SPORTSLINE (08/15/99)

SPORTSLINE

by Andrij Kudla Wynnyckyj

BASKETBALL

Ukrainian in top 10 in NBA draft

On August 2, Wally Szczerbiak, 22, a Ukrainian native of Madrid, Spain, who now hails from Cold Spring Harbor (Long Island), N.Y., was signed to a three-year $6.47 million contract by the Minnesota Timberwolves of the National Basketball Association's Western Conference.

According to a report by Tim Klobuchar of the Minnesota Star Tribune, the value of the contract is "the maximum amount allowed ... under the league's collective bargaining agreement. Szczerbiak will make $2.01 million this season, $2.16 million in the second year and $2.31 in the third. The team holds an option for a fourth year at $2.9 million."

Earlier this summer, on July 1, Mr. Szczerbiak became a top-10 pick in the first round of the NBA draft. He was taken sixth over all by the Timberwolves, the decision made by the club's vice-president, former Boston Celtic star and recent Basketball Hall of Fame inductee Kevin McHale.

In the Associated Press story about the draft, Marty Blake, the NBA's scouting director, was quoted as saying: "Wally was the best shooter in college basketball [in the 1998-1999] season."

Minnesota Head Coach and General Manager Flip Saunders said: "We are pleased to have Wally on board. He's a smart player and a solid shooter. We feel he can contribute immediately."

Earlier this year, the New York Post's sports columnist Anthony Gargano wrote that the "Next [Larry] Bird looks like Szczerbiak."

Mr. Szczerbiak has turned pro spectacularly after an impressive four-year career at the University of Miami in Ohio.

The 6-foot-8-inch 240-pound-plus giant (by average human reckoning) is the Miami RedHawks' career three-point percentage shooting leader (43.1), ranks second on Miami's career list in scoring with 1,847 points (trailing only NBA star Ron Harper's 2,377 points), and is second in field goals made (671), and three-pointers made (204) and attempted (473); third in field goals attempted (1,310); fourth in field goal percentage (51.2), free throw percentage (80.9) and blocks (79); sixth in scoring average (17.6 points per game); seventh in minutes played (3,290); and 10th in rebounds (666).

He averaged just over 24 points per game over his final two college seasons (third in the entire U.S.), and in this last campaign led the team in a stunning run to the National Collegiate Athletic Association's round of 16. In the NCAA Tournament opener against Washington, he scored a career-high of 43 points (72.9 percent of his team's total, an NCAA Tournament record), lifting the RedHawks to a 59-58 win.

Mr. Szczerbiak led all NCAA Tournament scorers with a 30 points-per-game average and was named to the Midwest Regional All-Tournament Team.

In 1998, he led Team USA's march to the gold medal at the Goodwill Games with a squad-high 17.8 points-per-game average. This July, he was allowed to join a Team USA roster bursting with NBA superstars that won gold at the Tournament of the Americas (albeit for limited action). Thus, Mr. Szczerbiak qualified along with this edition of the "Dream Team" to play with the red-white-and-blue in the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia.

Mr. Szczerbiak was already doing this kind of thing in high school in Cold Spring Harbor, where he scored a school-record of 1,709 career points (28.9 per-game average), earning 1995 Long Island and Nassau County Player of the Year honors, and drawing recognition from Street & Smith's magazine as an All-American.

The reason? It's in his blood - his father, Walt Szczerbiak, 49, starred with Real Madrid (obviously not just a soccer team) in the 1970s, after playing for the American Basketball Association's Pittsburgh Condors.

The new Minnesota Timberwolf was born in Madrid during his father's sojourn in Spain, where Walt led Real to three European Championships and set the Spanish pro league's single-game scoring record (65). His grandparents Maria and Michael Szczerbiak were displaced persons who immigrated to the U.S. after the war, settling in Pittsburgh.

Then again, maybe it was nurture, not nature. The NBA draftee told the New York Post: "I played ball all the time growing up. I love the game, I study it. I think I'm a smart player. I play it with a sane head. My dad schooled me well."

BASEBALL

Konerko finds "sweet home" in Chicago

Yes, Virginia, there is a Ukrainian in the majors. In fact, he's been in and out of "The Show" for three years, struggling to make good on the raves he earned in minor leagues. After two difficult seasons with the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Cincinnati Reds of the National League, Paul Konerko appears to have found himself a home with the American League's Chicago White Sox.

And he's platooning with one of baseball's best - the awesome first baseman Frank Thomas.

As of July 30, the 23-year-old from Providence, R.I., had already played more games (82) in the bigs than with the Reds and Dodgers combined. His batting average stood at a healthy .302 and he'd swatted 15 home runs for 39 RBI, with an impressive .522 slugging percentage.

As Jason Beck, reporter for CBS SportsLine put it earlier in the season, "All Paul Konerko needed was a trade to the American League to hit himself out of a corner."

In 1994 Mr. Konerko was the L.A. Dodgers' first round draft pick, 13th over all. In 1997, playing for Triple-A Albuquerque as a catcher, he repaid their confidence by hitting 37 homers (tops in the Pacific Coast League, PCL), driving in 127 runs, while posting a .327 batting average and a .621 slugging percentage (also tops). This earned him the Taylor J. Spink Award as Minor League Player of the Year and the PCL's Most Valuable Player award. As ESPN's scouting report put it, "Paul Konerko was being touted as the next in a long line of Dodgers who became Rookie of the Year."

Unfortunately, what followed was a series of struggles and reversals. In part because the Dodgers' carousel involving catcher Mike Piazza, rookie sensation Eric Karros and the arrival of outfielder Bobby Bonilla sent him careening from position to position, Mr. Konerko went into a profound slump, got demoted to Triple-A, was traded to the Reds, slumped again and got sent back down to the minors.

In the off-season he requested a trade and got it. The change obviously did him good. In spring training this year he hit for a whopping .379 average with 17 RBI.

In the season's opening series in April, in an away game against the Seattle Mariners, the Chisox let him bat out of the DH spot to make him feel fully at home in the American League. Mr. Konerko responded by belting a two-run homer then blew open an 8-2 victory.

On August 8 against Oakland (in a 7-5 heartbreak ninth-inning-loss), he went 2 for 4 (two hits in four plate appearances), and sent another ball into the seats, giving him 16 home runs for the season.

HOCKEY

Shvydkyi first round NHL pick

Sportsline's last installment introduced readers (and finally assuaged those who'd known all along) to the Kharkiv-born forward of the Barrie Colts, Denys Shvydkyi.

On June 26 in Boston's Fleet Center the 18-year-old was in the news again, picked 12th over all in the first round of the NHL entry draft by the Florida Panthers. At press time, the team had made no announcements on whether Mr. Shvydkyi will be signed to a contract to play in the NHL this year.

Other news out of the draft included the Phoenix Coyotes deal of Oleh Tverdovsky to the Anaheim Mighty Ducks for their 15th spot in the first round.

GOLF

Kuchar still an amateur

Thanks to golfer Matt Kuchar's grandfather, Maurice Kuchar, Sportsline wishes to correct an error made in the last installment and provide some further information. Mr. Kuchar has not yet turned pro, as was erroneously mentioned. His grandfather wrote on July 20: "[Matt] is still an amateur until he graduates next year from Georgia Tech ... He will be playing as an amateur ... at the Greater Hartford Open on a sponsor's exemption."

At the Greater Hartford in Cromwell, Conn., held July 25-August 1, he shot a first-round 76 six over par, then improved to 71 in the next round, but this put him over the 139-point cut-off to qualify for further play.

According to an article in the USA Today's July 9 issue, Mr. Kuchar's game has suffered in part because of the heavy course load he undertook in order to be able to receive his diploma in 2000. At the Loch Lomond tournament in Scotland in early July, the 21-year-old from Lake Mary, Fla., just made the initial cut, recovering from a first-round 74 three over par to shoot a 69 in the second round. He either did not qualify or chose not to enter the British Open held the following week.

SOCCER HOLIDAY ANYONE?

Rabid Ukrainian sports patriots (those gazing all the way down to the end of this column qualify automatically) will be interested in the offer being made by the MSW Travel Group. Team Ukraine will be playing Iceland in Reykjavik on September 8, and you can be in the land of sweaters and volcanoes to watch the blue-and-yellows in European Cup qualifying.

The package provides for departures on the trans-Atlantic flight to Keflavik International Airport from New York's JFK, Boston, Baltimore or Minneapolis on September 6 or 7 (depending on whether you want the three-or four-day package), two to three nights accommodation, and daily Scandinavian buffet breakfasts.

The cost of the trip ranges from a four-day single room package at $932 (US) to three-day shared triple package at $654. Airport taxes and airfare are not included.

We thank Walter Hywel for this tip. Mr. Hywel can be reached (for information only) at (973) 751-5866. The MSW Travel Group can be reached at the Rockefeller Center, 630 Fifth Ave, New York, NY 10111; telephone, (212) 332-8933; fax, (212) 399-6277; e-mail, tbigler@mswtravelny.com

Sportsline can be reached by e-mail: toronto@ukrweekly.com.

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