http://www.sacbee.com/content/sports/basketball/kings/story/11449989p-12364150c.html
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Peja Stojakovic took the wind out of the Bulls with his sharp shooting Tuesday night and denied reports that he wanted to play for Chicago.
Sacramento Bee/Paul Kitagaki Jr.[/font]
Peja shoots back
Disturbed by some media reports, Stojakovic sets the record straight
By Sam Amick -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:15 am PST Wednesday, November 17, 2004
Peja Stojakovic is heating up.
And we're not just talking about his shooting touch.
The Kings forward, who requested a trade during the offseason, is hot about multiple reports he claims represented him in a false light. [font=verdana,geneva,arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Namely, Stojakovic wants to clarify, he practiced plenty of hoops during the offseason, and he never said he wanted to become a Chicago Bull.[/font]
[font=verdana,geneva,arial,helvetica,sans-serif]The Bee suggested in a column last week that Stojakovic, who passed on offseason international competition for the first time in his NBA career, hardly practiced during his time off. [/font]
Stojakovic, who did everything from serving in the Greek army to welcoming his newborn son, Andrej, to the world during the offseason, said he practiced "five days a week with Greek League players" and took a "month off, combined" out of the four months away.
"I did work out, but I didn't play any games with the national team," said Stojakovic, who scored a season-high 29 points during the Kings' 113-106 victory over the Bulls on Tuesday night. "That doesn't mean I took the summer off. I'm a basketball player. That's my life. That's my profession, my job. That sounds kind of funny to me, ridiculous, taking four months and not picking up a basketball.
"I was always working out. I maybe took off a couple weeks without basketball, but I was always working out, shooting the basketball, playing with guys, but never on the high level like preseason or during the regular season."
And he certainly wasn't packing his bags for the Windy City.
In early August, the Chicago Sun-Times reported Stojakovic wanted to play for Chicago, an organization that has gone 119-341 in the past six seasons and won no more than 30 games in a single campaign during that stretch.
The reasons for his so-called desire were two-fold, from his ties to Bulls coach Scott Skiles and the large contingent of Yugoslavians and Greeks in the Chicago area. Skiles coached Stojakovic in 1998, when he played for PAOK.
Yet in the report, Stojakovic was never directly quoted stating a desire to play in Chicago, although the story's headline read "Stojakovic would love to be a Bull." The Sun-Times repeated the claim in Tuesday's editions, stating, "Stojakovic told the Sun-Times the Bulls would be one of the teams he'd love to play for ..."
"I never said that, but they wrote that," Stojakovic said. "They figure just by having lot of Serbian people living in Chicago, a lot of Greeks, what does that mean? I never picked any cities or teams. "I don't have anything against Chicago, but I never said the names of the cities or names of the teams. I said change could make a difference, for me and for the team."
Since making his trade request in July, Stojakovic hasn't backed off his stance. But he hasn't reiterated it, either, repeatedly vowing to honor the last two years of his contract with the Kings.
He has been proving it lately. After shooting 34.6 percent from the field and averaging 16 points in the first five regular-season games, Stojakovic has shot 52.9 percent and averaged 24.6 in the last three.
The Bulls saw his best yet this season. Stojakovic hit 11 of 19 shots, was 4 of 10 from three-point range and had no turnovers.
"Right now, I'm with this team, under a contract, and it's not in my hands," Stojakovic said. "The team isn't going to listen to where (you want to go). You can't pick, say I want the team (to move) to Greece. Are they going to put the team in Greece? I'd like to have a team in my hometown (in Greece). Who knows?"
Back to even - The Kings are back to .500, the same 4-4 record they began with last season. Games against Memphis, Milwaukee, and Houston remain on the homestand.
"It feels good to be .500," center Brad Miller said. "Now we've got to get to 7-4 before we leave."
The Beastless East? - With the Bulls' defeat, Eastern Conference teams have lost 44 of their last 46 trips to Arco Arena. Since 1998, the Kings are 72-7 against the East. They have also won 11 straight games against the Bulls.
[font=verdana,geneva,arial,helvetica,sans-serif]
Peja Stojakovic took the wind out of the Bulls with his sharp shooting Tuesday night and denied reports that he wanted to play for Chicago.
Sacramento Bee/Paul Kitagaki Jr.[/font]
Peja shoots back
Disturbed by some media reports, Stojakovic sets the record straight
By Sam Amick -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:15 am PST Wednesday, November 17, 2004
Peja Stojakovic is heating up.
And we're not just talking about his shooting touch.
The Kings forward, who requested a trade during the offseason, is hot about multiple reports he claims represented him in a false light. [font=verdana,geneva,arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Namely, Stojakovic wants to clarify, he practiced plenty of hoops during the offseason, and he never said he wanted to become a Chicago Bull.[/font]
[font=verdana,geneva,arial,helvetica,sans-serif]The Bee suggested in a column last week that Stojakovic, who passed on offseason international competition for the first time in his NBA career, hardly practiced during his time off. [/font]
Stojakovic, who did everything from serving in the Greek army to welcoming his newborn son, Andrej, to the world during the offseason, said he practiced "five days a week with Greek League players" and took a "month off, combined" out of the four months away.
"I did work out, but I didn't play any games with the national team," said Stojakovic, who scored a season-high 29 points during the Kings' 113-106 victory over the Bulls on Tuesday night. "That doesn't mean I took the summer off. I'm a basketball player. That's my life. That's my profession, my job. That sounds kind of funny to me, ridiculous, taking four months and not picking up a basketball.
"I was always working out. I maybe took off a couple weeks without basketball, but I was always working out, shooting the basketball, playing with guys, but never on the high level like preseason or during the regular season."
And he certainly wasn't packing his bags for the Windy City.
In early August, the Chicago Sun-Times reported Stojakovic wanted to play for Chicago, an organization that has gone 119-341 in the past six seasons and won no more than 30 games in a single campaign during that stretch.
The reasons for his so-called desire were two-fold, from his ties to Bulls coach Scott Skiles and the large contingent of Yugoslavians and Greeks in the Chicago area. Skiles coached Stojakovic in 1998, when he played for PAOK.
Yet in the report, Stojakovic was never directly quoted stating a desire to play in Chicago, although the story's headline read "Stojakovic would love to be a Bull." The Sun-Times repeated the claim in Tuesday's editions, stating, "Stojakovic told the Sun-Times the Bulls would be one of the teams he'd love to play for ..."
"I never said that, but they wrote that," Stojakovic said. "They figure just by having lot of Serbian people living in Chicago, a lot of Greeks, what does that mean? I never picked any cities or teams. "I don't have anything against Chicago, but I never said the names of the cities or names of the teams. I said change could make a difference, for me and for the team."
Since making his trade request in July, Stojakovic hasn't backed off his stance. But he hasn't reiterated it, either, repeatedly vowing to honor the last two years of his contract with the Kings.
He has been proving it lately. After shooting 34.6 percent from the field and averaging 16 points in the first five regular-season games, Stojakovic has shot 52.9 percent and averaged 24.6 in the last three.
The Bulls saw his best yet this season. Stojakovic hit 11 of 19 shots, was 4 of 10 from three-point range and had no turnovers.
"Right now, I'm with this team, under a contract, and it's not in my hands," Stojakovic said. "The team isn't going to listen to where (you want to go). You can't pick, say I want the team (to move) to Greece. Are they going to put the team in Greece? I'd like to have a team in my hometown (in Greece). Who knows?"
Back to even - The Kings are back to .500, the same 4-4 record they began with last season. Games against Memphis, Milwaukee, and Houston remain on the homestand.
"It feels good to be .500," center Brad Miller said. "Now we've got to get to 7-4 before we leave."
The Beastless East? - With the Bulls' defeat, Eastern Conference teams have lost 44 of their last 46 trips to Arco Arena. Since 1998, the Kings are 72-7 against the East. They have also won 11 straight games against the Bulls.
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