DEJAN TOMASEVIC - 101 Greats of European Basketball

Dejan
Tomasevic
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The center with
point guard
passing
I
have known Dejan Tomasevic since his first season
at Crvena Zvezda, in 1991-92, and his more
than discreet 4 points in six games. However,
going through his biography again, I must admit
that I was surprised by his number of titles. If I
calculated well, among his seven club teams and
the Yugoslav national team, he won 23 trophies plus
a silver and a bronze medal. There were also some
individual accolades as competition MVP or member
of an all-tournament team.
There is no doubt that Dejan Tomasevic is one of the
most decorated players in European basketball. He was
a national champion 10 times with five of his seven club
teams in three countries; he won six national cups in
Yugoslavia, Spain and Greece. He won the EuroLeague
and the EuroCup, the latter as MVP of the finals. And
if that was not enough, with Yugoslavia he was world
champion twice, European champion three times, and
won both an Olympic silver medal from Atlanta in 1996
and a bronze from EuroBasket 1999 in France.
From football to basketball
Tomasevic was born on May 5, 1973, in Belgrade.
Unlike many other great players, he started playing
basketball quite late, at age 15. Until then, Tomasevic
had played football for Crvena Zvezda as a central defender,
but after growing too much in just one year, he
became a bit clumsy on the football field. Tomasevic
then decided to switch sports, fortunately for him and
for basketball. Instead of being a mediocre defender in
football, basketball had won an excellent center who
would make history in the sport.
Even though it has been written that Tomasevic
started playing with Borac Cacak, that is not the truth.
His very first club was Crvena Zvezda. He was promoted
to the first team at age 18 in the 1991-92 season. He
played alongside the late Boban Jankovic, Nebojsa Ilic,
Aleksandar Trifunovic and Sasa Obradovic, although
he had a small role. The following season, without Jankovic,
who left for Panionios in Greece, but with young
prospect Predrag Stojakovic, Tomasevic scored 82
points in 30 league games. I remember the prediction
at the time of Coach Boza Maljkovic, who told me that
Tomasevic had big potential.
The following season, with the second straight national
title for Crvena Zvezda, Tomasevic was already
contributing 14.9 points and more and more rebounds.
In his fourth season, 1994-95, his average in 28 games
rose to 23.3 points. That summer he made his debut
on the national team and won his first gold medal, at
the 1995 EuroBasket in Athens. Tomasevic was not an
important figure alongside Vlade Divac, Zarko Paspalj,
Dejan Bodiroga, Aleksander Djordjevic, Predrag Danilovic
and Zoran Savic, but he made the team and averaged
3.3 points and 3 boards per game. And he would
stay on the team for the following 10 years, collecting
trophy after trophy.
After four years, two league titles and one cup with
Zvezda, Tomasevic decided to leave the club and join its
eternal archrival, Partizan. Crvena Zvezda fans never
forgave him for this big sin, but he was looking for the
best for himself and he took a giant step forward in
101 greats of european basketball
Dejan Tomasevic
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Vladimir Stankovic
his career. Just as he exited the club, a long period of
crisis started for Crvena Zvezda, which would last for
15 years. At the same time, Partizan started its rise to
domination with 12 consecutive national leagues, plus
triumphs in cups and the Adriatic League, soon becoming
a consistent protagonist in the EuroLeague.
Over the next four years, from 1995 to 1999, Tomasevic
had a prominent role both with Partizan and the national
team. At the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, he won the
silver medal after contributing 6.2 points and 4 rebounds
per game. At the 1997 EuroBasket in Barcelona, he repeated
as champ with 4.5 points and 3.4 boards. In 1998, he
was back to Barcelona to play the EuroLeague Final Four
with Partizan and that same summer he won the World
Cup with Yugoslavia in Athens, averaging 6.2 points and
5.7 rebounds. In 1999, he won the bronze medal at the
EuroBasket in France with 7.2 points and 6 rebounds.
During those four years, Tomasevic improved a lot
from a technical point of view. Little by little he started
overcoming his biggest obstacle, free throw shooting.
At the same time, he started dishing many assists,
about which he learned a lot from Divac, another big
man with a great ability to pass. Most important, however,
was Tomasevic’s ability to grab rebounds, especially
on offense. He had that sixth sense attributed to
the greats, to know where the ball would fall. Over the
years, Tomasevic also gained experience that guaranteed
him a high level in each game. It was almost impossible
to see him play badly. When he didn’t have a good
day, he always delivered something for his coaches.
In the summer of 1999, after two league titles and
one national cup with Partizan, Tomasevic was 26 years
old and in his prime. He received many calls from many
foreign clubs, but he decided to join Buducnost Podgorica.
There, he joined with Igor Rakocevic, an old teammate
of his in Crvena Zvezda who was five years younger than
Tomasevic. At the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Tomasevic
contributed 10.3 points, 6.9 rebounds and 1.9 assists
per game – his best performance in a tournament with
the national team, but Yugoslavia fell in the quarterfinals
against the excellent Canada of Steve Nash.
In Podgorica, he won two Yugoslav Leagues with
Buducnost plus a national cup. He was also MVP of the
regular season in the first modern EuroLeague in 2000-
01, with 22.9 points per game. At the end of the season,
he was named to the All-EuroLeague Team. From his
time in Buducnost, some personal records stuck: a
performance index rating of 42 against PAOK and 29
points plus 17 boards against Barcelona. When Tomasevic
was in Podgorica, he had a very special deal with
his coach, Miroslav Nikolic. For every EuroLeague game
in which he grabbed 15 rebounds or more, he would
have a special bonus. If he didn’t reach that number,
he would pay the club one-tenth of what he had agreed
on as bonuses. Normally he won the bet, but his extra
bonus was soon spent right after the game to pay for
dinner for the whole team!
Triple-double with Pamesa Valencia
After two years in Buducnost, Tomasevic left at
age 28. He did so as three-time European champ, too,
because Yugoslavia had recovered the title at the 2001
EuroBasket in Turkey. His first stop abroad was in Vitoria,
where he signed with Tau Ceramica. In his first
year, he won the Spanish double crown with the league
and cup titles. In the cup final at home, Tau defeated FC
Barcelona 85-83. Tomasevic scored 20 points and was
chosen MVP. A few months later, despite having finished
fourth in the regular season, Tau Ceramica won
the league title by dominating the playoff rounds at
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ease: 3-1 against Pamesa Valencia, 3-1 against Barcelona
and 3-0 against Unicaja in the finals. That season,
the duo Tomasevic formed with Fabricio Oberto was
almost unstoppable. They combined for unbelievable
assists, many points and rebounds – but mostly they
showed tremendous heart. They were a nightmare for
rivals and a pleasure for the fans in Vitoria.
Curiously enough, in the summer of 2002 Tomasevic
and Oberto were also rivals in the final of the World
Cup in Indianapolis. With luck on its side, Yugoslavia
won in overtime after saving a theoretically lost game
in the last minute of regulation time. Tomasevic, on a
team full of stars, contributed 6.2 points, 5.9 rebounds
and 1.9 assists per game.
At the end of the 2001-02 season, Pamesa Valencia
signed the lethal duo of Tomasevic and Oberto, making
one of the best investments in the club’s history. Already
in their first season there, they won a trophy, the Euro-
Cup, which was the team’s first European title ever. In the
final, Pamesa defeated Krka Novo Mesto 90-78 on the
road and then 78-76 at home behind 28 points plus 11
boards by Tomasevic – more than enough to be chosen
MVP. That win allowed Valencia to play in the EuroLeague
the following season. It performed well as it finished second
in the Top 16 with the same record, 4-2, as Maccabi,
which would go on to the Final Four on a tiebreaker.
On May 12, 2004, Tomasevic also entered the history
books in the Spanish League as he became the
fourth player ever to achieve a triple-double. It came
against Unicaja in an 82-66 win. In only 33 minutes,
Tomasevic scored 14 points, grabbed 13 rebounds and
dished 10 assists. Tomasevic’s assists were always a
confirmation of the famous saying attributed to Toni
Kukoc: “A basket makes one player happy, but an assist
makes two players happy.” Off the court, Tomasevic
was always a serious man, a responsible father of four
who was happy with his family and circle of friends.
EuroLeague title with PAO
Before putting an end to his Spanish adventure in
2005, Tomasevic suffered the biggest disappointment
in his career: Yugoslavia ended up 11th of 12 teams in
the 2004 Olympics in Athens, even though Tomasevic,
with 7.2 points, 9.4 rebounds and 2.4 assists, was one
of the few who delivered for the team, coached by Zeljko
Obradovic. A small consolation was the gold medal
for Argentina and his friend Oberto. Between his exit
from Pamesa Valencia – after 147 games in the Spanish
League, with averages of 11.3 points, 7.1 rebounds,
3.3 assists and a 15.4 index rating – and his signing for
Panathinaikos Athens, Tomasevic experienced his second
major disappointment: the elimination of Serbia &
Montenegro in the Play-off phase of the 2005 EuroBasket
at home, in Novi Sad.
Tomasevic landed in Athens at age 32 in the middle
of a championship-caliber team. However, Coach Obradovic
was looking for an experienced player, a fighter,
rebounder, passer and winner. Dejan Tomasevic was a
perfect fit. He delivered, especially in the EuroLeague
title game against CSKA Moscow in Athens on May
6, 2007. In one of the best finals I have ever seen, the
Greens won 93-91 behind 16 points and 3 rebounds
by Tomasevic in just 21 minutes pm the floor. He finally
fulfilled his dream: winning the EuroLeague, the only
trophy missing in his brilliant resume. He stayed two
more seasons with Panathinaikos, even though he
barely played in the last one due to a back operation.
In the 2008-09 season, at age 35, he played with PAOK
Thessaloniki and he didn’t do badly: 9.3 points, 7.5 rebounds
and 1.8 assists.
101 greats of european basketball
Dejan Tomasevic
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