| Milicic might fill tall order for NBA |
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By Skip Wood
Heads turned. Fingers pointed. Foreheads furrowed. Yep, that was one tall dude walking around the floor area of Continental Airlines Arena last week a half-hour or so before Game 5 of the NBA Finals. But who, exactly, was he? Eventually, educated buzz spread. He was none other than 7-footer Darko Milicic from Serbia-Montenegro. You know, that guy, that guy from Serbia.
That guy who's expected to be taken with the No. 2 pick in the June 26 NBA draft by the Detroit Pistons.
Ah, yes. Him. That Darko guy.
Some fans leaning from courtside walls began to request autographs.
Milicic happily obliged, and one of his representatives, Semi Pajovic, nodded approvingly.
One young fan dropped a pen over the railing. No problem. Milicic picked it up, handed it back to the owner and smiled.
"Thanks," the fan said.
"It's OK," Milicic said, nodding his head.
Milicic turns 18 Friday, will officially become an NBA player a few days later and then will begin to reap the financial awards accorded such lottery-pick stature.
Fancy cars, though, will not be at the top of Milicic's shopping list.
That's because has no driver's license. For that matter, he has no driving skills. In Serbia, he never needed to master the art of operating a motor vehicle.
"I must learn," he said with a grin earlier this month while lounging in the New York home of his agent, Marc Cornstein. "Yes, I must learn."
Cornstein looked at his client and chuckled.
"Right now he knows how to drive the cart in the supermarket," he said.
The NBA is hoping, if not praying, he can help drive a new wave of potential superstars into the public consciousness. With high school phenom LeBron James and former Syracuse standout Carmelo Anthony as likely bookends to Milicic's selection, the league feels pretty darned good about its latest infusion of talent.
That's a bright spot amid dark television ratings for this season's Finals.
NBA deputy commissioner Russ Granik indicated last week he sees something special in store for the new blood.
"The trio that's being talked about coming in for next year, in LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony and Darko Milicic ... it reminds me of the year when we had James Worthy, Terry Cummings and Dominique Wilkins all coming in together," he said. "I think that bodes very well."
So does Milicic's take on a recent pickup game at John Jay College, where he had just completed a workout for NBA scouts then plopped himself on a bench to watch the action.
Unlike the often-plodding Finals between the New Jersey Nets and the San Antonio Spurs, this affair was a fast-breaking, multi-dunking exercise in excitement.
"This I like," Milicic said. "It's fast. I like it fast. I like watching basketball. Everything about it. This, this is fast, and that's good."
Used courtesy of: USA Today |
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