POP 32 - "Professor's Tactical Miniatures"

KK Partizan got its first professional coach only in 1958 (for the 1959 season). It was a former club player, later one of the greatest Yugoslav and European basketball coaches of the 20th century, Aleksandar Nikolić.
The famous "Professor", then the federal coach of the national team of Yugoslavia, remained in the club only until 1961, but in that period significant progress was made in professional work and in the sports organization. Partizan's basketball school for the youngest was started, with about 150 boys and girls, and in 1960, for the first time in the club's history, Aleksandar Nikolić hired a part-time fitness coach, who took care of the first team's physical fitness.
In 1959, Partizan won fourth place in the League, but a triumph was achieved over the then powerful Olimpija Ljubljana, which won the championship title that year, and the press of the time noted that Partizan's victory over the eternal rival Red Star had a great contribution to make "excellent tactics and the coach's skill in using key players”.
A nice illustration of the use of every tactical detail is represented by Nikolić's later memory of this time: "Partizan did not have classic centers then. Bata Radović, with his guard height, was our most reliable fighter under the basket. However, against Olympia's giant center Matias Dermastia, his combativeness didn't help him much. As the two were good friends, Bata was given the task of talking to Dermastia as much as possible during the game. That's how the two got into a conversation, and Radović managed to pick up a ball."
Three decades later, the legendary "Professor" will return to Parisan and as an advisor to the debutant coach, Željko Obradović, participate in the triumphant campaign to the top of Europe.