Football
Associated Press 18y

After trying tourney in Europe, versatile Jaric joins Wolves

MINNEAPOLIS -- Marko Jaric didn't hesitate to describe his
national team's performance in the European Championships this
summer.

"Not too good," he said of Serbia-Montenegro's early ouster
from a tournament the team is used to winning.

The reigning world champions succumbed to infighting and egos,
going 2-2 in the tournament and prompting the team's head coach to
resign in disgust.

Jaric was right in the middle of the drama, reportedly getting
into a fist fight with teammate Igor Rakocevic after the team was
beaten by France and eliminated from the event.

"The players had bad personal relations, their egos led to this
shameful end," coach Zeljko Obradovic said after Serbia-Montenegro
was eliminated. "My mistake was not throwing three or four of them
off the team. They hate each other so much that they don't even
look at each other. I've never seen such people before."

Jaric said the pressure of playing better competition on the
team's home court in Belgrade led to the meltdown. Now in his first
training camp with the Minnesota Timberwolves, he's eager to put
that experience behind him.

"It's tough, we lost the game and (the fans) were very, very
tough on us," Jaric said. "Because we were like a dream team 10
years ago, much better than other teams five or 10 years ago, the
fans are used to winning. Now, people in Serbia and Montenegro
can't realize why we don't win so easy. ... Mentally, it was
exhausting though."

Expectations doomed the Timberwolves from the start, too.

Latrell Sprewell and Sam Cassell began the season by griping
about their contracts, then sulked through injury-plagued and
mediocre years.

Kevin McHale got rid of both aging veterans who played such big
roles in the team's 2004 Western Conference finals run. Sprewell
was not re-signed and Cassell was traded to the Los Angeles
Clippers for Jaric.

McHale also hired Seattle assistant Dwane Casey as the head
coach, hoping his enthusiasm and fluid offensive sets would
energize a group that sleepwalked through the late stages of last
season.

Jaric is the key addition. The 6-foot-7 point guard's
versatility fits perfectly with Casey's philosophy of getting the
ball in transition and creating mismatches, which was a big reason
for the Sonics' surprising success last year.

"He's very versatile," teammate Wally Szczerbiak said. "He's
my size and a point guard. He can handle the ball really well. He's
a smart, smart basketball player. He's got guys on this team that
are really going to enjoy playing with him."

Jaric averaged a career-high 9.9 points and 6.1 assists for the
Clippers last season despite battling a stress fracture in his
foot.

Some have said Jaric is injury-prone, but Casey said Jaric's
competitiveness is what led to his stress fracture when he kicked a
wall in frustration last season.

"He's very competitive," Casey said. "He's edgy. I like that.
He scraps. If the game is ugly, he can play that way. If the game
is pretty he can play that way."

Casey also is not concerned with Jaric's troubles with
Serbia-Montenegro. He wants winners and players who care, two
qualities that were in short supply around here a year ago.

"I saw he got into some scraps with the national team and I
like that, as long as you use it in the right way," Casey said.

Jaric is ready to move past Europe as well. He pledged he'll
"do anything to win," whether it's score, pass, defend -- or all
three.

"Me as a point guard, I want to try and put all those pieces
together and make a good atmosphere and team chemistry and try to
make all those players better players," Jaric said. "With Wally,
with Kevin (Garnett), with a couple young guys we've got, we're
definitely one of the best teams in the West."

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