more great news from moody...

[OzerskyJA <OzerskyJA@cmog.org>]

NBATalk says that there's ANOTHER "next Nowitski," a big russian whom his
coach
(who also coached Gasol and Dirk) says is even more ready -- AND he doesn't
have a
big buyout problem.  This guy could well jump into the top ten if what they
say is true;
which is good news for us anyway you cut it.  According to the article, we
have scheduled
a workout with him for next week.  I love moody week!


Is Vladimir Radmanovic the Next Dirk Nowitzki?
More than 100 scouts and GMs packed into Hoops gym in downtown Chicago
yesterday afternoon to see the private workouts of Alabama freshman Gerald
Wallace and Stanford sophomore Jason Collins. However it was the third
wheel, Vladimir Radmanovic who stole the show. The 6-10 Yugoslavian put on a
dazzling show of shooting and ball handling that had teams buzzing by the
end of the 60 minute workout. Radmanovic is the latest "hot prospect" in the
draft. He has the size and body to play power forward and the shooting range
and ball handling skills to play shooting guard. We know what you are
thinking and scouts were saying it by the end of the workout -- could
Radmanovic be the next Dirk Nowitzki? 
Radmanovic's Nike Hoop Summit coach, Marin Sedlacek, seems to think so.
Sedlacek is probably the only person on the planet to have coached Nowitzki,
Radmanovic and the other hot European prospect Pau Gasol. Sedlacek told
sportsTALK that Radmonovic is the best of the three at this stage. "He's
more ready for the NBA than Nowitzki or Gasol. He's stronger than Dirk was
when he entered the NBA. He can be just as special." 
Sedlacek told sportsTALK that Radmonovic has already had strong workouts in
Houston and Seattle and has workouts scheduled with Boston, Cleveland and
New Jersey after the camp. His workout was so strong in Seattle, the Sonics
invited him back for another right before the draft. Sedlacek said
Radmanovic decided not to play in the pre-draft camp after strong feedback
from Houston and Seattle. Unlike Gasol, and Greek big man Jake Tsakalidis
last year, Radmonovic does not have a huge buyout on his contract. According
to his agent, David Bauman of SFX, teams will only need to pony up $300,000
to get Radmonovic out of his contract. Given his strong workout yesterday,
expect teams to be knocking on his door by the end of the week. 
Sedlacek also had a few words of caution for teams on the Pau Gasol
bandwagon. "Gasol will be a good player, but he's not physically ready to
play in the NBA. In Spain he was a five, but in the NBA he'll have to make a
transition to the three or four. He could use some more time in Europe" 
The spotlight was supposed to be on Collins and Wallace. Collins also had a
strong workout and showed a lot of range on his jumper. But his lack of
athleticism and jumping ability was in stark contrast to Wallace, who was
jumping out of the gym. The knock on Wallace coming into the workout was
that he couldn't hit a jumper. Today was no different. Wallace even had
difficulty knocking down 10 footers. The only shots Wallace was getting to
fall were the dunks (however he even shanked one of those) which prompted
one scout to quip, "You know who the best rebounder in Chicago is? The
trainer chasing all of Wallace's missed shots." 
After the workout Wallace told sportsTALK that despite some negative
reviews, he's sticking with the draft