The Tasmanian Slovenian.....

[smahmood26]

Saw this on ESPN Insider.

Beno Udrih has played well enough in Sacramento to earn a nickname. "The Tasmanian Slovenian," so named by Kings television personality and team director of player personnel Jerry Reynolds, has been on quite a tear in the last five games.
It appears Udrih, 25, could be here for years to come. This summer, the Kings will be in a position to offer part or all of their midlevel exception (approximately $6 million) to retain Udrih. The chance the Kings gave him after his 10-minute Minnesota stay, Udrih said, will not be forgotten.

"This is the team that gave me an opportunity to show myself," he said. "I'm really happy here. I like it. We'll see what comes at the end." -- Sacramento Bee

[degenerate_gambler]

i'm glad to see the guy doing well over there for them..

[T Park]

This is the team that gave me an opportunity to show myself,"


Fuck you

[Slomo]

I don't get the Tasmanian part. Does it refer to the Tasmanian devil cartoon character? or something else? I also fail to see the resemblance. He's not energetic, he's not scary, he's not loud.

He can be out of control and sometimes he doesn't shave but still it's a weird nickname.

Anybody knows more?

[timvp]

I don't get the Tasmanian part. Does it refer to the Tasmanian devil cartoon character? or something else? I also fail to see the resemblance. He's not energetic, he's not scary, he's not loud.

He can be out of control and sometimes he doesn't shave but still it's a weird nickname.

Anybody knows more?Maybe that tv guy is just really bad at geography.

:smokin

[Slomo]

Maybe that tv guy is just really bad at geography.

:smokin:lmao

As a Slovenian you get used to people not knowing where the hell you're coming from very early in life, but that would be a new record. If this turns out to be true he deserves some kind of an award :lol

[Spurminator]

It rhymes though...

Genius!

[ShoogarBear]

If you thought Croatian Shaman was bad . . . ploto is going to go apeshit.

[thispego]

dpes beno do a lot of spin moves now or what?

[Spurminator]

I hear he's very hairy.

[Spurs Brazil]

MLE for Beno is a joke

[CubanMustGo]

MLE for Beno is a joke

Yeah, just THINK about how many tacos he could buy.

[cnyc3]

From what i read, its because of the way he "spins in the lane". Thats how they got the tasmanian part

[Galileo]

I don't get the Tasmanian part. Does it refer to the Tasmanian devil cartoon character? or something else? I also fail to see the resemblance. He's not energetic, he's not scary, he's not loud.

He can be out of control and sometimes he doesn't shave but still it's a weird nickname.

Anybody knows more?

If you stand in Sacramento, and drill a hole through the center of the earth, you will end up in Tasmania.

Hence, the Tasmanian Slovenian.

[Holt's Cat]

MLE for Beno is a joke

No kidding. He's probably going to call it a career after this season and the Kings will be stuck with a horrid contract for the next 5 years.

[hsxvvd]

Well he does have a map of tassie!

http://www.koalanet.com.au/australian-slang.html#M

Mappa Tassie : map of Tasmania - a woman's pubic area

[Rynospursfan]

Maybe that tv guy is just really bad at geography.

:smokin


More on that. (http://youtube.com/watch?v=lj3iNxZ8Dww)

[Mr. Body]

Sacramento must be good at tongue twisters.

Tasmanian = an island unto himself with lots of weird critters living inside

[E20]

I can't believe people get paid over a million dollars playhing a childrens schoolyard game. Especially players like Beno. :pctoss

[K-State Spur]

He's found his niche, more power to him.

I still don't think there's a chance in hell that he's the starting PG for a playoff team (well, maybe in the East).

[ploto]

Here's the whole article- I had posted it in the other thread:

Udrih has case for long stay
The guard shines in Sacramento after Minnesota cut him quickly.


It was only 10 minutes. And as Beno Udrih saw it, it wasn't a pleasant 10 minutes.

Before the point guard became the rising star in Sacramento, signing with the Kings on Nov. 1 as an emergency fill-in for the injured Mike Bibby and beginning his career anew four years in, he was a member of the Minnesota Timberwolves.

A welcome trade from San Antonio had landed him with the T-wolves on Oct. 29, but just as Udrih prepared to stay afloat in the Land of 10,000 Lakes, he was cut. Set free, really.

"My agent told me I'd have to fly to Minnesota the next day," said Udrih, who signed a one-year contract with the Kings for the league minimum of $826,046. "He had called the general manager or somebody (in the Timberwolves' front office), and he said, 'Yeah, we want to see what Beno is going to bring to the table.'

"And then, 10 minutes later, they waived me."

Udrih sought a setting in which playing time would be plentiful and competition minimal, and Minnesota obviously was not it. At point guard, the T-wolves had the well-respected Randy Foye, the seventh overall draft pick in 2006; Sebastian Telfair, the 13th overall pick of the 2004 draft with plenty to play for; and established veteran reserve Marko Jaric.

Udrih, who spent so much of his first three seasons dreaming of big minutes with the Spurs while playing behind Tony Parker and, in the later years, Jacque Vaughn, was concerned.

"They had a bunch of guards … so I was really not sure about going (to Minnesota)," Udrih said. "I was not happy about that trade. But still, it was a young team, and I just told myself that they were going to need some players. That's what I was telling myself.

"Ten minutes later, my agent says they waived me."

The outcome, of course, has fallen largely in Udrih's favor. Minnesota enters Arco Arena tonight with the second-worst record in the NBA (12-48), unable to know how different things would have been if Udrih had stayed.

The day after the Timberwolves waived Udrih, they learned Foye had a stress reaction in his kneecap. Foye missed the season's first 43 games. Ironically, Timberwolves vice president of basketball operations Kevin McHale told Minnesota media that his questions about Udrih's durability were a factor in his decision to cut the guard.

"When you do your investigation, I guess the biggest concern I had was that (San Antonio) really felt that, injury-wise, he had been hurt quite a bit," McHale said. "You're (thinking), Well, we've got unknowns right now (on the roster). I don't think we were in a situation where we were willing to bring in two unknowns. We already had Sebastian here."

Meanwhile, Udrih has played well enough in Sacramento to earn a nickname. "The Tasmanian Slovenian," so named by Kings television personality and team director of player personnel Jerry Reynolds, has been on quite a tear in the last five games.

In that span, Udrih has averaged 22.6 points and 5.8 assists while shooting 56.5 percent from the field and continuing to prove himself. When the Kings traded Bibby to Atlanta on Feb. 16, Udrih's emergence was no small part of the equation.

His impending free agency this summer meant the Kings would most certainly lose Udrih if Bibby had remained, and Udrih's early play had intrigued the Kings' front office more than enough to warrant a closer look at the situation.

And it appears Udrih, 25, could be here for years to come. This summer, the Kings will be in a position to offer part or all of their midlevel exception (approximately $6 million) to retain Udrih. The chance the Kings gave him after his 10-minute Minnesota stay, Udrih said, will not be forgotten.

"This is the team that gave me an opportunity to show myself," he said. "I'm really happy here. I like it. We'll see what comes at the end."

http://www.sacbee.com/100/story/767573.html

[angel_luv]

Maybe that tv guy is just really bad at geography.

:smokin



:lol

Maybe it is the way Beno rushes in whirlwind fashion from one great party to the next.

Sorry Beno. :)

I am glad to hear Beno is doing well and is happy. Good news.

[ChumpDumper]

I'm glad he's doing well.


Somewhere else.

That said, if the Kings give him the entire MLE and lose Artest without compensation, they are completely screwed.

[RuffnReadyOzStyle]

I can't believe people get paid over a million dollars playhing a childrens schoolyard game. Especially players like Beno. :pctoss

You'd rather all the money go to the owners of the teams, not the players without whom there'd be no NBA?

As for Beno, yup, he'll land the MLE, as I predicted in the other Beno thread. Hope he then continues to earn it.

[Harry Callahan]

As long as the Kings lose enough games to where they don't threaten to make the playoffs anytime in the next few years, Beno will be in the right place for him. No pressure and a big fat check.

I'm sorry, his whining, gutless display after his rookie season in SA still makes me want to throw up. Maybe if he tried a little harder a couple of years ago instead of saying the Spurs are looking to stick it to Euro players (BTW Tony Parker is from France) he could have helped the Spurs win the 06 title as well. Pop had to try to use the corpse of Nick Van Exel instead. Against Dallas, Van Exel was awful and Beno was too sad and in the dumps to make a positive impact on that very close seriies.

Beno in my mind is not a true competitor and will never be a key component of a championship contender. He should have gotten over Lindsay Hunter turning him inside out at some point in the 05 and 06 seasons. He never did.