> the best, the humble champion, Matjaz<br />
Smodis.<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Matjaz Smodis<br />
S
Nacho<br />
Solozabal<br />
347
The brains <strong>of</strong><br />
FC Barcelona<br />
From today’s perspective, it seems impossible<br />
that a great player can spend all his<br />
career at the same club. It was not so usual<br />
many years ago, either, but there were cases<br />
<strong>of</strong> eternal loyalty. One that stands out was<br />
Ignacio “Nacho” Solozabal, who was born<br />
in Barcelona on August 1, 1958, and would spend his<br />
entire career, from 1975 to 1992, with FC Barcelona.<br />
He was a natural playmaker, a left-hander and a great<br />
organizer, but he was also a great shooter who came<br />
to the rescue when his team needed his points more<br />
than his assists.<br />
Solazabal was part <strong>of</strong> a gifted generation <strong>of</strong> players<br />
on a Barça team with Juan Antonio “Epi” San Epifanio,<br />
Audie Norris, Andres Jimenez, Chicho Sibilio and Juan<br />
De la Cruz. In the 1980s, they formed a great core that<br />
only fell short <strong>of</strong> one thing: a crown in Europe’s top<br />
competition. They played three EuroLeague finals and<br />
lost them all. There was some consolation in winning<br />
two Saporta Cup titles, one Korac Cup title and one<br />
Intercontinental Cup title, but Solozabal’s biggest satisfaction<br />
came with the Spanish national team, with<br />
whom he won two silver medals: the first at the 1983<br />
EuroBasket in Nantes and one year later at the 1984<br />
Olympics in Los Angeles.<br />
A great reserve<br />
At 17 years old, Nacho Solozabal was already<br />
a player who stood out in the junior categories <strong>of</strong><br />
Barcelona. Antoni Serra, the Spanish head coach for<br />
cadets, called him to play in the third FIBA <strong>European</strong><br />
Championship for Cadets. It was held in 1975 in Thessaloniki<br />
and Athens. Together with him were Epi, Juan<br />
Manuel Lopez Iturriaga and Jordi Ribas, the father <strong>of</strong><br />
Pau Ribas, a future Barcelona player. On other teams<br />
<strong>of</strong> that tournament, there were future superstars like<br />
Panagiotis Giannakis <strong>of</strong> Greece, Aleksandar Belostenny<br />
<strong>of</strong> the Soviet Union or Peter Vilfan and Aleksandar<br />
Petrovic <strong>of</strong> Yugoslavia. Spain finished fifth, but Solozabal,<br />
with an average <strong>of</strong> 11.3 points, was among the<br />
best players.<br />
One year later, at the 1976 FIBA <strong>European</strong> Championship<br />
for Junior Men, played in Santiago de Compostela,<br />
Spain, coach Ignacio Pinedo added some new players<br />
to his team, like Fernando Romay and Jose Antonio<br />
Querejeta. Spain took the bronze medal, its second<br />
straight prize after the silver medal the previous year<br />
in Orleans, France in the same competition. Epi and<br />
Solozabal, teammates at Barcelona, were promoted<br />
together to the club’s first team and would become<br />
synonymous with the Catalan club for the following 15<br />
years.<br />
They formed a perfect duo: a thinking playmaker<br />
with great game vision and a forward who could score<br />
from any situation. They were a lethal combination.<br />
Solozabal, one year older, retired first in 1992. His<br />
Spanish League numbers say that he played 349 games<br />
totaling 10,503 minutes on the floor. He scored 3,608<br />
points (averaging 10.3, with a personal high <strong>of</strong> 29) on<br />
59% two-point, 39% three-point and 80% free throw<br />
shooting, plus 2 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game.<br />
In his brilliant career, Solozabal also won six Spanish<br />
League titles (the first in 1981, the last in 1990), nine<br />
Spanish King’s Cups (the first in 1978, the last in 1991),<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Nacho Solozabal<br />
S
Vladimir Stankovic<br />
two Saporta Cups, one Korac Cup and one Intercontinental<br />
Cup. What we cannot see in the numbers was<br />
his role on the court, that <strong>of</strong> a natural leader who gave<br />
confidence to his teammates, his coaches and the fans,<br />
who regarded him as a true idol.<br />
A historic three-pointer<br />
Not long ago the Spanish media celebrated the<br />
25th anniversary <strong>of</strong> a historic three-point shot made<br />
by Solozabal. It happened on December 22, 1987, in<br />
Valladolid during the Spanish King’s Cup final. Barcelona’s<br />
eternal archrival, Real Madrid, was winning by<br />
two points, 83-81, with just a few seconds left, but<br />
Barça had the ball. Real Madrid committed two fouls<br />
but Barça coach Aito Garcia Reneses, making use <strong>of</strong><br />
the rule at that time that allowed him to choose between<br />
free throws or inbounding the ball from the<br />
sideline, chose the latter. In the last timeout, Aito<br />
crafted a play for Sibilio to take the last three. However,<br />
great defense on that great shooter change the<br />
plan: the ball reached the hands <strong>of</strong> Solozabal, who<br />
was on the right side, looking at the rim. Jose Luis<br />
Llorente, Madrid’s guard, got there late and Nacho<br />
threw up a bomb that hit nothing but net on the buzzer<br />
making it 84-83 for Barcelona. Epi and Norris were<br />
the first to hug the new Barcelona hero. Epi finished<br />
the game with 18 points, Solozabal 17 (including 2 <strong>of</strong><br />
4 triples), Audie Norris 11 and Andres Jimenez 10. On<br />
Madrid’s side, Wendell Alexis had 22 points, Chechu<br />
Biriukov 20 and Fernando Martin 19. It was a great<br />
final and one <strong>of</strong> the most exciting in the history <strong>of</strong><br />
the competition. Solozabal did other great things in<br />
his career, but that three-pointer marked his career<br />
forever.<br />
Solozabal made his debut with the Spanish national<br />
team on April 22, 1980, against the USSR in<br />
Girona, Spain, in a 90-89 defeat. That same year, in<br />
Moscow, he took part in the first <strong>of</strong> the three Olympics<br />
he played in. His biggest success happened in 1984 in<br />
Los Angeles, where Spain defeated Yugoslavia in the<br />
semifinal and lost the gold medal game against a great<br />
USA Team led by Michael Jordan, Patrick Ewing and<br />
Chris Mullin, among others who would go on to great<br />
NBA careers.<br />
Seven finals, four titles<br />
If there were sour memories for Nacho Solozabal,<br />
there’s no doubt that those are the three finals lost<br />
in the EuroLeague, a cursed title for that generation<br />
<strong>of</strong> Barcelona players. The team made the final for the<br />
first time in 1984 but lost to Banco di Roma in Geneva,<br />
79-73. Solozabal scored 6 points and dished 2 assists.<br />
Six years later, almost at home in Zaragoza, Barça was<br />
bested by Jugoplastika Split, coached by Boza Maljkovic.<br />
With a roster full <strong>of</strong> talent like Toni Kukoc, Dino Radja,<br />
Dusko Ivanovic, Zoran Savic, Velimir Perasovic, Zoran<br />
Sretenovic and Luka Pavicevic, Split won by the score <strong>of</strong><br />
72-67. Solozabal scored 5 points. His last chance came<br />
in 1991 in Paris, but Jugoplastika defeated Barcelona<br />
once again 70-65.<br />
However, Barcelona won the other three finals it<br />
played in the other two <strong>European</strong> competitions. On<br />
March 19, 1985, Barcelona defeated Zalgiris and Arvydas<br />
Sabonis in Grenoble, France 77-73 to claim the<br />
Saporta Cup. Solozabal scored 11 points, grabbed 3<br />
boards and dished 3 assists. That same year, in the<br />
Intercontinental Cup, played in Barcelona, the team<br />
defeated Brazil’s Monte Libano 93-89 as Epi hit 39<br />
points. Solozabal contributed 6 points and 1 assist.<br />
The following year, in Caserta, Italy, Barcelona defend-<br />
348<br />
349
a player loved by the fans, respected by the rivals and<br />
very appreciated by the press because <strong>of</strong> his game<br />
and his behavior on court. After his retirement, he has<br />
remained linked to basketball, but in a different way.<br />
He has his own basketball school and is still a public<br />
figure as the color commentator <strong>of</strong> basketball games<br />
on TV as well as a newspaper columnist. <strong>Basketball</strong> in<br />
Catalonia would be less understood without Nacho<br />
Solozabal.<br />
Nacho Solozabal<br />
ed its Saporta Cup title successfully against Scavolini<br />
Pesaro, <strong>101</strong>-86, with 10 points by Solozabal. The third<br />
straight title came in 1987 in the Korac Cup final against<br />
a strong Limoges with Richard Dacoury, Clarence Kea,<br />
Stephane Ostrowski, Jacques Monclar and Gregor Beugnot.<br />
Barcelona won at home 106-85 with 8 points and<br />
5 assists by Solozabal, then won in France 97-86 with<br />
Nacho’s 3 points and 1 assists.<br />
FC Barcelona retired Nacho Solozabal’s jersey<br />
number 7 in 2006 in a very emotional tribute. He was<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
S
Saulius<br />
Stombergas<br />
351
The man who made<br />
9 <strong>of</strong> 9 triples<br />
What do Arvydas Macijauskas,<br />
Saulius Stombergas, Tomas Delininkaitis,<br />
Arturas Karnisovas<br />
and Eurelijus Zukauskas all have<br />
in common? Sounds like an easy<br />
question, right? Any mediocre<br />
basketball connoisseur would say that they are all<br />
Lithuanian. That is correct, but they have one more<br />
thing in common: all <strong>of</strong> them were born in the town <strong>of</strong><br />
Klaipeda, Lithuania’s most important port.<br />
When we talk about Lithuanian basketball, Kaunas<br />
and Vilnius are first in line, but Klaipeda, a town <strong>of</strong><br />
180,000 inhabitants on the coast <strong>of</strong> the Baltic Sea, is<br />
also very important for basketball in that country. Saulius<br />
Stombergas, one <strong>of</strong> those five great players from<br />
Klaipeda, was born on December 14, 1973, but he spent<br />
most <strong>of</strong> his career away from his hometown. As a great<br />
young talent, he landed early in Kaunas to sign with Zalgiris<br />
during the 1992-93 season. However, even though<br />
he stayed in Kaunas, he spent the first three seasons<br />
there playing with Atletas. By 1995, he had made his<br />
debut with the national team at the EuroBasket in Athens.<br />
He was part <strong>of</strong> a great team with some <strong>of</strong> his idols:<br />
Arvydas Sabonis, Sarunas Marculionis, Rimas Kurtinaitis,<br />
Valdemaras Chomicius and Karnisovas. Stombergas<br />
made a symbolic contribution, 2.9 points per game,<br />
but he came back with the first important medal <strong>of</strong> his<br />
career, a silver one after losing the final to Yugoslavia,<br />
96-90. In 14 minutes in the final, he scored 2 points on<br />
free throws, but he pulled down 6 rebounds, 4 <strong>of</strong> them<br />
on <strong>of</strong>fense. A year later, at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta,<br />
he won the bronze medal.<br />
After three years at Atletas, Stombergas made what<br />
was then a bold career move to play for Vostok Shanghai<br />
in China, becoming an immediate sensation in the<br />
national league there, and enough to impress a young<br />
local player named Yao Ming for a long time afterward.<br />
“The year before I started my career, actually, we had<br />
a Lithuanian player, Saulius Stombergas, in the CBA,”<br />
Yao told Euroleague.net in an interview back in 2007. “I<br />
think that until now he remains one <strong>of</strong> the best players<br />
to come from Europe or even America to play in China –<br />
the best one, really, in CBA history.”<br />
From China, Stombergas returned to Europe to<br />
play at the 1997 EuroBasket, where Lithuania fell in the<br />
quarterfinals, again against Yugoslavia (75-60). But by<br />
then Stombergas was already a key player, averaging<br />
10.8 points, behind Karnisovas (14.2) and Sabonis<br />
(13.3). Having risen to star status and become known<br />
as a three-pointer specialist, he returned to Zalgiris in<br />
1997.<br />
Two Euro trophies in two years<br />
Going back to Zalgiris would be the best decision <strong>of</strong><br />
his career. On April 14, 1998, Stombergas won his first<br />
trophy at the club level. In the title game <strong>of</strong> the Saporta<br />
Cup, played at the legendary Pionir Arena in Belgrade,<br />
Zalgiris defeated Olimpia Milano 82-67. The MVP <strong>of</strong> the<br />
game, you ask? Well, after he scored 35 points, it was<br />
only fair that the award was given to Stombergas. It was<br />
his night. He made 7 <strong>of</strong> 8 two-pointers, 1 <strong>of</strong> 2 threes<br />
and 18 <strong>of</strong> 23 free throws. He also had 2 rebounds and<br />
5 assists. A star was born. By the end <strong>of</strong> the season,<br />
Zalgiris won the Lithuanian league and began preparing<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Saulius Stombergas<br />
S
Vladimir Stankovic<br />
with ambition for the EuroLeague the following campaign.<br />
In the group phase, Zalgiris won with authority,<br />
compiling an 8-2 record to rule the group above Fenerbahce,<br />
Pau-Orthez, Tau Ceramica, Varese and Avtodor.<br />
In the eighth-finals and quarterfinals, Zalgiris defeated<br />
Turkish teams Ulker and Efes Pilsen, respectively. Then<br />
it was time for the Final Four in Munich, Germany, with<br />
the other three teams being Olympiacos, Kinder Bologna<br />
and Fortitudo Bologna. Each bench featured a basketball<br />
master: Dusan Ivkovic for Olympiacos, Ettore<br />
Messina for Kinder, Petar Skansi for Fortitudo and Jonas<br />
Kazlauskas for Zalgiris, although the latter was not yet<br />
so well-known at the time. The rosters <strong>of</strong> the four teams<br />
were full <strong>of</strong> stars, <strong>of</strong> course. The defending champion,<br />
Kinder, had the likes <strong>of</strong> Predrag Danilovic, Alessandro<br />
Abbio, Radoslav Nesterovic, Hugo Sconochini, Augusto<br />
Binelli and Antoine Rigaudeau. Olympiacos had Arijan<br />
Komazec, Anthony Goldwire, Panagiotis Fasoulas, Milan<br />
Tomic, Johnny Rogers, Fabricio Oberto and Dragan<br />
Tarlac. For Fortitudo, Marko Jaric, Gregor Fucka, Vinny<br />
Del Negro, Carlton Myers, Dan Gay and Roberto Chiacig.<br />
And Zalgiris had Tyus Edney, Eurelijus Zukauskas,<br />
Kestutis Sestokas, Dainius Adomaitis, Anthony Bowie,<br />
George Zidek and, <strong>of</strong> course, Saulius Stombergas. A<br />
stellar Final Four if you ask me.<br />
In the semifinal, played on April 20, Zalgiris eliminated<br />
Olympiacos 81-71 after great collective play, with 10<br />
players scoring. Kinder was waiting in the title game,<br />
but Zalgiris also defeated the defending champs by the<br />
score <strong>of</strong> 82-74 after leading 45-30 at the break. Anthony<br />
Bowie was the top scorer with 17 points, followed<br />
by Tyus Edney (13), Stombergas and Zidek (12 apiece).<br />
For the Italian team, the 27 points <strong>of</strong> Antoine Rigaudeau<br />
were useless because the rest <strong>of</strong> his teammates, especially<br />
Danilovic (7 points with 1 <strong>of</strong> 5 triples), didn’t have<br />
a good day. So, 13 years after the Sabonis generation<br />
lost the final against Cibona in Budapest, Zalgiris won<br />
the first EuroLeague crown for Lithuania.<br />
Unbelievable night in Athens<br />
For Stombergas, the triumph in Munich was the culmination<br />
<strong>of</strong> that stint with Zalgiris. The time had come to<br />
leave the country. His first stop would be Bologna, with<br />
Kinder. It was a blank season for him, losing the final <strong>of</strong><br />
the Italian Cup, but he found some consolation at the<br />
2000 Olympics in Sydney. Lithuania lost by just 85-83 in<br />
the semifinals against a powerful USA team with Jason<br />
Kidd, Alonzo Mourning, Kevin Garnett and Gary Payton,<br />
but Stombergas took home a bronze medal thanks to an<br />
89-71 win over Australia in the third-place game.<br />
After that, Stombergas joined Tau Ceramica <strong>of</strong><br />
Spain, where he played the first season <strong>of</strong> the new Euro-<br />
League. Stombergas and his club were protagonists <strong>of</strong><br />
two nights that went into the history books. In the first<br />
semifinals game against AEK Athens, the Greek team<br />
won 75-74 with a basket that fell after the buzzer, and<br />
the EuroLeague, for the first time in the history <strong>of</strong> the<br />
competition, decided to invalidate the result. The game<br />
was replayed and Tau won 70-67 with only 1 point by<br />
Stombergas. Only 5 days later, on the same stage at<br />
OAKA in Athens, the Lithuanian forward played what<br />
was probably the best game <strong>of</strong> his career. Tau won 90-<br />
65 with 39 points by Stombergas. His shooting was<br />
nearly perfect that night: 4 <strong>of</strong> 4 twos, 9 <strong>of</strong> 9 three-pointers<br />
and 3 <strong>of</strong> 5 free throws! Unbelievable and unrepeatable.<br />
I had seen Sasha Djordjevic also score 9 threes in<br />
that very same arena in the 1995 EuroBasket final, but<br />
he needed 12 attempts.<br />
Stombergas’s game that night was like a symphony.<br />
352<br />
353
It’s worth a look on Youtube for a video <strong>of</strong> that game. It<br />
didn’t matter whether he was shooting from the right<br />
or left wings, the corner or the top <strong>of</strong> the arc. His coach<br />
that season, Dusko Ivanovic, remembered Stombergas<br />
this way:<br />
“Of course, his main weapon was his shot, but as<br />
a shooter, he was smart, disciplined and with a heavy<br />
dose <strong>of</strong> self-control. He shot with feeling, he knew that<br />
if it was his day, like that night in Athens, he was able to<br />
shoot non-stop. He was smart, a good defender, could<br />
go for the rebounds and could also score penetrating.<br />
Yes, he was a great player.”<br />
In the EuroLeague final, the first and only one ever<br />
decided in a best-<strong>of</strong>-five play<strong>of</strong>f series, Kinder defeated<br />
Tau Ceramica by 3-2. Stombergas could not repeat the<br />
title won with Zalgiris in 1999, but he made the history<br />
books by being in the first repeat game ever <strong>of</strong> the competition<br />
and by scoring 9 <strong>of</strong> 9 threes, still the record in<br />
the competition.<br />
The following season Stombergas would move to<br />
Efes Pilsen, with which he won the Turkish League and<br />
national cup, but for 2002-03 he was back to Zalgiris.<br />
One year later he moved to Russia to play with UNICS<br />
Kazan.<br />
His next memorable highlight was winning the gold<br />
medal at the 2003 EuroBasket in Sweden. It was the first<br />
gold for Lithuania since 1939! A great tourney had its<br />
best moment in the final against Spain, which featured<br />
Pau Gasol, Juan Carlos Navarro, Felipe Reyes, Alberto<br />
Herreros, Jorge Garbajosa and Jose Manuel Calderon.<br />
Lithuania won 93-84 with 21 points by Macijauskas, 10<br />
by Sarunas Jasikevicius, 18 by Zukauskas, and 9 by Ramunas<br />
Siskauskas. Stombergas was the captain, and<br />
now, a double <strong>European</strong> champion, with his club and<br />
his national team.<br />
In the summer <strong>of</strong> 2004, between UNICS and a new<br />
stint in Turkey, this time with Ulker, Stombergas took<br />
part in the Athens Olympics. On August 21, Lithuania<br />
beat the United States 94-90 behind a great Sarunas<br />
Jasikevicius (28 points) but also with a great Stombergas,<br />
who scored 16 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. I<br />
saw the game live and I remember the <strong>of</strong>fensive festival<br />
put on by the Lithuanian talents. Stombergas finished<br />
the tournament with 12.3 points per game and left the<br />
national team after 11 years with 97 games played and<br />
1,036 points scored.<br />
After a two-year hiatus, he played again with humble<br />
Naglis Adakris <strong>of</strong> Lithuania, but in 2008 he retired<br />
for good. One <strong>of</strong> the best shooters <strong>of</strong> the modern era<br />
called it a career. With two <strong>European</strong> trophies, a Euro-<br />
Basket gold medal plus two Olympic medals and another<br />
EuroBasket silver, Stombergas has six important<br />
titles and many good memories. Just as we do, after<br />
having been able to enjoy his play – and most <strong>of</strong> all, his<br />
sensational shot – for many years.<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Saulius Stombergas<br />
S
Walter<br />
Szczerbiak<br />
355
The superstar<br />
with the<br />
unpronounceable<br />
name<br />
The first duel between Partizan Belgrade<br />
and Real Madrid took place in 1979-80<br />
in the EuroLeague. Partizan, with Dusan<br />
Ivkovic as the coach, had just won its second<br />
Yugoslav League title led by the duo<br />
<strong>of</strong> Dragan Kicanovic and Drazen Dalipagic,<br />
However, Kicanovic could not play in Europe while<br />
doing his military service<br />
Partizan visited Madrid on December 20, 1979,<br />
and lost 110-83. Walter Szczerbiak scored 30 points,<br />
Wayne Brabender had 23, Rafa Rullan 20, Randy<br />
Meister 15 and Juan Antonio Corbalan. For Partizan,<br />
Dalipagic’s 32 points were totally useless except as a<br />
passport to sign for the Spanish team two years later.<br />
The second game was played on February 14, 1980, in<br />
front <strong>of</strong> 6,000 fans at Pionir Arena in Belgrade. After<br />
a 54-54 first-half tie, Real Madrid’s quality prevailed<br />
and the game ended 100-87. Meister and Szczerbiak<br />
had 22 points apiece, Corbalan 12, Rullan scored 10<br />
points. It was the first time – and if memory serves, also<br />
the last – that I saw Szczerbiak play live. I knew him<br />
well because Yugoslav TV had always broadcasted the<br />
title games <strong>of</strong> the EuroLeague and even the Intercontinental<br />
Cup, competitions in which Real Madrid always<br />
went far in the 1970s.<br />
Walter Szczerbiak was a true star, a player admired<br />
in all the gyms he played in. Aside from being a great<br />
player, he was a true gentleman, both on and <strong>of</strong>f the<br />
court. That night at Pionir, I didn’t even imagine that,<br />
years later, I would be able to meet him and maintain a<br />
good relationship with him. Walter always jokes that I<br />
am one <strong>of</strong> the few people who know how to pronounce<br />
his surname correctly. For most people, it’s almost impossible<br />
to utter the “sh” sound followed by “tch”. Two<br />
consonants at the beginning <strong>of</strong> his name, which comes<br />
from the Ukrainian word “scerba”. But his surname was<br />
only a problem for TV announcers everywhere. For the<br />
rest <strong>of</strong> us, the great scorer was only Walter. Always<br />
Walter.<br />
Seven years <strong>of</strong> glory<br />
The 1979-80 season was the seventh and last for<br />
Walter at Real Madrid. It finished as it started, with<br />
triumphs. Real Madrid beat Maccabi 89-85 in the Euro-<br />
League final, played on March 27 in West Berlin. Walter<br />
scored 16 points, a tad lower than his average <strong>of</strong> 21.1<br />
up to that point. His best nights were against TUS<br />
Leverkusen (37 points) and Den Bosch (33). Rullan was<br />
the best scorer with 27 points in that game, while Jose<br />
Antonio Querejeta, the current Baskonia Vitoria Gasteiz<br />
president, scored 2 for the Whites.<br />
Berlin was the end <strong>of</strong> the brilliant career for Szczerbiak.<br />
During seven years in Madrid, he won four Spanish<br />
Leagues (1974, 1975, 1976, 1977), three EuroLeagues<br />
(1974, 1978, 1980), a Spanish Cup (1977) and three Intercontinental<br />
Cups (1976, 1977, 1978). He played four<br />
seasons with scoring averages <strong>of</strong> more than 30 points,<br />
and that was before three-pointers. Real Madrid had<br />
the luxury <strong>of</strong> keeping him only for the EuroLeague because<br />
<strong>of</strong> the limit on foreigners in the domestic league.<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Walter Szczerbiak<br />
S
Vladimir Stankovic<br />
He was a born shooter with excellent technique: elegant<br />
and fast. He was also a solid rebounder. For many, and<br />
for me too, he is one <strong>of</strong> the best Americans to have ever<br />
played in Europe.<br />
Thanks to his huge talent and hard work during his<br />
youth, life gave back to Walter a part that was stolen<br />
from him in his childhood. He was born on August 21,<br />
1949, in Hamburg, West Germany, the city where his<br />
parents, fleeing from Ukraine, were waiting for the migration<br />
documents to get into the United States. Once<br />
in New York, he fell in love with basketball. In school<br />
tourneys and street games in the playgrounds, the<br />
talent shown by Walter caught the attention <strong>of</strong> many<br />
colleges. He chose George Washington University. In<br />
his senior year there, he averaged 22.1 points. That<br />
same year he was picked by the Phoenix Suns in the<br />
fourth round <strong>of</strong> the draft with the 65th pick. He signed<br />
a non-guaranteed contract and after the summer he<br />
was <strong>of</strong>f the team. Walter had a tryout with Pittsburgh<br />
<strong>of</strong> the ABA, then the competing league to the NBA, but<br />
at the end <strong>of</strong> the season he was without a team again.<br />
That’s when Real Madrid entered his life. Coach Pedro<br />
Ferrandiz – well assisted and informed by his friend<br />
Victor de la Serna, aka Vicente Salaner, a well-known<br />
basketball newspaper columnist in Spain – <strong>of</strong>fered Walter<br />
a five-year guaranteed contract. And that was how<br />
his <strong>European</strong> adventure started.<br />
Debut against Barcelona... with 47 points!<br />
Walter made his debut with style on November<br />
11, 1973. Real Madrid beat its archrival FC Barcelona<br />
125-65 – by 60 points! A rookie, Walter with his unpronounceable<br />
surname, finished the game with 47<br />
points. Soon enough, he was the fans’ new idol. He<br />
shined in game after game. He finished the season<br />
with the triple crown: Spanish League, Spanish Cup<br />
and EuroLeague titles against Ignis Varese in Nantes,<br />
84-82. Walter, Clifford Luyk and Rullan had 14 points<br />
each, while Brabender scored 22 and Carmelo Cabrera<br />
16 in the championship game. The following season,<br />
they also won the Spanish League and Spanish<br />
Cup and stretched the team’s winning streak to 88<br />
games over more than three years. Against Mataró,<br />
Walter scored 53 points, but on February 8, 1976, he<br />
outdid himself by setting a Spanish League record<br />
that still stands today. Against Breogan, in a 140-48<br />
blowout, Walter finished with 65 points! His numbers<br />
were unbelievable: 25 <strong>of</strong> 27 two-point shots (most <strong>of</strong><br />
them from what would be three-point territory today)<br />
and 15 <strong>of</strong> 17 free throws. His record also hides an<br />
anecdote. After he scored “just” 16 points in the previous<br />
game, Martin Tello, a journalist at As newspaper<br />
in Spain, wrote that games in the morning didn’t<br />
seem to suit Walter. The result? A record that prevails<br />
today.<br />
Szczerbiak won his second <strong>European</strong> crown in 1978,<br />
again against Mobilgirgi Varese 75-67. The final was<br />
played in Munich and Walter led all scorers with 26<br />
points. Two <strong>of</strong> his three <strong>European</strong> crowns were won in<br />
Germany, the country where he was born.<br />
After seven wonderful years, Szczerbiak had to<br />
leave. Real Madrid didn’t re-sign him. That hurt him,<br />
but he was only 31 and he wanted to play more. Udine,<br />
then in the Italian second division, <strong>of</strong>fered him a twoyear<br />
contract and he accepted. After that, he was back<br />
in New York and he thought about putting an end to<br />
his career, but a call from his great friend Carmelo<br />
Cabrera, the Real Madrid guard in the years they<br />
shared together, lured him into playing for Gran Canaria.<br />
Cabrera also called Meister and Luis Miguel Prada,<br />
356<br />
357
and many <strong>of</strong> the American players that shined in the<br />
league were recommended by him. In the meantime,<br />
his son Wally became a pro himself, in the NBA. Later<br />
a group <strong>of</strong> authors wrote a great book called “Foreigners<br />
in the ACB” with a prologue by Szczerbiak himself.<br />
However, I would like to see another book: “Foreigners<br />
before the ACB”. There were many and very good, all<br />
led by Walter Szczerbiak.<br />
Walter Szczerbiak<br />
and he managed to reunite the four friends from Real<br />
Madrid’s Golden Era. “Old” Walter responded with<br />
23.1 points and 7.3 rebounds and an average index<br />
rating <strong>of</strong> 19.0 in over 37 per game. Again, he did all that<br />
without three-pointers, which would be established<br />
that same summer <strong>of</strong> 1984, when the genius named<br />
Walter Szczerbiak definitively retired. For years he<br />
has been technical consultant <strong>of</strong> the Spanish League<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
S
Zan<br />
Tabak<br />
359
A triple<br />
Euro-champ<br />
with an NBA ring<br />
I<br />
am not sure whether Split is the only town outside<br />
<strong>of</strong> the United States that has produced two NBA<br />
champs, but if there is any other, it will have a hard<br />
time putting together what Toni Kukoc and Zan Tabak<br />
accomplished. Between the two <strong>of</strong> them, they<br />
feature six EuroLeague titles in their club <strong>of</strong> origin,<br />
Jugoplastika Split, and subsequently four NBA titles<br />
(Kukoc with Chicago in 1996, 1997 and 1998 and Tabak<br />
with Houston in 1995). Both were in the Split team that<br />
won the EuroLeague three-peat in 1989, 1990 and 1991.<br />
Zan Tabak, who was born on July 15, 1970, in Split,<br />
was never a superstar, a player around whom teams<br />
were built. But he was a player who always delivered<br />
when coaches gave him minutes on the court. As all<br />
big men, he got better with time and he played his best<br />
seasons when older than 25, even though his earlier<br />
seasons were already full <strong>of</strong> accolades. At 14 years old,<br />
Tabak stood at 1.97 meters and despite practicing all<br />
sports, his fate was basketball. He was lucky to enter<br />
the club at the start <strong>of</strong> the great project in Jugoplastika.<br />
His talent could not go unnoticed by the Yugoslav federation,<br />
and in the summer <strong>of</strong> 1987, Tabak was part <strong>of</strong> the<br />
FIBA <strong>European</strong> Championship for Cadets in Hungary.<br />
He came back with the gold medal as the third-best<br />
scorer on the team (8.9 points), after Arijan Komazec<br />
(28.4) and Zivko Badzim (11.4). The coach was Janez<br />
Drvaric from Slovenia.<br />
The following year, at the 1988 <strong>European</strong> Championship<br />
for Junior Men in Yugoslavia, I would see Zan<br />
Tabak live for the first time. He was part <strong>of</strong> a great<br />
team coached by Dusko Vujosevic, who was not much<br />
older than his players. Komazec was the top scorer<br />
again (27.0) and the line <strong>of</strong> big men was very strong:<br />
Dzevad Alihodzic, Rastko Cvetkovic and Zan Tabak (6.5<br />
points), while Predrag Danilovic (9.4) started to confirm<br />
his great talent after two years without playing due to<br />
bureaucratic problems with his club <strong>of</strong> origin, Bosna<br />
Sarajevo. That was another gold medal for Tabak and<br />
his teammates.<br />
The Great Jugoplastika<br />
When he got back to Split, Tabak was soon recruited<br />
by coach Boza Maljkovic for the Jugoplastika senior<br />
team. Toni Kukoc and Dino Radja, that generation’s leaders,<br />
were two and three years older than Tabak, respectively,<br />
but Maljkovic had the vision, the patience and the<br />
courage to look for future talents. Nothing better could<br />
have happened to young Tabak than training with Radja<br />
and Goran Sobin and, starting in 1989, with Zoran Savic.<br />
At 19 years old, after winning the cadet and junior <strong>European</strong><br />
championships, he was already a <strong>European</strong> champ<br />
with his club. Yes, his contribution might have been symbolic,<br />
but Zan Tabak’s name is on the Jugoplastika team<br />
roster that was <strong>European</strong> champ in 1989. His 2 points<br />
against Maccabi in the semifinal (87-77) and 2 against<br />
Barcelona in the final (75-65) may not have been a lot,<br />
but there he was, in the picture <strong>of</strong> the champs.<br />
If the triumph <strong>of</strong> 1989 was a surprise, the repeat<br />
<strong>of</strong> the title one year later didn’t surprise anyone. The<br />
victims in Zaragoza were Limoges in the semis (<strong>101</strong>-<br />
83) and Barcelona in the final (72-67). Tabak was still a<br />
substitute center, but he was getting ready for a bigger<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Zan Tabak<br />
T
Vladimir Stankovic<br />
role. The 1990-91 season arrived and with it, Radja had<br />
gone to Rome, Dusko Ivanovic went to Girona and Maljkovic<br />
started coaching Barcelona. Jugoplastika, under<br />
the new sponsor Pop 84, and with Zeljko Pavlicevic on<br />
the bench, repeated the title for a third successive year<br />
at the Paris Final Four. Kukoc, Savic, Velimir Perasovic,<br />
Zoran Sretenovic plus American Avie Lester (who<br />
played his career game in the final against Barcelona<br />
with 11 points and 3 blocks) were on the team. Savic<br />
was the hero <strong>of</strong> the final with his 27 points and Tabak<br />
contributed 2 points and 3 rebounds, but he had many<br />
good games during the season, including an earlier one<br />
against Barcelona in which he had scored 14 points.<br />
At the end <strong>of</strong> the season, Tabak was chosen by the<br />
Houston Rockets in the second round <strong>of</strong> the NBA draft<br />
with the 51st pick. Not bad at all for a 21-year-old kid still<br />
with a lot <strong>of</strong> room for improvement. For the 1991-92<br />
season, only Tabak and Perasovic remained from the<br />
great Jugoplastika three-peat. Apart from the normal<br />
departures, war was a factor. The Split team played its<br />
home EuroLeague games in La Coruña, Spain. Perasovic<br />
was the top scorer with 25.6 points and Tabak was<br />
already a crucial player in the team (13.9 points plus 7.9<br />
rebounds). It was not a blank season for the team as,<br />
under the new name Slobodna Dalmacija, they won the<br />
first Croatian Cup in Rijeka. In the quarterfinals they<br />
destroyed Jug Drubovnik 94-67, in the semis they did<br />
the same to Sibenka (<strong>101</strong>-57) and in the final, the victim<br />
was Cibona, 88-65. The MVP? Of course, Zan Tabak. It<br />
was time for some individual accolades.<br />
medal. Drazen Petrovic, Radja, Kukoc, Perasovic, Stojan<br />
Vrankovic, Danko Cvjeticanin, Vladan Alanovic, Aramis<br />
Naglic, Komazec, Alan Gregov and Tabak made up a<br />
super team. Even though he was only 22, Tabak’s next<br />
step would be playing abroad. His first stop was Basket<br />
Livorno <strong>of</strong> Italy. After a very good season (14.9 points,<br />
10.1 rebounds) his number <strong>of</strong> medals increased in the<br />
summer with a bronze for Croatia at the 1993 EuroBasket<br />
in Germany. His next step would be an Italian great,<br />
Olimpia Milano. He had another good season with similar<br />
numbers, 14.6 points and 10.7 boards.<br />
At 24, he decided to try his luck in the NBA. Tabak<br />
signed for the Rockets, where he played alongside legend<br />
Hakeem Olajuwon, another great big man and great<br />
for Tabak’s improvement. Lo and behold, after his rookie<br />
season, Tabak had an NBA championship ring in his<br />
hands, too! The team, coached by Rudy Tomjanovich,<br />
<strong>of</strong> Croatian descent, swept the final series against Orlando,<br />
4-0. For Tabak, it was a fourth continental club<br />
title. After three EuroLeague crowns, he had the NBA<br />
title, becoming the first <strong>European</strong> to win both leagues.<br />
It’s true that, again, his contribution was symbolic, as<br />
expected from a rookie, but he was there in the right<br />
place at the right time. He played the next three years<br />
for the Toronto Raptors and then another one in Boston.<br />
After four-and-a-half seasons in the NBA, Tabak<br />
decided to come back to Europe. He chose Fenerbahce<br />
<strong>of</strong> Turkey and he had a great season (13.1 points and 10<br />
rebounds). That was enough for the Indiana Pacers to<br />
lure him back to the NBA.<br />
To the NBA, via Livorno<br />
In the summer <strong>of</strong> 1992, Zan Tabak lived a dream<br />
together with his teammates by playing the Barcelona<br />
Olympic Games with Croatia and winning a silver<br />
Real Madrid, Joventut, Unicaja<br />
At 30 years old, and after six and a half seasons in<br />
the NBA and 247 games, Tabak came back to Europe<br />
for good. He was signed by Real Madrid and had a solid<br />
360<br />
361
season with 9.8 points and 7 rebounds. After that, he<br />
moved to Badalona to play with Joventut. It was the<br />
fourth club on which Tabak played – after Jugoplastika,<br />
Milano and Madrid – that had been a EuroLeague champion<br />
at least once. His numbers were even better: 12.6<br />
points and 7.3 rebounds.<br />
At 35 years old, Tabak got the call from Unicaja Malaga.<br />
Sergio Scariolo, who had coached him in Madrid,<br />
was looking for an experienced player, but things didn’t<br />
turn out as expected due to a back injury that Tabak<br />
suffered. He missed half a season and started playing<br />
a little before the King’s Cup in Zaragoza. But, again, it<br />
was the right moment for him as Unicaja managed to<br />
lift the prestigious cup title with a great team, including<br />
Carlos Cabezas, Jorge Garbajosa, Fran Vazquez, Berni<br />
Rodriguez, Walter Herrmann, Pepe Sanchez, Stephane<br />
Risacher ... and Tabak, <strong>of</strong> course. He scored 10 points<br />
against Etosa Alicante in the quarterfinals and then 4<br />
against Valencia in the semis. Tabak could not score in<br />
the title game against Real Madrid, coached by his former<br />
mentor, Boza Maljkovic, but he helped nonetheless.<br />
Due to the bad back injury, Tabak could not deliver<br />
what was expected <strong>of</strong> him, but with his experience, he<br />
could help a young Fran Vazquez, who had a great breakout<br />
season. Zan was a great pro and set an example in<br />
every practice. Almost everything he did, he did well. He<br />
was almost perfect in the low post and could score with<br />
both hands. He played well with his back to the basket<br />
and was also a tough defender with rebounding abilities.<br />
He was not slow for his height and he ran well.<br />
With a King’s Cup title under his belt, Tabak decided<br />
to retire. However, he knew he wanted to stay in basketball<br />
as a coach. He has since won both a EuroLeague<br />
and a EuroCup title as an assistant coach with Real Madrid,<br />
in 2007 and 2015, respectively. Before and after,<br />
he has been a head coach in Poland, Spain and Israel.<br />
Among his other head coaching positions in Spain, he<br />
took Baskonia Vitoria Gasteiz to the EuroLeague Play<strong>of</strong>fs<br />
in 2013. And in a replacement stint with Maccabi<br />
FOX Tel Aviv in 2016 he won the Israeli Cup.<br />
<strong>Basketball</strong> was Tabak’s destiny even though he<br />
didn’t have it in his blood. Rather, he married into it. His<br />
father didn’t play the sport, but his wife Gorana had<br />
played in the Split women’s team and her father, Rato<br />
Tvrdic, was the captain <strong>of</strong> the great Jugoplastika in the<br />
1970s and <strong>of</strong> the Yugoslav national team, <strong>European</strong><br />
champions in 1973 and 1975. And since every big man<br />
needs a good point guard, Tabak was lucky to have one<br />
in the family.<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Zan Tabak<br />
T
Corny<br />
Thompson<br />
363
A big man<br />
like<br />
a playmaker<br />
In the history <strong>of</strong> the EuroLeague, from 1958 to<br />
today, very few title games were decided with a<br />
shot or play in the final moments. Among the few<br />
players who won a game that way is Cornelius<br />
Allen Thompson, an American big man who spent<br />
most <strong>of</strong> his career in Italy (Varese) and Spain<br />
(Joventut and Leon). His happiest day probably was<br />
April 21, 1994. In the EuroLeague title game that day,<br />
Thompson nailed a three-pointer to give Joventut<br />
Badalona the trophy against Olympiacos by the final<br />
score <strong>of</strong> 59-57. Thompson’s three-pointer was not<br />
the last shot <strong>of</strong> the game, but it was the final basket<br />
and therefore, it was decisive.<br />
When Corny Thompson, who was born on February<br />
5, 1960, in Middletown, Connecticut, scored the last<br />
three <strong>of</strong> his 17 points that night, there were still 18<br />
seconds to go, which is a lot <strong>of</strong> time in such a dynamic<br />
game like basketball. However, Zarko Paspalj missed 2<br />
free throws that could have tied the game and the Reds<br />
then missed two more shots on a play that, because<br />
<strong>of</strong> error at the <strong>of</strong>ficials’ table, lasted longer than it was<br />
supposed to, especially for Joventut fans. However,<br />
before and after that shot, many things happened for<br />
Corny.<br />
With a little over 2 minutes to go, Olympiacos was<br />
winning 57-53. Jordi Villacampa’s three gave Joventut<br />
some hope. Panagiotis Fasoulas then missed his<br />
shot for the Reds and that gave the Spanish team a<br />
new chance. Ferran Martinez missed the shot but the<br />
<strong>of</strong>fensive rebound by Villacampa gave the Badalona<br />
possession again. And when Martinez missed again,<br />
Mike Smith pulled down another <strong>of</strong>fensive board.<br />
Eventually, the ball reached Corny’s hands. He was<br />
guarded by Roy Tarpley, a 2.11-meter big man who<br />
was late getting out to challenge Thompson. Corny<br />
was alone behind the arc and he didn’t miss. With 18<br />
seconds to go, Joventut was ahead 59-57. With 4.8<br />
seconds to go, Smith fouled Paspalj. The Montenegrin<br />
player missed the first attempt and then he did<br />
the same with the second, on purpose. With some<br />
help from the table that cannot be understood, the<br />
Greek team had time for two more shots that never<br />
went in. It was the first <strong>European</strong> title for a Catalan<br />
team.<br />
Explosion in Varese<br />
Corny Thompson always stood out as a player, since<br />
his start as a kid until his retirement at 36 years old. At<br />
14 he was 1.95 meters tall and had great potential for<br />
rebounds, something that would become a trademark<br />
in his career. He led Middletown High School to three<br />
state championships. Several universities were interested<br />
in him, even North Carolina, whose coach, the<br />
famous Dean Smith, traveled all the way to Middletown<br />
to see the kid that made the all-American high school<br />
team in 1978.<br />
Corny chose the Connecticut Huskies, especially because<br />
he wanted to be close to home. Until Thompson<br />
arrived, the UConn team was a mediocre one, but with<br />
him, the program gained status. Four years later, Corny<br />
would leave college with several records under his arm.<br />
He is still ranked in the school’s top 10 players ever in<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Corny Thompson<br />
T
Vladimir Stankovic<br />
free throws attempted (496), scoring (1,810 points) and<br />
rebounds (1,017).<br />
Thompson’s next logical step was the NBA, but as<br />
in many other cases, he landed on the wrong team at<br />
the wrong time. He was selected by Dallas in the third<br />
round <strong>of</strong> the 1980 draft, but the team already had Mark<br />
Aguirre, Rolando Blackman, Pat Cummings and Brad<br />
Davis. Thompson didn’t earn the trust <strong>of</strong> coach Dick<br />
Motta and after barely 20 games, with an average <strong>of</strong><br />
3 points, he had to look for options outside Dallas. He<br />
played one year in the CBA with the Detroit Spirits,<br />
where his 15 points and 10 rebounds opened <strong>European</strong><br />
doors for him.<br />
The best decision for Corny Thompson was signing<br />
with Varese, a team with a name, tradition and great<br />
players in the past. Between 1984 and 1990 Corny<br />
spent six years in Varese. He played 211 games and<br />
scored 4,704 points (22.3 ppg) while shooting 58% on<br />
two-pointers and 42% on threes. That’s not to mention<br />
his 9.7 rebounds and 1.2 assists per game. His best<br />
scoring average was 24.7 points in 1986-87. His personal<br />
highs were 39 points against Tracer Milano and<br />
22 rebounds against Desio, both in 1987.<br />
However, something was missing: titles. Varese was<br />
not as strong as it used to be. It reached the finals, but<br />
the titles slipped away. In his first <strong>European</strong> final, the<br />
Korac Cup against Milano on March 21, 1985, in Brussels,<br />
Varese lost 91-78 with only 8 points by Corny. Russ<br />
Schoene was unstoppable for Milano with 33 points. In<br />
the Italian League, Varese lost the final series in 1989-<br />
90 against Scavolini, coached by a young Sergio Scariolo.<br />
Despite his 27 points and 13 rebounds in the third<br />
game and 26 plus 15 in the fourth, Thompson could<br />
not help Varese claim the title. That made him want to<br />
switch teams in order to win trophies.<br />
Badalona, the perfect destination<br />
Corny’s decision to leave Varese coincided with the<br />
construction <strong>of</strong> a great team at Joventut. Coached by<br />
Real Madrid legend Lolo Sainz, that team had a strong<br />
core <strong>of</strong> Spanish players, with Jordi Villacampa, Rafa<br />
364<br />
365
J<strong>of</strong>resa, Tomas J<strong>of</strong>resa and Ferran Martinez. The club<br />
had also signed an excellent American, Harold Pressley,<br />
an NCAA champ with Villanova who also brought good<br />
numbers from the NBA. With the Sacramento Kings, he<br />
had played 299 games in four seasons, averaging 12.3<br />
points and 6.1 rebounds. There was another spot for<br />
a foreigner on the team and Joventut set its eyes on<br />
Thompson, marking the birth <strong>of</strong> one <strong>of</strong> the best duos <strong>of</strong><br />
American players ever in the Spanish League.<br />
Corny Thompson<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
T
Dejan<br />
Tomasevic<br />
367
The center with<br />
point guard<br />
passing<br />
I<br />
have known Dejan Tomasevic since his first season<br />
at Crvena Zvezda, in 1991-92, and his more<br />
than discreet 4 points in six games. However,<br />
going through his biography again, I must admit<br />
that I was surprised by his number <strong>of</strong> titles. If I<br />
calculated well, among his seven club teams and<br />
the Yugoslav national team, he won 23 trophies plus<br />
a silver and a bronze medal. There were also some<br />
individual accolades as competition MVP or member<br />
<strong>of</strong> an all-tournament team.<br />
There is no doubt that Dejan Tomasevic is one <strong>of</strong> the<br />
most decorated players in <strong>European</strong> basketball. He was<br />
a national champion 10 times with five <strong>of</strong> his seven club<br />
teams in three countries; he won six national cups in<br />
Yugoslavia, Spain and Greece. He won the EuroLeague<br />
and the EuroCup, the latter as MVP <strong>of</strong> the finals. And<br />
if that was not enough, with Yugoslavia he was world<br />
champion twice, <strong>European</strong> champion three times, and<br />
won both an Olympic silver medal from Atlanta in 1996<br />
and a bronze from EuroBasket 1999 in France.<br />
From football to basketball<br />
Tomasevic was born on May 5, 1973, in Belgrade.<br />
Unlike many other great players, he started playing<br />
basketball quite late, at age 15. Until then, Tomasevic<br />
had played football for Crvena Zvezda as a central defender,<br />
but after growing too much in just one year, he<br />
became a bit clumsy on the football field. Tomasevic<br />
then decided to switch sports, fortunately for him and<br />
for basketball. Instead <strong>of</strong> being a mediocre defender in<br />
football, basketball had won an excellent center who<br />
would make history in the sport.<br />
Even though it has been written that Tomasevic<br />
started playing with Borac Cacak, that is not the truth.<br />
His very first club was Crvena Zvezda. He was promoted<br />
to the first team at age 18 in the 1991-92 season. He<br />
played alongside the late Boban Jankovic, Nebojsa Ilic,<br />
Aleksandar Trifunovic and Sasa Obradovic, although<br />
he had a small role. The following season, without Jankovic,<br />
who left for Panionios in Greece, but with young<br />
prospect Predrag Stojakovic, Tomasevic scored 82<br />
points in 30 league games. I remember the prediction<br />
at the time <strong>of</strong> Coach Boza Maljkovic, who told me that<br />
Tomasevic had big potential.<br />
The following season, with the second straight national<br />
title for Crvena Zvezda, Tomasevic was already<br />
contributing 14.9 points and more and more rebounds.<br />
In his fourth season, 1994-95, his average in 28 games<br />
rose to 23.3 points. That summer he made his debut<br />
on the national team and won his first gold medal, at<br />
the 1995 EuroBasket in Athens. Tomasevic was not an<br />
important figure alongside Vlade Divac, Zarko Paspalj,<br />
Dejan Bodiroga, Aleksander Djordjevic, Predrag Danilovic<br />
and Zoran Savic, but he made the team and averaged<br />
3.3 points and 3 boards per game. And he would<br />
stay on the team for the following 10 years, collecting<br />
trophy after trophy.<br />
After four years, two league titles and one cup with<br />
Zvezda, Tomasevic decided to leave the club and join its<br />
eternal archrival, Partizan. Crvena Zvezda fans never<br />
forgave him for this big sin, but he was looking for the<br />
best for himself and he took a giant step forward in<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Dejan Tomasevic<br />
T
Vladimir Stankovic<br />
his career. Just as he exited the club, a long period <strong>of</strong><br />
crisis started for Crvena Zvezda, which would last for<br />
15 years. At the same time, Partizan started its rise to<br />
domination with 12 consecutive national leagues, plus<br />
triumphs in cups and the Adriatic League, soon becoming<br />
a consistent protagonist in the EuroLeague.<br />
Over the next four years, from 1995 to 1999, Tomasevic<br />
had a prominent role both with Partizan and the national<br />
team. At the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, he won the<br />
silver medal after contributing 6.2 points and 4 rebounds<br />
per game. At the 1997 EuroBasket in Barcelona, he repeated<br />
as champ with 4.5 points and 3.4 boards. In 1998, he<br />
was back to Barcelona to play the EuroLeague Final Four<br />
with Partizan and that same summer he won the World<br />
Cup with Yugoslavia in Athens, averaging 6.2 points and<br />
5.7 rebounds. In 1999, he won the bronze medal at the<br />
EuroBasket in France with 7.2 points and 6 rebounds.<br />
During those four years, Tomasevic improved a lot<br />
from a technical point <strong>of</strong> view. Little by little he started<br />
overcoming his biggest obstacle, free throw shooting.<br />
At the same time, he started dishing many assists,<br />
about which he learned a lot from Divac, another big<br />
man with a great ability to pass. Most important, however,<br />
was Tomasevic’s ability to grab rebounds, especially<br />
on <strong>of</strong>fense. He had that sixth sense attributed to<br />
the greats, to know where the ball would fall. Over the<br />
years, Tomasevic also gained experience that guaranteed<br />
him a high level in each game. It was almost impossible<br />
to see him play badly. When he didn’t have a good<br />
day, he always delivered something for his coaches.<br />
In the summer <strong>of</strong> 1999, after two league titles and<br />
one national cup with Partizan, Tomasevic was 26 years<br />
old and in his prime. He received many calls from many<br />
foreign clubs, but he decided to join Buducnost Podgorica.<br />
There, he joined with Igor Rakocevic, an old teammate<br />
<strong>of</strong> his in Crvena Zvezda who was five years younger than<br />
Tomasevic. At the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Tomasevic<br />
contributed 10.3 points, 6.9 rebounds and 1.9 assists<br />
per game – his best performance in a tournament with<br />
the national team, but Yugoslavia fell in the quarterfinals<br />
against the excellent Canada <strong>of</strong> Steve Nash.<br />
In Podgorica, he won two Yugoslav Leagues with<br />
Buducnost plus a national cup. He was also MVP <strong>of</strong> the<br />
regular season in the first modern EuroLeague in 2000-<br />
01, with 22.9 points per game. At the end <strong>of</strong> the season,<br />
he was named to the All-EuroLeague Team. From his<br />
time in Buducnost, some personal records stuck: a<br />
performance index rating <strong>of</strong> 42 against PAOK and 29<br />
points plus 17 boards against Barcelona. When Tomasevic<br />
was in Podgorica, he had a very special deal with<br />
his coach, Miroslav Nikolic. For every EuroLeague game<br />
in which he grabbed 15 rebounds or more, he would<br />
have a special bonus. If he didn’t reach that number,<br />
he would pay the club one-tenth <strong>of</strong> what he had agreed<br />
on as bonuses. Normally he won the bet, but his extra<br />
bonus was soon spent right after the game to pay for<br />
dinner for the whole team!<br />
Triple-double with Pamesa Valencia<br />
After two years in Buducnost, Tomasevic left at<br />
age 28. He did so as three-time <strong>European</strong> champ, too,<br />
because Yugoslavia had recovered the title at the 2001<br />
EuroBasket in Turkey. His first stop abroad was in Vitoria,<br />
where he signed with Tau Ceramica. In his first<br />
year, he won the Spanish double crown with the league<br />
and cup titles. In the cup final at home, Tau defeated FC<br />
Barcelona 85-83. Tomasevic scored 20 points and was<br />
chosen MVP. A few months later, despite having finished<br />
fourth in the regular season, Tau Ceramica won<br />
the league title by dominating the play<strong>of</strong>f rounds at<br />
368<br />
369
ease: 3-1 against Pamesa Valencia, 3-1 against Barcelona<br />
and 3-0 against Unicaja in the finals. That season,<br />
the duo Tomasevic formed with Fabricio Oberto was<br />
almost unstoppable. They combined for unbelievable<br />
assists, many points and rebounds – but mostly they<br />
showed tremendous heart. They were a nightmare for<br />
rivals and a pleasure for the fans in Vitoria.<br />
Curiously enough, in the summer <strong>of</strong> 2002 Tomasevic<br />
and Oberto were also rivals in the final <strong>of</strong> the World<br />
Cup in Indianapolis. With luck on its side, Yugoslavia<br />
won in overtime after saving a theoretically lost game<br />
in the last minute <strong>of</strong> regulation time. Tomasevic, on a<br />
team full <strong>of</strong> stars, contributed 6.2 points, 5.9 rebounds<br />
and 1.9 assists per game.<br />
At the end <strong>of</strong> the 2001-02 season, Pamesa Valencia<br />
signed the lethal duo <strong>of</strong> Tomasevic and Oberto, making<br />
one <strong>of</strong> the best investments in the club’s history. Already<br />
in their first season there, they won a trophy, the Euro-<br />
Cup, which was the team’s first <strong>European</strong> title ever. In the<br />
final, Pamesa defeated Krka Novo Mesto 90-78 on the<br />
road and then 78-76 at home behind 28 points plus 11<br />
boards by Tomasevic – more than enough to be chosen<br />
MVP. That win allowed Valencia to play in the EuroLeague<br />
the following season. It performed well as it finished second<br />
in the Top 16 with the same record, 4-2, as Maccabi,<br />
which would go on to the Final Four on a tiebreaker.<br />
On May 12, 2004, Tomasevic also entered the history<br />
books in the Spanish League as he became the<br />
fourth player ever to achieve a triple-double. It came<br />
against Unicaja in an 82-66 win. In only 33 minutes,<br />
Tomasevic scored 14 points, grabbed 13 rebounds and<br />
dished 10 assists. Tomasevic’s assists were always a<br />
confirmation <strong>of</strong> the famous saying attributed to Toni<br />
Kukoc: “A basket makes one player happy, but an assist<br />
makes two players happy.” Off the court, Tomasevic<br />
was always a serious man, a responsible father <strong>of</strong> four<br />
who was happy with his family and circle <strong>of</strong> friends.<br />
EuroLeague title with PAO<br />
Before putting an end to his Spanish adventure in<br />
2005, Tomasevic suffered the biggest disappointment<br />
in his career: Yugoslavia ended up 11th <strong>of</strong> 12 teams in<br />
the 2004 Olympics in Athens, even though Tomasevic,<br />
with 7.2 points, 9.4 rebounds and 2.4 assists, was one<br />
<strong>of</strong> the few who delivered for the team, coached by Zeljko<br />
Obradovic. A small consolation was the gold medal<br />
for Argentina and his friend Oberto. Between his exit<br />
from Pamesa Valencia – after 147 games in the Spanish<br />
League, with averages <strong>of</strong> 11.3 points, 7.1 rebounds,<br />
3.3 assists and a 15.4 index rating – and his signing for<br />
Panathinaikos Athens, Tomasevic experienced his second<br />
major disappointment: the elimination <strong>of</strong> Serbia &<br />
Montenegro in the Play-<strong>of</strong>f phase <strong>of</strong> the 2005 EuroBasket<br />
at home, in Novi Sad.<br />
Tomasevic landed in Athens at age 32 in the middle<br />
<strong>of</strong> a championship-caliber team. However, Coach Obradovic<br />
was looking for an experienced player, a fighter,<br />
rebounder, passer and winner. Dejan Tomasevic was a<br />
perfect fit. He delivered, especially in the EuroLeague<br />
title game against CSKA Moscow in Athens on May<br />
6, 2007. In one <strong>of</strong> the best finals I have ever seen, the<br />
Greens won 93-91 behind 16 points and 3 rebounds<br />
by Tomasevic in just 21 minutes pm the floor. He finally<br />
fulfilled his dream: winning the EuroLeague, the only<br />
trophy missing in his brilliant resume. He stayed two<br />
more seasons with Panathinaikos, even though he<br />
barely played in the last one due to a back operation.<br />
In the 2008-09 season, at age 35, he played with PAOK<br />
Thessaloniki and he didn’t do badly: 9.3 points, 7.5 rebounds<br />
and 1.8 assists.<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Dejan Tomasevic<br />
T
Mirsad<br />
Turkcan<br />
371
The king <strong>of</strong><br />
rebounds<br />
I<br />
met Mirsad Turkcan in December <strong>of</strong> 1994 when I<br />
went by the Calderon Hotel in Barcelona to write a<br />
preview for the newspaper I was working for at the<br />
time, Mundo Deportivo, for that week’s EuroLeague<br />
game between FC Barcelona and Efes Pilsen.<br />
I got there with the newspaper in my hands. While I<br />
was in reception, I was talking to Efes coach Aydin Ors<br />
and a young player from the Turkish team asked me,<br />
in English, if he could have a look at the paper. Right<br />
away, I heard a comment from him in pure Serbian.<br />
He was Mirsad Turkcan, a young talent <strong>of</strong> Efes Pilsen,<br />
who was already known in the basketball circles due<br />
to his 16.6-point average at the FIBA <strong>European</strong> Championship<br />
for Junior Men, played the previous summer<br />
in Tel Aviv. Until then, I never had the chance to meet<br />
him because in 1992, his getaway to Istanbul from Novi<br />
Pazar, the Serbian city where he was born on June 7,<br />
1976, happened at almost the same time as mine to<br />
Barcelona. Turkcan was born under the name Jahovic<br />
in a rather well-known family <strong>of</strong> doctors in Novi Pazar,<br />
the main city in the region <strong>of</strong> Sandzak, with a majority<br />
Muslim population. One <strong>of</strong> his sisters follows the family<br />
tradition and is a doctor in Belgrade, while the other,<br />
Emina, is a well-known singer both in Serbia and Turkey,<br />
where she lives with her husband, the famous Turkish<br />
singer Mustafa Sandal.<br />
Mirsad’s thing was neither medicine nor music.<br />
His destiny was in sports, specifically, basketball. As a<br />
young talent, he was a candidate to play for all the big<br />
teams in Yugoslavia. The fastest one to catch him was<br />
Bosna, and young Mirsad ended up in Sarajevo. However,<br />
in the spring <strong>of</strong> 1992, with the coming war in sight,<br />
the Efes Pilsen scouts convinced his family to let him relocate<br />
to Istanbul. So Mirsad Jahovic, who would soon<br />
have a Turkish passport and the name Turkcan, started<br />
his great adventure on the Bosphorus. Between 1992<br />
and 2012, the year when he retired, many things happened.<br />
Triumph in the Korac Cup<br />
Mirsad Turkcan’s career didn’t develop at lightning<br />
speed. It went step by step, improving season after<br />
season. From the very start <strong>of</strong> his career, his main<br />
weapon was rebounds. Standing at 2.06 meters, his<br />
height didn’t precisely stand out for a basketball player,<br />
but his jumping capabilities together with great timing<br />
gave him, I’d say, 10 centimeters more. He usually won<br />
rebounding duels with players much bigger than him. In<br />
that 1994-95 season, his first on the senior team at Efes,<br />
his numbers in 12 EuroLeague games were discreet,<br />
2.2 points and 1.7 rebounds in 5.7 minutes on the floor.<br />
In the summer <strong>of</strong> 1995, he made his debut in the<br />
Turkish national team at the 1995 EuroBasket in Athens.<br />
With 8.3 points and 7.5 rebounds, he was one <strong>of</strong><br />
the young prospects that stood out the most.<br />
In the 1995-96 season, Turkcan was already a staple<br />
on the competitive Efes Pilsen team, which played the<br />
Korac Cup. Petar Naumoski, Ufuk Sarica, Conrad McRae,<br />
Volkan Aydin, Tamer Oyguc, Murat Evliyaoglu, Turkcan<br />
and the rest built a great team that, on its way to the<br />
title game, had beaten several strong opponents, like<br />
Maccabi Rishon, Varese, Panionios, Fenerbahce and<br />
Fortitudo Bologna. The opponent in the final would<br />
be Olimpia Milano, which really was Stefanel Trieste<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Mirsad Turkcan<br />
T
Vladimir Stankovic<br />
relocated to Milan, a team with Dejan Bodiroga, Nando<br />
Gentile, Rolando Blackman and Gregor Fucka. Milano’s<br />
coach was Bogdan Tanjevic, who would be a future<br />
coach <strong>of</strong> Turkcan’s with the Turkish national team and<br />
Fenerbahce. The Italian team was the favorite, but Efes<br />
won their first duel, played in Istanbul on March 6, 1996,<br />
by the score <strong>of</strong> 76-68. The hero <strong>of</strong> the game was guard<br />
Naumoski, who scored 31 points. Mirsad contributed<br />
6 points and 6 boards. The eight-point difference gave<br />
hope to both teams, but the Italians ended up losing<br />
their third straight final in that competition. After PAOK<br />
and ALBA, the executioner this time was Efes. In Milan,<br />
Olimpia’s 77-70 win was not enough. Naumoski was the<br />
top scorer again with 26 points, and Turkcan added 7<br />
points and 13 rebounds. It was the <strong>European</strong> trophy<br />
ever lifted by a Turkish team.<br />
First Turk in the NBA<br />
In 1997, at only 21 years old, Mirsad Turkcan was<br />
already a future star and a coveted player. At the U22<br />
World Championship for Men that year, he shined with<br />
17.7 points and 10.7 rebounds, and at the 1997 Euro-<br />
Basket, he helped Turkey reach eighth place. In 1998, he<br />
finished the season as the best rebounder in the Turkish<br />
League and nobody was surprised when the Houston<br />
Rockets chose him with the 18th pick in that year’s NBA<br />
draft. Turkcan would become the first Turkish player in<br />
the NBA. Due to the lockout, he remained at Efes for<br />
a while, but when the NBA season finally started, he<br />
was traded to the Philadelphia 76ers and then to the<br />
New York Knicks. After seven games in New York, he<br />
was traded yet again to the Milwaukee Bucks, where he<br />
played 10 more games. His average was 5.3 minutes,<br />
only enough for 1.9 points and 1.9 rebounds per game.<br />
With his height, solid shooting and especially, his great<br />
rebounding capabilities, Turkcan almost had a perfect<br />
pr<strong>of</strong>ile for the NBA, where physical aspects are important.<br />
But the coaches just didn’t trust him. Disappointed,<br />
he decided to go back to Europe.<br />
Turkcan started the 2000-01 season again at Efes<br />
Pilsen, but he ended up with Racing Paris, where<br />
his 15.9 points and 8.4 rebounds in 14 games were<br />
enough for CSKA Moscow to call him for the start <strong>of</strong><br />
a big project that had one goal: winning the EuroLeague.<br />
However, before moving to Moscow he had to<br />
take part in another historic event for Turkish basketball.<br />
At the 2001 EuroBasket in Turkey, the hosts<br />
reached the title game where they lost to Yugoslavia,<br />
led by Bodiroga and Predrag Stojakovic. However,<br />
the silver for Turkey was its first medal in continental<br />
competitions. Together with Ibrahim Kutluay, Hidayet<br />
Turkoglu, Mehmed Okur, Harun Erdenay, Kerem Tunceri,<br />
Kaya Peker, Huseyin Besok, Omer Onan, Orhun<br />
Ene and Asim Pars, Turkcan made the history books.<br />
With 10.7 points, he was the fourth-best scorer on<br />
the team, and with 8.3 boards, the second-best rebounder.<br />
In its first try, CSKA didn’t manage to reach the Bologna<br />
Final Four in 2002. The team finished third in the<br />
Top 16 with a 3-3 record, right behind Maccabi Tel Aviv<br />
(4-2) and Tau Ceramica (4-2). With 16.2 points and 10.7<br />
rebounds, Turkcan was one <strong>of</strong> the best players on his<br />
team. The following season he played at Montepaschi<br />
Siena <strong>of</strong> Italy. The team did reach the Final Four in Barcelona<br />
but fell to Benetton Treviso in the semis by a close<br />
65-62 score. It was, probably, the worst day as a pro for<br />
Turkcan. In 29 minutes he didn’t score a single point, after<br />
having averaged 14.8 that season, and he grabbed<br />
just 5 rebounds, way below his season 11.8 per game<br />
until then. In the game for third place, he collected his<br />
372<br />
373
usual double-double again, 16 points and 14 rebounds,<br />
but it was already too late. The title game would feature<br />
Benetton and FC Barcelona.<br />
In the 2003-04 season Turkcan was back to CS-<br />
KA and he was again in the Final Four, this time in Tel<br />
Aviv, but again, he missed out on the title game. In the<br />
semis, Maccabi got the best <strong>of</strong> CSKA with a 93-85 win<br />
as Anthony Parker (27 points) and Sarunas Jasikevicius<br />
(18) led the way to victory. On the other side, Marcus<br />
Brown scored 23, J.R. Holden contributed 16 points<br />
and Turkcan picked up 10 points plus 10 boards. After<br />
the season, he stayed in Moscow but switched teams<br />
to Dynamo for one year before returning to Istanbul,<br />
first to Ulker and later to Fenerbahce in 2006-07 until,<br />
finally, both clubs merged into what today we know as<br />
Fenerbahce Dogus Istanbul.<br />
Euroleague <strong>Basketball</strong> Legend<br />
Lacking collective titles with his teams, Turkcan<br />
received many individual accolades. He was MVP <strong>of</strong><br />
the 2002 regular season in the EuroLeague. He was<br />
also MVP <strong>of</strong> the round six times in 2002-03, the Top<br />
16 MVP in 2003 and a member <strong>of</strong> the All-EuroLeague<br />
teams in 2002, 2003 and 2004. His career highs in the<br />
EuroLeague are a performance index rating <strong>of</strong> 43, with<br />
Montepaschi against Panathinaikos, and 27 points and<br />
23 rebounds with CSKA against Buducnost. He had<br />
49 double-doubles in the EuroLeague – still a record –<br />
but that 27+23 performance has a special place in the<br />
history <strong>of</strong> the competition. In 129 EuroLeague games,<br />
he grabbed 1,287 rebounds, which still ranks fourth<br />
all-time, behind only players with at least double his<br />
amount <strong>of</strong> games in the competition. Still, Turkcan’s<br />
9.95 rebounds per game is the second-highest career<br />
average and the highest for anyone with more than 65<br />
EuroLeague games played.<br />
In February 2011, Turkcan suffered a severe ACL<br />
injury and in 2012 he announced his retirement. On<br />
September 16 <strong>of</strong> that year, Fenerbahce and CSKA Moscow<br />
played a friendly game on the day <strong>of</strong> his <strong>of</strong>ficial<br />
goodbye. That day there was only one winner, Mirsad<br />
Turkcan. Five years later, 2017 brought more recognition<br />
for Turkcan as he was named an <strong>of</strong>ficial Euroleague<br />
<strong>Basketball</strong> Legend during the semifinals at the Final<br />
Four in Istanbul. Two nights later, he was among the<br />
many who celebrated when Fenerbahce became the<br />
first Turkish club ever to with continental title, completing<br />
a path that Mirsad Turkcan, the king <strong>of</strong> rebounds,<br />
helped to build.<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Mirsad Turkcan<br />
T
Jordi<br />
Villacampa<br />
375
The 8 who was a<br />
perfect 10<br />
December 22, 1997, was a day to celebrate<br />
a basketball great. Thousands<br />
<strong>of</strong> loyal fans packed Pavello Olimpic in<br />
Badalona, Spain, to pay homage to Jordi<br />
Villacampa, one <strong>of</strong> Joventut Badalona’s<br />
biggest legends. With the club’s ecstatic<br />
fans, and in the presence <strong>of</strong> his many friends and most<br />
influential coaches – including Lolo Sainz, Zeljko Obradovic<br />
and Alfred Julbe – the great Penya captain scored<br />
his last baskets as an active player. With a three-way<br />
tourney between Joventut 1997, Joventut 1994 and FC<br />
Barcelona, Villacampa’s No. 8 jersey was retired and a<br />
brilliant career came to an end.<br />
Today it’s almost impossible for an elite player to<br />
spend his whole career with the same club. Those types<br />
<strong>of</strong> relationships simply do not exist anymore. But Jordi<br />
Villacampa would not have had it any other way. He was<br />
a Joventut player for life, from the junior teams to his<br />
debut in the first team at age 16 until he retired at 35.<br />
He left behind 17 seasons, 506 games in the Spanish<br />
League and 8,991 points scored. That still stands as<br />
the second-best points total all-time in Spain, behind<br />
Alberto Herreros and his 9,759 points, although Villacampa’s<br />
scoring average <strong>of</strong> 17.77 points per game was<br />
better and ranks seventh in Spanish League history.<br />
A Korac Cup champion at 17<br />
As a teenager, Villacampa worked his way into the<br />
Joventut rotation and into club history. On March 19,<br />
1981, at the Palau Blaugrana – the home <strong>of</strong> FC Barcelona<br />
– Joventut played for a continental trophy in the<br />
Korac Cup final. The opponent, Reyer Venezia <strong>of</strong> Italy,<br />
was led by the fearsome duo <strong>of</strong> Drazen Dalipagic and<br />
Spencer Haywood. After a very close duel that saw a<br />
92-92 tie lead to overtime, Joventut won by the slimmest<br />
<strong>of</strong> margins, 105-104. That was the first trophy for<br />
a very young Villacampa, who was not yet 18, having<br />
been born on October 11, 1963, in Reus, Spain. Villacampa<br />
didn’t score in the four minutes he played in the<br />
final, but his head coach, Manel Comas, knew that he<br />
had a star in the making. Earlier that season, Villacampa<br />
had cracked the rotation and was getting minutes<br />
every game. He scored his first 4 points in the Korac<br />
Cup on January 21, 1981, in a Joventut win at Villeurbanne.<br />
Later he scored 8 against Sunair Oostende and<br />
2 points against Crvena Zvezda.<br />
Seven years later, on March 16, 1988, in Grenoble,<br />
France, Villacampa lost a <strong>European</strong> final. Joventut<br />
came up short 96-89 after overtime in the Saporta Cup<br />
final against Limoges. Villacampa led his team with 19<br />
points, Reggie Johnson added 18 and veteran Josep<br />
Maria Margall had 14 points. The Limoges trio formed<br />
by Don Collins (28 points), Stephane Ostrowski (23<br />
points, 11 rebounds) and Clarence Kea (22 points, 8<br />
rebounds) destroyed Joventut’s <strong>European</strong> dream.<br />
One year later Joventut reached the Korac Cup finals<br />
against a Scavolini Pesaro side coached by a young<br />
Sergio Scariolo and led by Walter Magnifico, Ario Costa<br />
and the excellent American duo formed by Darwin Cook<br />
and Darren Daye. Joventut managed to score two wins:<br />
99-98 in Pesaro and 96-86 in Badalona. In the first duel,<br />
Villacampa scored 29 points and in the second 22.<br />
He was backed by Jose Antonio Montero (21 and 28)<br />
and Lemone Lampley (21 and 17). Through these three<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Jordi Villacampa<br />
V
<strong>of</strong> 1985, 1987, 1991 (bronze medal) and 1993 and the<br />
World Cups <strong>of</strong> 1986, 1990 and 1994. In the 1990 edition,<br />
he scored 48 points against Venezuela, which is<br />
still the Spanish national team record. But his brilliant<br />
career could have been even greater with an Olympic<br />
medal.<br />
Vladimir Stankovic<br />
finals, Jordi Villacampa turned into a great player, the<br />
leader <strong>of</strong> a new generation for Joventut and an important<br />
piece on the Spanish national team.<br />
Villacampa made his debut in a national team jersey<br />
on April 27, 1984, in a tournament in Linares, Spain,<br />
where he scored his first 10 points against Poland.<br />
Spain had an impressive team, with Nacho Solozabal,<br />
Andres Jimenez, Juanma Lopez Iturriaga, Juan Antonio<br />
Corbalan, Fernando Romay and Jose Luis Llorente,<br />
among others. It was the same team that would go on<br />
to win the 1984 Olympic silver medal in Los Angeles.<br />
National team coach Antonio Diaz Miguel decided to<br />
leave Villacampa <strong>of</strong>f his final team for the Olympics,<br />
but after that, Villacampa became a mainstay for Spain<br />
and featured in both the Seoul 1988 and Barcelona<br />
1992 Olympic squads. He also played the EuroBaskets<br />
An ideal shooting guard<br />
Standing 1.96 meters tall, Villacampa had the perfect<br />
build for the wing positions. He was fast and could<br />
run the break very well, but his main weapon was his<br />
shot. He had a great touch and was one <strong>of</strong> the first<br />
players to really take advantage <strong>of</strong> the three-point rule<br />
introduced in 1984. In the golden years <strong>of</strong> Joventut,<br />
1990-91 (Spanish League champions after beating<br />
FC Barcelona 3-1) and 1991-92 (champions again, 3-2<br />
against Real Madrid) Villacampa was the undisputed<br />
leader <strong>of</strong> the team. Yes, he had excellent teammates<br />
in Rafa and Tomas J<strong>of</strong>resa, Ferran Martinez, Corny<br />
Thompson, Harold Pressley, Mike Smith and Juanan<br />
Morales, but on every team there is a boss, and it was<br />
clear that Villacampa was the leader for Penya.<br />
Joventut reached the 1992 EuroLeague final but<br />
lost against Partizan Belgrade, 71-70, on the famous<br />
three-pointer by Sasha Djordjevic with a few seconds<br />
left on the clock. Villacampa played all 40 minutes in<br />
that game and scored 13 points, dished 1 assist and<br />
picked up 4 steals, but it was not enough. Somehow,<br />
however, sporting justice was made for this excellent<br />
generation <strong>of</strong> Joventut players. Two years later, at the<br />
Tel Aviv Final Four, Joventut was in the final again, this<br />
time against Olympiacos Piraeus. Penya took the win<br />
this time also by a narrow 59-57 margin behind 16<br />
points by Villacampa in 35 minutes. The dream was<br />
376<br />
377
Caceres in the title game, 79-71. However, Villacampa’s<br />
role in that team had dwindled and he did not have<br />
much presence in the final.<br />
After he retired, as if 17 years with the club were not<br />
enough, Jordi Villacampa took a position on the club’s<br />
board <strong>of</strong> directors as vice president and was finally<br />
elected president on November 29, 1999, a position he<br />
held for 17 years. Under his mandate, Joventut experienced<br />
a second golden era, the highlight <strong>of</strong> which was,<br />
without a doubt, the double crown <strong>of</strong> the 2007-08 season<br />
with the Spanish King’s Cup and the Eurocup Cup<br />
titles, the latter against a nearby opponent, Akasvayu<br />
Girona, by a commanding 79-54 in the final. That win<br />
granted the team a berth in the 2008-09 EuroLeague.<br />
However, there was yet another success, even bigger,<br />
with the everlasting creation <strong>of</strong> talents at the Joventut<br />
Badalona basketball school. The latest examples<br />
were Rudy Fernandez and Ricky Rubio, two players who<br />
have had important roles both at the highest <strong>European</strong><br />
club level and with the Spanish national team. They had<br />
to leave the club for their own sporting ambitions, but<br />
there is no doubt that the Badalona system will produce<br />
new wonders in no time.<br />
Jordi Villacampa; He wore number 8, but on and <strong>of</strong>f<br />
the floor, he’s a perfect 10!<br />
Jordi Villacampa<br />
fulfilled: Jordi Villacampa and his lifelong club were <strong>European</strong><br />
champions.<br />
Villacampa played three more seasons after that<br />
and managed to win another important trophy: the<br />
Spanish Kings’ Cup. In the tournament played in Leon,<br />
Joventut bested Caja San Fernando, Leon and finally<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
V
Oleksandr<br />
Volkov<br />
379
The symbol<br />
<strong>of</strong> Ukrainian<br />
basketball<br />
Oleksandr Volkov was born in Omsk,<br />
in present-day Russia, on March 29,<br />
1964, but he started playing in Kiev,<br />
the capital <strong>of</strong> Ukraine, and after<br />
the breakup <strong>of</strong> the USSR he chose<br />
Ukraine as his home country.<br />
In Ukrainian, his name is spelled with an “o” at the<br />
beginning – Oleksandr – but in many documents and<br />
sources he is referred to as Aleksandr, Aleksander, Alexander<br />
or Aleksandar. However, everybody knows him<br />
by the nickname Sasha. With his surname, there are no<br />
problems or different versions. The root <strong>of</strong> the word in<br />
Russian and several Slavic languages is “volk”, which<br />
translates into “wolf”. In some ways, Volkov was indeed<br />
a wolf around the basket: tall, proud, strong, aggressive<br />
and always with a hunger ... for a win.<br />
Pioneer in the NBA<br />
Sasha Volkov was one <strong>of</strong> the few <strong>European</strong> players<br />
who, at the end <strong>of</strong> the 1980s, opened a new page in the<br />
NBA and, in some ways, in the history <strong>of</strong> basketball in<br />
general. When Bulgarian Georgi Glouchkov – the first<br />
<strong>European</strong> ever in the NBA – Spaniard Fernando Martin,<br />
Lithuanian Sarunas Marciulionis, Croatian Drazen Petrovic,<br />
and Serbians Vlade Divac and Zarko Paspalj landed<br />
in the NBA, they had to overcome many obstacles, most<br />
<strong>of</strong> all a total lack <strong>of</strong> trust from American head coaches.<br />
Until then, the NBA had just two <strong>European</strong> players<br />
with important roles, but both had been to American<br />
colleges: Detlef Schrempf <strong>of</strong> Germany and Rik Smits<br />
<strong>of</strong> the Netherlands. Thanks to these players the NBA<br />
doors are today open to many talented players.<br />
Before making history in the NBA, Volkov earned<br />
prestige and respect in Europe. To the international<br />
eyes, he made his national team debut at the second<br />
FIBA U19 <strong>Basketball</strong> World Cup in 1983 in Palma de Mallorca,<br />
Spain. The USSR lost the title game to the United<br />
States 82-78. Volkov scored 4 points in that final, while<br />
his tournament average was 6.1 points. Two years later,<br />
Volkov made his senior national team debut at the 1985<br />
EuroBasket in Stuttgart, Germany. He was part <strong>of</strong> a<br />
great USSR team with Arvydas Sabonis, Valdis Valters,<br />
Marciulionis, Valeri Tikhonenko, Rimas Kurtinaitis, Aleksandar<br />
Belostenny, Sergejus Jovaisa, Vladimir Tkatchenko,<br />
Sergei Tarakanov and Andrey Lopatov. Almost<br />
the same team would triumph at the 1988 Olympics in<br />
Seoul three years later. Volkov’s average at EuroBasket<br />
in 1985 was 7.8 points, well short <strong>of</strong> the 20 per game by<br />
Sabonis, 16.4 by Valters or 15.5 by Kurtinaitis, but he<br />
was a key part <strong>of</strong> a group that was crowned <strong>European</strong><br />
champion. Indeed, in beating Czechoslovakia 120-89 in<br />
the final, Volkov played 29 minutes, scored 18 points<br />
and grabbed 12 rebounds. Only three players scored<br />
more than him: Valters (27), Kurtinaitis (24) and Sabonis<br />
(20 plus 15 boards). But Volkov, at age 21, was<br />
already an important player on the team, an ideal power<br />
forward to cover the space between the backcourt<br />
players and the towering Sabonis.<br />
Those days were the start <strong>of</strong> great friendships among<br />
players <strong>of</strong> several nationalities <strong>of</strong> the former USSR. The<br />
team was formed by Lithuanians, Russians, Ukrainians<br />
and Latvians who, not much later, would play for their<br />
Oleksandr Volkov<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
V
Vladimir Stankovic<br />
own countries. But the disintegration <strong>of</strong> a former country<br />
could not destroy the bond among those players, forged<br />
on the court while defending the same jersey.<br />
One year later, with almost the same team at the<br />
1986 World Cup in Spain, the USSR lost the title game<br />
87-85 to the United States, led by Kenny Smith and<br />
David Robinson, with 23 points each. In 30 minutes,<br />
Volkov scored 8 points, a little below his average in the<br />
tourney (11.2). That same year, Volkov was picked in the<br />
NBA draft’s sixth round by the Atlanta Hawks. A year<br />
later, at the 1987 EuroBasket in Athens, Volkov and the<br />
USSR lost the title to Greece 103-<strong>101</strong> in overtime, after<br />
having tied 89-89 at the end <strong>of</strong> regulation time.<br />
Olympic champion<br />
Before going to the NBA, Volkov and his teammates<br />
would reach the peak <strong>of</strong> their careers at the 1988 Olympics<br />
in Seoul. After losing the first game <strong>of</strong> the group<br />
stage to Yugoslavia, the USSR team won all its remaining<br />
games. In the semifinals, they defeated the United<br />
States 82-76, and in the gold-medal game, the victim<br />
was Yugoslavia by the score <strong>of</strong> 76-63. In 26 minutes,<br />
Volkov scored 7 points and pulled down 3 boards.<br />
From 1981 to 1986, Volkov played with Budivelnyk<br />
Kiev and from 1986 to 1988 he was part <strong>of</strong> the CSKA<br />
Moscow team. For the 1988-89 season, he was back<br />
to Budivelnyk. Right before his trip to America, Volkov<br />
played the 1989 EuroBasket in Zagreb and completed<br />
his medal collection. In addition to the previous gold<br />
and silver medals, he took a bronze after the USSR’s<br />
surprising loss to Greece in the semis, 81-80. Volkov’s<br />
scoring average was 17.2 points in the tournament.<br />
It was also the last tournament for the USSR with the<br />
Lithuanian players like Sabonis, Marciulionis and Valdemaras<br />
Chomicius.<br />
Volkov’s NBA debut for Atlanta took place on November<br />
3, 1989, in a game won by Indiana, 126-103. It<br />
was just a symbolic debut because Volkov played only<br />
1 minute and couldn’t contribute anything. Officially,<br />
however, his NBA adventure started that day. It was<br />
a game full <strong>of</strong> stars. On Indiana’s side, we could find<br />
Reggie Miller (36 points), Schrempf and Vern Fleming,<br />
while Atlanta had Dominique Wilkins, Moses Malone<br />
and Doc Rivers. In three years in the NBA, Volkov played<br />
149 games with an average <strong>of</strong> 14.1 minutes, 6.8 points<br />
and 2.6 rebounds. I think that, by today’s standards, he<br />
would probably double those figures.<br />
Already as an NBA player, Volkov attended the 1990<br />
World Cup in Buenos Aires and he won his second silver<br />
medal as the USSR was defeated by Yugoslavia in the<br />
final 92-75. With 15 points, Volkov was his team’s best<br />
scorer, along with Gundars Vetra. On the other side,<br />
there was the Yugoslav “Dream Team” with Drazen<br />
Petrovic, Vlade Divac, Toni Kukoc, Zarko Paspalj, Zoran<br />
Savic, Velimir Perasovic, Jure Zdovc, Zeljko Obradovic<br />
and Arijan Komazec.<br />
Volkov’s last great international competition was<br />
the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona. He played for the<br />
CIS, a team formed by players from the former Soviet<br />
republics except for the Baltic countries. One <strong>of</strong> those<br />
Baltic countries, Lithuania, won the bronze medal. The<br />
CIS lost out on a medal by losing to Croatia in the semifinals<br />
75-74 in a game that Volkov is probably not fond<br />
<strong>of</strong> since he missed two free throws down the stretch.<br />
Back to Europe<br />
After three years in the NBA, but with several serious<br />
injuries along the way, Volkov returned to Europe in<br />
1992. His first stop was Italy with Reggio Calabria. In 27<br />
Italian League games, he averaged 19.3 points. He then<br />
380<br />
381
had <strong>of</strong>fers from FC Barcelona and Panathinaikos and he<br />
chose the Greek team, with whom he reached the 1994<br />
EuroLeague Final Four in Tel Aviv. He played a great season,<br />
with 18.2 points and 8.1 rebounds in Europe, as<br />
well as 14.6 points per game in the Greek League.<br />
Despite his two great performances at the Final Four<br />
– 32 points against Olympiacos in the semifinals and 29<br />
against Barcelona in the game for third place – Panathinaikos<br />
could only finish third. I think that was the best<br />
Volkov performance I ever saw live. The following year<br />
he went to archrival Olympiacos, with EuroLeague averages<br />
<strong>of</strong> 12.3 points, 6.5 rebounds and 2.0 assists, while<br />
he put up 15.8 points per game in the Greek League.<br />
Back problems forced him to retire at age 31, even<br />
though he would be back for a brief period <strong>of</strong> time a little<br />
later. In the preliminary round for the 1999 EuroBasket<br />
in France, he decided to help Ukraine. He was back<br />
on the court at age 35, and he did pretty well. Against<br />
Spain, he had 14 points and 8 boards, against Israel 8<br />
plus 8, and against England 13 plus 7. But Ukraine didn’t<br />
manage to qualify.<br />
In the year 2000, Volkov founded a new club, BC<br />
Kyiv, where he played until 2002, when he retired for<br />
good. Since then he has become a politician. He was<br />
the minister <strong>of</strong> sports in his country, was elected several<br />
times to the Ukrainian parliament, and served as<br />
president <strong>of</strong> the national basketball federation. For the<br />
2011 EuroBasket in Lithuania, Volkov signed his former<br />
coach in Atlanta, Mike Fratello, as the national team<br />
coach for Ukraine. With Fratello still on the bench at the<br />
2013 EuroBasket in Slovenia, Ukraine finished sixth,<br />
ahead <strong>of</strong> teams like Serbia, Italy and Greece, and was<br />
able to qualify to the World Cup <strong>of</strong> 2014 in Spain – a first<br />
for the country.<br />
Sasha Volkov, the symbol <strong>of</strong> Ukraine. He was a great<br />
player who continued to do great things for his country<br />
in basketball.<br />
Oleksandr Volkov<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
V
Gennady<br />
Volnov<br />
383
Europe’s<br />
winningest<br />
player<br />
The history <strong>of</strong> <strong>European</strong> basketball<br />
doesn’t have anyone quite like Gennady<br />
Volnov. He played at six FIBA<br />
EuroBaskets and won six gold medals!<br />
He also won four Olympic medals and<br />
two from the World Cup, giving him 12<br />
trophies won in the three most important international<br />
competitions. It’s true that Kresimir Cosic<br />
<strong>of</strong> Yugoslavia had 14 medals in the same competitions,<br />
but Volnov outdid him at the club level. While<br />
Cosic was never a EuroLeague champ, Volnov won<br />
continental titles with CSKA Moscow in 1961, 1963<br />
and 1969.<br />
Gennady was born in Moscow on November 28,<br />
1939, and he passed away in Moscow on July 15,<br />
2008. He was a versatile player and, as Sergei Belov<br />
used to say, ahead <strong>of</strong> his time. At 2.01 meters tall,<br />
Volnov played three positions: shooting guard, small<br />
forward and power forward. His natural position was<br />
close to the rim due to his physical features. He was a<br />
great rebounder, but also shot well from long range.<br />
Aside from his qualities as a player, he was a natural<br />
leader and served as the captain for both CSKA and<br />
the USSR national team for many years.<br />
The career <strong>of</strong> Gennady Volnov – his friends called<br />
him Genka – started in 1956 with Burevestnik, a<br />
humble club from Moscow. In 1959, at 20 years old,<br />
he moved on to CSKA Moscow along with Anatoly<br />
Astakhov and Armenak Alachachan. That very same<br />
year, he made his debut with the national team at<br />
the EuroBasket in Istanbul. There he won his first<br />
gold medal, even though, since he was a rookie, his<br />
contribution was not prominent. In fact, Volnov averaged<br />
3.8 points per game and he didn’t even take<br />
the floor in the decisive games. The following year, he<br />
took part in the 1960 Olympics in Rome and there he<br />
saw a genius <strong>of</strong> the game. Watching American player<br />
Oscar Robertson, a super-modern guard at the time,<br />
opened for Volnov new perspectives on how to play.<br />
He understood that basketball was not only about<br />
shooting and physical strength, but also about imagination<br />
and creativity, that the game could be fun<br />
without the systems created by the coach.<br />
I saw Volnov for the first time at the 1961 EuroBasket<br />
in Belgrade, even though I must admit that I had<br />
my eyes on Janis Krumins, the first giant <strong>of</strong> <strong>European</strong><br />
basketball. At 2.18 meters tall, Krumins looked like a<br />
colossus and attracted eyes everywhere he went. In<br />
Belgrade, with an average <strong>of</strong> 11.7 points, Volnov won<br />
his second gold medal. He repeated that feat in Wroclaw<br />
in 1963 (10.7 ppg.), Moscow 1965 (12.6 ppg.),<br />
Helsinki 1967 (11.1 ppg.) and Naples 1969 (7.0 ppg.).<br />
In between EuroBaskets he also shined at World<br />
Cups in 1963 in Rio de Janeiro (bronze, 14.1 points<br />
with a high <strong>of</strong> 20 against the USA) and Montevideo<br />
1967 (gold, 11.1 ppg.). At the Olympics, he won four<br />
medals and, together with Belov, he is the basketball<br />
player with the most Olympic medals. In addition to<br />
the silver in Rome he won another in Tokyo in 1964<br />
(9.8 ppg.), in Mexico 1968 (7.4 ppg.) he took the<br />
bronze, and the peak <strong>of</strong> his Olympic career was the<br />
1972 gold in Munich (6.8 ppg.).<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Gennady Volnov<br />
V
Vladimir Stankovic<br />
Glorious comeback<br />
After the 1969 EuroBasket in Naples, due to lack<br />
<strong>of</strong> communication with coach Aleksandar Gomelskiy,<br />
Volnov left the national team and at 30 years old he<br />
practically put an end to his career because he didn’t<br />
want to play for any team other than CSKA. He did<br />
not play in the 1970 World Cup in Ljubljana, where<br />
the USSR won the bronze medal, and he was not at<br />
the 1971 EuroBasket in Germany either, even though<br />
the coach there was Vladimir Kondrashin. However,<br />
for the 1972 Olympics in Munich, Kondrashin realized<br />
that a charismatic and experienced player like<br />
Volnov could help the team. Gennady accepted and<br />
wore the Soviet jersey again. He didn’t play much,<br />
but Kondrashin wasn’t expecting double-doubles<br />
from him either. He needed Volnov as a locker room<br />
leader. Volnov obliged and even scored some points:<br />
12 against Senegal and Poland, 11 against the Philippines,<br />
6 against Germany and 2 against Italy. After<br />
sitting out against Yugoslavia and Cuba, in the historic<br />
final against the USA, he didn’t score, but his 4<br />
fouls showed his fight on defense. The USSR won the<br />
gold medal after the famous replaying <strong>of</strong> the last 3<br />
seconds, on a basket by Alexander Belov. The 1972<br />
Olympic silver medals are still in the vaults <strong>of</strong> the<br />
Olympic Museum in Lausanne waiting for the American<br />
players to pick them up.<br />
After Munich, Volnov decided to put an end to<br />
his brilliant career and started to teach chemistry<br />
at a military academy. He played basketball with<br />
the CSKA veterans and helped the young players by<br />
showing them the tricks in his repertoire. He was a<br />
very polite man, calm and never lost his temper when<br />
opponents hit him hard, because that was the only<br />
way to stop him.<br />
384<br />
385
EuroLeague champ three times<br />
With 12 medals in the three most important international<br />
competitions, 10 Soviet League titles and<br />
three <strong>European</strong> crowns with CSKA, Volnov is one <strong>of</strong><br />
the winningest players in the history <strong>of</strong> <strong>European</strong><br />
basketball. His first EuroLeague title came in 1961<br />
against ASK Riga, to break that Latvian team’s domination<br />
after it won the first three editions <strong>of</strong> the competition,<br />
somewhat unexpectedly, between 1958 and<br />
1960. In the first game <strong>of</strong> the final, played in Riga, the<br />
ASK squad <strong>of</strong> Gomelskiy lost 62-89! Volnov scored 18<br />
points for CSKA. ASK won the second game in Moscow,<br />
but just by 5 points (66-61). Volnov scored 13<br />
points for CSKA, which won its first <strong>European</strong> title.<br />
The second title arrived in 1963 after three games<br />
against Real Madrid. The Spaniards won the first<br />
game in Madrid 86-69 with 6 points from Volnov. In<br />
the second game, CSKA won by the same 17 points,<br />
91-74, as Volnov scored 8. The following day the third<br />
game to decide the series was played. In that one, on<br />
August 1, 1963, in front <strong>of</strong> 20,000 fans, CSKA won<br />
99-80. Gennady Volnov scored 26 points and was the<br />
hero <strong>of</strong> the game.<br />
The third crown for CSKA and Volnov came in<br />
Barcelona, on April 24, 1969 – against Real Madrid<br />
again. CSKA won 103-99. It was a game full <strong>of</strong> drama<br />
that featured two overtime periods. Belov, who was<br />
a player/coach for CSKA, spent all 50 minutes on the<br />
court. Center Vladimir Andreev played the game <strong>of</strong> a<br />
lifetime (37 points, 13 rebounds) and Volnov had 12<br />
points and 2 <strong>of</strong>fensive rebounds in 37 minutes.<br />
After Volnov’s death, Belov stated that Volnov<br />
had not been properly appreciated at home. Belov<br />
described Volnov as “the pioneer <strong>of</strong> modern Soviet<br />
basketball.” Many others thought justice had not<br />
been done when, in a major survey for the best<br />
starting five ever in Soviet basketball, Volnov was not<br />
selected.<br />
One thing is sure, however. This born winner belongs<br />
among the greats.<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Gennady Volnov<br />
V
Nikola<br />
Vujcic<br />
387
Triple-double man<br />
Summer <strong>of</strong> 1995, FIBA U16 <strong>European</strong><br />
Championship in Portugal. In the title<br />
game, Croatia defeats Spain, 75-62. The<br />
many scouts who attended the game<br />
marked down a name in big red letters:<br />
Nikola Vujcic.<br />
Croatia’s number 14 played all 40 minutes <strong>of</strong> the<br />
title game, scored 18 points and grabbed 11 rebounds.<br />
It was an impressive double-double to match his performances<br />
throughout the tourney: 21.4 points and 11<br />
rebounds on average. Not even Vujcic himself had yet<br />
discovered his other talent: assists. Stats tell us that<br />
his assists average was just 0.6 in that tournament, but<br />
that was just the start <strong>of</strong> his career. He was 17 years old,<br />
having been born on June 14, 1978, in Vrgorac, close to<br />
Split, in Croatia. In the final in Portugal, he made 2 <strong>of</strong> 7<br />
three-pointers, not a very high percentage, but when a<br />
2.11-meter big man shoots so many threes, something<br />
catches your attention right away.<br />
In the 1995-96 season, Vujcic was already playing<br />
for the first team <strong>of</strong> KK Split, which then was called<br />
Croatia Osiguranje then. He got jersey number 7, probably<br />
not by chance, since before that it had been worn<br />
by Toni Kukoc, the club’s best player ever and then an<br />
NBA star with the Chicago Bulls <strong>of</strong> Michael Jordan and<br />
Scottie Pippen. In his first season, still a junior, Vujcic<br />
averaged 6.6 points and 2.4 rebounds. The following<br />
season he improved to 6.8 points and 3.2 rebounds,<br />
and on March 22 he won his first trophy, the Croatian<br />
Cup, beating Cibona 72-67. Josip Vrankovic, Damir Tvrdic<br />
and Nikola Prkacin were the best players for the winners,<br />
but the biggest talent was Nikola Vujcic. He stayed<br />
with Split for four more years, played the EuroLeague in<br />
1996-97 and 1997-98, the Saporta Cup in 1999-2000<br />
(14.1 points and 6.9 rebounds) and the FIBA SuproLeague<br />
in 2000-01 (15.6 points, 6.7 rebounds). At the<br />
1999 EuroBasket in France, Vujcic made his debut with<br />
the Croatian national team (8.8 points and 2.8 boards)<br />
playing alongside his idol, Toni Kukoc.<br />
A Maccabi player, French champion<br />
In the summer <strong>of</strong> 2001, at 23 years old, Vujcic accepted<br />
an <strong>of</strong>fer from Maccabi Tel Aviv, where he was<br />
to fill in for Nate Huffman. But the American big man<br />
decided to stay one more season and so Maccabi decided<br />
to send Vujcic on loan to ASVEL Villeurbanne in<br />
France. The result was surprising for everyone: ASVEL<br />
won the French League for the first time in 21 years.<br />
In the quarterfinals, ASVEL eliminated Cholet 2-0. In<br />
the semis, it stopped Le Mans 2-1 and then swept the<br />
finals, too, against Pau-Orthez, 2-0. The best players<br />
for the champs were Yann Bonato, Kyle Hill, Reggie<br />
Freeman, Nikola Radulovic and the young rookie, Nikola<br />
Vujcic. Bogdan Tanjevic, the Montenegrin magician who<br />
had discovered many young talents – Nando Gentile,<br />
Dejan Bodiroga and Gregor Fucka, among others – also<br />
trusted Vujcic on that ASVEL team, and things worked<br />
out for both <strong>of</strong> them.<br />
Vujcic returned to Maccabi the following season,<br />
and he would play there for six campaigns, with his best<br />
years soon coinciding with a golden era for the Israeli<br />
club. Their first season didn’t go so well, as Maccabi<br />
finished second in its Top 16 group in 2002-03, with a<br />
4-2 record, after Benetton Treviso, who had won all six<br />
games including two against Maccabi (93-80 in Treviso<br />
despite Vujcic’s 28 points, and 84-83 in Tel Aviv). Vujcic,<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Nikola Vujcic<br />
V
Vladimir Stankovic<br />
nonetheless, had an impressive EuroLeague season<br />
with 17.6 points and 7.1 rebounds per game.<br />
Double EuroLeague champ<br />
The awaited moment came at the 2004 Final Four,<br />
played in Tel Aviv, where Maccabi had advanced thanks<br />
to Derrick Sharp’s miracle three-pointer against Zalgiris<br />
in the last game <strong>of</strong> the Top 16. Maccabi had its biggest<br />
problem in the semifinals against CSKA Moscow but<br />
still won 93-85 as Vujcic had 14 points, 7 rebounds, 2<br />
assists and 2 steals. In the title game against Skipper<br />
Bologna, the Yellow team rolled to an unforgettable,<br />
multiple record-breaking 118-74 win to lift the trophy.<br />
Vujcic was needed for just 9 points and added 1 rebound,<br />
way below his season averages <strong>of</strong> 16.8 points,<br />
6.9 rebounds and 3 assists. But he was nonetheless a<br />
major contributor to his first EuroLeague title, having<br />
been named to the All-EuroLeague team for the second<br />
consecutive year.<br />
The following season, Maccabi was the first team to<br />
repeat as EuroLeague champ since Jugoplastika Split’s<br />
three-peat from 1989 to 1991. In the Final Four played<br />
in Moscow, Maccabi defeated Panathinaikos in the<br />
semis 91-82 with Derrick Sharp as the main scorer with<br />
20 points while Vujcic had 11 points and 5 rebounds.<br />
In the title game, Maccabi downed Tau Ceramica 90-78.<br />
Sarunas Jasikevicius was the hero with 22 points, and<br />
Vujcic contributed 13 points plus 7 boards.<br />
Thanks to his experience but, most <strong>of</strong> all, to his talent,<br />
Vujcic started adding assists – and many <strong>of</strong> them<br />
– to his repertoire. On November 3, 2005, he entered<br />
the history books by becoming the first player to ever<br />
record a triple-double in the EuroLeague. It was against<br />
Prokom for a 95-68 Maccabi win, and in 32 minutes Vujcic<br />
scored 11 points, grabbed 12 rebounds and dished<br />
11 assists! At the end <strong>of</strong> that season, Maccabi was close<br />
to completing its own three-peat. In the Prague Final<br />
Four, Maccabi defeated Tau Ceramica in the semis 85-<br />
70 with a great Maceo Baston (20 points, 7 rebounds)<br />
and Anthony Parker (19 points). Vujcic threatened another<br />
triple-double with 18 points, 8 rebounds and 7<br />
assists. However, in the title game, CSKA Moscow was<br />
the better team, winning 73-69, as Vujcic didn’t have<br />
the best <strong>of</strong> nights (4 points, 5 rebounds and 1 assist).<br />
In the 2006-07 season, Vujcic recorded another<br />
triple-double, this one during a 110-87 victory against<br />
Union Olimpija. He finished with 27 points, 10 rebounds<br />
and 10 assists – and all that in only 26 minutes!<br />
Vujcic was a complete player, with many resources<br />
on both <strong>of</strong>fense and defense. For a big man, he had a<br />
great long-range shot, all the way out to three-point<br />
range. His great advantage was his technique and his<br />
long hands. He also had that sixth sense to get good<br />
position and grab the ball after a teammate missed a<br />
shot. His shooting had perfect timing. At the end <strong>of</strong> the<br />
2005, 2006 and 2007 seasons, he was included in the<br />
All-Euroleague First Team.<br />
Neven Spahija, Croatia’s head coach at the 2005<br />
EuroBasket in Belgrade, where Croatia deserved much<br />
better than seventh place (having lost to Spain <strong>101</strong>-85<br />
in the quarterfinals after overtime), was also Vujcic’s<br />
coach at Maccabi for the 2006-07 season. He told me<br />
this about Nikola:<br />
“For his characteristics and his character, he was<br />
one <strong>of</strong> the best players I ever coached in my career. He<br />
was a point guard playing ‘five’, a coach’s brain on the<br />
court. His legs were a bit slow, especially at the beginning<br />
<strong>of</strong> his career, but with hard work from his coaches,<br />
he improved that, too. His other qualities made up for<br />
that lack <strong>of</strong> speed in his legs. Personally, he helped me a<br />
388<br />
389
lot when I got to Maccabi because it coincided with the<br />
time that many staple names on the club – like coach<br />
Pini Gershon, or players like Parker, Baston and Jasikevicius<br />
– had just left.”<br />
Gone and back to Tel Aviv<br />
Spahija confirms what anyone who experienced a<br />
Maccabi game with Vujcic could see and feel: he is an<br />
idol in Israel. His pr<strong>of</strong>essionalism, combined with his<br />
great qualities both as a player and as a person, made<br />
him one <strong>of</strong> the most beloved players by the Maccabi<br />
fans. Vujcic spoke perfect Hebrew, something not many<br />
foreigners who played in Maccabi could do, and that<br />
also generated even more respect.<br />
In May <strong>of</strong> 2008, when Euroleague <strong>Basketball</strong> celebrated<br />
50 Years <strong>of</strong> <strong>European</strong> Club Competitions at the<br />
Final Four in Madrid, Maccabi played the championship<br />
game once again, but just like two years earlier, CSKA<br />
was better, 91-77. It was Vujcic’s most discreet performance<br />
in a final: 2 points and 5 rebounds.<br />
After winning two EuroLeague titles and losing two<br />
finals, winning five Israeli Leagues and four Israeli Cups,<br />
Vujcic left Israel and joined Olympiacos Piraeus. In his<br />
first season, 2008-09, the Reds reached the Berlin Final<br />
Four and fell to archrival Panathinaikos in the semis by a<br />
single shot. The following season, Olympiacos won the<br />
Greek Cup and reached the Final Four again in Paris, but<br />
this time FC Barcelona won the 2010 title over the Reds<br />
in the season’s last game. Vujcic was not a starter anymore,<br />
he played about 14 minutes, and his averages<br />
went down to 7.4 points, 2.7 rebounds and 1.7 assists.<br />
However, at 32 years old, he signed for Efes Pilsen, the<br />
team where he would play his last EuroLeague games<br />
with averages <strong>of</strong> 6.5 points, 3.2 rebounds and 2.1 assists.<br />
Despite his playing just 10 full seasons in the new<br />
EuroLeague, Vujcic’s accumulated index rating <strong>of</strong><br />
3,047 was the highest career total for many years. His<br />
competition highs are a 46 index rating against Union<br />
Olimpija, 33 points against Roma in 2007, 15 rebounds<br />
against KRKA Novo Mesto and those 11 assists against<br />
Prokom in 2005. Of course, one could not imagine the<br />
EuroLeague All-Decade team without Nikola Vujcic. He<br />
will be remembered also as the best passing big man<br />
<strong>of</strong> his generation, and perhaps many to come, with 524<br />
lifetime assists. He is the only center in the EuroLeague<br />
this century to average more than 2.5 assists per game.<br />
At 33 years old, Vujcic went back home to Split, but<br />
he didn’t want to stop playing just yet. Officially, he<br />
was the club’s sports director, but the team needed<br />
his points and rebounds, so he helped the youngsters<br />
survive in the Adriatic League with decent numbers: 17<br />
points and 6 rebounds and later 11.9 points and 4.7<br />
rebounds in the 2012-13 season. He was 35 years old.<br />
Seeing that Split wasn’t what it used to be and having<br />
tried his best to change that, Vujcic decided to go back<br />
to where he was loved the most, Tel Aviv, where he is<br />
now the general manager <strong>of</strong> Maccabi, but also much<br />
more. His authority, experience, character and vision<br />
make Nikola Vujcic a man loved by everyone in Tel Aviv.<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Nikola Vujcic<br />
V
Christian<br />
Welp<br />
391
A double<br />
Euro-champ<br />
Every player dreams <strong>of</strong> an important game<br />
with a close score being decided by his basket<br />
in the last seconds. Many dream about<br />
it, but few can say they actually lived that<br />
kind <strong>of</strong> experience. Christian Welp – who<br />
was born on January 2, 1964, in Delmenhorst,<br />
Germany and passed away on March 1, 2015, in<br />
Seattle, Washington – was one <strong>of</strong> them. He scored the<br />
most important points <strong>of</strong> his career during EuroBasket<br />
1993 in his native Germany.<br />
The opponent in the title game was Russia, the big<br />
favorite against a German team that had already made<br />
a surprise run by reaching that final. However, the<br />
hosts wanted more. Down the stretch, the Russians led<br />
63-68, but soon the score was tied at 68-68. A foul by<br />
Michael Jackel over Sergei Babkov allowed the Russians<br />
to jump ahead again, 68-70. German coach Svetislav<br />
Pesic called for a play for Welp. Kai Nurnberger crossed<br />
the halfcourt line, held on to the ball for a few more<br />
seconds and passed to Welp. He was rather far away<br />
from the rim for a player <strong>of</strong> his size, 2.13 meters, but<br />
Welp was one <strong>of</strong> those big men who could connect from<br />
anywhere. He hit a perfect shot worth two points, but<br />
it came with a bonus as Mikhail Mikhailov fouled him.<br />
It was a possible three-point play, but the free throw<br />
had to go in first. More than 12,000 fans who packed<br />
the Olympic Pavillion in Munich – which had been the<br />
stage <strong>of</strong> the infamous three final seconds <strong>of</strong> the 1972<br />
Olympics final between the USA and the USSR – were<br />
on the brink <strong>of</strong> a nervous breakdown two decades later.<br />
The score was now 70-70 and three seconds were left<br />
in this game, as well, and their best player was on the<br />
foul line. Keeping a cool head, Welp downed the shot<br />
that made Germany the <strong>European</strong> champ.<br />
It was one <strong>of</strong> the biggest upsets ever at EuroBasket.<br />
Pesic, the German national head coach then, told me a<br />
few stories about Welp.<br />
“He was, without a doubt, one <strong>of</strong> the best centers I<br />
ever coached in my career”, Pesic said. “He had everything<br />
a big man should have: a steady hand, rebounds,<br />
good passing, a sense for the game. He was the complete<br />
package and I am sure he was among the best<br />
pure centers in the world.”<br />
About that famous last play against Russia:<br />
“You don’t have to be a great coach to know that the<br />
decisive shot must be taken by your best man. And our<br />
best man was Christian, a game winner. The plan was<br />
simple: getting the ball to the other side and wait for the<br />
right moment to give him the ball. The rest is history...”<br />
That wasn’t the only masterpiece by Welp at that<br />
tournament. In the quarterfinals against Spain, with a<br />
few minutes to go, the Spaniards were dominating 64-<br />
70, but the hosts came back to tie 72-72 on a bucket<br />
by Welp. When overtime was almost over, the score<br />
showed 77-77, but Welp buried Spain’s hopes with a<br />
basket at the buzzer that sent Germany into euphoria<br />
– and the semifinals.<br />
Sabonis, Petrovic, Welp...<br />
Most biographies about Christian Welp start with<br />
his studies in the United States. First at East Bremerton<br />
high school and later at Washington University, but it<br />
is also true that when Welp landed in the States at 17<br />
years old, most <strong>of</strong> his talent was already in plain sight.<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Christian Welp<br />
W
Vladimir Stankovic<br />
At the <strong>European</strong> Championship for Cadets in Greece in<br />
1981, he was already part <strong>of</strong> a great generation <strong>of</strong> 1964<br />
which would give so much to the game <strong>of</strong> basketball,<br />
with names like Arvydas Sabonis and Valery Tikhonenko<br />
(USSR); Drazen Petrovic, Stojko Vrankovic and Velimir<br />
Perasovic (Yugoslavia); Jose Montero (Spain)... A<br />
great year.<br />
In the final, the USSR defeated Italy by 72-57 while<br />
in the bronze medal game, Germany topped Finland<br />
78-64. One Christian Welp scored 32 points. Against<br />
Turkey, he bagged 28; against Sweden 24. His average<br />
was 18.4 plus many rebounds, even if there is no data<br />
about that number. Drazen Petrovic led the tourney<br />
with 32.4 points per game, but Yugoslavia finished fifth,<br />
while Germany, who until then never had any success in<br />
youth categories, won the bronze.<br />
One year later, at the 1982 <strong>European</strong> Championships<br />
for Junior Men in Bulgaria, Germany managed<br />
to have together three <strong>of</strong> its diamonds: Detlef<br />
Schrempf, Gunther Behnke and Welp. Germany<br />
finished fifth, but the three <strong>of</strong> them had main roles.<br />
Schrempf averaged 18.3 points, followed by Behnke<br />
(14.3) and Welp (13.9).<br />
During the autumn <strong>of</strong> 1982, Welp took an important<br />
step in his career and moved to the United States. After<br />
high school, he went to Washington University, where<br />
he coincided with Schrempf. The two Germans started<br />
writing history in the country that invented basketball.<br />
Welp finished his studies as the top scorer ever in the<br />
college, with 2,073 points (average <strong>of</strong> 16.1) and 995 rebounds<br />
(7.7). In 1986 he the player <strong>of</strong> the year in the Pacific<br />
10 conference <strong>of</strong> the NCAA. Nobody was surprised<br />
when he was chosen number 16 in the 1987 draft by<br />
Philadelphia. He was to be the complement to Charles<br />
Barkley.<br />
However, that December, after only 10 games, he<br />
suffered a serious knee injury when his NBA career was<br />
just starting. He slipped on the wet floor, which was<br />
over an ice rink. He was back for the 1988-89 season,<br />
as a bench player, and averaged 3.4 points and 2.7<br />
rebounds. Pesic is convinced that Welp never fully recovered<br />
from that injury, despite having accomplished<br />
good things after that.<br />
After two years with the 76ers, he played one season<br />
with the San Antonio Spurs and the Golden State<br />
Warriors. After 109 games in the NBA averaging 3.3<br />
points and 2.4 rebounds, he decided to travel back to<br />
Europe. He signed for Bayer Leverkusen <strong>of</strong> his native<br />
Germany, and by then, the best team in the country. He<br />
stayed there for six seasons winning as many league<br />
titles.<br />
Triumph in Rome<br />
For the 1996-97 season, Dusan Ivkovic was the head<br />
coach at Olympiacos Piraeus and was looking for a tall<br />
player who could help Panagiotis Fasoulas and Dragan<br />
Tarlac. He signed Welp, who met expectations. When<br />
Olympiacos reached the Rome Final Four, Welp was 33<br />
years old. He only played 17.8 minutes per game but<br />
contributed what was expected <strong>of</strong> him: experience plus<br />
6.2 points and 3.5 rebounds. In semis, the Reds defeated<br />
Olimpija Ljubljana by 74-65, and in the title game,<br />
they beat FC Barcelona by 73-58 behind the great David<br />
Rivers, who scored 26 points.<br />
With his mission accomplished in Greece – where<br />
he won the triple crown with the Euroleague, the Greek<br />
League and the Greek Cup – Welp returned to Germany,<br />
but this time to ALBA Berlin, where coach Pesic awaited<br />
him with open arms. In the 1997-98 season, ALBA<br />
reached the quarterfinals <strong>of</strong> the EuroLeague but fell to<br />
392<br />
393
looked the part also, but for technique, shot and sense<br />
<strong>of</strong> the game, he was an all-around player.<br />
The sad news reached us on March 1, 2015, from Seattle,<br />
the city where he lived: Christian Welp had dead.<br />
A heart attack put an end to his life at just 51 years old.<br />
However, we could be able to hear the Welp name on<br />
the basketball courts again, as Collin, one <strong>of</strong> his sons,<br />
is a young player now, too. Welp, a name to remember.<br />
Christian Welp<br />
AEK Athens. For German basketball, however, being<br />
among the best eight teams was quite a feat. His seventh<br />
German League title was a consolation prize. He<br />
tried to play one more season, signing for Reggio Calabria<br />
in Italy, but after 12 games, and being aware that<br />
he could not deliver at the level he wanted, he decided<br />
to put an end to his career.<br />
I was fortunate to see Welp many times, the first<br />
time at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, and the last<br />
at the 1995 EuroBasket in Athens. In January <strong>of</strong> 1996, I<br />
interviewed him before a game between FC Barcelona<br />
and Bayer Leverkusen. A photo <strong>of</strong> that interview, published<br />
in El Mundo Deportivo newspaper, is the souvenir<br />
I had from that interview with a great player. He<br />
was not your typical center. He was tall alright, and he<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
W
Dominique<br />
Wilkins<br />
395
An American<br />
from Paris<br />
In 1951, the movie “An American in Paris” was<br />
named Best Picture by the Academy <strong>of</strong> Motion Picture<br />
Arts and Sciences. The famed musical cleaned<br />
up with six Academy Awards as the combination<br />
<strong>of</strong> the dancing <strong>of</strong> stars Gene Kelly and Leslie Caron<br />
and the music composed by George Gershwin,<br />
worded by older brother Ira and orchestrated by<br />
Saul Chaplin, conquered the world. Nine years later,<br />
a true American was born in Paris and his personal<br />
history has always been related to the French capital.<br />
Jacques Dominique Wilkins was born in Paris on January<br />
12, 1960, and later reached one <strong>of</strong> his greatest<br />
triumphs in Paris. It was there, on April 11, 1996, that<br />
Dominique Wilkins had one <strong>of</strong> the most memorable<br />
days in his brilliant career: he became a EuroLeague<br />
champion.<br />
Wilkins had been a nine-time all-star, was voted to<br />
the All-NBA team seven times, won a pair <strong>of</strong> slam dunk<br />
contests, and was the league’s top scorer in 1986 with<br />
30.3 points per game. Despite his brilliance, Wilkins’s<br />
Atlanta Hawks never managed to win the title. He would<br />
have to leave the NBA and join Panathinaikos Athens<br />
in Greece to lift his first club trophy. But let’s not get<br />
ahead <strong>of</strong> ourselves.<br />
Spectacular dunks<br />
Dominique Wilkins was born in Paris because his<br />
father, a member <strong>of</strong> the United States Air Force, was<br />
working in the French capital. I am guessing that his two<br />
very French names have something to do with that fact,<br />
too. However, when it was time to go to school, Dominique’s<br />
family was already back in America, in the small<br />
coastal town <strong>of</strong> Washington, North Carolina. There, a<br />
young Wilkins led his high school team to back-to-back<br />
state titles in 1978 and 1979. From there he moved on<br />
to play college basketball at the University <strong>of</strong> Georgia,<br />
which ironically enough is located in the city <strong>of</strong> Athens.<br />
Wilkins became a star for the Bulldogs and was named<br />
the 1981 South Eastern Conference player <strong>of</strong> the year.<br />
Three years at Georgia were enough for Wilkins<br />
to prove his worth and readiness for the next level. In<br />
the 1982 NBA draft, he was selected with the number<br />
3 overall pick, behind James Worthy and Terry Cummings.<br />
Wilkins was drafted by the Utah Jazz, but in<br />
what would turn out to be a one-sided deal, his rights<br />
were acquired by Atlanta in exchange for John Drew,<br />
Freeman Williams and cash.<br />
Thus, began a brilliant NBA career. When he retired,<br />
Wilkins had played in 1,074 games, scored 26,668<br />
points (24.8 ppg.) and pulled down 7,169 rebounds (6.7<br />
rpg.). His best season came in 1985-86 when Wilkins<br />
led all NBA scorers with 30.3 points per game. He<br />
scored a lot <strong>of</strong> points and did so in spectacular fashion.<br />
His enormous physical power allowed him to execute<br />
unbelievable plays, including thrilling dunks. Accordingly,<br />
he was dubbed The Human Highlight Film. At the<br />
1985 and 1990 all-star games, Wilkins beat the great<br />
Michael Jordan in the dunk contest with his 360-degree<br />
slam. It was simply unforgettable.<br />
At the 1994 World Championships in Toronto, Canada,<br />
a 34-year-old Wilkins won the gold medal with the<br />
Team USA along with Shaquille O’Neal, Reggie Miller,<br />
Joe Dumars, Alonzo Mourning, Kevin Johnson and<br />
Mark Price. Wilkins, with a total <strong>101</strong> points (12.6 ppg.)<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Dominique Wilkins<br />
W
Vladimir Stankovic<br />
was the third-best scorer on the second “Dream Team”,<br />
behind only O’Neal (144) and Miller (137). And in the title<br />
game against Russia, Wilkins led the Americans with<br />
20 points en route to a 137-91 victory.<br />
In Athens for the titles<br />
When he was 35, Wilkins decided to leave the NBA<br />
and try his luck in Europe. Many doubted that a player<br />
his age, despite his experience and individual qualities,<br />
would be able to contribute much. They were wrong.<br />
Apart from a new challenge, Wilkins had four million<br />
reasons to sign for the Greens <strong>of</strong> Athens, as that was<br />
the number that <strong>European</strong> media mentioned when<br />
talking about his contract: $4 million for a single season.<br />
In Athens, Wilkins found a solid team with a great<br />
point guard (Panagiotis Giannakis), a good young<br />
forward (Fragiskos Alvertis) and a tower in the paint<br />
(Stojko Vrankovic). Additionally, the talented prospect<br />
Nikos Ekonomou, an experienced American playmaker<br />
<strong>of</strong> Greek heritage, John Korfas, and Greek players Evangelos<br />
Vourtzoumis and Tzanis Satvrakopoulos made<br />
for a strong squad. Panathinaikos had failed in its two<br />
previous Final Four appearances, in Tel Aviv 1994 and<br />
Zaragoza 1995, but that didn’t tone down the ambitions<br />
<strong>of</strong> the club to make Panathinaikos the first Greek team<br />
to become <strong>European</strong> champion. That’s why, aside from<br />
Wilkins, they had also signed Coach Bozidar Maljkovic,<br />
a three-time champ, twice with Jugoplastika Split and<br />
once with Limoges.<br />
In the beginning, the tough and demanding Maljkovic<br />
and a star like Wilkins were not a good match, but<br />
little by little Maljkovic’s work and Wilkins’s versatility<br />
started to bring results. Panathinaikos made the play<strong>of</strong>f<br />
ranked third from Group B with a 9-5 record, behind<br />
FC Barcelona (10-4) and tied with Real Madrid. In the<br />
quarterfinals, the Greens got rid <strong>of</strong> Benetton Treviso<br />
(2-1) and advanced to the Final Four in Paris. In Game 3<br />
<strong>of</strong> that series, in Treviso, Panathinaikos clinched a spot<br />
in Paris behind 26 points and 7 rebounds by Wilkins. It<br />
was his best game with Panathinaikos to that point, but<br />
the best was yet to come.<br />
Before the Final Four, Panathinaikos won the Greek<br />
Cup in March by defeating Panionios in the final, 85-74.<br />
That was the first club trophy in Wilkins’s career, but<br />
he wanted more – much more. And as usually happens<br />
with great players, Wilkins played the best when his<br />
team needed him the most. In the Final Four semifinal<br />
against CSKA Moscow, he led the way with a season-high<br />
35 points plus 8 rebounds as Panathinaikos<br />
was victorious 81-71.<br />
In the title game, on April 11, 1996, after a dramatic<br />
finish complete with some mistakes by the scorers’ table<br />
and the referees, Panathinaikos defeated Barcelona<br />
67-66. Wilkins contributed 16 points and 10 boards and<br />
was named Final Four MVP. His first season in Europe<br />
ended with 20.1 points and 7.3 rebounds per game. The<br />
season was not perfect, however. In the Greek League<br />
finals, with Panathinaikos leading 2-1, Wilkins suffered<br />
an injury and didn’t play in Games 4 or 5. Olympiacos<br />
used that to turn the series around and take the title<br />
with a 2-3 series win.<br />
San Antonio and Bologna<br />
After succeeding in Europe, Wilkins decided to return<br />
to the NBA: He signed for the San Antonio Spurs,<br />
where he finished the 1996-97 season at 37-and-a-half<br />
years old and with a worthy average <strong>of</strong> 18.3 points in<br />
61 games. The following season he decided to return<br />
to Europe, this time to TeamSystem Bologna in Italy.<br />
396<br />
397
On January 13, 2001, Wilkins saw his jersey No. 21<br />
(in Europe he played with that number reversed, 12)<br />
was retired in Atlanta. Only Bob Petit and Lou Hudson<br />
before Wilkins had received that honor at the Georgia<br />
Dome. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial<br />
<strong>Basketball</strong> Hall <strong>of</strong> Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts,<br />
in 2006.<br />
Dominique Wilkins wasn’t even the winningest<br />
American player in <strong>European</strong> basketball, not the best<br />
American player to ever play in Europe, but I would say<br />
that, together with Bob McAdoo, he was the biggest<br />
NBA star to ever play here.<br />
Dominique Wilkins, an American from Paris.<br />
In the Italian League, he averaged 17.8 points and 7.3<br />
rebounds while in the Euroleague he averaged 17.9<br />
points and 7.0 rebounds, but his club’s archrival, Kinder<br />
Bologna, put an end to the team’s <strong>European</strong> dream this<br />
time.<br />
In the EuroLeague quarterfinals, Kinder eliminated<br />
TeamSystem 2-0 and then in the Italian League final<br />
series, Kinder succeeded 3-2 after an unbelievable fifth<br />
game. If April 11 <strong>of</strong> 1996 was the happiest day Wilkins<br />
experienced in Europe, May 31, 1998, was one to stick<br />
in his memory forever for the opposite reasons. With<br />
13 seconds to go, his team was 4 points ahead, 72-68,<br />
and the title was almost secure. But then one <strong>of</strong> the<br />
most famous plays in <strong>European</strong> basketball took place:<br />
Predrag Danilovic hit a three with an additional free<br />
throw from a foul committed by... Dominique Wilkins.<br />
Danilovic scored the free throw, David Rivers turned<br />
the ball over on the last <strong>of</strong>fensive play for TeamSystem,<br />
and Kinder won it all in overtime. It wasn’t the happiest<br />
<strong>of</strong> endings to a brilliant career.<br />
Dominique Wilkins<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
W
Larry<br />
Wright<br />
399
The man with<br />
two rings<br />
During the 1970s and 1980s, most <strong>of</strong><br />
the <strong>European</strong> clubs signed foreigners<br />
who were big men, power forwards<br />
or centers, most <strong>of</strong> them American.<br />
The FIBA regulations allowed for two<br />
non-national players, and since big<br />
men were scarce in Europe, the solution was to try to<br />
“fish” something from the American market. One <strong>of</strong><br />
the few exceptions was Banco di Roma, which in the<br />
summer <strong>of</strong> 1982 had signed the best Italian coach<br />
at the time, Valerio Bianchini, after he had been successful<br />
with Cantu in the previous years. The first<br />
thing that Bianchini decided to do was... sign a guard.<br />
He went for Larry Wright, born November 23, 1954, in<br />
Monroe, Louisiana. He was a player with five years <strong>of</strong><br />
experience in the NBA, first with the Washington Bullets<br />
and then with the Detroit Pistons. Why a guard<br />
and why Wright? Bianchini himself explained it to me:<br />
“Before coaching Rome I spent three years in Cantu,”<br />
he said. “We won several titles, including a <strong>European</strong><br />
title in 1981. One <strong>of</strong> the key pieces in that puzzle was<br />
point guard Pierluigi Marzorati. Since I could not sign<br />
him, I decided to take the risk and go for an American<br />
guard. I had good reports about Larry through Darren<br />
Dale, a then very well-known American agent, so we<br />
<strong>of</strong>fered Wright a contract. He doubted it a little and I<br />
had to travel all the way to Monroe, his hometown, to<br />
convince him.”<br />
Time proved Bianchini – and his scouts – right. They<br />
had seen great potential in Wright that the NBA could<br />
not fully exploit. He previously enjoyed a great career <strong>of</strong><br />
three years at Grambling State University, with an average<br />
25.4 points, a rookie <strong>of</strong> the year award <strong>of</strong> the Southwestern<br />
Atlantic Conference. He was the best player in<br />
the conference in 1976 and a two-time selection to the<br />
NCAA all-small colleges team. He was drafted in 1976<br />
and chosen 14th by the Bullets. Two years later, the<br />
Bullets beat the Seattle Supersonics in the NBA Finals<br />
(4-3) and Wright won his first title. His contribution in<br />
those seven games was nothing to write home about.<br />
He scored 6 points in the first game, 2 in the second,<br />
5 in the fourth, 10 in the sixth and 2 in the seventh: 25<br />
points total. His season average was 9.2 points and<br />
3.7 assists, enough to let his potential be seen, but not<br />
enough to convince his coach, Dick Motta, to give him<br />
more minutes. He decided to move to the Pistons, but<br />
in the 1980-81 season, his numbers didn’t increase: 7.4<br />
points and 3.4 assists. The following season he hardly<br />
played. Behind him, he had played in 343 NBA games,<br />
averaging less than 20 minutes per game, 8.2 points,<br />
3.4 assists and 1.6 rebounds. That’s when the Rome<br />
<strong>of</strong>fer arrived.<br />
Taking over a title game<br />
In a short span <strong>of</strong> time, all <strong>of</strong> Italy saw that Rome had<br />
signed a great player. He was a scoring point guard, but<br />
he also played shooting guard, something that Bianchini<br />
used to perfection combining the roles <strong>of</strong> Wright<br />
(22.2 points) and Enrico Gilardi (15.2). Banco di Roma,<br />
the name <strong>of</strong> the team then, won its first and only Italian<br />
League title and the following season it would make its<br />
debut in the EuroLeague.<br />
After easily rolling through the two preliminary<br />
rounds against weak opponents (Dudelange <strong>of</strong> Luxem-<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Larry Wright<br />
W
Vladimir Stankovic<br />
burg and Partizani Tirana <strong>of</strong> Albania), Banco di Roma<br />
qualified for the final group with six teams. The first<br />
two would play the title game. FC Barcelona and Rome<br />
finished with 7-3 records and they would face each other<br />
for the title, on March 29, 1984. In the group stage,<br />
Barcelona had beaten Roma at home by 81-74 with 31<br />
points by Juan Antonio San Epifanio, but in Rome, the<br />
Italian team won by 74-71 with Wright scoring 18. The<br />
tiebreaker would be the final with the title <strong>of</strong> <strong>European</strong><br />
champion going to the winner.<br />
Barça started the game way better, and in minute 16<br />
was winning by 13 points, 35-22. At halftime, there was<br />
still a double-digit difference, 42-32. What happened<br />
in the halftime break and the second half is told by Bianchini<br />
himself.<br />
“In the corridor to the locker rooms, Barca’s big man<br />
Mike Davis made a mistake. The players from both<br />
teams were walking together and David said something<br />
to Wright. Something that sounded like: ‘Hey<br />
man, there’s no prize for you tonight.’ Wright entered<br />
the locker room really angry and started screaming at<br />
his teammates telling them to wake up. He raged into<br />
the second half and almost won the game by himself.”<br />
Larry Wright put his best weapons to good use:<br />
speed and unstoppable one-on-one skills. When he<br />
didn’t penetrate, he made outside shots. In minute 31,<br />
Banco di Rome jumped ahead for the first time, 57-56,<br />
and even though Barcelona would have options until<br />
the last seconds, an <strong>of</strong>fensive rebound by Clarence Kea<br />
solved the game for Rome, 79-73. Wright finished with<br />
27 points – 2 more than he had scored in the full seven<br />
games <strong>of</strong> the NBA Finals <strong>of</strong> 1978 – and, <strong>of</strong> course, was<br />
the MVP. Jose Manuel Fernandez, the journalist who<br />
covered the game for Spanish newspaper “Mundo Deportivo”,<br />
wrote in his recap:<br />
400<br />
401
“This small genius, as we had been saying for some<br />
time, made the difference between the two teams. His<br />
last baskets were his trademark... Wright was the hero<br />
<strong>of</strong> the game and an idol cheered by the Roman ‘tifosi’.<br />
At 67-69, Wright left his genius and class indelibly imprinted<br />
on us with two otherworldly baskets and gave<br />
all hope back to his team at 67-73... Wright put an end<br />
to the game playing a reggae groove that was worth<br />
a <strong>European</strong> crown. Barcelona’s champagne bottle remained<br />
unopened.”<br />
That was Wright’s stellar moment in Europe. It was<br />
his “second ring” and a great personal satisfaction for<br />
his two seasons in Rome.<br />
“Larry was an <strong>of</strong>fensive guard, a natural scorer, a<br />
fighter,” Bianchini remembered. “He was not a pure<br />
point guard, but a mix <strong>of</strong> point and shooting guard<br />
and that only made his potential greater. His fighting<br />
character came from his difficult childhood, marked by<br />
family poverty. He was a very responsible man and he<br />
always cared a lot for his family.”<br />
From Rome to Udine and back<br />
Even though some sources say that Wright also won<br />
the Intercontinental Cup with Banco di Roma in September<br />
<strong>of</strong> 1984 in Sao Paulo against, again, FC Barcelona<br />
(86-85), it is not true. He wasn’t on the team anymore<br />
because the previous season he had to deal with injury<br />
problems. He basically only played in the EuroLeague<br />
and the club decided not to renew him.<br />
He missed the whole 1984-85 season due to injuries,<br />
but he was back for the next one and had his best<br />
year in Italy. He was wearing the jersey <strong>of</strong> Fantoni Udine,<br />
where he averaged 31.9 points, 4.4 assists and 3.1<br />
boards. He stayed with Udine for one more season, also<br />
with good numbers: 26.8 points, 3.6 assists and 3.3<br />
rebounds. For the 1987-88 season, already at 34 years<br />
old, he was back to Rome and delivered 22.7 points, 2.5<br />
assists and 3.4 rebounds. It was his last active year in<br />
the elite. He had played 149 games in Italy averaging<br />
25.1 points, 2.9 assists and 3.2 boards in 38.8 minutes.<br />
He hardly ever left the court!<br />
Wright retired in 1990. He stayed in the basketball<br />
world as a scout for several NBA teams and later<br />
worked as coach <strong>of</strong> the Grambling State Tigers for nine<br />
seasons. He was back to Rome on October 6, 2006, for<br />
a game between Lottomatica Roma and the Phoenix<br />
Suns that the EuroLeague organized with the NBA on<br />
the NBA Europe Live Tour. Of course, the older Rome<br />
fans who had told their sons about him gave Wright a<br />
warm ovation.<br />
The man with two rings.<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Larry Wright<br />
W
Michael<br />
Young<br />
403
A one-man team<br />
It is more than true that basketball is a collective<br />
sport and it’s impossible for a single player to win<br />
a game or a trophy by himself. That’s why it is an exaggeration<br />
to say that Limoges won the 1993 Euroleague<br />
thanks only to Michael Young. However, it’s<br />
nothing but the truth that the French champ would<br />
never have gotten the club’s biggest success without<br />
him. That year in Athens, one <strong>of</strong> the biggest miracles<br />
in the competition took place. There had been many<br />
surprises in one game, even in the finals, but never<br />
before did a humble team that everybody discarded<br />
as a contender for the crown manage to surprise game<br />
after game all the way to the trophy ceremony.<br />
This story has a pre-story, as Boza Maljkovic, the<br />
technical master and a four-time Euroleague champ<br />
with three teams – Jugoplastika, Limoges and Panathinaikos<br />
– told me long after:<br />
“I think it was the summer <strong>of</strong> 1989. Jugoplastika,<br />
already the <strong>European</strong> champ, played several tourneys<br />
in Spain. In Cuenca we faced Valladolid. There was a<br />
left-handed shooting guard that hurt us badly throughout<br />
the game. There was no stopping him. I tried with big<br />
men and small men. They all played tough against him,<br />
but he was just unstoppable. He finished the game with<br />
something like 35 points. It was the first time I ever saw<br />
Michael Young, and his great game was imprinted on<br />
my mind. Since then, I followed his career and when he<br />
became a free agent in the summer <strong>of</strong> 1992, I asked the<br />
Limoges directors, the team I had been coaching since<br />
January 1 <strong>of</strong> that year, to sign him no matter the cost.”<br />
Said and done.<br />
From Manila to the top <strong>of</strong> Europe<br />
Michael Young, who was born on January 2, 1961,<br />
in Houston, arrived in Limoges at 30 years old, after<br />
having lived many different experiences in basketball.<br />
Having played at his hometown Houston University<br />
and missing the NCAA title on a buzzer-beater, he was<br />
drafted in 1984 by the Boston Celtics but immediately<br />
traded to the Philadelphia 76ers. The following two<br />
years, Young hardly touched an NBA floor, but played<br />
a lot in the Continental <strong>Basketball</strong> Association with the<br />
Detroit Spirits, averaging 26.8 points. Tired <strong>of</strong> waiting<br />
for a real chance, he moved to Manila in the Philippines.<br />
From Manila he landed in Spain for Valladolid, where<br />
he also shined with 23.5 points and 4.8 rebounds per<br />
game. Midway through the season, he was signed by<br />
Udine in Italy where, in 21 games, he put up 24 points<br />
on average. For the 1989-90 season, he was back to the<br />
NBA with the Los Angeles Clippers, for whom he scored<br />
4.9 per game. But he returned to Europe to played two<br />
seasons in Italy with Panasonic Reggio Calabria for impressive<br />
figures: 34.0 and 27.4 points per game. That’s<br />
when Boza Maljkovic came in.<br />
After a traumatic departure from Barcelona and<br />
several <strong>of</strong>fers, Coach Maljkovic decided to choose Limoges<br />
midway through the 1991-92 season. He won<br />
the French League and started to prepare the team<br />
for the Euroleague. First <strong>of</strong> all, he did a major clean-up,<br />
retaining only Richard Dacoury – who had been considering<br />
retirement – on the roster. Young arrived to the<br />
roster together with Jure Zdovc, Frederic Forte, Jimmy<br />
Verove, Willie Redden, Jim Bilba... Despite this rebuilding<br />
– or perhaps because <strong>of</strong> it – nobody bet on Limoges<br />
for the title, especially after the team’s discreet start in<br />
a preliminary round.<br />
The French champion was unable to beat the Guild-<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Michael Young<br />
Y
Vladimir Stankovic<br />
ford Kings <strong>of</strong> England in their first game, which ended<br />
in a 72-72 tie, although at home Limoges was better<br />
(71-57) and advanced to the eighth-finals group.<br />
There, the team finished second at 7-5 behind PAOK<br />
Thessaloniki (8-4), but ahead <strong>of</strong> Scavolini Pesaro (also<br />
7-5), Knorr Bologna and Joventut Badalona (6-6),<br />
Cibona Zagreb (5-7) and Maccabi Tel Aviv (3-9). In the<br />
quarterfinals, in three close games, Limoges got rid<br />
<strong>of</strong> Olympiacos. After losing 70-67 in Greece, Limoges<br />
won at home 59-53 and 60-58. Michael Young shined:<br />
35 points against Maccabi, 31 and 30 against Joventut,<br />
27 against Cibona, 26 against Scavolini... But in<br />
the first game against Olympiacos, he scored just 8<br />
points, his worst mark <strong>of</strong> the season and his only one<br />
below 10 points. However, at home, he repaid the<br />
Reds with interest: 20 points in Game 2 and 30 in the<br />
decisive third and final game.<br />
Two miracles in Athens<br />
Limoges had a ticket to Athens, home <strong>of</strong> the Final<br />
Four that year, but competing against Real Madrid,<br />
Benetton Treviso and PAOK, its chances <strong>of</strong> success<br />
were completely discarded. In the semifinals, Limoges<br />
surprised Benetton 59-55 with brilliant defense plus<br />
18 points and 7 rebounds by Young. Toni Kukoc was<br />
playing his fourth Final Four but it was the first time he<br />
lost a game in the tournament. Terry Teagle, an NBA<br />
alum, scored 19 points for Benetton, but his shooting<br />
was not perfect. Despite that victory, Limoges was considered<br />
an outsider also against Real Madrid in the title<br />
game. Madrid had Arvydas Sabonis, Chechu Biriukov,<br />
Antonio Martin, Ismael Santos, Jose Lasa, Jose Miguel<br />
Antunez, Ricky Brown...an imposing lineup that was a<br />
heavy favorite. But the final result was 62-52 for the<br />
“miners” – as Maljkovic used to call his players for their<br />
hard-working nature. And it was, until then, the biggest<br />
upset ever in a Euroleague title game.<br />
Many people criticized the Limoges playing style,<br />
with its slow tempo and ball control, but Maljkovic<br />
simply applied one <strong>of</strong> the basic theories <strong>of</strong> this sport:<br />
you have to adapt the system to the players you have<br />
at your disposal. His team was not made to score 100<br />
points, to run or to score on fastbreaks. They were a<br />
team made for defense, for working for every point,<br />
and for giving the ball to Michael Young. In the title<br />
game, he scored 20 <strong>of</strong> his team’s 62 points and pulled<br />
down 7 rebounds. That was more than enough to be<br />
chosen MVP <strong>of</strong> the 1993 Final Four in Athens. After so<br />
much suffering and being underestimated, Young had<br />
his recognition at the highest level.<br />
“He was a great player who devoted 100 percent <strong>of</strong><br />
his attention to three things: family, basketball and fishing,”<br />
Maljkovic remembered. “When he set foot in the<br />
opponent’s half <strong>of</strong> the court, he was already a threat.<br />
He was a great shooter, but also a rebounder, and one<br />
<strong>of</strong> the best players and men I ever coached in my career.<br />
He is the only player for whom, when our collaboration<br />
ended, I bought him a gold coin. He still keeps it and<br />
showed it to me when we went to Limoges to celebrate<br />
the 20th anniversary <strong>of</strong> the title we won.”<br />
Young stayed with Limoges for two more seasons<br />
and also played in the 1995 Final Four in Zaragoza, but<br />
his biggest moment was in 1993 in Athens. His French<br />
League averages in 1994 and 1995 were 23.5 and 20.1<br />
points, respectively, with almost 5 rebounds per game.<br />
In the EuroLeague, his personal record is the 47 points<br />
he poured in against Benetton on December 9, 1994.<br />
After Limoges, he played one season in Lyon (27.4<br />
points) and was back to Italy, but to the second division<br />
(Fabriano, 22.8 points). In 1998, he put an end to his<br />
404<br />
405
Michael Young<br />
great career in Maccabi Givat Shmuel <strong>of</strong> Israel, scoring<br />
25.8 points at 37 years old! In Italy, his overall average<br />
was 27.4 points, in Spain 23.5, and in France he also<br />
averaged more than 20 points over three years. In his<br />
golden season, 1992-93, he put up 20.9 points, 6.7 rebounds<br />
and 1.9 assists in the EuroLeague for Limoges.<br />
A one-man team: if it could be said about anybody,<br />
it’s Michael Young.<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Y
Jiri<br />
Zidek<br />
407
A Czech<br />
legend<br />
The name certainly sounds familiar. Jiri<br />
Zidek has been a colleague <strong>of</strong> mine, working<br />
as a columnist for Euroleague.net and<br />
as a color commentator on Euroleague.<br />
TV. He is also one <strong>of</strong> the few men – and<br />
the first <strong>European</strong> – to have won both the<br />
NCAA Tournament and the EuroLeague championship,<br />
with UCLA in 1995 and Zalgiris in 1999, respectively.<br />
It’s true that Zidek certainly deserves his own<br />
place among the greats, due to his many great accomplishments.<br />
But first I wish to write about another Jiri<br />
Zidek, his father.<br />
Exactly 30 years before Jiri Zidek Jr.’s success with<br />
Zalgiris in Munich back in 1999, Jiri Zidek Sr won the<br />
Saporta Cup title with his team, Slavia Prague. Dinamo<br />
Tbilisi, representing the Soviet Union, and Slavia, representing<br />
Czechoslovakia, played the title game on April<br />
17, 1969. Slavia won 80-74. As far as I know, the Zideks<br />
are the only case in which a father and son have won a<br />
title in <strong>European</strong> club competitions. A year before that,<br />
Zidek Sr. was the star <strong>of</strong> a historic game – the 1968 Saporta<br />
Cup final in Athens, Greece on April 4, 1968. Slavia<br />
faced AEK at Panathinaiko Stadium. Officially, it was a<br />
sellout <strong>of</strong> 52,880, but most reports claim there were<br />
between 60,000 and 80,000 fans on hand if you count<br />
those who cheered from outside because they couldn’t<br />
make it into the stadium. AEK beat Slavia 89-82 to win<br />
the first <strong>European</strong> title for a Greek basketball club, but<br />
the star <strong>of</strong> the game was Zidek Sr., who scored 31 points.<br />
Slavia, a team full <strong>of</strong> Jiris<br />
Born in Prague, Czechoslovakia on February 8,<br />
1944, Zidek Sr. spent the best and biggest part <strong>of</strong> his<br />
career with Slavia, a team that had a great sporting<br />
rivalry with Spartak Brno to be the best in the country<br />
throughout the 1960s and the 1970s. Slavia was<br />
known as “The Jiris” because many times its starting<br />
five featured Jiri Ruzicka, Jiri Stasny, Jiri Ammer, Jiri<br />
Zednicek and Jiri Zidek, with Jiri Konopasek coming<br />
<strong>of</strong>f the bench. Spartak was represented by Kamil Brabenec,<br />
Zdenek and Jan Bobrovsky, Vladimir Pistalek,<br />
Frantisek Konvicka, Frantisek Pokorny and Zdenek<br />
Konecny. All <strong>of</strong> them played together on a strong<br />
Czechoslovakian national team that won the silver<br />
medal at the 1967 EuroBasket in Helsinki, Finland.<br />
Czechoslovakia was defeated by the Soviet Union, 87-<br />
79, in the title game, but Zidek had 23 points against<br />
giants like Vladimir Andreev and Alzhan Zarmuhamedov.<br />
Zidek averaged 13.8 points in that tournament.<br />
Two years later, Czechoslovakia won the bronze medal<br />
at the 1969 EuroBasket in Naples, Italy, with Zidek averaging<br />
12.6 points.<br />
Zidek was the top scorer (18.6 ppg.) at the 1970<br />
World Cup in Ljubljana, Yugoslavia. He scored even<br />
more (20.4 ppg.) at the 1971 EuroBasket in Essen, West<br />
Germany, and enjoyed a strong performance (12.7 ppg.,<br />
4.8 rebounds) at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich.<br />
Overall, Zidek played 257 games with the Czechoslovakian<br />
national team. There is no evidence <strong>of</strong> how many<br />
points he scored with his national team, but in a phone<br />
conversation, Zidek Sr. gave me rough numbers <strong>of</strong> his<br />
great career:<br />
• Played pr<strong>of</strong>essional basketball for 18 years.<br />
• Scored an estimated 13,000 points.<br />
• Won six league titles with Slavia.<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Jiri Zidek<br />
Z
Vladimir Stankovic<br />
• Was the Czechoslovakian League’s scoring champion<br />
10 times and averaged around 30 points.<br />
• His single-best scoring game was 68 points<br />
against Olomouc.<br />
That Slavia squad boasted a powerful team able to<br />
beat anyone. For instance, Zidek Sr. scored 35 points<br />
against Real Madrid in the 1965-66 season, 36 against<br />
Simmenthal Milano and did even better against Belgian<br />
side Racing – 40 points in Belgium and 48 at home! He<br />
tallied 54 points in another game against Madrid. That<br />
season, Zidek led Slavia to the first-ever Final Four, host<br />
by FIBA in Bologna, Italy. Slavia suffered a 77-72 loss<br />
to Simmenthal in the final despite 20 points by Zidek.<br />
At the end <strong>of</strong> the season, Zidek was named a member<br />
<strong>of</strong> the <strong>European</strong> continental team for 1966. In another<br />
Final Four played in Madrid, Spain, in 1967, Slavia once<br />
again lost against Simmenthal Milano, 103-97, in the<br />
semifinals. Slavia managed to beat Olimpija Ljubljana<br />
88-83 in the third-place game.<br />
An atypical center<br />
At 2.06 meters tall and based on today’s standards,<br />
Zidek Sr. was more a forward than a center, but he<br />
played in the “five” position and successfully fought<br />
against taller opponents. His best weapons were the<br />
fundamentals. He was a talented player who could hit<br />
both his outside jumper and a hard-to-guard hook shot.<br />
Zidek was also a great rebounder and had the spirit <strong>of</strong><br />
a natural fighter.<br />
Zidek Sr. told me that back in 1968, the Boston Celtics<br />
showed interest in him, but it was impossible and<br />
unthinkable for him to get out <strong>of</strong> Czechoslovakia. “I had<br />
many <strong>of</strong>fers from the biggest clubs in Europe, but we<br />
lived in the communist era, without personal freedom.<br />
Getting out <strong>of</strong> the country in a legal way was almost<br />
408<br />
409
impossible,” Zidek Sr. said. He was one <strong>of</strong> the true <strong>European</strong><br />
basketball legends in the 1960s and the 1970s.<br />
After playing one season for Olomouc, he was granted<br />
permission to work outside his country and finished<br />
his brilliant career in Finland. At age 38, Zidek Sr. was a<br />
player-coach with Forza Alku for two seasons.<br />
He remembers well his battles in the paint against<br />
Dino Meneghin, Kreso Cosic, Clifford Luyk and Trajko<br />
Rajkovic. Zidek Sr. spoke with me about the great Ivo<br />
Daneu, his rivalry against CSKA that went beyond<br />
sports, and especially, about his great friendship with<br />
Radivoj Korac, who tragically passed away in a car crash<br />
in 1969. When I asked him why there are no great basketball<br />
players in the Czech Republic like in the old days,<br />
Zidek didn’t have a clear answer. “Maybe it is because<br />
basketball is not as popular as football and ice hockey,”<br />
he said. “There is not enough money for basketball.<br />
Maybe players lack that passion for basketball nowadays.”<br />
But <strong>of</strong> course, that is changing, as the Czechs<br />
had a new EuroLeague champion, Jan Vesely, with Fenerbahce<br />
Istanbul in 2017.<br />
Jiri Zidek Jr. managed to achieve a lot <strong>of</strong> the things<br />
Jiri Zidek Sr. couldn’t do. Zidek Jr. won the EuroLeague<br />
title, played three years in the NBA and wore the jerseys<br />
<strong>of</strong> <strong>European</strong> basketball powerhouses like Zalgiris and<br />
Real Madrid, one <strong>of</strong> the dreams that his father had. But<br />
if I had to choose one <strong>of</strong> them – with all due respect to<br />
my friend Jiri Jr. – I would choose Zidek Sr., considered<br />
by many as the best Czech player <strong>of</strong> all-time.<br />
Jiri Zidek Sr, a Czech legend.<br />
Jiri Zidek<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Z
Jiri<br />
Zidek Jr.<br />
411
Family matters<br />
For the only time in these <strong>101</strong> chapters <strong>of</strong> the<br />
great players <strong>of</strong> the past, a name gets repeated:<br />
Jiri Zidek. I will not be writing about<br />
the same player twice, but rather about a<br />
father and son who carry that same name.<br />
Jiri Zidek Sr. was a great player in Czechoslovakia<br />
and one <strong>of</strong> the best big men in Europe during the<br />
1960s and 1970s.<br />
On April 17, 1969, his team Slavia Prague defeated<br />
Dinamo Tbilisi in the Cup Champions Cup final, 80-74.<br />
Zidek scored 15 points. Exactly 30 years later, to the<br />
week, his son Jiri Zidek Jr. won the EuroLeague title<br />
with Zalgiris Kaunas by defeating Kinder Bologna, 82-<br />
74. Zidek scored 12 points. If memory serves, it is the<br />
only case ever in <strong>European</strong> basketball <strong>of</strong> a father and<br />
son both winning international club trophies as players.<br />
Debut against ... dad<br />
The story <strong>of</strong> the Zideks has some more interesting<br />
details. Following his father’s footsteps, young Jiri<br />
grabbed the ball at five years old. His first coach was<br />
Jindrich Zeman, well known because <strong>of</strong> his work with<br />
young talents. When he turned 14, Zidek’s coach was<br />
Rene Stepanek, who helped him improve his technique.<br />
It was then that tragedy struck when Zidek’s mother<br />
died. According to Zidek himself, that fact had a major<br />
influence on his exclusive dedication to basketball and<br />
school, where he was always the best student.<br />
At 16 years old, Zidek already practiced with the<br />
Sparta Prague senior team. His debut in that category<br />
was against Slavia, coached by his father and where<br />
his elder brother also played. In the last seconds, with<br />
a tie on the scoreboard, young Jiri scored the decisive<br />
basket to give the win to Sparta. For the media, it was<br />
the perfect story: the son beats his father with a basket<br />
in the last second.<br />
Just when everything looked perfect, Jiri suffered a<br />
back injury. He had to go to the United States to undergo<br />
treatment. He stopped for six months and missed<br />
the FIBA <strong>European</strong> Championship for Junior Men, but<br />
his name was already on the lists <strong>of</strong> many teams and<br />
scouts. Zidek got <strong>of</strong>fers from several good universities,<br />
but he chose UCLA because <strong>of</strong> a Slovakian family there<br />
that his father knew. The Schultz family helped him a<br />
lot to integrate into a new country. On the sports side,<br />
however, things didn’t go well. He played little. UCLA<br />
head coach Jim Harrick didn’t believe much in him. In<br />
his first two seasons, Zidek’s numbers were quite discreet:<br />
1.1 points in 1991-92, 2.4 in 1992-93.<br />
In his third year at UCLA, things started to change.<br />
Zidek’s effort and sacrifice in practice was rewarded<br />
with a place among the starters in a game at the beginning<br />
<strong>of</strong> the season. He responded with 16 points and 10<br />
rebounds, and never left the starting five after that. He<br />
finished that season with averages <strong>of</strong> 11.1 points and<br />
7 rebounds in 28 games, but the best was yet to come.<br />
NCAA and EuroLeague champion<br />
During the 1994-95 season, his last at UCLA, Zidek<br />
averaged 10.6 points and 5.4 rebounds. His team won<br />
the NCAA title by beating the Arkansas Razorbacks 89-<br />
79 in the final with Ed O’Bannon as the star (20 points,<br />
17 rebounds). Zidek remembers the event at the Kingdome<br />
in Seattle as something unbelievable: “It was an<br />
incredible atmosphere: 20,000 people came to watch<br />
the practices and 45,000 to the games.”<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Jiri Zidek Jr.<br />
Z
Vladimir Stankovic<br />
In the summer <strong>of</strong> 1995, Zidek was selected in the<br />
NBA Draft by the Charlotte Hornets with the 22nd pick<br />
<strong>of</strong> the first round. His first season didn’t go bad at all: he<br />
played 71 games averaging 4 points and 2.6 rebounds,<br />
but a lot <strong>of</strong> changes on the team affected his role. During<br />
the 1996-97 season, after 36 games with Charlotte, he<br />
was traded to the Denver Nuggets and played a total<br />
<strong>of</strong> 52 games between them, with similar numbers. In<br />
1997-98, he played sparingly with both Denver and Seattle,<br />
after which he decided to return to Europe.<br />
“I didn’t have many opportunities, because the<br />
rosters <strong>of</strong> the <strong>European</strong> teams were closed,” Zidek<br />
recalled. “Then Sarunas Marciulionis called me, saying<br />
that Zalgiris needed a center, but also was looking for a<br />
point guard. I recommended Tyus Edney, my teammate<br />
at UCLA. Fortunately, they accepted. And that’s how<br />
Tyus and I got together again. I wasn’t in top shape after<br />
not playing much the previous two years, but Zalgiris<br />
had a lot <strong>of</strong> patience.”<br />
The team didn’t begin the EuroLeague well, losing<br />
99-84 at Fenerbahce on the way to a 1-2 record. But after<br />
that, Zalgiris won 11 <strong>of</strong> its next 12 games to become<br />
a contender. It later swept two other Turkish teams,<br />
Ulker and Efes, to reach the Final Four.<br />
Once in Munich, as something <strong>of</strong> an underdog,<br />
Zalgiris surprised its opponents early. In the semifinal,<br />
after leading 48-33 at halftime, Zalgiris downed Olympiacos<br />
87-71 with Anthony Bowie scoring 19 points,<br />
while Zidek had 9 points and 5 rebounds in 19 minutes.<br />
In the final, Zalgiris faced defending champion Kinder<br />
Bologna, and it was the same story. Up 45-30 after the<br />
first 20 minutes, Zalgiris fought <strong>of</strong>f a Kinder comeback<br />
attempt to win 82-74. Bowie again paced the winners<br />
with 17 points, while Zidek added 12 points and 6 rebounds<br />
in 23 minutes. Making it look easier than most<br />
Final Four champions, Zalgiris lifted the first – and still<br />
only – EuroLeague title by a Lithuanian club.<br />
“The final was straight from out <strong>of</strong> a movie, and ended<br />
with the EuroLeague title,” Zidek says. “The funny<br />
thing was the way we prepared for the Final Four. Coach<br />
Jonas Kazlauskas gave us a lot <strong>of</strong> time to rest, and he<br />
let us have our wives or girlfriends with us. Unforgettable.<br />
We had a great atmosphere on the team, without<br />
any jealousy between the players.”<br />
It was a team that featured very good Lithuanians –<br />
Saulius Stombergas, Eurelijus and Mindaugas Zukauskas,<br />
Tomas Masiulis, Darius Maskoliunas and Kestutis<br />
Sestokas – and great foreigners in Edney, Bowie and<br />
Zidek. The team’s top scorer was Bowie with 14 points<br />
per game, while Masiulis was the best rebounder at 5.9<br />
on average. Zidek finished with 8.6 points and 4.7 rebounds<br />
in 18.1 minutes per game. His top scoring performance<br />
was 17 points against Crvena Zvezda, while<br />
he pulled down 10 rebounds against both Tau Ceramica<br />
and Varese. Not only did Zidek win the title his father<br />
had missed in the 1966 final with Slavia Prague, but he<br />
became the first <strong>European</strong> to win both the EuroLeague<br />
and NCAA titles.<br />
After winning the EuroLeague title, much <strong>of</strong> the Zalgiris<br />
team left. Zidek began the next season in Kaunas<br />
but finished it with Ulker. He then played for Real Madrid<br />
in the inaugural EuroLeague game <strong>of</strong> the new century,<br />
averaging 6.3 points and 2.3 rebounds over 15 games<br />
that season. His next stops were ALBA Berlin and<br />
Prokom Trefl Sopot, before he finished his career with<br />
Czech club Nymburk between 2003 and 2005. Zidek<br />
stayed to help the young players and the club become<br />
something more serious, and he highlights the role <strong>of</strong><br />
club president Miroslav Jansta in making that happen<br />
as the most influential person in Czech basketball in<br />
412<br />
413
the new century. In his last two seasons, playing for<br />
Nymburk in the FIBA Europa League, Zidek averaged<br />
almost 18 points and 7 rebounds, showing clearly that<br />
he could still perform. Still, multiple injuries to his left<br />
knee forced him to end his career at age 32.<br />
A commentator on Euroleague.TV<br />
What was lacking in the younger Zidek’s career, as<br />
opposed to his father’s, was a big result with the Czech<br />
national team, as he didn’t have the luck to reach the<br />
biggest events. In the preliminary phase <strong>of</strong> the 1999<br />
EuroBasket, Zidek averaged 25.5 points and 11.5 rebounds,<br />
but the team missed the big event. And the<br />
Czech Republic also missed the 2001 and 2003 continental<br />
championships.<br />
Zidek was an able player for his size, 2.12 meters,<br />
with good skill, strength and rebounding instincts.<br />
He was also a player who coaches appreciated: not a<br />
superstar, but he always played at a high level. Very<br />
few times after a game could anyone say that Jiri Zidek<br />
didn’t play well. His grades were “good, very good and<br />
excellent”. His father, as I recall, had it easier scoring,<br />
but the son was stronger physically.<br />
For many years now, Zidek has been a regular color<br />
commentator on Euroleague.TV, <strong>of</strong>fering his deep<br />
knowledge and enthusiasm for basketball. Little by<br />
little, he has become one <strong>of</strong> the true voices <strong>of</strong> <strong>European</strong><br />
basketball. As such, the Zidek name continues in our<br />
sport.<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Jiri Zidek Jr.<br />
Z
Jure<br />
Zdovc<br />
415
The Golden<br />
Slovenian<br />
Slovenian basketball reserves its “greatest<br />
<strong>of</strong> all time” title for the legendary Ivo<br />
Daneu, but Jurij “Jure” Zdovc was not<br />
far behind him. Those two, along with<br />
Peter Vilfan and Borut Basin, are the best<br />
Slovenian players <strong>of</strong> the last century, in<br />
my opinion, while crossing into this one, we have had<br />
the likes <strong>of</strong> Matjaz Smodis, Erazem Lorbek and Rasho<br />
Nesterovic, without taking into account others who<br />
are still active, such as Goran Dragic and, just getting<br />
started, Luka Doncic.<br />
The talent <strong>of</strong> Zdovc, a new gem from Slovenia,<br />
caught the attention <strong>of</strong> the Yugoslav Federation’s<br />
coaches early. By 1983, at age 16, Zdovc was playing<br />
in the <strong>European</strong> Championship for Cadets in Tubingen,<br />
Germany, where he won his first gold medal. Among his<br />
teammates were future stars Zarko Paspalj, Ivo Nakic,<br />
Branislav Prelevic, Luka Pavicevic and Ivica Mavrenski.<br />
That very same year, Zdovc played at the junior World<br />
Cup in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, as the youngest player<br />
on the Yugoslav team. A year later, Zdovc played the <strong>European</strong><br />
Championship for Junior Men with almost the<br />
same team, plus Velimir Perasovic, Miroslav Pecarski,<br />
Franjo Arapovic and Ivica Zuric. They won the bronze<br />
medal.<br />
Champion without a medal<br />
By the 1985-86 season, Zdovc was already an important<br />
player for Olimpija Ljubljana. Two years later,<br />
Coach Dusan Ivkovic took him to his first big competition<br />
– the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, South Korea.<br />
He came back with a silver medal. He shined at Euro-<br />
Basket 1989 along with all the members <strong>of</strong> the “Yugoslav<br />
Dream Team” – Drazen Petrovic, Vlade Divac, Toni<br />
Kukoc, Dino Radja, Predrag Danilovic, Zarko Paspalj,<br />
Zoran Cutura... In 1990 and with the same team, Yugoslavia<br />
won the World Cup in Argentina and subsequently<br />
got the gold medal at EuroBasket 1991 in Rome, Italy.<br />
Zdovc, however, only played early in that tournament<br />
and didn’t finish it with the team.<br />
Politics caused one <strong>of</strong> the most curious scenarios in<br />
basketball history. Yugoslavia arrived in Rome as the<br />
favorite. Drazen Petrovic was missing, but Sasha Djordjevic<br />
had joined the team. In three group stage games,<br />
Yugoslavia recorded as many easy wins. Zdovc had 7<br />
points against Bulgaria, 3 against Poland and 4 against<br />
Spain. On July 26, 1991, the day before the semifinals,<br />
Zdovc knocked on Dusan Ivkovic’s door. With tears in<br />
his eyes, Zdovc told Ivkovic that the Slovenian government,<br />
which declared independence from Yugoslavia<br />
on July 25, had ordered him to leave the team. Yugoslavia<br />
beat France in the semifinals and Italy in the title<br />
game without much trouble, but without Zdovc. When<br />
the medals were awarded on the podium, there was<br />
one extra. Eleven players – all Serbian and Croatian,<br />
but still all Yugoslavian – celebrated, but one medal<br />
remained without its owner.<br />
The story has a second chapter, some 14 years later.<br />
On June 30, 2005, in the Slovenian capital, Zdovc, who<br />
was already working as a head coach, was honored<br />
for his playing career. On one side there was a “green”<br />
team with Zmago Sagadin and Bozidar Maljkovic as<br />
head coaches and Dusan Hauptman, Primoz Brezec,<br />
Beno Udrih, Rasho Nesterovic, Sarunas Jasikevicius,<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Jure Zdovc<br />
Z
Vladimir Stankovic<br />
Jiri Welsch, Marko Milic, Slavko Kotnik, Matjaz Tovornik,<br />
Peter Vilfan and Radoslav Curcic as players. The “white”<br />
team, coached by Dusan Ivkovic and Zeljko Obradovic,<br />
featured Toni Kukoc, Vlade Divac, Dino Radja, Sasha<br />
Djordjevic, Stojko Vrankovic, Predrag Danilovic, Velimir<br />
Perasovic, Zarko Paspalj, Zoran Cutura, Dejan Bodiroga,<br />
Richard Dacoury, Panagiotis Giannakis, Lefteris Kakiousis<br />
and Roberto Brunamonti. Zdovc played one half<br />
with each team. That is when Ivkovic awarded him his<br />
EuroBasket 1991 gold medal. Better late than never...<br />
Leader <strong>of</strong> the “miners”<br />
Zdovc was a smart player. He had really quick hands,<br />
was a safe ball-handler with a reliable shooting touch,<br />
and, above all, was a great defensive player. He wasn’t<br />
very attractive for fans, but he was perfect for any<br />
coach. He wasn’t a pure scorer but could do it if his<br />
team needed that. He was a point guard with very good<br />
court vision and an excellent defender who was always<br />
assigned to guard the best opposing guard.<br />
When Bozidar Maljkovic started his first full season<br />
with Limoges in the summer <strong>of</strong> 1992, the first player he<br />
asked for was Zdovc, who had played for Kinder Bologna<br />
the previous season. Limoges managed to sign him<br />
and the great tandem Jure Zdovc and Michael Young<br />
was born. Limoges was not even a favorite to reach<br />
the Euroleague play<strong>of</strong>fs. Nonetheless, it managed to<br />
get all the way to the Final Four in Athens – and win the<br />
competition! To this date, it is still the biggest upset<br />
in Euroleague history. Partizan had been a surprising<br />
winner in 1992, but with a much more talented team<br />
than Limoges. Maljkovic called his players at Limoges<br />
“miners” as a way <strong>of</strong> comparing their hard work on the<br />
court with the toughest work in a mine.<br />
Zdovc also led Limoges to win the French League<br />
title in 1993 and won it again with Racing Paris in 1997.<br />
The three seasons in between those he played with<br />
Greek side Iraklis. And after Paris, he played one year in<br />
Turkey for T<strong>of</strong>as Bursa (1997-98), came back to Olimpija<br />
(1998-00), returned to Greece (Panionios, 2000-01),<br />
rejoined Olimpija (2001-02) and went on to play for Slovan<br />
(2002-03) before finishing his playing career with<br />
Split in 2003-04 by winning the Croatian Cup.<br />
A new generation<br />
Zdovc started his coaching career with Split in<br />
2004. His second step was coaching Sloven Ljubljana<br />
and after that, he joined Iraklis before getting back to<br />
“his” Olimpija in the 2006-07 season. Zdovc coached<br />
Bosna in the 2007-08 season, returned to Ljubljana<br />
from 2009 to 2011, then had Spartak St. Petersburg for<br />
two seasons, reaching the EuroCup Final but losing to<br />
Khimki Moscow Region on the latter’s home court. He<br />
has since coached Gaziantep in Turkey, AEK Athens and<br />
Cedevita Zagreb. He was also the Slovenian national<br />
team head coach twice. The first stint was from 2008<br />
to 2010, when the team reached the EuroBasket 2009<br />
semifinals, but lost to Serbia in overtime in a game that<br />
Slovenia had under control. The second was from 2014<br />
to 2016, highlighted by a seventh-place finish at the<br />
2014 World Cup.<br />
Zdovc is a member <strong>of</strong> what is called the Yugoslav<br />
coaching school. As a player, he had the luck to learn<br />
from the best, like Dusan Ivkovic, Zmago Sagadin and<br />
Bozidar Maljkovic. He played with Zeljko Obradovic at<br />
the 1988 Olympic Games and the 1990 World Championships,<br />
also with Drazen Petrovic, Divac, Kukoc, Radja,<br />
Danilovic, Perasovic, Komazec, Cutura. He learned<br />
a little bit <strong>of</strong> everything from his coaches and former<br />
teammates and adapted that to his own basketball phi-<br />
416<br />
417
League twice each, lifted three domestic cup trophies<br />
and won the 2002 Adriatic League with Olimpija. As a<br />
coach, he has already won the Slovenian and the Bosnian<br />
League titles, lifted the Croatian Cup trophy and<br />
taken three Slovenian Cup titles. His 2012 EuroCup<br />
Finals qualification with Spartak marks his biggest<br />
international result until now as a club coach. His first<br />
great result, but not the last, for sure.<br />
Jure Zdovc<br />
losophy. He is one <strong>of</strong> the best coaches <strong>of</strong> a generation<br />
that is, little by little, taking the baton from the old one<br />
in <strong>European</strong> basketball. Zdovc, Perasovic, Djordjevic,<br />
Luka Pavicevic – and that’s not even taking Zeljko Obradovic<br />
into account – were all teammates on the great<br />
Yugoslav national team who have become top-level<br />
coaches.<br />
As a player, Zdovc won <strong>European</strong> and World Championships,<br />
reached the Olympic Games final, won the<br />
EuroLeague once, the Slovenian League and the French<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Z
About the author<br />
Vladimir Stankovic<br />
Vladimir Stankovic (born on May 7, 1949 in Knjazevac,<br />
Serbia) has been a journalist for exactly 50 years now. He<br />
spent the first half <strong>of</strong> his career in Belgrade, where he was first<br />
a correspondent for the Vjesnik newspaper <strong>of</strong> Zagreb (1969-<br />
1979), then sports chief at Borbba newspaper in Belgrade<br />
(1979-1987), director <strong>of</strong> the weekly sports publication Tim<br />
(1989), and founder and director <strong>of</strong> the Kos basketball magazine<br />
between 1989 and 1991.<br />
Since 1992 he has been living and working in Spain, mainly<br />
with Mundo Deportivo newspaper, for whom he was a correspondent<br />
while working in the former Yugoslavia. In Spain, he<br />
was also vice-director <strong>of</strong> FIBA <strong>Basketball</strong> Monthly magazine<br />
(1992-1993) and collaborated with several media. He still<br />
writes for Mundo Deportivo, La Vanguardia and Gigantes del<br />
Basket.<br />
As a connoisseur <strong>of</strong> <strong>European</strong> basketball, he was also the<br />
original press <strong>of</strong>ficer at Euroleague <strong>Basketball</strong> between 2000<br />
and 2006. After a year in Moscow as director <strong>of</strong> international<br />
relations for Dynamo, he was back to Barcelona as a freelance<br />
journalist. Since then, he has been a regular collaborator with<br />
the EuroLeague’s <strong>of</strong>ficial website, where he has published<br />
many articles about the history <strong>of</strong> the sport in Europe and the<br />
club competitions. In this book, you will find updated versions<br />
<strong>of</strong> the pr<strong>of</strong>iles <strong>of</strong> prominent players, all <strong>of</strong> them retired, in the<br />
history <strong>of</strong> the <strong>European</strong> cups.<br />
During his pr<strong>of</strong>essional career, he has attended and worked<br />
at many major events: seven Olympic Games, five World<br />
Championships, 17 EuroBaskets, some 25 Final Fours and<br />
several more finals. He is considered one <strong>of</strong> the continent’s<br />
most knowledgeable authorities on basketball history. He is<br />
also the author <strong>of</strong> 10 books, some <strong>of</strong> them about basketball.<br />
418<br />
419
ime prezime<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
A
IMPRESUM<br />
Izdavač: Više od sporta, Beograd, Braće Grim 3<br />
Autor: Vladimir Stanković<br />
Lektura i korektura: Frank Lawlor<br />
Dizajn: Studio Platinum<br />
Štampa: Birograf, Beograd<br />
Fotografije: Euroleague, Rodolfo Molina, Miguel Angel<br />
Fornies, MN Press, Ivan Doroški, Radiša Mladenović, Fondacija<br />
Ferrandiz, Košarkaški savez Srbije, Košarkaška federacija<br />
Katalonije, ACB, Gazzeta dello Sport, L´equippe, Koš magazin.<br />
Klubovi: Partizan, Crvena zvezda, Real Madrid, Barcelona,<br />
Alba, Cibona, CSKA, Žalgiris. Privatni arhivi.<br />
CIP KATALOGIZACUJA