How did such a small region in Europe produce so many NBA players—including two-time MVP Nikola Jokic and potential future MVP Luka Doncic? One reporter went there to peel back the layers to the rise and sustained success of the Balkan “basketball school.”
by Proper_Maximum5739
11 Comments
Size isn’t everything. Uruguay has a total pop. of 3.5M people (less than the combined population of Madrid and Toronto) and 20.000 km² smaller than the US state of Georgia, yet they are one of the powerhouses of soccer since the dissemination of the game over 100 years ago.
>The word can’t be translated, not exactly. Which means it can be translated inexactly in a million different ways. It’s kind of just a general sense of fuck you. After first hearing it, I came to love listening to the different ways people around the region define it.
>“It means basically, ‘I’m going to do it out of spite,’” says Jovanovic. “I’m going to do it against my better judgment because you have failed to show necessary respect and belief in my good abilities. And I’m going to do it just to prove it to you.”
This explains angry Luka becoming a raid boss
Divac, Radja, Kukoc, Petrovic and dozen of others worth to be mentioned.
It’s nothing new. They also had the same level of talent. It were just different times.
Balkan teams are a staple in every sports competition I know of. Even in individual sports you find people like Djokovic or the Slovenian cyclist Tadej Pogačar.
They have the legacy of Yugoslavia in the sense of being tough as nails and competing until the last drop of blood. If that is mixed with above average talent, you’re in for a ride.
Thank you for sharing this. As a Slovenian I can say this is a great article and accurate as well. War didn’t stop us from rooting for each other. Politicians were responsible for the war not little people who had to fight it.
I remember so many of these Balkan players being lumped in the “soft European” player category when they first came on the scene including Luka. How’d that work out em’ lol……ask a Morris twin.
Everyone need to watch once brothers on espn
The answer is relatively simple. Yugoslavia, as well as many eastern block countries, focused on sports for political reasons. And for internal political reasons, team sports were the rule. It’s ingrained in the culture.
Add that to the fact that people in the Balkans are quite tall and you have a good start for producing good basketball, volleyball or handball players.
There’s really two aspects; why, and why now. Why now is fair to focus on building popularity. But the why is all in the genes. I annoyingly can’t find it but someone posted it on Reddit a few months back and there’s a ‘strain’ of Balkan genetics that gives them size and coordination. Really the two biggest things you need in basketball, that rarely come together.
Luka only got 3rd place at Slovenian athlete of the year 2020 awards, it’s wild:
1st – [Primož Roglič](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xyxquddw1vw) (former ski jumper turned cyclist; won Vuelta 2020 and 2nd in Tour de France 2020) – 61 votes
2nd – [Tadej Pogačar](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFM1aLUxanM) (Luka Dončić of cycling; won Tour de France 2020 and 2021; 2nd youngest TDF winner in history) – 43 votes
3rd – [Luka Dončić](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FeWRXGy2m3s) (7-11 employee; part time basketball player) – 6 votes
4th – [Tim Gajser](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDZLOQn-QL4) (motocross rider; 2020 MXGP champion; 4x MXGP champion at age 26) – 5 votes
[Janja Garnbret](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yu_W2hT-HDY) – at age 23 the best woman climber in the history of this sport; basically broke every record
[Jan Oblak](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJU_1DxwV1w), [Samir Handanović](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWkTSYNf8nU) – two of the best goalkeepers in football
[Anže Kopitar](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJ19o8bAGDU) – 2x NHL champion with the LA Kings
Team sports:
basketball – European champions in 2017, 4th at the Olympics 2020
volleyball – 3x silver medalists at the European Championship (2015, 2019, 2021)
handball – 3rd (2017) and 4th (2013) at the World Championship
hockey – 7th at the 2014 Olympics, currently in the elite division (top 16 in the world)
PS: [we have the best ski fliers in the world.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmiNo8FWOLA)
This trend can be seen across many sports in the last few years. Its like the level of athletic talent skyrocketed. Maybe they are just made tougher out there. But the cynic in me is suspicious of govt sanctioned doping, similar to how russia and china develop child athletes. In the last 3 years, a Slovenian has won the Tour de France twice. The year he didnt win it, he finished 2nd. A completely different Slovenian cyclist won gold at the 2021 tokyo olympics. In fact, Slovenia beat out every single country that year and had the highest olympic medal count when adjusted per capita. Statistically, a region that small has no business churning out so many generational prodigies.