Hrvoje Perić-Cedar Herald Index

Hrvoje Perić (born October 25, 1985) is a Croatian professional basketball player currently playing for Benedetto XIV Cento of the Italian second-tier Serie A2 Basket. Standing at 2.01 m, he plays at the power forward position.

Professional career

Croatia

After progressing through the youth ranks of home town club KK Dubrovnik, he debuted with the first team in the Croatian second division (A-2) in 2000-01.

Hrvoje Perić

The next year he moved to another A-2 club, KK Solin , moving the same season to KK Split, a side that was playing in both the Croatian A-1 Liga and the stronger regional competition the Adriatic League. Split went on to win the domestic league in 2002-03 but the 17-year-old Perić would only play one game, with three more in the regional league.

Hrvoje Perić

The following season he played more, both in the Adriatic League and the Europe-wide second tier ULEB Cup but was not part of the squad that won the Krešimir Ćosić Cup.

Hrvoje Perić

2004-05 proved to be his breakthrough season, he accrued game time across all competitions and won plaudits, including a selection to the Croatian League All Star Game, making the Eurobasket.com All-Newcomers Team.

After establishing himself as a starter for Split in the A-1, the only competition they played in, he declared early for the 2006 NBA draft though he later pulled out when it appeared he would go undrafted. After a solid but unspectacular 2006-07 season he went undrafted in 2007.

Following a tumultuous period with Split during which he was suspended, Perić left Split for good in 2008 signing a reported 3 year deal with fellow Croatian club KK Zadar.

With the incumbent Croatian League champions he encountered a higher level of play, with two consecutive finals in the domestic and two seasons in EuroCup, including a quarterfinal in 2008-09, however Zadar lost on all these occasions. Despite being unable to win silverware, Perić performed well on all stages, earning his third A-1 All Star Game selection and plaudits from Eurobasket.com for the same league (Forward of the Year, MIP, 1st team).

Abroad

Following these good performances in a team that had more exposure, the Croatian was spotted by Spanish team Unicaja Malaga with an eye of signing him. He was keen to join them, Zadar were willing to sell him to generate income and the signing seemed to be a formality, however internal divisions at the Andalusian club hijacked the move, it was first cancelled before finally going through for 200,000€.

Perić signed a two year contract with an option for a third year but his late arrival meant he joined an already assembled squad. Unicaja then loaned him for the year to Italian team Benetton Treviso, against whom he had had a career best performance in the 2009 Eurocup (26 points, 9 rebounds, 5 steals for a PIR of 40).

Under countryman Jasmin Repeša, in the past his coach for the national team, the Croatian had a successful first season abroad, logically less prominent in the team than in the past he posted solid figures and for the first time did so with consistency as Benetton reached the semifinals of both the Eurocup and the League.

Despite these performances he wasn't in Malaga's plans for 2011-12 after a coach change, amidst talk of transferring him he convinced the coach with his graft and was added to the squad for good later on. This allowed him to discover the best international and domestic club competitions in Europe in respectively the EuroLeague and the Liga ACB. He held his own in both, earning game time and displaying some good performances against top sides, Unicaja's season was less successful as they were thoroughly outclassed in the Euroleague Top 16 and did not make the playoffs in the league.

The collective failure resulted in a squad makeover and Perić was a victim, with the option on the third year of his contract not being taken, he then returned to Croatia to play for KK Zagreb.

The Dalmatian only played a handful of games for Zagreb, returning to Italy in October 2012 to sign with Vanoli Cremona. His return to Serie A proved fruitful as he was called to play a larger role in Cremona, regularly starting and helping his team comfortably avoid relegation by providing good figures (14.3 points and 6 rebounds per game).