Željko Obradović

Željko Obradović

Obradović coaching Fenerbahçe against Galatasaray Odeabank.
Fenerbahçe Istanbul
Position Head coach
League Turkish League
Euroleague
Personal information
Born (1960-03-09) March 9, 1960
Čačak, PR Serbia, FPR Yugoslavia
Nationality Serbian
Career information
NBA draft 1982 / Undrafted
Playing career 1980–1991
Position Point guard
Coaching career 1991–present
Career history
As player:
1980–1984 Borac Čačak
1984–1991 Partizan
As coach:
1991–1993 Partizan
1993–1994 Joventut Badalona
1994–1997 Real Madrid
1996–2000 Yugoslavia
1997–1999 Benetton Treviso
1999–2012 Panathinaikos
2013–present Fenerbahçe
Career highlights and awards

As player:

As head coach:

Medals
Men's Basketball
Head Coach for  Yugoslavia
EuroBasket
1999 France Team
1997 Spain Team
World Championship
1998 Greece Team
Olympic Games
1996 Atlanta Team competition
Representing  Yugoslavia
World Championship
1990 Argentina Team
Olympic Games
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 League. He is also a former professional basketball player.

He is generally considered one of the best European coaches ever, having won eight Euroleague titles with four different clubs. 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 1997 FIBA European Championship 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 where he ended up playing 4 senior seasons from 1980 until 1984 as a point guard.

Partizan

Over the summer 1984, 24-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 starred on the Yugoslav national team as the legendary guard duo.

In Obradović's third season with the team, the team won the 1986–87 Yugoslav League title. The next season they reached the 1987-88 European Champions Cup Final Four. Finally, they won the Yugoslavian Cup and the Korać Cup in 1989. During this period of time, he 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 Olympics Basketball Tournament 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 after 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 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 eight pro sports club European Champions Cups (with four different teams), two Saporta Cups, numerous domestic league championships and cups, the silver medal at the 1996 Olympics Basketball Tournament, the gold medal at the 1997 FIBA European Championship, the gold medal at the 1998 FIBA World Championship, and the bronze medal at the 1999 FIBA European Championship 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.[1]

Partizan

Obradović's coaching career began quite suddenly in summer 1991 while he was still an active 31-year-old player at KK Partizan getting ready for EuroBasket 1991 with the Yugoslav national team. Selected and coached by Dušan Ivković, that 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

He 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 11 Greek Championships, 7 Greek Cups and 5 Euroleague titles (2000, 2002, 2007, 2009 and 2011) with the "Greens". 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 with Panathinaikos. His list of titles is unmatched by any other current European coach.

Fenerbahçe

In early July 2013, Obradović signed a two-year contract with Fenerbahçe,[2] reportedly worth €3 million in salary over the contract period.[3] 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 Faruk Yurtseven and Kenan Sipahi.

Obradović won the domestic championship with Fenerbahçe during his first season, but was eliminated in the Euroleauge in the Top 16 stage. He has also won the Turkish Super Cup.[4]

On May 25, 2015, he signed a two-year extension with Fenerbahçe,[5] after leading team to the 2015 Final Four, for the first time in the club's history. The following year, they were runner-ups, losing in the final game of the 2016 Final Four to CSKA Moscow.

On November 18, 2016, Ozan Balaban who is member of Fenerbahçe S.K. declared on QNB Finansbank sponsorship ceremony, Obradovic will sign a 3 year deal with the club.[6][7] On December 3, 2016, Obradović extended his contract unitl the end of the 2019–20 season.[8]

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.[9] At Panathinaikos, from 2004 onwards, he made power forward Mike Batiste and guard Dimitris Diamantidis the focal points of this pick-and-roll setup.[10]

Revered San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich has been a longtime admirer of Obradović's coaching style, frequently praising him[11][12] 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 in his team.[9][13]

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
Career463328135.708

Playing achievements

also

Coaching achievements

Multiple titles

Titles by club

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

Notes

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