1989–90 Yugoslav First Basketball League
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The 1989–90 Yugoslav First Basketball League season was the 46th season of the
Yugoslav First Basketball League The First Federal Basketball League () was the highest tier level men's professional club basketball competition in the former country of Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, SFR Yugoslavia. Founded in 1945, and folded in 1992 (1991–92 YU ...
, the highest professional basketball league in
SFR Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (commonly abbreviated as SFRY or SFR Yugoslavia), known from 1945 to 1963 as the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as Socialist Yugoslavia or simply Yugoslavia, was a country ...
.


Notable events


Star players going abroad before turning 28

The season saw new developments in the business aspect of basketball in Yugoslavia as a result of the Yugoslav First Basketball League's basketball talent becoming interesting to rich NBA teams. With the country's still-formally-enforced strict sporting exit rules—stipulating that no player is allowed to transfer abroad before turning 28 years of age—already being bent and occasionally loosened (superstar
Dražen Petrović Dražen Petrović (; 22 October 1964 – 7 June 1993) was a Yugoslav and Croatian professional basketball player. A shooting guard, he initially achieved success playing professional basketball in Europe in the 1980s with Cibona and Real Madri ...
going to
Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...
at the age of 24 one year earlier), summer 1989 saw two more high-profile star players leaving the league way before turning 28: twenty-one-year-old
Vlade Divac Vlade Divac ( sr-Cyrl, Владе Дивац, ; born February 3, 1968) is a Serbian professional basketball executive and former player who was most recently the vice president of basketball operations and general manager of the Sacramento King ...
joining the
Los Angeles Lakers The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Lakers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division (NBA), Pacific Division of the Western Conference (NBA ...
and twenty-three-year-old Žarko Paspalj heading to the
San Antonio Spurs The San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio. The Spurs compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southwest Division (NBA), Southwest Division of the Western Conference (NBA ...
. Attracted by superior financial compensation in the NBA, the summer 1989 offseason saw yet another newly drafted young Yugoslav star player,
Dino Rađa Dino Rađa (alternatively Radja, ; born 24 April 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 champ ...
, even resort to unilaterally travelling to the United States and signing with the
Boston Celtics The Boston Celtics ( ) are an American professional basketball team based in Boston. The Celtics compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NBA), Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), ...
despite having a valid contract with KK Jugoplastika; he would eventually be forced to return to Yugoslavia following a Jugoplastika-initiated legal process before U.S. courts. With NBA scouts closely following a number of other Yugoslav League young players—such as Jugoplastika's Toni Kukoč and
Žan Tabak Žan Tabak (born 15 June 1970) is a Croatian professional basketball coach and former player who is now serving as the head coach for Trefl Sopot of the PLK. His basketball career, spanning twenty years, was marked by several notable achievemen ...
, KK Partizan's
Predrag Danilović Predrag "Saša" Danilović ( sr-Cyrl, Предраг "Саша" Даниловић, ; born February 26, 1970), usually referred to in English as Sasha Danilović, is a Serbian professional basketball executive and former player, considered one o ...
, Saša Đorđević, and Miroslav Pecarski, KK Crvena zvezda's
Rastko Cvetković Rastko Cvetković ( sr-cyr, Растко Цветковић; born 22 June 1970) is a Serbian former professional basketball player. Standing at , he played as a Center (basketball), center. He is a son of the famous Serbian basketball player Vladi ...
, KK Cibona's Franjo Arapović, KK Zadar's Stojko Vranković and Arijan Komazec, KK Olimpija's Radisav Ćurčić, etc. not to mention a slew of even younger juniors coming up such as Dejan Bodiroga and
Željko Rebrača Željko Rebrača ( sr-Cyrl, Жељко Ребрача; born 9 April 1972) is a Serbian former professional basketball player and currently the president of KK Vojvodina, Vojvodina basketball club. After playing in Europe and the National Basketba ...
—it was becoming clear that the decades-long system of keeping players in the country until the age of 28 was about to become impossible to keep maintaining.


''Koš'' magazine

From October 1989, the country also got its first-ever basketball specific
periodical publication Periodical literature (singularly called a periodical publication or simply a periodical) consists of Publication, published works that appear in new releases on a regular schedule (''issues'' or ''numbers'', often numerically divided into annu ...
. A
magazine A magazine is a periodical literature, periodical publication, print or digital, produced on a regular schedule, that contains any of a variety of subject-oriented textual and visual content (media), content forms. Magazines are generally fin ...
named ''Koš'' with Vladimir Stanković as its editor-in-chief—devoted entirely to coverage of Yugoslav basketball league, Yugoslav national teams (men's and women's), and Yugoslav players abroad—was launched by the Borba publishing company, thus further indicating the level of popularity the sport had grown to in the country. The first issue of ''Koš'' featured Lakers rookie Vlade Divac on the cover, standing in front of The Forum in
Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
while wearing his number 12 Lakers jersey.


NBA broadcasts begin on Yugoslav television

Furthermore, with Petrović moving to the
Portland Trail Blazers The Portland Trail Blazers (colloquially known as the Blazers) are an American professional basketball team based in Portland, Oregon. The Trail Blazers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Northwest Division (N ...
—along with Divac and Paspalj joining the Lakers and Spurs, respectively—the entire Yugoslav basketball media ecosystem began to change as well.
Yugoslav Radio Television Yugoslav Radio Television (''Jugoslavenska radiotelevizija''/Југословенска радиотелевизија or ''Jugoslavenska radio-televizija''/Југословенска радио-телевизија; JRT/ЈРТ) was the national ...
(JRT), country's public broadcasting system, bought television rights to an NBA package consisting of 26 NBA games (18 regular season games and 8 playoff games) from the 1989-90 season—mostly involving Lakers, Blazers, and Spurs—for
US$ The United States dollar (Currency symbol, symbol: Dollar sign, $; ISO 4217, currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and International use of the U.S. dollar, several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introdu ...
28,000. The US$28,000 price tag (US$67,000 in 2022) was reportedly split between JRT's two biggest television affiliates— TV Beograd and TV Zagreb—with each one paying US$14,000. Carried in Yugoslavia starting from 19 November 1989, on tape delay, the NBA broadcasts marked the first time that games from a foreign basketball league games were shown on Yugoslav television.


Teams


Regular season


Classification


Results


Playoff

The winning roster of Jugoplastika: * Zoran Sretenović *
Velimir Perasović Velimir Perasović (; born 9 February 1965) is a Croatian professional basketball coach and former player. He is serving as the head coach for the Russian team BC UNICS, UNICS Kazan of the VTB United League. Early life Perasović was born in Stob ...
* Toni Kukoč * Petar Naumoski * Zoran Savić * * Velibor Radović * Aramis Naglić *
Žan Tabak Žan Tabak (born 15 June 1970) is a Croatian professional basketball coach and former player who is now serving as the head coach for Trefl Sopot of the PLK. His basketball career, spanning twenty years, was marked by several notable achievemen ...
* Duško Ivanović *
Dino Rađa Dino Rađa (alternatively Radja, ; born 24 April 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 champ ...
* Paško Tomić *
Teo Čizmić Teo Čizmić (born 30 March 1971) is a Croatian professional basketball coach and former player, currently serving as the sport director at KK Split. Playing career Čizmić started playing professional basketball in 1988 with Split, Croatia, S ...
* Luka Pavićević Coach: Božidar Maljković


Scoring leaders

# Arijan Komazec (Zadar) - ___ points (31.5ppg)


Play-out

Six teams competed to qualify for the 1990-91 Yugoslav basketball league (9th-placed IMT and 10th-placed Novi Zagreb from the A league; second-placed Rabotnički and third-placed Radnički from the IB league (East division), second-placed Spartak Subotica and third-placed Čelik Zenica from the IB league (West division).


Qualifying round

Rabotnički - Čelik 71-68, 72-82, 71-72 Spartak Subotica - Radnički Belgrade 85-82, 69-106, 72-67


Final round

IMT - Spartak 94-85, Novi Zagreb- Čelik 72-69, Spartak - Novi Zagreb 93-87, Čelik - IMT 57-67, Novi Zagreb - IMT 81-69, Spartak- Čelik 55-62, Spartak - IMT 68-82, Čelik - Novi Zagreb 78-65, IMT - Čelik 91-80, Novi Zagreb - Spartak 85-70, IMT - Novi Zagreb 82-80, Čelik - Spartak 98-83.


Qualification in 1990-91 season European competitions

FIBA European Champions Cup * Jugoplastika (champions) FIBA Cup Winners' Cup * Crvena Zvezda (Cup finalist)
FIBA Korać Cup The FIBA Korać Cup was an annual basketball club competition held by FIBA Europe between the 1971–72 and 2001–02 seasons. It was the European professional club basketball system, third-tier level club competition in European basketball, a ...
*
Zadar Zadar ( , ), historically known as Zara (from Venetian and Italian, ; see also other names), is the oldest continuously inhabited city in Croatia. It is situated on the Adriatic Sea, at the northwestern part of Ravni Kotari region. Zadar ...
(3rd) * Cibona (4th) *
Vojvodina Vojvodina ( ; sr-Cyrl, Војводина, ), officially the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, is an Autonomous administrative division, autonomous province that occupies the northernmost part of Serbia, located in Central Europe. It lies withi ...
(playoffs) * Smelt Olimpija (playoffs)


Basketball Cup


Bracket


References


External links


Pearlbasket
{{DEFAULTSORT:1989-90 Yugoslav First Basketball League Yugoslav First Basketball League seasons Yugo Yugo