Arijan Komazec (born January 23, 1970) is a retired Croatian 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 (appr ...

player.

Professional career

Komazec started his professional career as a basketball player at the age of 16, in the historical club of

Zadar Zadar ( , ; historically known as Zara (from Venetian and Italian: ); see also other names), is the oldest continuously inhabited Croatian city. It is situated on the Adriatic Sea, at the northwestern part of Ravni Kotari region. Zadar serv ...

, in the 1986–87 season. At the end of the previous season, Zadar had become champions of the

Yugoslav League The Yugoslav First Federal Football League (Serbian: Прва савезна лига у фудбалу / ''Prva savezna liga u fudbalu'', hr, Prva savezna liga u nogometu, sl, Prva zvezna nogometna liga, mk, Прва сојузна лига, ...

, and had the right to participate in the FIBA European Champions Cup (EuroLeague). Komazec made great performances, and led his team in the fourth place of the top 6 semifinal group stage. After six years in Zadar, where he became the absolute leader and scorer of his team, he made the big step in his career for the transcription of the Greek League (which was then the best in Europe) and

Panathinaikos Panathinaikos Athlitikos Omilos ( el, Παναθηναϊκός Αθλητικός Όμιλος, literally in English: "Panathenaic Athletic Club" or Panathinaikos A.C.), also known simply as Panathinaikós , is a major Greek multi-sport club ba ...

, of the head coach

Željko Pavličević Željko Pavličević (born 26 March 1951) is a Croatian professional basketball coach and former player. He currently serves as the head coach for ASEAN Basketball League Eastern Long Lions. Early life Pavličević began playing basketball in 19 ...

and the Greek superstar

Nikos Galis Nikolaos Georgalis ( el, Νικόλαος Γεωργαλής; born July 23, 1957), commonly known as either Nikos Galis ( el, Νίκος Γκάλης), or Nick Galis, is a retired Greek professional basketball player. Galis, who during his playin ...

. There he found an old acquaintance from years of Zadar,

Stojko Vranković Stojan "Stojko" Vranković (born 22 January 1964) is a Croatian professional basketball executive and former player. He served as the president of the Croatian Basketball Federation from 2016 to 2022. A 7 ft 2 in (2.18 m) center (basketball) ...

, who had just returned from the

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...

. In a year that began with ambitions to win the championship, for Panathinaikos and him also, won only the 1993 Greek Cup, in a final against

Sato Aris Aris Basketball Club ( el, Άρης K.A.E., transliterated into English Aris B.S.A.) known in European competitions as Aris Thessaloniki, is the professional basketball team of the major Thessaloniki-based Greek multi-sport club A.C. Aris Thes ...

. Komazec, although he did some excellent performances, did not respond satisfactorily to Panathinaikos, who was preparing to make the fling at European level, and in the summer he was loaned to Cagiva Varese, where he played the next two seasons (1993–94 in A2 & 1994–95 A1), and made impressive performances. The impression that he made by his performance in Varese, caused Buckler Beer Bologna, which was the dominant team of the

Italian League The Italic League or Most Holy League was an international agreement concluded in Venice on 30 August 1454, between the Papal States, the Republic of Venice, the Duchy of Milan, the Republic of Florence, and the Kingdom of Naples, following the Tr ...

the previous years, to buy his contract from Panathinaikos, and close a deal with him for the next two years, in an effort to replace the large void left in the team by Saša Danilović leaving for the

Miami Heat The Miami Heat are an American professional basketball team based in Miami. The Heat compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference (NBA), Eastern Conference Southeast Division (NBA), Southe ...

. The Croatian star didn't succeed one more time to respond to the high demands of competitive sport at the top level, and he only led Virtus to the meager wins of the

Italian Supercup The Supercoppa Italiana ( en, Italian Super Cup) is an annual football match contested by the winners of the Serie A and the Coppa Italia in the previous season. If the same team wins both the Serie A and Coppa Italia titles in the previous seaso ...

in 1996, and the

Italian Cup Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

in 1997. This failure brought him back again to Varese the next year (1997–98), where rediscovered his best self, and with a scoring recital, he led the Lombardy team to the playoffs semifinals in the Italian League, and on the course to a participation in the EuroLeague, for the first time 20 years. In the summer of 1998, came the third and final chance for Komazec to make an important achievement in a great club of European basketball, as he agreed to play for

Olympiacos Olympiacós Sýndesmos Filáthlon Peiraiós ( el, Ολυμπιακός Σύνδεσμος Φιλάθλων Πειραιώς, Olympic Club of Fans of Piraeus) is a major multi-sport club based in Piraeus, Greece. Olympiacos is parent to a number ...

head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in assoc ...

Dušan Ivković Dušan "Duda" Ivković ( sr-cyrl, Душан "Дуда" Ивковић; 29 October 1943 – 16 September 2021) was a Serbian professional basketball player and coach. He served as head coach of the senior Serbian national basketball team from ...

. Arijan began the season doing very well, and everything indicated that the experiment for the player and the club could end up in achieving something good at the end of the season, when the major club titles, both in Greece and in Europe were contested. But an injury put him off of the court for half a month, and he became substantially off in his playing form, throughout the remaining part of the season. His participation at the 1999 FIBA EuroLeague Final Four, in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

, was the only one in his short and essentially failed time at Olympiacos. In the next season (1999–00), he returned to his roots, and he quite unexpectedly was joined in

Dino Rađa Dino Rađa (Anglicized: Dino Radja, ; born April 24, 1967) is a Croatian former professional basketball player. He was a member of the Jugoplastika team of the late 1980s and early 1990s, which he helped to win two FIBA European Champions Cup ...

. Together, the duo led the

Dalmatia Dalmatia (; hr, Dalmacija ; it, Dalmazia; see #Name, names in other languages) is one of the four historical region, historical regions of Croatia, alongside Croatia proper, Slavonia, and Istria. Dalmatia is a narrow belt of the east shore of ...

n club to the semifinals of the

FIBA Saporta Cup The FIBA Saporta Cup was the name of the second-tier level European-wide professional club basketball competition, where the domestic National Cup winners, from all over Europe, played against each other. The competition was organized by FIBA ...

, where they lost to the Greek club

AEK A.E.K ( el, AEK , formally Αθλητική Ένωσις Κωνσταντινουπόλεως; Athlitikí Énosis Konstantinoupόleos, ''Athletic Union of Constantinople''), known as A.E.K, is a major Greek multi-sport club based in Nea Filadelf ...

. They won the Croatian Cup in the same season, which marked the last success of his career. He was briefly a part of the

Vancouver Grizzlies The Vancouver Grizzlies were a Canadian professional basketball team based in Vancouver. They were part of the Midwest Division of the Western Conference of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The team was established in 1995, along w ...

team, during the 2000–01 season, but he only spent one month with the team, and he did not play in any official NBA games with them.

National team career

Komazec was a member of the senior Yugoslavian national team (1990–92), and then the senior Croatian national team. He was a part of the Croatian teams that won silver at the

1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1992, ca, Jocs Olímpics d'estiu de 1992), officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XXV Olimpiada, ca, Jocs de la XXV Olimpíada) and commonly known as ...

, and bronze at

EuroBasket EuroBasket, also commonly referred to as the European Basketball Championship, is the main international basketball competition that is contested quadrennially, by the senior men's national teams that are governed by FIBA Europe, which is the E ...

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...

and

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...

Personal life

His father is Milan Komazec, a former basketball player who won three

Yugoslav First League The Yugoslav First Federal Football League ( Serbian: Прва савезна лига у фудбалу / ''Prva savezna liga u fudbalu'', hr, Prva savezna liga u nogometu, sl, Prva zvezna nogometna liga, mk, Прва сојузна лига, ...

championships (

1965 Events January–February * January 14 – The Prime Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years. * January 20 ** Lyndon B. Johnson is Second inauguration of Lyndo ...

1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 5 ** Spain and Romania sign an agreement in Paris, establishing full consular and ...

, and 1968) with Zadar. His uncle is Petar Popović, a former basketball player. His first-cousin is

Alan Gregov Alan Gregov (born April 1, 1970) is a Croatian retired basketball player. Alan Gregov has won the silver medal with the Croatia national basketball team at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain, a bronze medal at 1994 FIBA World Champion ...

, a former basketball player.

References

External links

Arijan Komazec

Eurobasket

Euroleague.net Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Komazec, Arijan 1970 births Living people AEK B.C. players Basketball players at the 1992 Summer Olympics Basketball players at the 1996 Summer Olympics Croatian expatriate basketball people in Greece Croatian expatriate basketball people in Italy Croatian men's basketball players FIBA EuroBasket-winning players FIBA World Championship-winning players Greek Basket League players KK Zadar players Lega Basket Serie A players Medalists at the 1992 Summer Olympics Olympiacos B.C. players Olympic basketball players of Croatia Olympic medalists in basketball Olympic silver medalists for Croatia Pallacanestro Varese players Panathinaikos B.C. players S.S. Felice Scandone players Shooting guards Small forwards Basketball players from Zadar Virtus Bologna players Yugoslav men's basketball players 1990 FIBA World Championship players 1994 FIBA World Championship players