There are a lot of European players in the NBA, but there are very few European players who can enter the Naismith Hall of Fame, and even fewer European players who can be recognized by both the NBA and Europe, and the protagonist of this article is one of them, who entered the NBA in the late 80s, played in the NBA for 16 years, had a great impact on the NBA, left a lot of wonderful moments, when he left the NBA, the team he played for retired the jersey for him, this player is Vlady Divac, this article will talk about Vlady Divac.
All-around center, a man who plays with his head
Divac was born in Selvia, is a pure white man, in terms of athletic ability, Divac is not prominent, compared to those flying monsters are even inferior, but Divac is stable, like a big white bear, let you fly around, I can always find my own advantage on the ground. Divac is fully capable, can score, his back is very strong, his feet are steady, his pace is excellent, he is very solid when he turns, he can remember his opponents, and then use his dexterous hands to dial the ball in, even O'Neal, can not stop Divac's back. Divac can also grab rebounds, especially in the frontcourt, the height of 2.16 meters has an absolute height advantage on the inside line, Divac's blocking, stealing ability is also very strong, but Divac is most praised for his passing ability.
In American basketball, the center does not need to take on the organizational task, some centers with good passing ability only need to pass a few in the bag, or when doing the axis in the low position, rarely passing the ball like an organizer, and Divac is from Europe, in Europe, the center, as a member of the team, is also able to pass the ball, so that the whole team can move through the pass. Divac's passing ability is very strong, on the court, he is a playmaker, which is most evident in the Kings, whether it is in the back or in the face frame, Divac's eyes are scanning the whole field, see where his teammates are, where the opportunities are, he can attract pinch attacks in the low position, and he can also organize in the high position.
When breaking through the basket, Divac was able to see his teammates and pass the ball to his teammates. Divac doesn't have many assists, but Divac's passing is very good, he's a real organizational center, and the Kings' ability to use the Princeton system so well has a lot to do with Divac's presence. Divac did not have the ability to fly, but he relied on his solid basic skills, smart brain, and extremely high ball quotient, played well in Europe, and shined in the NBA, making himself a famous person in history.
Los Angeles Lakers, the first stop on an NBA tour
In the 1989 draft, the Lakers selected Divac, who was famous in Europe, with the No. 26 pick, and this year, Divac was 21 years old. Divac entered the NBA, when the Lakers had just experienced the retirement of Abdul-Jabbar, so they needed to train a new interior line, and the Los Angeles Lakers became the first stop on his NBA trip. The Lakers know that Divac has the ability to pass the ball, but they dare not let Divac take on the task of passing, because this is too much tactical change for the team, they prefer to believe in Magic Johnson, without knowing how effective, it is bold and irrational to do so.
In the rookie season, Divac is the team's substitute center, there are not many opportunities, but stable, every game goes up to play for nearly 20 minutes, on the court, Divac is to protect the rebounds, score some chance balls, in the face of weak teams, Divac will play longer, Divac can also take advantage of this outbreak, in the face of the future owner King, Divac showed his offensive ability, he shot 10 of 15, cut 25 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists and 3 blocks, helped the Lakers to win the opponent, in the face of the Heat, Divac grabbed 14 rebounds in the basket, 6 of which were frontcourt rebounds, delivered 3 blocks, and cut 21 points, Divac did whatever he wanted on the inside, and the Lakers won over the Heat.
At the end of the season, Divac averaged 8.5 rebounds, 6.2 rebounds, 0.9 assists, 1 steal, 1.4 blocks per game in an average of 19.6 minutes per game, although the data was not amazing, but the kind of ability that Divac showed on the court was very amazing, in the Western Conference semifinals, although Magic Johnson averaged 30.2 points per game, but still could not save the situation that the interior line was destroyed, the Lakers decided to support Divac, in the second season of Divac's career, he became the Lakers' starting center.
After becoming the starting center, Divac's ability was released in part, he was offensively efficient, filled his own data column, and at the end of the season, Divac averaged 11.2 points, 8.1 rebounds, 1.1 assists, 1.3 steals and 1.5 blocks per game, and Divac's performance was enough to give him a foothold in every team in the NBA. After the regular season, the Lakers made it to the playoffs, and in the playoffs, Divac was still the team's starting center, and his performance was also excellent.
In the first round against the Rockets led by Olajuwon, Divac did not play badly because of Olajuwon on the inside line, in the first game of the series, Divac contributed 17 points, 11 rebounds, 5 blocks, 2 assists and 1 steal, helping the Lakers to win by 2 points, the only deficiency was the low point of shooting, only 38.5%, in the second game, Divac unloaded the burden and played more freely, he shot 8 of 13, contributed 23 points, 10 rebounds and 3 assists, helping the Lakers to win the opponent lightly, in the third game, Divac only shot 5 times, He had 8 points, 10 rebounds, 3 steals, 2 blocks and 1 assist, helped the Lakers win 4 small wins, swept the Rockets, and advanced to the next round. In the second round of the Lakers against the Warriors, Divac did not play long, the performance was decent, the Lakers defeated the Warriors 4-1 and reached the Western Conference Finals.
The Opponent of the Lakers Western Conference Finals is the Blazers, Divac got a lot of opportunities, the first game, Divac 12 points, 3 assists, 2 steals and 2 rebounds, the Lakers narrowly won the opponent and made a good start, the second game, Divac performed well, but the Lakers were easily won by the opponent, the big score became 1-1, the third game, Divac in 27 minutes, cut 16 points, 7 rebounds, 3 blocks and 3 steals, helping the Lakers to lightly win the opponent, the fourth game, Divac was in better shape, contributing 20 points, 4 rebounds, 3 blocks and 3 steals, The Lakers once again won the Blazers, got the match point, the fifth game, the Blazers counterattacked, won back a round, the series entered the sixth game, in the sixth game, Divac fully defended, contributed 8 points, 8 rebounds, 2 blocks and 1 steal, helped the team win by 1 point, defeated the Blazers by a big score of 4-2, and entered the Finals.
The opponent of the Lakers Finals is the Bulls, facing Grant, Divac's prestige is not reduced, the first game of the Finals, contributed 16 points, 14 rebounds, 3 blocks, 3 steals, helped the team to win by 2 points, the second game, Divac 16 points, 5 rebounds, 3 steals and 1 block, but unfortunately the Lakers lost, since then, the Lakers have fallen like mountains, How well Didac played, the Lakers could not win, the third game, Divac contributed 24 points, 7 rebounds, 2 steals and 1 block, the fourth game, Divac contributed 27 points, 11 rebounds and 3 blocks, the fifth game, Divac had 8 points, 7 rebounds, 4 blocks and 3 steals, and the Lakers lost another game, losing to the Bulls by a big score of 1-4 and passing by the championship.
In the Finals, Divac averaged 18.2 points, 8.8 rebounds, 2 assists, 2.4 blocks, 1.8 steals per game, and performed very well, and this year Divac was only 22 years old, and it was entirely possible to become an All-Star-level center, with the performance of this season, Divac occupied the starting center position in the Lakers, and he also continued to march to the All-Star.
Quasi-All-Star center single for Kobe Bryant
Since the 1990-91 season, Divac has continued to improve himself, in the 94-95 season, Divac averaged 16 points, 10.4 rebounds, 4.1 assists, 1.4 steals and 2.2 blocks per game, at this time Divac has fully released his full ability, excellent passing ability has become the label of Divac, and from his performance, it is almost the same from the All-Star, people call Divac a "quasi-All-Star" center, if the Lakers can give Divac a little more chance, Nadivac can become an All-Star level center.
In the summer of 1996, the talented Kobe Bryant announced that he was participating in the NBA Draft, and the Lakers hit the young man, they decided to choose Kobe, but they didn't have a sign in their hands that could select Kobe, so they had to make a deal, send a player, and let the team that selected Kobe Bryant send Kobe to the Lakers.
The deal was done, the Lakers sent Divac, selected Kobe Bryant's Hornets, sent Kobe Bryant to the Lakers, this deal is now seen, the Lakers are doing is very worthwhile, but at the time, people felt that the Lakers were still a bit of a loss, but with Kobe Bryant played a superstar level performance, Divac single for Kobe Bryant, but let Divac's reputation is greater, Divac was called "the man who single-handed kobe".
Leaving the Lakers, Divac came to the Hornets, in the Hornets, Divac still performed very well, but the Hornets were not capable, in the Hornets, Divac could not achieve anything in the playoffs, in the summer of 1998, Divac joined the Kings and began the most memorable experience of his NBA career.
Shine Sacramento, one of the best in Kings history
The Kings of the 1998-99 season have used the Princeton system, which emphasizes the transfer of the ball, requiring every player to be able to pass the ball, the center in this system is not only an inside attacker, but also a organizer, need to pass, and the organization is what Divac is very good at, in the Princeton system, Divac played very comfortably, completely released his passing talent, the King also benefited a lot from Divac's passing, and the strength slowly improved.
In the 00-01 season, the Kings achieved a 55-win record, ranking third in the West, in the playoffs, they won the Suns first, and the Lakers, who were second in the West, met in the second round, but at this time, the Kings and the Lakers were too different, and they were easily defeated by the Lakers and stopped in the second round. In the 01-02 season, the Kings' young players have cashed in their talents, and Divac, although he is 33 years old, is in excellent form, the ball is passed well, the mentality is good, and he has the most experience in this King's team. At the end of the regular season, the Kings finished with 61 wins, ranking first in the West, and reached the playoffs with their heads held high. In the first round of the playoffs, the king played against the Jazz led by the "Utah Double Brake", at this time, the Jazz, no longer have the ability to compete with the Bulls, facing the powerful King, can only be beaten, the King used 4 games to win the Jazz, into the second round.
Facing the Lone Ranger (also called Mavericks at the time) in the second round, Divac was required to play well, and Divac did not drop the chain and played the performance he deserved. In the first game of the series, Divac contributed 18 points, 16 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 block and 1 steal, the Kings won a big victory, the second game, the Lone Ranger responded quickly and won the second game, the third game, both sides Divac contributed 19 points, 13 rebounds, 2 blocks and 2 assists to help the Kings win another game, the fourth game, Divac was very the defensive end, the offensive feel was cold, handed over 8 points, 14 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks, helped the Kings to win by 2 points, get the match point, game five, Divac had 18 points, five rebounds and one block with ease, and the Kings won easily to reach the Western Conference Finals.
In the Western Conference Finals, the Kings met the Lakers who beat themselves last season, and both teams had no way back, and a big fight broke out. In the first game of the series, Divac contributed 12 points and 11 rebounds, the Kings lost to the Lakers by 7 points, in the second game, Divac contributed 15 points and 14 rebounds, the Kings equalized the big score, the third game, Divac played fully, filled the data column, contributed 11 points, 9 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals and 3 blocks, helped the Kings win easily, the fourth game, Divac felt hot, O'Neal could not stop him, 7 of 11 shots, cut 23 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals, Divac performed well throughout the game.
But in the final moments of the game, a stroke of Divac made a big mistake, he put the ball into the hands of Lakers player Horry, Horry took the knife in his hand, hit the kill, the Kings lost to the Lakers by 1 point, if Divac did not dial this, maybe they would win. In the fifth game, Divac felt average, contributed 13 points, 7 rebounds and 2 assists, the Kings 1 point small victory over the Lakers, or got the match point, standing on the edge of the cliff lakers counterattacked, the Kings lost the sixth game, the series entered the grab seven, grab seven, Divac performed well, contributed 15 points and 10 rebounds, but he was difficult to save, the Kings still lost to the Lakers, revenge failed.
The defeat hit the Kings, they didn't have that momentum, and in the following seasons, their performance in the playoffs was not outstanding, and Divac's performance tended to be mediocre as his physical function declined. After the door to victory was closed, the Kings also set their sights from the championship to how to save money, and in the summer of 2004, Divac's contract with the King expired, and in order to avoid taxes, the King's contract to Divac was not satisfactory to Divac, and the King did not increase the amount of the contract to keep Divac, and the two sides parted ways.
Leaving Sacramento, where he had struggled for six years, Divac was saddened and sad that the king had not kept him. Because of the money, Divac left the Kings, so that the departure seems to be a bit tacky, after the absence of money troubles, the King still gave Divac the respect he deserved, retired Divac's jersey, and from Divac's contribution to the Kings, Divac is one of the best centers in the history of the Kings, he helped the Sacramento Kings have a glorious history.
The Kings don't want Divac, the Lakers want, Divac returns to the Lakers, and Kobe Bryant is a teammate, in the Lakers, Divac can't give the team too much help on the court, can only teach the youngsters a little experience and skills, after suffering a back injury, Divac can only sit on the sidelines. Divac saw himself like this, he knew it was time for him to leave, and he said to reporters: I think it's time for me to stop playing basketball.
Write at the end
Divac was one of the first European players to enter the NBA, he influenced the NBA game with his own way of playing, after Divac, the policy-oriented center gained more recognition, which is The contribution that Divac made to basketball, which is why he was inducted into the Naismith Hall of Fame, in Europe, Divac was selected as one of the top 50 outstanding contributors to the Champions League, Divac is a center recognized by both Europe and the United States.
After retiring from the military, Divac became the king's general manager in 2015, but because the kings did not make much progress during his tenure, Divac left in 2020, wishing Divac a good job in his new role.