Coach

VLADE DJUROVIĆ

Vlade Djurovic was always considered as a flamboyant coach. Still is. A man whose behaviour is authentic, very sharp in his talk and thinking. In his own words his character costed him a more distinguished career. And he accomplished so much. Last april, after barely a month at the helm of Reflex, Djurovic won the Radivoj Korać Cup title. Many true basketball fans were rejoycing the triumphant return of the famous Djura, who never liked to be average in anything he did nor would such a result be in the proportion with the amount of energy he spends on the court.

After the big win he made a nice paralel with the italian football league, trying to make a statement with comparing Reflex to Partizan and Red Star, the serbian basketball institutions. Djurovic has a big passion for Calcio, especcialy AC Milan.

I feel like the coach of Parma, a well organized and expanding club. Still, we need time to come hand to hand with clubs like Milan or Inter. I am convienced that we will be there one day. With such good club facilities and comitment, we must succed. Also, we must find our small and devoted army of fans.

Born and raised in Belgrade, Djurović was a backup-player for OKK Belgrade. So, sitting on the bench, he simply stayed there.

Even than I was thinking of the moves of my coach and thinking what did he do right or not. I was than already prepearing myself for the coaching job. My teachers were Branislav Rajačić, Bora Cenić, Slobodan Ivković, Alexandar Nikolić and Ranko Žeravica, but above all Borislav Stanković.

When he coached Zadar, in the play-off finals in 1986, Djurović made a huge upset of the famous Cibona team with the great late Dražen Petrović at the helm. Many years later, as a coach of Reflex, he was greeted with great honours in Zadar.

I played the tape with that famous game in Zagreb to my players in Reflex. I wanted them to see brilliance of Petar Popović and Stojan Vrankovič, to see how smaller clubs can beat the great ones if they have more heart.

Djurović is never afraid to talk about the mistakes that he made.

Greatest one was turning down Panathinaikos while working in Greece. Also, I decided to go to Red Star after Zadar, instead of going to Jugoplastika of Split. That way I missed the oportunity to work with Dino Radja and Toni Kukoč, leaders of the team that won three consecutive European Champions Cups. The hardest defeat for me is from 1982. French Limoges was better than my team Sibenka in the Radovoj Korač Cup final by 3 points. I still don`t doubt we were a better team.

Coching is a great passion for Djurović.

There isn`t a job that I would rather do. It brings so much sweat, tears, hard work and great satisfaction in your life. You gotta work on yourself, learn, but also rely on your insinct. What seperates good and great coaches is that great ones see the solution of the problem before the problem itself.

Reflex is playing a great season so far. Got far in the ULEB cup, almost won the national Radivoj Korac Cup. Goodyear league final four is a chance for a trophy.

I am very satisfied with the plays we have been producing threw the whole season. If we won the Korač Cup it would be perfect. We just needed a foul at the finish. Askrabić is a leader, Ffriend is putting in some very big plays, Zoroski, Freeman, Plisnić and Stefanović also. Youngsters are becoming better every day. Still, our goal has not been reached yet – trophies. The only thing that counts.

His predictions for the final-four outcome are.

Cibona is the favorit because of the home crowd. We are prepearing just for the semi-final game with Red Star. If we reach the final, the chances are 50-50, no metter who is playing. Those are good chances.