Željko Rebrača

Željko Rebrača
Personal information
Born (1972-04-09) April 9, 1972
Apatin, SR Serbia, SFR Yugoslavia
Nationality Serbian
Listed height 2.13 m (7 ft 0 in)
Listed weight 120 kg (265 lb)
Career information
NBA draft 1994 / Round: 2 / Pick: 54th overall
Selected by the Seattle SuperSonics
Playing career 1990–2007
Position Center
Number 39, 12, 11
Career history
1990–1991 NAP Novi Sad
1991–1995 Partizan
1995–1999 Benetton Treviso
1999–2001 Panathinaikos
20012004 Detroit Pistons
2004 Atlanta Hawks
20042007 Los Angeles Clippers
2007 Pamesa Valencia
Career highlights and awards
Career NBA statistics
Points 1,276 (5.9 ppg)
Rebounds 688 (3.2 rpg)
FG% .527
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com

Željko Rebrača (Serbian Cyrillic: Жељко Ребрача; born April 9, 1972) is a retired Serbian professional basketball player. After playing in the National Basketball Association (NBA), he finished his career with the Spanish ACB League team Pamesa Valencia.

Professional career

Europe

Rebrača began his professional career in 1991, with KK Partizan. With KK Partizan, he won 2 Yugo League championships (1992 and 1995), 3 Yugoslav Cups (1992, 1994, and 1995), and the Euroleague (1992).

In 1995–99, he played in the Italian League for Benetton Treviso, where he won the Italian League championship in 1997, under coach Mike D'Antoni. He followed up that by winning the Italian Supercup in 1997, and the Saporta Cup in 1999, while playing under coach Željko Obradović.

He also played for the European basketball giant Panathinaikos, during the 1999–00 and 2000–01 seasons, winning with them 2 Greek League championships and 1 Euroleague championship, at the Euroleague Final Four in 2000, which was hosted in Thessaloniki. He was awarded with the Euroleague Final Four MVP.

NBA

Rebrača, a 7'0" center, was a second round (54th overall) draft pick of the Seattle SuperSonics in the 1994 NBA draft. The Sonics immediately traded his NBA rights to the Minnesota Timberwolves, who then traded his rights to the Toronto Raptors in 1999, who in turn, traded his rights to the Detroit Pistons in 2001.

In the NBA, he played for the Detroit Pistons (2001–04), the Atlanta Hawks (2004), and the Los Angeles Clippers (2004–06). His most productive season was his rookie year, in which he averaged 6.9 points and 3.9 rebounds per game, as a member of the Detroit Pistons. His career NBA averages were 5.9 points per game and 3.2 rebounds per game, in 15.3 minutes per game.

Rebrača has been plagued with heart problems. Those problems caused him to miss many games in his NBA career, including most of the first half of the 2005–06 NBA season. Rebrača holds NBA career highs of 24 points (scored on April 10, 2002), and 16 rebounds (set on January 29, 2005).

On April 6, 2007, after being on the injured list through the 2006–07 NBA season, Rebrača was waived by the Clippers,[1] and on June 19, 2007, he signed with Pamesa Valencia, in the Spanish basketball league ACB.[2] On December 17, 2007, Rebraca announced his retirement from the game of basketball.[3][4]

International career

Rebrača was a member of the senior men's Yugoslavian national team (for which he became one of the Serbian MVPs). He won the gold medal with his national team at both EuroBaskets 1995 and 1997. With Yugoslavia, he also won the silver medal at the 1996 Olympic Basketball Tournament in Atlanta, in the United States. He also won the gold medal at the 1998 FIBA World Championship.

Personal

Rebrača was one of the founding members of the Group Seven Children's Foundation.

References

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