Nemanja Bjelica
Pronounced: (nay-MON-yah bee-ELL-leets-zah).
Age: 27 (May 9, 1988)
Born: Belgrade, Serbia
Nay-Mon-yah grew up in Belgrade, Serbia; the city now has a population of over 2 million people. With that amount of people there are clearly temptations and troubles. His mother Slavica (a nurse) and father Milovan kept him honest and his priorities in order as he found his way to the basketball court. Basketball was his way off staying off the streets of Belgrade, and staying out of trouble. He grew in both stature and game; committing to being the best player to ever come out of Serbia.
He loved Allen Iverson growing up and wanted desperately to be the guy running the show. Lighting up the scoreboard and displaying his talents every night. As he matured, Nemanja bounced around playing for teams with crazy long names in Serbia and Austria; scraping along knowing that this was his calling in life. Although he bounced around from country to country he would always head home in the summer to Serbia to devote himself to speed and strength training.
Legendary European and Serbian coach Svetislav Pešić gave him a call and saw potential and took a huge gamble. He grabbed Nemanja and moved him to point guard. Working constantly on ball handling and passing skills, he possessed the rare combination of size and ability. Pešić had great patience and want to give Bjelica a long leash. He was devoted to making him an extremely versatile player that could play all positions. Through all of this, Nemanja has always picked the harder road and is truly devoted to becoming great. He craved longer and more intense practices at early morning hours to tone himself into the best possible player he could be.
Bjelica was drafted with the 35th overall pick by the Washington Wizards (Flip Saunders was the head coach at the time in Washington) and had his draft rights traded to the Wolves on draft night. He was a baby faced european that everyone wrote off, as they usually do, as just another european. The name just getting thrown into the pot of all of those players that we never see; but, Nemanja is determined to stand out. He felt he was prepared to play in the NBA in 2010 but, it ultimately did not work out.
(Those jerseys were brutal)
He would head back overseas and continue to hone his skills and become a better player. Bjelica was still young and felt he had a lot more to prove. Nemanja is a regular on his country’s national squad; representing his country proudly on several occasions. He grew to become an excellent player that has seen him gain the accommodating accolades:
- Named the 2014-15 Euroleague MVP
- Named the 2012-13 Euroleague Week-10 MVP
- Member of the Serbian National Team
- Won the silver medal at the 2009 European Championship
- Won the silver medal at the 2014 World Championship
- Played at the 2010 World Championship
- Played at the 2011 and 2013 European Championships
- Won the 2013-14 Turkish National Championship with Fenerbahce Ulker Istanbul
- Won the 2013 Turkish President Cup with Fenerbahce Ulker Istanbul
- Has been member of the Serbia & Montenegro U-18 National Team
- Has been member of the Serbian University National Team
- Won the gold medal at the 2009 World University Games
His Euroleague MVP season stats with Fenerbahce (Turkey): 11.5 points and 8.2 rebounds in 63 combined games, and shooting nearly 40% from beyond the arc. His length and shooting ability are something that the new-look Wolves can make use of. He can also use his exceptional handling to take it coast-to-coast.
Nemanja Bjelica was just another european in the eyes of many Wolves fans and had a lot to prove to be accepted by the Wolves fanbase. He went back and continued to work, and also continued to mature.
In 2012, he married his girlfriend Mirjana, and they have one daughter together named Nika. Fun note: former NBA Center Nenad Krstic was Bjelica’s best man in that wedding. He still keeps up with all of his childhood friends from Belgrade. Nemanja is a man now, a man rooted in great values, a family man that will represent the Wolves well. Going back to Europe and continuing to hone his game may have been the best thing that he could have done. He grew as a family man, a basketball player, and now has the mentality to be a great NBA player. He is ready.
Skyline Sports 