IN THE GAME

A few weeks after domestic championships have finished, In The Game is taking an in-depth look at several European basketball leagues. We have asked experts to provide readers with their thoughts on the past season with an emphasis on individual players, and we are particularly proud that Nedzad Kladusak of Eurobasket.com is starting it off with a great analysis of the 08/09 season in the very interesting NLB.

Despite the still-existing dominance of Serbian clubs and yet another trophy for Partizan Belgrade, the 08/09 season has once again been a lot of fun. The league’s consistently high standing in European basketball as well as the backgrounds of clubs and players are quite simply too dynamic and too interesting to make losing interest a real option.

Here I will present my thoughts on the past season. Surely not objective all the way, which in my opinion is not possible anyway in a territory where one spends so much love and emotion.

Nedzad Kladusak, Eurobasket

Surprise: KK Bosna
KK Bosna, the club which is known among European basketball fans at the very latest since the historical quintuple overtime game in Berlin in 07/08, is still suffering today, 17 years after the war, of the war’s consequences and the country’s financial situation. The new player acquisitions – some of them a consequence of the financial situation, some of them an illustration of unprofessional management – prior to the start of the 08/09 season had been eyed pessimistically by the public.

Players like Lance Williams and former Artland Dragons playmaker Bryan Bailey left huge footsteps behind, footsteps that were filled by Ivan Ivanovic and Dusan Djordjevic as well as Miljan Rakic and Elvir Ovcina later on. Shortly after the beginning of the season, the club decided to release coach Alen Abaz and later Goran Sehovac, since – despite the excellent development of injury-prone center prospect Emir Zimic – results didn’t meet the expectations. They signed Vlado Vukoicic, the grandfather of the FMP youth concept, which puts emphasis on methodical player development and production instead of spending huge money to acquire players, and which made FMP arguably the best basketball school in all of Europe.

Carried by Djordjevic, Ivanovic, captain Goran Ikonic as well as former German BBL Allstar Elvir Ovcina, the team played a for the club unprecedented style of basketball – extremely intelligent, team oriented, defensive-minded. As a result of the new direction the club had been taking, Bosna finished in front of FMP and Union Olimpija in the NLB and got excellent development off of players like e.g. Dusan Djordjevic, who ended the season as the league’s best assist-maker, or the emergence of Bosnian national team player Sead Sehovic, who is going to take of over Ikonic’s leading role in the upcoming season.

Coaches: Dusko Vujosevic
Dusko Vujosevic is not really a surprise anymore, since he has been accomplishing so much for quite some time now. Under his guidance, young prospects turn into huge stars on the European transfer market, and he manages to create teams that consistently reach the NLB and Serbian Sinalco League finals, despite most of the players having to yet grow facial hair. This year Partizan qualified via four victories in Top16 for the Euroleague quarter finals, a sensational success which instantly puts Vujosevic into the elite group of Serbian coaching legends Obradovic, Pesic, Ivkovic, Ivanovic and Maljkovic. Winning the Alexander Gomelsky Award supports this thesis, as well as the list of players that Vujosevic developed.

MVP: Novicka Velickovic
Novicka Velickovic had been a bit of a sleeper the years before, when he had been standing in the shadows of GYL-MVP Dejan Milojevic, Kosta Perovic and current Panathinaikos star Nikola Pekovic. However, with a lot of patience, Velickovic fought with the Balkan’s best big men for playing time. While doing so, he developed an extremely physical and resolute playing style, and today, as an incredibly well-schooled player, Velickovic is able to rely on a bigger arsenal of offensive moves than his colleagues.

However, despite his technical and physical abilities remained doubts whether or not he had the personality to serve as the leader of such a young and talented group. Those he quickly put to an end too, showing that his teammates can indeed rely on him on the highest European level. After a turbulent summer and heavy recruiting attempts by the crème de la crème of European basketball, Velickovic finally signed with Ettore Messina and Real Madrid.

An era coming to an end

Todor Gecevski is easy to recognise on the basketball court. The Macedonian center with the almost anachronistical long and blond ponytail during the last years developed into some sort of trademark for basketball in Zadar – optically as well as from a basketball point of view. Due to his for size incredibly soft touch from beyond the arc as well as the combination of size and agility close to the basket, excellent timing and above average wingspan, Gecevski has become a nightmare matchup for many of his opponents. However, after four years, the era of “Gec” in Zadar is over, and not few Croatian basketball fans are going to spend him a well deserved round of applause in Eurobasket in Poland this summer, even if he made a basket for Macedonia against Croatia in the group phase game.

Nikola Prkacin, who had long been one of the best pivots in European basketball, will put off his sneakers after the upcoming Eurobasket as well. It was Prkacin’s big wish to end his illustrious career in his home country, and he himself ended the season in a manner that will secure him a place in the Cibona annals: 0.7 seconds before the final buzzer of the fourth Croatian league final game against arch rivals Zadar, Prkacin tipped back his teammates miss into the basket, thus securing Cibona’s Croatian championship.

Leaving an impression

Alan Anderson – Alan Anderson turned a lot of heads in Euroleague and Adrialeague action. Offensively as well as defensively, Anderson set new standards on his position via his jumpshot, his athleticism and his strength, and he was rewarded by Israeli great Maccabi Tel Aviv, who signed him to a new contract. A possible naturalisation and call-up for the Croatian national team however was stopped by opposing forces within the team.

Mirza Sarajlija – At only seventeen, Mirza Sarajljia made his remarkable Euroleague debut against ALBA Berlin, scoring 13 points in 19 minutes. In Adrialeague play, Sarajlija showed that despite his being as a rather small playmaker at only 183cm, and despite his athletical deficits, he might soon be able to fill Jaka Lakovic’s big footsteps.

Boban Marjanovic – Wearing the Hemofarm jersey, Boban Marjanovic showed last season that he is not only a physical presence, but a very good basketball player as well. The 222cm tall Marjanovic put his abilities on display most famously against Partizan and the wonderboys of FMP, when he scored 17 points and 9 rebounds, and 18 points in only 19 minutes respectively, showcasing his qualities in matchups against higher ranked big men such as Raduljica, Velickovic and Vranes.

Stephane Lasme – Having played in the NBA prior to coming to Europe, Stephane Lasme was hardly a no-name joining Partizan, and he was acquired in order to play a pivotal role in the young Serbian team. This was exactly what he turned out to be: Lasme displayed outstanding athleticism, while doing so electrifying his young teammates and helping them reach emotional levels that enabled them to compete against and even defeat superior opponents. These important qualities did not slip past Maccabi Tel Aviv, who Lasme is the third(!) offseason acquisition from Adrialeague for.

The Stars

Ante Tomic – Tomic had once again an outstanding season, posting 15.5 points and 8.6 rebounds per outing, and thus raising the attention of Croatian top club Cibona and TAU Ceramica. Tomic is probably going to join Maccabi Tel Aviv for four years, where he will attempt to develop into a worthy successor of his compatriot Nikola Vujcic.

Dragan Labovic – Dragan Labovic is among the league’s best players. However, after displeasing results coaches Klipa and later on Mandic were released, causing locker room trouble and thus leading to a disappointing result for the Panthers. Labovic is expected to continue his career on Euroleague level this summer, at the very latest next summer.

Milan Macvan – Milan Macvan was the one international player that really delighted the Americans in this year’s Nike Hoops Summit. He reached a very good third place at this year’s Final Four with Hemofarm, and will be among the MVP frontrunners in the upcoming Adrialeague season.

Milenko Tepic – Serbian point guard Milenko Tepic was one of the catalysts of Partizan’s sensational quarter final qualification in last season’s Euroleague competition. Even though two metre point guards are few and far between in world basketball, Tepic [for me] expectedly didn’t get drafted last June. Athletic abilities and shooting skills are clearly not among his strengths. Even if he has the potential to be a decent scorer, his main qualities are his excellent court vision, an extremely high basketball-IQ, which is impossible to teach and very unusual for a player his age, and a tendency to make the impossible play, as could be seen in his halfcourt alley oop pass to Rakocevic in Partizan’s sensational win in Moscow, one of the highlights of the 08/09 Euroleague season.

The old star: Davor Marcelic
Davor Marcelic is the living proof that with adequate skills, it is very well possible to play basketball on a high level until the almost biblical age of 40 years. For Krka, Marcelic is providing pressure from the perimeter, counting as one of the league’s best long distance shooters.

Attendances
While other leagues are expanding, Adrialeague lost a bit of attractiveness in the 08/09 season. A busy schedule lead to the spectators’ focus on the season’s real highlights like derbies and Euroleague- and EuroCup games against top level teams. Slovenian teams in particular often play in front of only a few hundreds in attendance. But Serbian teams have had difficulties as well, which not only concerned clubs such as Hemofarm and FMP, but also Partizan and Red Star, where acceptable attendance numbers only occurred in games versus well-known clubs such as Cibona, Zadar and Bosna.

Disappointments
Primoz Brezec, Goran Dragic, Marko Milic, Jiri Welsch are only few of the many great basketball players the Slovenian powerhouse Union Olimpija had been producing over the years. The club had built a strong roster for the 08/09 season: Double Adrialeague champion Jasmin Hukic, Mirza Begic, one of the most promising center prospects in Europe, Vladimir Golubovic, the rebound king of the 07/08 Adrialeague season, give an indication of the potential of this team. However, after a disappointing Euroleague season and only the ninth place in the Adrialeague, the season ended in misery. The team of Slovenian national team coach and basketball legend Jure Zdovc had already been experiencing a huge setback midway during the season, when Slovenian superstar Marko Milic left the team. Now, after a difficult season and the economic crisis which hit hard in European club basketball, Olimpija’s budget has been cut by 50 percent [from 2.5mio € to 1.2mio €] and the club will need to prove its reputation as one of the finest basketball schools in European basketball in order to be able to continue to offers its fans basketball on the highest level.

As for individuals, a player who has not been able to manage expectations is Nemanja Gordic of Buducnost Podgorica, who TAU Vitoria had been expressing interest for at the end of 2008. The 20-year-old will need to improve his ballhandling and must take care not to get into foultrouble via his aggressive but clumsy work on the defensive end. Additionally, you will often see him stop ball circulation, and his development towards more of a shooting guard is a problem in general, making him lose a lot of the fascination a 1.95 point guard naturally brings with him. However, Dusko Vujosevic has been showing interest in Gordic as well, and maybe under his guidance Gordic could turn into the NBA player many experts project him to be one day.

Outlook
The high-quality “development league”, the “catwalk” for stars and starlets from Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro and Slovenia has recognised the problem of declining interest and as a consequence is planning to further diminish the number of participating teams and create an additional 2nd Adrialeague, in which the development of players will be even more in the focus. The Adrialeague itself has valorised via the assignment of Euroleague B-licences, and will most probably gain in quality. Thus far, the development had been hindered in parts by the discordance regarding the league’s composition. The Slovenian club owners keep representing the interests of the Slovenian federation and insist on three Slovenian clubs, even though Union Olimpija is the only Slovenian top 8 team in the Adrialeague.