OT - Nikola Jokic and a forgotten basketball legend

[ArthurVandelay]

This is a really good read for any basketball history buffs. I’d never heard of Radivoj Korać.

Kudos to ESPN writer Baxter Holmes. I can’t remember ever seeing anything this good on ESPN before.

"If it wasn't for [Korac] and his generation, we wouldn't have Jokic and Doncic and many others."

Korać holds the EuroLeague record for points in a game at 99, the second most at 71 and the fifth most at 60. His career scoring average in the EuroLeague is a record 43.6 points per game. He was the top scorer in professional leagues in Italy, Belgium, Yugoslavia and at the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome. He led his country to medals in the Olympics and FIBA and European championships. He was inducted into the FIBA Hall of Fame (and named one of its 50 best players of all time) and the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. He became the only basketball player in the world to have a large international tournament named after him. He was left-handed, red-haired and known as "Ginger." The French called him "Terrible Lefty." The Italians called him "Furia Rossa" (Red Fury).

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/40102427/nikola-jokic-forgotten-basketball-legend-mvp-connection-nearly-60-years-making-sombor-serbia

[WaltFrazier]

This is a really good read for any basketball history buffs. I’d never heard of Radivoj Korać.

Kudos to ESPN writer Baxter Holmes. I can’t remember ever seeing anything this good on ESPN before.

"If it wasn't for [Korac] and his generation, we wouldn't have Jokic and Doncic and many others."

Korać holds the EuroLeague record for points in a game at 99, the second most at 71 and the fifth most at 60. His career scoring average in the EuroLeague is a record 43.6 points per game. He was the top scorer in professional leagues in Italy, Belgium, Yugoslavia and at the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome. He led his country to medals in the Olympics and FIBA and European championships. He was inducted into the FIBA Hall of Fame (and named one of its 50 best players of all time) and the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. He became the only basketball player in the world to have a large international tournament named after him. He was left-handed, red-haired and known as "Ginger." The French called him "Terrible Lefty." The Italians called him "Furia Rossa" (Red Fury).

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/40102427/nikola-jokic-forgotten-basketball-legend-mvp-connection-nearly-60-years-making-sombor-serbia

Yeah great article. I hadn't heard of him either. Died tragically in a car accident like Drazen Petrovic years later.

There's a good 30 for 30 doc on Vlade Divac, Tony Kucoc, and Drazen, and how the Yugoslavian team was broken apart when the country broke into parts with all their historical grudges. It was a good thing politically but basketball wise it was too bad that great team broke apart just before the Dream Team came along. Same with the Soviet team, both would have given the Dream Team better competition than anyone they did face.

[mihaic]

When I was a kid, FIBA used to have a top competition in Europe called Korać Cup. I don't think it exists anymore.

My hometown team played in it.