Dejan Milojević

Dejan Milojević (Serbian Cyrillic: Дејан Милојевић; born 15 April 1977) is a Serbian professional basketball coach and former player. Milojević is currently serving as an assistant coach for the Serbian national team.

Dejan Milojević
Free agent
PositionHead coach
Personal information
Born (1977-04-15) 15 April 1977
Belgrade, SR Serbia, SFR Yugoslavia
NationalitySerbian
Listed height6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)
Listed weight254 lb (115 kg)
Career information
NBA draft1999 / Undrafted
Playing career1997–2009
PositionPower forward
Number13, 31
Coaching career2012–present
Career history
As player:
1997–1998Beovuk
1998–2000FMP
2000–2004Budućnost
2004–2006Partizan
2006–2008Pamesa Valencia
2008–2009Galatasaray
As coach:
2012–2020Mega Basket
Career highlights and awards
As player

As head coach

Standing at 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m), he played in the power forward position for domestic league teams FMP, Budućnost, and Partizan, as well as for Pamesa Valencia in Spain, and Galatasaray in Turkey. He was named the Adriatic League Most Valuable Player Award three times in a row. Milojević played on the Serbia and Montenegro national team, winning a gold medal in the EuroBasket in 2001.

Three years after his playing career ended in 2009, Milojević became a head coach for Mega Basket. There he coached Nikola Jokić, a future NBA All-Star player. In the 2015–16 season, he coached the Mega to their first-ever national title, the Serbian Cup, and the only ABA League finals.

Early years

Milojević was born and raised in Belgrade, and started playing basketball for Beovuk. He was quite a dominant figure while playing in the youth system, once scoring 131 points in a single game, a still-standing record.

Professional career

His professional career began in 1998 with a YUBA League club FMP from the Belgrade suburb of Železnik. While playing a couple of seasons for the club Milojević became famous for his blue-collar and never-quit style of playing. He averaged a double-double in both of his seasons with FMP and won the league MVP award in 1999.

In 2000, Milojević moved to the Podgorica-based Budućnost, where he won his first National Championship in 2001. He spent three more seasons there, improving his skills and his game every year. Already a dominating inside presence, he improved his three-point and free-throw shooting, an area in which he struggled a lot in the early years. While in Budućnost he won a couple more league MVP Awards, in 2003 and 2004.

After averaging 20.5 points and 10.8 rebounds per game in the 2003–04 season, his third MVP season, Milojević signed with the three-time defending champion KK Partizan. Although Partizan underachieved in the competition, Milojević was his usual dominant self, averaging 20.8 points, 11.5 rebounds, and just over 3 steals and assists per game. He was also the key player for Partizan's other title rout in the domestic league, as they lost only one game during the playoffs. In the 2005–06 season, Milojević had another double-double EuroLeague season, scoring 16.4 points and grabbing 10 rebounds per game, also winning a couple of Player of the Week honors.

From Partizan, Milojević moved to the Spanish side Pamesa Valencia, where he played two seasons, finishing his international career with the Turkish club Galatasaray Café Crown in the 2008–09 season. He moved back to Partizan in 2009, but soon decided to end his career because of a knee injury.[1]

National team career

Milojević was a member of the Yugoslavia junior national team (representing FR Yugoslavia), together with Igor Rakočević and Marko Jarić, that won the gold medal at the 1998 European Championship for Men '22 and Under' in Trapani, Italy. Over six tournament games, he averaged 3.3 points and 3.5 rebounds per game.[2]

Milojević was a member of the Yugoslavia senior national team that won the gold medal at the 2001 FIBA European Championship in Turkey. Over three tournament games, he averaged 4.7 points and 3.3 rebounds per game.[3] Later, he was a member of the Serbia and Montenegro national team that finished 9th at EuroBasket 2005 in his home country. Over three tournament games, he averaged 5.3 points and 2.7 rebounds per game.[4]

Coaching career

In October 2012, three years after retiring from the professional basketball, Milojević became the head coach of Serbian team Mega Vizura.[5] In his first season with the team he had great success, leading his team to the semifinal of the Basketball League of Serbia, winning the place in the regional Adriatic League for the next season. In the team's first ABA League season, he led the team to 8th place with a 12–14 record. On 1 June 2020, he ended his tenure with Mega Basket.[6] Over 345 games during eight seasons, he had a 173–172 record.[7]

Milojević got his first taste of the NBA through Summer League coaching stint in the 2018 season with the Houston Rockets.[8][9] On 5 December 2019, Milojević was named an assistant coach for the Serbia national team.[10]

Career statistics

Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field-goal percentage  3P%  3-point field-goal percentage  FT%  Free-throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game  PIR  Performance Index Rating
 Bold  Career high

Note: The EuroLeague is not the only competition in which the player participated for the team during the season. He also played in domestic competition, and regional competition if applicable.

EuroLeague

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG PIR
2000–01 Budućnost 11213.5.622.000.3333.2.2.6.04.63.0
2001–02 Budućnost 8623.4.545.412.3756.4.41.6.39.59.5
2002–03 Budućnost 141331.7.592.000.6956.52.41.8.211.615.1
2004–05 Partizan 6635.5.634.000.70011.53.33.5.320.830.5
2005–06 Partizan 121234.6.419.294.73010.12.31.9.116.423.6
Career 513927.6.539.214.6627.21.71.7.212.015.4

References

  1. "Milojević završio karijeru". rts.rs (in Serbian). kosarka.rs. Retrieved 24 May 2014.
  2. "1998 Yugoslavia #13 - Dejan Milojevic". archive.fiba.com. Retrieved 10 June 2020.
  3. "2001 Yugoslavia #13 - Dejan Milojevic". archive.fiba.com. Retrieved 10 June 2020.
  4. "2005 Serbia & Montenegro #13 - Dejan Milojevic". archive.fiba.com. Retrieved 10 June 2020.
  5. "Dejan Milojević trener Mega Vizure". b92.net (in Serbian). Retrieved 24 May 2014.
  6. "Dejan Milojević ends his mission in Mega, Vladimir Jovanović to replace him". aba-liga.com. Retrieved 1 June 2020.
  7. "„DEKI CIAO" Posle deset godina Milojević odlazi iz Mege, a na njegovom oproštaju UČESTVUJU SVE SAMI ASOVI". sport.blic.rs. Retrieved 10 June 2020.
  8. "Srbi u NBA Letnjoj ligi – Alimpijević kao Milojević i Obradović". b92.net. Retrieved 24 June 2018.
  9. "NAŠI TRENERI CENJENI U NBA Velika čast za Milojevića i Obradovića". sport.blic.rs. Retrieved 24 June 2018.
  10. "Dejan Milojević asistira Igoru Kokoškovu u reprezentaciji". b92.net. Retrieved 6 December 2019.
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