[ad_1]
Editor's Note: This is the first part of our two-part look at Vlade Divac and its incredible journey from the hills of Yugoslavia to the professional immortality of basketball. A one-of-a-kind character who has chased windmills, changed the game and opened doors for generations to come, Divac will be entering the Hall of Fame this week.
He stands above a crowd wherever he goes, and it's not just because he's 7 feet tall.
Vlade Divac, an unpretentious star, has made his way into the world of basketball, changing the game one stop at a time.
As easy as its five-hour shadow fills at noon, Divac deeply affects everyone in its path, opening a path from Yugoslavia to Sacramento, and now to Springfield, Massachusetts.
Divac will travel to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame this weekend as one of the selected players allowed to wear more than two sweaters under a special exception. He will represent the Serbian national team, the Los Angeles Lakers and the Sacramento Kings.
And like these jerseys, Divac's basketball career can be divided into three parts. His influence abroad has changed the international game and helped to force the invention of the original Dream Team. His pioneering spirit as one of the first Europeans to move to the NBA in the late 1980s opened the door to an open door that allowed the league to expand to countries around the world.
Finally, Divac helped put a struggling Kings franchise on the map and continues to give back to the community that has kissed him more than ten years after his retirement.
While the world of basketball was waiting for one of the big pioneers of the game to finally get the call, the long-awaited recognition is almost lost for Divac.
"I think when he discovered [that he had made the Hall]I was more excited for him than for himself, "said Peja Stojakovic, former friend and teammate. "I think he did not realize for the moment what kind of achievement it was and what honor it was to be in the Hall of Fame."
The path from Divac to the Hall of Fame is unlike any other. From humble beginnings to the world's biggest stages, it all started with an 18-year-old giant and an unknown group of Eastern European hoopsters.
Drummers of the world
Vlade Divac (left) applauds after Yugoslavia's victory at the 2002 FIBA World Cup in Indianapolis. This was the last international competition of the future Hall of Famer (Photo from the Associated Press)
Everything started innocently enough.
In the summer of 1988, a young group of Yugoslavian teens and over 20 years old left his family and went to the mountains to train together, in the summer. hope to become something special.
In anticipation of the 1988 Olympics, a Yugoslav national team composed of Vlade Divac and future NBA players Drazen Petrovic, Toni Kukoc, Dino Radja and Zarko Paspalj, developed chemical solutions in the field and changed the basketball game.
These Olympic Games were the feast of Yugoslavia, which soon began to become the best international team in the world.
"My generation started in big tournaments," Divac recently told NBC Sports California. "'88 Olympics, we got the money. '89 European Championship, we had gold. 1990 World Cup in Argentina, we got the gold. 91 of the European Championship, we got the gold, then there was a civil war and for three years we did not play. "
This civil war, during which Croatia and Serbia tried to obtain their independence, has also expanded to basketball.
An incident in which Divac seized the Croatian flag of a fan during the ground celebration after the match for the gold medal of the championship of Europe in 1991, which is has become the major news. Although Divac claimed that it was a misunderstanding, the fact that he and Paspalj were Serbs, while Petrovic, Kukoc and Radja were all Croats, became a problem.
Despite the hidden links, the group separated after this victory.
The following year, Team USA took over the employment of NBA players in international competitions and the first Dream Team brought together some of the greatest players in basketball history. Due to the political split and conflicts between Serbia and Croatia, the world has never been able to see Yugoslavia facing the Dream Team.
"I'm sure they probably would have won the match, but the reason the Dream Team came back on the international stage was because we beat these guys every year, so the United States had to make a statement, "said Divac.
This was not the case for Divac, however. He returned to international play in 1995, winning gold at the EuroBasket Championship with the Yugoslav national team. He earned a silver medal at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and gold medals at the 1998 and 2002 World Cups.
Divac's last international competition – at the 2002 World Cup – took place on American soil in Indianapolis. Playing alongside Stojakovic and Dejan Bodiroga, a 1995 second-round pick of the Kings that was never qualified for the NBA, Divac helped Yugoslavia beat the US team in the quarter-finals and maintain a win in the quarter-finals. extension on a silver team stacked in the final.
Divac ended his international career as one of the most decorated players in the world. Back home in Serbia, he is a hero and a larger-than-life figure.
"He's a rock star, he's a great rock star," said Grant Napear, the Kings announcer, who traveled to Serbia with Divac. "It would be like walking in the United States with LeBron James or Michael Jordan, and I do not exaggerate it."
After his stint as a player, Divac then represented his country as the president of the Olympic Committee of Serbia from 2009 to 2016, which was riding him more and more as a leader of the Kings.
Somewhere there is a showcase containing Divac medals from the international game. His inclusion in the Hall of Fame on the international ticket was inevitable, even though he had never walked on NBA ground. The influence of Divac was as great, but it was about to become bigger.
Pioneer Days
Vlade Divac (left) stands alongside NBA Commissioner David Stern after being selected by the Lakers in the 1989 NBA Draft. The wait was longer than expected for Divac, who finished 26th overall, but it ended up being the good one. (Photo by the Associated Press)
The current NBA is a melting pot of players from around the world. About 30% of the league comes from outside the United States, but this has not always been the case. In fact, the influx of European players was at best irregular – before a small group of friends split up in 1989.
Petrovic entered the NBA draft in 1986 and was selected by the Portland Trail Blazers with the 13th pick of the third round, but he had waited in the summer of 1989 to join the league. He joined the talented but crowded Blazers backyard this summer and signed a four-year contract with a Portland team that eventually lost to the Detroit Pistons in the NBA finals.
It took an exchange in New Jersey for Petrovic to finally get a real shot, and he quickly showed the same lightning that made him a well-known name in the international game. Petrovic averaged 19.5 points per game in two and a half seasons with the Nets, and let them play in the playoffs twice.
Paspalj joined the San Antonio Spurs during the same season as a non-traded free agent, but it lasted only 28 matches before being dismissed.
As for Divac, he entered the NBA project in 1989 with the vision of making waves in the league. He had made a name for himself at the 1988 Olympics and the 89 European Championships, and seemed to be the best choice for the lottery phase of the project.
This is not how things went, when the choices were made and Divac broke down. Even though he did not know it at the time, luck was on Divac's side. His slide landed him with the Showtime Lakers.
"The Lakers suited me perfectly, with Dr. [Jerry] Buss, with Jerry West, with Magic, Byron Scott, James Worthy, Pat Riley – they all helped me to "adapt to American life and NBA style," said Divac.
West, the legendary player turned executive, is the man who pulled Divac's trigger, selecting him to the unseen eye with the 26th overall pick.
"At that time, few people had as much confidence in European players as today," said West during the filming of "Once Brothers," ESPN's documentary about Divac and the ### 39, Yugoslav national team. "And so he fell on us late in the repechage, and even though we had never seen him play in person, we said, what's going on?"
As a man who gambled on an unfamiliar stranger in Yugoslavia (international testing was no longer as widespread as it is today), West will rightfully introduce Divac at his funeral at the Hall of Fame this weekend. end.
"It's a guy who's betting on me," said Divac. "When I arrived in New York for the draft in 1989, they said I should be 10 or 15 years old, and that did not happen. So I was very disappointed, like, nobody wants me. But Jerry had chosen the 26th, so he chose me. Later, I realized that if I had chosen a team, I would probably have made a mistake. "
The Lakers were at the end of their dynasty – they had reached eight NBA finals in the previous 10 seasons and had won five – but they still formed a very good team. The NBA coaching team in its first season was scoring 8.5 points and 6.2 rebounds per game for coach Pat Riley, himself inducted into the Hall in 2008.
Divac entered the Lakers starting lineup in his second season and was instrumental in the team's success in the early 1990s, as Los Angeles advanced to the finals in 1991 with the new coach Mike Dunleavy but lost to the Chicago Bulls in five games. Divac quickly adapted to the NBA game and in his fourth season, he began to show signs of becoming one of the league's top players.
"The way we played, Showtime, was easy for me, even though I did not speak English, but I spoke basketball and it was easy for me to adapt," said Divac. "I had to earn the respect of everyone from referees to opponents, but my teammates saw a European come here and I had to prove myself. Fortunately, I proved myself, but with the help of all the Lakers organization. "
After Petrovic's death in a car accident in Germany in the summer of 1993, Divac was tasked with carrying the torch for European NBA players. That year, Kukoc and Radja, who played with Divac in the famous Yugoslavian national team before the civil war, also jumped into the league and the ball was spinning.
"A few years ago, some Europeans had come to spend a month [to the NBA] and I came back, but when I finally succeeded, I was so proud to have opened the door to internationals, "said Divac.
His teammate Scot Pollard said, "There were foreign players before him, but many players fought and Vlade led the way for many guys to follow him. Whether they give it credit or not, they really should. He was a pioneer for future European players. "
International influence
Divac was the right player at the right time and he landed in the right place. The Showtime Lakers instantly contributed to the growth of the 21-year-old center of Yugoslavia throughout the United States.
The NBA's then Commissioner, David Stern, took the opportunity to extend the league's brand in Europe and beyond. During the years of NBA growth, the inclusivity of the league has opened the doors of the whole world.
"I have to give a lot of credit to David Stern for opening the league, but also in my case, Jerry West and Dr. Buss, who had the vision of an international guy who would get to the NBA," said Divac. "And now, watching the NBA, it's the most popular league in the world simply because we have more than 30% of international players in the league."
There are many reasons why European players have failed to break through before Divac, but his success on the international stage and his well defined identity when he joined the league probably helped him carve a place in the NBA.
"I think the European players before Vlade, most of them had trouble playing because they were trying to play as they were played, but then they tried to adapt more to the style of the NBA Pollard said. "While Vlade was like," I will continue to play as I do, "and his style eventually changed the game, and that's why I think it belongs to the Hall of Fame."
Divac, who started playing high-level international basketball at the age of 18, entered the NBA with an extremely developed passing game and the ability to play ball as very few men important of his time. He developed these skills while playing alongside Magic Johnson on the Lakers at the pace of rhythm.
"Vlade brought a different style to the NBA, and that stuck," said Pollard.
For those who watched Divac in Europe, he was on an incredible stage and he was successful. He has also continued to come home and thrive in international games, making him a perfect example for young European players.
"We did not have as much access to basketball in the NBA, so the players we were looking for were those of our national team," said Stojakovic. "It happened in the late 80s and early 90s that the Yugoslavian national team was one of the best in the world and these are the players we sought and wanted to be someday . "
[RELATED:[RELATED:[ENRELATION:[RELATED: Why the choice of the Divac Hall of Fame is long overdue]
Divac may not have been an eternal star in the NBA, but that does not change his impact on the game. He opened the door, allowing an incredible number of talents to follow his example and contributing to the creation of the game. a version of the NBA for players such as Stojakovic, Dirk Nowitzki, Pau Gasol and hundreds of others.
Divac spent seven seasons with the Lakers before being traded to Charlotte against the rights of a high school player named Kobe Bryant after the 1996 NBA draft. The Divac Hornets were brief (two seasons) and relatively unimportant, but its impact on the match was not over.
An NBA franchise with a long history of loss was waiting for the clever touch of Divac.
Next Friday: Divac lands in Sacramento and kings are reborn
[ad_2]
Source link