Aleksandar "Saša" Đorđević or Sale Đorđević (Anglicized: Sasha Djordjevic; Serbian Cyrillic: Александар Саша Ђорђевић, pronounced[aleksǎːndarsâʃadʑǒːrdʑeʋitɕ]; born 26 August 1967) is a Serbian professional basketball coach and former player. He currently serves as a head coach for the senior China. During his playing career, he was listed as a 1.88 m (6'2") 90 kg (198 lb.)[1][2]point guard.
Born in 1967 into a sporting family, both of Aleksandar's parents—retired basketball player father Bratislav a.k.a. Bata and mother Milijana—worked as primary school physical education teachers.[7] His father simultaneously pursued basketball coaching, an activity that would eventually turn into a notable professional career after the summer 1971 marquee appointment as KK Crvena zvezda's head coach and immediate success leading the team to the Yugoslav League title, won in a dramatic neutral-venue, single-game playoff versus Jugoplastika Split that went into overtime.[8]
The family lived in New Belgrade where young Aleksandar a.k.a. Saša was immersed in basketball from an early age.[9][7] Following in young Saša's footsteps, his younger brother Miloš would also end up pursuing basketball, getting as far as youth categories within the KK Partizan system.[7]
Ahead of the next season, 1984-85, Partizan underwent a front-office shakeup that saw freshly-retired Yugoslav and club legend Dragan Kićanović appointed to the club vice-president post. The club also hired another Yugoslav basketball legend Moka Slavnić to be the new head coach thus giving him a chance to coach right after ending his illustrious playing career.[citation needed]
In summer 1990, after being away from competitive basketball for a year due to serving his mandatory Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) stint, twenty-three-year-old Đorđević spent four months at the Boston Celtics' free agent training camp, competing for a spot on the 1990–91 Celtics roster against some thirty other point guards.[10] Đorđević joined the camp on recommendation from the Celtics' scoutMišo Oštarčević [hr], making it to the very end of the selection process before getting cut shortly before the season began due to Brian Shaw's return to the club from Virtus Roma.[citation needed]
After his NBA stint with the Portland Trail Blazers in 1996, Đorđević signed with FC Barcelona of Spain's premier competition, the Liga ACB. He stayed with the club for three seasons (1996–97, 1997–98, and 1998–99). With Barcelona, he won the European-wide third-tier level FIBA Korać Cup championship of the 1998–99 season, and he was the final's top scorer. He also won two Spanish ACB League championships with the club, in the 1996–97 and 1998–99 seasons.
Real Madrid (1999–2002)
In 1999, Đorđević joined the Spanish ACB League club Real Madrid.[17] With Real Madrid, he won the championship of the 1999–00 Spanish League season in FC Barcelona's arena. As he celebrated the title in the court he was pushed by his former teammate Nacho Rodríguez,[18] who claimed that "Sasha has to know that you can't do that in an opponent's grounds".[19]
He also spent the 2000–01 and 2001–02 seasons with the club.
Scavolini Pesaro (2003–2004)
After a season off, Đorđević returned to Italy and he signed with Scavolini Pesaro for the 2003–04 season. With Scavolini, Djordjevic reached the finals of the 2004 Italian Cup, where his team lost to Benetton Treviso. He also played with Pesaro in the beginning of the 2004–05 season.
Return to Olimpia Milano (2005)
On 25 February 2005, Đorđević signed with Olimpia Milano again. The club made it to the 2004–05 Italian League's Finals, where they lost to Fortitudo Bologna, 3 games to 1. The 2004–05 season was the last season of Đorđević's pro club career.
Retirement game
Đorđević officially retired from playing professional club basketball on 3 July 2005, after an exhibition game, which was held in his honor. The game was held in front of the Serbian fans in Belgrade. Many of his former teammates and toughest opponents played in that game.
Đorđević was also a member of the senior FR Yugoslav national team. With FR Yugoslavia, he won the gold medal at the 1995 EuroBasket, where he had one of the best individual performances ever in a EuroBasket Finals game. In that 1995 EuroBasket Finals game against Lithuania, he scored 41 points and made 9 out of his 12 three-point shot attempts. He also won the silver medal at the 1996 Summer Olympics.
Đorđević won another gold medal at the 1997 EuroBasket. During that tournament, he hit a game-winning shot against Croatia. Finally, Đorđević won another gold medal at the 1998 FIBA World Cup.[20]
On 20 June 2015, Đorđević signed a two-year contract to be the head coach of Panathinaikos, a club competing in the Greek Basket League and the EuroLeague.[22] With Panathinaikos, he won the 2016 edition of the Greek Cup. On 20 April 2016, Panathinaikos announced the termination of Đorđević's contract.[23]
Bayern Munich (2016–2018)
On 1 August 2016, Đorđević signed a two-year contract with the German Bundesliga team Bayern Munich, to be their head coach.[24] In European-wide competitions, Bayern Munich participated in one of Europe's two secondary competitions, the 2016–17 EuroCup, where it was defeated in the quarterfinals by Unicaja. Bayern Munich finished the 2016–17 Basketball Bundesliga regular season in 3rd place, with 28–4 record, and was eliminated by Brose Bamberg in their semifinal playoff series, with a 3–0 series score. Bayern also finished as the runner-up of the 2017 German Cup for the second season in a row, after losing in the Cup's Final to Brose Bamberg, by a score of 74–71.
Over the summer of 2017, Maik Zirbes, a prominent center, joined the team. Bayern Munich started the 2017–18 German League season in a dominant fashion, leading the league's standings table. In February 2018, Bayern Munich won the 2018 German Cup, after an 80–75 win over Alba Berlin, and the club thus won the German Cup trophy for the first time in 50 years.[25]
On 29 March 2018, Đorđević was sacked by Bayern, after the club's elimination in the semifinals of the 2017–18 EuroCup.[26] During that season, Bayern Munich held the first position in the 2017–18 Basketball Bundesliga regular season standings, with a record of 23–2, before he was sacked.[26] A few days after his dismissal, Đorđević stated that his firing was an "insult for common sense", especially since the 2017–18 season was one of the most successful in the team's history.[27] He also added that there was an apparent disagreement between the team's management (in particular general managerMarko Pešić), and his coaching staff, as he had not allowed the team's management to have a bigger role in coaching decisions.[27]
On 7 December 2020, just 10 games after the starting of the season, Đorđević was unexpectedly and suddenly relieved from Bologna and, with him, his coaching assistant Goran Bjedov.[41] However, on the following day, after a long confrontation with the ownership, Đorđević was confirmed as coach.[42] In April 2021, despite a winning record of 19–2, Virtus was defeated in the EuroCup's semifinals by UNICS Kazan.[43] However, the season ended with a great success. In fact, after having knocked out 3–0 both Basket Treviso in the quarterfinals and New Basket Brindisi in the semifinals, on 11 June Virtus defeated 4–0 its historic rival Olimpia Milano in the national finals, winning its 16th national title and the first one after twenty years.[44] With a winning record of 10–0, Đorđević became the coach with the best playoffs winning percentage in the history of the club.
On 15 June, after a few days from the victory, Đorđević was not renewed as head coach at the end of his two-year contract, due to tensions with the club's ownership which occurred during the season.[45]
Note: The EuroLeague is not the only competition in which the team played during the season. He also coached in domestic competition, and regional competition if applicable.
His second major tournament in which he led the Serbian national team was the 2015 EuroBasket. In the first phase of the tournament, Serbia dominated in the tournament's toughest group (Group B), with a 5–0 record, and then eliminated Finland and the Czech Republic in the round of 16 and quarterfinal games, respectively. However, Serbia were stopped in their semifinal game by Lithuania, by a score of 67–64,[50] and they eventually also lost to the host team, France, in the bronze-medal game, by a score of 81–68.[51]
On 21 August 2016, he led Serbia's national team to the silver medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics. At the 2017 EuroBasket, Serbia won the silver medal, after losing in the final game to Slovenia.[52]
At the 2019 FIBA World Cup, Serbia lost to Argentina in their quarterfinals game. In the classification games, Serbia defeated the United States and Czech Republic, and thus finished the tournament in 5th place.[53] After the game versus the Czech Republic, Đorđević announced that he would no longer be the head coach of Serbia's senior national team.[54]