Podgorica, Montenegro

"Until I Sign a contract, they will be harsh to me." —Vladimir Dasic

The fog slips in, seeps in, silently imposing its terms. It blankets the city, enveloping people on the street in an ethereal gauze. The tops of buildings stick out above the low-level clouds in the Croatian capital of Zagreb like headstones in a cemetery mist. Squatting between two such buildings in the southwestern part of town is the Centar Drazen Petrovic, its windows blackened by graffiti. The arena is home to the local team, Cibona, which on this January night in 2005 is playing host to Adriatic League foe Buducnost.

Watching Buducnost lose this Balkan battle, its fans are left only with memories of a team that less than two years ago was led by Zarko Cabarkapa and Aleksandar Pavlovic, players currently with the Warriors and Cavs respectively. Even the presence of 7'6" Slavko Vranes, who was once property of the Knicks, can't help this motley crew of thirtysomethings and teens.

Hardly a head turns, then, when late in the first quarter a rail-thin kid rises from Buducnost's Plexiglas-shielded bench. Physically, Vladimir Dasic is hard to miss: 6'9" with mile-wide shoulders. But there is little in his game to rouse the casual observer. In five minutes of the 83-78 loss, he scores two points. After the game, he quietly throws on his sweats, walks out into the night fog and is swallowed up by the team bus.

Buducnost would like Dasic's story to end here, in the Croatian night. But it's never easy to hold off the inevitable. Less than a year after his top-five performance at the Under-16 European Championships in Greece, Dasic is quarry for pro teams and agents all over the continent. So while the team fights to lock him up to a long-term deal, they'd like to keep the player projected to be the best Montenegrin ever off the court and out of mind. So much so that when the team is approached by The Magazine about profiling the future star, the response is: "Why are you here?" As if he didn't exist.

THE REPUBLIC of Montenegro, one of six countries that once made up Yugoslavia, is a land of tall people. In Dasic's hometown, the capital city of Podgorica, women are tall and skinny, men massive. The 10- to 12-year-old boys who gather daily to be schooled in fundamentals on an outdoor court near Buducnost's offices are also quite big for their age. But they do not play for fun. They play because they want to be pros someday.

Clusters of these young boys squeeze through the doors of Buducnost's home arena, the Centar Moraca, for the first game of the Serbian Super League. It's three months after Dasic's trip to Zagreb, and 2,000 locals have shown up to see the player the press has dubbed the Podgorican Pearl. Two days ago, Dasic, moonlighting on the junior team, led Buducnost to the league title, and many tonight hope to witness some of the skills that have drawn the attention of NBA scouts. Unfortunately, the only sighting of Dasic comes before the game, when he poses with his junior teammates for a photo at midcourt. In a sloppy 75-67 loss, The Pearl does not play.

The following day, in the tiny three-bedroom apartment Dasic shares with his parents and older sister, his plight is laid out. He no longer attends school, opting instead to study at home and take annual achievement tests. Since being promoted to Buducnost's senior team a year ago, Dasic trains twice a day, walking 10 minutes each morning to the Centar Moraca for shooting and weight training. In the afternoon he returns for a full practice; in many ways, Dasic is living the life lots of young Montenegrins dream of, that of a pro. With one catch: he is not getting paid.

Dasic's scholarship with the team pays for his training and travel until he turns 18 this May. But Buducnost has offered him a four-year deal that would keep him in Podgorica until he turns 22. The family believes the team will not play Dasic until he signs it. The matter puts the Dasics in a difficult spot. His mother, Danica, who brings home around 300 euros ($360) a month as a nurse at a children's hospital, is the sole breadwinner, and the family has gone into debt to fuel Vladimir's NBA dream. But should Dasic sign now, he would face an enormous buyout fee if he left before his contract expired. To navigate the possibilities, Zeljko, a 47-year-old former cab driver, has assumed control of his son's career. His goal: to transform what he calls "the curse of being so tall and so young" into a blessing.

Zeljko gave up his job three years ago, after the family began to field offers from other European clubs. He says he borrows at least 1,000 euros ($1,200) a month from black-market lenders just to feed his son. All the while, he deals with offers from prospective agents. "I trust no one," he says.

Debt and time are working against father and son. Many basketball people from the former Yugoslavia say this past year has been a waste for Dasic and suggest that he needs private coaching. There are some subtle kinks to his game, such as how his feet kick out on his jump shot, causing him to land forward. Dasic says he receives no individual attention at practices with Buducnost. And it's not as if he had a key to the gym. The basketball team shares arena time with the pro volleyball team. The only place Dasic gets extended shooting work is on the crumbling concrete court outside his apartment building. Littered with broken CDs and empty water bottles, the court has one functioning hoop, which features a beat-up wooden backboard and no net.

Club officials deny benching Dasic to force him to sign. "From the days of Drazen Petrovic, no one this young has played as much as Dasic," says GM Danilo Mitrovic. They also stress that working with their own coaches is best for a young player, citing Darko Milicic as an example. But there is an unmistakable tension in player-club relations. After not playing for a second straight game, Dasic says Buducnost ignores his need for individual tutoring and continues to bring in new players at his position. "Until I sign the contract," he says, "they will be harsh to me."

This kind of manipulation is common in Eastern Europe. But Buducnost has a reason to be wary. Three years ago, a dispute between Pavlovic and the team resulted in the forward's being benched. Some speculate that Pavlovic might still be playing in Europe had the team not temporarily lifted his ban for a game against the Spanish club Tau Ceramica. In the game, Pavlovic made a splash by reportedly taking off just inside the foul line to dunk over Andres Nocioni (see page 93). The NBA scouts who were there for Nocioni were shocked. A few months later Pavlovic was drafted by Utah.

Although it would be simplistic to draw a parallel between a country's collapse and the struggles of a basketball club, you can't miss the effect the upheaval has had on the conducting of business. Ten years after the Yugoslav wars, most of the populace struggles to determine its fate, and an air of resentment, paranoia and blackmail persists. The culture seems particularly hard on individuals like Dasic, those talented enough to rise above. As one local bluntly puts it, "It's like, 'Wow, you're great. Screw you.'"

By late April, the Dasics have decided to wait out the season before making a decision on Vladimir's future. Even so, the team continues its chaotic slide. In a week's span, American Andre Brown will sucker punch Vranes in practice and be cut, and coach Miroslav Nicolic will resign only to return a day later. Buducnost eventually finishes with a 3—11 Super League record. Says Dasic: "In the early winter, when we'd lose a game, they'd say the youngsters are playing. Now when we lose they have no one to blame."

IN BELGRADE, "the White City," all will be illuminated. Or so you'd think. After a month of training outside the Serbian capital, the Serbia-Montenegro national team arrives in July 2005 as one of the favorites to take the FIBA Under-18 European Championship. Although Dasic has just turned 17 and is one of the younger players in the tournament, he starts at power forward for his country's squad. The event is a chance to impress the NBA folks in attendance (Danny Ainge makes a cameo), many of whom first noticed him at the 2004 Under-16 Championships.

In the opener, Dasic shows a variety of moves, dropping 16 points in a win against Poland. At times, his efficiency and court vision are stunning. But in the second game, he looks tired and too deferential to older teammates. In constant foul trouble, he is stuck to the bench, his head under a beach towel, looking like a teenage kid on a miserable summer vacation.

Dasic's inconsistency doesn't hurt Serbia-Montenegro. The team marches to the gold medal without a loss. In fact, his low-profile play would barely register if not for the fact that speculation about his future is front-page news. For the past month, Buducnost and Real Madrid have been in talks about the transfer of Dasic. Real's Serbian-born coach, Bozidar Maljkovic, likes the Montenegrin's game. Zeljko is excited, viewing it as an opportunity to move the family out of Montenegro.

Among the scouts and press, word is that the deal is done, but nearly all say Dasic should be skeptical about Maljkovic's intentions. He buys talent in much the same way as Real's soccer team, nicknamed Los Galacticos for their numerous star signings. Already this summer, Real's hoops team has inked Marko Tomas, a Croatian swingman who was a late scratch in the NBA draft, and the club is stacked at small forward, Dasic's natural position. Even though Maljkovic promises Zeljko his son will start, critics wonder if the coach will have the time to tutor him.

As the tournament wears on, everyone weighs in on Dasic's future. "If they want to go, go now," says Marin Sedlacek, a local coach. "They care too much what the president of the club thinks, what the coach thinks, what the journalist thinks. There is too much confusion." An NBA scout cautions that despite Dasic's ordinary play, he is still on everyone's draft boards. "He's as skilled as Nemanja Aleksandrov," says the scout, referring to the injured Serbian 18-year-old who many think could be a lottery pick. "Tell Vladimir he just needs to play harder."

By January 2006, Dasic and his family have moved to a nice apartment building east of downtown Podgorica. Here his parents don't have to walk through their son's room to get to their own and Vladimir doesn't have to share a closet with his sister, Jelena. It's got all the modern conveniences and a terrace view of Montenegro's snow-capped mountains. The flat is a gift from Buducnost, but it comes at a high price. Dasic has agreed to the team's four-year contract.

The move is unexpected. When he returned from Belgrade in August, Buducnost was so sick of Dasic's infatuation with Real they suspended him for two months. The move did nothing to quell the Spanish giant's interest. Buducnost was offered 500,000 euros for Dasic before pushing the bid to one million (according to Zeljko). At first Buducnost hesitated, and it looked as if it were going to give in. Instead, Dasic blinked. "They're just too powerful for me and my family," he says.

Sitting at home in Trail Blazers warmups, his long legs draped over the arm of a leather chair, Dasic realizes this is probably where he will be until he turns 19 and is eligible for the NBA draft. Even if he's saddled with a seven-figure euro buyout, he's confident that between now and then he can raise his game to a level that will impress an NBA team, which should lead to enough money to pay the buyout. He currently comes off the bench and plays out of position. But he works out six hours a day, and feels a part of the team. Despite not having a private coach, he says Buducnost is pushing him in practice.

The 17-year-old is happy with his fate for now. But he knows his life has changed. He craves the other side of town, but he's had to let it go. "I miss my friends," he says. "And the sports center was so near I could walk to it." He pauses. "Of course, now I have a private driver," Dasic says, gesturing toward a smiling Zeljko.

"I'm getting used to this."

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