Jazz pick in draft is playing in Spain

While guys like Michael Doleac and Michael Bibby await their first professional game, Torraye Braggs is already earning a living on the basketball court. Braggs, the only pick the Utah Jazz kept from last June's NBA Draft, is one of a handful of second-round selections who opted to play in Europe during the ongoing NBA lockout.

Braggs, a 6-foot-8 power forward from Xavier University, is playing for the team in Cantabria, Spain. But that doesn't mean, necessarily, that he won't be on the Jazz roster this season - assuming the lockout ends. Braggs' agent, Mark Bartelstein, worked out a deal in which his Spanish contract is on a week-to-week basis. Braggs, who certainly isn't lacking for confidence despite being the second-to-last player drafted in June, went to Spain with the idea that he would return to tryout for the Jazz as soon as NBA training camps open."I know he really wants to play in the NBA," said Xavier sports information director Tom Eiser. "It was a hard decision for him to go to Spain in the first place, but he did it because he had the opt-out clause."

"It's really worked out terrific," Bartelstein told the Cincinnati Enquirer of Braggs' deal. "He'll do well financially, be able to play to keep himself in shape and still not give up anything in terms of the NBA with Utah."

Even if Braggs decided to stay in Spain for the entire season, the Jazz would keep his NBA rights under current league rules when he returns.

Few second-round NBA draft picks make it big. Many don't even make it in the league, at least with the team that drafted them. Utah's second-round pick in 1997, Nate Erdmann, didn't make the cut, for instance.

With 10 of Utah's 12 roster spots already filled by returning veterans with guaranteed money, it will not be easy to stick with the Jazz this year. The two open spots are the ones that were filled by Antoine Carr and Chris Morris last season. Carr would like to return to the team, as would ex-Jazzman Thurl Bailey. Utah will also look to the free-agent market to see if there is a player out there who could help them.

But Braggs likes his chances.

"I know once I get in there I'm going to get one of those spots," he said following the draft.

Braggs plays the same position as perennial Jazz all-star Karl Malone. He feels he's ready for the challenge.

"It's just a building block for me," Braggs said. "Hopefully I can fulfill (Malone's) shoes and maybe surpass him. I know I can learn a lot from him, and hopefully I can teach him a few things and make him better while he's still playing. . . . We could bring out the best in each other."

While the Jazz management can't talk about Braggs during the lockout, director of player personnel Scott Layden had this to say about him on draft night last June: "He's a very physical, powerful player. He's aggressive - guy who gives you a full day's work. He's going to be very good for our team. He's a warrior. He comes to play every night, and frankly we were a little surprised he was still on the board."

Layden has had a history of finding quality players in the second round, including current Jazzmen Shandon Anderson and Bryon Russell.

Braggs may be back in the states by Christmas if Malone is right. The Mailman predicted on Tuesday's ESPN "Up Close" program that the NBA season would begin on December 25 - because that's when the first NBC-televised game of the year is scheduled to take place.