Veteran sportswriter and Euroleague.net collaborator Vladimir Stankovic has been following the best basketball on the continent longer than almost anyone journalist, writing for decades about the sport in major publications in both Serbia and Spain. Once again this season, he offers a blog that honors the history of European basketball - even while history keeps being made!

To start this entry, I want to say that the title of this post is not original. It is mine, however. I wrote it about six or seven years ago for acb.com, the website for the Spanish League. And I cannot imagine anything better to define, in just a few words, the basketball genius of Mirza Delibasic (January 9, 1954 in Tuzla - December 8, 2001 in Sarajevo). From the first time I saw him at the European championships for cadets in Gorizia, Italy in 1971 and then the junior European championships the following year in Zadar, he was my favorite player, he and his great friend and teammate Dragan Kicanovic. Together, they walked the same path from cadet European champs in 1971 to world champions in 1978 to Olympic gold medalists in 1980, as well as European crowns in 1975 and 1977. Before becoming a great basketball player, Delibasic was a great tennis talent. He began a promising tennis career in his hometown of Tuzla, and was even Bosnia-Herzegovina champ in youth categories. However, when his coach decided to take his own son to a championship instead of Mirza, he started thinking about changing sports. That was basketball's good fortune.

Talent and elegance

Delibasic had supernatural talent and elegance....

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Veteran sportswriter and Euroleague.net collaborator Vladimir Stankovic has been following the best basketball on the continent longer than almost anyone journalist, writing for decades about the sport in major publications in both Serbia and Spain. Once again this season, he offers a blog that honors the history of European basketball - even while history keeps being made!

With so many great players that have worn the Barcelona jersey over the years, I cannot be 100% certain that Audie Norris was the best foreign player ever on the team, but if there was ever a poll to determine the most beloved foreigner by the fans, I am sure he would win by a long stretch. As appreciated and admired as Norris was – and, in fact, still is – can only be achieved with the ultimate mix of sporting and humane qualities. Audie had both to spare. He was an excellent player and also a great human being. During his six years in Barcelona, he became the biggest idol at Palau Blaugrana, the club’s classic arena. Today, whenever Norris comes to the gym to see a game – which he often does because of his great love for the club and the city – the fans still rise and give him an ovation.

A mistake for Real Madrid

Audie James Norris (born December 18, 1960) arrived in Europe as a well-known player. After an excellent college basketball career at Jackson University, the team of his native Portland, the TrailBlazers, selected him with the 37th overall pick in the 1982 draft. But after three years and 187 games, during which he averaged 4.4 points and 3.8 rebounds per night, he decided to try...

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Veteran sportswriter and Euroleague.net collaborator Vladimir Stankovic has been following the best basketball on the continent longer than almost anyone journalist, writing for decades about the sport in major publications in both Serbia and Spain. Once again this season, he offers a blog that honors the history of European basketball - even while history keeps being made!

In the 53 years of European finals, be it the European Cup or Euroleague, there have been plenty of interesting, dramatic and even controversial games. But the title won by Partizan Belgrade at the 1992 Final Four in Istanbul, which is also the host city of the 2012 Turkish Airlines Euroleague Final Four, holds a privileged spot, and not only because of the famous three-pointer by Sasha Djordjevic that gave his team the title over Joventut Badalona of Spain. The road Partizan took in that competition was in circumstances very different from what we would call normal and that tale deserves to be told by a witness, which I was.

This story, perhaps, starts in the summer of 1991. Dusan Ivkovic, the Yugoslavian national team coach, was preparing for the EuroBasket of Rome. On his list there was a clear name, Partizan guard Zeljko Obradovic, who was 31 years old at the time. During a brief break in Belgrade between two periods of preparation for the tourney, Obradovic received an offer from Partizan to become, immediately, its head coach. The offer came with one condition: he had to put an end to his career as a player. After a long night thinking about it and consulting friends, Obradovic accepted and then went to the EuroBasket as a spectator.

Obradovic and Nikolic

Smart as he is, and... more

Veteran sportswriter and Euroleague.net collaborator Vladimir Stankovic has been following the best basketball on the continent longer than almost anyone journalist, writing for decades about the sport in major publications in both Serbia and Spain. Once again this season, he offers a blog that honors the history of European basketball - even while history keeps being made!

Throughout the season, I have tried to tell stories about old school players in the blog, those born in the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s, while leaving all related to stars born in the 1960s and 1970s for next season. I will make an exception, however, with Jurij-Jure Zdovc, who was born on December 13, 1966. I expected to write about him next season, but since he was chosen as the Eurocup Coach of the Year, I decided to change my plans.

Slovenian basketball reserves its "greatest of all time" title for the legendary Ivo Daneu, but Jure Zdovc was not far from him. Those two, along with Peter Vilfan amd Borut Basin, are the best Slovenian players I have seen, without taking into account those who are still active such as Erazem Lorbek, Matjaz Smodis and some others.

The talent of a new gem in Slovenia caught the attention of the Yugoslavian Federation's coaches, who managed the youth teams. By 1983 and at age 16, Zdovc played the European Championships for cadets in Tubingen, Germany, where he won his first gold medal. Among his teammates were future stars Zarko Paspalj, Ivo Nakic, Branislav Prelevic, Luka Pavicevic and Ivica Mavrenski. That very same year, Zdovc played at the World Junior Championships in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, as the youngest player on the Yugoslavian team. A year later, Zdovc played the European junior... more