Željko Obradović

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Željko Obradović
Obradović coaching Fenerbahçe in 2016
Fenerbahçe Doğuş
PositionHead coach
LeagueTurkish League
EuroLeague
Personal information
Born (1960-03-09) March 9, 1960 (age 64)
Čačak, PR Serbia, FPR Yugoslavia
NationalitySerbian
Career information
NBA draft1982: undrafted
Playing career1980–1991
PositionPoint guard
Coaching career1991–present
Career history
As player:
1978–1984Borac Čačak
1984–1991Partizan
As coach:
1991–1993Partizan
1993–1994Joventut Badalona
1994–1997Real Madrid
1996–2000Yugoslavia
1997–1999Benetton Treviso
1999–2012Panathinaikos
2004–2005Serbia and Montenegro
2013–presentFenerbahçe Doğuş
Career highlights and awards
As player:

As head coach:

Medals
Men's Basketball
Head Coach for  Yugoslavia
EuroBasket
Bronze medal – third place 1999 France Team
Gold medal – first place 1997 Spain Team
World Cup
Gold medal – first place 1998 Greece Team
Olympic Games
Silver medal – second place 1996 Atlanta Team competition
Representing  Yugoslavia
World Cup
Gold medal – first place 1990 Argentina Team
Olympic Games
Silver medal – second place 1988 Seoul Team competition

Želimir "Željko" Obradović (Serbian Cyrillic: Желимир Жељко Обрадовић; born March 9, 1960) is a Serbian professional basketball head coach for Fenerbahçe of the Turkish Basketball Super League. He is also a former professional basketball player.

He is generally considered one of the best European coaches ever, having won nine EuroLeague titles with five different teams. His list of professional titles won is unmatched by any other current European head coach. In addition to his success at the club level, he has won major trophies as a head coach of the Yugoslavian national basketball team, most notably the EuroBasket 1997 and the 1998 FIBA World Championship. In addition to lot of trophies he has won, he was named one of the 50 Greatest EuroLeague Contributors in 2008.

Early life

He was born March 9, 1960, in Čačak, PR Serbia, FPR Yugoslavia.

Playing career

Obradović started his career as a basketball player with Borac Čačak in their youth system.

Borac Čačak

During the 1977-78 season, eighteen-year-old Obradović got his first taste of senior team basketball at Borac, appearing in 6 games during the season and contributing a total of 3 points.[1] After eventually establishing himself as the team's starting point guard he stayed with the club until 1984.

Partizan

Over the summer 1984, twenty-four-year-old Obradović joined Partizan. He was brought in by Partizan's incoming head coach Moka Slavnić and vice president Dragan Kićanović, both recent retirees who had starred on the Yugoslav national team throughout the 1970s as a legendary guard duo.

In Obradović's third season with the team, Partizan won the 1986–87 Yugoslav League title. The following season, they reached the 1987–88 European Champions Cup Final Four. Finally, they won the Yugoslavian Cup and the Korać Cup in 1989. During his time at Partizan, Obradović established himself as one of the best and reliable point guards in Yugoslavia.

He was also a member of the Yugoslavian national basketball team that won the silver medal at the 1988 Summer Olympics and the gold medal at the 1990 FIBA World Championship.

His playing career was put to a halt when he was sentenced two years in prison due to causing the death of a pedestrian, in a car accident. After serving his prison sentence, Obradović returned to the court as a player, and already in his latter days as a player, he coached Partizan's youth team. He retired from playing basketball in 1991, and immediately signed on as the head coach of the senior team of the club.

Coaching career

Obradović's greatness as a basketball head coach is fully confirmed by the great collection of titles he has acquired in his seventeen-year career as a coach: a record nine pro sports club EuroLeague titles (with five different teams), two Saporta Cups, numerous national domestic league championships and cups, the silver medal at the 1996 Summer Olympics, the gold medal at the EuroBasket 1997, the gold medal at the 1998 FIBA World Championship, and the bronze medal at the EuroBasket 1999, while coaching the FR Yugoslavian national basketball team, where he was the head coach from 1996–00. He was also the head coach of the Serbia and Montenegro national basketball team in 2004–05.[2]

Partizan

Obradović's coaching career began quite suddenly in the summer of 1991 while he was still an active 31-year-old KK Partizan player getting ready for EuroBasket 1991 with the Yugoslav national team. Selected and coached by Dušan Ivković, the 1991 national squad was to be captained by Obradović — the oldest player among the assembled group. However, after finishing the training camp in Poreč and coming back to Belgrade to sleep over before leaving in the morning for a preparation friendly tournament in Germany, Obradović got called in for a meeting with the Partizan management — club president Radojica Nikčević, vice-president Dragan Kićanović, as well as board members Đorđe "Siske" Čolović, Milorad "Miketa" Đurić, and Dragan Todorić — who convinced him to take over the Partizan head coaching job, which entailed retiring from playing effective immediately thus giving up a chance to captain the national team at the upcoming EuroBasket.

The idea was to have Obradović, a debutante head coach, work under the guidance of experienced elder statesman of Yugoslav basketball 67-year-old professor Aca Nikolić whose coaching advisory services were soon secured by Kićanović and the management team. Also joining the club's front office in the technical director capacity was another fresh retiree from playing, 31-year-old Milenko Savović, Obradović's longtime teammate at Partizan, who spent the previous 1990–91 season playing for Vojvodina.

Panathinaikos

Obradović was the head coach of Panathinaikos from 1999 to 2012, leading the team to become the top club in European club basketball during that time, while simultaneously maintaining the club at the top position in the Greek national championship. In total, Obradović won with Panathinaikos, 11 Greek League championships, 7 Greek Cups and 5 EuroLeague titles (2000, 2002, 2007, 2009, and 2011). In 2007, he achieved winning the highly coveted Triple Crown championship, for the second time as a head coach (the first was in 1992 with Partizan), and won the EuroLeague Coach of the Year award. Also in 2009, in Berlin, he completed this achievement as head coach for the third time. In 2011, he won his 8th EuroLeague trophy overall, and 5th with Panathinaikos.

Fenerbahçe

In early July 2013, Obradović signed a two-year contract with the Turkish club Fenerbahçe,[3] reportedly worth €3 million in net income salary over the contract period.[4] After inheriting a roster with point guard Bo McCalebb and versatile shooting guards / small forwards Bojan Bogdanović and Emir Preldžić, the famous head coach added a pair of marquee forwards, Linas Kleiza and Nemanja Bjelica. He additionally signed Luka Žorić and Melih Mahmutoğlu, as well as talented youngsters Ömer Yurtseven and Kenan Sipahi.

Obradović won the Turkish national domestic championship with Fenerbahçe during his first season with the club, but he was eliminated in the EuroLeague in the Top 16 stage. He has also won the Turkish Super Cup.[5]

On May 25, 2015, he signed a two-year extension with Fenerbahçe,[6] after leading the team to the 2015 Final Four of the EuroLeague, which was the first time in the club's history that it had made it to the EuroLeague Final Four. The following year, they were runner-ups in the EuroLeague, after losing in the final game of the 2016 Final Four to CSKA Moscow in overtime.

On November 18, 2016, Ozan Balaban, a member of the Fenerbahçe S.K. multi-sports club, declared at the QNB Finansbank sponsorship ceremony of the club, that Obradović would sign a new 3 year deal with the club.[7][8] On December 3, 2016, Obradović extended his contract until the end of the 2019–20 season.[9]

On May 21 2017, Obradović won the EuroLeague with Fenerbahçe, after a win against Olympiakos.

Coaching style

Well known for his temperamental approach, Obradović often utilized a system heavy on pick-and-rolls, focusing on using the corners and back passes to open up the offense and make it more difficult for the defense to commit.[10] At Panathinaikos from 2004 onward, he made center Mike Batiste and point guard Dimitris Diamantidis the focal points of this pick-and-roll setup.[11]

Revered San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich, has been a longtime admirer of Obradović's coaching style, frequently praising him[12][13] and admitting to "stealing his plays". In turn, Obradović, ahead of his second season coaching Fenerbahce, talked about spending a significant portion of the summer 2014 off-season, dissecting the San Antonio game, particularly positioning and ball movement, with a view of implementing it into his team.[10][14]

Coaching record

Legend
G Games coached W Games won L Games lost W–L % Win-loss %

Note: The EuroLeague is not the only competition in which the team played during the season. He also coached in domestic competition, and regional competition if applicable.

EuroLeague

Team Year G W L W–L% Result
Partizan
1991–92 19 13 6 .684 Won EuroLeague Championship
Joventut
1993–94 18 13 5 .722 Won EuroLeague Championship
Real Madrid
1994–95 18 13 5 .722 Won EuroLeague Championship
1995–96 19 11 8 .579 Lost in 3rd place game
Benetton 1997–98 23 17 6 .739 Won in 3rd place game
Panathinaikos
1999–00 23 19 4 .826 Won EuroLeague Championship
2000–01 24 18 6 .750 Lost in the final game
2001–02 22 19 3 .864 Won EuroLeague Championship
2002–03 20 14 6 .700 Eliminated in Top 16 stage
2003–04 20 9 11 .450 Eliminated in Top 16 stage
2004–05 25 15 10 .600 Won in 3rd place game
2005–06 23 16 7 .696 Lost in Quarterfinal Playoffs
2006–07 24 20 4 .833 Won EuroLeague Championship
2007–08 20 15 5 .750 Eliminated in Top 16 stage
2008–09 22 17 5 .773 Won EuroLeague Championship
2009–10 16 10 6 .625 Eliminated in Top 16 stage
2010–11 22 16 6 .727 Won EuroLeague Championship
2011–12 23 14 9 .609 Lost in 3rd place game
Fenerbahçe 2013–14 24 14 10 .583 Eliminated in Top 16 stage
2014–15 29 22 7 .759 Lost in 3rd place game
2015–16 29 23 6 .793 Lost in the final game
2016–17 35 23 12 .657 Won EuroLeague Championship
Career 498 351 147 .705

Playing achievements

Obradović with Aleksandar Đorđević in August 2015.

also

Coaching achievements

Multiple titles

Titles by club

Obradović, coaching Panathinaikos, in November 2007. In his 13 seasons at the helm of the club, he led them to 23 trophies.

References

  1. ^ Stanković, Vladimir (29 January 2017). "Zeljko Obradović, destined for Istanbul". Euroleague.net. Retrieved 13 February 2017.
  2. ^ FIBA.com SCG – Obradovic returns to helm of Serbia & Montenegro.
  3. ^ "Fenerbahce officially name Zeljko Obradovic head coach". Sportando. Retrieved 2 July 2013.
  4. ^ "Obradović zvanično u Fenerbahčeu". b92.net (in Serbian). Retrieved 2 July 2013.
  5. ^ http://www.fenerbahce.org.tr/fbulker/kategori.asp?ContentCategoryID=42
  6. ^ "Zvanično: Obradović produžio ugovor". b92.net (in Serbian). 25 May 2015. Retrieved 25 May 2015.
  7. ^ Aziz Yıldırım and Zeljko Obradović agree for extend 3 years contract.
  8. ^ Obradovic will sign 3 year extended contract.
  9. ^ "Obradovic and Gherardini extended their contracts". Eurohoops.net. 3 December 2016.
  10. ^ a b Avdić, Edin (24 March 2015). "Njih 30 miliona i Željko". mondo.rs. Retrieved 2015-03-25.
  11. ^ Mitnick, AJ (8 May 2014). "Mitnick: Obradovic too brash to coach in the NBA? Ridiculous". Sheridan Hoops. Retrieved 2015-03-25.
  12. ^ Whittell, Ian (12 November 2007). "10 reasons to watch the Euroleague". ESPN.com. Retrieved 2015-03-25.
  13. ^ from San Antonio Express-News (15 October 2007). "Panathinaikos' Schemes Intrigue Popovich". RealGM. Retrieved 2015-03-25.
  14. ^ Laurie, Kenny (13 October 2014). "Obradovic shows his players San Antonio Spurs blueprint". Daily Sabah. Retrieved 2015-03-25.

External links

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