101 Greats of European Basketball

Standing 1.97 meters, Delibasic played small forward,
but he could play shooting guard and even the point. He
had great game vision and a sixth sense for assists. I think
he invented the bounce pass: instead of giving the ball
directly to a teammate, he liked to pass the ball by bouncing
it off the floor, sometimes up to 10 or 15 meters away.
Coming off the bounce, the ball got into the hands of the
teammate in an ideal position and with fewer chances of
traveling. It was a pass that was Made in Mirza.
Vladimir Stankovic
Leader of the great Bosna
In the national team, surrounded by aces like Kreso
Cosic, Drazen Dalipagic, Zoran Slavnic and Kicanovic,
Delibasic was an important player, but just one of
a great group. At his club, Bosna, he was the boss
because of his talent and versatility. His Bosna team
was an example of something we cannot see anymore
today because nobody has the patience to wait
and see how a team can grow and develop. Tanjevic
started with Bosna in the second division and called
Svetislav Pesic from Partizan to become his starting
point guard. He also signed Delibasic, discovered the
“golden hand” of Zarko Varajic, and waited for Ratko
Radovanovic to develop from an anti-talent into a crucial
big man. In seven years, that team went from the
second division to the peak of European basketball.
The culmination of that masterpiece occurred on April
5, 1979, in Grenoble, France. In that season’s EuroLeague
title game, Bosna defeated the great Emerson
Varese, playing its 10th straight final, 96-93 in an unforgettable
offensive festival. That was the night that
Varajic scored 45 points, setting a scoring record for
continental title games that still stands today. But Delibasic
also played a great game, with 30 points, and
the pace of the Bosna team was always in his hands.
Bosna was, in fact, the first Yugoslav team ever to win
the top European competition.
When Delibasic signed for Real Madrid in 1981, he
received the treatment he deserved as a true star.
When he left, two years later, under his own will and
with a year remaining on his contract because “the
club needed a center”, he departed as an idol. Delibasic
sacrificed himself and freed up a foreigner’s spot
on the roster so that the team could be even better
with that needed big man, who would have to be
signed from outside Spain. Delibasic instead signed
for Indesit Caserta, where he got together again with
his favorite coach, Tanjevic. However, midway through
the season, he suffered a brain hemorrhage. Delibasic
survived, but at age 29, he had to say goodbye to
basketball.
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