Gadzuric, Barnes to play for NBA

By Jeff Agase
DAILY BRUIN STAFF
jagase@media.ucla.edu

  EDWARD LIN/Daily Bruin Senior Staff

Matt Barnes (left) was a power forward for four
years at UCLA, but might play primarily at small forward with the
Cleveland Cavaliers.

It didn’t take Dan Gadzuric long to start talking like an
NBA player.

Two days after the former Bruin center went to the Milwaukee
Bucks with the 34th pick, he was wielding humble optimism like the
most loquacious of NBA veterans.

“I think I’m in a really good situation,”
Gadzuric said. “It seems like if I work hard and do the
things I need to do, I’ll have a good opportunity to
play.”

Gadzuric’s analysis isn’t as cookie-cutter as it may
sound. Though the talent-laden Bucks missed the playoffs by a
single game, their lack of inside presence became a liability that
ultimately contributed to their bottoming-out in the concluding
months of the season.

Milwaukee centers combined to score just 9.9 points per
game.

So while TNT analyst Charles Barkley was jabbering about the
size of his own belly, Milwaukee management was patting itself on
the back, delighted to see the big man from Den Haag, Holland slip
into the second round.

“When that happened, everybody was excited,” Bucks
coach George Karl told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Naturally, Gadzuric would have preferred the guaranteed contract
commensurate with a first-round selection. Two roster spots are
likely to be open, but he’ll have to fight his
characterization as a “project.”

“It’s just another thing for me to work hard at and
concentrate on, and I think I’ll grow stronger from
it,” Gadzuric said.

  EDWARD LIN/Daily Bruin Senior Staff

Dan Gadzuric, dunking here against Cal March 7,
was drafted 34th by Milwaukee.

Pauley Pavilion patrons remember Gadzuric as a typically
unpredictable yet occasionally hegemonic presence. Hampered by
tendonitis in his knee during his first two seasons at UCLA, and
eternally haunted by poor free throw shooting, Gadzuric managed to
rise when least expected to.

Near the end of the 2000-01 season, his ankle was in a cast on
the morning of a home game against Arizona, but went 41 minutes
with 22 points and 17 rebounds in the Bruins’ 79-77 overtime
upset win.

Gadzuric is hoping that his conditioning over the last two
seasons and relatively injury-free play will put at least one
recurring NBA concern to rest.

“Everybody has health problems in some kind of way,”
he said. “But it depends on how you recover and on how fast
you recover. I can jump, and my knees don’t bother me
anymore.”

Matt Barnes also ended up on an NBA team, though his path took a
slight detour. After the Memphis Grizzlies selected him with the
46th choice, he was traded, along with veteran Nick Anderson, to
Cleveland for Wesley Person.

As the Bruins’ starting power forward for the last two
years, Barnes blossomed into a more complete player after
developing a respectable three-point shot and earned Sports
Illustrated National and Pac-10 Conference Player of the Week
honors last season.

But like former USC center Sam Clancy, the Pac-10 Player of the
Year who went right before with the 45th pick, Barnes is something
of a “‘tweener.”

Many believe he is too small to play power forward and still in
need of the precise outside game of a small forward, but
Barnes’ intensity and athleticism were attractive to NBA
scouts looking for second round options.

“It’s been a long process, learning a lot of
different things,” Barnes told the Orange County Register.
“Now it’s here in the present, and you’ve got to
make the best of your situation.”

Ңbull;Ӣbull;Ӣbull;

UCLA announced Friday that Ryan Hollins, a 6-foot-11-inch,
210-pound center/forward from Pasadena’s John Muir High
School, has signed a Grant-in-Aid to attend UCLA.

Hollins signed a national letter of intent with Saint Louis
University last November but requested he be released from it when
head coach Lorenzo Romar left for Washington.

Saint Louis granted Hollins a qualified release, which would
allow him to play for UCLA but force him to sit out the 2002-03
season. He has applied for a complete release from his NLI, and if
it is granted, will be an eligible freshman this fall.

Hollins averaged 15 points, 10 rebounds, and 2 blocked shots per
game as a senior.

 

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