*Originally published on Suite101.com in 2010; minor revisions made pertaining to Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
Croatian guard Drazen Petrovic was among the first European basketball
players to play in the NBA. Petrovic’s career was tragically cut short by a fatal car accident.
Before European basketball players such as Dirk Nowitzki, Pau
Gasol, Tony Parker, and Andrei Kirilenko joined the NBA, it was difficult for
European-born players to make it into the league.
While forward Detlef Schrempf and center Rik Smits made their way to the
NBA through NCAA Basketball, others were not so lucky. Politics and contract disputes, along with
cultural barriers, limited international influence on the NBA until the late
1980s and early 1990s.
Then, the world political scene changed with the end of the
Cold War and the fall of the Soviet Union.
As a result, a handful of sometimes forgotten players—including Drazen Petrovic from Croatia—helped pave the way for European and other
international basketball players to play in the NBA.
NBA Basketball
Player – Portland Trail Blazers & New Jersey Nets
Drazen Petrovic was drafted in the 1986 NBA Draft by the
Portland Trail Blazers. Nicknamed
“Mozart” for his offensive genius and basketball prodigy status, Petrovic joined the Yugoslavian national basketball team at age 15 and also scored
112 points in a game during the 1985 Croatian League season. However, he did not make it over to the NBA
until 1989 due to traveling restrictions and contractual obligations. Prior to joining the Trail Blazers
roster, Petrovic played Olympic basketball in the 1988 Summer Olympic
Games in Seoul, winning a silver medal with Yugoslavia. Then, he played basketball in
Spain for the basketball club Real Madrid.
Petrovic joined the Trail Blazers as they
made their way to the 1990 NBA Finals. Despite
playing less than 13 minutes per game as the backup to Hall of Fame guard Clyde
Drexler, Petrovic still managed to score 7.6 points per game during the
1989-1990 regular season and 6.1 PPG during the playoffs. During the season, he ranked first on
the Trail Blazers (third in the NBA) in three-point field goal percentage,
second in free-throw percentage, and third in field-goal percentage.
The big break for Petrovic came in January 1991, when
the Trail Blazers traded him to the New Jersey Nets in a
three-team trade. After winning the
starting shooting guard job with the Nets in the fall of 1991, Petrovic became the Nets’ leading scorer—ahead of the first pick of the
1990 NBA Draft, forward Derrick Coleman—averaging over 20 points a game in the
1991-1992 and 1992-1993 seasons.
He again ranked in the top 3 in the NBA in three-point field goal
percentage and ranked ninth in free-throw percentage during the 1992-1993 season.
During this time, Petrovic earned the respect of his
coaches, his teammates, and his opponents.
He joined the 1992 Croatian basketball team and helped lead them to a
silver medal in Barcelona, falling at the hands of the USA Basketball “Dream
Team”. Before losing in the gold medal
game, Petrovic helped his team take a brief lead over the Dream Team—which was
the only time the Dream Team trailed in a game during the 1992 Olympics. After the 1992-1993 season, he was named to the All-NBA Third Team.
End of Petrovic’s Career: Contract Dispute & Car Accident
After the Nets were eliminated from the 1993 NBA
Playoffs by the Cleveland Cavaliers, Petrovic returned to Europe. He was unhappy with his contract
negotiations with the Nets and heavily considered signing a contract
to play basketball in Greece. In the
meantime, he rejoined the Croatian national basketball team in
hopes of winning the European Cup.
While traveling with his girlfriend as automobile passengers
in Germany in June 1993, their vehicle was involved in a crash. Petrovic died instantly in this tragic
car accident at age 28. While NBA
Commissioner David Stern saluted Petrovic’s contributions to the NBA and
international basketball, Petrovic’s brother acknowledged Drazen as a national
hero. In the fall of 1993, the Nets honored their fallen team member by retiring his jersey number 3.
Honors & Accolades
Aside from winning several medals and championships in
Europe, earning All-NBA Third Team status, and having his number retired, Petrovic was recognized with other accolades and honors. Petrovic was named the MVP of both the
1986 World Championship and the 1989 European Championship. Later, the MVP award for the McDonald's
Championship (which paired the NBA Champion versus the European Champion) was
renamed the Drazen Petrovic Trophy. Eventually, Petrovic was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame
(2002) and the FIBA Hall of Fame (2007).
Petrovic was also commended in Croatia and other
parts of Europe. He was
named an Honorary Citizen of ibanek, where he played basketball from 1972-1984. Likewise, the basketball club Cibona Zagreb,
with whom he played from 1984-1988, renamed their arena after him. Furthermore, a commemorative
stamp and commemorative gold coins were released in Croatia in his honor. There is also a monument of Petrovic outside the International Olympic Committee’s Olympic
Museum.
Lastly, Petrovic lives on in previously released NBA video
games. He was one of the 54
players featured in the original arcade version of the now classic hit Midway
arcade game, NBA Jam. According to Mark
Turmell, who was the lead designer for NBA Jam, there is a glitch in the game
in which Petrovic’s name is said randomly.
Sources:
Basketball-Reference.com.
Accessed July 25, 2010.
Boyd, Todd. “The NBA
needs to expand beyond the U.S.” Special
to ESPN Page 2. Updated March 3,
2008. From ESPN.com. Accessed July 25, 2010.
“Hall of Famers: Drazen Petrovic.” The
Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. From HoopHall.com. Accessed July 25, 2010.
“Drazen Petrovic Bio.”
NBA.com. Accessed July 25,
2010.
“FIBA Hall of Fame: Drazen Petrovic.” FIBA.com.
Accessed July 25, 2010.
Fine, Mike and Gatehouse News Service. “International influx in NBA.” The
MetroWest Daily News. February 1,
2008. From MetroWestDailyNews.com. Accessed July 25, 2010.
“In Honor of Drazen Petrovic.” Nets.com (NBA.com). Accessed July 25, 2010.
Robinson, Jon. “The
Gamer Blog: You Don’t Know Jam – Talking NBA
Jam with lead designer, Mark Turmell.”
ESPN Magazine. From ESPN.com. Accessed July 25, 2010.