NIKOLA VUJCIC - 101 Greats of European Basketball

Nikola
Vujcic
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Triple-double man
Summer of 1995, FIBA U16 European
Championship in Portugal. In the title
game, Croatia defeats Spain, 75-62. The
many scouts who attended the game
marked down a name in big red letters:
Nikola Vujcic.
Croatia’s number 14 played all 40 minutes of the
title game, scored 18 points and grabbed 11 rebounds.
It was an impressive double-double to match his performances
throughout the tourney: 21.4 points and 11
rebounds on average. Not even Vujcic himself had yet
discovered his other talent: assists. Stats tell us that
his assists average was just 0.6 in that tournament, but
that was just the start of his career. He was 17 years old,
having been born on June 14, 1978, in Vrgorac, close to
Split, in Croatia. In the final in Portugal, he made 2 of 7
three-pointers, not a very high percentage, but when a
2.11-meter big man shoots so many threes, something
catches your attention right away.
In the 1995-96 season, Vujcic was already playing
for the first team of KK Split, which then was called
Croatia Osiguranje then. He got jersey number 7, probably
not by chance, since before that it had been worn
by Toni Kukoc, the club’s best player ever and then an
NBA star with the Chicago Bulls of Michael Jordan and
Scottie Pippen. In his first season, still a junior, Vujcic
averaged 6.6 points and 2.4 rebounds. The following
season he improved to 6.8 points and 3.2 rebounds,
and on March 22 he won his first trophy, the Croatian
Cup, beating Cibona 72-67. Josip Vrankovic, Damir Tvrdic
and Nikola Prkacin were the best players for the winners,
but the biggest talent was Nikola Vujcic. He stayed
with Split for four more years, played the EuroLeague in
1996-97 and 1997-98, the Saporta Cup in 1999-2000
(14.1 points and 6.9 rebounds) and the FIBA SuproLeague
in 2000-01 (15.6 points, 6.7 rebounds). At the
1999 EuroBasket in France, Vujcic made his debut with
the Croatian national team (8.8 points and 2.8 boards)
playing alongside his idol, Toni Kukoc.
A Maccabi player, French champion
In the summer of 2001, at 23 years old, Vujcic accepted
an offer from Maccabi Tel Aviv, where he was
to fill in for Nate Huffman. But the American big man
decided to stay one more season and so Maccabi decided
to send Vujcic on loan to ASVEL Villeurbanne in
France. The result was surprising for everyone: ASVEL
won the French League for the first time in 21 years.
In the quarterfinals, ASVEL eliminated Cholet 2-0. In
the semis, it stopped Le Mans 2-1 and then swept the
finals, too, against Pau-Orthez, 2-0. The best players
for the champs were Yann Bonato, Kyle Hill, Reggie
Freeman, Nikola Radulovic and the young rookie, Nikola
Vujcic. Bogdan Tanjevic, the Montenegrin magician who
had discovered many young talents – Nando Gentile,
Dejan Bodiroga and Gregor Fucka, among others – also
trusted Vujcic on that ASVEL team, and things worked
out for both of them.
Vujcic returned to Maccabi the following season,
and he would play there for six campaigns, with his best
years soon coinciding with a golden era for the Israeli
club. Their first season didn’t go so well, as Maccabi
finished second in its Top 16 group in 2002-03, with a
4-2 record, after Benetton Treviso, who had won all six
games including two against Maccabi (93-80 in Treviso
despite Vujcic’s 28 points, and 84-83 in Tel Aviv). Vujcic,
101 greats of european basketball
Nikola Vujcic
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Vladimir Stankovic
nonetheless, had an impressive EuroLeague season
with 17.6 points and 7.1 rebounds per game.
Double EuroLeague champ
The awaited moment came at the 2004 Final Four,
played in Tel Aviv, where Maccabi had advanced thanks
to Derrick Sharp’s miracle three-pointer against Zalgiris
in the last game of the Top 16. Maccabi had its biggest
problem in the semifinals against CSKA Moscow but
still won 93-85 as Vujcic had 14 points, 7 rebounds, 2
assists and 2 steals. In the title game against Skipper
Bologna, the Yellow team rolled to an unforgettable,
multiple record-breaking 118-74 win to lift the trophy.
Vujcic was needed for just 9 points and added 1 rebound,
way below his season averages of 16.8 points,
6.9 rebounds and 3 assists. But he was nonetheless a
major contributor to his first EuroLeague title, having
been named to the All-EuroLeague team for the second
consecutive year.
The following season, Maccabi was the first team to
repeat as EuroLeague champ since Jugoplastika Split’s
three-peat from 1989 to 1991. In the Final Four played
in Moscow, Maccabi defeated Panathinaikos in the
semis 91-82 with Derrick Sharp as the main scorer with
20 points while Vujcic had 11 points and 5 rebounds.
In the title game, Maccabi downed Tau Ceramica 90-78.
Sarunas Jasikevicius was the hero with 22 points, and
Vujcic contributed 13 points plus 7 boards.
Thanks to his experience but, most of all, to his talent,
Vujcic started adding assists – and many of them
– to his repertoire. On November 3, 2005, he entered
the history books by becoming the first player to ever
record a triple-double in the EuroLeague. It was against
Prokom for a 95-68 Maccabi win, and in 32 minutes Vujcic
scored 11 points, grabbed 12 rebounds and dished
11 assists! At the end of that season, Maccabi was close
to completing its own three-peat. In the Prague Final
Four, Maccabi defeated Tau Ceramica in the semis 85-
70 with a great Maceo Baston (20 points, 7 rebounds)
and Anthony Parker (19 points). Vujcic threatened another
triple-double with 18 points, 8 rebounds and 7
assists. However, in the title game, CSKA Moscow was
the better team, winning 73-69, as Vujcic didn’t have
the best of nights (4 points, 5 rebounds and 1 assist).
In the 2006-07 season, Vujcic recorded another
triple-double, this one during a 110-87 victory against
Union Olimpija. He finished with 27 points, 10 rebounds
and 10 assists – and all that in only 26 minutes!
Vujcic was a complete player, with many resources
on both offense and defense. For a big man, he had a
great long-range shot, all the way out to three-point
range. His great advantage was his technique and his
long hands. He also had that sixth sense to get good
position and grab the ball after a teammate missed a
shot. His shooting had perfect timing. At the end of the
2005, 2006 and 2007 seasons, he was included in the
All-Euroleague First Team.
Neven Spahija, Croatia’s head coach at the 2005
EuroBasket in Belgrade, where Croatia deserved much
better than seventh place (having lost to Spain 101-85
in the quarterfinals after overtime), was also Vujcic’s
coach at Maccabi for the 2006-07 season. He told me
this about Nikola:
“For his characteristics and his character, he was
one of the best players I ever coached in my career. He
was a point guard playing ‘five’, a coach’s brain on the
court. His legs were a bit slow, especially at the beginning
of his career, but with hard work from his coaches,
he improved that, too. His other qualities made up for
that lack of speed in his legs. Personally, he helped me a
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lot when I got to Maccabi because it coincided with the
time that many staple names on the club – like coach
Pini Gershon, or players like Parker, Baston and Jasikevicius
– had just left.”
Gone and back to Tel Aviv
Spahija confirms what anyone who experienced a
Maccabi game with Vujcic could see and feel: he is an
idol in Israel. His professionalism, combined with his
great qualities both as a player and as a person, made
him one of the most beloved players by the Maccabi
fans. Vujcic spoke perfect Hebrew, something not many
foreigners who played in Maccabi could do, and that
also generated even more respect.
In May of 2008, when Euroleague Basketball celebrated
50 Years of European Club Competitions at the
Final Four in Madrid, Maccabi played the championship
game once again, but just like two years earlier, CSKA
was better, 91-77. It was Vujcic’s most discreet performance
in a final: 2 points and 5 rebounds.
After winning two EuroLeague titles and losing two
finals, winning five Israeli Leagues and four Israeli Cups,
Vujcic left Israel and joined Olympiacos Piraeus. In his
first season, 2008-09, the Reds reached the Berlin Final
Four and fell to archrival Panathinaikos in the semis by a
single shot. The following season, Olympiacos won the
Greek Cup and reached the Final Four again in Paris, but
this time FC Barcelona won the 2010 title over the Reds
in the season’s last game. Vujcic was not a starter anymore,
he played about 14 minutes, and his averages
went down to 7.4 points, 2.7 rebounds and 1.7 assists.
However, at 32 years old, he signed for Efes Pilsen, the
team where he would play his last EuroLeague games
with averages of 6.5 points, 3.2 rebounds and 2.1 assists.
Despite his playing just 10 full seasons in the new
EuroLeague, Vujcic’s accumulated index rating of
3,047 was the highest career total for many years. His
competition highs are a 46 index rating against Union
Olimpija, 33 points against Roma in 2007, 15 rebounds
against KRKA Novo Mesto and those 11 assists against
Prokom in 2005. Of course, one could not imagine the
EuroLeague All-Decade team without Nikola Vujcic. He
will be remembered also as the best passing big man
of his generation, and perhaps many to come, with 524
lifetime assists. He is the only center in the EuroLeague
this century to average more than 2.5 assists per game.
At 33 years old, Vujcic went back home to Split, but
he didn’t want to stop playing just yet. Officially, he
was the club’s sports director, but the team needed
his points and rebounds, so he helped the youngsters
survive in the Adriatic League with decent numbers: 17
points and 6 rebounds and later 11.9 points and 4.7
rebounds in the 2012-13 season. He was 35 years old.
Seeing that Split wasn’t what it used to be and having
tried his best to change that, Vujcic decided to go back
to where he was loved the most, Tel Aviv, where he is
now the general manager of Maccabi, but also much
more. His authority, experience, character and vision
make Nikola Vujcic a man loved by everyone in Tel Aviv.
101 greats of european basketball
Nikola Vujcic
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