By Stefan Djordjevic/ info@eurohoops.net
The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 2020 featured nine inductees and among them wasn’t Toni Kukoc who was nominated for the third straight and eighth overall time.
Barcelona coach Svetislav Pesic stood in Kukoc’s defense and stated that the three-time NBA champion with the Chicago Bulls and three-time EuroLeague champion with Jugoplastika, as well as the winner of numerous medals with the national team on all stages definitely deserved to be inducted.
“With all due respect to everybody who has already been admitted to the Hall of Fame, it’s hard for me to believe that Toni Kukoc isn’t there yet,” he told Tanjug.
Pesic had the chance to work with a young Kukoc as they won the 1985 U16 and 1986 U18 European championships as well as the 1987 U19 World Cup. But he noted that even those who didn’t have a chance to meet Kukoc, have the highest respect for him:
“I think that today there isn’t a single basketball enthusiast that doesn’t like Toni Kukoc. You simply can’t not love him. Not only because of what he gave to the basketball world but because of the person he is. This isn’t just my opinion but also of all those coaches that trained him as well as those who never worked with him, the players that played with him and those that weren’t his teammates.”
Finally, the coach just confirmed his opinion of this treatment being unfair: “I don’t know if it’s funny or sad. Obviously we live in a world where everything has to be lobbied and Kukoc isn’t a part of it.”