By Lefteris Moutis/ moutis@eurohoops.net
On Friday night “Hala Pionir” will be ready to host Zeljko Obradovic‘s Fenerabahce/Ulker. It will be a trip down the memory lane, since Zoc returns to his old home and will face the team in which he spend the bulk of his career as a player and also won the Euroleague as a coach for the first time.
Now, eight Euroleague titles later, Obradovic is not just the most successful coach in Europe, but also the man who gets results immediately when he changes clubs. Here’s what Zoc has achieved in his first year as a coach in his five previews teams.
1992, Istanbul
In his first season as a head coach in Partizan, despite being a rookie in the benches, he led his team to the Final Four in Istanbul. In the semifinal the Serbs prevailed over Olimpia Milano (82-75) and then got the title in the final against Juventut Badalona thanks to the “shot” of Sasha Djordjevic (71-70), one of the most iconic three pointers in the history of European basketball.
1994, Tel Aviv
In the summer of 1993 he signed with Juventut. In his first season he also led his team to the Final Four in Israel and won the final against heavy favorite thanks to an other three point shot, made by American forward Corny Thompson. In the semifinal his team beat Barcelona (79-65) and the score in the final against the Greeks was 59-57, a game in which Juventut was trailing in the score until the last seconds.
1995, Zaragoza
Real Madrid signed Obradovic in order to return to the top of Europe. The results was a monumental personal three-peat by Zoc in his first three seasons as a head coach. This is also the last title won by Real Madrid, which has in total 8 trophies, as many as Obradovic himself has won until now. With Arvydas Sabonis dominating the Final Four, Real beat Limoges (62-49) in the semifinal and Olympiacos in the final (73-61).
1998, Barcelona
This is the one and only time in Obradovic’s career as a coach in which he failed to win the Euroleague in his first season with a new team. During the summer of 1997 he signed with Benetton Treviso, a powerhouse at the time. He also got his team to the Final Four, but he lost the semifinal game to AEK (69-66), coached by his Greek arch-rival Giannis Ioannidis.
2000, Thesaloniki
In the summer of 1999 Obradovic signed with Panathinaikos. It was the start of an epic run which ended in 2012 and had as a result 5 Euroleague titles and 18 domestic trophies (11 championships and 7 Greek cups). In his first season he started by winning the Euroleague, beating in the semifinal Efes Pilsen (81-71) and then Maccabi Tel Aviv in the final (73-67).
Fenerbahce has a 80% chance of success!
The numbers are shocking and prove that Obradovic never loses time. In his first year in every team he had coached, he got at least to the Final Four and 80% of the time he got the title! And of course, history and tradition doesn’t play basketball, but the fans of Fenerbahce/ Ulker can hope for greatness.
PS. “Coach you are right, they say to me every time. I know I am right. You will say the same when I will not use you in the court not even for one second”! It’s Obradovic’s famous outburst after Panathinaikos easy win over Prokom in January 2009. In the next three months, the Greens conquered the triple crown (Euroleague, Greek league, Greek Cup).