Introduction: For an outsider the name “Cedevita” doesn’t ring a bell, but in the Balkans it’s a brand name. Quite figuratively. Cedevita is a big food manufacturer.
So this business decided to have a sporting branch and chose to buy a local Zagreb club and rename it Cedevita and everything really starts from there.
A regular in the Adriatic League and with some appearances in minor European Cups, their only trophy is a Croatian Cup.
But having the most stable, financially speaking, administration in the entire x-Yugoslavia has allowed them to build a competitive squad luring some known names, such as Croatian internationals Luksa Andric and Marko Tomas while they can afford to employ Euroleague veterans like Predrag Suput, Mickael Gelabale and Bracey Wright.
Coach: Loved and respected by many, but hated and despised by more, Bozidar Maljkovic is a cult figure of European basketball even since the 80s. With four Euroleague titles under his belt he can certainly boast of being in the elite of European coaching, but truth to be told his basketball philosophy is kind of outdated, to say the least.
Nevertheless he has all the tools to succeed, and no team should underestimate the Croats. As always the case with Maljkovic teams their game will be heavily dependent on defense.
Key Player: Local player Luksa Andric should be the key to his team. He has vastly improved his offensive repertoire and having added some post moves and a sweet mid-range jumper he should lead his team scoring. And exactly because he lacks the defensive determination required by Maljkovic he will try to overcompensate those by putting a lot of energy into his offensive game.
Add to that that his fellow Croatian veteran Marko Tomas will remain sidelined for quite some time due to an injury, Andric will have to step up and become a leader.
Breakout Player: Another international Croat, Luka Babic could as well be the breakout player during his team’s first season in Euroleague. Coming from the famous youth setups of Split the talented forward is craving to prove his worth on the elite stage of European basketball.
Labeled by his compatriots as a late bloomer he has much to prove and his main weapon will be his shooting.
Best Euroleague Moment: As aforementioned Cedevita was created pretty recently out of thing air, so this being their first Euroleague season pretty much makes it their best Euroleague moment: just competing with the best of the continent.
