And the biggest heart stopped beating - Dejan Milojevic died at the age of 47.
The man who, as a player, disarmed significantly more, often and much more difficult rivals with his incredible combativeness, courage and intellect, as a coach, delighted with his dedication and knowledge, and won everyone who had the honor of meeting him with the most sincere smile, lost the most important battle. A battle he fell into without any warning.
The former center and coach of Buducnosti suddenly fell ill in Salt Lake City, where he and his colleagues from the Golden State Warriors had a team dinner before the match against Utah.
Early this morning, American time, it was announced that Milojević suffered a heart attack and is in a critical but stable condition. Unfortunately, his condition worsened, he did not last...
Milojević drew attention to himself as a 16-year-old, when he scored 141 points for OKK Belgrade in Tašmajdan. He started his senior career in Beovuk, as Tašmajdan was called, in 1994, was in FMP from 1998 to 2000, and wore the Budućnosti jersey from 2000 to 2004.
In Podgorica, he left an indelible mark with incredible combativeness, knowledge and kindness that disarmed everyone who met him. As a player of Budućnost, he still holds the record of the regional competition with 59 index points in the victory over Lovcen, and he also won the double crown in the 2000/2001 season.
In Partizan, he also became a favorite of the fans and everyone in the club in a short time, then he played for Valencia and Galatasaray, and ended his career in 2009 as a player of the Belgrade "Black and White", although he did not play a single match in the second term due to injury.
After a year away from basketball, he became the sports director, and in 2012, the coach of Mega. He was a key figure in shaping many of today's basketball stars, and he "polished" even the biggest - Nikola Jokić.
A total of 12 of his players were selected in the NBA draft, and together with Mega, he made history by winning the Radivoj Korac Cup and playing in the ABA League finals in the 2015/2016 season. At that time, his supporters were the people of Podgorica Nikola Ivanovic i Danilo Nikolic, with whom he eliminated Budućnost in the semifinals of the regional competition.
President of the Blues Dragan Bokan tried many times to bring him to the bench, and he succeeded at the end of January 2021. Milojević led the team to the double crown in Montenegro, the final of the ABA League and the quarter-final of the Eurocup. He wanted to stay, and management wanted him to, but Golden State's offer couldn't be turned down.
In the first season with the "warriors", where he was in charge of working with the centers, he won an NBA ring.
He left behind many successes, friendships, wonderful memories... Podgorica and Montenegro will remember him forever, just like everyone who ever had the honor of exchanging a word with him.
He explained his life philosophy not so long ago in the "Pojačalo" podcast, where he explained why he used to go to Valencia, Istanbul..., and finally San Francisco. Those words of his now bring tears to my eyes.
"I chose to live beautifully. Maybe it shouldn't be like that if you're building a career, but I didn't care. We have one life and we should see to it that we enjoy all aspects of life as much as possible. I am convinced that you will not do your job well if you are not satisfied with your life outside of basketball," said Miloje.
And he lived life to the fullest, but briefly, too briefly...
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