Dino Rađa

Dino Rađa
Player information
birthday	24th April 1967 (age 53)
place of birth	Split , SR Croatia , SFR Yugoslavia
size	211 cm
Weight	102 kg
position	Power Forward / Center
NBA draft	1989 , 40th Pick, Boston Celtics
Clubs as active
1983–1990 Jugoplastika / Pop 84 Split 1990–1993 Messaggero Rome 1993–1997 Boston Celtics 1997–1999 Panathinaikos Athens 1999–2000 KK Zadar 2000–2001 Olympiakos Piraeus 2001–2002 KK Cibona Zagreb 2002–2003 KK Split
National team
000000000	Croatia

Dino Rađa (born April 24, 1967 in Split , SR Croatia , SFR Yugoslavia ) is a former Croatian basketball player . In addition to players like Toni Kukoč or Velimir Perasović, he was part of the outstanding team from Jugoplastika Split , which won the European Cup in 1989 and 1990.

Career

Rađa belonged as a youth to the club KK Dalvin, then moved to KK (Jugoplastika) Split and was in the 1983/84 season for the first time for its men's team. In 1988, 1989 and 1990 he was with Split under coach Božidar Maljković Yugoslav champions and cup winners. He also won the European Champions Cup with the team in 1989 and 1990. In the 1989 final in Munich Rađa scored 20 points and eight rebounds, he was named the best player of the final tournament. In the draft process of the NBA in 1989, the Boston Celtics decided in the second selection round in 40th place for Rađa and wanted to commit him to the 1989/90 season. KK Split insisted on an existing contract with Rađa and got right in court. So he stayed in Split. In April 1990 he was involved in the European Cup final with 12 points in the victory over FC Barcelona , with which the title was secured.

In 1990, the interior players moved rather than to the Boston Celtics, but Messaggero of Rome in the Italian Serie A . The Romans had made him a financially better offer. He stayed in Rome until 1993 and increased his scores there every season, from 17.9 to 20.3 to 21.7 points per encounter. In 1992 he won the Korac Cup with the Romans . In particular, in the first final game, Rađa triumphed when he scored 34 points, in the second leg he came to 17 points. In 1993 he was back with Rome in the Korac Cup finals, but lost each to Olimpia Milan .

In the summer of 1993, Rađa finally moved to the NBA in Boston. There he was appointed to the NBA All-Rookie Second Team in his first year . His (statistically) best NBA game year was 1995/96, when he averaged 19.7 points and 9.8 rebounds per encounter, both of which were team highs. With a total of 224 appearances in the league, he brought it to an average of 16.7 points and 8.4 rebounds per game. However, he had injury problems, which is why he only played 53 NBA games in 1995/96 and only 25 in 1996/97.

Since doubts existed that his knees would again be able to withstand up to four NBA games a week, he returned to Europe in 1997 and moved to Panathinaikos Athens in the Greek A1 league. With Athens he won the championships in 1998 and 1999. In the following years he played for only one season at KK Zadar , Olympiacos Piraeus , Cibona Zagreb and KK Split . After winning the Croatian championship with Split, he ended his career in the summer of 2003. In 2005 Real Madrid offered him a contract again, but the now 38-year-old Rađa turned down the offer.

In 2008 Rađa was named one of the 50 most important players in the history of the Europa League . On March 31, 2018, his induction into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame was announced.

National team

In 1986 he was part of the squad of the Yugoslav junior national team, which won gold at the European Championships in Austria . He played at the tournament at the side of Vlade Divac , Aleksandar Đorđević and Toni Kukoč , coach was Svetislav Pešić . At the Junior World Championship in 1987 he won gold again, in the final against the United States Rađa (20 points) and Divac (21 points) were guaranteed victory under the basket.

With the men's national team of Yugoslavia, he won the silver medal at the Olympic Games in 1988, and in 1989 he was European champion in Zagreb . Rađa got 25 points in the final against Greece and was surpassed by his teammate Dražen Petrović (28 points) and Greek Nikolaos Galis (30 points). He missed the 1990 World Cup, where Yugoslavia won gold, due to an injury.

In 1991 he won gold again, his 23 points in the final against hosts Italy were the highest of the game. In 1992 he won the silver medal with Croatia at the Olympic Games, behind Petrović he was in second place in the team's baskethunter list at the tournament in Barcelona. At the European Championships in 1993 he was third with Croatia as well as at the World Championships in 1994 and at the European Championships in 1995. At the '94 World Cup, Rađa was the second best scorer behind Australian Andrew Gaze with 22.4 points per match . In 1996 he took part in the Summer Olympics for the third time. This time he finished seventh with his team.

successes

• Yugoslav champion: 1988, 1989, 1990
• Greek champion : 1998, 1999
• European Champion Clubs' Cup : 1989, 1990
• Korać Cup : 1992
• European champions : 1989, 1991
• Silver medal at the Olympic Games : 1988, 1992
• Croatian champion : 2003

See also

• List of members of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame

Web links

• Dino RADJA (CRO) - Overview of participation in international FIBA tournaments on archive.fiba.com (English)
• Dino Rađa on NBA.com
• Dino Rađa on basketball-reference.com
• Dino Rađa in the database of Sports-Reference (English; archived from the original ) (national team)
• Dino Rađa in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame (hoopshall.com)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Dino Radja: The legend of Split. In: KOS magazine. August 26, 2016, accessed June 28, 2020 . 
2. ↑ Champions Cup 1988-89. Retrieved June 28, 2020 . 
3. ^ NBA.com: NBA Draft history: 1989 Draft. Retrieved June 28, 2020 . 
4. ↑ Champions Cup 1988-89. Retrieved June 28, 2020 . 
5. ↑ Dino Radja: "Me fui harto de la NBA porque a mis compañeros les daba igual perder". July 26, 2016, accessed June 28, 2020 (Spanish). 
6. ↑ Radja Dino - Statistiche INDIVIDUALI. In: LEGABASKET SERIE A. Retrieved June 28, 2020 . 
7. ↑ Korac Cup 1991-92. Retrieved June 28, 2020 . 
8. ↑ Korac Cup 1992-93. Retrieved June 28, 2020 . 
9. ↑ 1995-96 Boston Celtics Roster and Stats. Retrieved June 28, 2020 (English). 
10. ↑ Dino Radja Stats. Retrieved June 28, 2020 (English). 
11. ^ The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame :: Dino Radja. In: hoophall.com. Retrieved May 10, 2020 (English). 
12. ↑ https://archive.fiba.com/pages/eng/fa/game/p/gid/A/grid/6/rid/866/sid/2340/_/1986_European_Championship_for_Junior_Men/statistic.html
13. ↑ archive.fiba.com: 1987 World Championship for Junior Men. Retrieved June 28, 2020 . 
14. ↑ archive.fiba.com: 1989 European Championship for Men. Retrieved June 28, 2020 . 
15. ↑ European Championship 1991. Accessed June 28, 2020 . 
16. ↑ Croatia accumulated statistics | 1992 Olympic Games: Tournament for Men | ARCHIVE.FIBA.COM. Retrieved June 28, 2020 . 
17. ↑ Croatia | 1995 European Championship for Men | ARCHIVE.FIBA.COM. Retrieved June 28, 2020 . 
18. ↑ World Championship 1994. Accessed June 28, 2020 . 
19. ↑ Olympic Tournament 1996. Accessed June 28, 2020 .