Βy Lefteris Moutis/ moutis@eurohoops.net
It happened twice by the same player but six years later nobody could do the same. Nikola Vujcic can be proud not only for the titles he have won, but also for the two and only until now triple-double figures in Euroleague. On the 30th November of 2006 he made the second one having 27 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists in Maccabi Tel Aviv΄s win over Olimpija (110-87).
“It was an amazing day. I remember every second of that game. It was excellent because everything went as I have dreamed”, he narrates from Split to Eurohoops.net. “Eight minutes before the end, the statistic guys informed our coach that I was one rebound away from the triple-double. The coach asked me to come back in the court and to grab a rebound. I didn’t understand and asked why, because I hadn’t realized that I was so close”.
He grabbed that rebound and became the only one who made two triple doubles in the Euroleague after his first one year earlier (11 points, 12 rebounds, 11 assists). Jordan Farmar was too close this season to achieve the same feat against Olympiacos (he had 25 points, 8 rebounds and 9 assists), but as Vujcic says: “It doesn’t count if you are near (laughs). Anyway, I don’t think that my record will last forever. There are a lot of good players from the NBA who play now in Euroleague and some day they will make it. Also, there are more games in the season”.
He feels great as he speaks about his achievements in the past but he is still active continuing to impress everyone. In his first game in Adriatic League with KK Split he was the weekly MVP having 17 points, 7 assists and 5 rebounds! He is excited about ending his glorious career in the team where he started playing basketball and feels like a role model for the team, the city and the young players. “It’s a special situation for me. KK Split is the old Yugoplastica, the best European team of the 20th century, as FIBA voted. It’s the team that helped Kukoc, Perasovic, Ukic, Zizic, me and so many players to grow up. More than 50 great players started their career in KK Split. It’s a special team and that’s why I and some other players don’t receive money”.
Thursday 29th of November is a historical day for KK Split and Nikola Vujcic has big role also in that: “We will start to sell stocks of the team by our website. Everybody can be part owner of the history of the team. We call everyone around Europe to have this honor. We give the chance to people from the city, from Croatia and everywhere in the world to buy at least one stock, per 30 euros. And yes, our project is like Barcelona’s and Real Madrid’s”.
All these words belong to someone who is involved in the administration of the team. And that’s… Nikola Vujcic. He does almost everything in KK Split, cause apart from his role as a player; he’s also the sport director. “I will play until the end of my career in KK Split but I don’t still know if I will retire this summer or if I will continue to play. Anyway I love basketball and I want to stay in the sport. Now I’m focused on this season which is like a fairytale for me. I want to help the team; the city; the players. We have the smallest budget among the Adriatic league teams”.
KK Split is famous for the great players who started their career there and its academies are still respected among the experts. The Hornets, the Spurs and Maccabi Tel Aviv have already visited Split for that reason and as Vujcic says: “They were all impressed. We have great talents here and give them the chance to grow up in the right way”.
At the end, Vujcic spoke about the greatest European talent in his age, Dario Saric. He signed with Cibona a couple of days ago, but he was practicing with Split for two months. “It’s an amazing talent. I think that he will be among the first ten NBA drafts picks. You will see him in Cibona. It was a great surprise for me that none of the biggest clubs in Europe didn’t buy him. We would be excited to have him in KK Split and we were looking for a big team to pay the money. Fenerbahce was ready to do that, but at the end Cibona found the way”.