During the halftime of Olimpia’s EuroLeague game vs Anadolu Efes Istanbul on Thirsday, November, 16th, Kruno Simon is going to be honored for his two-year run with the team and his induction to the club’s Hall of Fame.
Until the age of 27, Kruno Simon had only played in Croatia and not even in the country’s flagship team, Cibona Zagreb. He was underrated, considered not athletic enough to play at a very high level despite his creativity, flair, left-handed shot, diabolical ability to pass or shoot mid-air, with no balance, with no places to land. “He will be one of our main players, because with him it’s like having two playmakers on the court,” Coach Jasmin Repesa said, when introducing his coming. Kruno played as a guard and as a small forward but could carry the ball and understood the game two steps ahead. In 2012, he left Croatia for the first time, went to Malaga in Spain, then he played in Russia at Lokomotiv Kuban and became a permanent member of the Croatian national team (in 2016 he was one of the key factor of the big Croatia win at the Pre-Olympic tournament, in Turin which eliminated the Italy from the Rio de Janeiro Olympics). Olimpia was his great opportunity to make a decisive turn in his career. At 30 years of age. He was not going to fail.
He came at Olimpia while the team was about to be rebuilt around Alessandro Gentile. During the 2015/16 season, three other players came to correct and strengthen it, Mantas Kalnietis, Rakim Sanders and Esteban Batista. The heart of the team coached by Repesa would be formed by him and Gentile.
Olimpia struggled in the first part of the season, lost the Super Cup final against Reggio Emilia and was in fact eliminated immediately in the EuroLeague, but with the corrections they got into rhythm and Kruno Simon was the great protagonist of a run that would have led them to the the Italian Cup triumph in February (three wins in Milan with record margins, surpassed only in 2021) and then of the championship. The following season began with the Super Cup win and then in the Italian Cup in Rimini. With Simon aboard, in fact, Olimpia won four consecutive Italian trophies over a two-year span. Unfortunately, the injuries that partially affected his two-year stayed in Milan emerged precisely during the 2017 playoffs. Simon (who had already been forced to watch the Final Eight in Rimini from the bench) was forced to raise the white flag after Game 2 of the semi-final series eventually lost to Trento. He tried to return after Game 4, with the team on the verge of elimination, but it was not possible to do so. It’s a shame, because a Simon at full speed available not only could have changed the history of that season but maybe also his history at Olimpia, which ended just then.
However, in two years at Olimpia he won an Italian championship, two Italian Cups and a Super Cup. He was named MVP of the Super Cup won in 2016 in Milan (25 points in the championship game against Avellino) and was decisive in the championship series won a few months earlier. It was his field goal in Game 6 in Reggio Emilia from the low post, a left-handed fade-away which was the snapshot of his versatility, that closed the game and the season off. Olimpia led by two, retained possession and exploited his mismatch.
Jumping shots and jumping passes, an incredible ability to hit a hook shot, infallible from the foul line, intelligent, left-handed: because these skills, Kruno exceeded his athletic limitations. In the 2016 playoffs he averaged 12.8 points per game on 42.8 percent shooting from three. In two seasons, he made 75 appearances in Italy with 1,014 points scored, 31 appearances in the EuroLeague and 331 points scored. Quality numbers. Hall of Fame numbers.
He left Milan in 2017, sacrificed during the roster revolution that followed the elimination from the 2017 playoffs and the dismissal of Coach Repesa. Kruno Simon played the five years at Anadolu Efes Istanbul, winning the EuroLeague twice and earning the retirement of his number 43 jersey. No small feat.
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