101 Greats of European Basketball

A killer
on the court
Goran Rakocevic was a truly solid point
guard who played for Crvena Zvezda
in the 1970s, but who had the bad
luck of being on the same team as
Zoran Slavnic, a genius floor general
who limited Rakocevic’s playing time
at Zvezda and closed the national team doors to
him. Goran played for Zvezda from 1969 to 1979
for a total of 190 games, scoring 1,229 points (6.5
per game). With Zvezda, Rakocevic won the Yugoslav
League title in 1972 and lifted the Saporta Cup
trophy in 1974, downing Spartak Brno 86-75. His
friends, however, joke about the fact that the best
thing he ever did for the club was to take his little
son Igor to the outdoor courts at Kalemegdan Fortress,
where Zvezda was born in 1945 and still has
its home.
A peculiar way of training
Young Igor Rakocevic, who was born in Belgrade
on March 29, 1978, had Michael Jordan as his idol. He
dreamed of flying like Mike, of shooting and jumping like
him, and he was willing to work hard to become a wellknown,
respected player. Due to his height, 1.91 meters,
Igor became a shooting guard who could also play
point guard. But if you look at his stats, you see that he
rebounded a lot, too. He told me his “secret” not long
ago: as a kid, he lived on the 18th floor of a building in
New Belgrade, but he rarely used the elevator. He would
walk up and down the stairs several times a day. That
very peculiar practice strengthened his legs, which
improved the lift on his jump shot and his rebounding
skills a lot. Years later, he was admired for his dunks and
spectacular jumps.
Igor had the complete package: natural talent, work
ethic, physical skills, “Yugoslav” touch, speed and good
moves. Since his first-team debut with Zvezda in the
1995-96 season, you could tell he would be a top player.
At age 19, the next season, he was already a starter, averaging
12.9 points per game and shooting a really high
percentage (45.5%) from beyond the three-point line. Of
course, he was a key player for the Yugoslav junior team.
After the 1996 U18 European Championship in France,
all the scouts returned home with Rakocevic’s name
marked in red. He averaged 25.4 points, 3.6 assists
and 1.7 rebounds and came back with a bronze medal,
his first achievement. He had 35 points against Russia,
22 against Croatia, 28 against Belgium and 27 against
Italy. In the summer of 1997, he helped Yugoslavia win
a bronze medal at the U22 World Cup, played in Melbourne,
Australia, but his triumphant year was 1998.
First, he won the Yugoslav League title with Zvezda (averaging
12.9 points) and in summer, Yugoslavia won the
gold medal at the U22 European Championship with a
powerful team: Rakocevic, Marko Jaric, Dejan Milojevic
and Jovo Stanojevic. Rakocevic had a stellar role, averaging
21.1 points, 1.9 rebounds and 1.2 assists. As with
the true greats, his best game came in the final against
Slovenia. He scored 37 points in 34 minutes, hitting 6 of
11 two-point shots, 4 of 5 three-point shots and 13 of
15 free throws! Slovenia also had a great team, led by
Jaka Lakovic and Primoz Brezec, but Yugoslavia had an
unstoppable Rakocevic. Of course, he was the MVP of
that tournament, a trophy which nowadays, after so ma-
101 greats of european basketball
Igor Rakocevic
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