| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1967-03-21)21 March 1967 (age 58) |
| Nationality | Serbian / Greek |
| Listed height | 2.11 m (6 ft 11 in) |
| Listed weight | 116 kg (256 lb) |
| Career information | |
| College | Marist (1984–1987; 1988–1989) |
| NBA draft | 1989:undrafted |
| Playing career | 1989–2000 |
| Position | Power forward |
| Number | 11, 14 |
| Career history | |
| 1987–1988 | Partizan |
| 1989–1991 | Partizan |
| 1991–1994 | Aris |
| 1994–1996 | Panathinaikos |
| 1996–1997 | Panionios |
| 1997–1998 | Polti Cantù |
| 1999 | Cholet |
| 1999–2000 | Gijón |
| Career highlights | |
| |
Miroslav Pecarski (Serbian Cyrillic:Мирослав Пецарски; born 21 March 1967) is a Serbian former professionalbasketball player. He played professionally forPartizan,Aris,Panathinaikos,Panionios,Pallacanestro Cantù,Cholet andCabitel Gijón.
Following agrowth spurt at age thirteen, teenage Pecarski began pursuing basketball in his hometownKikinda.[1]
Marking himself out with height and strong build, the teenager received a call-up to theRusmir Halilović-coachedYugoslav cadet team during summer 1983.[1]
Teenage Pecarski left his home to go playcollege basketball atMarist College inPoughkeepsie, New York, arriving there in summer 1984 under the newly appointed head coachMatt Furjanic. Considered by some to be Europe's top seventeen-year-old player—having just played a significant role on the bronze-winningYugoslav junior national team at theEuropean Junior Championship inSweden and starring on the gold-winningYugoslav cadet team at theEuropean Cadet Championship inWest Germany the year before—Pecarski was injured in the preseason thus opening up an opportunity atcenter for another newly acquired European prospect, eighteen-year-old DutchmanRik Smits.[2]
TheRed Foxes had a successful1985–86 season, making the 64-teamNCAA tournament for the first time in team's history. However, they went out at the very first hurdle in the first round of the Southeast regional bracket, losing by 15 points versus theGeorgia Tech team featuring future NBA playersMark Price,John Salley,Tom Hammonds,Duane Ferrell, andCraig Neal. Pecarski averaged 10.5points per game and 5.9 rebounds per game over the entire season.[3]
During summer 1986, Pecarski played on theSvetislav Pešić-coachedYugoslav junior national team at theEuropean Junior Championship in Austria.
Thefollowing season, playing under new head coachDave Magarity, Pecarski improved his scoring average to 12.4points per game and led the team in rebounds with 8.4 boards per game, as the Red Foxes repeated the feat of making theNCAA tournament, but were again eliminated in the first round—this time byPittsburgh.[4]
Following making theSvetislav Pešić-coached gold medal-winningYugoslavia under-19 team at theFIBA Under-19 World Championship during summer 1987 inBormio, Pecarski opted not to play for the Red Foxes in the 1987–88 season, choosing to explore his options in Europe by going back to Yugoslavia and signing astipend-based contract with reigningYugoslav League championsKK Partizan in hopes of giving himself a better shot at making theYugoslavia roster for the1988 Olympics.[5][6] Pecarski's other considerations for transferring to Partizan included the fact that the club's vice-president, Yugoslav basketball legendDragan Kićanović, personally recruited and pursued the youngster.[1]
Coached byDuško Vujošević, twenty-year-old Pecarski was mostly deployed atcenter as backup for nineteen-year-oldVlade Divac while the previous season's backup centerMilenko Savović went away to serve his mandatoryYugoslav People's Army (JNA) service. The two young bigs, Divac and Pecarski, had already known each other well, having just spent most of the summer 1987 together with the Yugoslavia under-19 team. Other Partizan teammates that the newcomer Pecarski had already known well from his previous Yugoslavia youth national team participations were twenty-year-oldSaša Đorđević and twenty-one-year-oldsŽarko Paspalj andIvo Nakić. Pecarski immediately became a crowd favourite for his spectacular behind-the-backdunks.[1]
The young and talented squad—featuring future European stars Paspalj and Đorđević, in addition to young NBA prospect Divac who had already been projected to go high at thenext NBA draft as well as experienced playersGoran Grbović andŽeljko Obradović—was competing well on three fronts: Yugoslav League, Yugoslav Cup, and European Champions Cup.
On 6 February 1988, Pecarski was one of the main protagonists of the ill-tempered Yugoslav Cup semifinal contest against Jugoplastika atRijeka'sDvorana Mladosti. Partizan was up 40-29 in the 18th minute, largely behind Pecarski's play at both ends of the floor. Jugoplastika then went on a 30-6 run over the following 10 minutes, winning 73-75 in the end.[7] Numerous scuffles occurred towards the end of the contest—involving Jugoplastika'sToni Kukoč and Partizan's Nakić getting ejecting in the 29th minute as well as, later on, Partizan's head coach Vujošević, small forward Grbović, and even club vice-president Kićanović receiving technicals after being incensed by the decisions of the two referees Zdravko Kurilić (from Tuzla) and Izstok Rems (from Ljubljana)—as the proceedings nearly degenerated into an all out brawl.[7]
Two months later, Partizan made theEuropean Champions CupFinal Four inGhent,Belgium, losing toMaccabi Tel Aviv in a closely contested semifinal with Pecarski contributing 8 points. Two days later in the third-place game, Partizan beat the Greek championAris with Pecarski scoring 24 points.
Domestically in theYugoslav league, Partizan finished the regular season in third place, behindJugoplastika andDražen Petrović-ledCibona. In the playoffs, Partizan overcame the lack of home-court advantage in its semifinal series against Cibona, winning the deciding game 3 away in Zagreb 77-83. However, the up-and-comingBoža Maljković-coachedJugoplastika team, featuring exceptional prospectsToni Kukoč andDino Rađa, proved too much in the final series, beating Partizan 2-games-to-1 including the deciding game 3 blowout, 88-67, inSplit.
In summer 1988, Pacerski got called up for the Yugoslavia national team as part of its 1988 Olympic cycle.[8] After participating in the successfulqualifying tournament in theNetherlands in July 1988 that saw Yugoslavia clinch a spot at the Seoul Olympics, Pecarski ended up getting cut from the national team by head coachDušan Ivković who decided to take Cibona centerFranjo Arapović to the Olympics as the fourth big on the squad, behind Divac, Rađa, andStojko Vranković.[8]
Pecarski decided to return to Marist for the 1988–89 season, averaging 19.5points per game, 9.1 rebounds per game and 1.1 blocks per game, leading the school in all three categories.[9]
After completing the 1988-89 season with Marist—in anticipation of theNBA draft where he had been set to be picked according to most projections (includingSports Illustrated's)—Pecarski came back to KK Partizan, re-joining them in April 1989 ahead of theYugoslav League playoffs final series versus Jugoplastika.[10] Returning to the club whose roster more-or-less stayed intact compared to the squad he had left the previous summer; the only difference beingGoran Grbović replaced with youngPredrag Danilović at small forward. A re-match of the previous season's Yugoslav League playoff finals, Partizan (having a home court advantage this time) ended up getting swept 0-3 in the best-of-five series after losing game one at home 73-74 then leaving the court before the end of game two in Split with Jugopplastika up 75-70. Game three was administratively awarded to Jugoplastika by the Yugoslav Basketball Federation (KSJ) as punishment for Partizan walking off the court in game two.
After not gettingdrafted and also seeing his subsequent attempts at joining theIndiana Pacers as an undrafted player not come to fruition, Pecarski stayed with Partizan for the following 1989-90 season.[10] With head coach Vujošević gone (replaced byReba Ćorković), along with main squad players gone as well—either transferred out (Divac and Paspalj to the NBA, Đorđević and Obradović away serving their mandatory Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) stints) or unavailable through injury (Danilović broke his leg 11 games into the season)—Partizan had an exceptionallysubpar season, at one point fighting for mere league survival.
As a member of Partizan, Pecarski played at the1988 FIBA European Champions Cup Final Four (1988 EuroLeague Final Four) inGhent. He also won theFIBA Korać Cup in 1989, and theYugoslav Cup in 1989.
Pecarski obtained a Greek passport in order to obtain playing eligibility as a native in Greece. He won theGreek Cup in 1992, and theFIBA European Cup (FIBA Saporta Cup) in 1993, withSato Aris. With Panathinaikos, Pecarski won theFIBA European League (EuroLeague) and theGreek Cup in 1996. He also played at the1995 FIBA European League Final Four (1995 EuroLeague Final Four), inZaragoza.
In addition to his native Serbia, Pecarski also holdsGreek citizenship — obtained for practical reasons of playing without EU administrative restrictions while in the country between 1991 and 1997. All throughout his Greek stint, Pecarski competed under the nameMiroslav Mylonas (Greek:Μίροσλαβ Μυλωνάς).[11][12]
His sonMarko (born 2000) is also a basketball player.
Pecarski andSlaviša Koprivica played together on theYugoslavia national under-19 basketball team, winning gold at the1987 FIBA Under-19 World Championship. Thirty years later, their sons Marko Pecarski andBalša Koprivica, respectively, played together on theSerbia national under-18 basketball team,[13] winning gold at the2017 FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship.
