intervju: dino rađa/ interview: dino rađa
D ino Rađa (51) is a great of the game under the hoops, and a frequent guest in Belgrade. He speaks with pride about his glorious days play- ing basketball and his friendships with Boži- dar Maljković (president of the Olympic Com- mittee of Serbia) and Aleksandar Đorđević (a former teammate and current coach of the Serbian national team). He also left his mark on the NBA league while playing for the Boston Celtics, and apart from basket- ball, to which he is so passionately devot- ed, he also follows football... One of the best‘centers’in the history of the sport, he has medals won in the greatest international competitions. He most fondly re- calls his conquest of Europe with Split-based team Jugoplastika (1989 and 1990), under the leadership of coach Božidar Maljković. - Boža and I have been through a lot to- gether. We also remained great friends after we’d parted ways in basketball terms. He is like Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde - a total sadomasochist on the court, off it he is completely different. We are bound by something unbreakable – what we achieved still seems incomprehensi- ble today. Our rivals had three or four Ameri- cans, and we were 20-year-old kids. Boža told us when we parted ways:“Remember, you’ll never have another four years like this”. It was only later in life that we realised what he’d been telling us. The way we functioned, trav- elled, played... We were like The Beatles. We were dear guests wherever we went, and we were greeted with applause, even though we mostly won our away games. We played joy- fully, with jokes, for the soul, and basketball is generally a beautiful game. We were not a team of bullies. We wrote ourselves into history and weren’t even aware of doing so. Over the last 30 years, basketball has changed a lot compared to Rađa’s time. - We were the vanguard of today’s mod- ern basketball.The first thing Malković said to me when he arrived in Split was:“If you want to be faster than Divac, you have to run more from he does”. Back then he already knew how basketball would develop, and I was one of the first tall players to run counters. Croatian basketball hasn’t won a medal for a long time, and Dino believes everyone – players, coaches and everyone working in basketball – should take a look in the mirror, and start working and selecting those who are better, more advanced and who want to learn in all categories. In contrast, Serbia’s nation- al team of Serbia, led from the bench by his friend and former teammate Saša Đorđević, is European, World and Olympic runner-up. - Saša has definitely matured into a top coach – we knew before that he would be. He was a point guard, and he always saw bas- ketball differently. I never doubted him. Our friendship has lasted for many years and en-
– Mi smo bili avangarda i vesnici današnje moderne košarke. Prva stvar koju mi je Maljković rekao kada je do- šao u Split bila je: „Ako hoćeš da bu- deš brži od Divca, moraš da trčiš više od njega.“ On je već tada znao kako će se razvijati košarka, a ja sam bio je- dan od prvih visokih igrača koji je tr- čao kontre. Hrvatska košarka dugo je bez me-
vić i ostali asovi okupili na proslavi 30 godina od uspeha u Bormiju i osvaja- nja Svetskog prvenstva za juniore pod vođstvom Svetislava Pešića. – Mi smo bili ludaci i bez toga ne bismo napravili karijere. Ne vidim da- nas takve umetnike. Nema novca koji je to mogao da napravi, izazov da bu- demo bolji od drugih nam je bio do- voljan da se polomimo. To je sve bilo
Prva stvar koju mu je Maljković rekao kada je došao u Split bila je: „Ako hoćeš da budeš brži od Divca, moraš da trčiš više od njega” The first thing Malković said to me when he arrived in Split was: “If you want to be faster than Divac, you have to run more from he does”
dalje, a Rađa smatra da svi treba da se pogledaju u ogledalo, igrači, treneri, svi košarkaški radnici, ne bi li počeli da rade i biraju one koji su bolji, napred- niji i koji žele da uče u svim kategori- jama. Sa druge strane, reprezentacija Srbije je sa njegovim prijateljem i biv- šim saigračem Sašom Đorđevićem na klupi evropski, svetski i olimpijski vi- cešampion. – Sale je definitivno izrastao u vr- hunskog trenera, znali smo i pre da će biti tako. Bio je plej, uvek je drugačije gledao na košarku, nikad nisam sum- njao u njega. Naše prijateljstvo traje godinama i opstaje bez obzira na sve. Prošle godine su se Rađa, Đorđe-
veoma emotivno, a najemotivnije ka- da smo se svi našli na premijeri filma 250 stepenika , koji govori o našem dru- ženju i uspesima iz te 1987. Neke ljude nisam video 20 i više godina. Osnovali smo tada grupu na Viberu , stalno smo sada u kontaktu i naredno okupljanje treba ja da organizujem. Poslaću samo poruku „kad ćemo“ i gotovo. Putovao je po svetu, prijatelje ima u svakom gradu, ali svoj rodni Split ne zaboravlja… – Rođen sam u tom gradu, znam svaki kamen, sunce, more, tamo su mi familija i prijatelji. Gradove čine ljudi, a oni mogu da budu samo dobri ili loši. Ponekad ne smem da se javim svim pri-
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