NBA All Star Weekend 2003 home.

Memphis Grizzlies forward Pau Gasol, the 2002 NBA got milk? Rookie of the Year, and Houston Rockets center Yao Ming, the first overall selection in the 2002 NBA Draft, lead a list of 18 players selected to play in the 2003 got milk? Rookie Challenge on NBA All-Star Saturday, February 8 in Atlanta’s Philips Arena.

The participants in the got milk? Rookie Challenge were selected by a panel of 14 former NBA players and coaches who currently work as broadcasters covering the league.

A record six international players will be participating in the contest. Memphis’ Gordan Giricek (Croatia), Denver’s Nene Hilario (Brazil), and Yao (China), will compete on the Rookie team while Gasol (Spain), Utah’s Andrei Kirilenko (Russia) and San Antonio’s Tony Parker (France) will play on the Sophomore team.

The got milk? Rookie Challenge, which will be broadcast live nationally at 4 p.m. EST by TNT, Rogers Sportsnet and ESPN Radio, features this year’s top rookies against the league’s best second-year players. Last year, the Rookies defeated the Sophomores, 103-97, with Jason Richardson of the Golden State Warriors earning the Most Valuable Player award.

Gasol and Richardson will be joined on the Sophomore team by Tyson Chandler of the Chicago Bulls, Gilbert Arenas and Troy Murphy of the Golden State Warriors, Richard Jefferson of the New Jersey Nets, Kirilenko, Parker and Jamaal Tinsley of the Indiana Pacers.

Yao is joined on the rookie team by Chicago’s Jay Williams, Cleveland’s Carlos Boozer and Dajuan Wagner, Hilario, Miami’s Caron Butler, Memphis’ Giricek and Drew Gooden and Phoenix’s Amare Stoudemire.

If a rookie or second-year player is selected to play in the All-Star Game on Sunday, he will not play in the Rookie Challenge.

The 14-member selection panel included Sean Elliott, Tim Hardaway, Tom Tolbert and Bill Walton from ESPN; Danny Ainge, Kenny Smith and John Thompson from TNT; Phil Chenier from Comcast Sportsnet; Mike Glenn from the Hawks Television Networks; Tom Heinsohn from FOX Sports Net New England; Rod Hundley from the Jazz Television Networks; Steve Jones from Blazer Broadcasting; Calvin Murphy from Rockets Television; and Jack Ramsay from ESPN Radio.

This is the fourth year under the current rookie versus sophomore format with the rookies holding a 2-1 edge. The game will be played in two 20-minute halves, with each team allowed one full timeout and one 20-second timeout per half. Individual foul totals will be kept, but a player can not foul out. A team will be in the penalty situation after 10 team fouls or after the second foul in the final two minutes of each half. In the event of a tie game, there will be a two-minute overtime to determine the winner.

Tickets to the got milk? Rookie Challenge are priced at $30, and are available at the Philips Arena box office, Ticketmaster outlets, Ticketmaster.com, NBA.com and 1-800-4NBA-TIX.

NBA All-Star Saturday Night presented by America Online, featuring Sprite Rising Stars Slam Dunk, 1 800 CALL ATT Shootout, 989 Sports Skills Challenge and Jeep All-Star Hoop-It-Up will also be broadcast live nationally at 8 p.m. EST by the same broadcast outlets. The NBA All-Star Game on Sunday, February 9 will be broadcast live nationally on TNT and ESPN Radio from Philips Arena at 8 p.m. EST.

The got milk? Milk Mustache campaign is sponsoring the NBA Rookie platform to highlight the importance of milk's bone-building calcium and eight other essential nutrients for active people, teens especially, who add about 15 percent of their height during these years. The platform includes the got milk? Rookie Challenge, the got milk? Rookie of the Month awards, the got milk? Rookie of the Year award and the got milk? All-Rookie Team.

Below are the rosters for the 2003 got milk? Rookie Challenge:

ROOKIE TEAM ROSTER
Player Team Pos. Ht. Wt. School/Country
Carlos Boozer Cleveland C 6-8 258 Duke
Caron Butler Miami F 6-7 217 Connecticut
Gordan Giricek Memphis F 6-5 210 Zagreb (Croatia)
Drew Gooden Memphis F 6-9 227 Kansas
Nene Hilario Denver F 6-11 260 Brazil
Amare Stoudemire Phoenix F 6-8 233 Cypress Creek HS
Dajuan Wagner Cleveland G 6-1 193 Memphis
Jay Williams Chicago G 6-2 195 Duke
Yao Ming Houston C 7-5 296 China

SOPHOMORE TEAM ROSTER
Player Team Pos. Ht. Wt. School/Country
Gilbert Arenas Golden State G 6-3 191 Arizona
Tyson Chandler Chicago F 7-1 235 Dominguez HS
Pau Gasol Memphis F 7-0 227 Spain
Richard Jefferson New Jersey F 6-7 222 Arizona
Andrei Kirilenko Utah F 6-9 205 Russia
Troy Murphy Golden State F 6-11 245 Notre Dame
Tony Parker San Antonio G 6-2 177 France
Jason Richardson Golden State G 6-6 220 Michigan State
Jamaal Tinsley Indiana G 6-1 199 Iowa State


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