Vladimir Radmanovic — a classic European stretch four who was playing that role long before we named it a stretch four or before Phil Jackson was calling him a “space cadet” — has decided to retire from the NBA, according to reports out of his native Serbia.
Radmanovic played 12 NBA seasons on seven different teams and his value was his ability to shoot the three — he was a career 37.8 percent from deep and averaged 13.1 points a game. He could pass the rock better than people thought, he could put the ball on the floor if he had to, but mostly he was a standstill three-point shooter.
Mostly though we’ll remember him as the “space cadet.”
There was the time he wore cornrows in Seattle. There was the time he separated his shoulder snowboarding over All-Star break. There was the time the guy not exactly known for his work ethic lectured his Golden State teammates about effort. He didn’t fit neatly into anyone’s stereotype (at least off the court, on it he was a Euro big, right down to the defense that had him buried on the Bulls bench last season).
