MIHOVIL NAKIC - 101 Greats of European Basketball

Mihovil
Nakic
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An octopus
under the rims
When speaking about basketball
in Zagreb, the first associations
are normally Cibona, KK
Zagreb, lately Cedevita and,
of course, some great players
from there. But few people
know that the Croatian capital also has a small club
that produced two world champions and one Olympic
gold medalist, plus several silver and bronze
medalists in great national competitions. And
these three players are the owners of seven continental
titles at the club level, as well. This small club
is Mladost, which translates to “Youth”, and those
three players are Nikola Plecas, Damir Solman and
Mihovil Nakic.
The first two won gold medals with Yugoslavia at the
1970 World Cup in Ljubljana. Two years earlier, they had
won the silver medal at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico
City, too. Nakic was an Olympic champion at Moscow
in 1980 and has an Olympic bronze from Los Angeles
in 1984. All three of the players won several medals
at EuroBaskets: Solman and Plecas gold at Barcelona
in 1973 and Belgrade in 1975, plus silver at Naples in
1969; and Nakic has a bronze from Turin in 1979. At the
club level, Nakic was a EuroLeague champion with Cibona
in 1985 and 1986 and a Saporta Cup title-winner in
1982 and 1987; Solman won two Korac Cup titles, with
Jugoplastika in 1976 and 1977; and Plecas was the first
winner in that competition, in 1972, with Lokomotiva
Zagreb.
From Orleans to Moscow
Mihovil Nakic, who was born on July 13, 1955, in
Drnis, Croatia, was also a gold medalist at the 1974
European Championship for Junior Men in Orleans,
France. Yugoslavia won all of its nine games and in the
final defeated Spain by the score of 80-79. Nakic averaged
5 points, with a high of 14 against Greece. That
was also the first time we saw the gigantic Soviet center
Vladimir Tkachenko (2.20 meters). The best scorer of the
tournament was Polish player Eugeniusz Kijewski (27.2
points). For Italy, there was Renato Villalta, while France
had a good generation with Eric Beugnot (the second
best scorer, with 19.7 points) and Herve Dubuisson.
The Yugoslav team, coached by Bogdan Tanjevic, then
the young coach of Bosna Sarajevo, featured among
others Branko Skroce (best scorer with 17.7 points),
Rajko Zizic, Andro Knego, Ratko Radovanovic and Nakic.
Six years later, the five of them were Olympic champs
in Moscow. Except for Skroce, a left-handed guard and
great shooter, the rest were big men. The shortest one
was Nakic, but despite being only 2.03 meters he had a
great rebounding ability. Many times he ended games
as the best rebounder.
Nakic, known in the world of basketball as “Nik”,
was not a big media star. He was not a player who drew
attention because of his elegance or brilliant technique,
but he was a great player – life insurance, if you will, for
his coaches. Points were not his thing, even though
he would score more than 20. He was the key man on
defense: rebounds, blocks, guarding the best opposing
big man regardless of his height. His big hands, rebounding
ability and great timing for rebounds made
101 greats of european basketball
Mihovil Nakic
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Vladimir Stankovic
his defensive game easier. With his long arms and long
hands, Nakic sometimes looked like an octopus that
grabbed everything within reach. On offense, he used
his jumping ability and had a very precise hook shot. He
was a team player and many times the key man for his
teams, although he also had the privilege to play alongside
fellow legends like Kreso Cosic, Drazen Petrovic,
Dragan Kicanovic and Drazen Dalipagic. In a certain
way, that led him to have less presence in the media.
At 18 years old, Nakic left Mladost, which normally
played in the second or third division, to move up to the
first division with Industromontaza, which at the beginning
of the 1970s was the second team in Zagreb. After
three years, he went to the United States and signed
for Brigham Young University, the same school where
Cosic also studied and shined. But Nakic stayed there
for only six months. He was back home in 1977 to sign
with Cibona. He spent the next 12 seasons there, except
for one with Udine of Italy, in 1987-88, and another in
military service, in 1982-83. It was the golden age of the
team built by head coach Mirko Novosel. With Cibona,
Nakic won 12 titles, ranking him third in the club’s history
in trophies won. He played 414 games and scored
4,830 points and is the sixth-best scorer in club history.
Nakic made his national team debut with Yugoslavia
in 1977 and kept going until 1985. Along the way,
he played 75 games as an international, as well as 25
more with the Yugoslav B team. He scored 133 points
and played under several coaches. He made his debut
with “Professor” Aleksandar Nikolic before winning the
bronze medal at EuroBasket 1979 in Italy with Petar
Skansi. Ranko Zeravica was the coach when Yugoslavia
became the Olympic champion in 1980. With Novosel,
Nakic won the bronze at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles
and he played at the 1985 EuroBasket under Cosic.
Just 10 years after winning his first international trophy,
the Korac Cup in 1972, with only eight participants,
Cibona won its second European trophy in 1982. In the
Saporta Cup final, played in Brussels in 1982, Cibona
defeated Real Madrid 96-95 in overtime after an 88-88
tie through four quarters. Andro Knego was the hero
of the game with 34 points, while Cosic added 22 and
Nakic had 6 points.
Unforgettable Piraeus
One of the happiest days in Nakic’s brilliant career
was April 3, 1985. At the final of the EuroLeague, again
it was Cibona vs. Real Madrid. At Peace and Friendship
Stadium in Piraeus, Greece, some 14,500 fans witnessed
a great game. Cibona won 87-78 with Drazen
Petrovic as the star with 36 points. Nakic played 40
minutes, scored 7 points and pulled down 11 boards –
officially, although he thinks it was 21! He also blocked
8 shots and grabbed 3 steals. Aleksandar Petrovic also
played 40 minutes while Drazen Petrovic played 39,
Knego 37, Zoran Cutura 33 minutes and three other
players combined for 11 minutes (Sven Usic 7, Branko
Vukicevic 3 and Adnan Becic 1). In other words, there
were no rotations for Novosel.
Just a year later in Budapest, Cibona won its second
straight EuroLeague final, 94-82 against Zalgiris
Kaunas, whose star center Arvydas Sabonis was disqualified
midway through the second half for punching
Nakic. In his usual 40 minutes, Nakic scored 7 points,
grabbed 6 boards, blocked 4 shots and stole 2 balls.
There were others in charge of scoring for Cibona, like
Danko Cvjeticanin (23 points), Sven Usic (23) and Drazen
Petrovic (22).
In the 1987-88 season, Cibona could not defend
the EuroLeague title, but it didn’t skip a beat in winning
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others. At the final of the Saporta Cup in Novi Sad, on
March 17, 1987, Cibona defeated Scavolini 89-74 as
Petrovic scored 28 points and Nakic had 17 points and
9 boards.
After a solid season in Fantoni Udine (13.7 points,
8.7 rebounds), Nakic was back to Cibona and after the
1988-89 season, he put an end to his career. His number
4 was eventually retired by the club, joining Drazen
Petrovic’s 10 and Knego’s 11. Nakic went on to serve as
Cibona’s sports director. Just as he was admired as a
player, Nakic was respected as a director for being always
keen on new ideas to improve basketball.
Mihovil Nakic
101 greats of european basketball
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