Wednesday July 16 2008 - 5:20pm Eastern
This was just sent to me by the Raptors PR staff:
The Toronto Raptors announced Wednesday they have signed guard Roko Ukić (pronounced RO-ko OO-keech) to a three-year contract. Per team policy, financial details were not disclosed. Ukić was a second-round selection (41st overall) by the Raptors in the 2005 NBA Draft.
Ukić, 6-foot-5, 210 pounds, played in Italy last season with Lottomatica Virtus Roma. He averaged career highs of 11.5 points, 2.4 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.1 steals in 19 Euroleague contests. He shot .545 from the field and .824 from the charity stripe. He had a high of 23 points versus Partizan Igokea and eight assists on two occasions (at Real Madrid and at Panathinaikos).
In 34 regular season Italian League outings, Ukić again posted career bests with averages of 11.5 points, 2.6 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 1.7 steals. He shot .599 from the floor and .748 at the foul line. He totaled a high of 27 points at Tisettanta Cantù
Toronto played against Ukić and Lottomatica during the Raptors’ NBA Europe Live ‘07 visit to Rome . Ukić had 10 points and nine assists in 38 minutes as the Raptors won 93-87.
Ukić, 22, began his professional career in 2000-01 with KK Split ( Croatia ). He played four seasons with KK Split before moving to Spain and Tau Ceramica Vitoria for the 2005-06 season. He spent the 2006-07 campaign with FC Barcelona. He helped his teams to the 2006 and 2007 Spanish National Championship (King’s Cup).
Ukić is a member of the Croatian National Team and is competing in the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Athens , July 14-20.
E. Smith
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Eric what would Jose’s MPG would be this year? somewhere around 36, 37? I think 38 and 10 would be a perfect distribution of minutes for Jose and Ukic respectively.
- Beburg aka The relief pitcherHi Eric,
Thanks for the information. It is absolutely fantastic that we have Ukic now. Just for your information, Ukic actually is 24 now unless that is part of the PR release from the Raptors.
- TimHopefully Roko Ukic will turn out to be a serviceable backup PG for us. With his championship European experience I am pretty sure he should be able to fit that role.
Thinking about it, Ukic is the last remnant of the Rob Babcock GM era, and if you think about it, the only two things Babcock screwed up was trading VC for absolute crap, and getting another piece of crap in Hoffa instead of getting Igoudala in the draft. These were two extremely unforgivable decisions he made, but you’d be an idiot to say he was a complete bafoon. He brought Jose in, and no one thought Jose would reach the level he has attained in such a short time. He drafted Charlie V, which turned into TJ which turned in to Jermaine O’Neal. Ukic should be solid, and the jury is still out on Joey G. Every year Joey G is suppose to have a break out year, and this year is no different! Don’t give up on Joey just yet.
What do you think about Babcock’s tenure in Toronto Smitty?
- AndrewLooking Forward to Roko vs Canada as a Raptor Fan and a Team Canada fan.
- James Borbath