ZORAN SLAVNIC - 101 Greats of European Basketball

moved to Spain and signed with Joventut Badalona.
There, he found competitive teammates – Josep Maria
Margall, Luis Miguel Santillana, Joan Filba and Manuel
Bosch – who just needed a floor general. Slavnic’s profile
fit perfectly and the team won the Spanish League in
1977-78. He stayed one more season in Badalona and
after that he joined Sibenka, where he was player-coach
and allowed a 15-year old Drazen Petrovic to play his
first minutes. Despite being known for having said “I
hate Partizan more than I love Crvena Zvezda,” Slavnic
played for Partizan in the 1981-82 season. Slavnic finished
his career with Juventus Caserta in Italy with fair
numbers: 17.2 points, 3.4 rebounds and 3.3 assists in
37 minutes per game.
After a brilliant playing career, Slavnic turned to
coaching, but he was far less successful. He had a good
eye for young talent, however, and encouraged the debut
of many young players. He started in Sibenka with
Petrovic and then did the same in Jugoplastika with
players like Toni Kukoc and Dino Radja. The same thing
happened for Partizan, with Sasha Djordjevic and Dragan
Tarlac, as well as for Crvena Zvezda, with Sasa Obradovic.
Slavnic worked in Spain and Germany and for
the 2007 EuroBasket of Spain, where he achieved his
dream of coaching the Yugoslav national team. However,
Slavnic’s place in history is as a player – a great one.
Zoran Slavnic
101 greats of european basketball
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