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Filip Petrusev is now one of the best players of Crvena Zvezda with the presence of coach Dusko Ivanovic on the bench being the key to his rise
Filip Petrusev of Crvena Zvezda is a living testimony that you should never give up on your dream, even when everything doesn’t seem to go your way. And if you are lucky enough you might get just the right mentor to propel you the right way.
While coach Dusko Ivanovic is getting credited for the huge turnaround of Zvezda’s season, and rightfully so, he is a coach who liked to develop talent even at the highest level and Petrusev seems to be the latest front-line revelation of Ivanovic’s work.
After all, good old Dusko is all about work. His practices are notoriously demanding, he doesn’t like cutting corners and he is currently probably the most old-school coach in the EuroLeague, a stubborn Montenegrin student of the ex-Yugoslav ways.
However, this isn’t bad at all. Under Ivanovic, Luis Scola and Tiago Splitter became international stars, reaching the final of the 2005 EuroLeague in Moscow and then emerging as international basketball icons and legends in Argentina and Brazil, making it all the way to the NBA.
Enter, Petrusev, an NBA prospect since his early years with undeniable potential, who until recently seemed lost. It’s not that he didn’t have his share of success in every level he played so far, but at 22 years of age, there were already doubts about him delivering what he was expected to.
Coming from a season in Anadolu Efes, where he averaged just nine minutes of play in 22 EuroLeague games, never really getting a regular spot in the rotation of the back-to-back EuroLeague champions, Petrusev returned to Serbia for Crvena Zvezda and the start of the season was not encouraging either for him or the team.
Despite some flashes of his talent, including a double-double (16 p. 12 r.) against Monaco in the sixth round, Petrusev once again, despite getting more minutes, was not making a difference. Zvezda started the season with a 1-6 record and Dusko Ivanovic was brought in to turn things around.
Nobody could expect what happened after that.
With a 9-8 total record, Zvezda is not a playoffs contender and Petrusev has emerged as one of the top young players of the league, averaging 27 index points in the last four contests while scoring 20,75 points per game. Getting the MVP award of Round 17 was the icing on the cake, as both he and Dusko Ivanovic can be proud.
This is not the first time that he is responsible for a huge player transformation and Splitter and Scola are prime examples. Just look at the improvement of the numbers of those players between their first and second seasons under Ivanovic.
Louis Scola
2000-01: 8,7 points – 4,4 rebounds – 54% FG – 7 PIR
2001-02: 15,9 points – 4,6 rebounds – 68% FG – 16,8 PIR
Tiago Splitter
2003-04: 4 points – 2,4 rebounds – 61% FG – 3,9 PIR
2004-05: 7 points – 4,5 rebounds – 54% FG – 7,6 PIR
Ivanovic pretty much doubles the production of his players and if they are ready to put in the extra work, he is there to push them, maybe sometimes even if they don’t want to put in the extra work, but that’s another story.
Just look at the numbers of Petrusev this season before and after Dusko
Filip Petrusev of Crvena Zvezda is a living testimony that you should never give up on your dream, even when everything doesn’t seem to go your way. And if you are lucky enough you might get just the right mentor to propel you the right way.
While coach Dusko Ivanovic is getting credited for the huge turnaround of Zvezda’s season, and rightfully so, he is a coach who liked to develop talent even at the highest level and Petrusev seems to be the latest front-line revelation of Ivanovic’s work.
After all, good old Dusko is all about work. His practices are notoriously demanding, he doesn’t like cutting corners and he is currently probably the most old-school coach in the EuroLeague, a stubborn Montenegrin student of the ex-Yugoslav ways.
However, this isn’t bad at all. Under Ivanovic, Luis Scola and Tiago Splitter became international stars, reaching the final of the 2005 EuroLeague in Moscow and then emerging as international basketball icons and legends in Argentina and Brazil, making it all the way to the NBA.
Enter, Petrusev, an NBA prospect since his early years with undeniable potential, who until recently seemed lost. It’s not that he didn’t have his share of success in every level he played so far, but at 22 years of age, there were already doubts about him delivering what he was expected to.
Coming from a season in Anadolu Efes, where he averaged just nine minutes of play in 22 EuroLeague games, never really getting a regular spot in the rotation of the back-to-back EuroLeague champions, Petrusev returned to Serbia for Crvena Zvezda and the start of the season was not encouraging either for him or the team.
Despite some flashes of his talent, including a double-double (16 p. 12 r.) against Monaco in the sixth round, Petrusev once again, despite getting more minutes, was not making a difference. Zvezda started the season with a 1-6 record and Dusko Ivanovic was brought in to turn things around.
Nobody could expect what happened after that.
With a 9-8 total record, Zvezda is not a playoffs contender and Petrusev has emerged as one of the top young players of the league, averaging 27 index points in the last four contests while scoring 20,75 points per game. Getting the MVP award of Round 17 was the icing on the cake, as both he and Dusko Ivanovic can be proud.
This is not the first time that he is responsible for a huge player transformation and Splitter and Scola are prime examples. Just look at the improvement of the numbers of those players between their first and second seasons under Ivanovic.
Louis Scola
2000-01: 8,7 points – 4,4 rebounds – 54% FG – 7 PIR
2001-02: 15,9 points – 4,6 rebounds – 68% FG – 16,8 PIR
Tiago Splitter
2003-04: 4 points – 2,4 rebounds – 61% FG – 3,9 PIR
2004-05: 7 points – 4,5 rebounds – 54% FG – 7,6 PIR
Ivanovic pretty much doubles the production of his players and if they are ready to put in the extra work, he is there to push them, maybe sometimes even if they don’t want to put in the extra work, but that’s another story.
Just look at the numbers of Petrusev this season before and after Dusko