101 Greats of European Basketball

Vladimir Stankovic
After taking ninth place in Atlanta, Argentina placed
eighth in Athens and Oberto finished the tournament
with 8.3 points and 3.6 rebounds, enough to expect a
good season with Olympiacos. But that didn’t happen.
His adaptation to European basketball was slower than
expected and Ivkovic didn’t give him much playing time.
In 22 EuroLeague games, Oberto averaged 5.3 points
and 3.9 rebounds over 16 minutes. Olympiacos reached
the Final Four in Munich but lost in the semifinal against
eventual champion Zalgiris, 87-71, and defeated Fortitudo
Bologna for third place, 74-63, with Oberto contributing
9 points and 8 rebounds in 20 minutes.
My friend Alejandro Perez, a Buenos Aires-based
journalist and a connoisseur of South American basketball,
told me the story of how once, in the summer
of 1999, a disappointed Oberto told him that he was
thinking of going back home. But then the offer that
changed his life arrived. Dusko Ivanovic of Tau Ceramica
called him. In his first season in the Spanish League,
Oberto improved his numbers to 9.5 points and 7.0
boards even though Tau would fall to eventual champ
AEK Athens in the Saporta Cup. Oberto missed a few
games in the Spanish League due to injuries.
Oberto’s second season in Vitoria, 2000-01, was
much better. He played all 34 regular season Spanish
League games plus nine in the playoffs and amassed
9.0 points and 6.2 rebounds. Tau fell in the semifinals
to Real Madrid 3-2 but reached the finals of the first
edition of the modern EuroLeague, where it lost 3-2
to Kinder Bologna. Oberto posted 10.9 points and 7.3
rebounds in the EuroLeague.
24 seconds in Indianapolis
The arrival of Tomasevic to Vitoria in the summer
of 2001 triggered the birth of a great duo of big men.
They both had the same height (2.08 meters), they
shared some attributes (scoring, rebounding, a sense
for assists, high basketball IQ) and a winning mentality.
In their first season together, they first won the Spanish
King’s Cup at home. Tau Ceramica worked hard to defeat
Joventut Badalona 74-72, topped Unicaja 83-72 and
then edged Barcelona in the final against 85-83. Tomasevic
was named MVP of the tournament, but Oberto
was also a main contributor. Tau had a great team with
Sconochini, Luis Scola, Andres Nocioni, Elmer Bennett,
Laurent Foirest, Chris Corchiani and Sergi Vidal. A few
months later they would also win the Spanish League
title against Unicaja, sweeping the finals 3-0.
When the season ended, the big news in Spain was
that both Tomasevic and Oberto were moving together
to Pamesa Valencia. However, before the start of that
season, the two friends had a new commitment, the
2002 World Cup in Indianapolis. Argentina and Yugoslavia
reached the title game, the former with great authority
and the latter after struggling in the first phase,
but with a great win over host USA in the quarterfinals.
A brilliant Oberto (28 points, 10 boards) had his team
on the brink of the gold medal with 24 seconds to go.
However, two threes by Dejan Bodiroga and questionable
defense by Vlade Divac on Sconochini on the last
play forced overtime, in which Yugoslavia was better
and won, 84-77.
Together again, Oberto and Tomasevic led Pamesa
Valencia all the way to the club’s first European title, the
2002-03 EuroCup, in the first edition of the competition,
which was then called the ULEB Cup and organized
by Euroleague Basketball. On April 15, 2003, Valencia
defeated KRKA, on the road in Novo Mesto, by a score
of 78-90 behind 14 points and 7 rebounds from Oberto.
Seven days later, at home in Valencia, the win was clos-
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