[THE NBA]

ASSOCIATED PRESS Former Hawaii sharpshooter Predrag Savovic will be in New York for tomorrow's NBA Draft. Savovic is projected as a second-round pick, but could go higher.

Savo sitting
and waiting

Tomorrow night will decide his future

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By Cindy Luis
cluis@starbulletin.com

It's Christmas Eve for Predrag Savovic. He's pretty sure that the biggest present of his life will be there waiting under the lights in Madison Square Garden tomorrow night.

The former Hawaii guard will be attending the NBA Draft at The Garden with his agent Marc Cornstein and Rainbow coach Riley Wallace.

Today's agenda was very full. As the NBA teams started on their last-minute trade shopping lists, Savovic was completing the last of his 15 individual workouts, with the Atlanta Hawks.

He was scheduled to return to New York tonight and had just one order from his agent: "Relax."

"I'm suggesting he go to the movies, watch TV, take his mind off the draft," Cornstein said yesterday. "There's nothing more he can do at this stage. He's done everything in his power, now it's up to the teams.

"He can wake up Wednesday, look himself in the mirror and doesn't have to second guess a thing. He went to Chicago, where a lot of players shied away. He's made himself available to all the teams and more than half of them brought him in for a workout. No one can complain they didn't get a chance to see him."

One team wants a second look. The New York Nets, the team Savovic worked out with last week, called to try to get in a session tomorrow morning.

After last week's session, Nets general manager Rod Thorn rated Savovic and Stanford's Casey Jacobsen as "tremendous shooters." The other guards working out that day were Cincinnati's Steve Logan and Ronnie Murray, the Division II player of the year from Shaw (N.C.) University.

The Nets own the Nos. 24 and 54 picks. Thorn, said the team needed a shooter and a low-post presence.

Savovic liked the Nets as well, after what he saw when walking into their home facility last week. He was greeted by the late Drazen Petrovic's retired jersey hanging on the wall.

"It was the first thing I saw," Savovic said. "It was cool. It brought some memories from back home. He was my idol."

Petrovic, a guard with the Nets for 2 1/2 seasons, was killed in a car accident in Germany in 1993 at age 28.

Savovic said he was unsure if he would see the Nets tomorrow. He also said he wasn't feeling nervous ... yet.

"Maybe Wednesday," he said. "I haven't really thought about what it's going to be like. I haven't thought about which team will draft me.

"I can't say I'm confident about being drafted. There's nothing more that I can do. I cannot control what's going to happen."

But he does know the schedule for tomorrow evening. Wallace, who flies in from a clinic in Guam, joins Savovic at Cornstein's apartment at 6 p.m.

"We'll have a little toast and then we'll head over to the Garden," said Cornstein. "Then, whatever happens, we'll go out after and have some fun. He'll be drafted, there's zero chance in my mind that he won't. I just don't know where. There's a wide range of players that could go between 20 and 45 and he's in that group. It's all going to depend on a team's needs."

Cornstein is representing four players in the draft, all from Yugoslavia. His other clients are Savovic's brother Boban, who played at Ohio State, Illinois forward Damir Krupalija and Nikola Vucurovic, who played professionally in Europe.

"The only other suggestion I'm giving Savo is that he be nowhere near me," said Cornstein. "It'll be a little frenetic at my office, teams trying to find out last-minute stuff and our phone lines will be busy.

"What I think is special is that Riley will be here with him. He has no agenda except to be here to support his player."

Notes: If Savovic is drafted tomorrow, he would be the 13th Rainbow to be selected by an NBA team. The last was Reggie Cross, a second-round choice by Philadelphia in 1989. ... Most draft prognosticators had Savovic going in the second round. NBADraft.net predicts he'll be drafted No. 46 by the Memphis Grizzlies, while ESPN.com has him going to the Utah Jazz as the No. 47 pick.