7-footer Koufos spurns big offers from Greece
The Salt Lake Tribune
Article Last Updated: 06/28/2008 08:18:45 AM MDT
Even before he took his first class at Ohio State, Kosta Koufos already completed his major in international relations. All it took, in fact, was one offer the 7-footer received out of high school to play basketball in Greece.
There was a $5 million contract waiting for Koufos to sign and a beachfront villa waiting for him to call home. He could play for the Olympiacos club team in Athens, which would throw in any car of his choosing for good measure.
It wasn't the NBA, though, which was why Koufos could say he was living a dream Friday when he was introduced as the Jazz's newest member, selected with the No. 23 pick in the first round of Thursday's draft.
"With basketball, I follow what my heart says," Koufos said. "My heart told me to go to Ohio State because I'm going to learn and develop more as a player."
He spent Friday meeting with coach Jerry Sloan at the Jazz's practice facility - "He told me he's going to be hard on me, which I love," Koufos said - and posing for pictures with his new No. 41 jersey, last belonging to Thurl Bailey.
Koufos' mother, Kathy, said she had learned of two Greek churches in Salt Lake City while her son said he was confident in his abilities despite coming to the NBA after only one season at Ohio State.
"As a 19-year-old, yes, I'm young," Koufos said. "But at the same time, I feel like I can contribute to the program. Everybody's got something to work on and I'm going to do that and I'm going to work hard at it and raise my game to the next level."
The biggest question for Koufos had been whether that next level would take him to Europe or the NBA. He was contacted regularly by Greek teams in the last year, some asking if he would consider leaving Ohio State in the middle of the season.
"We sat and talked about it, thought about it, but not much," said the Rev. Dan Rogich, who runs the Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church in Koufos' hometown of Canton, Ohio, and has been a mentor since childhood.
"He said, 'My dream is to play in America. Greece is always going to be there.'"
On draft night, though, Koufos again was tested. He watched as the hometown Cleveland Cavaliers passed on him as a possible successor to Zydrunas Ilgauskas and selected N.C. State forward J.J. Hickson with the No. 19 pick.
Jack Greynolds Jr., who coached Koufos at GlenOak High, admitted the Cavaliers' decision "took a little wind out of the sails."
"Obviously, it's the hometown team and he knows LeBron [James] pretty well, playing together the last couple summers," Greynolds said. "All indications were they were interested, but that's the way it goes sometimes."
Rogich said Koufos asked him, "Should I be going to Greece?" amid the disappointment. Once projected as a lottery pick, Koufos wound up being selected by the Jazz, a team for which he didn't even work out before the draft.
"I think things are meant for a reason when they happen," Kathy Koufos said. "As the day's progressing, that feeling is solidifying for me that it's a good fit."
The Jazz, meanwhile, can only hope that Koufos' work ethic will help accelerate his development. Rogich said it wasn't uncommon for Koufos to shoot for an hour and a half before and after every Buckeyes game last season.
"When he first came," Rogich said, "the coaching staff there called me and said, 'How can we get him not to do this because he's going to get burned out during the Big Ten season.' "
Although Koufos was blessed with extraordinary height in a family where nobody stands taller than 6 feet - "This is my lottery winning," he joked - he grew up almost overnight as a player, according to Greynolds.
In January 2007, GlenOak snapped Canton rival McKinley's 41-game home winning streak as Koufos finished with 32 points, 19 rebounds and 10 blocks. He scored 28 of his team's first 34 points in the game.
The next night, Koufos came back and totaled 32 points, 15 rebounds and seven blocks to lead GlenOak to victory over Detroit Country Day, the school that produced Chris Webber and Shane Battier.
"He's as close to Dirk Nowitzki as I've ever seen," Country Day coach Curt Keener told the Canton Repository.
Koufos also has dealt with tragedy as his father, Alex, a pediatric oncologist at Akron Children's Hospital died of liver cancer 10 years ago.
Rogich said that Koufos paid a visit to his father's grave Thursday and also lit a candle in his memory at church.
"The thing I told him," Greynolds said, "it makes you grow up faster, makes you appreciate things. It makes you look a little differently at life."
At the very start of his NBA career, Koufos already has had to make a difficult decision. Instead of playing for Greece in an Olympic qualifying tournament next month in Athens, Koufos will play for the Jazz's summer-league team at the Rocky Mountain Revue.
If it costs him a chance at playing in the Olympics, Koufos didn't seem particularly bothered. "For me, the priority's NBA," Koufos said. "Always will be. Whatever the staff needs me to do to excel on the NBA level, I'm willing to do."
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