101 Greats of European Basketball

78-58, with 12 points from Rebraca. In the 1997-98
EuroLeague, Benetton reached the Final Four played
in Barcelona but fell to AEK Athens in the semis 69-66.
Getting third place by beating Partizan 96-89 was no
big consolation. The following year, Benetton lost the
Italian Cup final to Kinder 73-55, but Rebraca’s empty
season at the club level was compensated with a Yugoslavia
win at the 1998 World Cup in Athens. Even though
the MVP of the tourney was Bodiroga, many believed
that Rebraca deserved the accolade because he averaged
13.1 points and 9.1 rebounds. In the final, a 64-62
win against Russia, Rebraca was the key man with 16
points and 11 rebounds. The all-tournament team included
Rebraca, Bodiroga, Vasily Karasev, Alberto Herreros
and Gregor Fucka. At the end of the year, at a FIBA
all-star event in Berlin – where he had 14 points and 10
rebounds and was MVP of the game – Rebraca received
the award for best European player of the year, chosen
in a survey of the magazine FIBA Basketball Monthly,
which gave the award an official status.
In Rebraca’s third season, Benetton ended up with a
triumph in the Saporta Cup. On April 13, 1999, in Zaragoza,
Spain, Benetton defeated Pamesa Valencia 64-60 with
6 points and 5 rebounds by Rebraca. It was his second
European trophy, again with Obradovic on the bench.
After four years, 143 games, 2,029 points (14.3 per
game) and 6.5 rebounds in Treviso, Rebraca moved
with Obradovic to Panathinaikos, where he played with
his friend and national teammate Dejan Bodiroga. At
the 2000 Final Four in Thessaloniki, Panathinaikos defeated
Efes Pilsen in the semifinal, 81-71, with 22 points
from Bodiroga and 15 from Rebraca. In the title game,
the Greens overcame Maccabi Tel Aviv, their biggest
rival at the turn of the century, by the score of 82-74.
Rebraca was brilliant, with 20 points and 8 rebounds in
30 minutes. He made 5 of 6 field goals and 10 of 14 free
throws. Of course, he was chosen MVP.
That season, Panathinaikos also won the Greek
League and Greek Cup, with Rebraca being voted MVP
of the league. His big dream was winning the gold medal
with Yugoslavia in the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, but Steve
Nash and Canada ended that dream in the quarterfinals.
Going to the NBA
Eventually, in the summer of 2001, at 29 years old,
Rebraca decided to try the NBA. He spent more than six
seasons there, suffering several injuries that kept him
sidelined. He played for Detroit, Atlanta and the Los
Angeles Clippers for a total 215 games, averaging 5.9
points and 3.2 rebounds. As in Europe, his main asset
was that you could always count on getting what you
expected from him. He was not a star in the NBA, but
he was a solid player.
I was a direct witness to almost all of Rebraca’s
successes in Europe. The trophies he won in Istanbul,
Zaragoza and Thessaloniki, the gold medals at the
1995 and 1997 EuroBaskets, the Olympic silver in Atlanta
1996, the World Cup gold in 1998. But I also saw
his disappointments in Sydney 2000 and, especially,
the Belgrade EuroBasket in 2005. Obradovic was back
to the bench of the national team after five years away,
just like Rebraca. It was to be the perfect goodbye at
home to Bodiroga, Tomasevic and Rebraca. But in one
of the biggest upsets in EuroBasket history, Yugoslavia
was eliminated in the Play-Off stage by the Tony Parker-led
France 74-71.
He now lives in Apatin, his childhood town, away
from basketball. He loves the Danube River and family
life. He has three kids, two girls and a boy, and many
nice memories from his career.
101 greats of european basketball
Zeljko Rebraca
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