Predrag Drobnjak

Predrag Drobnjak ( born October 27, 1975 in Bijelo Polje, SFR Yugoslavia ) is a former Montenegrin professional basketball player. The Yugoslav national basketball team Drobnjak was twice world champion in 1998 and 2002 and once in 2001 European Champion. Between 2001 and 2005 he played in the highest professional league NBA dope in the U.S.. After his return to Europe he was still playing for different clubs in Spain, Serbia, Turkey and Greece.

After the Euro League triumph in 1992 by KK Partizan the 17 -year-old Drobnjak moved up to the squad for the first team of the Belgrade club. Here the young players could slow play in the foreground. In the U22 European Championship in 1996, the Yugoslav Junior selection, although only won the bronze medal, however Drobnjak was named MVP of the tournament. In the All-Star Game FIBA Euro stars of the best players in the Euro League Drobnjak was nominated twice, the first time around 1996, he was 21 years old. Consequently, an NBA club secured in the NBA Draft in 1997 the rights to the young talent; than 49 players in total, he was selected by the Washington Wizards.

First, however, he played more in Europe and, after the 1998 World Cup, in the Drobnjak as a reserve player in the Yugoslav selection only received little playing time, Turkey to Istanbul's sports club named after its sponsor Efes Pilsen. While Drobnjaks three years of playing time for Efes won the most successful Turkish club of the 1990s, however, only three times the runner-up and once the Turkish Cup competition in 2001. 's Once played out Suproleague, the successor to the competition of the European Cup, one in 2001 reached the third place, the one in already in the preseason still FIBA euro League had reached above competition. At the Olympic Games in 2000, the Yugoslav national team lost in the quarterfinals and missed a medal. Drobnjak had here with the competition of older and more experienced colleagues such as Željko Rebrača, Dejan Tomasevic and Dragan Tarlać difficulties, many get play, even if he was more involved in the rotation than at the World Cup two years earlier. At Euro 2001, he was an integral part of the team that won the gold medal in the final against hosts Turkey.

Then moved Drobnjak 2001 in the U.S. professional league NBA after the Seattle SuperSonics had acquired the rights to Drobnjak in a player exchange. In his first season still coming off the bench, he was in his second season in 2002/ 03 his strongest NBA game time than he could achieve as a starting five players in under 25 minutes per game just under 10 points per game. In the 2002 World Cup in the USA, the Yugoslavs could repeat her triumph of four years ago, when they were able to hold down the strong playing Argentina in the extension of the finale. Drobnjak had to experience how his colleagues Vlade Divac, Dejan Dejan Tomasevic Koturović and were preferred to him in general use at the time. At the European Championships in 2003 made ​​it the defending champion and world champion only a elimination game in the quarter-finals, where they were later called carrier Lithuania clearly inferior. In a renewed in many parts of the team team Drobnjak was a pillar with just under 35 minutes operating time per game until the quarterfinals.

The Sonics, represented from 1990 to 1998 continuously in the play- offs, had missed this for the third time since 1998 in 2003. During the renovation of the team also Drobnjak came in September 2003 in exchange for a player rivals the Los Angeles Clippers, an NBA franchise with probably the lowest rate in play-off appearances. Drobnjak had with the Clippers in a difficult position, since he came on as a substitute from the bench and his play declined to just under 15 minutes. Smoothed on an assumed playing time of 36 minutes, his achievements in all his NBA seasons but surprisingly constant. The 2004 Olympics ran for the World Champion of Yugoslavia, which is now officially known as Serbia and Montenegro took, again disappointing. In the opening game the later gold medalist Argentina succeeded in the final revenge for the lost World Cup final two the Serbian- Montenegrin team years ago and dropped out after only one win against Italy already out in the first round. Drobnjak was changed in the meantime in the NBA over the new franchise team Charlotte Bobcats to the Atlanta Hawks. For the Hawks, he was in season 2004/ 05 even a substitute, but as a sixth man, he got almost as much play time as the Sonics in his second season as a starter. The Hawks, who had only four missed the play-offs 1978-1999 were arrived at that season at its low point and played with only 13 wins in 82 games this season the weakest season in its history. The chapter NBA was subsequently terminated for Drobnjak.

2005 moved Drobnjak in the Spanish ACB League for Basque club TAU Ceramica Vitoria -Gasteiz. After a good start to the season where he was named MVP of the third game of the day, sank his play in competition with the South American Tiago Splitter and Luis Scola in the frontcourt of Tau Vitoria. The team reached second in the regular season, the Spanish Cup final, which was lost against Unicaja Malaga. In the Spanish Cup Copa del Rey they won the title in the final against Pamesa Valencia. In the highest European League ULEB Euro League 2005 /06 it was after the victory in the match for third place against Winterthur FC Barcelona best Spanish team. The two-year contract from Drobnjak was then terminated prematurely in the summer of 2006. At the following season 2006/ 07 he moved back to KK Partizan Belgrade, in 2007, the club again won the Serbian Championship and the first time the Adriatic League. For the season 2007/ 08 he initially returned to Spain and played for the FIBA EuroCup winner Akasvayu Catalan Girona. After injury problems his contract was terminated again in December 2007 after only eleven league matches.

Just days after termination of the contract with CB Girona signed Drobnjak Beşiktaş Cola Turka a contract with Istanbul and returned so back to the Turkish capital. On 26 December 2007, he completed his first championship game for the later winners of the regular season. The play-off semi-final series, they lost but then against the cup winners Türk Telekomspor from Ankara. Also in the Final Tournament Elite Eight of the Eurocup 2007/ 08 is narrowly failed with a dot in the quarterfinals of the Turkish rivals Galatasaray Café Crown. In the following season 2008/ 09 he was obliged by his former club Efes Pilsen from the end of November, for which he but only in the ULEB Euro Cup 2008/ 09 four games played. In the 2009/10 season, he then completed a full season in the Greek A1 Ethniki for PAOK Thessaloniki from. In the Greek Championship play-offs are eliminated in the quarter-finals. In the summer of 2010, he then was able to qualify with the Montenegrin national team for the finals of the European Basketball Championship 2011 in Lithuania. However, in the season 2010/11 he signed in February a short-term contract with Iraklis, local rivals PAOK. After just two games of the contract, Drobnjak ended ended his active career, so that he no longer took part in the European Championship finals.