Aleksandar Ćapin (born October 6, 1982) is a Serbian former professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player.

Early life

Growing up in Sarajevo, Ćapin took up

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

in the

FK Sarajevo Fudbalski klub Sarajevo ( sh-Cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Сарајево; , English language, English: Sarajevo Football Club), is a professional Association football, football Sports club, club based in Sarajevo, the capital city of Bosn ...

youth system. In spring 1992, with the outbreak of the

Bosnian War The Bosnian War ( / Рат у Босни и Херцеговини) was an international armed conflict that took place in Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1992 and 1995. Following several earlier violent incid ...

, he fled his hometown by being sent by his parents to

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

along with his sister while the parents managed to join them several months later. In Belgrade, young Ćapin continued pursuing football within the FK Rad youth system. In 1993, disappointed about being demoted to FK Rad's second team, the youngster abandoned football altogether and switched to basketball by starting to attend

KK Partizan Košarkaški klub Partizan ( sr-Cyrl, Кошаркашки клуб Партизан, lit=Basketball Club Partizan), commonly known as Partizan Belgrade, or as Partizan Mozzart Bet for sponsorship reasons, is a professional basketball Sports cl ...

-organized practice sessions administered by the youth coach Dragiša Stamenković at the France Prešern Elementary School in the Belgrade neighbourhood of Miljakovac. Deemed talented enough, Ćapin was attached to KK Partizan's youth system proper where he was also coached by Stamenković for a few seasons before progressing up the age groups within the system and being coached by Igor Kokoškov, Milovan "Kime" Bogojević, Aleksandar Bućan, and Nenad Trajković. Among the fellow prospects Ćapin shared rosters with at Partizan youth system were Marko Peković, Vule Avdalović, Aleksandar Gajić, and Mirko Kovač.

Professional career

KK Krka

After playing in the Partizan juniors, Ćapin would end up getting his first taste of full squad senior basketball with Krka in the 2000–01 season. He had previously arrived at the club via attending a club-organized summer 2000 junior camp where Krka wanted to identify and potentially sign new young players. Though having another year left as a junior at KK Partizan, the 17-year-old was not keen at the prospect of playing at the lower-league club KK Torlak, which the Partizan management signed a deal with regarding loaning out its juniors to. Instead, Ćapin decided to try out at Krka's camp in Slovenia and ended up getting offered a contract. Registered both with Krka's junior team and full squad, 18-year-old Ćapin mostly spent the season playing the Slovenian third-tier league with the club's juniors while also getting occasional minutes with the full squad under head coach Aleš Pipan that played the Slovenian League and

FIBA SuproLeague The International Basketball Federation (FIBA ; French: ) is an association of national organizations which governs the sport of basketball worldwide. FIBA defines the rules of basketball, specifies the equipment and facilities required, o ...

though Ćapin was ineligible for the domestic league due to administrative issues. In his debut season as a professional, Ćapin saw some playing time in SuproLeague as the third option at the point-guard position behind Simon Petrov and Dražen Anzulović on a squad that also featured shooting guard / small forward Saša Dončić, center Bennett Davison, veteran center Franjo Arapović, and power forward Dragiša Drobnjak. After three years in Slovenia, Ćapin played for the German team Telekom Bonn in the 2003–04 season. Between 2004 and 2008, Ćapin played for Gravelines-Dunkerque in France, for Panellinios and Panionios in Greece, and for Viola Reggio Calabria and Cimberio Varese in Italy. In the summer of 2008, Ćapin signed a one-year contract with Azovmash from Ukraine. However, he got injured during a preseason game in September 2008, and he was released from the club without making a competitive debut. In February 2009, he signed for the Russian team Lokomotiv Rostov, and he also stayed with the club after their relocating to

Krasnodar Krasnodar, formerly Yekaterinodar (until 1920), is the largest city and the administrative centre of Krasnodar Krai, Russia. The city stands on the Kuban River in southern Russia, with a population of 1,154,885 residents, and up to 1.263 millio ...

. After spending a year in Russia, Ćapin moved to Lithuania and signed with Žalgiris in January 2010. Ćapin returned to Slovenia in the 2011–12 season and played for Union Olimpija. In December 2011, Ćapin moved to Turkey and joined Türk Telekom. On October 10, 2012, Ćapin signed for the Serbian team Radnički Kragujevac. He showed great performances during the season and helped the team to reach the

Adriatic League The ABA League, renamed the ABA League First Division in 2017, is the top-tier regional men's professional basketball league that originally featured clubs from former Yugoslavia (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, ...

Final four. Ćapin also led the league in scoring and assists, and he earned the Adriatic League MVP award. On August 9, 2013, Ćapin signed with Budućnost Podgorica. On December 10, 2014, he parted ways with Budućnost. Nine days later, he signed with Juvecaserta Basket of Italy. On March 5, 2015, he left Caserta and signed with the Macedonian club MZT Skopje for the rest of the season. On August 12, 2015, he signed a one-year deal with Igokea. He debuted for the team in 67–56 loss to Cedevita in Round 1 of the

ABA League The ABA League, renamed the ABA League First Division in 2017, is the top-tier regional men's professional basketball league that originally featured clubs from former Yugoslavia (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, North Macedoni ...

; he led his team with 15 points, 5 assists and 2 rebounds. On January 5, 2016, he parted ways with Igokea. On February 5, 2016, he signed with Koroivos for the rest of the 2015–16 Greek Basket League season. On January 13, 2017, he signed with Slovenian club Primorska for the rest of the season. On August 15, 2017, he signed with Serbian club Dynamic Belgrade. On December 30, 2017, he parted ways with Dynamic.

National team career

Ćapin played with the senior Slovenian national team at the 2005 EuroBasket and the 2007 EuroBasket.

Career statistics

EuroLeague

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2001–02 , style="text-align:left;", Krka , 12 , , 1 , , 9.3 , , .500 , , .111 , , .500 , , 0.5 , , 0.8 , , 0.3 , , 0.0 , , 1.9 , , 1.2 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2009–10 , style="text-align:left;", Žalgiris , 7 , , 0 , , 18.9 , , .283 , , .240 , , .692 , , 3.3 , , 2.4 , , 0.6 , , 0.0 , , 6.4 , , 4.0 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2010–11 , style="text-align:left;", Žalgiris , 5 , , 1 , , 8.6 , , .545 , , .500 , , .1000 , , 1.8 , , 1.2 , , 0.2 , , 0.0 , , 3.4 , , 5.4 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2011–12 , style="text-align:left;", Union Olimpija , 8 , , 7 , , 23.0 , , .360 , , .321 , , .857 , , 1.0 , , 2.9 , , 0.8 , , 0.0 , , 7.1 , , 7.6 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:left;", Career , style="text-align:left;", , 32 , , 9 , , 14.7 , , .365 , , .266 , , .771 , , 1.4 , , 1.7 , , 0.4 , , 0.0 , , 4.4 , , 13.1