<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">The Milwaukee Bucks took a chance on Turkish teenager Ersan Ilyasova in the second round of the 2005 National Basketball Association draft. Instead of leaving him in Europe, the Bucks brought Ilyasova into training camp last fall to give him some familiarity with the NBA game. Now they intend to follow the same path with 20-year-old Damir Markota, a 6-foot-10 forward from Croatia. The Bucks signed Markota to a three-year contract on Tuesday, less than a month after acquiring him in a draft-night trade with the San Antonio Spurs. Contract terms were not disclosed. The Spurs selected Markota with the 59th overall pick and swapped him to Milwaukee in return for the better of the Bucks' two second-round picks in the 2007 draft. "He can really shoot the basketball, and he's almost 6-11," Bucks general manager Larry Harris said. "He's really going to be a true 4 man (power forward) that can step out from the basket. You can run pick and roll, you can do different things. And he's skilled. He can put it on the floor. He has a little bit of a jump hook in the paint. He has a chance to be a very productive NBA player." Harris said the plan was to bring Markota into training camp this fall, and the Croatian player could spend some time in the NBA Development League, as Ilyasova did last season. "We just felt having him with us now made more sense than leaving him in Europe for another year," Harris said. "We don't know about the developmental league right now, though it could be a possibility." "Right now, he's our 13th contract. His biggest thing is his body just needs to get stronger. That's where Ersan needed to develop as well." The Bucks are starting to see some positive signs regarding the 6-9 Ilyasova, who was taken with the 36th overall pick in the 2005 draft. Last week the 19-year-old was named most valuable player of the U-20 European Championship, as he led Turkey into the title game and averaged 17.4 points and 7.1 rebounds in eight games. He also will play for the Turkish senior national team in the World Championship next month in Japan. The Bucks passed on a number of U.S. collegians with their second-round pick in 2005, including Providence forward Ryan Gomes, who went on to a successful rookie season with the Boston Celtics. Ilyasova had been projected as a first-round pick but slipped into the second round, and the Bucks grabbed him. "We had seen him (Ilyasova) at a younger age, and he was one of the better players of his generation over in Europe," Harris said. "He had sustained an injury, so people kind of backed off a little bit." Ilyasova played in 46 games with the Tulsa 66ers of the development league, and he averaged 12.5 points and 7.0 rebounds. He shot 40.7% overall and 34.7% from three-point range (68 for 196). "The way our team is put together right now, there's an opportunity at the small forward spot behind Bobby Simmons," Harris said. "Ersan will have an opportunity to see if he can get some minutes at the 3 and maybe the 4. We'll see." </div> Source
