101 Greats of European Basketball

Vladimir Stankovic
thanks to an unusual situation. Due to some administrative
problem, Buducnost had to play a game in Belgrade
without its starters, and coach Cedomir Djuraskovic was
forced to take some kids with him, Zarko among them.
After that game, Paspalj never left the first team again.
He was already on the radar of the flawless scouting
system of the Yugoslav federation. In the 1983 European
Championship for Cadets, which took place in
Ludwigsburg, Germany, Paspalj was a player who stood
out amidst a very good generation of players. Branislav
Prelevic, Jure Zdovc, Miroslav Pecarski, Ivo Nakic, Ivica
Mavrenksi, Pavicevic, Paspalj and the rest were crowned
champs after winning the final against Spain, with Juan
Antonio Orenga, Antonio Martin and Rafa Jofresa, after
two overtimes. The score had been 70-70 after regulation
time and 78-78 after the first extra session. It ended 89-
86 as Paspalj contributed 13 points, going 5 for 6 on free
throws in the overtimes. It was his first important title.
From that moment on, Paspalj was on the agenda
of the best Yugoslav teams. In 1986, he was about to
sign for Bosna Sarajevo, like Radulovic. He was already
in Sarajevo, in fact, when Partizan, in a turning of the
tables worthy of a movie script, managed to “kidnap”
him and take him to Belgrade, where he signed for Partizan.
The reason for his “kidnapping” was the project
to build a great team. Partizan already had players like
Sasha Djordjevic, Slavisa Koprivica, Milenko Savovic
and Goran Grbovic, but in that same summer of 1986,
sports director Dragan Kicanovic managed also to sign
Vlade Divac, Ivo Nakic, Zeljko Obradovic and Paspalj.
There is no doubt that his stint at Partizan was key to
Paspalj’s career. He was a member of the men’s national
team at the 1987 EuroBasket and won a bronze medal
while averaging 10.6 points. He averaged the same 10.6
points in taking a silver medal at the 1988 Olympics in
Seoul. For his first European national title, won in Zagreb
the next summer, his scoring rose to 13.8 points
per game. The following year, Yugoslavia was the 1990
World Cup champion in Argentina with Paspalj averaging
13 points. And at the 1991 EuroBasket in Italy, where
Yugoslavia played with all its players for the last time, he
averaged 9.4 points. Paspalj played the same position
as Toni Kukoc, but for coach Dusan Ivkovic it was a real
luxury to have two modern and versatile players like Toni
and Palja, as Paspalj was nicknamed by his friends.
A god in Greece
While at Partizan, Paspalj won a Yugoslav League
title (1987), a national cup (1989) and a Korac Cup
(1989), against Cantu. The team was also in the first
EuroLeague Final Four in Ghent in 1988, where they finished
third. The final of the Korac Cup was played in two
games. In Cantu, the hosts were led by Kent Benson (24
points), Antonello Riva (19) and Pierluigi Marzorati (9) in
defeating Partizan 89-76 despite Divac’s 28 points, 22
by Djordjevic, 11 by Paspalj and 10 by Predrag Danilovic.
In the second game, the old arena in New Belgrade was
a full-on party. A 101-82 win for Partizan featured 30
points by Divac and 22 by Paspalj.
In 1989, together with Divac and Petrovic, Paspalj
started his NBA adventure. He signed for the San Antonio
Spurs, but after 28 games he was back at Partizan.
Paspalj had averaged only 6.5 minutes and 2.6 points
in the NBA. Those were different times and European
players still didn’t have the trust of American coaches.
Petrovic underwent similar problems while in Portland
and he had to wait until he moved to New Jersey to
show his real level.
After another solid season in Belgrade, Paspalj accepted
the offer from Olympiacos and, apart from having
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