Zeljko Pavlicevic leaves Susanoo

Zeljko Pavlicevic has left Shimane Susanoo Magic of the Japanese BJ-League after three years in charge of the team. The Croatian guided the Magic to the Western Conference playoff semi-finals last week but the team failed to reach the Final Four after losing to the Rizing Fukuoka on Sunday. The 62-year old has been with Susanoo Magic since 2010 and previously led the Japanese national team between 2004 and 2006, including the 2006 FIBA World Basketball Championship in Japan.

Zeljko Pavlicevic has already lined up his next head coach role and will depart to the Japanese NBL for the 2013-2014 season. Exactly which team in the NBL (formerly known as JBL) Pavlicevic will coach has not yet been revealed but sources from Croatia are suggesting it will be the Wakayama Trians’.

Pavlicevic was a coup for Susanoo Magic when they appointed him head coach in 2010, after-all this was a double Euroleague winning coach who won Europe’s premier competition with Croatian clubs Cibona Zagreb and Jugoplastika Split in 1986 and 1991. The team will now begin the search for a successor and will look to build on Pavlicevic’s record of three consecutive play-off seasons in the BJ-League.