Holy Cross star center Josh Sankes

[kevin lok <bostonceltics17@yahoo.com>]

Italian lessons could pay dividends
Wednesday, July 11, 2001
By Bill Doyle
Telegram & Gazette Staff
Holy Cross star center Josh Sankes will work out with the Celtics this
weekend. And if the NBA team's coaches like what they see, he'll play
for Boston's entry in the Shaw's Pro Summer League next week at
UMass-Boston.
     Celtics spokesman Jeff Twiss said Sankes was among the 17 to 20
players who will be invited to work out at the team's practice
facility at HealthPoint in Waltham. Twelve or 13 will make the
summer-league team. The team's three first-round draft choices -- Joe
Johnson, Kedrick Brown and Joseph Forte -- as well as veterans Milt
Palacio, Mark Blount and Jerome Moiso are scheduled to play for
Boston's summer-league entry.
     Sankes recently returned home to Buffalo, N.Y., after spending
three weeks in Italy attending a big man camp run by Dallas Mavericks
assistant coach Donn Nelson, a Worcester Academy graduate, and former
NBA star Kiki Vandeweghe.
     "Everyone over there thought I was an NBA center," the 7-foot-1,
280-pound Sankes said yesterday.
     Sankes averaged 12.8 points and 9.6 rebounds a game last year and
led HC to its first NCAA Tournament berth since 1993 and a near-upset
of Kentucky in the first round. In his two years with the Crusaders,
he blocked a school-record 135 shots, including a single-season record
69 as a junior.
     Sankes was invited to an NBA tryout camp in Portsmouth, Va.,
after his season ended, but tendinitis in his foot prevented him from
accepting.
     "I think if I didn't have the tendinitis at the end of the year
and I went to some of those camps, I would have been drafted," Sankes
said.
     The tendinitis went away with rest and Sankes is ready to make up
for lost time. His coach at HC, Ralph Willard, coached with Celtics
coach Jim O'Brien under Rick Pitino at Kentucky and with the Knicks.
     The Celtics play their first game in their summer league at 6
p.m. Monday against New York. Tickets are $8 each.
     Sankes is not worried that the Celtics already have three centers
-- Vitaly Potapenko, Tony Battie and Blount.
     "It's more of a showcase thing," he said. "The one thing that
hurt me at Holy Cross was even though we did well, not many people
knew about me. I'm looking to get my name out there more."
     Sankes said his agent, Herb Rudoy, who also represents Portland
center Arvydas Sabonis, told him he'd be invited to many NBA camps
this summer. If he doesn't land a spot on an NBA roster, Sankes said
he'd accept one of the offers he's received to play in Italy or Spain.
     Sankes said he worked on his offense in Italy, but was told his
rebounding and shot-blocking were his tickets to the NBA.
     HC graduate Rob Feaster, the Patriot League Player of the Year in
1995, is a member of the Mavericks summer league team, which opened
play last night against Sacramento in Long Beach, Calif.
Celtics sign draft choices
     The Celtics announced they have signed their three first-round
draft picks.
     Johnson, a 6-8 forward selected with the 10th overall pick,
played two seasons at Arkansas and averaged 14.2 points last season.
Under the NBA's rookie wage scale, he received a three-year deal worth
within 20 percent of $4.3 million.
     Brown, a 6-7 swingman, was taken 11th overall out of
Okaloosa-Walton Community College in Florida, the highest pick ever
out of a junior college. His three-year deal is worth within 20
percent of $4 million.
     Boston picked Forte 21st overall. The 6-4 guard was an
All-American at North Carolina, which he left after his sophomore
season. His wage-scale deal is for within 20 percent of $2.5 million
over three years.