Žan Tabak

Žan Tabak

Tabak in 2008
Baloncesto Sevilla
Position Head coach
League Liga ACB
Personal information
Born (1970-06-15) June 15, 1970
Split, SR Croatia, SFR Yugoslavia
Nationality Croatian
Listed height 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m)
Listed weight 245 lb (111 kg)
Career information
NBA draft 1991 / Round: 2 / Pick: 51st overall
Selected by the Houston Rockets
Playing career 1985–2005
Position Center
Number 55, 3
Coaching career 2006–present
Career history
As player:
1985–1992 Jugoplastika / Pop 84 / Slobodna Dalmacija Split
1992–1993 Baker Livorno
1993–1994 Recoaro Milano
1994–1995 Houston Rockets
1995–1998 Toronto Raptors
1998 Boston Celtics
1998–1999 Fenerbahçe
1999–2001 Indiana Pacers
2001–2002 Real Madrid
2002–2004 Joventut Badalona
2005 Unicaja Málaga
As coach:
2006–2009 Real Madrid (assistant)
2009–2011 CB Sevilla (assistant)
2011–2012 Sant Josep Girona
2012 Trefl Sopot
2012–2013 Baskonia
2013–2015 Real Madrid (assistant)
2015 Fuenlabrada
2015–2016 Maccabi Tel Aviv
2016–present Sevilla
Career highlights and awards

As a player:

As assistant coach:

As head coach:

Career NBA statistics
Points 1,233 (5.0 ppg)
Rebounds 883 (3.6 rpg)
Assists 165 (0.7 apg)
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com
Medals
Men's Basketball
Representing  Yugoslavia
European Championship for Cadets
1987 Hungary Team
Representing  Croatia
Olympic Games
1992 Barcelona Team Competition
EuroBasket
1993 Germany Croatia

Žan Tabak (born June 15, 1970) is a Croatian former professional basketball player and the current head coach of Baloncesto Sevilla. His basketball career, spanning twenty years, was marked by several notable achievements, despite injuries. He was the first international player to play in the NBA Finals for two different teams.[1] Zan Tabak averaged 5.0 points in his 6-year NBA career.[2]

Early career

Born in Split, SR Croatia, SFR Yugoslavia, Tabak's father-in-law Ratomir Tvrdić was a top European basketball player, his wife played first-division basketball for Croatia, and his younger brother played professionally in Croatia.[3]

Tabak began his basketball career in 1985, at the age of fifteen, making his debut with the Jugoplastika Split organization. Only a few years later, he and Split teammates Dino Rađa and Toni Kukoč led the club to three consecutive European Championships (1989–91), a feat only equaled in Euroleague's storied history by its first champions, ASK Riga, some thirty years before.[4]

Between the draft and the NBA

Rađa and Kukoč were 2nd-round selections in the 1989 and 1990 National Basketball Association (NBA) Drafts, respectively. The Houston Rockets followed suit, drafting Tabak with the 24th pick in the draft's second round (51st overall) in the 1991 NBA Draft. He did not immediately play for Houston, however, opting instead to spend another year in Croatia with SD Split.

On June 25, 1991, Croatia, along with Slovenia, decided to end relationships with the other republics of the Yugoslavia. The newly independent state, then, was able to send its own athletes to the 1992 Summer Olympic Games; this delegation also included a national basketball team.

Along with previous Split teammates and Dražen Petrović, Tabak and the Croatian team performed well and won the silver medal; they were bested only by the star-studded United States Dream Team.

After Barcelona, Tabak continued with his career, spending two years in the Italian Serie A league. In his years there, Tabak shot the ball extremely well, with a field goal percentage of over 60%. He also averaged a double-double in points and rebounds in both the 1992–93 season for Baker Livorno and in the 1993–94 season for Recoaro Milano.[5]

NBA career

Over three years after he was drafted by them, Tabak was signed by the Rockets on July 20, 1994. With nine years of experience, he played his first NBA minutes on November 5, 1994. As a "rookie", he saw limited playing time, averaging less than five minutes per game in thirty-seven appearances. He spent the season as a backup to Hakeem Olajuwon, who led Houston to the franchise's second NBA title that year.

In the subsequent year's expansion draft (1995), Tabak was selected by the Toronto Raptors. He started several games and saw increased playing time, but a strained left groin kept him from competing during the close of the 1995–96 season. Tabak did not fare well in the following season, either; plantar fasciitis in his left foot restricted his appearances to thirteen games.[3]

After another average start and a transverse fracture to a metacarpal bone in his right hand, Tabak was traded in a seven-player deal to the Boston Celtics in the February 1998.[3]

Tabak played in Turkey for Fenerbahçe during the next year. He then returned to the NBA and signed with the Indiana Pacers. As back-up to Rik Smits, Tabak contributed to the Pacers' appearance in the 2000 NBA Finals, which was ultimately won by the Los Angeles Lakers.

The 2000-01 season was to be Tabak's last in the NBA, despite improved numbers and increased playing time. When asked about his decision to return to European basketball Tabak said "...I wanted to come back [to Europe] because I felt I was 31 years old and I was feeling my career was coming to the end. I didn't want to finish my career being just one of the players. I wanted to be an important player in my team."[6]

Post-NBA career

Tabak spent the remaining four years of his playing career in Spain with Real Madrid, DKV Joventut, and Unicaja Málaga. He still modeled a high caliber of play during his later career. Even as he won with Split and the Rockets in his earlier days, he ended twenty years of professional basketball also as a winner: along with Jorge Garbajosa, Tabak helped Málaga to win the 2005 King's Cup, the Spanish national cup trophy.

In 2006, he worked for the New York Knicks as an international scout.[7]

In 2011, he debuted as head coach with Sant Josep Girona of the LEB Oro league. In 2012 he moved to Poland where he became the head coach of the 2011-12 Polish league runner-up Trefl Sopot. In November 2012, he became head coach of Saski Baskonia.[8]

With the Spanish squad, he achieved a 17-game winning streak for games played in both the Euroleague and the Liga ACB. After being eliminated in the 2012–13 season quarterfinals, Baskonia announced that Tabak would not continue as head coach.

References and notes

  1. ↑ JS Online: Hall snubs leave a few questions
  2. ↑ "Zan Tabak". Retrieved 31 July 2016.
  3. 1 2 3 NBA.com: Zan Tabak Bio
  4. ↑ Real Madrid C.F. Web Oficial - Real Madrid C.F. Official Web Site
  5. ↑ Lega A Basket
  6. ↑ HoopsHype - Interviews - Zan Tabak: "Pitino made some wrong choices about players"
  7. ↑ ¿Qué fue de Zan Tabak? - Solobasket.com 3.0
  8. ↑ Zan Tabak toma las riendas del Caja Laboral
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