By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
After a night of rumors about Svetislav Pesic and Neven Spahija, Caja Laboral announced the hiring of Jan Tabak as the new head coach of the team until the summer of 2014. Tabak started the season at the bench of Polish club Trefl Sopot and led it to a 6-2 record and the Polish Supercup.
However, Spanish club Caja Laboral is a major opportunity for him and that’s why he decided to continue his career there. He have been for five seasons the assistant of an other Eurolague coach, Zalgiris Kaunas’ Joan Plaza, in Real Madrid and Cajasol, but he is best known as a player who have been a member of the golden Croatian generation together with legends like Drazen Petrovic, Tony Kukoc and Dino Radja.
Ironically, Tabak was also a teammate of his predecessor on the bench of Caja Laboral, Dusko Ivanovic, in the roster of Jugoplastika Split, which have won three Euroleague titles in a row (1989, 1990, 1991) or as it was named back then FIBA Champions Cups. Tabak has also won an NBA championship with the Houston Rochets in 1995. Now his first big bet is to save the Euroleague season for Caja which is in danger of elimination from the first stage of the competition.