 | Thisbiography of a living personneeds additionalcitations forverification. Please help by addingreliable sources.Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced orpoorly sourcedmust be removed immediately from the article and its talk page, especially if potentiallylibelous. Find sources: "Zoran Čutura" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(August 2010) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1962-03-12)12 March 1962 (age 63) |
| Nationality | Croatian |
| Listed height | 2.02 m (6 ft 8 in) |
| Career information | |
| Playing career | 1978–1995 |
| Position | Small forward /power forward |
| Career history | |
| 1978–1981 | Industromontaža / Monting |
| 1981–1993 | Cibona |
| 1993–1995 | Croatia Osiguranje |
| Career highlights | |
| |
Zoran Čutura (born 12 March 1962 inZagreb) is a former Croatian basketball player. After ending his professional basketball career he started working as asports journalist andcolumnist.[1]
Čutura started playing basketball in his hometownZagreb. His first club was the second division clubIndustromontaža where he spent three years. In 1981 he joined the Zagreb powerhouseCibona whereMirko Novosel was starting to build the future European champion team with players like the veteranKrešimir Ćosić,Aleksandar Petrović,Dražen Petrović,Andro Knego,Mihovil Nakić andBranko Vukićević. This team won two back-to-backEuropean Champions Cups in1985 and1986.[2]
In his first season in Cibona (1981–82), Čutura won a triple crown: theYugoslav Cup by defeatingBosna in the final, theYugoslav League by winning in the first play-off organized by theBasketball Federation of Yugoslavia and theEuropean Cup Winners' Cup by defeatingReal Madrid in the final. He won anotherYugoslav Cup in 1983 and anotherYugoslav League trophy in 1984. The second triple crown came in 1985, this time including theEuropean champion title. For their second European trophy Cibona defeatedReal Madrid in thefinal again with Čutura scoring 16 points.
Čutura won his secondEuropean champion title in 1986 participating with 16 points in thefinal victory againstŽalgiris.
Čutura won two moreYugoslav Cups in 1986 and 1988 as well as anotherEuropean Cup Winners' Cup in1987. In the final victory againstScavolini Pesaro he scored six points. His last trophy withCibona was theCroatian League in 1992.
In 1993, after 12 seasons spent inCibona, Čutura moved toSplit where he spent two seasons before retiring. With Split he won his last trophy—theCroatian Cup in 1994.
Čutura played with theYugoslavia national basketball team at the1979 European Championship for Cadets where his team took gold. He was the team's leading scorer with a 23.9 points average. Čutura's second major tournament was the firstWorld Under-19 Championship, held the same year in Brazil where Yugoslavia finished fourth. His teammates includedŽeljko Obradović,Goran Grbović andZoran Radović. He was the team's top scorer with 16.3 ppg. He was once again the top scorer (22.8 p) of his team (even though still playing for a second division club) at the1980 European Championship for Juniors where he won silver.[2]
Čutura's first major senior tournament was the1985 EuroBasket where Yugoslavia took seventh place.
Čutura won his first senior medal at the1986 World Championship where he played in a talent-packed team alongsideDražen Petrović,Aleksandar Petrović,Dražen Dalipagić,Vlade Divac,Danko Cvjetićanin and others. Yugoslavia took bronze with Čutura contributing 10.3 ppg.
Head coachKrešimir Ćosić did not call-up Čutura for the1987 EuroBasket, but Čutura was back on the team at the1988 Summer Olympics under coachDušan Ivković. Yugoslavia took silver with Čutura making 8.2 ppg.[3] At the1989 Eurobasket played in front of his hometown crowd Čutura (5.0 ppg) along withDražen Petrović,Dino Rađa,Žarko Paspalj,Vlade Divac,Predrag Danilović,Toni Kukoč,Jure Zdovc and others took gold.[2]
Čutura's last major tournament was the1990 World Championship where Yugoslavia were crowned champions. Čutura averaged 4.8 ppg. After the breakup ofYugoslavia, Čutura never made a major tournament squad for theCroatia national basketball team.
After his professional basketball career, Čutura started working as asports journalist andcolumnist. In 2008 he won a prize for the best Croatian sports journalist while writing forJutarnji list.[4]
Čutura is married to Gordana Gojnić-Čutura, a formerCroatia women's national volleyball team player.[5]
He is the father of Tomislav, a former basketball player atLycoming College in Pennsylvania andHana [fr], a professional volleyball player,[6] occasionalCroatia women's national volleyball team player and former student of theUniversity of California, Berkeley. While she studied she played for the Golden Bear volleyball team that was a semifinalist at the 2007 NCAA Division I women's volleyball tournament Final Four, as well as being the 2009 Pac-10 Player of the Year.[7]
|  | |
| ||
| ||
