Utah Jazz Euro draft picks still have work to do

BOSTON — Back from a European scouting trip, Jazz general manager Kevin O'Connor caught up with the team Monday in Boston — and brought back a report on Utah's two second-round draft choices from last June, 7-foot-1 Croatian center Ante Tomic and 6-8 forward Tadija Dragicevic.

Neither, it seems, is likely to be playing in the NBA next season, so don't expect to see either any time soon.

But Tomic, for one, harbors hopes.

And if he's to have a shot, it's abundantly clear where he should consider spending more time.

That would be a weight room.

"He wants to play, some day," O'Connor said. "That's what we talked about, and ... that's something he'd like to do."

But, O'Connor added, "It's best served to say he needs to get stronger to play in the NBA. We talked about that, and we talked about what he was doing to do that."

O'Connor described Tomic, who weighs about 235 pounds, as a high-post big man whose best attribute is his passing — and who is not a shot-blocker.

The Jazz GM watched his Zagreb CO team fall 84-80 to Dragicevic's club, BC Red Star, over the weekend in Zagreb, Croatia.

Tomic had seven points and nine rebounds; Dragicevic, bothered by a knee injury, scored 11.

One of Dragicevic's American teammates, by the way, is guard Andre Owens, who played 23 games for the Jazz during the 2005-06 season. The other is Lawrence Roberts, another former NBA player.

HE SAID IT: Out for a 14th straight game with a knee injury when the Jazz lost to Boston on Monday night, Jazz All-Star Carlos Boozer offered this assessment of Utah, Denver and Portland in the NBA's Northwest Division: "I think we'll be battling throughout the season. But I think when we do get healthy and we're at full strength, I think we'll run away with it."

HE'S OK: Celtics All-Star Paul Pierce exited in Monday's final minute with a knee injury, but afterward suggested he should be OK.

"Little tender," Pierce said. "The knee kind of buckled ... I iced it in the back, and I'm able to put weight on it, so I should be alright."

IN THE HOUSE: Olympic gold-medal swimmer Michael Phelps was on hand, making an appearance on behalf of a sandwich-shop sponsor.

"He mentioned to us he never has to pay for another Subway," Pierce said.

HE SAID IT II: Celtics coach Doc Rivers, on the Jazz: "They're a scrappy team ... They just reach and grab, and that's why they're good."

MISC.: Shooting guard Ronnie Brewer returned to the Jazz starting lineup as expect Monday, two nights after missing Saturday's game at Orlando because he was attending the funeral of a maternal aunt. He shot just 4-of-10 from the field and had only one rebound in 30 minutes ... With Brewer back, reserve center Kyrylo Fesenko was inactive Monday ... Jazz reserve big man Jarron Collins, out until at least early January because of an elbow injury sustained in an offseason golf-cart accident, did not make the trip.

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E-mail: tbuckley@desnews.com