Free agent is crowd favorite BY RICK ALONZO, Pioneer Press July 16, 2005 The Timberwolves' summer league team has an intriguing addition. European free-agent forward , selected fifth overall by Denver in the 2002 NBA draft, racked up 25 points and 10 rebounds in 17 minutes as the Wolves opened summer league play Friday night with a 102-69 victory over Milwaukee at Target Center. Tskitishvili has averaged 11.9 minutes, three points and 1.8 rebounds a game in his three-year NBA career. He put on a display against Milwaukee, going 8 for 11 from the floor with four three-pointers. He quickly became the crowd favorite. Tskitishvili, a 22-year-old native of the Republic of Georgia, was invited to play in the summer league on Wednesday. "Being a free agent, being in a tough situation, it makes me more hungry," he said. "It makes me want to do the best I can." In February, Tskitishvili (7 feet, 225 pounds) was traded to Golden State along with Rodney White for Eduardo Najera, Luis Flores and a first-round pick in 2007. His contract expired last month. Rex Kalamian, the Wolves' head coach for the game, was an assistant in Denver last season and used his relationship with Tskitishvili to convince him to play in the summer league. We could try for him and Rodney White to upgrade our youth and athletism.
I'd be up for picking him up for the minimum as a 12th man, project type. You can always use tall guys with range who can feed the post like Robert Horry.
I agree. He just needs to get on the right team with a good coach. You can't teach height, and at 7 feet tall, he'll give us some mismatches at the SF position. Could be another B. Simmons, C. Billups type who bounced around until they found the right team.
This is a guy who's always intrigued me. From the few times I've watched him, he seems to be a pretty skilled, athletic F with good quickness & touch. I think he just needs to find a team willing to give him some PT. Actually, he could be a better fit than Boki because he seems to have a better 3 pt stroke. (In defense of Boki, I wonder if the Rocks properly utilized him. The Rocks tried to turn him into a 3 pt shooter, but I think he's acutally better as a slasher & mid-range player.) If Minn doesn't sign him, I would take a chance on him if I were the Rocks. But I agree that in no way should he get anything more than a 1 yr deal for the minimum+.
Who would have thought that Boki would be having a better NBA career I remember how much Rudy wanted to move up in the draft to get this kid. Geez Rudy really did know talent . First Turscan and then he wanted Tskitishvili. And boy did he have a fascination with Nachbar.
I'm starting to think that Swift should get offered no more than the MLE. If there is more money out there, then the Rockets should turn their attention to another FA. Tskisvili isn't the answer we're looking for. He is more of a project still. I'm not opposed to signing him, but, he'd never get off the bench.
I've said it before and I'll say (actually, write) it again: Rudy was always looking for The Next Rudy: the lanky white small forward. Turkcan, Langhi, Nachbar, if Tskitishvili had been available.....
Don't worry, JVG is too busy looking for The Next Ex-Knick to pay attention to other free agents or prospects.
Let it go. At this point, we can all pretty much agree that Tskitishvilli was a colossal bust. He's not NBA material, despite his size and shooting touch.
skita??? are you serious??? yeah, i want a 7 footer who can't shoot (don't the scouts fool you, i saw him in denver and he missed EVERYTHING and his 30% FG is evidence of that), can't rebound, can't defend, and well.....can't do much of anything. this guy is one of the worst draft picks EVER (#5 overall) and we should consider him??? i don't think so.
