We are recalling all foreign players that have ever played in the League, telling about foreign championships and National teams of different countries in World basketball map project. Today we’re going to talk about basketball in Montenegro.
Population: 623 thousand people
Players in the history of League: 11.
Full list of players: Bojan Bakic, Slavko Vranes, Vladimir Dragicevic, Nikola Dragovic, Goran Jeretin, Ivan Maras, Nemanja Milosevic, Vladimir Mihailovic, Suad Sehovic, Bojan Subotic, Marko Todorovic.
In the history of VTB United League there have been 11 Montenegrins. The seasons spent leader is Vladimir Dragicevic (3 seasons), games spent leader is Dragicevic and Ivan Maras (60 games) and the best scorer on average is Ivan Maras with 14,3 points per game.
The only Montenegrin to have VTB United League medals is ex-Khimki center Marko Todovic. As a Khimki player he won silver medal in 2017.
Moreover, in the history of the championship there have been 4 American players with Montenegrin citizenship – Tyrese Rice (Lietuvos Rytas, 2011-12, Khimki, 2014-16), Taylor Rochestie (Nizhny Novgorod, 2013-15, Lokomotiv-Kuban, 2016-17), Omar Cook (Lietuvos Rytas, 2013-14) and Justin Cobbs (VEF, 2014-15).
Basketball in Montenegro
League: Prva A Liga
Founded: in 2006
Number of teams: 12
League’s web-site: http://www.kscg.me/
In the Montenegrin championship there are 12 teams. Ten of them are playing in the regular season, and after it Adriatic League teams Buducnost and Mornar Bar join them. In the second stage these 6 teams play against each other in two rides, after it 4 teams make it to the play-offs. Semi-final series are played till 2 wins and Final till three.
Buducnost and Mornar Bar are the only clubs to win Montenegrin championship. Team from Podgorica has 12 titles and their main rivals has only one.
Apart from Adriatic League and Montenegrin championship Buducnost participate in EuroCup. In 1999/00 and 00/01 seasons the most popular team of the country was in Top-16 of Euroleague, and they played there in 2018/19 season last time.
There are plenty of former VTB United League players that have participated in Montenegrin championship. Some of them have become MVP of the season in Prva A Liga. In 2007 Vladimir Mitsov (ex-CSKA) won this award, in 2011 Vladimir Dragicevic (ex-Nizhny Novgorod), in 2014 – Suad Sehovic (ex-Budivelnik), in 2017 – Nemanja Gordic (ex-Azvomash).
Interesting fact
The most popular Montenegrin player Nikola Vucevic was born in Switzerland and first years of his life he spent in Belgium. Due to this fact he speaks not only Serbian and English but French as well. Nikola and his family moved to Montenegro when he was a teenager.
Montenegrin National team
FIBA rank: 26
FIBA members: since 2006
Achievements: World Cup participation, 3 Eurobasket participations
Montenegro joined FIBA in 2006, before that Montenegrin players were representing Yugoslavia and Serbia. The first official game of Montenegrin National team was held on September 6, 2008, back then they managed to beat the Netherlands – 70:63.
In 2009 Montenegro played in Division B of Eurobasket and 2 years later they have debuted in the higher division. On the tournament in Lithuania they took 21st place finishing with 1-4 record.
The best result in the history Montenegro achieved on 2017 Eurobasket. The team led by Nikola Vucevic took 3 wins in 5 games on a group stage and made it to 1/8 finals.
In 2019 Montenegrin National team debuted on World Cup. The team took 25th place winning only 1 of 5 games.
Today Montenegro is ranked 26th in FIBA ranking, 14th among European teams.
The most famous Montenegrin players in history
Nikola Vucevic. 16th pick of 2011 NBA Draft, Montenegrin champion and Montenegro Cup winner. He is NBA seasons spent leader among Montenegrins (9), games played (598) and average scoring (16,1 points per game). He became the first Montenegrin to become an NBA All-Star.
Predrag Drobnjak. 2-time World champion, Eurobasket champion, 3-time Yugoslavia champion, Adriatic League and Serbia champion, 2-time Yugoslavian Cup champion and 2-time Turkey Cup winner. Spent 4 seasons in the NBA. Today he works as international scout in Sacramento Kings.
Vlado Scepanovic. World champion, Eurobasket champion, 4-time Yugoslavia champion, 2-time Greece champion, 3-time Yugoslavia Cup winner, 2-time Greece Cup and Turkey Cup winner. In 2016 he began a coaching career, since July 2020 he has been heading Partizan.
Nikola Pekovic. Euroleague champion, 2-time Adriatic League champion, 2-time Greece champion, 2-time Serbia champion, Greece and Serbia Cup winner. Since 2010 till 2016 he has been playing for Minnesota Timberwolves, spent 271 games averaging 12,6 points per game. Since January 2020 he is Montenegrin National team basketball manager.
Slavko Vranes. EuroCup champion, 3-time Adriatic League champion, 3-time Serbia champion, Montenegro champion, 3-time Serbia Cup winner and Montenegrin Cup winner. In 2003/04 season spent 1 game in the NBA for Portland Trail Blazers.
Dmitriy Kolinov
