101 Greats of European Basketball

After all, he was named the European player of the year
three times - in 1977, 1978 and 1980!
After his great playing career, Praja coached Gorizia
of Italy for several years, and then was sports director
from some humble teams of Belgrade. More recently, he
has been living away from basketball. His son Davorin
followed his footsteps and was a pro in Portugal, Italy,
Cyprus and even played for Partizan for a short stint.
But the weight of his name was too big despite him being
a fine player.
Because his father was too great.
Drazen Dalipagic
tions. It was too big a sacrifice for such a patriotic player.
I think that, because of his playing style, his physical
strength, his scoring and rebounding abilities, he would
have been able to play in the NBA without a doubt. The
European pioneers (Sarunas Marciulionis, Vlade Divac,
Alexander Volkov, Drazen Petrovic) confirmed the European
potential some 10 years later. His greatness was
recognized when Dalipagic was inducted into the Naismith
Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on September
10, 2004. FIBA did the same on September 12, 2007.
101 greats of european basketball
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