1989–90 Yugoslav First Basketball League

The 1989–90 Yugoslav First Basketball League season was the 46th season of the Yugoslav First Basketball League, the highest professional basketball league in SFR Yugoslavia.

1989–90 Yugoslav First Basketball League
League	Yugoslav First Basketball League
Sport	Basketball
Duration	7 October 1989 – 24 March 1990 (Regular season) April 1990 (Playoffs)
Regular season
Season champions	Jugoplastika
Playoffs
Finals champions	Jugoplastika
Runners-up	Crvena Zvezda
Yugoslav First Basketball League seasons
← 1988–89 1990–91 →

Notable events

Star players going abroad before turning 28

The season saw new developments in the business aspect of basketball in Yugoslavia as a result of the Yugoslav First Basketball League's basketball talent becoming interesting to rich NBA teams. With the country's still-formally-enforced strict sporting exit rules—stipulating that no player is allowed to transfer abroad before turning 28 years of age—already being bent and occasionally loosened (superstar Dražen Petrović going to Real Madrid at the age of 24 one year earlier), summer 1989 saw two more high-profile star players leaving the league way before turning 28: twenty-one-year-old Vlade Divac joining the Los Angeles Lakers and twenty-three-year-old Žarko Paspalj heading to the San Antonio Spurs.^[1]

Attracted by superior financial compensation in the NBA, the summer 1989 offseason saw yet another newly drafted young Yugoslav star player, Dino Rađa, even resort to unilaterally travelling to the United States and signing with the Boston Celtics despite having a valid contract with KK Jugoplastika; he would eventually be forced to return to Yugoslavia following a Jugoplastika-initiated legal process before U.S. courts. With NBA scouts closely following a number of other Yugoslav League young players—such as Jugoplastika's Toni Kukoč and Žan Tabak, KK Partizan's Predrag Danilović, Saša Đorđević, and Miroslav Pecarski, KK Crvena zvezda's Rastko Cvetković, KK Cibona's Franjo Arapović, KK Zadar's Stojko Vranković and Arijan Komazec, KK Olimpija's Radisav Ćurčić, etc. not to mention a slew of even younger juniors coming up such as Dejan Bodiroga and Željko Rebrača—it was becoming clear that the decades-long system of keeping players in the country until the age of 28 was about to become impossible to keep maintaining.

Koš magazine

From October 1989, the country also got its first-ever basketball specific periodical publication. A magazine named Koš with Vladimir Stanković as its editor-in-chief—devoted entirely to coverage of Yugoslav basketball league, Yugoslav national teams (men's and women's), and Yugoslav players abroad—was launched by the Borba publishing company, thus further indicating the level of popularity the sport had grown to in the country.^[1] The first issue of Koš featured Lakers rookie Vlade Divac on the cover, standing in front of The Forum in Los Angeles while wearing his number 12 Lakers jersey.

NBA broadcasts begin on Yugoslav television

Furthermore, with Petrović moving to the Portland Trail Blazers—along with Divac and Paspalj joining the Lakers and Spurs, respectively—the entire Yugoslav basketball media ecosystem began to change as well.^[1] Yugoslav Radio Television (JRT), country's public broadcasting system, bought television rights to an NBA package consisting of 26 NBA games (18 regular season games and 8 playoff games) from the 1989-90 season—mostly involving Lakers, Blazers, and Spurs—for US$28,000.^[2] The US$28,000 price tag (US$67,000 in 2022)^[3] was reportedly split between JRT's two biggest television affiliates—TV Beograd and TV Zagreb—with each one paying US$14,000.^[2] Carried in Yugoslavia starting from 19 November 1989, on tape delay, the NBA broadcasts marked the first time that games from a foreign basketball league games were shown on Yugoslav television.^[2]

Teams

SR Serbia Crvena Zvezda IMT Partizan Vojvodina Zorka Šabac

SR Croatia Cibona Jugoplastika Novi Zagreb Zadar

SR Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosna Sloboda Dita Tuzla

SR Slovenia Smelt Olimpija

Regular season

Classification

	Regular season ranking 1989-90	G	V	P	PF	PS	Pt	Status
1.	Jugoplastika	22	19	3	2118	1734	41	Champions
2.	Crvena Zvezda	22	17	5	2026	1961	39	Qualification for the Playoffs
3.	Zadar	22	13	9	1999	1873	35
4.	Cibona	22	13	9	2114	1968	35
5.	Vojvodina	22	12	10	1851	1851	34
6.	Bosna	22	12	10	1922	1888	34
7.	Smelt Olimpija	22	10	12	1950	1929	32
8.	Partizan	22	9	13	1872	1968	31
9.	Novi Zagreb	22	8	14	1737	1808	30	Qualification for the Playout
10.	IMT	22	7	15	1814	1976	29
11.	Sloboda Dita Tuzla	22	7	15	1796	1990	29	Relegated
12.	Zorka Šabac	22	5	17	1844	2008	27

Results

Home \ Away	JUG	CZV	ZAD	CIB	VOJ	BOS	OLI	PAR	ZAG	IMT	SLT	ZOR
Jugoplastika	—	123–75	90–78	109–88	102–89	94–85	108–81	106–85	84–73	103–77	89–68	104–86
Crvena Zvezda	84–101	—	91–88	95–92	93–83	97–75	115–103	81–79	87–84	110–84	107–93	75–68
Zadar	90–81	85–88	—	103–72	113–89	77–73	99–84	124–94	84–76	93–80	84–69	104–90
Cibona	86–97	96–80	98–90	—	98–85	110–112	79–82	90–80	84–77	108–84	97–82	100–97
Vojvodina	88–96	79–84	81–72	100–96	—	90–78	89–72	85–83	91–78	83–79	89–66	97–94
Bosna	62–59	93–98	98–92	81–86	86–82	—	110–99	83–98	79–80	88–78	87–80	114–88
Olimpija	67–75	113–93	93–82	86–85	85–68	76–86	—	104–94	77–84	107–81	118–98	108–89
Partizan	77–99	77–87	84–92	82–79	92–83	85–101	77–85	—	105–99	79–82	84–83	89–73
Novi Zagreb	80–109	67–80	98–90	95–96	65–74	75–74	77–71	55–59	—	68–69	79–76	92–74
IMT	81–80	101–91	79–87	83–85	79–90	80–92	86–84	93–103	82–80	—	73–76	71–75
Sloboda Dita Tuzla	68–114	89–106	77–94	77–87	69–66	88–87	94–92	103–92	92–67	84–87	—	92–87
Zorka Šabac	76–95	88–109	88–78	91–100	71–80	76–78	70–63	81–84	79–88	109–105	94–82	—

Source: Koš magazin
Legend: Blue = home team win; Red = away team win.
Matches with lighter background shading were decided after overtime.

Playoff

	Semifinals					Finals
	1	Jugoplastika	2
	4	Cibona	1
						1	Jugoplastika	3
						2	Crvena Zvezda	1
	2	Crvena Zvezda	2
	3	Zadar	1

SEMIFINALS

---

Jugoplastika-Cibona 94-82, 69-80, 103-90

Crvena zvezda-Zadar 93-89, 90-108, 97-88

FINALS

---

Jugoplastika-Crvena zvezda 98-70, 67-69, 93-63, 113-91

GROUP KORAC

---

Partizan-Sibenka 87-80, 71-85, 97-93

Olimpija-Buducnost 105-80, 121-93

Bosna-Olimpija 107-110, 86-88

Vojvodina-Partizan 75-68, 76-82, 76-73

The winning roster of Jugoplastika:^[4]

•   Zoran Sretenović
•   Velimir Perasović
•   Toni Kukoč
•   Petar Naumoski
•   Zoran Savić
•   Goran Sobin [it]
•   Velibor Radović
•   Aramis Naglić
•   Žan Tabak
•   Duško Ivanović
•   Dino Rađa
•   Paško Tomić
•   Teo Čizmić
•   Luka Pavićević

Coach:   Božidar Maljković

Scoring leaders

1. Arijan Komazec (Zadar) - ___ points (31.5ppg)^[5]

Play-out

Six teams competed to qualify for the 1990-91 Yugoslav basketball league (9th-placed IMT and 10th-placed Novi Zagreb from the A league; second-placed Rabotnički and third-placed Radnički from the IB league (East division), second-placed Spartak Subotica and third-placed Čelik Zenica from the IB league (West division).^[6][7][8]

Qualifying round

Rabotnički - Čelik 71-68, 72-82, 71-72

Spartak Subotica - Radnički Belgrade 85-82, 69-106, 72-67

Final round

		W	L	PF	PS	Pt	Status
1	IMT	5	1	485	481	11	Qualification for 1990-91 Yugoslav first basketball league
2	Čelik Zenica	3	3	444	433	9	Qualification for 1990-91 Yugoslav first basketball league
3	Novi Zagreb	3	3	470	461	9
4	Spartak Subotica	1	5	454	508	7

IMT - Spartak 94-85, Novi Zagreb- Čelik 72-69,

Spartak - Novi Zagreb 93-87, Čelik - IMT 57-67,

Novi Zagreb - IMT 81-69, Spartak- Čelik 55-62,

Spartak - IMT 68-82, Čelik - Novi Zagreb 78-65,

IMT - Čelik 91-80, Novi Zagreb - Spartak 85-70,

IMT - Novi Zagreb 82-80, Čelik - Spartak 98-83.

Qualification in 1990-91 season European competitions

FIBA European Champions Cup

• Jugoplastika (champions)

FIBA Cup Winners' Cup

• Crvena Zvezda (Cup finalist)

FIBA Korać Cup

• Zadar (3rd)
• Cibona (4th)
• Vojvodina (playoffs)
• Smelt Olimpija (playoffs)

Basketball Cup

Bracket

	Eightfinals				Quarterfinals				Semifinals				Finals
	Zadar	93
	MZT Skopje	68
					Zadar	75
					Jugoplastika	90
	Jugoplastika	80
	Vojvodina	73
									Jugoplastika	84
									Olimpija	74
	Bosna	104
	Vlaznimi	66
					Bosna	81
					Olimpija	87
	Prvi partizan	68
	Olimpija	82
													Jugoplastika	79
													Crvena zvezda	77
	Crvena zvezda	84
	Čelik	76
					Crvena zvezda	84
					IMT	73
	IMT	89
	OKK Beograd	76
									Crvena zvezda	76
									Cibona	73
	Cibona	93
	Budućnost	77
					Cibona	110
					Partizan	73
	Partizan	85
	Šibenka	70

^[9][10]

References

1. Pajić, Vladimir; Šakan, Miloš (28 August 2019). "Zlatni momci (episode 3): Tim snova u luna parku (11:50)". Radio Television of Serbia. Retrieved 5 September 2019.
2. Zlatar, Pero (November 1989). "Konačno s nama (page 41)". Koš magazin. Retrieved 29 August 2022.
3. 28,000 in 1989 adjusted for inflation in 2022
4. . nsl.kosarka.co.yu. Archived from the original on 2 July 2008. Retrieved 7 January 2019.
5. Martinović, Dragan (22 January 2017). "DRAŽEN PETROVIĆ ILI RADIVOJ KORAĆ?". Koš magazin. Retrieved 12 February 2017.
6. "Bnl viewer". istorijskenovine.unilib.rs. Retrieved 2023-12-12.
7. "magazin-kos 7.pdf". Google Docs. Retrieved 2023-12-19.
8. "magazin-kos 8.pdf". Google Docs. Retrieved 2023-12-19.
9. "magazin-kos 1.pdf". Google Docs. Retrieved 2024-01-19.
10. "magazin-kos 5.pdf". Google Docs. Retrieved 2024-01-19.

External links

• Pearlbasket