Davor Kus (born July 21, 1978) is a Croatian 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 (appr ...

player. His natural position was

point guard The point guard (PG), also called the one or the point, is one of the five Basketball positions, positions in a regulation basketball game. A point guard has perhaps the most specialized role of any position. Point guards are expected to run t ...

, although he can also feature as a

shooting guard The shooting guard (SG), also known as the two, two guard or off guard,Shooting guards are 6'3"–6'7"BBC Sports academy URL last accessed 2006-09-09. is one of the five traditional positions in a regulation basketball game. A shooting guard's m ...

Player profile

Kus is known for his technical proficiency, precise passing and accurate jump shot. He was one of Cibona's top scorers and essential offensive players, although his road game statistics often go against his overall stats, as he is known for his inability to score as much in away games.See the Euroleague stats here.
/ref> Kus also has a very high percentage of scored

free throws In basketball, free throws or foul shots are unopposed attempts to score points by shooting from behind the free-throw line (informally known as the foul line or the charity stripe), a line situated at the end of the restricted area. Free throws ...

Professional career

Kus started his career in his hometown, playing for

Kvarner The Kvarner Gulf (, or , la, Sinus Flanaticus or ), sometimes also Kvarner Bay, is a bay in the northern Adriatic Sea, located between the Istrian peninsula and the northern Croatian Littoral mainland. The bay is a part of Croatia's internal ...

from the start of 1996 until the end of the 1999–2000 season. He led the 1998–99 season of the Croatian League in assists at 4.4 per game. Besides that, Kus made no larger impact with Kvarner in the Croatian League. At the start of the 2000–01 season, Kus moved to the Croatian champions

Cibona Zagreb Košarkaški klub Cibona, commonly referred to as Cibona Zagreb or simply Cibona, is a men's professional basketball club based in Zagreb, Croatia. The club is a founding member and shareholder of the Adriatic Basketball Association, and competes ...

, winning with them the Croatian League and the

Croatian Cup Croatian Cup may refer to: *Croatian Football Cup *Croatian Football Super Cup * Croatian Women's Football Cup *Croatian Basketball Cup, also known as Krešimir Ćosić Cup *Croatian Handball Cup *Croatian Water Polo Cup *Croatian Minute Movie Cup ...

in his very first season. In the next three years, Kus was a part of three consecutive Croatian League titles and one Croatian Cup title. Moving abroad to the Greek League club

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

, Kus started with his international career which has not led him to much success. After just one season he moved back to Croatia, signing with Cibona again. He led Cibona to another two consecutive Croatian League titles before his contract was mutually terminatedEzadar.hr
(in Croatian) and he was to move abroad again. In the 2007–08 season, Kus moved his residence to

Málaga Málaga (, ) is a municipality of Spain, capital of the Province of Málaga, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. With a population of 578,460 in 2020, it is the second-most populous city in Andalusia after Seville and the sixth most pop ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

, as he was signed by the successful Spanish League club,

Unicaja Málaga Unicaja is a Spanish savings bank based in Málaga and chartered as a caja de ahorros providing retail banking services. The banks full name is ''Monte de Piedad y Caja de Ahorros de Ronda, Cádiz, Almería, Málaga y Antequera'' after th ...

. Spending just one season in Spain, Kus moved back to Cibona for the third time, this time on a one-year loan spell. Kus was very unhappy with his status at the Spanish club and even tried to ask for the termination of his contract, but Málaga did not want to give him easily, so his being loaned to Cibona was a temporary solution to his frustrations. In 2009, he signed with 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 ...

club Benetton Treviso. In October 2010 he signed a one-year contract with

Baloncesto Fuenlabrada Baloncesto Fuenlabrada, S.A.D., known as just Fuenlabrada and also Carplus Fuenlabrada because of sponsorship reasons,, is a professional basketball team based in Fuenlabrada, Spain. The team plays in the Liga ACB and plays their home games at Fe ...

. After two seasons spent abroad, Kus returned to Croatia signing with

. In June 2015, he announced his retirement, but then in September 2015 signed for

Škrljevo Škrljevo is a village in Primorje, Croatia, located north of Bakar Bakar ( it, Buccari; hu, Szádrév) is a town in the Primorje-Gorski Kotar County in western Croatia. The population of the town was 8,279 according to the 2011 Croatian ce ...

Croatian national team

Kus debuted for the senior

Croatian national basketball team The Croatia men's national basketball team ( hr, Hrvatska košarkaška reprezentacija) represents Croatia in international basketball matches. The team is controlled by the Croatian Basketball Federation (HKS). The biggest success Croatia has ...

in 2007. He was a part of the Croatian 2007 FIBA European Championship squad which finished in 6th place. He was also a part of the Croatian Summer Olympics 2008 team, which finished in 6th place as well.

Miscellaneous

* Davor Kus was Unicaja's best scorer in a surprising victory over 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 ...

side

Memphis Grizzlies The Memphis Grizzlies (referred to locally as the Grizz) are an American professional basketball team based in Memphis, Tennessee. The Grizzlies compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference ...

on October 9, 2007. He scored 20 points and collected one rebound and one assist. * On November 26, 2008, Kus played a very important role in his club's victory after an extra period against

Air Avellino S.S. Felice Scandone was an Italian professional basketball club based in Avellino, Campania. Founded in 1948, the team has been a regular in the Lega Basket Serie A (LBA), the first tier of basketball in Italy, for 19 years (2000/01 to 2018/19). ...

in the Euroleague group stage. The game finished with a final score of 82–79 for Cibona, and Kus ended up scoring 23 points, with which he reached his milestone 1000th point in the Euroleague competition.sportskenovosti.hr
(in Croatian)

References

External links

Adriatic League Profile

Euroleague.net Profile

Eurobasket.com Profile

Davor Kus' Blog

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kus, Davor 1978 births Living people ABA League players AEK B.C. players Baloncesto Fuenlabrada players Basketball players at the 2008 Summer Olympics Baloncesto Málaga players Croatian men's basketball players KK Cibona players Liga ACB players Olympic basketball players of Croatia Pallacanestro Treviso players Point guards Shooting guards Basketball players from Rijeka 2010 FIBA World Championship players KK Kvarner players KK Škrljevo players