101 Greats of European Basketball

season with 9.8 points and 7 rebounds. After that, he
moved to Badalona to play with Joventut. It was the
fourth club on which Tabak played – after Jugoplastika,
Milano and Madrid – that had been a EuroLeague champion
at least once. His numbers were even better: 12.6
points and 7.3 rebounds.
At 35 years old, Tabak got the call from Unicaja Malaga.
Sergio Scariolo, who had coached him in Madrid,
was looking for an experienced player, but things didn’t
turn out as expected due to a back injury that Tabak
suffered. He missed half a season and started playing
a little before the King’s Cup in Zaragoza. But, again, it
was the right moment for him as Unicaja managed to
lift the prestigious cup title with a great team, including
Carlos Cabezas, Jorge Garbajosa, Fran Vazquez, Berni
Rodriguez, Walter Herrmann, Pepe Sanchez, Stephane
Risacher ... and Tabak, of course. He scored 10 points
against Etosa Alicante in the quarterfinals and then 4
against Valencia in the semis. Tabak could not score in
the title game against Real Madrid, coached by his former
mentor, Boza Maljkovic, but he helped nonetheless.
Due to the bad back injury, Tabak could not deliver
what was expected of him, but with his experience, he
could help a young Fran Vazquez, who had a great breakout
season. Zan was a great pro and set an example in
every practice. Almost everything he did, he did well. He
was almost perfect in the low post and could score with
both hands. He played well with his back to the basket
and was also a tough defender with rebounding abilities.
He was not slow for his height and he ran well.
With a King’s Cup title under his belt, Tabak decided
to retire. However, he knew he wanted to stay in basketball
as a coach. He has since won both a EuroLeague
and a EuroCup title as an assistant coach with Real Madrid,
in 2007 and 2015, respectively. Before and after,
he has been a head coach in Poland, Spain and Israel.
Among his other head coaching positions in Spain, he
took Baskonia Vitoria Gasteiz to the EuroLeague Playoffs
in 2013. And in a replacement stint with Maccabi
FOX Tel Aviv in 2016 he won the Israeli Cup.
Basketball was Tabak’s destiny even though he
didn’t have it in his blood. Rather, he married into it. His
father didn’t play the sport, but his wife Gorana had
played in the Split women’s team and her father, Rato
Tvrdic, was the captain of the great Jugoplastika in the
1970s and of the Yugoslav national team, European
champions in 1973 and 1975. And since every big man
needs a good point guard, Tabak was lucky to have one
in the family.
101 greats of european basketball
Zan Tabak
T