Neven Spahija misses his friend Drazen Petrovic.
He remembers growing up together in Croatia. He recalls dreams forged while playing basketball in the street with a rim hanging on the garage of a not-always amenable neighbor and stopping traffic. He knows the pride of watching his compatriot globally change the game of basketball. He has felt the agony of bringing the body of the tragically fallen hero home for a distraught family after a horrific car crash.
Twenty-one years later, Spahija has completed the path Petrovic blazed to the NBA. It’s his turn at the dream.
“He had a great future in Europe,” said Spahija, the first-year Hawks assistant coach, said of Petrovic. “I asked him, ‘Why are you going.’ He said to me, I remember those words all my life, he said, ‘My career will never be the same if I will not try.’ I remember it all my life.”
The Hawks play at the now-Brooklyn Nets on Friday night. It was with the Nets in New Jersey where Petrovic showcased his skills on the highest level. The organization retired his No. 3 in 1993 after his death. Petrovic was enshrined posthumously into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2002.
The journey for childhood friends Spahija and Petrovic began in the port city of Sibenik in the former Yugoslavia.
Petrovic had a rapid rise as a player as he won European and World Championships gold medals and Olympic silver medals playing for the national team. He starred for Cibona and Real Madrid in the European League. He was drafted by the Portland Trail Blazers in the third round, with the 60th overall pick, of the 1989 NBA draft. He played there for two seasons before joining the New Jersey Nets where he would earn All-NBA third-team honors after his third season in 1993.
That summer, Petrovic died in a car crash on a rain-soaked German Autobahn. On June 7, four and a half months before he would turn 29, the car in which Petrovic was a sleeping passenger was cut off by a truck.
Petrovic is credited with accelerating the arrival of international players to the NBA. He came well before players such as Dirk Nowitzki and Tony Parker. He was an example for Croatians such as Dino Radja and Toni Kukoc who followed to the NBA.
“Drazen was certainly more than his famous 3-point shot,” Willis Reed said during his Hall of Fame speech for Petrovic. “He was one of the first to make the game of basketball a truly and truly global sport.”
Spahija became a coach. In his 30 years, he was a former Croatian Coach of the Year. He had stops at Cibona Zagreb, Fenerbahce Ulker (Turkey), Krka Novo Mesto (Slovenia), Lietuvos Rytas (Lithuania), Maccabi Tel Aviv (Israel) and Tau Ceramica (Spain). He won domestic league titles in six countries — Slovenia, Croatia, Lithuania, Spain, Israel and Turkey. Spahija also coached the Croatian National team for five years. He built an impressive resume in Europe.
For years, Spahija would come to the United States and work with the San Antonio Spurs in the offseason. He forged relationships with general manager R.C. Buford, coach Gregg Popovich and assistant coach Mike Budenholzer. Spahija assisted Budenholzer with the Spurs summer-league teams.
“Pop asked me if I want to come here someday,” Spahija said. “I said ‘Coach I have to stay in Europe and do something more in Europe. But one day I would love to be a part of this organization. When I said that to Pop, I remember Drazan’s words but I didn’t know how realistic it was. You can’t come to the NBA when you want. You come to the NBA when they want.”
Spahija was wanted in the NBA. A year after Budenholzer left the Spurs for the head job with the Hawks, he had an opening of his staff. Spahija was immediately a candidate and the timing was right.
“I feel fortunate that he would come,” Budenholzer said. “It was one of the greatest phone calls I made to say why don’t you come and be with us. He was very, very excited about being in the NBA and being a part of our group and our organization. For me, it was a personal highlight of this summer and the first couple years of being a head coach.”
Spahija said he rejected several opportunities in Europe while waiting out the interview process with the Hawks. He wanted to be fully available. He called the months of July and August “the biggest of my life.” He formally joined the Hawks on Aug. 4.
“I can say to you, it is all about the Drazan way,” Spahija said of his highly-competitive friend. “I learned from him that you have to think outside the box to make things real. You really have to believe.”
Spahija has spent time adjusting to the NBA game. He offers advice to staff and players when asked or when he feels he has something to contribute. He doesn’t work with a specific group but all the players. He offers opinion in scouting and strategy meetings. Budenholzer said the team depends on the vast experience of Spahija.
Spahija thinks of his friend often, especially now that he has made it to the NBA.
“The worst couple of days in my life,” Spahija recalls of Petrovic’s death. “I couldn’t stop crying. It was so bad. In that time, you just feel like you’ve lost something.
“For us, (the NBA) was the top of the top. We knew everything about the NBA. Drazan knew he had to go there and try.”
Now, Spahija is getting his chance.
About the Author
