Nachbar’s wish comes true

Nachbar’s wish comes true

Houston’s ‘other’ first round pick pleased to be a Rocket


ASSOCIATED PRESS

HOUSTON, June 27 — After Bostjan Nachbar’s pre-draft workout for the Houston Rockets, he was so excited, he wrote general manager Carroll Dawson and coach Rudy Tomjanovich a thank-you letter.

“WE CARRIED IT around for a couple of days. We’d never had anyone do that before,” Dawson said. “The letter was nice but we picked him on ability. It just showed the kind of person he is.”

Nachbar’s wildest wish came true Wednesday in the NBA draft. After making center Yao Ming of China the first overall pick in the draft, the Rockets used the 15th pick to take Nachbar.
Yao got more attention, but nobody was more excited than Nachbar when the Rockets picked him.
“I didn’t really want to ask them to please take me,” Nachbar said. “I just wanted to say I had a nice time and wanted them to know if I had a chance to pick a team for myself, it would be Houston.”
Nachbar recalled watching the Rockets on television and after visiting Houston, really liked the team and the city.

“Of course, it was an NBA dream for all players, especially growing up in Europe,” Nachbar said. “When they announced I was going to Houston it was one of my happiest moments.
“A year ago I was watching these guys on television and now I’m sitting next to coach Rudy Tomjanovich and Mr. Dawson.”
The 6-foot-9 forward averaged 13.7 points last season playing for Benetton Treviso in the Italian League. He had a propensity for dunking that impressed Tomjanovich after watching him scrimmage.
“In that scrimmage, Boki (his nickname) did a lot of things but the thing that impressed me was he had about 10 dunks in the scrimmage,” Tomjanovich said. “That was mind-boggling. We had Hakeem, Barkley and Drexler and you didn’t see that many close to the basket shots.

“Some of the plays, you’d think, ‘Nah, he can’t get to the basket.’ Then, somehow, he made it happen.”
Tomjanovich expects to put Nachbar’s quickness to use.
“That explosion to the basket, I don’t know of another player from his background that’s done anything like that,” Tomjanovich said.
Nachbar put on a shooting display when he worked out with the Rockets. He made 24 of 25 shots from 17 feet, and was 23-of-25 from 3-point range.
“To get a player of the magnitude and talent really is exciting for us,” Dawson said. “Boki can do so much with a basketball from one end to the other. He’s already had a great career in Europe and he’s only 21.”

http://www.msnbc.com/news/773334.asp