Bodiroga, Dejan
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Wikipedia-Article "Dejan Bodiroga"
Dejan Bodiroga (Serbian: Дејан Бодирога, born March 2, 1973 in Zrenjanin, Serbia and Montenegro) is a Serbian/Yugoslav basketball player. Many basketball observers consider him the best player never to suit up for an National Basketball Association team.
He is famous for his leadership, basketball IQ and all-around game. One of the smartest, if not the quickest players to come along in decades, Dejan dominated European courts and won everything there is to be won, both on club and national team levels.
Son of Vaso and Milka Bodiroga, Dejan is a devout Orthodox Christian. He is idolized in his country for his on the court prowess and also revered for his unassuming, humble and quiet way of going about matters off the court.
On July 13, 2003, at the age of 30, Bodiroga married his long time fiancée Ivana Medic in Belgrade's Saborna crkva (the local Serbian Orthodox Cathedral).
Couple's first child, boy named Nikola, was born July 23, 2004.
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Player career
- 1989/90 Proleter Zrenjanin
- 1990/91 KK Zadar
- 1991/92 KK Zadar
- 1992/93 Pallacanestro Trieste (Stefanel) (Italy)
- 1993/94 Pallacanestro Trieste (Stefanel) (Italy)
- 1994/95 Olimpia (Stefanel) Milan (Italy)
- 1995/96 Olimpia (Stefanel) Milan (Italy)
- 1996/97 Real Madrid (Spain)
- 1997/98 Real Madrid (Spain)
- 1998/99 Panathinaikos Athens (Greece)
- 1999/00 Panathinaikos Athens (Greece)
- 2000/01 Panathinaikos Athens (Greece)
- 2001/02 Panathinaikos Athens (Greece)
- 2002/03 FC Barcelona (Spain)
- 2003/04 FC Barcelona (Spain)
- 2004/05 FC Barcelona (Spain)
- 2005/06 Virtus (Lottomatica) Rome (Italy)
Early Early Days in Zrenjanin
Dejan Bodiroga first started playing basketball in an organized fashion when he was 13. He enrolled in Zrenjanin's 'Servo Mihalj' basketball section under Rade Prvulov's supervision. One growth spurt later he sprung up to 2.05m and was at 15 quickly incorporated into Proleter Zrenjanin's first team squad coached by Miodrag Sija Nikolic, former OKK Beograd and Yugoslav national team player in the 1960s.
Early Days in Zadar
Dejan's professional career began in earnest when at the tender age of 17 he was noticed by the former Yugoslav great Kresimir Cosic who persuaded Bodiroga's family to allow their son to move away to Zadar. This was not the usual route for basketball talents in Serbia, most of whom at this stage of their development fancy a closer move to one of the big two clubs from the capital city - Partizan or Red Star. Whether it was the case of Cosic's reputation prevailing or Belgrade blindness to the huge talent sitting in their back yard, it didn't matter much - Dejan was on his way to Zadar.
Once there he trained twice a day under KK Zadar's youth team coach Josip Pino Grdovic. His training regiment consisted of the morning 3-hour practice (7am - 10am) and the 4-hour evening one (8pm - Midnight). Soon, Zadar's head coach Slavko Trninic was giving Dejan occasional first team minutes.
Unfortunatelly, his stay on the Dalmatian coast came to a premature end since the conflict that pitted Croats and Serbs against each other soon broke out. Country was breaking up, war was raging and basketball became an afterthought. Being a player from Serbia in a Croatian city was becoming increasingly uncomfortable for Dejan, so his mentor Cosic (coachig AEK at the time) began to work on the 'escape plan' that would be satisfasctory to both sides. Trials were arranged with AEK and Olympiakos. Both clubs offered Dejan a contract on condition that he take naturalized Greek citizenship. Bodiroga refused and hopped northward to Trieste, Italy where an emerging team coached by Bogdan Tanjevic and financially backed by Stefanel clothing empire was moving up the ranks.
Italy
It was in Trieste that Bodiroga first captured the attention of wider basketball public. Shortly after his arrival in the summer of 1992 he made immediate impact averaging 21.3 points per game over 30 league matches and leading his team to playoffs where they were quickly disposed of in first round by the more experienced Pallacanestro Cantù (S. Clear).
He had another stellar season for Pallacanestro Trieste in 1993/94 - this time leading his team to a deeper playoff run. They overcame the first hurdle in Fortitudo (Filodoro) Bologna to make the semi-final where Victoria Libertas (Scavolini) from Pesaro were waiting. The series was never a contest as Carlton Myers put on a show for a 3-0 sweep. Trieste also began flexing its muscle in Europe - reaching Korac Cup final where they surrendered to PAOK Thessaloniki starring Zoran Savic, Walter Berry and Bane Prelevic. With this the Trieste chapter of Dejan's career came to an abrupt and unexpected end. During summer the team lost Stefanel's backing. Corporation threw its money into Olimpia Milano - all of which sparked an exodus of Trieste players and coaches to Lombardy.
Coach Tanjevic, Bodiroga and pretty much every other core Trieste player (Gregor Fucka, Alessandro De Pol, Ferdinando Gentile) moved to Olimpia which coupled with the sponsorship of Stefanel made it appear as though the entire club relocated to a new city the way NBA franchises do.
The 1994/95 season in new surroundings went as planned for Dejan. He was scoring; he contributed with rebounds and assists. Slowly but surely he was growing into the all-round role he would soon become famous for. In European competition, Olimpia reached Korac Cup final, a familiar sight for most of these players. However they couldn't pull the trigger and lost out to ALBA Berlin coached by Svetislav Pesic, who would come to play a big role later in Dejan's career. On the home front team made it to playoff semi-final but lost 3-2 to eventual champions - Virtus (Buckler) Bologna, led by another Serbian superstar Predrag Danilovic. Two Serbs turned the series into a personal duel with Danilovic's experience prevailing in the end.
Summer of 1995 was an important milestone.
Bodiroga became part of the great Yugoslavia squad that was making its comeback after years of international exile. Team was loaded with stars like Aleksandar Djordjevic, Vlade Divac, Zarko Paspalj, Predrag Danilovic, and Zoran Savic and of course Dejan, all hungry to prove to Europe that Yugoslavia was still the continent's top basketball nation. Together they won European gold in one of the most spectacular finals in Eurobasket history against Lithuania team that featured stars and legends like Arvydas Sabonis, Sarunas Marculionis and Rimas Kurtinaitis.
Also that summer Bodiroga was drafted by the Sacramento Kings in the second round (overall #51). One year later, the Kings selected his younger countryman Peja Stojakovic. However, unlike Stojaković, Bodiroga declined the offer to play in the NBA, choosing instead to remain in Europe.
In the following 1995/96 season Olimpia continued its quest for Silverware and Bodiroga & friends finally obliged. Italian Cup trophy was bagged in quick fashion. Then came the dreaded Korac Cup; again they made the final and again the trophy was taken from under their nose - this time by Efes Pilsen Istanbul. This loss made Olimpia all the more hungry for Scudetto and the coming playoff run. They first returned the favour to Virtus (Buckler), beating them 3-1 in playoffs semi-final (although the task had somewhat gotten easier since Danilovic moved to NBA the previous summer) and then with Bodiroga taking charge triumphed over powerhouse Fortitudo (Teamsystem) Bologna led by Aleksandar Djordjevic, Carlton Myers and Alessandro Frosini.
By now an established international, Bodiroga took his place in the Yugoslav national team for the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta and brought home a silver medal. The American Dream Team featuring Shaq, Charles Barkley, Scottie Pippen, Hakeem, David Robinson still wasn't ripe for picking but Yugoslav squad with Paspalj, Divac, Djordjevic, Bodiroga, Danilovic and friends gave them a game for about 30 minutes before running out of steam.
Spain
There were two big reasons why Bodiroga decided to join Real Madrid in the summer of 1996: offer of $1 million per season and madridista coach Zeljko Obradovic whom Dejan got to know very well through national team. The squad also featured veteran Joe Arlauckas as well as established internationals Alberto Herreros and Mikhail Mikhailov. They easily made the playoffs where they progressed all the way to the final. The opponent was Barcelona team boasting Aleksandar Djordjevic, Jerrod Mustaf, Arturas Karnisovas. An evenly matched series ensued, eventually going the distance. Barcelona prevailed 3-2, winning the deciding 5th game 82-69 on Real's home court. It was a bitter pill to swallow for Bodiroga and Real who had to find consolation in the Saporta Cup trophy which was their only piece of silverware in 1996/97 season.
On the national team front, Yugoslavia ploughed over the competition with considerable ease en route to another Euro gold in 1997, with Bodiroga again playing an integral role. More eventful than semi-final and final games which were entirely dominated by Yugoslavs was the round robin clash vs. Croatia. It was the first meeting between two nations since the breakup of old Yugoslavia. The game carried all kinds of political tension and was a jittery, low-scoring affair until Djordjevic won it for Yugoslavia with a dramatic 3-point buzzer beater.
Next Real season started without coach Obradovic who moved on to Pallacanestro Treviso (Benetton) and it offered no improvement over previous one. Playoff run ended a round earlier at the hands of Basquet Manresa (TDK) which signaled the end of Madrid period for Bodiroga. Although he consistantly put up strong numbers and delivered key points, the team never found proper chemistry and winning rythm. The only personal consolation was that he earned league MVP honours for that season.
That summer's national team duty was markedly happier as it brought another World championship title for Yugoslavia and a first one for Bodiroga. Now 25, Bodiroga was, together with Djordjevic and Rebraca one of the team leaders in every sense. And he needed to be since Danilovic didn't even make it to Athens '98 due to injury while Djordjevic played reduced minutes because of knee problems.
Greece
Same summer of 1998 also saw Bodiroga move to Panathinaikos Athens where team chairman Pavlos Giannakopoulos was assembling a team to conquer Europe. They finally won the national title after 14 years the previous season so sights were set on European title in the coming 1998/99 campaign. Bodiroga was to be the final piece of the jigsaw that already included Dino Radja, Fragiskos Alvertis and coach Slobodan Subotic. Unfortunatelly, everything did not go according to master plan as Panathinaikos won the national league easily but fell short in Euroleague.
It was more than club president was willing to take so out went Radja and coach Subotic and in came coach Zeljko Obradovic who brought along Zeljko Rebraca, his center in Treviso (Benetton). In fact, $15 million was poured into the team for the coming season. It proved to be enough as PAO captured both the 1999/2000 national league and Eurolegue trophies - the latter coming in a final versus Maccabi Tel Aviv.
This was the beginning of Bodiroga's undisputed reign atop Europe. At 27 he was reaching the pinnacle of his career and was simply dominating. What made it all the more strange is that in an era of quick, physical players he was almost a throwback to the older times. He wasn't terribly fast nor strong yet he had an uncanny feel and knowledge of the game. Although always strong, his statistics were never spectacular or jawdroping, but his impact on the game could never be expressed through mere numbers. What made him outstanding was his abilty to break games and make key shots. When match is on the line, ball would invariably go into his hands.
By this time he also became the undisputed leader in the national team too. This was most evident in 2001's European Championship in Turkey and 2002 World Championship in Indianapolis both of which Yugoslavia won. The ball was always in his hands when important games were being decided like the now famous Indianapolis final. Yugoslavia couldn't find the rythm all night and was down by 8 points to Argentina with little more than 2 minutes to go. After finally beating the Dream Team in quarterfinals, Yugoslavs were seeing their dream of back to back Worlds wins slowly fly away. However, Bodiroga had other ideas: on a night when nothing seemed to click in Yugoslav offensive setup due to excellent Argentine positional defence, he began to play 1 on 5 with Argentina, singlehandedly making up the difference and sending the game into overtime. It was an injection of confidence and energy Yugoslavs were looking for all night - the outcome of the overtime period was never in doubt.
Bodiroga literally wrested the trophy from Argentine hands.
Silverware
Italian League champion
- Italian League (Lega Basket) 1995/1996 title with Olimpia (Stefanel) Milano.
Italian Cup champion
- Italian Cup (Coppa Italia) 1996 title with Olimpia (Stefanel) Milano.
3-time Greek League champion
- Greek League (HEBA) 1998/1999, 1999/2000 and 2000/2001 titles with Panathinaikos.
2-time Spanish League champion
- Spanish League (ACB) 2002/2003 and 2003/2004 titles with FC Barcelona.
Spanish Cup champion
- Spanish Cup (Copa del Rey) 2003 title with FC Barcelona.
3-time Euroleague champion
- Euroleague 1999/2000 and 2001/2002 titles with Panathinaikos and 2002/2003 title with FC Barcelona.
2-time Worldbasket champion
- Gold medal at FIBA World Basketball Championship 2002 in Indianapolis and at FIBA World Basketball Championship 1998 in Athens (both playing for Federal Republic of Yugoslavia)
3-time European Basketball Championship champion
- Gold medal at European Basketball Championship 1995, European Basketball Championship 1997 and European Basketball Championship 2001 (all three playing for Federal Republic of Yugoslavia)
Olympic silver medalist
- Silver medal at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia
Individual Honours & Awards
Spanish League MVP: 1997/98
Yugoslav Athlete of the Year: 1998
2-time Greek League MVP: 1998/99 and 1999/00
Euroleage Top 16 stage MVP: 2001/02
World Championship Final MVP: 2002
2-time Euroleague Final Four MVP: 2002 and 2003
3-time All-Euroleague 1st Team choice: 2001/02, 2002/03 and 2003/04
Spanish Cup (Copa del Rey) MVP: 2003
Spanish League Finals MVP: 2004
Trivia
Dejan Bodiroga is a close relative of another European great - Drazen Petrovic. Dejan's grandmother (on father's side) and Drazen's grandfather (on father's side) are brother and sister.