mcrobertsjmac32
New member
Im an avid Basketball fan as well as a Golf fan. Cool story, well written, about 3-time NBA Champion that fell in love with the same crazy game that we did.
Story is via Narratively and Slamonline.com
THE RELENTLESS DRIVE OF TONI KUKOC
By Peter Walsh
Plenty of retired athletes take up golf. But when the Chicago Bulls’ legendarily versatile sixth man picks up a new pastime, he’s not playing any games.
Toni Kukoč takes a long stare down the first fairway at Briarwood Country Club in Deerfield, Illinois, a private course about thirty miles north of Chicago. It’s a picturesque day for golf; warm and sunny with a slight breeze pushing towards the pin. At this hour, the only other patrons on the course are chirping birds and the white oak trees surrounding the fairway. Kukoč sizes up his shot, mentally game-planning how to attack the 421-yard, par-four first hole. Standing at six feet, eleven*inches tall, Kukoč grabs a massive driver from his bag, takes a few practice shots then steps to the tee with a slight limp, one of his battle scars from a two-decade basketball career and a hip replacement surgery. A lefty, the three-time NBA champion with the Chicago Bulls lets his enormous backswing rip. After following through, Kukoč looks up with a smile, happy that the first of his thirty-six tee shots for the day drives right down the middle of the fairway. He walks over to his cart, places his driver back in the bag and rumbles on down towards the green as the sun rises high over the surrounding trees.
Kukoč’s obsession with golf began during the height of his NBA career, at a chance photo shoot with*Jason Zuback, a long-drive champion*who handed Kukoč a right-handed golf club to take a few swings. “This guy was just hitting the crap out of the ball,” says Kukoč. “When he gave me a club to hit I figured if a five-foot, six-inch guy can hit 400 yards, I can hit it even further.” That was easier said than done. “A couple of times I missed the ball or barely got it in the air. From there I got interested in the game and I ordered clubs from my old basketball team back in Europe. They sent me two sets of clubs and about 1,200 golf balls, which I lost in the first three months of playing. I don’t know why [I loved it]. Maybe it was because it was something completely different than basketball. Maybe because it’s nice and quiet. There are no players, no coaches, no referees. You totally depend on yourself and control your nerves, your muscles, your head.”
Now, eight years after retiring from the NBA, it’s an obsession that is borderline unhealthy. Before his first tee shot, Kukoč is at the driving range for hours, running through the gamut of his elongated clubs to work out the kinks that come with such a big swing. After his final putt, he heads back to the range for a few more hours before heading home. Once home, his eyes are glued to the Golf Channel. Eventually, he’ll get a few hours of sleep before doing it all again the next morning. Starting as a complete novice who could barely hit a ball, Kukoč is now a two-handicap golfer and won Croatia’s national amateur championship in 2011.
It’s not uncommon for basketball players to turn to golf upon retirement. Though they can’t compete on the court at a professional level any longer, their need for competition doesn’t simply vanish. Golf helps fill a void. But for Kukoč, the transition from the hardwood to the links is a peculiar one. Golf simply isn’t a game designed for men his size — especially not a lefty. In professional golf’s storied history, only nine lefty golfers have won a major championship. As a six-foot-eleven-inch southpaw, Kukoč is easily the tallest man to win an amateur championship and almost certainly owns the longest set of lefty golf clubs in the world. Physically, he’s totally out of his element on the golf course. Then again, Kukoč’s growth and success as a golfer is a testament to the hard work and perseverance that made him one of the greatest European players in basketball history.
* * *
Toni Kukoč was born September 18, 1968, in Split, Croatia (then Yugoslavia), a city located on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. Kukoč’s father worked for the shipyard while his mother worked part-time in an office. Thanks to the city’s favorable climate, the young Kukoč spent most of his childhood days outside playing soccer with friends. But it wasn’t soccer or basketball that was his first love; it was ping pong. “I played [ping-pong] from years eight through twelve and I was a Croatian champ,” explains Kukoč. “My dad was a soccer goalie and I played from twelve to sixteen.” Then, “when I was sixteen, I grew seven or eight inches during the summer and decided that basketball was the sport to pursue.”
Had Kukoč decided to stick with soccer or ping pong, or if he hadn’t sprouted up nearly a foot, the basketball world would have been robbed of one the greatest international teams ever. As a member of the Yugoslavian national team, Kukoč teamed up with future NBA players Dražen Petrović, Vlade Divac and Dino Radja to dominate competition. From 1987 to 1991, the team never finished worse than third in international tournaments and won the silver medal at the 1988 Olympics, the gold medal at the 1989 FIBA European Championship, gold at the 1990 FIBA World Championship (where Kukoč took home MVP honors), and gold again at the 1991 FIBA European Championship (where Kukoč once again was MVP).
“I would certainly say that the ex-Yugoslavian team with Vlade, Dražen, Dino and myself, that was probably the best team, I would say besides the 1992 Dream Team, in the whole world,” says Kukoč.
Kukoč had about as unique a skill set as you can find on the court. Despite his size, he was silky smooth in transition, able to handle the ball like a guard or pull up and hit a jumper in a defender’s face. He could take smaller players into the post, spin and dunk through traffic. Dubbed “The Waiter” while playing in Europe, Kukoč served his teammates with pinpoint passes for easy buckets.
Four thousand, seven hundred and seventy-five miles away from Split, in the offices of the United Center arena, Toni Kukoč had become the obsession of*Chicago Bulls general manager Jerry Krause. In 1990 Krause selected Kukoč in the second round of the NBA draft and, from that point on, talked about the European superstar nonstop to anyone within earshot.
Without Kukoč, the Bulls were already one of the top teams in the NBA and had two future Hall of Famers on the roster in Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen, plus one of the best head coaches in NBA history in Phil Jackson. Following a loss to the Detroit Pistons in the 1990 Eastern Conference Semifinals, the Bulls came back in 1991 and won their first of three straight NBA titles. While the Bulls owned his rights, Kukoč continued to play in Europe and the already legendary team was doing just fine without him.
But there was trouble in the ranks. Despite being one of the top players in the league, Scottie Pippen was only the sixth-highest paid player on his own team, earning $765,000 during the 1990-1991 season, behind solid but unspectacular teammates like Bill Cartwright, Stacey King, Dennis Hopson and Horace Grant. For months Pippen and his agents went through a painstaking negotiation period with Krause to rework his contract for more money.
Normally a team would do anything in its power to make a player of Pippen’s caliber happy, and the Bulls were operating at $1.5 million under the salary cap, enough to keep Pippen satisfied. But word soon leaked that Krause didn’t want to give*the money to Pippen because he wanted to keep the cap room available for Kukoč if and when he decided to join the Bulls. This angered Pippen, Jordan and the rest of the Bulls roster, because Pippen had already proven himself as a legitimate NBA All-Star while Kukoč hadn’t even stepped foot on an NBA court.
Pippen was eventually rewarded with a five-year, $18 million contract extension, but the bad blood between player and front office remained. At the Summer Olympics, Pippen and Jordan got their chance to exact revenge on Jerry Krause.
Continued...
Story is via Narratively and Slamonline.com
THE RELENTLESS DRIVE OF TONI KUKOC
By Peter Walsh
Plenty of retired athletes take up golf. But when the Chicago Bulls’ legendarily versatile sixth man picks up a new pastime, he’s not playing any games.
Toni Kukoč takes a long stare down the first fairway at Briarwood Country Club in Deerfield, Illinois, a private course about thirty miles north of Chicago. It’s a picturesque day for golf; warm and sunny with a slight breeze pushing towards the pin. At this hour, the only other patrons on the course are chirping birds and the white oak trees surrounding the fairway. Kukoč sizes up his shot, mentally game-planning how to attack the 421-yard, par-four first hole. Standing at six feet, eleven*inches tall, Kukoč grabs a massive driver from his bag, takes a few practice shots then steps to the tee with a slight limp, one of his battle scars from a two-decade basketball career and a hip replacement surgery. A lefty, the three-time NBA champion with the Chicago Bulls lets his enormous backswing rip. After following through, Kukoč looks up with a smile, happy that the first of his thirty-six tee shots for the day drives right down the middle of the fairway. He walks over to his cart, places his driver back in the bag and rumbles on down towards the green as the sun rises high over the surrounding trees.
Kukoč’s obsession with golf began during the height of his NBA career, at a chance photo shoot with*Jason Zuback, a long-drive champion*who handed Kukoč a right-handed golf club to take a few swings. “This guy was just hitting the crap out of the ball,” says Kukoč. “When he gave me a club to hit I figured if a five-foot, six-inch guy can hit 400 yards, I can hit it even further.” That was easier said than done. “A couple of times I missed the ball or barely got it in the air. From there I got interested in the game and I ordered clubs from my old basketball team back in Europe. They sent me two sets of clubs and about 1,200 golf balls, which I lost in the first three months of playing. I don’t know why [I loved it]. Maybe it was because it was something completely different than basketball. Maybe because it’s nice and quiet. There are no players, no coaches, no referees. You totally depend on yourself and control your nerves, your muscles, your head.”
Now, eight years after retiring from the NBA, it’s an obsession that is borderline unhealthy. Before his first tee shot, Kukoč is at the driving range for hours, running through the gamut of his elongated clubs to work out the kinks that come with such a big swing. After his final putt, he heads back to the range for a few more hours before heading home. Once home, his eyes are glued to the Golf Channel. Eventually, he’ll get a few hours of sleep before doing it all again the next morning. Starting as a complete novice who could barely hit a ball, Kukoč is now a two-handicap golfer and won Croatia’s national amateur championship in 2011.
It’s not uncommon for basketball players to turn to golf upon retirement. Though they can’t compete on the court at a professional level any longer, their need for competition doesn’t simply vanish. Golf helps fill a void. But for Kukoč, the transition from the hardwood to the links is a peculiar one. Golf simply isn’t a game designed for men his size — especially not a lefty. In professional golf’s storied history, only nine lefty golfers have won a major championship. As a six-foot-eleven-inch southpaw, Kukoč is easily the tallest man to win an amateur championship and almost certainly owns the longest set of lefty golf clubs in the world. Physically, he’s totally out of his element on the golf course. Then again, Kukoč’s growth and success as a golfer is a testament to the hard work and perseverance that made him one of the greatest European players in basketball history.
* * *
Toni Kukoč was born September 18, 1968, in Split, Croatia (then Yugoslavia), a city located on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. Kukoč’s father worked for the shipyard while his mother worked part-time in an office. Thanks to the city’s favorable climate, the young Kukoč spent most of his childhood days outside playing soccer with friends. But it wasn’t soccer or basketball that was his first love; it was ping pong. “I played [ping-pong] from years eight through twelve and I was a Croatian champ,” explains Kukoč. “My dad was a soccer goalie and I played from twelve to sixteen.” Then, “when I was sixteen, I grew seven or eight inches during the summer and decided that basketball was the sport to pursue.”
Had Kukoč decided to stick with soccer or ping pong, or if he hadn’t sprouted up nearly a foot, the basketball world would have been robbed of one the greatest international teams ever. As a member of the Yugoslavian national team, Kukoč teamed up with future NBA players Dražen Petrović, Vlade Divac and Dino Radja to dominate competition. From 1987 to 1991, the team never finished worse than third in international tournaments and won the silver medal at the 1988 Olympics, the gold medal at the 1989 FIBA European Championship, gold at the 1990 FIBA World Championship (where Kukoč took home MVP honors), and gold again at the 1991 FIBA European Championship (where Kukoč once again was MVP).
“I would certainly say that the ex-Yugoslavian team with Vlade, Dražen, Dino and myself, that was probably the best team, I would say besides the 1992 Dream Team, in the whole world,” says Kukoč.
Kukoč had about as unique a skill set as you can find on the court. Despite his size, he was silky smooth in transition, able to handle the ball like a guard or pull up and hit a jumper in a defender’s face. He could take smaller players into the post, spin and dunk through traffic. Dubbed “The Waiter” while playing in Europe, Kukoč served his teammates with pinpoint passes for easy buckets.
Four thousand, seven hundred and seventy-five miles away from Split, in the offices of the United Center arena, Toni Kukoč had become the obsession of*Chicago Bulls general manager Jerry Krause. In 1990 Krause selected Kukoč in the second round of the NBA draft and, from that point on, talked about the European superstar nonstop to anyone within earshot.
Without Kukoč, the Bulls were already one of the top teams in the NBA and had two future Hall of Famers on the roster in Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen, plus one of the best head coaches in NBA history in Phil Jackson. Following a loss to the Detroit Pistons in the 1990 Eastern Conference Semifinals, the Bulls came back in 1991 and won their first of three straight NBA titles. While the Bulls owned his rights, Kukoč continued to play in Europe and the already legendary team was doing just fine without him.
But there was trouble in the ranks. Despite being one of the top players in the league, Scottie Pippen was only the sixth-highest paid player on his own team, earning $765,000 during the 1990-1991 season, behind solid but unspectacular teammates like Bill Cartwright, Stacey King, Dennis Hopson and Horace Grant. For months Pippen and his agents went through a painstaking negotiation period with Krause to rework his contract for more money.
Normally a team would do anything in its power to make a player of Pippen’s caliber happy, and the Bulls were operating at $1.5 million under the salary cap, enough to keep Pippen satisfied. But word soon leaked that Krause didn’t want to give*the money to Pippen because he wanted to keep the cap room available for Kukoč if and when he decided to join the Bulls. This angered Pippen, Jordan and the rest of the Bulls roster, because Pippen had already proven himself as a legitimate NBA All-Star while Kukoč hadn’t even stepped foot on an NBA court.
Pippen was eventually rewarded with a five-year, $18 million contract extension, but the bad blood between player and front office remained. At the Summer Olympics, Pippen and Jordan got their chance to exact revenge on Jerry Krause.
Continued...
