Aleks Marić

Aleksandar Marić (Serbian Cyrillic: Александар "Алекс“ Марић, born 22 October 1984) is an Australian-Serbian former professional basketball player. Marić gained a reputation as a winner over the course of his successful European career, securing contracts with several basketball powerhouse outfits. Rising to stardom at Partizan Belgrade in 2010, he was part of a Serbian Cup and Adriatic League championship winning team, as well as an All-EuroLeague First Team member. That breakout season earned him selection to the Australian national team for the 2010 World Championships and the 2012 London Olympics. In 2019, he became an assistant coach with the Sydney Kings.

Aleks Marić
Marić playing for Partizan in December 2009
Sydney Kings
PositionAssistant coach
LeagueNBL
Personal information
Born (1984-10-22) 22 October 1984
Sydney, New South Wales
NationalityAustralian / Serbian
Listed height6 ft 11 in (2.11 m)
Listed weight275 lb (125 kg)
Career information
High schoolLife Center Academy
(Burlington, New Jersey)
CollegeNebraska (2004–2008)
NBA draft2008 / Undrafted
Playing career2008–2017
PositionCenter
Coaching career2019–present
Career history
As player:
2008–2009Granada
2009–2010Partizan
2010–2012Panathinaikos
2012–2014Lokomotiv Kuban
2014Maccabi Tel Aviv
2014–2015Galatasaray Liv Hospital
2015Petrochimi Bandar Imam
2015Gran Canaria
2015–2016Budućnost Podgorica
2016Obradoiro
2016–2017Sydney Kings
2017Obradoiro
2017Al-Muharraq
As coach:
2019–presentSydney Kings (asst.)
Career highlights and awards

Early life and career

Marić began playing basketball as a youth in Sydney before attending the Australian Institute of Sport. He played high school basketball in the United States at Life Center Academy in Burlington, New Jersey. He then played college basketball at the University of Nebraska with the Nebraska Cornhuskers from 2004 to 2008, where he was named second-team All-Big 12 Conference in both 2007 and 2008.[1]

College statistics
CollegeYear[2] GPGSMINSPGBPGRPGAPGPPGFG%FT%3P%
Nebraska2004–05 271020.80.50.66.30.58.0.479.716.000
Nebraska2005–06 312625.30.81.38.11.210.9.472.611.000
Nebraska2006–07 303028.80.51.18.70.818.5.565.681.300
Nebraska2007–08 333329.31.31.710.21.915.7.575.657.167

Professional career

Marić began his professional career in July 2008 with the Spanish ACB League club Granada.[3] At the end of the season, on 30 June 2009, he exercised the option in his contract and decided to leave the club.[4]

On 7 July 2009, Marić signed multi-year deal with the Serbian club Partizan.[5] During his first season in Partizan, Marić went from the status of a relatively unknown basketball player to one of a EuroLeague star, all thanks to his great games throughout the season. In 93–92 win over Efes Pilsen in the EuroLeague, he scored 34 points, pulled 16 rebounds and had 49 performance index rating which was record of the season, along with Darjuš Lavrinovič who also had 49 in the same season. That made them 8th overall in PIR since the beginning of the 2000–01 Euroleague season.[6][7] He was named to the 2009–10 All-EuroLeague Team.[8] With Partizan, he managed to win the Serbian national cup trophy (the Radivoj Korać Cup), as well as the Adriatic Championship in the amazing overtime finish.[9]

On 30 July 2010, Marić signed a two-year contract with the Greek club Panathinaikos.[10] In his first season with the club, he won the EuroLeague title in win over the Maccabi Tel Aviv.[11] Later, he won and the Greek Basket League championship. In his second season, he won the Greek basketball cup.[12]

On 27 July 2012, Marić signed with the VTB United League club Lokomotiv Kuban Krasnodar.[13][14]

On 2 September 2014, Marić signed with Maccabi Tel Aviv.[15] On 25 December 2014, he was waived by Maccabi.[16] The next day, he signed with the Turkish team Galatasaray Liv Hospital.[17] On 3 March 2015, he left Galatasaray and signed with Petrochimi Bandar Imam of the Iranian Super League.[18] On 29 April 2015, he left Petrochimi and signed with the Spanish club Gran Canaria for the rest of the 2014–15 ACB season.[19]

On 3 September 2015, Marić signed with the Montenegrin club Budućnost Podgorica for the 2015–16 season.[20] After some miserable showings in the first few games of the ABA League, he led his team to an 80–61 win over Tajfun with 20 points and 10 rebounds, and was subsequently named the MVP of Round 5.[21] On 4 April 2016, he left Budućnost and signed with Spanish club Rio Natura Monbus Obradoiro for the rest of the 2015–16 ACB season.[22]

On 29 June 2016, Marić signed a one-year deal (with a team option for a second year) with his hometown Sydney Kings of the National Basketball League.[23][24] On 9 March 2017, Marić signed with Rio Natura Monbus Obradoiro for the rest of the 2016–17 ACB season.[25]

On 26 June 2017, Marić signed with Al-Muharraq of the Bahraini Premier League.[26] He played one game for the team.

Australian national team

With the Australian junior national team, Marić won the gold medal at the 2003 FIBA Under-19 World Championship. He also played at the 2005 FIBA Under-21 World Championship with Australia's junior national team.[27] Media reports emanating from Serbia stated Maric had expressed a desire to play for the senior Serbia national basketball team, however this was later denied by Maric.[28]

Marić played for the senior Australia national basketball team at the 2010 FIBA World Championship in Turkey.[29] Marić averaged 9.2 points and 4.3 rebounds over 6 games at the tournament.[30]

He also played with Australia at the 2012 Olympics in London where Australia lost 119–86 in quarterfinal matchup with the United States.[31]

Post-playing career

In July 2019, Marić was appointed an assistant coach by the Sydney Kings.[32]

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, and regional competition if applicable.

† Denotes seasons in which Marić won the EuroLeague
Led the league

EuroLeague
Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG PIR
2009–10 Partizan 18925.5.607.000.6488.41.21.2.614.621.1
2010–11† Panathinaikos 807.6.556.000.6673.51.0.6.43.56.3
2011–12 Panathinaikos 2297.1.673.000.5602.5.1.5.13.64.9
2013–14 Lokomotiv Kuban 231017.2.602.000.5883.61.0.8.66.18.0
2014–15 Maccabi 828.8.571.0001.0002.3.5.1.42.33.9
2014–15 Galatasaray 7210.0.385.000.5002.9.7.1.01.72.3
Career 863214.1.603.000.6254.1.7.7.46.39.0

Personal life

Marić was born in Sydney, to ethnic Serb parents from Knin, SR Croatia, SFR Yugoslavia.[33] He subsequently has Serbian citizenship.[34] His grandfather Steve was killed at his home during Operation Storm and his body was exhumed from a mass grave 17 years later.[35][36]

See also

References
  1. "Aleks Maric Player Profile". realgm.com.
  2. "Aleks Maric Yahoo Polayer Profile". 9 August 2012.
  3. "Maric Signs with CB Granada". huskers.com. 30 July 2008. Retrieved 29 June 2016.
  4. Carchia, E. "Aleks Maric left Granada". Sportando. solobasket.com. Retrieved 9 August 2012.
  5. "Partizan lands center Aleks Maric". Euroleague. Retrieved 9 August 2012.
  6. "Aleks Marić leads Partizan over Efes Pilsen, 93-92". interbasket.net. Retrieved 9 August 2012.
  7. "Partizan vs. Efes Pilsen Boxscore". Euroleague. Retrieved 9 August 2012.
  8. "All-Euroleague team 2009-10". Euroleague. Retrieved 9 August 2012.
  9. "Adriatic League final four, final: April 25, 2010". Euroleague. Archived from the original on 21 February 2013. Retrieved 9 August 2012.
  10. "PANATHINAIKOS brings aboard Maric". Euroleague.net. Archived from the original on 12 April 2013. Retrieved 6 July 2012.
  11. "Tribute to the champs, Panathinaikos: Aleks Maric!". Euroleague. Archived from the original on 31 July 2011. Retrieved 9 August 2012.
  12. "Aleks Maric". Retrieved 6 July 2012.
  13. Carchia, E. "Lokomotiv Kuban adds big man Aleks Maric". sportando.net. Retrieved 27 July 2012.
  14. "LOKOMOTIV KUBAN gets stronger with Maric". Eurocupbasketball.com. 27 July 2012. Retrieved 26 August 2014.
  15. "Maccabi lands former champ Maric". Euroleague.net. Retrieved 2 September 2014.
  16. "Maccabi Tel Aviv announces Joe Alexander, waives Aleks Maric". Sportando.com. 25 December 2014. Retrieved 25 December 2014.
  17. "Aleks Maric officially joins Galatasaray". Sportando.com. 26 December 2014. Retrieved 26 December 2014.
  18. "Aleks Maric leaves Galatasaray to sign in Iran with Petrochimi". Sportando.com. 3 March 2015. Retrieved 3 March 2015.
  19. "Aleks Maric moves to Gran Canaria". Sportando.com. 29 April 2015. Retrieved 29 April 2015.
  20. "Marić back in ABA with Budućnost VOLI". abaliga.com. 3 September 2015. Archived from the original on 7 September 2015. Retrieved 4 September 2015.
  21. "Round 5 MVP: Aleksandar Marić". abaliga.com. 14 October 2015. Archived from the original on 21 October 2015. Retrieved 15 October 2015.
  22. "Aleks Maric signs with Obradoiro". Sportando.com. 4 April 2016. Archived from the original on 18 April 2016. Retrieved 4 April 2016.
  23. "KINGS SIGN 2012 LONDON OLYMPIAN". SydneyKings.com. 29 June 2016. Archived from the original on 2 July 2016. Retrieved 29 June 2016.
  24. Uluc, Olgun (29 June 2016). "Aleks Marić returns to Australia to join hometown Sydney Kings". FoxSports.com.au. Retrieved 29 June 2016.
  25. "El Rio Natura Monbus Obradoiro ficha a Aleks Maric". obradoirocab.com (in Spanish). 9 March 2017. Retrieved 9 March 2017.
  26. "Al Muharraq lands Aleksandar Maric". Eurobasket.com. 26 June 2017. Retrieved 3 July 2017.
  27. "Aleks Maric". huskers.com. Retrieved 9 August 2012.
  28. "Aleks Marić ipak igra za Australiju na SP". Vesti Online (in Serbian). Retrieved 9 August 2012.
  29. "Team Australia Profile". FIBA.
  30. "Aleks Marić Profile". FIBA. Retrieved 9 August 2012.
  31. "Australia vs. United States - Box Score". ESPN.
  32. "Luc Longley Joins the Kings as Sydney Bolsters Their Off-Court". NBL.com.au. 20 July 2019. Retrieved 4 October 2019.
  33. "Marić novi košarkaš Partizana".
  34. MARIC, ALEKS – Euroleague.net
  35. "Ispovest: Košarkaš Aleks Marić: Ubili su mi dedu u "Oluji", neću im oprostiti".
  36. "Australski reprezentativac: Hrvatima neću zaboraviti Oluju, ubili su mi djeda!".
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