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divac retires; assisant coach

Sat Sep 17, 2005 9:28 am

BELGRADE, Serbia-Montenegro -- Los Angeles Lakers center Vlade Divac plans to retire as a player but will remain with the team as an assistant coach and scout, a Serbian newspaper reported Friday.

"It is enough," Divac told the Blic daily. "No, I won't play the next season. I'll work for the Lakers as an assistant coach and an international scout."

The 37-year-old Divac, who returned to the Lakers last season, underwent back surgery in January and played in only 15 games, averaging 2.3 points and 2.1 rebounds. He averaged 11.9 points and 8.3 rebounds in 15 previous NBA seasons -- six with the Lakers, two with Charlotte and seven with Sacramento.

"The injury has only helped my decision to retire," Divac said. "I always gave 100 percent to the sport, and after so many years of playing, I can no longer do that. I'm ending my professional career as a player, but I will remain in basketball."

The Lakers and Divac had previously agreed to postpone a decision on his contract status.

Los Angeles had the choice of picking up a one-year, $5.4 million option or paying a $2 million buyout.

"I can't confirm that Vlade has retired. Right now, it's premature and we have not been notified of that," Lakers spokesman John Black said.

from ESPN.
good career for divac. he ain't a top 50 player but he surely did make a big impact on the NBA by being a figure for international figures especially from europe.

Sat Sep 17, 2005 9:58 am

Pff he'll figure out a way to cheat as a coach too.

Sat Sep 17, 2005 10:10 am

He'll teach Bynum how to flop, Divac-style.

Sat Sep 17, 2005 10:59 am

Please some respect for vlade.

Yeah, I knew it was coming, but now all my favorite players are retiring.

Not just vlade, but Jerome Williams, Reggie, Bradley, and Karl Malone all this year.

In his 16 years, Divac was an allstar in 2001. He made the playoffs for ten straight years 94-04. The only player selected 26th in the draft ever to be an all-star. He paved the way for the European players today. Even in 03-04, he led all centers with 5.3 assists.

And don't forget, he was one of the last "Jordan era" players to go. Remember him and magic against the bulls in the 91' finals? So overlook his goofy flopping, cause he was a special special player.

Man, oh man, what a career (Y)

Sat Sep 17, 2005 11:02 am

Amazing that you would defend Vlade, I would never have guessed.

On a serious note, Vlade was an excellent player, and I'll miss him. He's a guy that I always loved to hate.

Its sort of like on a much lesser note like when John Starks retired. Obviously I hated Starks a lot more then Vlade, but same type thing.

Sat Sep 17, 2005 11:07 am

Big man that can pass, got too give props. (Y)

Sat Sep 17, 2005 11:12 am

Indy wrote:Amazing that you would defend Vlade, I would never have guessed.

On a serious note, Vlade was an excellent player, and I'll miss him.



Lol. Believe it or not, I'm not even Serbian or European-born. I just liked Vlade's style.

I think when people forget about his goofiness and how he was on the "queens" they'll admit he was a top 10 Center for many years when there were few true centers, and a top 10 international NBA player for most of his years, and can you name 50 all-time Centers 7-foot plus who were actually better than Vlade? His hall of fame monitor score is top 50 among active players (a list that includes barkley, pippen, payton, malone, jordan). He is a marginal hall of famer. He may make it someday for his European influence.

And for a guy that smoked, he sure did last a while.

Sat Sep 17, 2005 11:17 am

He was smoking in the green room the day that he was drafted wasn't he? :lol:

Sat Sep 17, 2005 11:19 am

Jerry West said they saw him smoking, told him to keep doing it so maybe teams would pass on vlade. Let's look back and who went before him in 89.

19 PHI Kenny Payne Louisville
20 CHI Jeff Sanders Georgia Southern
21 UTA Blue Edwards East Carolina
22 POR Byron Irvin Missouri
23 ATL Roy Marble Iowa
24 PHO Anthony Cook Arizona
25 CLE John Morton Seton Hall
26 LAL Vlade Divac None (Yugoslavia)

Marble? Payne? Sanders? Cook? Irvin? I've barely heard of these guys, let alone did they play 16 years, right!

Sat Sep 17, 2005 11:22 am

Wow... I remember Blue Edwards!

Sat Sep 17, 2005 11:23 am

Yeah, that's about it. He was a grizzly in vancouver, played a few years but come on, John Morton? Who are those guys?

Sat Sep 17, 2005 12:40 pm

Dude, LA has a ton of 'assistant coaches'... So Shaw, Hamblem are the actual assistant assistant coach? The main guys, I mean.

Sat Sep 17, 2005 12:42 pm

Kareem.....or is he something else. I cant be stuffed checkin....

Sat Sep 17, 2005 12:53 pm

Kareem is more like Bynum's personal trainer...

Sat Sep 17, 2005 3:00 pm

VlaDiv wrote:
Indy wrote:and how he was on the "queens"

:evil: They took the Lakers to 7 and are a Horry 3 away from being NBA Champs.

You want respect for Vlade, yet you give him none. His best years were on the Kings.

I'll miss him. It sucks he's msot well known for one thing.

And he's not the only guy in the history of the NBA to flop either.

Come on.. Reggie's trademarked throwing your body into something for contact.

Sun Sep 18, 2005 1:10 am

John WB wrote:
VlaDiv wrote:
Indy wrote:and how he was on the "queens"

:evil: They took the Lakers to 7 and are a Horry 3 away from being NBA Champs.

You want respect for Vlade, yet you give him none. His best years were on the Kings.

I'll miss him. It sucks he's msot well known for one thing.

And he's not the only guy in the history of the NBA to flop either.

Come on.. Reggie's trademarked throwing your body into something for contact.




The Kings were the team that got me seriously into NBA basketball in 2002.
I'm not saying he was on "the queens", I'm just calling them the queens as a way of repeating what others are calling it when they go anti-vlade. Shaq, for one.

Sun Sep 18, 2005 4:53 am

Shaq says A LOT of stupid things though. You have to take it with a grain of salt.

Sun Sep 18, 2005 10:09 am

Indy wrote:and how he was on the "queens"


Huh? I didn't say that.

Sun Sep 18, 2005 10:26 am

Indy wrote:
Indy wrote:and how he was on the "queens"


Huh? I didn't say that.


I'm thinking more of the forums on realGM and insidehoops.

Mon Sep 19, 2005 1:38 am

VlaDiv wrote:
Indy wrote:
Indy wrote:and how he was on the "queens"


Huh? I didn't say that.


I'm thinking more of the forums on realGM and insidehoops.


What the hell are you talking about?

Mon Sep 19, 2005 7:06 am

who knows, lol.

Let's just say Vlade was pretty good and call it a finished topic.

Mon Sep 19, 2005 1:28 pm

those were great memories of him when he played in sacramento. he was the jason williams of all centers :lol:

Mon Sep 19, 2005 10:18 pm

Guess I'll just quote myself from when the Divac retirement talk first surfaced.

Andrew wrote:A top 10 centre during most of his time in the league...another player that helped create opportunities for talented players in Europe to make the jump to the NBA. He was indeed a versatile player and one of the best passing centres in recent times, though as a flopper he's nowhere near Rodman in terms of making it believable.

Tue Sep 20, 2005 11:57 am

though as a flopper he's nowhere near Rodman in terms of making it believable.



still the refs give him the benefit of the calls, he also whines more in court than any other player i have ever seen. european guys owes a lot to this guy. good thing he has a job after retirement (Y)

Tue Sep 20, 2005 12:16 pm

I still remember in the 2000 west finals he tried to tip the ball back so noone could get to it in the closing secounds and the ball just happened to roll right in to Horry's hands....but Vlade is still a HOF because he was the best Euro Center Ever.
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