Kukoc Juggles Basketball, Life On Home Front

Every two or three days, Toni Kukoc calls home to Split, Croatia, for the latest news from the front. On the good days, nobody has been killed and his family has electricity.

On the bad days, there is death and devastation, degradation and disease in the civil war in the country that once was Yugoslavia.

A rookie for the Chicago Bulls, Kukoc is thousands of miles from the misery at home. But it only takes a phone call, the inflection of a voice, the hoarse, gravelly emotion at the other end, to remind him how bad life is in his homeland.

"My family tries to keep me out of the problems. They try to tell me, like everything is fine," Kukoc said after the Bulls lost to Seattle last night 95-94. "They tell me to just keep playing basketball. They tell me not to think about the war.

"But that is not easy. It's not that simple. I'm not 7-years-old kid, so they cannot lie to me. I know that it's not that good."

Kukoc last visited Split last summer. He was greeted with the same flotsam and jetsam of war. Friends were missing. Running water was a luxury. People were nervous, wary.

"There are not so many good things you can talk about," he said. "Things have been the same for the past three years. There's not people laughing so much. No jokes. It's not a good life."

Kukoc, 25, is the lucky one. His talent has allowed him to escape. He became a millionaire playing for Benetton Treviso in Italy. He will earn $1.7 million this season.

But in Split, he still is Toni. There is no resentment of his good fortune, no envy.

"When I went back this time, they treat me the same way. It's always the same," he said. "I think my friends know how hard I've had to work to get here. They never are jealous. Nothing like that.

"Even now, with the little money they have right now, when I'm back home, I can't buy a drink. They won't let me pay for nothing. They say, `Maybe when we come to Chicago, you can pay for everything, but not now.' "

Some day soon, Chicago will be Kukoc's town. He is Chicago's kind of player. Smooth as butter oozing down the lane. Deadly with the jumper from behind the arc. The 6-foot-11 swingman with big shoulders.

In the finest of his first six NBA games, Kukoc punished the Sonics' swarming defense for 20 points, six rebounds and two assists in 23 minutes.

He scored 10 points, including two three-pointers, in the fourth quarter, when greatness is measured. His 25-foot trey with 1:47 to play cut the Sonic lead to 95-94.

Last night was a sneak preview of the next decade. An early look at stardom.

"He's very, very talented," Sonic Coach George Karl said. "And his size makes him even more talented, because he can pass the ball and he can score; play inside and outside. It will be interesting to see how he develops."

Kukoc is averaging 15 points and 5.3 rebounds and shooting 56 percent. Imagine him in January, when he better understands the plays, better understands the language and begins to feel comfortable in his adopted home.

Imagine Kukoc in May when he has played regularly with Scottie Pippen and the Bulls have adjusted to life after Michael Jordan.

He must learn basketball's subtleties. When to rotate on defense. When to push the ball up the floor. Which defenders he should post up and which he should take off the dribble.

He must learn his teammates. Where does Horace Grant like the ball? Where will Pippen want it when his sore ankle heals?

The NBA traveling show continues. Kukoc's next stop is Portland tomorrow night. Then Los Angeles and Sacramento, as the Bulls play seven road games in 11 days.

And at each stop there will be a phone call to Croatia. A few moments with his family to learn the latest and pray for the best.

Tall and skinny with sad, sleepy eyes, Kukoc speaks in heavily accented English. He smiles easily and explains to a stranger what it is like being Croatian and living so far from home.

"I miss my family, my friends, my hometown. It's not easy being so far away," he said. "When we talk on the phone it is hard, but the last report was better. Electricity was OK right now and they don't expect to be out of it anymore.

"Good news. Very good news."