LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. -- Roko Ukic wants to play for the Raptors next season and, perhaps, vice versa.
The Croatian point guard's agent, Marc Cornstein, met Raptors president/general manager Bryan Colangelo yesterday at NBA pre-draft camp for a preliminary discussion. A second-round pick of the Raptors in 2005, Ukic decided to sign a four-year deal with Tau Ceramica of Spain last summer and currently is involved in Spanish League playoffs.
But the 6-foot-5 Ukic has made it clear to Cornstein that his desire is to play in the NBA next season and the agent is in the process of trying to make that happen.
"Obviously, there will be negotiations involving three parties (meaning a buyout needs to be made) and I don't want to get too far ahead of ourselves," Cornstein said yesterday. "But Roko would like to be in Toronto and I think Toronto would like to have him as well."
Colangelo didn't go into any details about the discussion, other than indicating it is a possibility that Ukic will play for the Raptors next season. He also said it is possible Ukic will play for the Raptors in the Las Vegas summer league next month.
"We really didn't get into specifics," Cornstein said. "It was just a meeting of the minds."
Cornstein added no timeline has been made in regards to his dealings with the Raptors. Previous Raptors GM Rob Babcock wanted to bring Ukic in last season, but he decided to remain in Europe. At the time, he was not represented by Cornstein.
"From Roko's side, he was really down after dropping out of the first round," Cornstein said. "He was a little disillusioned and he signed a contract in Spain. He has gained maturity and he knows an organization really believes in him."
Meanwhile, Colangelo said 2005-06 rookies Joey Graham and Charlie Villanueva will join the Raptors for summer league, while fellow freshman Jose Calderon remains up in the air because of Spain national team commitments. The Raptors' other 2005-06 second-round pick, Slovenia's Uros Slokar, likely will not play in summer league, Colangelo said.
DENHAM'S DAY
Toronto-born Denham Brown, a Connecticut grad, scored 12 points in 20 minutes yesterday in his first game at pre-draft camp.
from the toronto sun
would be nice for us as it makes our draft desicisons easier
Last edited by insidehoops : 08-31-2006 at 10:53 AM.
i think we should get calderon and ukic to split the point, maybe claderon getting 28 minutes and ukic getting 20 a game. with work over the summer calderon should get his shot back, and its only a few more minutes than he played this season, and 20 minutes is a good time for a rookie to play to learn the game well and get a chance to show his abilities
and i think we could still sign another pg if we really need to just incase (eg. i think jay willaims should be going cheap)
Last edited by craigthomasb : 06-08-2006 at 08:30 AM.
yeah i really like joses game but mj put up big numbers. But still i would like to see jose get a chance at starting pg for at least 1/4 season before they rule him out as the fully time starting pg.
i think we should get calderon and ukic to split the point, maybe claderon getting 28 minutes and ukic getting 20 a game. with work over the summer calderon should get his shot back, and its only a few more minutes than he played this season, and 20 minutes is a good time for a rookie to play to learn the game well and get a chance to show his abilities
Roko is a better player than Calderon. I would reverse it if anything.
Ukic is going nowhere unless TAU wants to, and remember what has happened the last years with Scola (the same will happen with Splitter too). Itīs not Ukic who decides to go to the NBA, itīs Tau who lets him go (and they won't, at least for now).
Anyway, he's not even the starter there, so...
He has a buyout if they can pay Tau 1.5 mil they have to let him go no matter what. Colangelo also said there is a loophole to get him out this year to.
I know he has a buyout, but Toronto isn`t allowed to pay, only Ukic can, and money is money... Would you pay to go to the NBA if your NBA contract isn't enough or you weren't sure you would play?
We can afford to pay him 1.5 mill for 3-4 year and still get away with it because of our cap situation...that would give him enough to pay the debt and the raps pay the 500,000 towards it.
Roko Ukic Wants out of spain now!
