Vucevic: the next (rare) college-educated NBA European

REGENSBURG (David Hein's Eye on the Future) - Europeans in the NBA are not uncommon. But it's rather rare for Europeans to go to college and then reach the NBA.

This is hardly an extensive list of such players, but here are some of the Euros who ventured across the Atlantic for an education and ended up learning about the NBA as well: Ronny Turiaf, Detlef Schrempf, Kostas Koufos, Linas Kleiza and Darius Songalia. There are also a couple of don’t-quite-count cases as well such as Joakim Noah, Luol Deng and Ben Gordon as well as Marc Gasol (attended high school in the U.S.) and Enes Kanter (who was ruled ineligible for college).

Once the NBA lockout ends, there will be another name to add to that list: Nikola Vucevic.
The 20-year-old Montenegro center spent one year at a college preparatory high school in California before attending the acclaimed University of Southern California (USC), where during his freshman season in 2008-09 he played alongside future NBA players DeMar DeRozan and Taj Gibson as well as Italian international Daniel Hackett.

Both DeRozan and Gibson left USC after the season and controversially coach Tim Floyd also bolted the program, with former NBA head coach and long-time assistant Kevin O’Neill replacing him. O’Neill immediately – and almost without choice – gave Vucevic a huge role in the Trojans team. After a freshman season of 2.6 points and 2.7 rebounds in 11 minutes per game, Vucevic responded by averaging 10.7 points, 9.4 rebounds, 1.2 assists and 1.3 blocks.

Part of the reason for his strong sophomore year showing was his dominating performance at the U20 European Championship, in which he averaged 15.5 points, a tournament best 10.8 rebounds and a second-best 1.9 blocks for Montenegro.

Vucevic went back to Los Angeles for his junior season 2010-11 and turned himself into a force and an NBA-ready player. Not only did he improve his scoring to 17.1 points and rebounding to 10.3 – in 34.9 minutes – he also had become a threat from the outside, shooting 35 percent from three-point range with 0.9 threes per game. He also improved his passing game, averaging 1.6 assists and improving his assist-turnover ratio from 0.63 to 0.94. And Vucevic remained a huge asset on defense with 1.4 blocks and 0.5 steals per contest.

All that led Vucevic to say he was ready for the NBA and the Philadelphia 76ers selected him with the 16th pick in the first round of the NBA Draft in June 2011.

“Everybody in America says the game is a lot harder. They play harder and they’re tougher. And I think it’s true. We play a lot harder. We run more. We move the ball more. It’s kind of a relaxed way to play. There are not as many plays. You have a lot of freedom to do stuff so you become a better player by doing that,” Vucevic said during EuroBasket.

Vucevic, who will turn 21 on 24 October, got his first taste of the Montenegro senior national team in Lithuania and averaged 5.0 points and 3.2 rebounds in 14 minutes per game.

“I think Nikola took a lot of experience from the preparation for this tournament and EuroBasket itself, having played with players like Nikola Pekovic. We have some experienced players, and I think Vucevic has learned a lot from them,” said Montenegro coach Dejan Radonjic, who also coached Vucevic at the U20s in 2009.

Vucevic did not only have Pekovic and other Montenegro veterans to call on for help. He also had his parents.

Vucevic’s mother Ljiljana played for Sarajevo club Zeljeznicar as well as the Yugoslavia national team, and his father Borislav "Boro" Vucevic was on the Bosna club which won the 1979 Euroleague crown. He also played for Yugoslavia at the 1985 EuroBasket alongside the likes of Drazen Petrovic, Emir Mutapcic and Stojko Vrankovic. Father Vucevic finally hung up his sneakers in 2002 at age 44.

Vucevic, who was born in Switzerland, raised in Belgium and moved to Montenegro as a teenager, said his father has been a huge help.

“My dad played for 24 years and he taught just about everything about basketball that I need to know. Any time I wasn’t playing well or I needed somebody to talk to he was there.
And he would tell me what to do and how to improve,” said Vucevic, who speaks Serbian, English and French.

With the NBA lockout in place, Vucevic is playing with Montenegro giants Buducnost – which no surprise is coached by Radonjic. And Vucevic has already shown he will be a force in Europe.

In Buducnost’s Euroleague Qualifying Round game against Lietuvos Rytas, he had 18 points and six rebounds in the loss. Vucevic was then held to 11 points, five rebounds and three steals in his first Adriatic League game – a loss at Cedevita.

But he starred in Buducnost’s victory over Red Star Belgrade with 16 points and 18 rebounds.

If Vucevic can duplicate some of his performances from Europe in the U.S., he will become a star – one of the few European NBA players who choose the college route.

David Hein
FIBA