Luis Scola names best NBA team he played for, credits Dusko Ivanovic
BasketNews.com Credit Fabrizio Carabelli
Luis Scola's jersey was retired by Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz on Friday. The club's legend credited his  Scola is seen as one of the club's legends. He was ...
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Luis Scola's jersey was retired by Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz on Friday. The club's legend credited his

Scola is seen as one of the club's legends. He was instrumental in a team often seen as the greatest in the organization's history. During Scola's tenure in the club (1998-2007), Baskonia, then known as Tau Ceramica, the team won the Spanish ACB once, Copa del Rey four times, and got to the EuroLeague final twice.

All but one of those achievements were reached with head coach Dusko Ivanovic under the helm.

"I remember myself as an important part of a very interesting project. We played incredible basketball. These were the years with a very high level of demand, but those players understood that difficulty and embraced it," Scola said in an interview with Angel Resa from El Correo.

Ivanovic, who coaches Baskonia once again for the fourth time in his career, was instrumental in his career, Scola says.

"I don't want to use the word demanding with Dusko now because it gives it a negative connotation that doesn't reflect the memory I have of him. It was hard to train with him, and playing for him was not easy, but the reality is that he was a very important coach in my career," Scola said. "I have incredible memories of him, and it happens he is the coach of Baskonia when I my shirt gets retired. If I had to choose someone to be there, it would be him, without a doubt."

"Dusko was fundamental in my career. He was the most important person during my career in Vitoria. Then I can put [Baskonia's technical director] Alfredo Salazar, who was the one who took me there. And Dusko was fundamental in everything we achieved during those years," the legendary player admitted.

After nine seasons with Baskonia, Scola moved to the NBA, where he spent a decade showcasing his talent in the best league in the world. Even though he was often seen as a quintessentially European big man, Scola says that playing in the NBA was always his goal and his dream to the point it even became an obsession.

"At one point, it even became an obsession that made me sick. I was desperate to go, but around 2005 or 2006, I thought that my reality was very good in Vitoria, I played well in the Euroleague, and I lived it differently. It also happened that I saw everyone go to the NBA. [Andres] Nocioni, [Jose Manuel] Calderon, [Arvydas] Macijauskas... And I felt like I was kind of last."

Talking about his experience on the other side of the Atlantic, Scola said that he felt the best while playing for the Houston Rockets.

"The first one, the one in Houston, was clearly the best of my career. And I also really liked the last year in Toronto," Scola said.

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