DRAZEN PETROVIC NOMINATED FOR BASKETBALL HALL OF FAME

SPRINGFIELD, June 18 (Hina) - Croatian basketball player Drazen Petrovic, who died in a car crash in 1993 at the age of 28 - considered by some the best European basketball player ever - was nominated on Thursday by an international commission for the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, USA. The names of all basketball players and those active in basketball, who will enter the Hall of Fame as Class of 1999, will be announced on Monday. Eighteen of 24 votes of the Honorary Committee are necessary for entering the Hall of Fame. The nomination of Drazen Petrovic was only a question of time, because his career was marked by a series of fascinating achievements, one of the most important ones being the silver medal at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, when with the Croatian national team he made it to the finals against the strongest team ever assembled - the US "Dream Team". In 1985 and 1986, Drazen won two European champion cups with Cibona, and in 1988 signed with Madrid's Real, helping it to win the Cup of Cups the following year. Of his individual achievements the most notable one was 112 scores against Ljubljana's Olimpija in a former Yugoslav championship. In 1989, Drazen leaves Real for the NBA and signs with Portland Trail Blazers. In 1991 he joins New Jersey Nets, and soon proves himself the leader of the team. The last season with Nets (1992/1993) was certainly the best season of his career. He ended it as the first scorer of the team with 22.3 scores per game, with the excellent free game made of 51.8 per cent. He was also the best scorer of three-pointers of the whole NBA league with 44.9 per cent precision. The list of nominees for the Basketball Hall of Fame also includes a former Brazilian player, Pereira Maciel Ubiratan, whose career lasted three decades. (hina) rml