Dejan Milojević

Dejan Milojević

Milojević, the coach of Mega Vizura, at the press-conference following a game versus MZT Skopje in February 2014.
Mega Leks
Position	Head coach
League	Basketball League of Serbia Adriatic League
Personal information
Born	April 15, 1977 Belgrade, SR Serbia, SFR Yugoslavia
Nationality	Serbian
Listed height	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)
Listed weight	254 lb (115 kg)
Career information
NBA draft	1999 / Undrafted
Playing career	1997–2009
Position	Power forward
Number	13, 31
Coaching career	2012–present
Career history
As player:
1997–1998	Beovuk 72
1998–2000	FMP Železnik
2000–2004	Budućnost Podgorica
2004–2006	Partizan
2006–2008	Pamesa Valencia
2008–2009	Galatasaray
2009	Partizan
As coach:
2012–present	Mega Vizura / Leks
Career highlights and awards
3x Adriatic League MVP (2004, 2005, 2006)
Medals Men's basketball Competitor for  Yugoslavia EuroBasket 2001 Turkey Team '22 & under' European Championship 1998 Italy Team

Dejan Milojević (Serbian Cyrillic: Дејан Милојевић; born April 15, 1977) is a Serbian professional basketball coach and former professional basketball player who played at the power forward position. He also played for the Serbian national basketball team. Milojević is currently serving as a head coach of Mega Leks in the Basketball League of Serbia.

Early years

Milojević was born and raised in Belgrade, and started playing basketball for a small team named Beovuk. He was quite a dominant figure while playing in youth leagues, once scoring 131 points in a single game, a still-standing record.

Professional career

His professional career began in 1998 with a first division club KK FMP from the Belgrade suburb of Železnik. While playing a couple of seasons for a club well known for its working with young players, the 6 ft 7 in Milojević became famous for his blue collar and never-quit style of playing. He averaged a double-double in both of his seasons with FMP, and won the league MVP award in 1999.

In 2000, Milojević moved to KK Budućnost Podgorica in Montenegro, where he won his first national championship in 2001. He spent three more seasons there, improving his skills and his game every year. Already a dominating inside presence, he improved his three-point and free-throw shooting, an area in which he struggled a lot in early years. While in Budućnost he won a couple more league MVP Awards, in 2003 and 2004.

After averaging 20.5 points and 10.8 rebounds per game in 2003–04, his third MVP season, Milojević decided he wanted to play in the Euroleague against the best players on the continent, so he signed with the three-time defending champion KK Partizan. Although Partizan underachieved in the competition, Milojević was his usual dominant self, averaging 20.8 ppg, 11.5 rpg, and just over 3 steals and assists per game. He was also the key player for Partizan's another title rout in the domestic league, as they lost only one game during the playoffs.

In the 2005–06 season, another rather weak year for Partizan in the Euroleague, Milojević had another double-double Euroleague season, scoring 16.4 ppg and grabbing 10 rebounds per game, also winning a couple of Player of the Week honors.

From Partizan, Milojević moved to the Spanish side Pamesa Valencia, where he played two seasons, finishing his international career with the Turkish club Galatasaray Café Crown in the 2008–09 season. He moved back to Partizan in 2009, but soon decided to end his career because of knee injury.^[1]

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	PIR	Performance Index Rating
Bold	Career high

Note: The Euroleague is not the only competition in which the player participated for the team during the season, he also played in domestic competition.

Euroleague

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG	PIR
2000–01	Budućnost	11	2	13.5	.622	.000	.333	3.2	.2	.6	.0	4.6	3.0
2001–02	Budućnost	8	6	23.4	.545	.412	.375	6.4	.4	1.6	.3	9.5	9.5
2002–03	Budućnost	14	13	31.7	.592	.000	.695	6.5	2.4	1.8	.2	11.6	15.1
2004–05	Partizan	6	6	35.5	.634	.000	.700	11.5	3.3	3.5	.3	20.8	30.5
2005–06	Partizan	12	12	34.6	.419	.294	.730	10.1	2.3	1.9	.1	16.4	23.6
Career		51	39	27.6	.539	.214	.662	7.2	1.7	1.7	.2	12.0	15.4

National team

As far as the national team in concerned, Milojević won the gold medal in the 2001 European Championship in Turkey, and played for the national team in a few more occasions.

Coaching career

In October 2012, three years after retiring from the professional basketball, Milojević became the head coach of Serbian team Mega Vizura.^[2] In his first season with the team he had great success, leading his team to the semifinal of the Basketball League of Serbia, winning the place in the regional Adriatic League for the next season. In team's first ABA League season, he led the team to 8th place with 12-14 record.

References

1. "Milojević završio karijeru". rts.rs (in Serbian). kosarka.rs. Retrieved 24 May 2014.
2. "Dejan Milojević trener Mega Vizure". b92.net (in Serbian). Retrieved 24 May 2014.

External links

• Dejan Milojević at euroleague.net
• Dejan Milojević at galatasaray.org