September 25, 2019 - Croatia captain and new Utah Jazz player Bojan Bogdanovic will be one of the NBA's best players this season, according to ESPN. 

The reputable ESPN has ranked Croatia national team player Bojan Bogdanovic 48th in the list of the NBA's best basketball players for the upcoming season.

It's #NBARank season ?

Our experts predict Zion will be a top-50 player in 2019-20. https://t.co/rpcto1OlTn pic.twitter.com/aq29XTA4xK

— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) September 24, 2019

For the ninth consecutive season, ESPN has ranked the best players in the NBA. Bogdanovic is among the players ESPN’s top 100, and the only Croatian basketball player named so far. The list has thus far ranked the best, from 100-31. 

The Croatian basketball player signed with the Utah Jazz this summer, and ESPN's Kevin Pelton thinks he'll fit in well with Rudy Gobert. 

“Bogdanovic could be a great fit in the Utah frontcourt next to Rudy Gobert. At 6-foot-8 and a listed 216 pounds, Bogdanovic is relatively similar in size to former Jazz small-ball 4 option Jae Crowder (6-foot-6, 235 pounds). Sliding him down from the wing to the power forward not only gives Bogdanovic a quickness advantage in most matchups, but also makes his shooting ability even more dangerous,” Pelton said for ESPN. 

Interestingly, Bogdanovic is ranked one place ahead of the Golden State Warriors' Klay Thompson.

You can see the list so far on ESPN.

To read more about sport in Croatia, follow TCN’s dedicated page. 

August 15, 2019 - ESPN gives us a look into 24 hours with Croatian-American mixed martial artist Stipe Miocic. 

We’ve officially begun the countdown to the martial arts spectacle of the year - the rematch of Daniel Cormier and Stipe Miocic. And while Cormier is especially active on social media leading up to the fight, Miocic is quiet, only briefly stating that ”the belt will be mine again."

However, Miocic has found in a place in the spotlight thanks to ESPN, who gave their readers a closer look into the Croatian-American’s life in a piece titled ‘Inside a 24-hour firehouse shift with UFC heavyweight Stipe Miocic’ on August 13, 2019. 

ESPN visited the UFC heavyweight at his part-time job where he is a firefighter at the Valley View Fire Department in Ohio. Miocic was just about to begin a 24-hour shift. 

“The smell of pain-relief cream wafts in from the room where Miocic is changing. He says he's a bit ‘worn out’. He has been in training camp for two months, juggling mixed martial arts training five or six days per week with three firehouse shifts per week. He trains sometimes twice daily, and those firehouse shifts are 12 or 24 hours apiece. This is his last one before he will celebrate his daughter Meelah's first birthday and start to focus full time on trying to reclaim the UFC title he lost to Cormier in July 2018,” writes ESPN. 

“Miocic's name is spelled incorrectly -- ‘Moicic; -- on his fire jacket, and he has never cared enough to get it changed. For the UFC, he's a headliner on the marquee, one of the greatest heavyweight champions of all time. At the station, spelling his name right isn't even a priority,” they continue. 

ESPN follows Miocic as he begins his shift, and delves into the mixed martial artist’s life from his proud Uber rating to what it's like at home with wife Rochelle and their 6-year-old daughter, Savannah. 

"I just tell people I'm a firefighter," Miocic says. "I'm not looking for any acknowledgment."

You can read the full article on ESPN. 

To read more about sport in Croatia, follow TCN”s dedicated page. 

An American journalist insults Dražen Petrović and invites a wave of criticism on social media for her clumsy statement, for which she appears to have offered no apology.

As SibenikIN writes on the 19th of December, 2018, in a short video clip about Carmelo Anthony and his legacy, American journalist Elle Duncan mentions Croatia's basketball legend Dražen Petrović, bizarrely claiming that he found himself in the Hall of Fame despite the fact that he, at least according to her, ''didn't leave his mark on the game'' like Carmelo Anthony has. In short, Carmelo Anthony and his career were glorified in the video clip, as tportal reported.

After having listed what could be placed as Anthony's legacy within the sport, the American journalist insults Dražen Petrović, stating that the list ''doesn't mean much'' because Dražen Petrović (which was also pronounced wrongly) is there," before claiming that the Croatian basketball star ''didn't leave his mark on the game'' like Anthony did.

In short and without going on and on, the American ESPN journalist obviously thinks some basketball players who weren't that great at the NBA have also still managed to find their places in the Hall of Fame.

As could be expected, shortly after the release of this video material, the style of which was intended to be amusing somehow, comments began being made in which the vast majority of readers thought that the journalist's ''performance'' was ridiculous, others stated how much of a sad state of affairs it must be for someone like her to be commenting on basketball.

This poses the question as to exactly why Croatia's incredible Dražen Petrović, of all the possible basketball players in the Hall of Fame, can be a bad example in Duncan's opinion? Just how the iconic Dražen Petrović, who played an enormous part in making it possible for many foreign players to get a chance in that world, could be a poor example, obviously only she knows. Does she know anything at all about Dražen's sporting career before joining the NBA, during which he dominated the court in the then Yugoslav and the Croatian national team? Unlikely.

The American journalist's Twitter profile, on which some extremely negative comments have been being received, is completely buried. Of course, more than 90 percent of the basketball lovers commenting ''invited'' her to apologise for her mistake, but it seems she's refusing to do so. The fact that she has offended Dražen Petrović, his family, and all those who appreciate the Mozart of basketball, clearly doesn't phase her. Her knowledge of the fact that there is a Museum dedicated to Dražen Petrović himself in the Croatian capital of Zagreb, which has been visited by many NBA stars, as well as numerous American journalists, is probably also slim.

''It's unbelievable and unnecessary to show such a lack of respect for Dražen Petrović. He was a fantastic basketball player who created a path for all other European basketball players in the NBA. He was tragically injured before he could give anything to the NBA. You could've done this without mentioning Dražen,'' stated one comment.

''Only a completely ignorant person can claim that Dražen Petrović didn't leave a mark in basketball. Dražen left his mark all over the world and achieved incredible things before he even reached the NBA. No wonder everyone thinks of ESPN as bad television when you've got such reporters,'' reads another scathing comment.

In order to glorify someone, one doesn't need to put another down. This is usually something learned early on in life, but that lesson obviously hasn't reached everyone.

Make sure to stay up to date with our dedicated sport and lifestyle pages for much more.

Considering there are 736 players at the World Cup this year, ranking among the top 50 is not a bad shout. 

Real Madrid's Luka Modrić was chosen as the best central midfielder in the selection of ESPN Sport’s 10 best.