101 Greats of European Basketball

I
Dusko Ivanovic
Going abroad
After 10 seasons in the first division – a total of
226 games and 4,551 points (23.3 ppg.) – Dusko Ivanovic
was the 10th best scorer all-time in the Yugoslav
League. With two EuroLeague crowns under the belt,
his last chance to play somewhere else was approaching.
Dusko was already 32, an age which is the end, or
the beginning of the end, of many careers. But for him,
it was just the start of the third phase of his career:
playing abroad.
Since his law career had been set aside, he decided
to continue with what he did best: scoring points. Ivanovic
didn’t have many offers; the best one was from
Valvi Girona, a humble team in Spain.
Not much time went by when it could be seen that
the team from Girona had signed an excellent shooter. If
Oscar Schmidt is the Holy Hand for his fellow Brazilians,
Dusko Ivanovic was the same for Montenegro, a country
that gave birth to many great players: Zarko Paspalj, Nikola
Pekovic, Nikola Vucevic and Nikola Mirotic, among
many others. He scored from everywhere with good
numbers, he ran the breaks and he was a professional
who set an example in every sense. On November 11,
1990, Girona won in Manresa 67-87 as Ivanovic netted
43 points! He made 20 of 25 two-pointers and 3 of 3
free throws. His performance index rating was 44. He
finished that season with an average of 27.0 points and
only Walter Berry was in front of him.
Curiously enough for such a great shooter, in Ivanovic’s
first season in Spain, he didn’t shoot many
threes and he wasn’t very accurate at that, 2 of 22. The
following season, his numbers “plummeted” to 19.7
points per game, but his shooting percentage from
behind the arc increased to 45% (34 of 76).
A back injury and surgery threatened to put an end
to his career and Valvi did not renew his contract, so at
the start of the 1992-93 season, Ivanovic was left without
a team. He was about to turn 35 when an old friend
called him up. Boza Maljkovic, already at Limoges, offered
him a chance. Yes, it was a temporary contract to
fill in for the injured Jure Zdovc, but Ivanovic used his
chance. In six French League games, he averaged 16.4
points with good shooting percentages. Valvi decided
to call Dusko back and his numbers were more than
decent, 16.5 points. But Dusko himself admits that he
was not the same player as before the operation.
The final stop
For the 1994-95 season, Ivanovic was offered a contract
in Fribourg, Switzerland, where at 37 years old he
played a great season. He then came back to Girona to
become the assistant coach of Quim Costa at Valvi, but
he wasn’t renewed at the end of the season, so it was
back to Switzerland. He became a player/coach at Fribourg
and averaged 18.8 points. The Holy Hand was still
in good shape. Of course, Fribourg won the league, and
did so again the following two seasons, but with Ivanovic
as only its head coach now. He was also the coach of the
Swiss national team between 1997 and 2000.
In the summer of 1999, Ivanovic took another important
decision in his life: he accepted an offer from Limoges
to be the head coach there. It was not an easy decision.
His wife, a doctor, had a job in Fribourg, the kids went to
school there and they had formed a circle of friends. But
he knew that if he wanted to become a good head coach,
he would have to leave. Ivanovic spent only one year in
Limoges and won the French Cup, the Korac Cup and the
French championship. It was then when he got the call
from Baskonia in Vitoria, a team with a strong project.
The rest of the story is well-known.
101 greats of european basketball