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Stojakovic stepping to the fore

By Terry Brown

NBA Insider

Wednesday, May 7

Updated: May 7

9:20 AM ET

Forget everything you may or may not know about Sacramento swingman Peja Stojakovic.

Peja Stojakovic

Small Forward

Sacramento Kings

Profile

2002-2003 SEASON STATISTICS

GM PPG RPG APG FG% FT%

72 19.2 5.5 2.0 .481 .875

"Everybody says a lot of things about him, that he's probably the greatest shooter in the league right now," Bobby Jackson told the Sacramento Bee. "But his toughness that he brings to the game, people think he's soft, but he's not. He's really ready to play with the best of them and mix it up with the best of them."

Before we began this whole postseason song and dance, Peja had, perhaps, the quietest season of his career. An all-star already, his numbers across the board were down slightly and you heard more about his bum ankle than anything else. He was scoring less than the previous two seasons, rebounding less than two years ago, averaged the fewest amount of assists ever as a starter and, after five seasons in the NBA, had yet to prove he could check his own coat.

Now, he's shooting 56 percent from the field and 51 percent from 3-point range and leading the Kings in scoring as they roll through the second round of the playoffs in Dallas' backyard.

"We talked about it," fellow Euro and King teammate Vlade Divac said. "Usually my first couple of years here, if someone like (Chris Webber) would go out of the game or be hurt, I would (take over). Now (Stojakovic) realizes he is the main guy. He is the guy who can take us on his shoulders and do the job."

Now, you're going to hear a lot about his passing and rebounding and even defense but that's what happens when you play the second-seeded team in the playoffs on its own homecourt and go up 28 before everyone flips the channel to watch the other game.

But the fact of the matter is that while his all-around game is finally coming around, it is more a product of the King system and, what is becoming, legendary King rotation.

Everybody rebounds better. Every scores at will. Everybody passes around their back to teammates cutting to the basket for reverse dunks. Heck, when you put up 62 points by halftime in a playoff game and then another 62 after it, it's easy to talk about defense even when the opponent scores 113 points.

But look at the boxscore.

Chris Webber had only six rebounds but led the team in assists with nine. Starting point guard Mike Bibby scored seven points while backup point guard Jackson scored 23. Defensive stopper Doug Christie shot 4 of 5 from the field and Keon Clark, often a menace from the free-throw line, shot 100-percent from there.

You overlook the irregularities and focus on the fact that Stojakovic had nine rebounds.

The winner gets to do that.

But the fact of the matter is that Stojakovic shot 11 of 18 from the field. Stojakovic hit two 3-pointers. Stojakovic could not, would not be guarded.

"The evolution of a basketball player is a beautiful thing to see," Christie said.

But it had nothing to do with Peja's passing, rebounding or defensive wizardry and everything to do with Webber needing to rebound only six misses and Bibby having to score only seven points.

Peja is shooting so good that everything else is becoming irrelevant.

"In Europe, 99 percent of the guys don't play defense. It's freestyle over there," Peja said. "But this is the thing: All the players who come over here are going to be tested. Are they soft? Are they tough enough? You have to prove yourself, and you have to start with your own team to earn minutes from the coaching staff, earn respect from your teammates and get confidence from them."

Here's the truth.

Peja begins and ends as a shooter. Always has been, always will be.

And when he was the leading scorer for the Kings during the regular season, Sacramento won 74 percent of its games. When Webber was the leading scorer, the Kings won 72 percent.

When Peja leads them in scoring in the playoffs, they are undefeated.

Peja is averaging 23.1 points per game on 56 percent from the field and 51 percent from distance in this postseason.

Only Derek Fisher and Walter McCarty have hit more triples and they don't carry a hint of the offensive load he does. Only Kenny Thomas has a better shooting percentage from the field and he hasn't hit a triple in two years.

Only Larry Bird, 16 years in reverse, was ever named Finals MVP the same year he had a chance of winning the 3-point shooting contest at the break.

And not even he took 34 percent of his makes from beyond the arc.

Peja vu

Martin McNeal / Sacramento Bee

It's Stojakovic's night once again

Ailene Voisin / Sacramento Bee

Pistons bracing for Iverson show

By Terry Brown

NBA Insider

Tuesday, May 6

Updated: May 6

11:56 AM ET

If Tim Duncan is the NBA MVP for the second year in a row and averaging 18.7 points per game in the playoffs, then what is Allen Iverson if he's averaging 34.8?

"He's so much of their team," Detroit Piston guard Richard Hamilton said in the Detroit News. "He's their first, second and third options. We have to be aware of where he's at all the time."

Hamilton will be guarding Iverson for much of Tuesday night when the Sixers and Pistons meet in the first game of their second round series after having to guard Tracy McGrady in Detroit's first round match up with Orlando.

Iverson

"In some ways, Iverson is more difficult to prepare for than McGrady," Pistons Coach Rick Carlisle said. "His speed is second to none, and he gets a lot of his points off of his defense and his ability to make steals and convert. Everything they do goes through him and it causes massive chain reactions on defense which lead to a lot of offensive rebounds for them."

But if Tracy McGrady was the regular season scoring champion at 32.1 points per game before scoring 31.7 points per playoff game, than what does that make Iverson who is also averaging 2.3 steals per postseason contest after leading the entire league in that category during the regular season?

''McGrady has all the stats, but the Orlando Magic don't do that horribly when he's out of the game,'' Wayne L. Winston said in the Chicago Sun Times after putting together a player rating system covering almost every aspect of the NBA. ''The Magic give up too many points when he's in the game.''

Which leaves us wondering what Iverson was doing when Kevin Garnett, second in the MVP voting, was eliminated in the first round of the playoffs since that would have been KG's 29th postseason game in 8 years as AI prepares to play his 52nd in 7 seasons?

And also begs the question of Shaq and Kobe and what would happen if those two were by themselves and Michael Jordan didn't give his retirement parade a third lap, would Allen Iverson be the third biggest road draw in the entire NBA?

According to a report in the Philadelphia Daily News, only the Wizards (19,311 average attendance) and the Lakers (19,107) had more people see them on the road than the Sixers (18,408).

"He just has tremendous heart," Pistons guard Jon Barry said in Detroit Free Press. "He is as tough as they come. I mean, to take the pounding he takes, to be that small and get back up -- he just has tremendous will. Hopefully we can keep him in check."

But if no one has been able to ... ever ... and Allen Iverson the Answer continues to pose more questions about his stature in the game with former MVP awards and future NBA exploits as we wait for his mugshot to reappear on our living room TV sets during the Olympics, we have to wonder if he's the best thing to happen to the NBA ... or the worst because we don't know what to do with him?

Pistons' next task: Shut down Iverson

Chris McCosky / Detroit News

Calculating success for Bulls

Carol Slezak / Chicago Sun-Times

What's after Darko?

By Chad Ford

NBA Insider

Send an Email to Chad Ford Monday, May 5

Updated: May 5

3:40 PM ET

BARCELONA -- It's 1:46 a.m. ET Monday, and I've just arrived in Barcelona. Within the next few days, thousands of international basketball junkies and dozens of NBA GMs, scouts and personnel will converge here to take in what has to be one of basketball's most exciting events -- the Euroleague Final 4.

On The Road Again

NBA Insider Chad Ford has hopped across the pond once more for an up-close look at some of the top European prospects in the 2003 NBA Draft. Follow Ford's trip in his daily journal:

Monday: Beyond Darko

Next: Pavel Podkolzin

It's only May 5, but for all 29 NBA teams, it's already time to start thinking about next year. Whether their teams are preparing for the second round or the 2003 NBA Draft -- the NBA's greatest talent evaluators aren't loving the NBA playoffs live.

Instead, they're wandering through Europe with travel guides, fistfulls of Euros, grainy Interpol photos and tattered Insider prospect reports.

Their quest? Find the next Dirk Nowitzki. Or the next Peja Stojakovic. A Vlade Divac clone would be nice. Given the current state of the draft, even a Gordan Giricek or Emanuel Ginobili will do.

The war in Iraq, global fears of terrorism, and the spread of SARS aren't enough to keep the hard-core off the trail of the international elite. For many GMs, their jobs will depend on finding a diamond in the rough in Europe.

For the most part, they have to come here. College players and even high school players are scouted extensively. There are very few surprises anymore. The international field, however, is still the wild west. There are still nuggets left to be unearthed.

Want to know an international scout's biggest nightmare? Hearing a name called on draft night that he has not heard.

"With the 27th pick in the draft the Sacramento Kings select Boyko Mladenov ... " David Stern says from the pulpit at Madison Square Garden.

"Who?" the GM and owner ask.

"Ummmm ..." the scout replies. His hesitation betrays him.

"You're fired," the GM and owner say in unison.

This isn't an easy business.

At this stage of the game they're cramming for their June 26 final. Many teams have been scouring Europe since December in search of the next great thing. Before this weekend, agent Marc Cornstein estimates representatives from about 20 teams had seen Darko Milicic in person.

NBA types began converging on Thessoloniki, Greece, late last week to catch Darko's team, Hemofarm, play in the FIBA Final Four.

Many probably walked away disappointed. Foul trouble and continuing issues about a 17-year-old's role on a veteran team limited Darko's minutes and production.

Still, it probably didn't matter. According to several lottery team scouts, the only way Darko was going to do damage to his stock was by blowing out his knee. He walked away from the event healthy.

An up-close view satisfied scouts that Sofoklis Schortsianitis is a legitimate 6-foot-10.

There was a sigh of relief from both sides of the pond.

From Thessoloniki, NBA teams will disperse. Some already have been to Crete to check out the other 17-year-old phenom in this draft, Sofaklis Schortsianitis, whom agent Marc Fleisher confirmed has declared officially. Schortsianitis' nickname is Baby Shaq, which is good, considering his real name sounds like some strange affliction Jerry Krause caught as a kid.

Schortsianitis scored 15 points on 7-of-9 shooting from the field in 20 minutes of play against Hemofarm. But the most important news was that scouts seem to be starting to concur that he's a legit 6-foot-10 with shoes. That alone will cause his stock to rise.

If that doesn't help it enough, Sofaklis is getting a pretty intense personal trainer to work him out for the next few weeks. Pacers guard Ron Artest is flying to Greece next week to work out Sofaklis and get him battle tested for the NBA. Lets just hope it only makes him tougher, not crazier.

Other GMs will be off to Yugoslavia this week to get another good look at several other top Yugoslavian players, including sweet-shooting two guard Alexsandar Pavlovic and 7-foot-6 giant Slavko Vranes.

Still others are off to France to check out super-athlete Mickael Pietrus and his teammate Boris Diaw.

If you've been reading Insider since December you've already been there and done that.

I'm here, again alongside Pistons international scouting guru Tony Ronzone, to get up close and personal with several other young players who could end up making a major impact in this draft.

Monday night I'll be in Milan, Italy. From there, we'll travel up to Varese to get a look at the "Russian Bear," 18-year-old Pavel Podkolzin. As you may recall, Pavel was the mysterious 7-foot-4, 300 pound Siberian prospect Insider first reported on in December.

Back then he was unknown to anyone outside of Clippers scout Fabricio Bensati, who worked in Italy. Since the report, 18 NBA teams have trekked to Italy to watch Pavel play. Tony and I are spending the day with Pavel, watching him work out and hearing his story.

Tuesday, we're splitting up. Tony will be off to Latvia (yes, Latvia) to check out a hot point guard prospect named Kristaps Valters. I'll travel from Varese down to Bologna, Italy, to check out Argentinian shooting guard Carlos Defino's miraculous rehab. Delfino tore ligaments in his ankle a little more than a month ago but reportedly is ready to play again. He's a likely late first-rounder if he gets a clean bill of health.

Wednesday, Tony and I will meet up again in Madrid, Spain, to spend the afternoon with 18-year-old prospect Maciej Lampe. Lampe's agent Keith Kreiter, claims he received calls from more than 20 NBA teams after an Insider story on Lampe a few weeks ago.

What was originally set up as an interview and workout for this story appears to be turning into something much bigger. While most NBA scouts had heard of Lampe, they hadn't scouted him extensively. His decision to declare for the draft this year caught them with their pants down. A solid showing this week in Madrid could make Lampe a lock for the lottery.

Brazilian prospect Anderson Varejao has scouts buzzing.

Thursday, Ronzone and I fly back to Barcelona to attend the Euroleague Final 4. We'll catch up with Brazilian big man Anderson Varejao, widely considered the top international prospect in the draft behind Darko. His team, F.C. Barcelona, will play in the Euroleague Final 4.

We'll also get the chance to check out several other top prospects here, including Russia's Victor Khryapa and Sergei Monya. We'll also see a kid who might be the best 16-year-old player in Europe -- Manuchar Markoishvili, a 6-foot-6 shooting guard from the country of Georgia who is already getting meaningful minutes on one of the top teams in Europe, Benetton Treviso.

We'll also catch up with former Wake Forest star Darius Songailia, who has become the star of the Russian team CSKA Moscow. The Celtics drafted Songailia in the second round last year, and it's looking like GM Chris Wallace may have gotten a steal. Several international scouts claim that had Songailia skipped college and played in Europe the way he has this season, he'd be a lottery pick in the upcoming draft.

After the Euroleage Final 4 ends Sunday, we're not resting. On Monday morning we'll drive from Barcelona to Bilbao, Spain, to check out the next Darko, 18-year-old Brazilian big man Tiago Splitter. Splitter's agent, Herb Rudoy, is keeping his client out of this year's draft, but watch out for him in 2004. If David Stern doesn't get his age limit, many scouts feel Splitter will be a candidate to be the No. 1 overall pick in next year's draft.

After a few hours with Tiago, we'll drive from Bilbao to Pau, France, to get a closer look at Diaw and Pietrus. Both players have the potential to end up in the lottery after the smoke clears.

After that, we collapse.

Peep Show

By Terry Brown

NBA Insider

Wednesday, May 7

Updated: May 7

11:04 AM ET

Mobley

Houston Rockets: Houston guard Cuttino Mobley was too busy during the season trying to win games for the Rockets to worry about a series of sprained ankles. Until now. "We had talked about it all year," Rockets trainer Keith Jones said in the Houston Chronicle. "We thought it was probably something we were going to do. But after we did the exit physicals with all the players, Dr. (Walter) Lowe and Dr. (Kevin) Varner looked at the MRI and X-rays and said he would greatly benefit from having the ankles scoped. He had sprained both ankles so many times, he really has a lot of scar tissue and loose bone spurs. This will greatly improve how he feels." Mobley is sexpected to need six weeks of rehab to fully recover.

Detroit Pistons: Chauncey Billups has fallen and the Pistons aren't sure if he can get up. "It's hard to know how severe it is and how he's going to be," team physician Ben Paolucci said after the guard went down in last night's game with a twisted left ankle. "He did the same thing in New York and missed some games." If Billups is unable to go on Thursday, Chucky Atkins is expected to step in. "It's going to make it a lot tougher, no doubt, if Chauncey can't play, but we have some players who will be ready," Cliff Robinson said in the Detroit News. "Chucky Atkins started for us last year and if put in the situation, I'm sure he's ready to step up."

Minnesota Timberwolves: Timberwolves rookie guard Igor Rakocevic is no longer a rookie nor a Timberwolf. "We like Igor, and we would love to have him in our summer league and have him come back,'' Minnesota GM Kevin McHale said in the St. Paul Pioneer Press after waiving him. "But right now we have a lot of free agents and a lot of stuff, and we're trying to do a lot of different things.'' Had they kept the second round draft pick, he would have made $563,679 next season.

Charlotte: The NBA's newest franchise has narrowed it list of nicknames to three but at least one local columnist says there'll be hard pressed to find a winner. "Bobcats, Dragons or Flight? That's our final three?" wrote Scott Fowler in the Charlotte Observer. "That's like saying you get to vote for the new Miss America, but the field has already been narrowed to Craig Stadler, James Belushi and Andy Sipowicz. Or going to the buffet line and finding only mayonnaise, liver and beets."

Mobley to have ankles scoped

Jonathan Feigen / Houston Chronicle

Billups suffers sprained left ankle

Jim Spadafore / Detroit News

Wolves waive rookie guard Rakocevic

Robbi Pickeral / St. Paul Pioneer Press

Final choices for nickname are lackluster

Scott Fowler / Charlotte Observer