Emilio Kovačić (born 11 January 1968 in

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 ...

) is a 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 (appro ...

scout and former player. At a height of 2.08 m (6'10) tall, he was a center with great rebounding skills and decent defensive abilities. He played for many years in the

EuroLeague The EuroLeague is a European men's professional basketball club competition. The league is widely recognised as the top-tier and the most prestigious men's basketball league in Europe. The league consists of 20 teams, of which 16 are given lon ...

College career

Kovačić played American

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

for the NAIA Grand Canyon Antelopes and Biola Eagles.Worries Tinge Success for Biola's Kovacic
Mitch Polin, ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'', 26 Feb 1991 He also played in the

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest division of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athlet ...

team, the

Arizona State Sun Devils The Arizona State Sun Devils are the sport, athletic teams that represent Arizona State University. ASU has nine men's and eleven women's Varsity team, varsity teams competing at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Divisi ...

Professional career

In his pro career, Kovačić played with

, Zrinjevac,

Fortitudo Bologna Fortitudo Pallacanestro Bologna 103, commonly known as Fortitudo Bologna and currently known as Fortitudo Flats Service Bologna for sponsorship reasons, is a basketball club based in Bologna, Italy and currently plays in the second division. H ...

, Union Olimpija, and Cibona. He was named the MVP of the

Krešimir Ćosić Cup The Krešimir Ćosić Cup, or Croatian Basketball Cup, is the national basketball cup of Croatia. It is named after the Croatian basketball player Krešimir Ćosić. The cup has been contested since 1992. Title holders * 1991–92: Split (Slobo ...

(Croatian Cup) of the 1997–98 season, while a member of Zadar. In 2001, Kovačić has named the

MVP MVP most commonly refers to: * Most valuable player, an award, typically for the best performing player in a sport or competition * Minimum viable product, a concept for feature estimating used in business and engineering MVP may also refer to: ...

of the Slovenian Cup finals.

National team career

Kovačić was a regular member of the senior men's Croatian national team. With Croatia, he won the bronze medal at the

1993 EuroBasket The 1993 FIBA European Championship, commonly called FIBA EuroBasket 1993, was the 28th FIBA EuroBasket regional basketball championship, held by FIBA Europe. It was held in Germany between 22 June and 4 July 1993. Sixteen national teams entere ...

. He also played at the

1997 EuroBasket The 1997 FIBA European Championship, commonly called FIBA EuroBasket 1997, was the 30th FIBA EuroBasket regional basketball championship held by FIBA Europe, which also served as Europe qualifier for the 1998 FIBA World Championship, giving a ber ...

and at the 2001 EuroBasket.

Post-playing career

Kovačić was hired in June 2013, as an international scouting consultant for the

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

Phoenix Suns The Phoenix Suns are an American professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. The Suns compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division (NBA), Pacific Division of the Western Conference (NBA), We ...

. After five seasons, Kovačić was relieved from his position with the Suns on 8 October 2018.

References

External links

Fibaeurope.com ProfileEuroleague.net Profile
1968 births Living people Arizona State Sun Devils men's basketball players Biola Eagles men's basketball players Croatian men's basketball players Croatian basketball scouts Croatian expatriate basketball people in the United States Fortitudo Pallacanestro Bologna players Grand Canyon Antelopes men's basketball players KK Cibona players KK Olimpija players KK Zadar players KK Zrinjevac players NBA scouts from Europe Phoenix Suns scouts Basketball players from Zadar Yugoslav men's basketball players Centers (basketball) {{Croatia-basketball-bio-stub