The Yugoslav national team is one of the best teams in the history of international basketball tournaments. Five-time European champions, three-time world champions and winners of a memorable gold medal at the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow. In addition, the team won numerous silver and bronze medals at various tournaments.
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Despite the country’s collapse, the Balkan basketball school remains one of the most prestigious in the world, and countries that were part of Yugoslavia also show excellent results. Among them, Serbia stands out, which recently came close to beating the United States in the Olympic semi-finals. Slovenia, led by Luka Doncic, should be noted for its memorable gold at the 2017 European Championships. The Croats shone mainly in the 1990s, but they still have a strong team. As for Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro, their successes are more modest, but there are also talented players there.
What would Yugoslavia’s national team look like right now? Surely many have asked themselves this question. Let’s try to think and choose 12 players so that there are at least two people for each position. We tried to gather the best players in our list, so don’t be surprised by the bias towards the “greats.”
Luka Doncic
Luka Doncic
Photo: Sebastian Frej/MB Media/Getty Images
There are no surprises with the main point guard. Luka Doncic has become one of the best players in the world and reached the status we expected from him when he played for Real Madrid.
Before moving to the NBA, Luka had already become a key player in Slovenia and led his team to a memorable gold medal at the 2017 European Championship. Then there were the incredible Olympic Games in Tokyo, where the star point guard came close to winning a medal. However, the peak of this team has already passed, the composition became less competitive and Luka alone could not qualify for the Paris Games.
If the Slovenians do not have a new, high-quality generation, then perhaps the gold at the European Championships will remain Luka’s only medal in his career.
Bogdan Bogdanovich
Bogdan Bogdanovich
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Bogdan Bogdanovic is one of those players who becomes a real superstar playing for his national team. In terms of his importance for Serbia, he is not inferior to Nikola Jokic.
Bogdan has won many different medals, but he has never managed to win gold. Bogdanovich is already 32 years old and perhaps he has one last Olympic cycle left to achieve his long-awaited goal. The next opportunity will be next year at the European Championships. But will Jokic go there? There are doubts. However, even without him, the Serbs will be one of the favourites.
Mario Hezonja
Mario Hezonja
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Mario Hezonja is one of the beneficiaries of returning to Europe from the NBA. He was tired of wasting his time in dubious organisations and having little time to play. He returned to Europe and ended up in one of the most prestigious clubs: Real Madrid, having previously played for UNICS Kazan and Greek side Panathinaikos. In the Spanish national team, Hezonja has regained his star status, earns a good salary and fights every year for victory in the Euroleague.
The Croatians failed to qualify for the Paris Olympics. This happened for the second time in a row, although they managed to take a respectable fifth place at the 2016 Olympics. Mario was already playing for that team.
Nikola Vucevic
Nikola Vucevic
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Yes, I mentioned the bias towards “big men,” so we’ll put Vucevic at number four. He’s not very modern, but Nikola is up there.
The Montenegrin’s peak has already passed, but he is still a quality player. Thanks in large part to him, the Chicago Bulls have remained average in the NBA over the past few years. We will see them soon with Lonzo Ball back!
Montenegro is not very successful in international tournaments: it is too small a country. It even takes part in a special tournament for smaller powers, where it takes home gold, beating teams such as Cyprus, Luxembourg and Iceland.
Nikola Jokic
Nikola Jokic
Photo: Ezra Shaw/Getty Images
Nowhere without Nikola Jokic. The best player in the world will naturally be at the core of even a fictional team.
Jokic has already achieved such a status that he prefers to skip the World and European Championships, performing mainly at the Olympic Games. We will see if this changes in the future, but in any case it cannot be said that Nikola is not satisfied with his success. You all saw how he celebrated the bronze at the last Games.
Jokic had a great Olympics in Paris, but in that same match against the United States it was not enough when the Americans took the initiative. The Serbian was particularly disappointed with his long-range shooting. However, without Nikola, Serbia might not have found itself in that situation at all.
Spare parts
Alexa Avramovic
Photo: Jamie Squire/Getty Images
I propose to take Alexa Avramovich as Luka’s replacement at the point guard position. Yes, in terms of talent she is inferior to other contenders for this position, but at the Olympics she played too well. A real fighter!
Let’s also take another defender: Nemanja Nedovic. He already has veteran status and has completed his international career, but he remains a star player at European level and one of the leaders of Red Star.
The small forward position is simple: Mario Hezonja will be replaced by his teammate Janan Musa. Both can play in the “four” position, so they will get plenty of minutes on the court.
Dario Saric will come off the bench as a power forward. Yes, in the NBA he became a center, but in the national team he still plays in the “four” position. If during the game we need a very tall five on the court, Saric can even dedicate minutes to the three, but this is already in the realm of experimentation.
Boyan Bogdanovich
Photo: Jurij Kodrun/Getty Images
I would consider Ivica Zubac as the main backup center. Defensively he is the best big man in the Balkans and can cover Nikola Jokic. This pair of big men is more balanced and can be used in games with strong teams.
There are two more spots left. Despite the overabundance of big men, it is impossible not to call up Jusuf Nurkic. What happens if one of the big men doesn’t play well, or if someone gets injured or commits too many fouls?
Well, we’ll give the 12th spot in the lineup to a perimeter player, and here’s an excellent candidate – Boyan Bogdanovic. Despite his age (35 years old), Boyan is still a very high-quality player, especially in terms of scoring. We’ll all remember him again in the upcoming season, where the Croatian will shine with the New York Knicks. It was sad to see him in Detroit.
There are many more players who could come to this team and would be of great use. I chose to have a little less players on defense than I would have otherwise because we already know that Luka Doncic is going to play a lot, so depth at that position is not needed. But it would still be interesting to hear your opinion: who is missing here and who is better to put in which position.
The charismatic Nikola!
“Damn America.” Jokic made a lot of noise, unable to contain himself after the game against the United States at the Olympic Games.
