European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - November 12, 1993, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 34 the stars and stripes sports Friday november 1 g. 1993 bulls looking for -.tighter/,. _ to _ Imore Active Chicago a the Chicago bulls Are hoping Toni Kukoc will get his scor ing average up and his weight Down. After three games in the Aba Kuko was averaging 12 Points seven fewer than his average last season with Benet ton Treviso of the italian league. During the summer prior to his no debut the 6-10 Forward guard from Croatia gained about 15 pounds and i listed at 230. I think the Speed i had before is going to come Back Kukoc said tuesday. I have to build my Energy level he said. But i worked a lot this summer then after All the practice games maybe twas some kind of Impact on my obviously it s going some time he said. Nothing is easy for me. Right now i m still learning about every thing. I m not Happy. I think i can and i have to play better. It s going to be better when i Start to play that was his style in re just expecting him to give us a 100 percent Effort . Armstrong s no pressure on him to do any thing but play night and do the Best he has already offered the fans a taste of what he can do. In the bulls 106-80 Victory against at Lanta on monday night he made a behind the head pass without looking to Horace Grant who nailed a slam Dunk. On wednesday his Trey with less than 2 Sec ends to play lifted the bulls to a 91-90 Vic tory Over Kukoc keeps things in perspective. Maybe it was a Good pass but it s no the game he said. It s always Nice to see the fans Happy. If we have a time during the game to give them something like that i think that s coach Phil Jackson said there is a lot of work to be done with Kukoc just Normal things that go into the offence. The spectacular the unexpected the creative things he s very Good at. That s instinctive for him Jackson Kukoc has to break some habits Jackson said. Sometimes he seeks the Ball rather than going through the organized move ments our offence requires the coach said. Kukoc said an average of 15 to 20 Points 7 or 8 rebounds and 10 assist would make him very Happy. I think it s going to be great if i can do that he re a lot of great players Over Here he said. In Europe you can play zone defense and Man to Man. The shot clock is 30 seconds so you can take Heball More in your hands. The game is slow the Good players Are pushing you to work hard and run up and Down the court each second you Are on the bulls Tony Kukoc. Italy average higher 5 opening club team in Spain starts Only Blacks by Stephen Wade Orense Spain a for the first time a euro Pean basketball team has assembled a starting unit of. Five americans. But it s their race not their nationality which has attracted the most attention. We re five americans but we d be no big Deal Over Here if we were White said Howard Wood a 6-foot-8 former University of Tennessee player. Spain s respected daily Al pais referred to the Coren Orense club s starters As los Jackson another paper called them five friends from Harlem they be heard themselves described As the team from Cameroon and seen countless headlines playing off the word Black if they want to Call us the Jackson five and Meany that a group that s quickly becoming Well known Well accept that said Jackie Espinosa Johnson the team s 6-foot-5 Forward. But if they re just trying to identify us As a group of Black Guys that s not accept polls suggest that Spain is among Europe s least racist countries but until a few years ago non Whites were rare Here. Now there is a steady flow of illegal immigration from Africa and latin America but the level of racial awareness and sensitivity has t kept Pace. It s not racism As americans know it it s racial ignorance said 6-foot-10 former Urcla and Aba player Brad Wright. They re not educated Here on these issues. If they were really racists they would be More Subtle about it and never As obvious As they Are. They really just Haven t thought about it added Wright who i married to a spaniard. But calling us the Jackson five is better than Call ing us the Osmond Brothers he said cracking a smile. Though Wright has become More tolerant his wife Milagros has become More critical. This country was isolated for a Long time and peo ple Aren t used to living together with different races she said. Spaniards always say they re not racists and they could t be when there were Only White Cath Olics despite headlines and remarks focusing on race Coren Orenic s starting five say they Are treated Well by fans and residents of this largely agricultural City of 100,000 located in Spain s isolated Northwest Region of Galicia. These Guys live Well Here and the Community accepts them said 44-year-old american coach Tim Shea now in his 14th season coaching basketball in Europe. I can t say the spaniards on the team Are 100 percent Happy but i think they the club among the top six in the Tough 20-team Spanish first division in t completely american. Espinosa and Wood each have taken Spanish citizenship which is Why Coren Orense cart Field five foreigners in Stead of the maximum three allowed by Spanish league rules. Wood has a Spanish wife. Espinosa s Mother was a spaniard. Wright married to a spaniard is seeking Spanish citizenship. And Shea is married to a spaniard. The Only two without a Spanish connection Are guards Andre Turner a former Memphis state and Aba player and Chandler Thompson from Allstate. I Call these Guys the pioneers the new York born coach said. This is How world and european Basket Ball will look one Westhead drills Chuting stars at George Mason a. A it was one of those moments that showed just How comfortable Paul Westhead is Back in College Mason s new coach was telling How he had duped his eager Young play ers into believing they could Fly. To prepare the patriots for the physical demands of his All out style of play Westhead had them do sprinting Drill with Small parachutes attached to their backs during the preseason conditioning recalled How As an incentive he told the players that if they were to run fast enough it was even possible to get airborne for several seconds. Their eyes lit up and one by one the players would try their Best Only to re turn to their coach with a disappointed look and Tell him they had been unable to achieve that elusive Takeoff. Westhead now unable to Contala Devilish Grin chuckled As he recalled is Standard were almost he would Tell them in a fatherly tone. Let s try Back out to the track they would go drawing on everything they had to get just a Little More Speed Only to suffer the same Down to Earth result. Once again the reassuring response. You were almost players obviously never got their desired results but Westhead got s the first step to introducing what the school has hyped in advertising campaigns As Paul Ball " a dizzying Tempo that produces Eye catching numbers. And at George Mason a mostly commuter school of21,000 students in the Northern Vir Ginia Community of Fairfax Eye catch ing numbers Haven t been i Westhead abundance lately unless you re looking in the loss column. The patriots Are coming off Back to Back 7-21 seasons. Attendance at the10,000-seat Patriot Center averaged 2,740 College coaching shifts last year. Enter the 54-year-old Westhead Whin five seasons led Loyola Mary mount to 105 victories and three Mcaa tournament appearances. His final Loyola Mary mount team in1989-90, averaged 122.4 Points and set the Mcaa division i scoring record with181 Points. That year s Lions also set a new Mcaa tournament scoring Markwith a 149-115 Victory Over Michigan. The change at George Mason was Justine of 31 at the division i level a 10 per cent changeover just about the Standar number for the past decade. Eddie Fogler had the closest move Asfar conferences went moving from Vanderbilt to South Carolina schools which both play in the Southeastern Confer ence s Eastern division. The changes wiped out the staff of Xavier i Pete Gillen who lost two assistants10 a jobs Dino Gaudio at array and skip Prosser at Loyola my. And the move that truly crossed generational lines was at Stetson. Dan Hipsher moved from division i Wittenber to replace Glenn Wilkes who retired after36 years with the hatters. Hipsher was 3 years old when Wilkes took Over As head coach at Stetson. Westhead left Loyola Mary mount after the death of Hank gathers and went Back to the Aba. Where he had coached previously with the los Angeles lakers and the Chicago bulls. But this time his style did t work with the Denver nug gets and after 120 losses in two seasons he was gone. Westhead who in the 1970s led la Salle to 142 victories Over nine seasons said returning again to the College game was a natural for him. I wanted to find a situation where ind a Chance to be a Success rather quickly he Mason has no seniors return ing from a team that averaged 68 Point last season. The roster includes five freshmen and Fitti patriots open their schedule nov. 27 at Home against Troy state the school that shot its Way to Fame by scor ing 258 Points in one ticket sales Are double what they were last year
