He is living a daydream in the 2012/2013 season: on December 19, 2012 Zan Tabak signed as the new head coach of Caja Labora Vitoria - in agreement with Trefl Sopot, that he left as 1st placed in the PLK and after winning the Polish Supercup together - and he immediately reversed the season of the Baskonian team from difficult to exciting: at the beginning of 2013 in ACB the team has already climbed the ranking from the 8th to the 2nd placed, and in Euroleague Caja Laboral restarted from the bottom of its group, achieving a brilliant qualification to the Top 16 and winning the first four games in a row... The daydream is going on, no matter if Caja Laboral lost the Copa del Rey on his home court in the Semifinal against Regal FC Barcelona and then stopped at 12 its sensational winning streak in the ACB, the season will continue at the best possible, as Zan has already demonstrated all his value as head coach at the highest level, as well as he did in his previous career in basketball for a life.

Zan Tabak had a fantastic twenty year career as a professional basketball player, between 1985 and 2005. He was member of the unrepeatable Yugoplastika Split that won three Champions Cup titles in a row (1989, 1990, 1991) together with his teammates Toni Kukoc, Dino Radja and... Zoran Savic. He played two NBA Finals (1995 with Houston, 2000 with Indiana), winning the ring in 1995  with the Rockets as the back-up of Hakeem Olajuwon. And he won the Copa del Rey of Spain in 2005 with Unicaja Malaga, just before retiring and starting a new career: firtsly as international scout of the New York Knicks and assistant coach at the Summer League, and then as assistant coach of Real Madrid for three seasons and of Cajasol Sevilla in last two seasons. Finally, in the 2011/2012 season he made the decisive step, becoming head coach of CB Sant Josep Girona in LEB Oro.

Born in June 15th 1970 in Split, Croatia (at that time, still SFR Yugoslavia), Zan Tabak began his basketball career in 1985, at the age of 15 with Jugoplastika. Just a few years later he was a member of the unrepeatable team that won three Champions Cup titles in a row from 1989 to 1991, then he was selected by the Houston Rockets at the NBA Draft 1991 (24th pick of the 2nd round, 51st  overall), deciding to stay three more years in Europe to complete his game.

In the summer of 1992, he was a member of the Croatian National Team at the Olympic Games in Barcelona, winning the silver medal together with Drazen Petrovic, beaten only by the historical Dream Team of USA in the finals. He also won the bronze medal with the Croatian National Team at the European Championship of 1993 in Germany. Between 1992 and 1994 he moved to Italy, where he played in the Serie A League with Livorno and Milano, always averaging in double figures both in points and rebounds. Then it finally was time to answer to the call of the Houston Rockets.

In the “rookie” season 1994/1995, he gained experience playing time as the back-up for the starter center Hakeem Olajuwon, who led Houston to the NBA title. Selected by the Toronto Raptors in the 1995 Expansion Draft, he started several games and gradually increased playing time, but physical problems limited him in the successive seasons. Moved to the Boston Celtics on February 1998, after coming back to Europe for the 1998/1999 season to Fenerbahce, Turkey, he then went back to the NBA, signed by the Indiana Pacers as back-up for Rick Smits and playing  the NBA Finals 2000 against the Los Angeles Lakers. He became the first international player to play in the NBA Finals for two different teams. He played one more season in the NBA, then definitely came back to Europe.

Aged 31, he played the last part of his career with Real Madrid, DKV Joventut Badalona and Unicaja Malaga, winning the Copa del Rey 2005 with Unicaja. After retiring he became international scout – and also assistant coach at Las Vegas Summer Leagues – for the New York Knicks, then he was member of the technical staff of the Reebok Eurocamp in Treviso, finally in last five years he was assistant coach in ACB, three seasons with Real Madrid and two with Cajasol Sevilla, and finally head coach of CB Sant Josep Girona in LEB Gold.

In the 2011/2012 season he led CB Sant Josep Girona to be in safe in the ranking despite of the very difficult financial situation of the club, reaching the great result of keeping the team together until the end of the season. Then, in the summer 2012 he signed a three-year contract with Trefl Sopot and as soon as he arrived in Poland he led the team to win the Polish Supercup, then the team was 1st placed along the first 8 rounds (6-2) when Caja Laboral contacted him to replace Dusko Ivanovic. Trefl Sopot understood the great opportunity that he received and agreed to let him go, so since the half of December 2012 Zan Tabak has become the head coach of Caja Laboral.
 

AS PLAYER

Season	Competition	Team
1985/1986	Yugoslavian Youth League	Jugoplastika Split
1986/1987	Yugoslavian Youth League	Jugoplastika Split
1987/1988	Yugoslavian League	Jugoplastika Split
1988/1989	Yugoslavian League	Jugoplastika Split
1990/1991	Yugoslavian League	Pop 84 Split
1991/1992	Croatian League	Slobodna Dalmacija Split
1992/1993	Italian League	Libertas Livorno
1993/1994	Italian League	Recoaro Milano
1994/1995	NBA	Houston Rockets
1995/1996	NBA	Toronto Raptors
1996/1997	NBA	Toronto Raptors
1997/1998*	NBA	Toronto Raptors
1998*/1998	NBA	Boston Celtics
1998/1999	Turkish League	Fenerbahce
1999/2000	NBA	Indiana Pacers
2000/2001	NBA	Indiana Pacers
2001/2002	ACB	Real Madrid
2002/2003	ACB	Joventut Badalona
2003/2004	ACB	Joventut Badalona
2004/2005	ACB	Unicaja Malaga

IN NATIONAL TEAM

Season	Competition	Team
Summer 1992	Olympic Games	Croatian National Team
Summer 1993	European Championship	Croatian National Team

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AFTER PLAYING

2012/2013 COMPETITION RANKINGS

Competition	Games	Wins-Losses	Ranking
PLK Supercup	1	1-0	Champion
PLK league	8	6-2	1st place (when left)
ACB League	34	25-9	2nd place
Euroleague	26	12-14	4th in Gr. C (3-6), 4th in Gr. F in Top 16 (8-6), 1-3 in Q-finals
ACB Copa del Rey	2	1-1	Semifinalist

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PROGRESSIVE SCHEDULE & RESULTS