1 p.m. More players arrive looking for an interview. This time it's Kosta Perovic, largely regarded as the third-best young prospect in Yugoslavia behind Darko Milicic and Pedja Samardziski, the 15-year-old phenom we spoke of on Monday. Something catches our eye immediately when the two walk into the lobby. Perovic is taller than Samardziski. That takes Ronzone and I both by surprise. The scouting reports on the two have Perovic listed at 6-foot-11 and Samardziski listed at 7-foot-1.

We immediately ask Perovic, who turns 18 in April, what's up. "I'm still growing," he responds. "Right now I'm 7-foot-2, but tomorrow I may be 7-foot-3."

You have to love the quick wit of all of these players. They are comfortable sitting down for an interview and like to turn the tables on me. They have many questions about the NBA. Their knowledge of the league is incredible. Perovic says his favorite player is Hakeem Olajuwon. Olajuwon is a Hall of Famer, sure, but Perovic was 12 years old the last time the Dream was practicing the shake. Ronzone mentions GM Joe Dumars at another point in the conversation and then asks Samardziski if he knows who he is. "Of course. He is Bad Boy."

Perovic and Samardziski both want badly to play in the NBA. For Perovic, the dream may not be far off. He's actually older than Milicic and plays a prominent role for Partizan and for the Yugoslavian national team. Unlike Milicic, however, Perovic is very thin. He tells me the plan for now is to stay in Yugoslavia one or two more years to work on getting stronger.

Could he be a lottery pick in 2004? Every scout I talked to agreed that he'll follow in Darko's footsteps. "He's got great length, is another skilled post player and an excellent shot blocker," one scout says. "He gets pushed around a little down low, but you can already see the improvement. His game is very similar to Gasol's. Give him another year and he'll be big time."

Perovic's advantage is that at 17, he's already playing against the top talent in Europe. His team usually gives him significant minutes, and the learning curve is impressive. Intense five- to six-hour practices every single day aren't hurting him either.

Nenad Kristic was in a similar position to Perovic last season. In just one year he's gone from prospect to legit NBA material. Scouts expect the same thing from Perovic next year.

Samardziski hasn't even made it onto the senior team, but he's already dreaming about the NBA. He idolizes Tim Duncan, "He's the smartest big man in the league," Pedja says.

Pedja is full of stories. He's actually from Macedonia and comes from a basketball family. His father was a star in Macedonia and took Pedja with him wherever he played. Pedja says he's been playing since he was 3. Spend five minutes with the kid and you can tell that he has a passion for the game that will get him far. After I tell him I'm done with the interview he looks surprised. "That's it?"

"Do you have more that you want to tell me?" I ask.

As a matter of fact he does. He wants me to know that he's not just a big man. He won two 3-point contests at a basketball camp last year. Two years ago he took it upon himself to guard Tony Parker. "He is very fast. I try to get down low to keep up with him. I do an OK job. But after the game, my back hurts for two days. I should probably stick to guarding big guys. What do you think?"

Not a bad idea.

7:30 p.m. Much to the relief of the hundreds of Knicks fans that keep e-mailing me, after being kicked out of practice and denied at every turn, we finally get a chance to see Milos Vujanic, New York's second-round pick this year. Partizan has a big Euroleague game against CSKA Moscow tonight, and Ronzone and I have front row seats.

The arena is filled 30 minutes before the game. The gym is filled with smoke by the time we get there. When the players hit the floor for warm-ups they look like they're practicing in the fog. The Partizan fans know how to party. They sing, they chant, they throw fire crackers at our head and everyone goes berserk whenever the cheerleaders hit the floor. The place is literally vibrating 15 minutes before tip-off.

Ronzone and I know we won't be seeing guys like Lekic and Tripkovic, but we're hoping to get a much better look at Perovic along with two players already drafted last summer, Vujanic and Nenad Kristic. This is a great game for prospects. CSKA has Viktor Khyrapa, an Andrei Kirilenko look-alike who's widely considered to be a mid first-round pick in the 2003 draft.

Scouts from the Clippers, Sonics, Rockets and Bulls are on hand to watch the game. Oddly, Partizan has decided to pull Perovic from the starting lineup tonight. Ronzone smiles and tells me we won't be seeing him tonight.

"They know we're all here," Ronzone said. "They don't want us to get a good look."

For once, Partizan doesn't need him. Perhaps Vujanic also knows that we are here. He's been playing at nosebleed levels this season and is now widely considered to be the top point guard in Europe. Vujanic is a 6-foot-4 Energizer bunny. He cannot stand still for five seconds. He's running, darting, pushing, diving.

At first glance, his game is eerily reminiscent of Steve Nash's, with one or two differences. Both players are fantastic shooters (Vujanic goes 4-for-9 from beyond the arc tonight). They both love to push the ball up the court, and always keep their cool even under pressure. Vujanic, however, is a better athlete and a tougher defender.

The NBA's best point guards all have one thing in common -- the ability to split defenders and get the ball to the basket. Jason Kidd is the master of this, and Vujanic isn't far behind.

"Didn't see the first shark for about a half an hour. Tiger. Thirteen-footer. You know ... you know that when you're in the water, chief? You tell by lookin' from the dorsal to the tail. Well, we didn't know. 'Cause our bomb mission had been so secret, no distress signal had been sent. Huh huh. They didn't even list us overdue for a week. Very first light, chief. The sharks come cruisin'. So we formed ourselves into tight groups. You know it's... kinda like 'ol squares in battle like a, you see on a calendar, like the battle of Waterloo. And the idea was, the shark would go for nearest man and then he'd start poundin' and hollerin' and screamin' and sometimes the shark would go away. Sometimes he wouldn't go away. Sometimes that shark, he looks right into you. Right into your eyes. You know the thing about a shark, he's got ... lifeless eyes, black eyes, like a doll's eye. When he comes at ya, doesn't seem to be livin'. Until he bites ya, and those black eyes roll over white. And then, ah, then you hear that terrible high pitch screamin', and the ocean turns red and in spite of all the poundin' and the hollerin' they all come in and rip you to pieces."

Clippers scout Fabrizio Besnati, however, has a story that actually might have some teeth to it. Before he worked for the Clippers, Besnati was the general manager of a team in St. Petersburg, Russia. On one scouting trip, Besnati ran across a seven-foot kid in the middle of Nowhere, Siberia. Besnati was intrigued and eventually arranged for him to go to a small club in Italy to work on his game.

The thinking was that in a couple of years, Besnati would pull him out and he'd have a nice player. Shortly thereafter, Besnati left the St. Petersburg team and joined the Clippers scouting staff. Upon his return to Varese, Italy, Besnati was shocked to find that his kid had grown -- four inches and more than 60 pounds. The kid, Pavel Padkolzin, now stands 7-foot-4 and weighs more than 300 pounds.

According to Besnati, the kid isn't just big, he can play. "He's been practicing every day for over a year, and the development has been better than you can imagine. He can shoot the 3, is a great ball handler and has a great feel for the game."

Of course, because he's tucked away, no NBA scouts have seen him play. Besnati swears that if he were scouted like Darko has been, he's an easy top 10 pick in next year's draft. "I'm serious about this. He's that good. He makes Slavko Vranes look like a toothpick."

I'm skeptical. Besnati invites Ronzone and I to visit him in Italy. He says we'll need 10 minutes to make up our minds. We laugh the whole thing off. Besnati is clearly intent on proving the existence of such a kid. He gets on the Uleb Cup website and pulls up the team site. His name is nowhere to be found on the roster and Besnati gets upset.

"I know he's here somewhere." A minute later he begins laughing and directs us back to the web site. He's pulled up a copy of this year's team picture. Standing in the back row, in the middle, is the biggest guy I've seen since Shaq. He's standing two players away from former NBA center Shawnelle Scott. This kid makes the 6-foot-11, 270 pound Scott look like Kerry Kittles.

"That's him," Besnati says, still laughing. "You're going to break the biggest story of the draft."

Ronzone and I are stunned. Besnati leaves 10 minutes later. Tony and I are still staring at the picture. Minutes later, Ronzone talks to Joe Dumars and tells him they may have to make a little detour on his next trip to Europe. After seeing the picture, I expect another 28 GMs to start booking their flights to Verase today.

second round picks are now suddenly worth a lot more than they used to be...

Kudos for the article!

Posted by SergioNYK:

Milos Vujanic shouldn't worry about playing time. Charlie Ward is guaranteed to be gone after this season in a trade. That leaves Howard Eisley and Frank Williams.

F.Williams hasn't shown me anything this season. I seriously think we should consider trading him. Young PG's with small contracts have good value. We already have a young PG in Vujanic. And you know Eisley as a veteran will be on the rotation.

If Vujanic is as good as he sounds, I would keep Frank and let him grow and get rid of Ward and Eisley - that way this team gets younger and more athletic. Eisley's trade value will be going up and Wards will be good because of his contract. Youth is more important for this teams future right now.