Damir Markota
From Hoopedia
Damir Omerhodžić-Markota (known as Šveđo) (born December 26, 1985 in Sarajevo, Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (present-day Bosnia and Herzegovina)) is a Croatian professional basketball player in the NBA. He was chosen by the San Antonio Spurs in the second round of the 2006 NBA Draft, 59th overall, then immediately traded to the Milwaukee Bucks. During the summer of 2006, the Bucks signed Markota to a multi-year contract after the Spurs traded his draft rights for the higher of the Bucks' two 2007 NBA Draft second-round picks.
Damir escaped from Bosnia during the war and settled in Sweden, where he began to practice basketball. He played together with Maciej Lampe in Stockholm, until moving to Croatia when he was 14, after being invited to play for the Croatian League. Signed with "KK Cibona", but was loaned to "Zabok" and "Karlovac Šanac" until season 2003/04. He has received Croatian citizenship (holds Swedish citizenship as well), declining an offer to play for the Swedish national team.
Damir Omerhodžić was known as a party animal with a bad attitute when he entered the 2004 NBA Draft, but later withdrew his name from consideration. In the next two years, he worked hard to repair his image, which resulted in an invitation to the Croatian national team. In addition to that, he changed his last name to "Markota" (his mother's maiden name) in 2004.
In February 2007, the Bucks assigned Markota to Tulsa 66ers of the NBA Development League, in order to further improve his play.
His style of play has been compared to Vladimir Radmanovic.
