SEATTLE — Like loving parents everywhere, Stevan and Andjelka Radmanovic had ideas for their young son Vladimir and his career.
None of those aspirations had anything to do with basketball.
The young Vladimir, you see, had a keen, inquisitive mind, and his intellect hinted of a future in some academic area of study, perhaps engineering or maybe medicine. Vladimir, though, was drawn to the vocation of basketball, and when he opted to turn professional — something Yugoslavian players typically decide as teen-agers — his parents did what loving parents everywhere do.
They backed him wholeheartedly.
Their unbending support continued through three years of pro basketball in Yugoslavia and on to the NBA, where Vladimir debuted in the fall of 2001 as a 20-year-old forward for the Seattle SuperSonics. Knowing the cultural challenges awaiting their son, Stevan and Andjelka chose to join him in America for much of his rookie season. They did the same last season and again this season, living in Seattle for six months as allowed by their visas.
They wanted to be here, Andjelka said through an interpreter, "so he is not alone when he comes (home) from the games. He has somebody at home to help him if he has any problems. It’s a long ways from home and being here all by himself, we are just here to support him."
"We were very happy for him and the opportunity," added her husband, also through an interpreter. "At the same time, we were kind of reserved about what the opportunities are in the NBA. So (we were) both excited and scared, not knowing what to expect when he comes to the NBA."
Vladimir — his Sonics teammates address him by his nickname, Vlade — calls the presence of his parents here "a blessing to me. … Basically when I started to play basketball, I was coming home late and I didn’t have too much time to do anything because we were practicing twice a day, traveling a lot. They just wanted to spend as much time with me as they could to help me out.
"What they are doing right now is basically the same thing, it’s just in a different place. They are helping me a lot. Everything is clean, everything is in the right place, the food is ready. There is nothing I have to worry about when I come home."
When Vlade was a boy, the Radmanovics moved frequently because his father served in the Yugoslavian military. Today the family lives in Belgrade and Stevan has been retired for 10 years, which allows him and his wife to make their yearly trips to America. They also have a daughter, Tatjana, who just finished her university schooling "and is trying to find a job over there so she can live a regular life like a normal person," Vlade said.
As a youngster, Vlade played soccer and ran track for a time, but he also had an interest in basketball that began to grow as he did — he stands 6-foot-10 today. He was 16 when he turned professional, essentially finishing high school by correspondence while he was earning money and improving his game. His parents had known all along that Vlade had a bright future in basketball, and that belief was confirmed in 2001 when Seattle selected him in the first round of the NBA draft, No. 12 overall, making him an immediate millionaire.
Still, Stevan and Andjelka had reservations. His father said he knew Vlade could have succeeded in some other profession — "He would have been an engineer. Vladimir loves technology. He’s really talented in that," Stevan said — while Andjelka was uneasy about the move to "a country that is unknown to us. Especially basketball. (The NBA) is a different system."
Nonetheless, Vlade was on his way to Seattle and his parents were right behind. When Vlade bought a home in West Seattle, Stevan and Andjelka helped him settle in. Knowing his focus is on basketball, they have continued to look after his daily needs. Cooking, for instance, in which Andjelka excels. Though Vlade eats in top restaurants on the road with the Sonics, the best cooking he knows is his mother’s.
"I think she’s the best cook in the world," he said. "My father is also a great cook. I think that’s like a family thing because I know how to cook and my sister, she knows how to cook. But I think mother is the best because she is doing it most of the time."
Yugoslavian meals usually include beef, pork, chicken or some other meat, and there is often pasta and vegetables to make a stew. "Basically we try to eat as much as we can with a spoon," Vlade said, "because that’s good for the stomach."
His favorite meal, as prepared by his mother?
"Every time I eat something she cooks, I can say it’s my favorite," he said with a smile. "But tomorrow when she prepares something else, I can easily say it is my favorite."
This is no secret to his Andjelka. Vlade’s favorite food, she said, "is everything his mom makes. He is used to my cooking and he likes to have a good meal at home."
When Vlade is on the road with the Sonics, his parents remain in Seattle, socializing with members of the city’s Serbian community. It’s the same circle that embraced Vlade soon after he arrived in this country. Even now, he prefers quiet gatherings with friends to the glamorous nightlife available to well-paid professional athletes.
And he savors the company of family, calling it "a great thing for me."
"As long as I have support from my family and closest friends, that’s all that matters," Vlade said. "Those are the kinds of people who are going to give you pure advice with no sense of trying to get something from you or make you feel good. They’re going to tell you how it is, no matter if it hurts or if it feels good.
"In this business," he went on, "if you play a good game, everybody is coming to you saying, ‘Great job, good game, you’re a hell of a player, you’re the best.’ Then the next night you play bad and only a couple of persons come to you and say something. But to be honest with you, I don’t care what other people are saying as much as (I care about) my family. Because I know what they’re going to tell me is the way it is.
"Every advice I have from them has been a huge thing for me. It’s not so much basketball as life. My father is a guy who was in the army and my mother, most of her life she has been a housewife, so they don’t know too much about basketball. But every time I need some advice, like what to do about life in all different situations, I know there is somebody I can ask."
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
