Žarko Paspalj

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Basketball player
Žarko Paspalj
Player information
birthday March 27, 1966 (54 years 154 days)
place of birth Pljevlja , Yugoslavia
size 208 cm
position Small forward
Clubs as active
1982–1986 KK Budućnost Podgorica 1986–1989 KK Partizan Belgrade 1989–1990 San Antonio Spurs 1990–1991 Partizan Belgrade 1991–1994 Olympiakos Piraeus 1994–1995 Panathinaikos Athens 1995–1996 Panionios Athens 1996–1997 Paris Basket Racing 1997–1998 Aris Thessaloniki 1998 -1999 Virtus BolognaYugoslavia Socialist Federal RepublicYugoslavia
Yugoslavia Socialist Federal RepublicYugoslavia
United StatesUnited States
Yugoslavia Socialist Federal RepublicYugoslavia
GreeceGreece
GreeceGreece
GreeceGreece
FranceFrance
GreeceGreece
ItalyItaly
National team
Yugoslavia
Žarko Paspalj 1988

Žarko Paspalj (Cyrillic Жарко Паспаљ ; born March 27, 1966 in Pljevlja , Yugoslavia ) is a former Serbian basketball player. As a player, he was world and European champion.

Career

Like Bogdan Tanjević, Paspalj comes from Pljevlja . At the age of ten, he moved with his family to Podgorica and played basketball in the youth division of the KK Budućnost club . In July 1983 he was with Yugoslavia's selection in Ludwigsburg European Cadet Champion , Paspalj was the team's second best scorer with 14.6 points per match.

In the 1983/84 season Paspalj was used in Podgorica for the first time in the first Yugoslav league. In 1986 he was about to move to KK Bosna Sarajevo , but ended up at Partizan Belgrade and became a team-mate of Aleksandar Đorđević , Vlade Divac , Ivo Nakić and Željko Obradović . With Partizan he won the Yugoslav championship in the spring of 1987 under coach Duško Vujošević . In June 1987, Paspalj took part in his first European championship with the men's selection. He won bronze with the team.

At club level, he reached the semifinals of the European Champions Cup with Partizan in 1988 , after which they won the game for third place. At the 1988 Summer Olympics , Paspalj was part of the Yugoslav team that won the silver medal. In 1989 he won the Korać Cup with Partizan , Paspalj was the second best Belgrade scorer behind Divac in the decisive second final against Cantù with 22 points.

In 1989 he became European champion. To win the European Championship, Paspalj contributed 13.4 points per game as the third best scorer of the Yugoslavs (behind Dražen Petrović and Dino Rađa ), the team was looked after by coach Dušan Ivković . In the summer of 1989 he signed a contract with the NBA team San Antonio Spurs . Paspalj became the first player born in a European country to appear for San Antonio without having previously played at university level in the United States . In his position with the Texans, however, he had Sean Elliott in front of him, whom he couldn't get past. Paspalj was used in 28 NBA games, received an average of 6.5 minutes of playing time per encounter and scored 2.6 points per game. His highest point in the league was 13 in January 1990 against the Denver Nuggets . He went back to Partizan Belgrade during the 1989/90 season.

In 1990 he won the World Cup, scoring 13 points per game during the World Cup. In the summer of 1991, the generation around Paspalj, Predrag Danilović , Toni Kukoč , Divac and Đorđević played their last major tournament before the fall of Yugoslavia and became European champions again. At club level he played from 1991 at Olympiacos Piraeus . There he scored an average of 33.7 points per encounter during the 1991/92 season and posted the best value in the league, he was Greek runner-up with Piraeus. In the 1992/93 season he led the team to win the championship. In 1994 he was with Piraeus in the final of the European Cup. They lost to Joventut de Badalona , Paspalj became a tragic figure in the game when he missed two free throws shortly before the end and then missed the equalizer with a missed throw and thus the move into extra time.

In 1994 he moved from Olympiacos Piraeus to arch rivals Panathinaikos Athens . In the semifinals of the European Champions Cup in April 1995, the two teams, Paspalj and Panathinaikos, met. In 1995 he was European champion with Yugoslavia, again under the direction of coach Ivković.

After a year at Panionios Athens under coach Ivković (1995/96) Paspalj played at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta for Yugoslavia. In particular, through his performance in the final against the United States, in which he scored 19 points, but still lost significantly with his team, he brought himself back into conversation in the NBA. He was invited to practice training by the Atlanta Hawks . Since Atlanta did not offer him a permanent contract for the 1996/97 season, he preferred to move to the French capital club PSG Racing . He played nine league games for the Parisians (12.1 points / game) before they separated. At the end of his career, Paspalj played with Aris Thessaloniki in 1997/98 , won the Greek Cup with the team in the 1997/98 season and in 1998/99 at Kinder Bologna in Italy .

From 2003 to 2005 he was director of the Yugoslav national team.

At the beginning of 2008, Žarko Paspalj was one of a group of 105 basketball players who were nominated by the Euroleague basketball and / or basketball fans to determine fifty important figures in basketball in Europe (1958 to 2008) and then in May 2008 in Madrid ( Spain ) to honor. All nominated players played a particularly prominent role in the European Cup competitions of FIBA Europe and the Euroleague basketball and were each among the particularly prominent 'stars' of their national league teams. Left-handers Paspalj were characterized by a good throw and a great understanding of the game, which was expressed, among other things, in a good passing game.

In 2009 he took over the position of deputy chairman of the Serbian Olympic Committee under President Vlade Divac.

Outside of basketball

heart problems

During his active years in Greece, Žarko Paspalj was able to obtain a hitherto unique additional clause in his player contracts with Olympiacos Piraeus and Panathinaikos Athens . As an avowed chain smoker (3-4 boxes per day) he could and was allowed to disappear into the locker room at any time during the game (time outs and player changes made himself) to indulge his nicotine addiction. Back then opponents were always amazed at the smell of a full ashtray on the field.

In March 2001, Paspalj suffered a serious heart attack while playing football in Athens and was treated in the hospital for a few weeks. He suffered a second heart attack in July 2001. However, in a discussion on the Serbian television program RTS , Paspalj said two heart attacks were not enough to keep him from smoking or to make a complete change in his lifestyle.

successes

  • Silver medal at the Olympic Games: 1988, 1996
  • World Champion: 1990
  • European champions: 1989, 1991, 1995
  • Bronze medal at European Championships: 1987
  • European Cadet Champion 1983
  • Korać Cup winner 1989
  • Greek champion 1993
  • Yugoslav Champion 1987

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i Zarko Paspalj, the man who changed the Greek League. In: Euroleague. Retrieved July 11, 2020 .
  2. ↑ Yugoslavia accumulated statistics | 1983 European Championship for Cadets | ARCHIVE.FIBA.COM. Retrieved July 11, 2020 .
  3. ↑ European Championship 1987. Accessed July 11, 2020 .
  4. ↑ Champions Cup 1987-88. Retrieved July 11, 2020 .
  5. ↑ http://www.linguasport.com/baloncesto/internacional/olimpiadas/1988_SEOUL.htm
  6. ^ Korac Cup 1988-89. Retrieved July 11, 2020 .
  7. ↑ Yugoslavia | 1989 European Championship for Men | ARCHIVE.FIBA.COM. Retrieved July 11, 2020 .
  8. ^ European Championship 1989. Accessed July 11, 2020 .
  9. ↑ Mike Monroe: 100 Things Spurs Fans Should Know and Do Before They Die . Triumph Books, 2016, ISBN 978-1-62937-193-1 .
  10. ^ Zarko Paspalj. In: NBA. Retrieved July 11, 2020 .
  11. ↑ Yugoslavia accumulated statistics | 1990 World Championship for Men | ARCHIVE.FIBA.COM. Retrieved July 11, 2020 .
  12. ↑ https://archive.fiba.com/pages/eng/fa/team/p/sid/2263/tid/390/_//index.html
  13. ↑ http://www.linguasport.com/baloncesto/internacional/clubes/c1/C1_94.htm
  14. ↑ European League 1994-95. Retrieved July 11, 2020 .
  15. ↑ European Championship 1995. Accessed July 11, 2020 .
  16. ↑ Stats season régulière 1996-1997. Retrieved July 11, 2020 .
  17. ^ Season 1996-1997: Le premier titre de Paris | LNB.fr. Retrieved July 11, 2020 .
  18. ^ Paspalj Zarko - Statistiche INDIVIDUALI. In: LEGABASKET SERIE A. Retrieved July 11, 2020 .
  19. ^ NN: The All-Time Player Nominees. ( Memento of January 2, 2015 on the Internet Archive ) Archived from EuroLeague website; Barcelona, ​​January 2, 2015. Accessed February 2, 2019.
  20. ^ Limoges CSP - Olympiakos le Pirée (17-03-1993). Retrieved July 11, 2020 .
personal data
SURNAME Paspalj, Žarko
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Паспаљ, Жарко (Serbian)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Serbian-Montenegrin basketball player
DATE OF BIRTH March 27, 1966
PLACE OF BIRTH Pljevlja , Serbia