Žan Tabak
Encyclopedia
Žan Tabak is a retired Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...

n professional basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...

 player. His basketball career, spanning twenty years, was marked by several notable achievements, despite injuries.

Reportedly, Tabak's father-in-law was a top European basketball player, his wife played first-division basketball for Croatia, and his younger brother played professionally in Croatia.

He was the first international player to play in the NBA Finals for two different teams.

In 2006, he worked for the New York Knicks
New York Knicks
The New York Knickerbockers, prominently known as the Knicks, are a professional basketball team based in New York City. They are part of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association...

 as an international scout.

Early career

Žan Tabak began his basketball career in 1985, at the age of fifteen, making his debut with the Jugoplastika Split
KK Split
KK Split , KK Split CO for sponsorship relations is a basketball club from Split, Croatia. Currently, KK Split competes in the A-1 Liga and Krešimir Ćosić Cup.-History:...

 organization. Only a few years later, he and Split teammates Dino Rađa and Toni Kukoč
Toni Kukoc
Toni Kukoč is a retired Croatian professional basketball player. He was renowned for his versatility and passing ability; although his natural position was small forward, he played all five positions on the court with prowess and demonstrated court vision and an outside shooting touch that were...

 led the club to three consecutive European
Euroleague
Euroleague Basketball, commonly known as the Euroleague, is the highest level tier and most important professional club basketball competition in Europe, with teams from up to 18 different countries, members of FIBA Europe. For sponsorship reasons, for five seasons starting with 2010–2011, it is...

 Championships (1989–91), a feat only equaled in Euroleague's storied history by its first champions, ASK Riga
ASK Riga
ASK Rīga is the name of a former professional basketball club based in Riga, Latvia. "ASK" stands for "Armijas Sporta Klubs" .-History:...

, some thirty years before.

Between the draft and the NBA

Rađa and Kukoć were 2nd-round selections in the 1989
1989 NBA Draft
The 1989 NBA Draft took place on June 27, 1989 in New York City, New York, USA. It has been regarded as one of the worst drafts in NBA history, along with the 1986 NBA Draft and the 2000 NBA Draft. Though the draft produced talented players such as Shawn Kemp, Glen Rice, Sean Elliott, Nick...

 and 1990
1990 NBA Draft
The 1990 NBA Draft took place on June 27, 1990, in New York City, New York. This draft produced only one perennial All-Star,Gary Payton. Among the 54 picks, Payton is considered by far the best pick of the draft. Payton went on to be considered one of the greatest point guards of all time...

 National Basketball Association (NBA) Drafts, respectively. The Houston Rockets
Houston Rockets
The Houston Rockets are an American professional basketball team based in Houston, Texas. The team plays in the Southwest Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association . The team was established in 1967, and played in San Diego, California for four years, before being...

 followed suit, drafting Tabak with the 24th pick in the draft's second round (51st overall) in the 1991 NBA Draft
1991 NBA Draft
The 1991 NBA Draft took place on June 26, 1991 in New York City, New York. Dikembe Mutombo is regarded as the best overall pick in this draft, becoming one of the greatest defensive centers in the history of the league. He was a four-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year award winner and an eight...

. He did not immediately play for Houston, however, opting instead to spend another year in Croatia with SD Split.

On June 25, 1991, Croatia, along with Slovenia
Slovenia
Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...

, decided to end relationships with the other republics of the Yugoslavia
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was the Yugoslav state that existed from the abolition of the Yugoslav monarchy until it was dissolved in 1992 amid the Yugoslav Wars. It was a socialist state and a federation made up of six socialist republics: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia,...

. The newly independent state, then, was able to send its own athletes to the 1992 Summer Olympic Games
1992 Summer Olympics
The 1992 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event celebrated in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, in 1992. The International Olympic Committee voted in 1986 to separate the Summer and Winter Games, which had been held in the same...

; this delegation also included a national basketball team.

Along with previous Split teammates and Dražen Petrović
Dražen Petrovic
Dražen Petrović was a Yugoslav and Croatian professional basketball player. A shooting guard, he initially achieved success playing professional basketball in Europe in the 1980s before joining the American NBA in 1989...

, Tabak and the Croatian team performed well and won the silver medal; they were bested only by the star-studded United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 Dream Team.

After Barcelona, Tabak continued with his career, spending two years in the Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 Serie A
Serie A (basketball)
Lega Basket Serie A is the highest level club competition in Italian professional basketball where play determines the national champion. The season consists of a home-and-away schedule of 30 games, followed by an eight-team playoff round. Quarterfinals and semifinals series are best-of-five, and...

 league. In his years there, Tabak shot the ball extremely well, with a field goal percentage of over 60%. He also averaged a double-double in points and rebounds in both the 1992–93 season for Baker Livorno
Libertas Livorno
Libertas Livorno is an Italian professional basketball team from the town of Livorno.It was established in 1947. In 1991 it has merged with another team from Livorno, Pallacanestro Livorno . In 1994 the team has gone bankrupt and is currently playing in Serie C Dilettanti...

 and in the 1993–94 season for Recoaro Milano
Olimpia Milano
Olimpia Milano is a Lega Basket Italian professional basketball team, based in Milan, Italy, founded in 1936 by Milan businessman Adolfo Bogoncelli. Its colors are red and white, and the team is sometimes referred as "Scarpette Rosse" because team officials imported from the United States red...

.

NBA career

Over three years after he was drafted by them, Tabak was signed by the Rockets on July 20, 1994. With nine years of experience, he played his first NBA minutes on November 5, 1994. As a "rookie", he saw limited playing time, averaging less than five minutes per game in thirty-seven appearances. He spent the season as a backup to Hakeem Olajuwon
Hakeem Olajuwon
Hakeem Abdul Olajuwon is a retired Nigerian-American professional basketball player. From 1984 to 2002, he played the center position in the National Basketball Association for the Houston Rockets and Toronto Raptors. He led the Rockets to back-to-back NBA championships in 1994 and 1995. In 2008,...

, who led Houston to the franchise's second NBA title that year.

In the subsequent year's expansion draft
Expansion draft
An expansion draft, in professional sports, occurs when a sports league decides to create one or more new expansion teams or franchises. This occurs mainly in North American sports. One of the ways of stocking the new team or teams is an expansion draft...

 (1995), Tabak was selected by the Toronto Raptors
Toronto Raptors
The Toronto Raptors are a professional basketball team based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. They are part of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association . The team was established in 1995, along with the Vancouver Grizzlies, as part of the NBA's re-expansion...

. He started several games and saw increased playing time, but a strained left groin kept him from competing during the close of the 1995–96
1995-96 NBA season
The 1995–96 NBA season was the 50th season of the National Basketball Association , although the league didn't celebrate this anniversary until the following season...

 season. Tabak did not fare well in the following season, either; plantar fasciitis
Plantar fasciitis
Plantar fasciitis is a painful inflammatory process of the plantar fascia, the connective tissue on the sole of the foot.Longstanding cases of plantar fasciitis often demonstrate more degenerative changes than inflammatory changes, in which case they are termed plantar fasciosis. The suffix...

 in his left foot restricted his appearances to thirteen games.

After another average start and a transverse fracture to a metacarpal bone in his right hand, Tabak was traded in a seven-player deal to the Boston Celtics
Boston Celtics
The Boston Celtics are a National Basketball Association team based in Boston, Massachusetts. They play in the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference. Founded in 1946, the team is currently owned by Boston Basketball Partners LLC. The Celtics play their home games at the TD Garden, which...

 in the February of 1998.

Tabak played in Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

 for Fenerbahçe
Fenerbahçe Ülker
Fenerbahçe Ülker is the professional men's basketball department of Fenerbahçe S.K., a major multisport club based in Istanbul, Turkey. The department has been sponsored by the Ülker since 2006. In 2006 Fenerbahçe S.K...

 during the next year. He then returned to the NBA and signed with the Indiana Pacers
Indiana Pacers
The Indiana Pacers are a professional basketball team based in Indianapolis, Indiana. They are members of the Central Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Basketball Association...

. As back-up to Rik Smits
Rik Smits
Rik Smits is a retired Dutch professional basketball player who spent his entire professional career with the Indiana Pacers of the National Basketball Association. The 7'4" center was drafted by the Pacers out of Marist College with the second overall pick in the 1988 NBA Draft...

, Tabak contributed to the Pacers' appearance in the 2000 NBA Finals
2000 NBA Finals
The 2000 NBA Finals was the championship round of the 1999-2000 National Basketball Association season. The Los Angeles Lakers of the Western Conference took on the Indiana Pacers of the Eastern Conference for the title, with the Lakers holding home court advantage...

, which was ultimately won by the Los Angeles Lakers
Los Angeles Lakers
The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles, California. They play in the Pacific Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association...

.

The 2000-01 season was to be Tabak's last in the NBA, despite improved numbers and increased playing time. When asked about his decision to return to European basketball Tabak said "...I wanted to come back [to Europe] because I felt I was 31 years old and I was feeling my career was coming to the end. I didn't want to finish my career being just one of the players. I wanted to be an important player in my team."

Post-NBA career

Tabak spent the remaining four years of his playing career in Spain with Real Madrid
Real Madrid Baloncesto
Real Madrid Baloncesto is a Spanish professional basketball team founded in 1932 as a division of the Real Madrid club. They play in the Asociación de Clubes de Baloncesto ....

, DKV Joventut
Joventut Badalona
Club Joventut Badalona, S.A.D. is a Spanish professional basketball club based in Badalona, Catalonia, playing in the Asociación de Clubs de Baloncesto . Known to their fans as La Penya , it is one of only three teams that have never been relegated from the top division of the Spanish League...

, and Unicaja Málaga. He still modeled a high caliber of play during his later career. Even as he won with Split and the Rockets in his earlier days, he ended twenty years of professional basketball also as a winner: along with Jorge Garbajosa
Jorge Garbajosa
Jorge Garbajosa Chaparro, Jr., nicknamed "Garbo" , is a Spanish professional basketball player. At 2.07 m , he plays both power forward and small forward.-Pro career:*1994-97 Taugres*1997-00 TAU Cerámica...

, Tabak helped Málaga to win the 2005 King's Cup
Copa del Rey de Baloncesto
The Copa del Rey de Baloncesto is an annual cup competition for Spanish basketball teams organized by Spain's top professional league, Asociación de Clubes de Baloncesto. It was originally known as the Copa de España de Baloncesto and was first played in 1933. It was the first nationwide...

, the Spanish premier league's championship.

In 2011, he debuted as head coach with Sant Josep Girona
CB Sant Josep
Club Bàsquet Sant Josep is a professional basketball team based in Girona, Catalonia, Spain. The team is currently playing in LEB Oro. By sponsorship reasons, the club is also known as Girona FC.-History:...

 of the LEB Oro
Liga Española de Baloncesto
Liga Española de Baloncesto is the second league of the Spanish basketball league system behind the ACB. It is run by the FEB. The Liga Española de Baloncesto is divided into two categories and they are sponsored by Adecco. The names of the two leagues are Adecco Oro and Adecco Plata.The LEB league...

league.
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