BOZIDAR MALKOVIC_31 Masterminds of European Basketball

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