Utah Jazz draftee Ante Tomic making name for himself overseas

SALT LAKE CITY — He is 7-foot-2.

He is playing to rave reviews in Europe.

He is Jazz NBA property, and he's being compared to Los Angeles Lakers star Pau Gasol.

But if you think Ante Tomic can fill in for Mehmet Okur should the Jazz's starting center miss the start of next season, think again.

Earlier this year, Tomic — a second-round Jazz draft choice in 2008, No. 44 overall — signed a 3 1/2-year contract with Real Madrid of the Spanish ACB League.

According to multiple NBA sources, the deal does not include an NBA buyout clause prior to the 2010-11 NBA season — meaning the earliest Tomic can get out of the contract and join the Jazz would be in the summer of 2011, if both sides were so inclined.

So so much for the notion of Tomic stepping in for Okur, who on Tuesday underwent surgery to repair the Achilles tendon he ruptured in last Saturday's Game 1 of Utah's first-round NBA playoff series with Denver.

It's possible Okur will miss the start of next season, leaving a void at the center spot where he usually starts.

The Jazz do have an apparent prospect-in-the-making, though, in 23-year-old Tomic, a Croatian who in January jumped from KK Zagreb of the Adriatic League to Real Madrid.

Tomic — who'll also play for Croatia at the upcoming FIBA World Championships in Turkey — averaged 11 points in his first 11 ACB games, and scored 22 in a recent Euroleague playoff win over Barcelona.

According to a FIBA.com report this week, "Tomic has been so prolific since his arrival ... he's been likened in Spain to their national team star, 2006 FIBA World Championship MVP Pau Gasol" — but it's "not a comparison he welcomes."

"I don't like that because he is a great player, probably the best in Europe," Tomic said of Gasol, according to the website. "I only hope that one day they can compare me to him, but not yet."

The move to Spain, Tomic added, has been "hard because this is the first time I have left home and my country."

Croatia and Team USA open FIBA-world play in the same preliminary-round group.

KIRILENKO UPDATE: Injured Jazz small forward Andrei Kirilenko got up a few shots during shootaround Friday, and still is aiming at a possible return next Friday should there be a Game 6 in the Jazz-Nuggets series.