Nesterović Appointed Basketball Association SecGen
7
The appointment was confirmed by the executive board of the association and completes a leadership overhaul started in July, when lawyer Matej Erjavec took over the helm of the national basketball organisation.
Nesterović, who had been a vice-president of the association, keeps a big name presence to the association as it seeks to bolster its role in developing basketball as one of the most popular sports in the country.
This was also raised by Nesterović in his first reaction to the appointment: "I want to use my contacts...to make progress. Here I have in mind foremost bolstering activities in youth development, given that the broader region is having problems with player development."
Nesterović was born in Ljubljana in 1976 and started his professional basketball career in Partizan Belgrade in 1992.
He also played for his hometown team Union Olimpija and in Italy, before moving to the NBA in 1999 to play for the Minnesota Timberwolves, who selected him in the first round of the 1998 NBA draft.
Nesterović, nicknamed Rasho in the US, played for four different teams in the strongest basketball team in the world, winning the NBA championship in 2005 with the San Antonio Spurs.
He captained the Slovenian national basketball team from 2003 until his retirement from the national team in 2008, appearing in 53 official matches. He helped Slovenia finish 6th at the EuroBasket 2005 in Belgrade.