Željko Rebrača

Željko Rebrača (Serbian Cyrillic: Жељко Ребрача; born April 9, 1972) is a Serbian retired professional basketball player. After playing in the National Basketball Association (NBA), he finished his career with the Spanish ACB League team Pamesa Valencia.

Željko Rebrača

Personal information
Born	April 9, 1972 Apatin, SR Serbia, SFR Yugoslavia
Nationality	Serbian
Listed height	2.13 m (7 ft 0 in)
Listed weight	120 kg (265 lb)
Career information
NBA draft	1994 / Round: 2 / Pick: 54th overall
Selected by the Seattle SuperSonics
Playing career	1990–2007
Position	Center
Number	9, 39, 12, 11
Career history
1990–1991	NAP Novi Sad
1991–1995	Partizan
1995–1999	Benetton Treviso
1999–2001	Panathinaikos
2001–2004	Detroit Pistons
2004	Atlanta Hawks
2004–2007	Los Angeles Clippers
2007	Pamesa Valencia
Career highlights and awards
2× EuroLeague champion (1992, 2000) EuroLeague Final Four MVP (2000) 4× FIBA EuroStar (1996–1999) FIBA Saporta Cup champion (1999) Italian League champion (1997) Italian Super Cup winner (1997) 2× Greek League champion (2000, 2001) Greek League MVP (2000) Greek League Finals MVP (2001) Greek Cup MVP (2000) Greek Cup Finals Top Scorer (2000) 2× Yugoslavian League champion (1992, 1995) 3× Yugoslav Cup winner (1992, 1994, 1995) NBA All-Rookie Second Team (2002)
Career NBA statistics
Points	1,276 (5.9 ppg)
Rebounds	688 (3.2 rpg)
FG%	.527
Stats  at NBA.com
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com
Medals Men's Basketball Representing FR Yugoslavia Olympic Games 1996 Atlanta FIBA World Cup 1998 Athens EuroBasket 1995 Greece 1997 Spain

Professional career

Europe

Rebrača began his professional career in 1991, with KK Partizan. With KK Partizan, he won 2 Yugo League championships (1992 and 1995), 3 Yugoslav Cups (1992, 1994, and 1995), and the EuroLeague (1992).

In 1995–99, he played in the Italian League for Benetton Treviso, where he won the Italian League championship in 1997, under coach Mike D'Antoni. He followed up that by winning the Italian Supercup in 1997, and the FIBA Saporta Cup in 1999, while playing under coach Željko Obradović.

He also played for the European basketball giant Panathinaikos, during the 1999–00 and 2000–01 seasons, winning with them 2 Greek League championships and 1 EuroLeague championship, at the EuroLeague Final Four in 2000, which was hosted in Thessaloniki. He was awarded with the EuroLeague Final Four MVP.

NBA

Rebrača, a 7'0" center, was a second round (54th overall) draft pick of the Seattle SuperSonics in the 1994 NBA draft. The Sonics immediately traded his NBA rights to the Minnesota Timberwolves, who then traded his rights to the Toronto Raptors in 1999, who in turn, traded his rights to the Detroit Pistons in 2001.

In the NBA, he played for the Detroit Pistons (2001–04), the Atlanta Hawks (2004), and the Los Angeles Clippers (2004–06). His most productive season was his rookie year, in which he averaged 6.9 points and 3.9 rebounds per game, as a member of the Detroit Pistons. His career NBA averages were 5.9 points per game and 3.2 rebounds per game, in 15.3 minutes per game.

Rebrača was plagued with heart problems. Those problems caused him to miss many games in his NBA career, including most of the first half of the 2005–06 NBA season. Rebrača had NBA career highs of 24 points (scored on April 10, 2002), and 16 rebounds (set on January 29, 2005).

Return to Europe

On April 6, 2007, after being on the injured list through the 2006–07 NBA season, Rebrača was waived by the Clippers,[1] and on June 19, 2007, he signed with Pamesa Valencia, in the Spanish basketball league (ACB).[2] On December 17, 2007, Rebraca announced his retirement from playing the game of basketball.[3][4]

National team career

Rebrača was a member of the senior men's FR Yugoslavian national team (for which he became one of the Serbian MVPs). He won the gold medal with his national team at both EuroBaskets 1995 and 1997. With FR Yugoslavia, he also won the silver medal at the 1996 Atlanta Summer Olympics, in the United States.

1998 FIBA World Championship

Rebrača won the gold medal at the 1998 FIBA World Championship as one of the key players of the depleted Yugoslavia roster that missed most of its ageing stars of the era such as Vlade Divac, Predrag Danilović or Žarko Paspalj, while team captain and 1997 European Championship MVP Aleksandar Đorđević played only limited minutes due to a recent injury.

Rebrača was instrumental in winning the closely fought final game against Russia with a block on Mikhail Mikhailov's dunk attempt, followed by a basket after an offensive rebound and finally, two free throws (despite his subpar 55% foul shooting in previous 8 games in the tournament[5]), all in the final 35 seconds of the game. [6]

Rebrača went on to make the all-tournament team averaging 13.6 points and 9.1 rebounds. With him anchoring the team's defense throughout the tournament (7 blocks against Greece in a second round game[7]), clutch performances in the semi-finals against Greece (20 points and 13 rebounds) and the finals against Russia (16 points and 11 rebounds along with his late game heroics), some argued that Rebrača should have been awarded the MVP honors that went to his teammate Dejan Bodiroga instead.[8][9]

Personal life

Rebrača was one of the founding members of the Group Seven Children's Foundation.

His son Filip Rebrača currently plays basketball at the University of North Dakota.[10]

NBA 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	Bold	Career high

Regular season

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
2001–02	Detroit	74	4	15.9	.505	–	.771	3.9	0.5	0.4	1.0	6.9
2002–03	Detroit	30	12	16.3	.552	–	.792	3.1	0.3	0.2	0.6	6.6
2003–04	Detroit	21	2	10.6	.407	–	.786	2.3	0.2	0.4	0.6	3.1
2003–04	Atlanta	3	0	17.0	.522	–	.500	3.0	0.7	0.0	0.7	8.3
2004–05	L.A. Clippers	58	2	16.0	.568	–	.859	3.2	0.4	0.2	0.7	5.8
2005–06	L.A. Clippers	29	2	14.2	.542	–	.756	2.2	0.3	0.2	0.7	4.7
Career		215	22	15.3	.527	–	.792	3.2	0.4	0.3	0.7	5.9

Playoffs

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
2002	Detroit	5	0	13.8	.455	–	.786	2.0	0.0	0.2	0.2	4.2
2003	Detroit	4	0	7.3	.353	–	.714	1.3	0.0	0.0	0.0	4.3
2006	L.A. Clippers	3	0	7.3	.333	–	–	1.3	0.0	0.0	0.3	0.7
Career		12	0	10.0	.387	–	.762	1.6	0.0	0.1	0.2	3.3

See also

• List of Serbian NBA players

References

1. Clippers waive Rebraca; sign Conroy., April 6, 2007.
2. Pamesa Valencia viste de taronja al pívot serbio Zeljko Rebraca, June 19, 2007 (in Spanish).
3. "Two-time Euroleague champ Rebraca retires". Welcome to 7DAYS EuroCup. Retrieved 2020-04-26.
4. Rebrača objavio kraj karijere December 18, 2007 (in Serbian).
5. https://archive.fiba.com/pages/eng/fa/player/p/pid/8685/sid/2914/tid/390/_/1998_World_Championship_for_Men/index.html
6. https://www.fiba.basketball/basketballworldcup/2019/news/classic-games-rebraca-saves-the-day-as-yugoslavia-edge-russia-in-world-cup-1998-final
7. http://www.arhiva.srbija.gov.rs/vesti/1999-06/12/13276.html
8. https://admin.euroleague.net/news/voices/2013-2014/vladimir-stankovic/i/135270/zeljko-rebraca-blocks-master
9. https://www.vreme.com/arhiva_html/428/26.html
10. https://www.grandforksherald.com/sports/basketball/4557252-unds-freshman-center-grew-nba-locker-rooms-and-yells-refs-serbian

External links

• Career statistics and player information from NBA.com  or Basketball-Reference.com
• Željko Rebrača Pictures
• Two-time Euroleague champ Rebraca retires, ULEBCup.com, December 19, 2007