101 Greats of European Basketball

Vladimir Stankovic
role. The 1990-91 season arrived and with it, Radja had
gone to Rome, Dusko Ivanovic went to Girona and Maljkovic
started coaching Barcelona. Jugoplastika, under
the new sponsor Pop 84, and with Zeljko Pavlicevic on
the bench, repeated the title for a third successive year
at the Paris Final Four. Kukoc, Savic, Velimir Perasovic,
Zoran Sretenovic plus American Avie Lester (who
played his career game in the final against Barcelona
with 11 points and 3 blocks) were on the team. Savic
was the hero of the final with his 27 points and Tabak
contributed 2 points and 3 rebounds, but he had many
good games during the season, including an earlier one
against Barcelona in which he had scored 14 points.
At the end of the season, Tabak was chosen by the
Houston Rockets in the second round of the NBA draft
with the 51st pick. Not bad at all for a 21-year-old kid still
with a lot of room for improvement. For the 1991-92
season, only Tabak and Perasovic remained from the
great Jugoplastika three-peat. Apart from the normal
departures, war was a factor. The Split team played its
home EuroLeague games in La Coruña, Spain. Perasovic
was the top scorer with 25.6 points and Tabak was
already a crucial player in the team (13.9 points plus 7.9
rebounds). It was not a blank season for the team as,
under the new name Slobodna Dalmacija, they won the
first Croatian Cup in Rijeka. In the quarterfinals they
destroyed Jug Drubovnik 94-67, in the semis they did
the same to Sibenka (101-57) and in the final, the victim
was Cibona, 88-65. The MVP? Of course, Zan Tabak. It
was time for some individual accolades.
medal. Drazen Petrovic, Radja, Kukoc, Perasovic, Stojan
Vrankovic, Danko Cvjeticanin, Vladan Alanovic, Aramis
Naglic, Komazec, Alan Gregov and Tabak made up a
super team. Even though he was only 22, Tabak’s next
step would be playing abroad. His first stop was Basket
Livorno of Italy. After a very good season (14.9 points,
10.1 rebounds) his number of medals increased in the
summer with a bronze for Croatia at the 1993 EuroBasket
in Germany. His next step would be an Italian great,
Olimpia Milano. He had another good season with similar
numbers, 14.6 points and 10.7 boards.
At 24, he decided to try his luck in the NBA. Tabak
signed for the Rockets, where he played alongside legend
Hakeem Olajuwon, another great big man and great
for Tabak’s improvement. Lo and behold, after his rookie
season, Tabak had an NBA championship ring in his
hands, too! The team, coached by Rudy Tomjanovich,
of Croatian descent, swept the final series against Orlando,
4-0. For Tabak, it was a fourth continental club
title. After three EuroLeague crowns, he had the NBA
title, becoming the first European to win both leagues.
It’s true that, again, his contribution was symbolic, as
expected from a rookie, but he was there in the right
place at the right time. He played the next three years
for the Toronto Raptors and then another one in Boston.
After four-and-a-half seasons in the NBA, Tabak
decided to come back to Europe. He chose Fenerbahce
of Turkey and he had a great season (13.1 points and 10
rebounds). That was enough for the Indiana Pacers to
lure him back to the NBA.
To the NBA, via Livorno
In the summer of 1992, Zan Tabak lived a dream
together with his teammates by playing the Barcelona
Olympic Games with Croatia and winning a silver
Real Madrid, Joventut, Unicaja
At 30 years old, and after six and a half seasons in
the NBA and 247 games, Tabak came back to Europe
for good. He was signed by Real Madrid and had a solid
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