Jazz Get Koufos, Two Europeans in Draft

By Alex King

SALT LAKE CITY (June 26, 2008) – With the 23rd pick in the 2008 draft the Utah Jazz took center Kosta Koufos from Ohio State University. In the second round the Jazz took Europeans Ante Tomic (44th pick) and Tadija Dragicevic (53rd pick). General Manager Kevin O’Connor confirmed that the later two will remain in Europe for at least one year before potentially coming to the NBA.

Tomic, 21, is 7’1” and averaged 14.6 points and 7.8 rebounds per game in the Croatian A1 league. He competed with Croatia in the FIBA EuroCup where he averaged 14 points and 7.6 rebounds in 11 games off of the bench. From the field, Tomic has shot .581 percent over his career, including two straight seasons of shooting .600 or better. .

Dragicevic, 22, is from Serbia. A 6’9” forward, Dragicevic averaged 18.4 points, 5.4 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game in 14 games and was named the MVP of the Adriatic league last season. He shot .455 from the field and .439 from beyond the arc.

Koufos was fifth in the Big Ten in points (14.4 ppg) and rebounding (6.7 rpg) last season. He finished second in blocked shots (1.8 bpg) and his 534 total points were second all-time for a freshman in Ohio State history. Koufos shot .508 from the field, seventh in the Big Ten, and was a .349 shooter from beyond the arc. He scored 20+ points six different times, including a career high 24 points during a preseason NIT game against Syracuse.

During Ohio State’s run through the postseason tournament, Koufos was a major force. He was named the MVP and was added to the All-Tournament Team while averaging 18.2 points and 6.2 rebounds per game. In the championship game against Massachusetts, he scored 22 points while grabbing nine rebounds and blocking three shots as the Buckeyes won the NIT title 92-85.

In a conference call with members of the Salt Lake media, Koufos admitted that he was excited at the chance to play with the Jazz: “It was a blessing. God gave me the opportunity to play basketball and I was fortunate enough to get picked in the first round, especially to the Utah Jazz”

As a seven foot shooter, Koufos is bound to draw comparisons to current Jazz big man Mehmet Okur. O’Connor explained the similarities in their skills: “He’s got some of the same skills as Memo (Okur). He can pass the ball a little bit and he can shoot it a little bit. He seems to know how to get open. One of the things about the franchise is that we believe in productivity. He’s got some of the same skills and he’s actually a little bit bigger than Memo.”

Many mock drafts had Koufos being taken in the lottery, but after slipping to the 23rd pick on draft day, the center wasn’t worried. “I was cool and calm the whole way through,” he explained. “I felt very confident in my ability and my workouts and I’m just glad I landed in the first round, especially to a great organization.”

O’Connor didn’t think that Koufos would reach the Jazz with the 23rd pick, but was excited that he did: “He didn’t come in to work out for us, and I couldn’t blame him because I really thought he was going to be gone before us. We are happy for it. We got a player that we think eventually can really help us.”

The seven-footer was impressed with the current Jazz roster and was just hoping to help out the team however he could. “They have a very versatile team, winning 50 plus games,” Koufos said when questioned about where he fits in on the current roster. “They have a great team coming back. I feel like I can help the team and help the program and I’m going to work hard and try my best to help win games.”

O’Connor is confident that both of Utah’s second round picks have the talent to play in the NBA some day. “We would have traded the pick if we didn’t get a guy at 44 who could play in the NBA.” He felt the same with the team’s second pick of the round. “At 53 with a guy that’s had the success he’s had in Europe,” he said, “we liked the pick or else we wouldn’t have made it. We did have an opportunity to move it too.”

When asked about the way they approached second half of the draft, O’Connor went through the thought process: “We said, regardless of contractual situations, who are the players that can play in the NBA at some time. Obviously Andrei (Kirilenko) when we drafted him at (number) 24 it took him two years to get over here. You can look at (Manu) Ginobili or (Louis) Scola, those kinds of players. We looked at that and said who are the guys where there’s a cut-off point that it doesn’t make any sense, and we had opportunities to move the pick if those guys weren’t there.”