Aleksandar Ćapin (born October 6, 1982) is a Serbian former professional basketball player.

Aleksandar Ćapin
Personal information
Born (1982-10-06) October 6, 1982 (age 42)
Sarajevo, SFR Yugoslavia
NationalitySlovenian / Serbian
Listed height1.86 m (6 ft 1 in)
Listed weight84 kg (185 lb)
Career information
NBA draft2004: undrafted
Playing career2000–2017
PositionPoint guard
Number6, 10, 12, 13, 24
Career history
2000–2003Krka
2003–2004Telekom Bonn
2004Gravelines-Dunkerque
2004–2005Panellinios
2005–2006Viola Reggio Calabria
2006–2008Cimberio Varese
2008Panionios
2009Lokomotiv Rostov / Kuban
2010–2011Žalgiris
2011Union Olimpija
2011–2012Türk Telekom
2012–2013Radnički Kragujevac
2013–2014Budućnost Podgorica
2014–2015Juvecaserta Basket
2015MZT Skopje
2015–2016Igokea
2016Koroivos
2017Sixt Primorska
2017Dynamic
Career highlights and awards

Early life

edit

Growing up in Sarajevo, Ćapin took up association football in the FK Sarajevo youth system.

In spring 1992, with the outbreak of the Bosnian War, he fled his hometown by being sent to Belgrade along with his sister while their parents joined them several months later. In Belgrade, young Ćapin continued pursuing football within the FK Rad youth system.

In 1993, disappointed with being demoted to FK Rad's second team, the youngster switched to basketball by starting to attend KK Partizan-organized training sessions administered by the youth coach Dragiša Stamenković at the France Prešern Elementary School in the Belgrade neighbourhood of Miljakovac. Deemed talented enough, Ćapin was attached to KK Partizan's youth system where he was coached by Stamenković for a few seasons before progressing up the age groups within the system and being coached by Igor Kokoškov, Milovan "Kime" Bogojević, Aleksandar Bućan, and Nenad Trajković.[1]

Among the fellow prospects Ćapin shared rosters with at Partizan youth system were Marko Peković, Vule Avdalović, Aleksandar Gajić, and Mirko Kovač.[1]

Professional career

edit

KK Krka

edit

After playing in the juniors of Partizan, Ćapin would end up starting his senior career with Krka in the 2000–01 season. He arrived at the club via attending a club-organized summer junior camp where Krka wanted to identify and potentially sign new young players. Though having another year left as a junior at KK Partizan, the 17-year-old was not keen on playing at the lower-league club KK Torlak, which the Partizan management signed a deal with regarding loaning out its juniors to. Instead, Ćapin decided to attend Krka's camp in Slovenia where he was offered a contract.[1] Registered both with Krka's junior team and full squad, 18-year-old Ćapin mostly spent the season playing the Slovenian third-tier league with the club's juniors while also getting occasional minutes with the full squad under head coach Aleš Pipan that played the Slovenian League and FIBA SuproLeague though Ćapin was ineligible for the domestic league due to administrative issues.[1] In his debut season as a professional, Ćapin saw some playing time in SuproLeague as the third option at the point-guard position behind Simon Petrov and Dražen Anzulović on a squad that also featured shooting guard / small forward Saša Dončić, center Bennett Davison, veteran center Franjo Arapović, and power forward Dragiša Drobnjak.

After three years in Slovenia, Ćapin played for the German team Telekom Bonn in the 2003–04 season. Between 2004 and 2008, Ćapin played for Gravelines-Dunkerque in France, for Panellinios and Panionios in Greece, and for Viola Reggio Calabria and Cimberio Varese in Italy.

In the summer of 2008, Ćapin signed a one-year contract with Azovmash from Ukraine.[2] However, he got injured during a preseason game in September 2008, and he was released from the club without making a competitive debut. In February 2009, he signed for the Russian team Lokomotiv Rostov,[3] and he also stayed with the club after their relocating to Krasnodar.

After spending a year in Russia, Ćapin moved to Lithuania and signed with Žalgiris in January 2010.[4] Ćapin returned to Slovenia in the 2011–12 season and played for Union Olimpija.[5] In December 2011, Ćapin moved to Turkey and joined Türk Telekom.[6]

On October 10, 2012, Ćapin signed for the Serbian team Radnički Kragujevac.[7] He showed great performances during the season and helped the team to reach the Adriatic League Final four. Ćapin also led the league in scoring and assists, and he earned the Adriatic League MVP award.[8]

On August 9, 2013, Ćapin signed with Budućnost Podgorica.[9] On December 10, 2014, he parted ways with Budućnost.[10] Nine days later, he signed with Juvecaserta Basket of Italy.[11] On March 5, 2015, he left Caserta and signed with the Macedonian club MZT Skopje for the rest of the season.[12]

On August 12, 2015, he signed a one-year deal with Igokea.[13] He debuted for the team in 67–56 loss to Cedevita in Round 1 of the ABA League; he led his team with 15 points, 5 assists and 2 rebounds.[14] On January 5, 2016, he parted ways with Igokea.[15] On February 5, 2016, he signed with Koroivos for the rest of the 2015–16 Greek Basket League season.[16]

On January 13, 2017, he signed with Slovenian club Primorska for the rest of the season.[17]

On August 15, 2017, he signed with Serbian club Dynamic Belgrade.[18] On December 30, 2017, he parted ways with Dynamic.[19]

National team career

edit

Ćapin played with the senior Slovenian national team at the 2005 EuroBasket and the 2007 EuroBasket.

Career statistics

edit
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

EuroLeague

edit
Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG PIR
2001–02 Krka 12 1 9.3 .500 .111 .500 0.5 0.8 0.3 0.0 1.9 1.2
2009–10 Žalgiris 7 0 18.9 .283 .240 .692 3.3 2.4 0.6 0.0 6.4 4.0
2010–11 Žalgiris 5 1 8.6 .545 .500 .1000 1.8 1.2 0.2 0.0 3.4 5.4
2011–12 Union Olimpija 8 7 23.0 .360 .321 .857 1.0 2.9 0.8 0.0 7.1 7.6
Career 32 9 14.7 .365 .266 .771 1.4 1.7 0.4 0.0 4.4 13.1

References

edit
  1. ^ a b c d Vuković, Milan (13 March 2013). "Aleksandar Ćapin, košarkaš - Magelan ponovo na Tašu". Mozzart sport. Retrieved 18 March 2023.
  2. ^ Azovmash adds Salyers, Capin, Serapinas
  3. ^ Capin officially in Rostov
  4. ^ "Zalgiris inks Aleksandar Capin long-term".
  5. ^ "Union Olimpija adds Capin at guard".
  6. ^ "Aleksandar Capin inks with Turk Telekom Ankara".
  7. ^ "Radnicki signs Aleksandar Capin".
  8. ^ "Ćapin MVP, prvi strelac i asistent".
  9. ^ "BUDUCNOST VOLI tabs playmaker Capin". Archived from the original on August 13, 2013.
  10. ^ Buducnost parted ways with Aleksandar Capin
  11. ^ Pasta Reggia Caserta announces Aleksandar Capin and Bozhidar Avramov
  12. ^ Aleksandar Ćapin signed with MZT Archived 2015-03-09 at archive.today
  13. ^ Ćapin and Kesar newcomers in Igokea Archived 2015-08-14 at the Wayback Machine
  14. ^ "ABA: Cedevita sigurna protiv Igokee". b92.net (in Serbian). 2 October 2015. Retrieved 3 October 2015.
  15. ^ "Ćapin i Radenović više nisu igrači Igokee". mozzartsport.com (in Serbian). January 5, 2016. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved January 7, 2016.
  16. ^ A1Basket.gr Korivos Amaliadas signed Aleksandar Ćapin
  17. ^ Primorska inks Aleksandar Capin
  18. ^ "Aleksandar Ćapin u KK Dinamik" (in Serbian). mondo.rs. 15 August 2017. Retrieved 15 August 2017.
  19. ^ "Dynamic VIP PAY parted ways with four players". druga.aba-liga.com. 30 December 2017. Retrieved 30 December 2017.
edit