Saturday, Oct. 25, 2008 | 1:23 p.m.
UNLV guard Steve “Chopper” Jones greeted Kevin Kruger with a solid handshake and thanked him for coming to Saturday morning’s basketball practice.
Todd Hanni and the rest of Jones’s teammates followed suit, treating Kruger as if he were a luminary and they were blessed to be in his presence.
UNLV basketball players almost always circle around the Thomas & Mack Center after practice, shaking the hands of all who come to watch them train and run through drills.
Saturday morning was no exception, with a twist.
About 50 coaches, mostly from the high school ranks, watched the session before having lunch, as part of a clinic conducted by Rebels coach Lon Kruger.
Kevin Kruger, the coach’s son who led the Rebels to the Sweet 16 two seasons ago, was in the house, fresh off a tryout stint, which included a trip to China, with the Milwaukee Bucks.
Jones and Hanni were being dramatic because both played with Kruger at Arizona State. Kruger wound up transferring to UNLV and helped put the program back on the national map.
His Milwaukee tryout didn’t go so well, but both Krugers were aware that the Bucks were loaded at guard with players under contract.
“It’s good to be on their radar,” said Kevin Kruger, 25. “Pretty much I did what I planned.”
Kruger is pondering some options, and teams in the Netherlands, Germany and Australia are interested in him.
He played in the NBA Development League last season in Utah, and he said D-League salaries will increase this season. If he can make as much in the U.S. as he could abroad, he said he’d like to play in America.
Playing overseas, however, especially in Europe, can be lucrative – six-figure salaries, with an apartment and vehicle provided by the team, and that team usually pays a player’s taxes.
“Yeah, that’s probably the way I’ll go,” he said. “We’re feeling out some offers. If there’s a good offer in Europe, I’ll take it.
“It’s time to start making some money and realizing some long-term goals instead of short-term goals, trying to make the NBA.”
Most of the foreign teams he’s heard from want a commitment first.
“Then they want to work out the logistics later,” Kruger said. “I’m not really ready to do that. I want to know what I’m getting into before I go over there.”
Watching Saturday morning’s practice, he marveled over the depth on this season’s Rebels.
“Beas (Hamga), Darris (Santee) and Brice (Massamba) are all doing a little better than people expected, I think,” Kruger said. “That’s a nice battle at center. I think they’ve got a lot of pieces. They’re deep.
“This is probably the deepest team (Lon Kruger has) ever had in his career. They have a lot of athletes.”
Kevin Kruger predicted great things for UNLV in the NCAA tournament with a little luck and health.
“Hopefully they get a little more respectable seed than they’ve gotten the last couple seasons,” he said. “They’ve kind of gotten jobbed in the seeding. But they could be in the driver’s seat for a good seed.”
Finally, Kruger said neither he nor his father have ever talked, however lightly, about him one day coaching UNLV with his father being the Rebels’ athletic director.
“No,” he said. “None. The word ‘A.D.’ has never come out of his mouth to me. I’ve never heard him say that.”
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