101 Greats of European Basketball

Vladimir Stankovic
save for Sretenovic, left the club. Savic signed for Barcelona,
Pavicevic for Radnicki Belgrade, while Radovic and
Naumoski went back home to Buducnost and Rabotnicki,
respectively. In the 1991-92 Yugoslav League, without
teams from Croatia and Slovenia, Naumoski shined
for Rabotnicki. After his discreet numbers during two
years in Split (39 games, 73 points, 1.9 points per
game), Naumoski scored 388 points in 22 games (17.6
average). I remember a game of his in Belgrade against
Partizan (the eventual EuroLeague champion that season)
that Naumoski practically won alone. He finished
the season as the ninth-best scorer of the league with
tough competition like Boban Jankovic, Predrag Danilovic
and his former teammates Pavicevic (third with
464 points) and Radovic (eighth with 390). Rabotnicki
reached the semifinals and lost to Crvena Zvezda.
Breakthrough in Efes and triumph in Benetton
After that great season, Efes Pilsen of Turkey took
notice of Naumoski and managed to make one of the
club’s best signings ever. After Naumoski’s arrival,
Efes started its rise in Europe. On March 16, 1993,
Efes became the first Turkish team ever to reach a
continental final, the Korac Cup. The brain of that team
was Naumoski. He played 31.2 minutes per game,
averaged 17.0 points and 3.0 assists, and made 25 of
52 three-pointers (48.1%). However, that year’s Korac
Cup title game against Aris Thessaloniki in Turin will not
be remembered because of the play on the court, but
rather for a disgraceful battle between fans from both
sides in the stands. The game ended with a 50-48 win
for Aris, but four Efes players ended up in the hospital.
At the end of that season, Efes won the Turkish
League and Naumoski had a main role, of course. The
following season, Efes won the Turkish double crown
and that was enough for Benetton Treviso to call Naumoski.
He signed, moved to Italy and had a great season
there, too, as Benetton reached the 1995 Saporta Cup
final. The opponent was Taugres Vitoria of Spain and
the game was played at Abdi Ipekci Arena in Istanbul,
Naumoski’s former home court. The same teams had
already met in a quarterfinals group, with each winning
its home game, Taugres by the score of 80-71 in Vitoria
and Benetton 99-89 in Treviso. In the final, Benetton
was the better team and won 94-86 with Naumoski and
Orlando Woolridge as a lethal duo, scoring 26 points
apiece. Naumoski made 5 of 5 two-point shots, 2 of 5
threes and 10 of 11 free throws to go with 2 rebounds
and 5 assists. He played all 40 minutes. On the other
side was Velimir Perasovic, his former teammate in
Jugoplastika. It was Naumoski’s third European trophy,
but this time he was in the spotlight. His average for the
competition was 20.8 points. He had the most points
for his team (353 points) although Woolridge had a better
average (22.5) playing three fewer games.
In the Italian League, Naumoski averaged 18.3
points, 2.9 rebounds and 2.8 assists. His three-point
shooting was over 50% as he made 95 of 189 attempts.
With those percentages, he led the ranking ahead of
players like Sasha Djordjevic (47.2%), Henry Williams
(47,1%) and Arijan Komazec (46,8%). Naumoski was
also the fifth-best assist-maker that season. Benetton
featured a terrific team (Riccardo Pittis, Riccardo Esposito,
Ken Barlow, Stefano Rusconi, Alberto Vianini,
Denis Marconato, Andrea Gracis, Woolridge.) but lost
the Italian League finals against Buckler Bologna 3-0.
Nonetheless, the team managed to take the Italian Cup
against Trieste by 81-77 with 16 points from Naumoski.
In Turkey, Efes Pilsen realized that losing Naumoski
had turned them into a whole different team. The club
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