Jonas Emilsson
www.KramMag.com

Western Canada Redmen’s Nebojsa Kuljic prefers to patrol the perimeter of the attacking zone in hopes of being able to knock down a long-range jumper.

He can make them too on a fairly consistent basis.

“Definitely outside,” said Kuljic when asked where he prefers to play. “I do like to shoot the three, it’s what I’ve done my whole career so far and I’d rather do that, but really, with the motion in the offense we play I’m everywhere on the court and shoot just as many threes as the next guy.”

But his 6’5” frame makes him one of the taller players on the squad, meaning the grade-12 student is usually found deep in the paint battling the opponents big man for hard-earned points and rebounds.

“Nebojsa goes into most games knowing he’s undersized for the position he’s playing, but he absolutely battles in there, and he has to win those battles with his positioning and his intensity,” said Redmen’s head coach Steve Wiebe.

“He’s long and he’s athletic, he gives up a lot of size in the post but he has a huge heart.”

During last week’s Spolumbo’s Game of the Week against the Sir Winston Churchill Bulldogs, Kuljic was dealt the unenviable task of matching up against arguable the leagues most dominant big man in Brad Clark, who recently committed to suit up for the University of Calgary Dinos.

But the kid did alright, especially in the second half when the Redmen blew the doors off a one-point halftime lead to eventually win 93-69.

“At one point I said ‘Nebojsa, you have to keep that guy off, you’re doing a great job on him though,’ and he says, ‘coach, I’ve been dunked on two times’,” said Wiebe.
“And I’m like yeah, but you’ve hit three threes on him.”

He ended up with 17 points.

To be fair, the Redmen’s low post defense started deep in the Bulldog’s end thanks to a relentless full-court press., which made it difficult for the Bulldogs to establish their inside game. But when the ball did go down low, he battled hard to limit the damage.

“Coming in I prepared my muscles for a big fight,” joked Kuljic. “I tried to focus on staying down and not jumping on their pump fakes and box out as much as I can.”

The advantage over most defenders that Kuljic carries into games is his versatility as a player who can beat you in a lot of different ways.

“I’m a tall person who can shoot is how I would describe myself as,” said Kuljic. “I can take it to the hole and finish pretty well.”

His height makes him an effective scorer in the paint, but he’s more comfortable outside where he can use his shooting accuracy to hit the jumper or his deceptive speed to beat a defender off the dribble and take the ball strong to the hole.

And since he usually is the biggest player on the court for the Redmen, Kuljic usually finds himself guarded by the other team’s big man, which allows him to create a mismatch on the outside since the defender is forced to play on the outside.

Call it a little payback for being outsized in the paint on the other end of the court.

“They have to respect that and come out on him and that opens up the key for us,” said Wiebe. “He brings all those intangibles to our team that is so valuable.”

It’s probably safe to assume that Kuljic will be playing post secondary ball somewhere next season, and wherever he plays he’ll fit in naturally as a shooter.

“Realistically, if he goes to college, and there are a couple of colleges that are looking at him, he would play a three position, a slashing guard position where he would get some outside shots,” said Wiebe.

The Redmen and Bulldogs will duke it out once again on Thursday night in semi-final action at Western Canada High School. The winner moves on to play the winner of the Bishop Grandin Ghost versus Notre Dame Pride semifinal.

Kram 5 with Nebojsa Kuljic.
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