<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">SAN DIEGO -- For the first few days of the USA Basketball Youth Development Festival, the rumors and shenanigans surrounding Russian forward Yaroslav Korolev were worthy of the Cold War era. Korolev's uniform number was listed as '9' in the program but another player wore that during the games. Korolev didn't play -- a sore knee was the word from a member of the Russian delegation -- and was kept away from the media as his coach and father, Igor Korolev, ushered his players out of arenas after games and had closed practices. All of that only fueled the prevailing rumor that Korolev already has an agreement with an NBA team to be drafted. On Friday, after the Russians lost to an American squad in the semifinals, the wall of secrecy melted away. A smiling Igor Korolev met with two reporters who waited him out all week, and even called over Yaroslav, a 6-11, 202-pound forward who has been compared to Milwaukee forward Toni Kukoc. Igor was asked if he expects his son to be drafted. "Yes," he said through a translator. "Because the NBA scouts, they say he must try the NBA." Yaroslav, who speaks English, replied, "I hope, of course. I want to be there. Everybody wants to be there." He was asked if he is ready to play in the NBA. "I don't know. They are very physical, much bigger than we are." He was also asked if he was drafted, would he stay in Europe for another year. "I don't know what we'll do. We have to decide, me and my agent."</div> Source
