BLOG: Žarko Paspalj – “Zadar is still one of basketball powerhouses in the region”

Thursday, 31. January 2019 at 11:00

In his third blog, written for the official ABA League website, the ABA League Ambassador Žarko Paspalj has spoken of the game in Zadar between the home side and Partizan NIS and his impression of Zadar as one of the centres of basketball game in the region. Read more in the lines before.

Zarko Paspalj (Photo: Zadar/Sime Zelic)

Eight thousand fans at the game of the 16th round of the ABA League between Zadar and Partizan NIS, full arena, basketball atmosphere, excellent and exciting game, have truly surprised me and demonstrated that the most quality regional competition has a top-level product. My stay in Zadar, alongside Žarko Čabarkapa, the League’s Sports Director, was excellent. I have enjoyed the sport that I love the most, met some of the old friends that I haven’t seen for 20 years, remembered the extraordinary basketball tradition of this city and convinced myself that this part of Croatia truly lives for their club. But, one step at the time…

I do not wish to sound like the first impression is the most important, but immediately after you pass the first tunnel, 40 kilometres from Zadar, the sun is shining immediately. The view is incredible, especially since from the other side of the tunnel there is a completely different situation – winter, bad weather. In Zadar, everything is much different and more pleasant and leaves an impression on people. The second impression is the fantastic Krešimir Ćosić Arena, which was in the first place built for the 2009 Handball World Championship. It is an arena that I would wish for every of our clubs to have. There is a modern concept with all of the auxiliary courts, it is cosy, tidy, acoustic and for sure one of the best in our league.

For people, that do not follow Zadar as much in basketball, the technique of the game is still on a high level, which is not surprising, since Zadar is still amongst the most powerful cities in the former Yugoslavia with the most developed basketball fan culture, where people truly love basketball and have a desire for excellent games. The older ones remember those times and famous generations, the giants such as Krešimir Ćosić, Josip Đerđa, Popović, Petranović, Komazec…

Zadar represents a huge support for the ABA League and I have got the impression that they still see themselves at this high level, as an integral part of the regional competition, with which I completely agree. Since, playing against Zvezda, Partizan, Cibona, is a special experience and basketball is played especially for derbies. Therefore, I would say that 8,000 fans at the game speaks enough of the Zadar fans’ desire of top-level basketball.

When speaking of their roster, I believe that they currently have a strong team that is trying to end the season in the best possible way, especially in this moment, when the battle to avoid relegation is in place. Still, I believe that they deserve much more than that, especially since their game is good enough to fit in the upper half of the standings. I have mentioned before the young Luka Božić, as a guy that is a very good player, that played an excellent game against Partizan NIS. It is a pleasant surprise that they have acquired a player from Montenegro, Vladimir Dašić, who missed two years of playing basketball, but possesses pure quality. He played an excellent game even though it might seem that he is still not fully ready. Žorić and Bašić played well as well.

The game which I visited represented a true derby in every way and the game was important for both teams. Even though the host lost, I have noticed that they have left home satisfied, especially because they had a chance to watch a quality game.

Sadly I did not have lots of time, since Čabarkapa and I had a schedule, which we had to fulfil, but I am glad that I have met some of the people that I haven’t seen for 20 years before. One of them is legendary Ivica Obad and Miša Ostarčević as well, excellent player that brought Krešimir Ćosić to Utah back in the days. Miša was a hell of a player, now he is 70 years old, but looks very well… We have talked about sports, basketball. In Croatia there are things happening that, sadly, don’t go along with quality basketball and vision and prosperity of this sport and so we found some common themes. I have an impression that when we speak so frankly, some solutions that you least expect occur.

Interestingly, I was convinced that I was in Zadar for the last time, when I used to play for Olympiacos in those bad moments of 1991. The situation back then was everything but basketball-like and I would not wish that for anyone to witness again. However, I have totally forgotten that I have played in Zadar in 1998 as well, when I used to play for Bologna. Rašo Nesterović remembered me of that, when he explained some details from the game to me… Except of the fact that Zadar is a big city with 100.000 inhabitants, it is visible that it is developing and that construction works are taking place. The Kolovare Hotel is renovated, but is still in the same capacity that it has been 30 years ago. It is remarkable and I remember it from my days when I used to play for Budućnost.

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BLOG: Žarko Paspalj – “Zadar je među gradovima u region sa najviše košarkaške culture”

U svom trećem blogu za zvanični sajt ABA Lige, ambasador lige Žarko Paspalj je pričao o utakmici između Zadra i Partizana NIS, kao i o svom utisku o gradu kao jednom od košarkaških centara u regionu. Pročitajte više u donjim redovima.

Osam hiljada gledalaca na utakmici 16. kola ABA Lige između Zadra i Partizana, puna dvorana, košarkaška atmosfera, odlična i uzbudljiva utakmica, su me zaista prijatno iznenadili, i pokazali da najkvalitetnije sportsko regionalno takmičenje ima vrhunski proizvod. Moj boravak u Zadru, u društvu Žarka Čabarkape, sportskog direktora Lige, protekao je izvanredno. Uživao sam u sportu koji najviše volim, sreo neke stare prijatelje koje nisam video preko 20 godina, podsetio se izuzetne košarkaške tradicije ovog grada, i uverio se da taj deo Hrvatske zaista živi za svoj klub. Ali, krenimo redom...

Ne želim da ispadne da je prvi utisak i najvažniji, ali čim prođeš tunel koji je na 40 km od Zadra, odjednom sija sunce. Prizor je neverovatan, pogotovo što je pre tunela druga situacija, zima, loše vreme. U Zadru je sve to mnogo drugačije i prijatnije, i ostavlja utisak na čoveka. Drugi utisak je fantastična dvorana "Krešimir Ćosić", a koja je prvenstveno napravljena za rukometno svetsko prvenstvo 2009. godine. To je dvorana koju bih poželeo svim našim timovima. U njoj imamo jedan moderan koncept sa svim pomoćnim terenima, udobna je, sređena, akustična, i sigurno je jedna od najboljih u Ligi.

Za ljude koji možda ne prate toliko Zadar kada je košarka u pitanju, tehnika u igri je i dalje na visokom nivou, što ne treba da čudi, jer je Zadar među najjačim gradovima u staroj Jugoslaviji sa najviše košarkaške kulture, gde ljudi strašno vole basket i strašno su željni dobrih utakmica. Stariji pamte ona vremena i slavne generacije, velikane kao što su Krešimir Ćosić, Josip Đerđa, zatim Popović, Petranović, Komazec...

Zadar predstavlja veliku podršku ABA ligi, i stekao sam utisak da vide sebe na tom, visokom nivou, kao važan deo regionalnog takmičenja, sa čim se u potpunosti slažem. Jer, igrati protiv Zvezde i Partizana, Cibone je jedan poseban doživljaj, a košarka se između ostalog igra upravo zbog derbija. Samim tim, rekao bih da poseta od 8.000 ljudi dovoljno govori koliko su Zadrani željni dobre košarke.

Kada govorimo o njihovom igračkom kadru, utisak mi je da trenutno imaju jedan prošaran tim koji pokušava da ovu sezonu odigra na najbolji način, pogotovo u ovom momentu kada traje borba za opstanak. Ipak, mislim da zaslužuju mnogo više od toga, pre svega jer imaju igru za gornji deo tabele. Spominjao sam i pre malog Luku Božića kao momka koji je jedan sasvim dobar košarkaš, i koji je bio odličan protiv Partizana. Prijatno iznenađenje je da su uzeli momka iz Crne Gore, Vladimira Dašića, koji dve godine nije igrao, ali je suvi kvalitet, i odigrao je izvanredno, iako se vidi da možda nije još skroz spreman. Dobri su bili i Žorić i Bašić.
Utakmica na kojoj sam bio je predstavljala derbi u svakom smislu, važna rezultatski za oba tima. Iako je domaći tim izgubio, primetio sam da su ljudi na kraju zadovoljni odlazili kućama, pre svega zato što su imali prilike da gledaju jednu jako kvalitetnu utakmicu.

Mada nisam imao mnogo vremena na raspolaganju, jer smo Čabarkapa i ja imali raspored kog smo morali da se držimo, ali drago mi je što sam sreo neke drage ljude, koje nisam video preko 20 godina. Jedan od njih je i čuveni Ivica Obad, a tu je bio i Miša Ostarčević, izvrsni košarkaš koji je pokojnog Krešimira Ćosića svojevremeno doveo u Jutu. Miša je bio jako dobar igrač, sada ima 70 godina, ali jako dobro izgleda...Pričali smo o sportu, o košarci. U Hrvatskoj se dešavaju stvari koje, na žalost, ne idu ruku pod ruku sa dobrom košarkom i sa vizijom i prosperitetom ovog sporta, tako da smo na neki način nalazili zajedničke teme. Imam utisak da kada tako otvoreno razgovaramo pojave se neka rešenja koja najmanje očekuješ.

Interesantno, mislio sam da sam poslednji put u Zadru bio kao član Olimpijakosa, u onim grdnim godinama 1991. Tada je situacija bila ponajmanje košarkaška i nikada je ne bih nikome poželeo. Međutim, potpuno sam zaboravio da sam u Zadru bio i 1998. kad sam igrao za Bolonju. Na to me podsetio Raša Nesterović, kada mi je objašnjavao pojedinosti, prepričavao detalje sa utakmice... Osim što se vidi da je Zadar veliki grad od 100.000 stanovnika, primetno je da se razvija, da se gradi. Hotel Kolovare je renoviran, ali je u istim onim okvirima kakav je bio pre 30 godina. Vrlo je prepoznatljiv i ostao mi je u sećanju, još iz dana dok sam nosio dres Budućnosti.

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