<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Like an old television set, three main colors on the big board to the right of Avery Johnson's desk are red, green and blue. Each team's players are color coded: centers are red, forwards are blue, and guards are green. The whole league is right in front of you, 30 teams and their 450 players, and still only three colors. There is no special color for injured players because, a Mavericks' staff member explains, "injured or not, you are in the NBA, you are on the team, and we are going to watch you." Zarko Cabarkapa's long name fits perfectly on the board. With the body of a center, and speed and handling of a power forward, 6'11" Serbo-Montenegrian also fits perfectly into the NBA. Mavericks' staff prepared for the first round against his Golden State Warriors by analyzing hours or video and tomes of statistics, most of which had ominous zeros next to Cabarkapa's name. Back injury that caused those zeros and sidelined Cabarkapa for most of the season is almost completely healed. "If Golden State plays well enough", Cabarkapa jokes, "I might join them in the finals". Until then, his recovery regimen remains as dedicated as his team's playoff hopes. "I am in the arena when the team practices, but I am training with the physical therapist and also working on different muscle groups. I try to catch at least a little of their practice but lately my training sessions had been taking longer than their practice. I spend more hours in the arena than they do", he says with a smile. "The team is satisfied with my progress and therefore I am happy with the progress. I feel really good and I hear the ball calling me louder and louder". From what we saw in the first round against the Dallas Mavericks, he might as well be talking about the Golden State fans in general. Watching the playoffs -- not just any, but these playoffs where his team orchestrated a big upset against the No.1 seeded Dallas Mavericks -- from the sidelines would be much harder if those fans did not still remember how valuable Cabarkapa is to the team. Dressed in a dark blue suit and walking pass the stands before Game 2 in Dallas, hearing his name and seeing jerseys and caps to sign felt good. Although he has not put on his No.11 jersey in a while, Cabarkapa is an integral part of the Warriors. "The hardest is when they have a road trip and I stay home and watch them on TV. Then I don't feel like a part of the team. But when they are here and when I travel with the team, I feel like I belong. They treat me like a teammate, just an injured one. We talk and they give me a lot of support, so I feel like a part of the team. The whole season was very hard psychologically, especially now that my teammates are in the playoffs, I would really like to be on the floor with them." Before Game 2 in Dallas, he was doing exactly that, dark blue suit in place of a blue and yellow jersey, watching his teammates' pre-game warmup. Sarunas Jasikevicius and Stephen Jackson are close by, shooting animated jumpshots with varying arches and angles. Ball kids are doing a good job keeping up, there are more Spalding balls than players, one finishing up in Cabarkapa's hands. He throws it back to Jackson and the moment does not escape him: this is -- after the Indiana trade and with the arrival of Don Nelson -- a new Golden State team he will be returning to next season. If he re-signs with the Warriors, that is. "I think I would fit well into this smaller, faster ball we are playing now. Since I did not play under Nelson, its hard to tell, but I think it would work well for me. And its also the type of basketball we are playing. I love what I see and how Baron Davis is leading our squad. My biggest wish is that I am 100% healthy and ready for the next season. And I hope it will be this team." Its not easy watching these 2007 Warriors from the sidelines. It was, as Cabarkapa says, a psychologically tough season, and traveling with his team through the playoffs is part of a self-prescribed regimen to stay positive and recover as fast as possible. In the inside left pocket of his dark blue jacket is the other part of the story, his internationally-ready cell phone. When he can't talk to his fellow countryman here in the NBA, his parents back in Serbia are more than happy to. "Everybody helped a little bit with my recovery process, my parents especially. They are back home now, but they were here for a long time. Nenad Krstic got injured at the same time so we also talked a lot and helped each other out. Zeljko Rebraca and Peja Stojakovic got injured too, so we were a good support group for each other. That is why my head is clear and I am not worried about what is going to happen. My spirits are high, I know I will play next year, and I know I will be stronger because of this whole experience." Thinking back at his four years in the NBA, draft night stands out as the single most important point in Cabarkapa's career. That is the same answer every international player will give, so I ask him to give it another try. After a short pause and a long sigh, his answer hints that his box score zeros are hurting more than the back injury ever did. "Its not about the points or about minutes, its about the team. I remember playing the rest of the season when I got traded to Golden State. All those games were special to me, I was finally playing. I can't wait to play again." </div> source I hope he is healthy and ready to go next year, I think he will be Nellie's dream-player -- 6'11", can handle, run the break, pass with touch, has finesse around the rim -- of course he's not going to bruise people on the boards, but we'll figure that out later... let's get Zarko on the floor!
I like Zarko's game actually. For those that thought Al Harrington was very useful as a utility player, I think Zarko brings a bit more besides just scoring. He can push the ball very well up the floor, draw double team pressure, he's got great floor awareness and unselfishness to make the play, and he's got a smooth first step off the dribble and a nice running floater where he can decide to pass at the last moment once up in the air. Contrast all that to Al Harrington, who presents a nightmare matchup when he's outquicking or outmuscling players, but he just isn't as unselfish or as quick/smooth as some of the other players we have on our roster. Zarko has all the good stuff folks talked about Dunleavy as a smart basketball player, but none of the slowness, ungainliness, or fear of contact going to the hoop. Plus, the Z-man might take fewer attempts on threes from the top of the key because that's not his real strength (although he's got range). He does have a nice pullup jumper from at the top of the key and some good three point shooting from the baseline area a la Shane Battier/James Posey. Consistency, free throws, and the tendency to actually travel or "look like he's travelling" might be an issue. Remember, he's got those monstrously long steps which cover a lot of ground in a hurry (plus he's a Euro and those players love to travel. . He also has no true position because he's too tall/slow for small forward, too weak for power forwards or centers. This makes him a bit like Dunleavy or Harrington or Murphy, but he's a lot more quick and smooth type of movement to create his own shot as a true triple threat perimeter type guy. And the other thing is he can be wildly inconsistent putting up good numbers in a few games and not doing much of anything in another series. Still, if we wanted strong fundamentals and a nice quick/athletic mismatch for the opposing team's big man, Zarko would be a good guy coming off the bench and even better if he can get healthy and more consistent. C: Biedrins PF: Zarko SF: Jackson SG: Richardson or Ellis PG: Baron I think this lineup could make Biedrins or any of the other players a lot better because of increased ball movement, but knowing Nelson's tendencies, would probably put Z at the center, and somebody else at power forward...
<div class="quote_poster">AnimeFANatic Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1o7qKncnF2U</div> That's what I like about the guy, he saw a play happening that the passer didn't see. He was already trying to cut to the rim, but the passer thought he wanted a baseline two or three.
