no 7-5 siberians for nba this year!

It's been one crazy, wild ride for 7-foot-5, 300-pound Russian Pavel Podkolzine. On Thursday, Podkolzine cut the trip short by withdrawing his name from the 2003 NBA Draft.

damn....that sucks!

siberian whitdraws his name

shit...the bloody Russian mafia got to him...

on a serious note....that's terrible...truly terrible....

yet...it's the right decision...with one more year of palying basketball in Italy he'll develop and become even better......a pretty much guaranteed top 3 pick next year.....

lets just hope his surgery goes well....i truly don't want him to pull a "sabonis"

I really can't understand his decision. I mean the guy was going to be a top 10 lottery pick which even if he sucks means big $$$ - more than enough to live comfortably for the rest of his days and he withdraws from the draft. WTF, why would you do that?

As Johnie Cockran said in South Park: THAT DOES NOT MAKE SENSE!!!

If he wants to develop his skills more, that's up to him. The guy wants to be one of the best, not just play for the money.

You can't seriously believe that with all the quality coaches and trainers in the nba that he would develope faster where he is now. Why not learn by getting taught by the best while getting paid huge $$$.

It could be due to his recent diagnosis of a pituitary disorder but that apparently wouldn't affect his draft status. http://sports.espn.go.com/nbadraft/d03/story?id=1569633

Stupid decision on his behalf imo.

You can't seriously believe that with all the quality coaches and trainers in the nba that he would develope faster where he is now. Why not learn by getting taught by the best while getting paid huge $$$.

so why do so many GMs leave European or South American players overseas to develop? Parker and Ginobli were both drafted a year or two before they ever set foot on an NBA court...they developed overseas...

Hopefully Toronto and Miami have a Plan B. Perhaps T.J. Ford won't fall after all.

:roll: so why do so many GMs leave European or South American players overseas to develop? Parker and Ginobli were both drafted a year or two before they ever set foot on an NBA court...they developed overseas...

I could be wrong (seeing as I'm missing an ENTIRE YEAR from my memory for some reason) but Parker started, the year he was drafted. Wasn't that the season before last? With Kwame #1, Pau ROY and Sasser, Forte and Tinsley going before Parker.

Yeah, Parker played and started the same year he was drafted (2001). Ginobili took a couple of years to come to the NBA though.

that pavel guy is so pointless man.-slow,no shooter,center and idiot i hate him already!

so u wanna say all centers are idiots? cause everybody can see it from ur post...

so u wanna say all centers are idiots? cause everybody can see it from ur post...

almost every center is an idiot,exept BIG ben.and admiral

so u wanna say all centers are idiots? cause everybody can see it from ur post...

almost every center is an idiot,exept BIG ben.and admiral

*Colin puts on firefighting suit, grabs oxygen tank, ducks behind flame resistent wall, and prays for the best.*

ol

a wise man said. "not to judge a book by it's cover" but... PLEASE DON'T FEED THE TROLL

Where are the mods when you need them?

first off...i personally have little respect to basketball players, since they are known to be a little lower on the iQ scale than the average American....

but...

You can't say that all centers are idiots....you have never met them, you have never talked to them, you have never heard any of them talk, you haven't seen all NBA centers in interviews.....plus a perosn's intelligence cannot be judged by his size or wieght...

While amare#32.....congradulations on thwe beautiful "lol" made out of smilies....next time.....post something productive.....there is no race to get to 1000 posts here....

yet again....

silly nOObs....

Where are the mods when you need them?

There haven't been any guideline violations, so I really don't see the point of that remark.

i thought that this forum didn't tolarate spam...

Spam is not encouraged, but it's not a violation of the rules/guidelines per se. It's not something that people are severely punished for, unless it becomes a serious problem.

Why did Pavel Podkolzine, the 7-4 Russian, pull out of the draft at the last second?

Because he almost fell out of it. Projected as a top-10 pick, the 18-year-old Podkolzine had teams eager to work him out. They had heard how well he ran the floor, how he had a nice touch, a good feel for the game and a well-proportioned body that could have handled the rigors of the NBA.

Then he started his workouts and looked slow. "Like the game is passing him by," said one scout.

When teams found out he had a pituitary gland problem, the red flag went up. By week's end, Seattle and Orlando - drafting 14 and 15 overall - didn't even want to see him.

The good news is that unlike Gheorghe Muresan, the old 7-6 Bullet who was too old by the time they had discovered his pituitary problem to have surgery, Podkolzine is still young enough to have a complete recovery and a successful NBA career.