101 Greats of European Basketball

“Alexander
the Great”
In the 1971-72 season, Crvena Zvezda won the
Yugoslavian League with a powerful team formed
by veteran Vladimir Cvetkovic, two young talents
who were world champs already in 1970, Ljubodrag
Simonovic and Dragan Kapicic, the great guard
Zoran Slavnic and his substitute, Goran Rakocevic
(father of Igor Rakocevic), the useful big man Dragisa
Vucinic and many others. The coach of that team was
Bratislav “Bata” Djordjevic, and behind the bench
there used to be a curious kid who always had a ball in
his hands. That was Aleksandar “Sasha” Djordjevic,
born August 26, 1967, in Belgrade, the eldest son of
the Zvezda head coach. It was impossible to foresee
that Sasha would be a great player, but it was clear
that he was interested in the ball.
The career of this future great guard in European basketball
started in the youth categories of Crvena Zvezda
and Radnicki Belgrade. But he had to go to Partizan to develop
his great talent. In the 1983-84 season, at 16 years
old, he made his debut with the first team, but in his first
five games, he only scored 2 points. The following season
he was already better, with 89 points in 22 games. Curiously
enough, Svetislav Pesic, national team coach for
the Yugoslav youth categories, never called Djordjevic for
the 1985 U16 European Championship in Ruse, Bulgaria.
In a team with Toni Kukoc, Vlade Divac, Neboja Ilic and
others, the guards were Zoran Kalpic and Nenad Trunic.
Djordjevic had similar numbers in the 1985-86 season
with Partizan – 80 points in 21 games – showing his potential
while he had already become a staple on the junior
national team. In the 1986 U18 European Championship
in Gmunden, Austria, he won a gold medal after seven
victories, the last of them by 111-87 against USSR in the
final. It was a great team with Djordjevic, Luka Pavicevic
and Teoman Alibegovic as the main newcomers on a
team that would have its best moments one year later at
the U19 Basketball World Cup in Bormio.
Duo with Divac
In the summer of 1986, Vlade Divac left Sloga Kraljevo
and joined Partizan at 18 years old. At that time,
and because of stupid childish reasons, he didn’t talk
to Djordjevic. But as smart as he was, Divac thought to
himself: “I am a center and I need a great point guard,
and the best is Djordjevic, so I am going to Partizan.”
Said and done. That was the birth of a great duo that
didn’t last long in Partizan, as Divac went to the Los
Angeles Lakers in 1989. But on the Yugoslav national
team, the tandem still had a long way to go.
Since his childhood, Djordjevic showed he was leadership
material. Smart by nature, he was a boss on the
court, with authority to understand basketball better
than his teammates thanks to having a personal coach
at home. Sasha was the first violin in a great Partizan
generation that sports director Dragan Kicanovic would
build little by little. Djordjevic drew attention because
of his impeccable technique, his great court vision, his
excellent shot, and his courage to take responsibility
when it mattered. I remember a game against Crvena
Zvezda in Hala Pionir when he was still a junior. He
came off the bench and in successive possessions hit 4
three-pointers to turn the game upside down.
His first Yugoslav League title with Partizan arrived
in 1987. That same summer, Kreso Cosic, a great vi-
101 greats of european basketball
Aleksandar Djordjevic
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