Miro Bilan

Miro Bilan
Bilan in January 2020
No. 2 – Pallacanestro Brescia
PositionCenter
LeagueLBA
Personal information
Born (1989-07-21) July 21, 1989 (age 35)
Šibenik, SR Croatia, SFR Yugoslavia
NationalityCroatian
Listed height2.13 m (7 ft 0 in)
Listed weight121 kg (267 lb)
Career information
NBA draft2011: undrafted
Playing career2006–present
Career history
2006–2009Šibenik
2010–2011Zadar
2011–2017Cedevita
2017–2018SIG Strasbourg
2018–2019ASVEL
2019–2021Dinamo Sassari
2021–2022Prometey
2022Dinamo Sassari
2022–2023Peristeri
2023–presentBrescia Leonessa
Career highlights and awards

Miro Bilan (born July 21, 1989) is a Croatian professional basketball player for Basket Brescia Leonessa of the Italian Lega Basket Serie A (LBA). Standing at 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m), he plays at the center position.

Professional career

Bilan started his career in his hometown, playing for Šibenik from the start of 2006 until January 2010 season when he signed 3 year-deal for Zadar. In Zadar Bilan proved to be one of the most promising young centers in Croatia, becoming subject of interest from major clubs. As Zadar fell into financial troubles, failing to pay their players on time, Bilan one-sidely parted ways with the team.

In August 2011, he signed a contract with Cedevita. Zadar suspended Bilan but eventually he won Croatian Basketball Federation arbitration dispute, allowing him to debut for Cedevita in September 2011.[1] In July 2014, he extended his contract with Cedevita for one more season.[2]

On May 5, 2015, he agreed to a new two-year contract with Cedevita.[3] The 2015–16 season was until then his most successful season. He was one of Cedevita's key players in its EuroLeague Top 16 run and was named ABA League MVP. In spite rumors he will continue his career abroad, in July 2016 he signed a new one-year contract with Cedevita.[4]

On October 19, 2017, Bilan signed with French club SIG Strasbourg for the rest of the 2017–18 season. In 35 games in LNB Pro A he averaged 13 points, 6.4 rebound and 2.1 assists in 23.2 minutes per game. In 16 games in Basketball Champions League he averaged 10.3 points, 6.4 rebounds and 1 assist in 22.7 minutes per game.[5]

On July 30, 2018, Bilan signed with French club ASVEL. In 44 games in LNB Pro A he averaged 11.5 points, 5.9 rebounds and 1.6 assists in 22.3 minutes per game. In 18 EuroCup games he averaged 10.6 points, 6.1 rebounds and 1.1 assists in 21.3 minutes per game.[6] He was named member of the All–7DAYS EuroCup Second Team for the 2018/19 season.[7]

On July 13, 2019, he has signed with Dinamo Sassari of the Lega Basket Serie A (LBA). In 2019/2020 season he averaged 14 points, 6.4 rebounds and 1.6 assists in 25 minutes per game. In 2020/2021 season he averaged 16.5 points, 7.9 rebounds and 1.9 assists in 27 minutes per game,[8] earning Lega Basket Seria A (LBA) first team award.

On September 23, 2021, he signed in Ukraine with BC Prometey.[9] In 23 games, Bilan averaged 10.3 points, 7.1 rebounds, and 1.6 assists in 18:54 minutes per game.[10]

On March 7, 2022, he signed back with Dinamo Sassari of the Lega Basket Serie A (LBA). In 18 games he averaged 15.6 points, 8.1 rebounds, and 1.6 assists in 24.6 minutes per game.[11]

On June 25, 2022, Bilan signed with Peristeri of the Greek Basket League. In 32 domestic league games, he averaged 12.6 points, 8.3 rebounds and 1.6 assists, playing around 24 minutes per contest.

On June 19, 2023, Bilan signed a two-year contract with Italian club Basket Brescia Leonessa of the Lega Basket Serie A. In 39 games, he averaged 12.4 points, 8.3 rebounds and 2.8 assists, playing 24.6 minutes per game.

National team career

Bilan was a part of the Croatian U-18 and U-20 teams as well as Croatian B national side. He made his debut for the senior Croatian national basketball team in August 2014 in a friendly against Canada. He was the last player to be removed from the preliminary squad for the 2014 World Cup. He represented Croatia at the 2015 EuroBasket,[12] where they were eliminated in the eighth finals by Czech Republic.[13] At this tournament he was the third choice for the center position and did not spend much time on court. A year later, after Ante Tomić and Justin Hamilton canceled playing in the tournament, he became the first-choice center in Croatia's successful appearance at the 2016 FIBA World Olympic Qualifying Tournament. He played at the 2016 Summer Olympics where Croatia came 5th. He rejected the call-up for the 2017 EuroBasket, but played again for the Croatia national basketball team at the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup qualification games.

Career statistics

Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field-goal percentage  3P%  3-point field-goal percentage  FT%  Free-throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game  PIR  Performance Index Rating
 Bold  Career high

EuroLeague

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG PIR
2012–13 Cedevita 9 8 19.1 .596 .000 .500 6.0 .3 .3 .2 8.8 11.4
2014–15 10 10 25.3 .549 .000 .714 6.6 1.2 .4 .0 12.5 15.4
2015–16 24 24 25.6 .554 .333 .625 6.1 2.0 .7 .3 13.1 15.5
Career 43 42 24.2 .561 .300 .628 6.2 1.5 .5 .2 12.2 14.6

References

  1. ^ "Miro Bilan ipak u Cedeviti". Kosarka.hr. Retrieved 20 September 2011.
  2. ^ "Miro Bilan stays in Cedevita". Abaliga.com. Archived from the original on 25 July 2014. Retrieved 19 July 2014.
  3. ^ "Bilan ostaje još dvije godine". jutarnji.hr (in Croatian). No. 5 May 2015. Retrieved 7 May 2015.
  4. ^ "Cedevita keeps Bilan for another season". eurobasket.com. 13 July 2016.
  5. ^ "Strasbourg signed Miro Bilan". Eurohoops.net. 19 October 2017. Retrieved 19 October 2017.
  6. ^ "Miro Bilan potpisao za novi klub". germanijak.hr (in Croatian). No. 30 July 2018. Retrieved 9 April 2019.
  7. ^ "2018-19 All-EuroCup Second Team". eurocupbasketball.com. 4 April 2019. Archived from the original on April 5, 2019. Retrieved 9 April 2019.
  8. ^ Borghesan, Ennio Terrasi (July 13, 2019). "Sassari inks Miro Bilan". Sportando. Retrieved August 28, 2019.
  9. ^ "Miro Bilan is a player of "Prometey"". prometeybc.com. 23 September 2021.
  10. ^ Yahyabeyoglu, Fersu (March 7, 2022). "Bilan is back at Sassari". Eurobasket. Retrieved March 7, 2022.
  11. ^ "Bentornato SuperMiro" (in Italian). dinamobasket.com. 7 March 2022.
  12. ^ "CROATIA UNVEIL AMBITIOUS EUROBASKET SQUAD". eurobasket2015.org. 4 September 2015. Archived from the original on 13 September 2015. Retrieved 13 September 2015.
  13. ^ "CZECHS MAKE FIRST QUARTER-FINAL TRIP". .eurobasket2015.org. 13 September 2015. Archived from the original on 14 September 2015. Retrieved 13 September 2015.