Toni Kukoc (was: UseNet Draft -- #27 Chicago Bulls)
Craig A. Simpson
I was asked to post this for Massimo Campostrini.
> The final wildcard is Yugoslavian (actually Croation) Toni Kukoc.
> He was drafted 2 years ago by the Bulls and probably is the best,
> non-NBA player in the world. He is a 6'9" PG/SG/SF and is playing in
> Italy. However, with the problems in Croatia and Yugoslavia have
> placed question marks as to whether they will field a team in the Olympic
> team. The team he plays for in Italy was having (I don't know if they
> still do) some financial problems. Reportedly, he does have an escape
> clause to where he can jump to the NBA. Look for Jerry Krause to make
> another big pitch for Kukoc this summer.
Toni Kukoc plays for Treviso. The team IS losing money, but the
owners (the Benetton brothers) feel they can afford it. Their team won
the Italian Championship and they got a lot of advertisement (almost)
for free. Indeed Toni's contract includes an escape clause to play in
the NBA, but Toni declared he plans to play 2/3 more seasons in
Treviso before joining the Bulls (besides he's earning about 3M$/year,
can the Bulls match it?)
As for Toni Kukoc being the best non-NBA player, he is,
potentially. But he had a poor season (for his standards), partly due
to an injury and partly due to problems in adapting to the Italian
league style.
The best player of the Italian league was Vinnie Del Negro,
definitely another NBA-class player and also playing in Treviso
(that's why they won the title, uhu?) Vinnie took the Italian
citizenship last year but (unluckily) he won't be eligeable for the
Italian Olympic team for Barcelona -:( (BTW, do you know if Vinnie was
drafted by an NBA team? he also has an escape clause to play in the
NBA).
The MVP of the year in Europe was IMHO Arvidas Sabonis, who's
playing in the Spanish league (and doesn't plan to join the NBA).
Best regards,
Massimo Campostrini, Theoretical Physicist,
Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Pisa,
Piazza Torricelli 2, I56100 Pisa, Italy || Phone: (+39)(45)42093
Internet: ca...@sunthpi3.difi.unipi.it || Fax: (+39)(45)48277
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Craig Simpson | "So with love in their hearts
SAS Institute, Inc. | and death in the skies, they
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Glenn Horton
Vinnie was drafted by Sacramento, I think, and was the starting
SG when he abandoned the NBA for the lucrative contract he got in Italy.
|> NBA).
|> The MVP of the year in Europe was IMHO Arvidas Sabonis, who's
|> playing in the Spanish league (and doesn't plan to join the NBA).
|>
|> Best regards,
|>
|> Massimo Campostrini, Theoretical Physicist,
|> Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Pisa,
|> Piazza Torricelli 2, I56100 Pisa, Italy || Phone: (+39)(45)42093
|> Internet: ca...@sunthpi3.difi.unipi.it || Fax: (+39)(45)48277
|>
|>
|>
|> --
|> Craig Simpson | "So with love in their hearts
|> SAS Institute, Inc. | and death in the skies, they
|> cr...@unx.sas.com | go home."
|> (919) 677-8000 x6897 | Tom Servo, "King Dinosaur," MST3K
--
Glenn Horton SAS Institute Inc.
sas...@unx.sas.com 919-677-8000 x6640
Gidi Avrahami
>drafted by an NBA team?
He was drafted in 1988 by Sacramento (3rd in the second round, 29th
overall). I believe that he played with them for one season, but
didn't hang on.
--Gidi
Stanford Guillory
Actually, Vinnie hung on pretty well, he just thought the Kings
were favoring Kenny Smith more and jump for the riches of the Italian
league. The Kings would dearly love to have him back.
>--Gidi
Stanford S. Guillory
Jim Halpin
> > The best player of the Italian league was Vinnie Del Negro,
>
> overall). I believe that he played with them for one season, but
> didn't hang on.
Del Negro played two seasons with the Kings and OK. He became a
restricted Free Agent after his 2nd year, and went for the big bucks in Italy.
Because he could claim Italian citizenship, he didn't count against maximum
2 foreign players per team (I think that's the limit) the Italian league has.
Here's Vinny's two years NBA stats:
G MIN FG FGA FG% FT FTA REB AST STL BL PTS AVE
156 3414 536 1146 .468 220 255 369 456 129 24 1308 8.4
--
! Jim Halpin
! hal...@turkey.sw.stratus.com
! Marlboro, MA
Jerray Wei
>
> As for Toni Kukoc being the best non-NBA player, he is,
>potentially. But he had a poor season (for his standards), partly due
>to an injury and partly due to problems in adapting to the Italian
>league style.
> The best player of the Italian league was Vinnie Del Negro,
>definitely another NBA-class player and also playing in Treviso
>(that's why they won the title, uhu?) Vinnie took the Italian
>citizenship last year but (unluckily) he won't be eligeable for the
>Italian Olympic team for Barcelona -:( (BTW, do you know if Vinnie was
>drafted by an NBA team? he also has an escape clause to play in the
>NBA).
> The MVP of the year in Europe was IMHO Arvidas Sabonis, who's
>playing in the Spanish league (and doesn't plan to join the NBA).
If I were Jerry Krause, I wouldn't pursue the matter of Kukoc too much,
especially if it costs 3M a year. You never know how European prospects
will turn out and gambling that they'll be an all-star might be too much
of a risk. The Bulls are doing alright as far as their future goes. Scott
Williams looks like he'll be a good replacement for Cartwright and play
better than Cartwright ever did. And that's the only guy that's old.
As for Vinnie Del Negro, I think he put up mediocre numbers for the
Sacremento Kings and was a journeyman NBA player. There are so many
borderline NBA players who hop overseas and win MVPs...
Greg Tollefson
THe Kings still own the rights to Vinny, last time I checked. If he wants to return
to the NBA any interesetd teams must compensate the Kings. The Kings have carried
Vinny's salary on their cap as a result of this situation.
>
>--
>! Jim Halpin
>! hal...@turkey.sw.stratus.com
>! Marlboro, MA
Greg T.
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********************************************************
But Otto, what about our relationship????
Michael S. Wong
Jim Halpin
>
> THe Kings still own the rights to Vinny, last time I checked. If he wants to return
> to the NBA any interesetd teams must compensate the Kings. The Kings have carried
> Vinny's salary on their cap as a result of this situation.
>
The Kings lose their rights to Del Negro after two seasons, which is up
this year. As soon as the Playoffs are over, Vinny is an Unrestricted Free
Agent according to NBA rules. He could sign with any team, if he decided to come
back.
I doubt very much if he'll ever play in the NBA again, especially if
he's doing well over in Italy. He'ld never get an NBA franchise to offer him
the money he can make over there....
Joseph Barry Caproni
Vinny Del Negro was in Springfield, Ma last week. He did a charity benefit
with Darryl Dawkins, who also went to Italy. <Aside> went to high school
with his younger sister.
In an interview with the Springfield Union News, Vinny said that he loved
almost everything about playing in Italy. He doubts that he will ever go
back. So I would take his word for it and assume that the Kings lost yet
another good player. Looks like "Cleaning house" a few years ago got them
nowhere. Big suprise.
. -Joe
Donald S. Hearth
>In article <37...@transfer.stratus.com> hal...@sw.stratus.com (Jim Halpin) writes:
>>In article <1992Jun9.2...@CSD-NewsHost.Stanford.EDU>, gi...@Hilbert.Stanford.EDU (Gidi Avrahami) writes:
>>> > The best player of the Italian league was Vinnie Del Negro,
>>>
>>> He was drafted in 1988 by Sacramento (3rd in the second round, 29th
>>> overall). I believe that he played with them for one season, but
>>> didn't hang on.
>>
>
>
>to the NBA any interesetd teams must compensate the Kings. The Kings have carried
>Vinny's salary on their cap as a result of this situation.
>
Actually, the Kings waived their rights to Vinny last summer when they
were preparing to sign Billy Owens (before the trade with Golden State).
Vinny can now sign with any team that he wants.
By the way, he was on a local sports talk show a few months ago, and he
stated that he wanted to come back to the NBA some day. He did not say
if he would give the Kings first crack at him or not. He was a BIG fan
favorite here during his 2 years, even though his stats were
unspectacular.
The source for Kings' info,
Don Hearth
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