By Niki Bakouli/ bakouli@eurohoops.net
Michael Robert Fratello was born on the 24th of February, 1947 in Hachensack, New Jersey. Dusan Ivkovic was born on the 28th of October, 1943, in Belgrade, specifically in Crveni Krst (Red Cross) neighborhood, “where the tough guys come from”, as he likes to say. Two coaching masterminds who had a very different career path are meeting in Slovenia, as Fratello’s Ukraine is facing Ivkovic’s Serbia and the two will play each other for the first time in an official game.
From 1983 until 2007, Fratello was one of the most respected NBA coaches for Atlanta, Cleveland and Memphis. Despite not winning a championship, his colorful personality and the attractive brand of basketball his teams produced made him a household name and led him also to a career as a color commentator, a field where he was named the “Czar”.
His latest challenge is being the coach of Ukrainian national team, an idea of his former player at Atlanta and president of the Ukrainian basketball federation Sasha Volkov. Since 2011, Fratello is Ukraine’s boss in a quest that will probably conclude in two years, when the country will be hosting the next Eurobasket. Being qualified on the second round of Eurobasket 2013 is already a step forward on the court for Ukraine. Despite being a relatively new face on the European courts, he is still one of the most respected coaches in the continent because of his prominent presence in coaching clinics held in Europe since the nineties. That’s how he met and get to know Ivkovic.
Duda is a European legend, the last coach of the united Yugoslavia team, featuring Drazen Petrovic, Vlade Divac, Dino Radja and Tony Kukoc, who had won three gold medals in Eurobaskets (1989, 1991, 1995), a FIBA World Championship (1990), a silver Olympic medal (1988) and a tone of titles in club level, most recently the Euroleague championship with Greek club Olympiacos (2012).
On 2002, Duda was negotiating with Denver Nuggets in order to become the first European head coach in the NBA. Ηowever he signed with Russian powerhouse CSKA Moscow. In 2009 he revitalized the Serbian national team, won the silver Eurobasket medal and now, despite his team’s absences and woes, he is building again a contender with a roster that includes former NBAer Nenad Krstic and Nemanja Nedovic, who was picked in number 30 of the latest NBA draft by Golden State.
Ivkovic’s teams are anchored by their defense and they like to produce offense from steals and good rebounding. On the other hand, Fratello’s team have been always well oiled scoring machines with naturalized guard Pooh Jeter orchestrating the offense of this version of Ukraine. So who will prevail? Serbia is leading the standings in Group E with a 3-0 record, Ukraine is fighting for a spot in the quarterfinals, having a 1-2 record and the game between them will be a joy to watch, even if the biggest attractions of the show will be sitting on the benches.