ARVYDAS SABONIS - 101 Greats of European Basketball

Arvydas
Sabonis
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The Lithuanian Tsar
At the 1983 EuroBasket in Nantes,
France, I came across Arvydas Sabonis
in a nearby mall. At that time, he was
the young center of the USSR team. It
was his second competition at a senior
level because, with his enormous talent,
he basically skipped the junior period in his career.
After having played at the FIBA European Championship
for Cadets in 1981 in Greece, where the USSR
was crowned champion behind his 17 points per game,
Sabonis was already a great talent. One year later, while
his generational peers – Sarunas Marciulionis, Valery
Tikhonenko, Jose Biriukov, Igors Miglinieks and others
– played in the FIBA European Championship for Junior
Men, Sabonis was at the World Cup 1982 in Colombia with
the seniors, alongside Sergei Tarakanov, Valdis Valters,
Vladimir Tkachenko, Anatoly Myshkin, Aleksandar Belosteny,
Sergejus Jovaisa and Valdemaras Chomicius.
Sabonis was less than 18 years old at the time, having
been born on December 19, 1964, in Kaunas, Lithuania.
The USSR became world champion by beating the USA
95-94 with Sabonis going scoreless, even though his
talent had helped his team reach the title game. For instance,
he scored 28 points against the hosts, Colombia.
Let me go back to my encounter with Sabonis. We
had a cup of coffee, he was very kind. We talked only a little,
but enough for me to put together a short interview
with the future superstar of world basketball. From our
conversation, I only remember a single sentence: “I will
never play for CSKA Moscow.” When I was back home,
looking through the pages of the Borba newspaper, of
which I was sports chief then, I could not find the interview
with Sabonis. When I asked my co-workers what
had happened, they told me: “We didn’t have much
space those days, and since he is an unknown player...”
Shortly thereafter, interviews with Sabonis were
world exclusives. My newspaper peers had made the
typical mistake of a coach who fires a young player
from a club because he has “no talent” – and then he
becomes a superstar. Years later, fortunately, I had the
chance to know Arvydas a little better, to make several
interviews with him and to talk several more times in a
casual way. Most of all, though, I enjoyed his game.
Pure talent
Arvydas Sabonis was one of a kind. In my almost 50
years following basketball, I have never seen a player
like him. There were taller players, more celebrated
players, but never did someone with his height (2.20
meters) have that much talent. I couldn’t even mention
what aspect of the game was his strongest point: rebounds,
shooting, assists, court vision, leadership. He
was a natural-born talent, a giant born to play basketball
and do big things in this sport.
If I had to compare Sabonis to someone I can only
think about Kresimir Cosic, the great Croatian center
of Zadar and the Yugoslav national team. Even though
both played center, they didn’t look like each other
physically, but their games had many similar attributes.
Cosic was a visionary, the first big man to ever play
at all positions. He had great court vision, went to the
perimeter to deliver assists like a playmaker, and mainly
understood basketball like nobody else. His main
weapon was his basketball IQ. Sabonis was like his
pupil, but with even a few more qualities in him: he was
10 centimeters taller, had a stronger body and a better
101 greats of european basketball
Arvydas Sabonis
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Vladimir Stankovic
long-range shot. Both changed basketball, were icons
of their respective eras, and led their club teams and
national teams to the top.
After missing the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles due
to the USSR boycott, Sabas was back on the big stage
at the 1985 EuroBasket in Stuttgart, where the USSR’s
domination was overwhelming and he was chosen MVP.
In the final, Czechoslovakia fell 120-89 with 23 points
and 15 rebounds from Sabonis. His scoring average
was 20 points. The all-tournament team included Valdis
Valters (USSR), Drazen Petrovic (Yugoslavia), Detlef
Schrempf (West Germany), Fernando Martin (Spain)
and Arvydas Sabonis (USSR). Some starting five! That
same year, on March 19, his club team, Zalgiris Kaunas,
reached its first European final. It was the Saporta Cup
against FC Barcelona in Grenoble and Zalgiris lost 77-73
despite Rimas Kurtinaitis’s 36 points. Sabonis had one
of his usual double-doubles, 14 points and 16 rebounds.
The following year, Zalgiris, as the USSR domestic
champion, represented the country in the EuroLeague
and reached the title game, where it had to square off
against Cibona Zagreb, the defending champ that had
beaten Real Madrid the previous year in Athens. The
game was played in Budapest on April 3 and didn’t end
well for Sabas. His team lost 94-82 after referees Costas
Rigas of Greece and Vittorio Fiorito of Italy disqualified
Sabonis, who until that point had 27 points and 14 rebounds.
In the first minute of the fourth quarter, Sabonis
punched Mihovil Nakic in the face as his answer to a
provocation. Sabonis’s European dream at the club level
would have to wait.
Olympic gold
In the middle of the 1980s, Sabonis started to suffer
injuries, which would become his biggest enemies
throughout his career. Ankles, knees and especially his
tendons started to suffer the consequences of such an
effort made by such a big man. After missing almost all
of 1987, he was back for the 1988 Olympics in Seoul,
South Korea. His start was not that promising, however,
as the USSR lost in the first game against Yugoslavia,
92-79. But after beating the USA in the semis 82-74 with
his 13 points and 11 boards, the Soviets prevailed in
the final against Yugoslavia 83-76 thanks to 20 points
and 15 rebounds from Sabonis. His dream was fulfilled.
Also, after several political changes during the Perestroika
era of Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev, the
doors were opened for the best players of the country
to show their talent in other places.
At the 1989 EuroBasket in Zagreb, Sabonis and
his Lithuanian teammates (Marciulionis, Chomicius
and Kurtinaitis) would win the last medal (bronze) for
a multi-nation USSR with Ukrainians Alexander Volkov
and Belosteny, Latvian Gundars Vetra, Estonian Tiit
Sokk, and Russians Tikhonenko and Valery Goborov.
At the 1990 World Cup in Buenos Aires, the Lithuanian
players would already not be around, as their dream of
playing for Lithuania was coming soon.
As a kind of prize for the 1988 Olympic gold, the
best USSR players obtained legal permits to leave the
country. Sabonis went to Spain to play with Forum Valladolid.
The surprise was big: one of the best players in
the world was signing for a humble team in Spain. The
reason was that the biggest teams in Europe were not
that confident in Sabas’s physical condition.
Sabonis was not in top form when he arrived, because
of the injuries, but a great job done by the medical
services of the club made a sports miracle easier.
In his debut, a friendly game against Real Madrid, he
scored 27 points and pulled down 10 boards despite
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his team’s loss (95-81), but he made it clear that Spain
was in for a real treat with a new superstar. In the following
three seasons, he would play 37, 37 and 36 games,
averaging 23.6 points, 13.0 rebounds and 1.9 assists,
taking Valladolid to the playoffs for three straight years
and in 1992-93 to the Korac Cup semifinals, where the
team lost to a strong Il Messaggero Roma team, with
Dino Radja, Roberto Premier and Rick Mahorn.
EuroLeague crown with Madrid
In the summer of 1992, after three brilliant seasons
in Valladolid, two important things happened in
the life of Sabas. First, he signed with Real Madrid for
three seasons. Second, he won the bronze medal with
Lithuania, already an independent country, at the 1992
Olympics in Barcelona. Sabonis’s averages in Barcelona
were 23.9 points, 13 rebounds and 1.8 assists. He
was 28 years old and in his prime.
With his arrival at Real Madrid, Sabonis’s main goal
was winning the European crown. But before doing that
in 1995, he suffered another disappointment. At the
1993 Final Four in Athens, Real Madrid lost, unexpectedly,
against Limoges – the eventual surprise champ – by 62-52
in the semis. The arrival of Zeljko Obradovic to the bench
of Real Madrid would be the start of a great collaboration
between a player and a coach that evolved into a great
friendship between two men who have given a lot to basketball.
On April 13, 1995, in Zaragoza, Spain, the basketball
giant Arvydas Sabonis fulfilled his dream: winning the
EuroLeague crown and also being named MVP of the Final
Four in the process. In the semis, Real Madrid got revenge
against Limoges with a 62-42 victory, while in the title
game, the Spanish team defeated Olympiacos Piraeus.
The Lithuanian Tsar had 23 points and 7 rebounds.
At 31 years old, Sabonis was leaving the Spanish
League after 235 games and averages of 20.3 points,
12.4 rebounds and 2.0 assists in 33 minutes on court,
to take the next important step in his career: signing
for the Portland Trail Blazers of the NBA. The club also
fulfilled its dream of bringing Sabas to the USA almost
a decade after having chosen him in the 1986 draft with
pick number 24.
At 31, when some players retire, Sabonis showed
the world that he still knew how to do a lot of things.
Never did such a veteran rookie attract as much media
attention as he did, but Sabas justified it all. He won
Player of the Week awards, was part of the all-rookie
team, was Best Sixth Man, and was Rookie of the Year
runner-up. In seven NBA seasons averaging more than
24 minutes per game, he averaged 12 points (32% on
threes) and 7.3 rebounds.
After fulfilling all of his dreams, at 39 years old, Sabonis
decided to have his biggest wish granted: dressing
again in the jersey of his Zalgiris. He literally played for
his own team, since he had just bought most of the
stock in the club. He signed for the club of his heart
and immediately became a EuroLeague star again: in
the 2003-04 season, he was named MVP of the regular
season and the Top 16, playing 28 minutes per game
with 16.7 points, 10.7 rebounds and 26.3 index rating
averages. At 40 years old.
In Lithuania, he remains a national idol. He has been
president of the Lithuanian basketball since 2011, the
same year that was chosen for the Naismith Hall of
Fame. One year earlier, he had become a member of
the FIBA Hall of Fame, as well. His three sons play basketball,
with one of them, Donatas, having followed his
father into the EuroLeague and the NBA. But they have
a great handicap: the Sabonis name is a great burden in
the basketball world.
101 greats of european basketball
Arvydas Sabonis
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