BOZIDAR MALKOVIC_31 Masterminds of European Basketball
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Attack or<br />
defense? Titles!<br />
Bozidar<br />
Maljkovic<br />
I<br />
prefer to win 51-50 than lose 124-128.”<br />
Does this sentence define Bozidar Maljkovic,<br />
a four-time EuroLeague champion with three<br />
different teams, as a coach? In part it does, but<br />
generally speaking I’d say it doesn’t.<br />
Maljkovic, as one <strong>of</strong> the best pupils <strong>of</strong> “Pr<strong>of</strong>essor”Aleksandar<br />
Nikolic, applied his master’s<br />
lines flawlessly: a coach must adapt to the characteristics<br />
<strong>of</strong> his players. Maljkovic did that his entire<br />
career. When he had <strong>of</strong>fense-oriented players, his<br />
teams scored more points. If the opposite was<br />
true, defense was king. When he won his fourth EuroLeague<br />
title with Limoges in Athens in 1993, he<br />
defeated Benetton Treviso 59-55 and was accused,<br />
due to the team’s defensive style, <strong>of</strong> “basket control<br />
that kills the game.” However, fans <strong>of</strong> Limoges<br />
were no doubt happier to sign up for a 59-55 win<br />
than a 92-94 loss.<br />
Before leaving Yugoslavia, Maljkovic coached<br />
the great Jugoplastika, where his teams averaged<br />
(both winning titles and not) the following points in<br />
the regular season: 92.7 points per game in 1986-<br />
87; 92.0 in 1987-88; 88.2 in 1988-89; and 96.2 in<br />
1989-90.<br />
On the other hand, he won two EuroLeague<br />
finals with that team by the scores <strong>of</strong> 75-69 and 70-<br />
65, plus a third, in 1996 with Panathinaikos, by the<br />
score <strong>of</strong> 67-66. But that same year he also won the<br />
Intercontinental Cup against Olimpia <strong>of</strong> Argentina<br />
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<strong>31</strong> MASTERMINDS <strong>of</strong> EUROPEAN BASKETBALL<br />
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Vladimir Stankovic<br />
with two home wins in which his team scored 83 and<br />
101 points, respectively.<br />
I think these examples prove there is no general<br />
rule. His philosophy was simply winning, and in order<br />
to accomplish that he had different game plans every<br />
time, adapted to the characteristics and potential <strong>of</strong><br />
both his team and the opponent.<br />
A youngster on the bench<br />
Bozidar Maljkovic was born on April 20, 1952 in<br />
Otocac (now Croatia) where his father, an <strong>of</strong>ficer for<br />
the Yugoslav army, was stationed.<br />
He saw basketball for the first time in Kraljevo,<br />
in the middle <strong>of</strong> Serbia, another <strong>of</strong> his dad’s postings.<br />
He started playing the game at the age <strong>of</strong> 12<br />
in Belgrade, another new place for his father. In fact,<br />
Maljkovic was the founder <strong>of</strong> a humble club in the<br />
neighborhood <strong>of</strong> New Belgrade in 1971. The club’s<br />
name was Usce, which means “confluence”, as next<br />
to the team’s court the great Sava and Danube rivers<br />
united, below the walls <strong>of</strong> Kalemegdan, the cradle<br />
<strong>of</strong> Serbian basketball. At Usce, Maljkovic did a bit <strong>of</strong><br />
everything: player, coach, director and handling uniforms.<br />
He wasn’t sure about his future in basketball<br />
and was still studying law, but day after day he got<br />
more and more involved.<br />
When Bratislav Djordjevic, the father <strong>of</strong> future star<br />
Sasa, called Maljkovic to become his assistant coach<br />
at Radnicki, the hobby was a full-time job. He was soon<br />
promoted to become the youngest head coach in the<br />
Yugoslav first division, and his big accomplishment<br />
was maintaining the team at the same level, despite<br />
losing all the players from the Golden Generation <strong>of</strong><br />
1980 to 1982.<br />
If Djordjevic was his first direct teacher, Ranko<br />
Zeravica was the second and maybe even more<br />
important. Between 1983 and 1986 Maljkovic was<br />
Zeravica’s assistant at Crvena Zvezda. During this<br />
period he learned more, gained experience and<br />
when the job <strong>of</strong> his life at Jugoplastika came up, he<br />
was ready for it.<br />
Leaving Belgrade behind and moving to Split with<br />
his family was no easy decision. In previous years,<br />
Jugoplastika hadn’t enjoyed very good results.<br />
But after enquiring about the young talent within<br />
the club, Maljkovic decided to go for it anyway. His<br />
signing was recommended by Pr<strong>of</strong>essor Nikolic, who<br />
could not take the job despite being the club’s first<br />
option. When he was asked to suggest somebody<br />
else, Nikolic replied with his usual false pessimism<br />
strategy: “Yes, but I don’t think you have the courage<br />
to sign him because he’s too young.”<br />
Despite that, Jugoplastika trusted Nikolic and<br />
signed Maljkovic, who was 34 years old at the time.<br />
Before him, Kreso Cosic and Zoran Slavnic had<br />
worked there, and they had given the first minutes<br />
to a couple <strong>of</strong> young talents named Toni Kukoc and<br />
Dino Radja. Those two players exploded when Maljkovic<br />
arrived.<br />
From Crvena Zvezda, Maljkovic brought with him<br />
guard Zoran Sretenovic, who would become an insurance<br />
policy on the court, while from Cibona came Luka<br />
Pavicevic. Digging deeper among the youngsters<br />
already in Split, Maljkovic found Velimir Perasovic,<br />
Goran Sobin, Pero Vucica and Zan Tabak, along with<br />
veteran Ivica Dukan. That same year, Jugoplastika<br />
finished third behind Drazen Petrovic’s Cibona and<br />
Vlade Divac’s Partizan.<br />
The following summer, Maljkovic added a key<br />
piece to the team with Dusko Ivanovic, who came<br />
from Buducnost Podgorica. It was the right decision.<br />
Dusko had been the top scorer on his team some<br />
years earlier and was one <strong>of</strong> the best in the league.<br />
However, many people still thought that he was “a<br />
great player for a small team.” Maljkovic proved them<br />
all wrong and demonstrated that Dusko was a great<br />
player for a big team. Ivanovic brought experience,<br />
something that was lacking in players like Kukoc,<br />
Radja and the rest <strong>of</strong> the young talent. During the<br />
fall, playing in the Korac Cup, Jugoplastika had its<br />
first international experience. It was eliminated before<br />
the semifinals but defeated more prestigious<br />
opponents along the way.<br />
Triumph in Munich<br />
For the EuroLeague, Maljkovic managed a new<br />
“signing”: his pr<strong>of</strong>essor, Nikolic, who spent 10 or 15<br />
days in Split working at practices. Nikolic didn’t travel,<br />
nor he did he sit on the bench, but his work in between<br />
games helped young coach Boza and his team a lot.<br />
Jugoplastika started the run against Ovarense and<br />
then, in a tough group with Maccabi, Barcelona, Aris,<br />
Limoges, Scavolini, CSKA and Nashua, it finished third<br />
with an 8-6 record and advanced to the 1989 Final<br />
Four in Munich.<br />
Of course, Jugoplastika reached the tourney as<br />
complete underdogs, but in the semifinals those<br />
underdogs surprised Barcelona, 87-77, and in the<br />
title game the victim was Maccabi, 75-69. Radja (20<br />
points) and Kukoc (18) were aided by Ivanovic (12) and<br />
Sobin (11) in leading the way.<br />
The following season, 1989-90, Jugoplastika<br />
found good reinforcements in Zoran Savic, who arrived<br />
from Celik Zenica <strong>of</strong> the second division, and<br />
Aramis Naglic <strong>of</strong> Rijeka. Maljkovic also thought about<br />
the future and signed two more players: Petar Naumoski,<br />
a Macedonian from Rabotnicki, who would go<br />
on to become a star in Turkey and Italy; and Velibor<br />
Radovic, who later became a well-known player in Israel,<br />
won the domestic league with Maccabi Tel Aviv,<br />
and is currently an assistant coach for FC Bayern<br />
Munich.<br />
Bozidar Maljkovic<br />
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Jugoplastika was no longer a surprise, and when<br />
it made the Final Four again in Zaragoza, nobody<br />
dismissed another potential triumph over Barcelona.<br />
Sure enough, in the semis Jugoplastika defeated Limoges<br />
101-83 and then in the final they did the same<br />
to Barca, 72-67, behind 20 points by Kukoc.<br />
Those two Final Four wins were the key to Maljkovic<br />
joining Barcelona. Even if the agreement had been<br />
sealed some months before, it wasn’t announced until<br />
the season ended, <strong>of</strong> course. Barcelona expected a<br />
<strong>European</strong> crown with Maljkovic on the bench, but one<br />
obstacle came in the way – ‘his’ Jugoplastika.<br />
In the Paris Final Four in 1991, Barcelona beat Maccabi<br />
101-67 in the semis with 25 points from Jose<br />
Antonio Montero, 18 from Juan Antonio San Epifanio<br />
and 13 from Piculin Ortiz. However, in the title game,<br />
Jugoplastika won yet again, 70-65, even though they<br />
had lost Radja and Ivanovic. Savic scored 27 points<br />
while the American Avie Lester, who had been quiet<br />
all season, exploded into his best game with 11<br />
points and 3 blocks. Barcelona had suffered from<br />
injuries as Audie Norris was just back from serious<br />
shoulder surgery and Andres Jimenez also missed<br />
the game.<br />
Miracle(s) in Athens<br />
Personally, I think Maljkovic’s best result in Europe<br />
was the crown he won with Limoges in 1993. With<br />
Split, he had pure talent and in Barcelona he had a<br />
fearsome roster. But to even make the Final Four with<br />
his players in Limoges he had to invent many things to<br />
compensate for the lack <strong>of</strong> pure quality.<br />
That Limoges team only had one big star, the<br />
American shooter Michael Young, and a great French<br />
national player in Richard Dacoury. Maljkovic also<br />
signed Slovenian guard Jure Zdovc. But the rest were,<br />
as Maljkovic said himself, “miners”. However, Jim<br />
Bilba, Willie Redden, Jimmy Verove, Franck Butter<br />
and Frederic Forte, who later became the Limoges<br />
president, were more than just pure workers. Everyone<br />
knew their roles in the team, which had been<br />
designated by Boza. Limoges finished second in the<br />
regular season group with a 7-5 record, just behind<br />
PAOK (8-4). All the other teams at the 1993 Final Four<br />
in Athens wanted to play Limoges.<br />
Real Madrid and Arvydas Sabonis was waiting in<br />
the semis, but Young (20 points) and Dacoury (14) led<br />
a great Limoges performance in a 62-52 vicotry. The<br />
opponent in the title game was Benetton, featuring<br />
his former pupil Kukoc and Terry Teagle, but with another<br />
defensive showcase Limoges took the title with<br />
a 59-55 win. Two miracles.<br />
The next era in Maljkovic’s career was in Athens<br />
with Panathinaikos, where he won his fourth Euro-<br />
League title, and the first ever for a Greek team. In a<br />
dramatic and controversial final in Paris against Barcelona<br />
in 1996, the Greens won 67-66. Boza also won<br />
the Intercontinental Cup with Panathinaikos.<br />
After coaching Racing Paris for one season, Maljkovic<br />
went back to Spain. First, he coached Unicaja<br />
Malaga from 1998 to 2003, losing a Spanish League<br />
final to his former player and Tau Ceramica coach Dusko<br />
Ivanovic. After that, he coached Real Madrid from<br />
2004 to 2006, and miraculously won another league<br />
title. With the series tied 2-2 against TAU Ceramica,<br />
the final game entered the final minute with the team<br />
from Vitoria ahead 69-61, but Maljkovic’s team won<br />
69-70 as Alberto Herreros, already 36 years old, hit<br />
the three-pointer <strong>of</strong> his life on the buzzer for the title.<br />
Maljkovic later returned to the EuroLeague Final<br />
Four in 2007 with TAU in Athens, but he had only taken<br />
charge <strong>of</strong> the team a few days before. After that<br />
he also coached Lokomotiv Kuban and was Slovenian<br />
national team coach at the 2011 and 2013 FIBA Euro-<br />
Baskets. His last job was at Cedevita Zagreb during<br />
the 2012-13 season, but he resigned for unknown<br />
reasons.<br />
His last <strong>European</strong> trophy arrived in 2001 with<br />
Unicaja, which he led to the Korac Cup. He was also<br />
a national champion in Yugoslavia, France and Spain,<br />
and won the cup in those countries plus Greece. He<br />
was named <strong>European</strong> Coach <strong>of</strong> the Year twice (1989<br />
and 1990), three times in Yugoslavia, and twice more<br />
in France. He won a total <strong>of</strong> 17 titles at national and<br />
international levels.<br />
These are my highlights from his “rulebook”:<br />
- “I try to turn each practice into a final.”<br />
- “The coach must show his players that he knows<br />
at least three times as much basketball.”<br />
- “I prefer a game with lower scores, but tougher<br />
defenses.”<br />
- “I am constantly doubting. You must investigate<br />
and check your analyses and conclusions.”<br />
Maljkovic now lives in Belgrade, where he <strong>of</strong>fers<br />
courses and lessons, and he is an active public figure<br />
and serves as the president <strong>of</strong> the Serbian Olympic<br />
Committee. He is also the number one fan <strong>of</strong> his<br />
daughter Marina, which is a curious case. Normally<br />
sons get the gene from their fathers, be it as a player<br />
or a coach, but in Boza’s case his daughter Marina<br />
chose the bench. And she chose wisely.<br />
After triumphing in Serbia with Hem<strong>of</strong>arm and<br />
Partizan, Marina was named Serbian national women‘s<br />
team coach, directing the team to the gold medal<br />
at the 2015 FIBA EuroBasket Women and bronze at<br />
the following year‘s Rio Olympics. Marina is the carbon<br />
copy <strong>of</strong> her father, both physically and mentally.<br />
She handles games with the same style, with the<br />
calmness and authority provided by her deep knowledge<br />
<strong>of</strong> the game.<br />
The Maljkovic dynasty has not uttered its last word<br />
in basketball.<br />
Bozidar Maljkovic<br />
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