Clipper Comes In From Cold

With bloodlines that run deep in the game, Yaroslav Korolev probably was destined to be a basketball player.

His father, Igor, was a professional player and now coaches the junior national men’s team in Russia. His mother, Svetlana, played for the national junior women’s team. And his sister, Julie, plays for the national women’s team.

“I didn’t have a choice, you know,” Korolev said Wednesday. “When I was in school, 13-14 [years old], we sometimes start talking, ‘Why are you in basketball?’ They ask me and I’m like, ‘Oh, yeah, why am I in basketball?’ ”

Hand on chin, his head cocked quizzically, he smiled.

“I didn’t have choice, for real,” he continued. “That’s why.”

Not that he was complaining.

No other Korolev ever reached the heights in basketball that the youngest in the family has scaled. His parents looked on and beamed Wednesday as Korolev, the Clippers’ first-round pick in Tuesday night’s NBA draft, was introduced to the Los Angeles media at a Staples Center news conference.

No other Russian has been taken higher in the draft than the callow Korolev, who was the 12th pick even though he turned 18 only last month.

“It’s very exciting to be in Los Angeles,” he said. “I like very much Los Angeles, for real. It’s warm here. I’m tired of the cold in Russia.”

Korolev, though, might have to endure one more Russian winter.

The Clippers reiterated that they might keep him overseas for another year of seasoning before bringing him on board. That determination won’t be made, they said, until after Korolev plays in the junior European championships next month and then is tested in workouts against other Clipper players in August.

By that time, the Clipper roster should be more fully formed, another factor in determining where Korolev will play next season.

On Wednesday, Korolev was tickled just to have been drafted.

Neither he nor his agent, Marc Fleisher, considered that a real possibility last winter, when Korolev averaged 15.9 points and 5.8 rebounds for CSKA Moscow’s junior team, the same club that sent Andrei Kirilenko to the NBA.

“Because of his age, we never really focused on the NBA as an option for him this early until he really had his coming-out party in Moscow,” said Fleisher, referring to a national junior tournament last month in the Russian capital won by Korolev’s team and attended by representatives of a number of NBA teams, among them Clipper Coach Mike Dunleavy.

“Half the NBA was coming up to me and saying, ‘This is the best kid we’ve seen in Europe in a long time.’ So, we took a serious look at whether he should consider the draft or not, and you’ve seen the result.”

Said Korolev: “I thought for real it can be. When you look at the European stars that come here to NBA and they are now NBA champions like Manu Ginobili [an Argentine who played in Italy], you just look and you think you want to be like them. You just think, ‘He’s a [foreign] player like you, why not?’

“You’ve got to make your dream.”

Korolev, a 6-foot-9 small forward, was a competitive swimmer as a youngster, living four years in Costa Rica (and learning English and Spanish) while his father played and coached there. But basketball was his calling.

Of playing for his father, he said, “It helps that he always pays more attention to me. He tells me everything from his heart, you know, what he really thinks. ...

“He tells me, ‘Stride ahead.’ He can punish me, he can do anything. Of course, sometimes he makes me mad. But when you’re mad, you play better. He knows me like a psychologist, so that’s good.”

Like his English, Korolev’s game could use polishing.

“I don’t think I am so good [on] defense,” he said. “I’ve got to work on defense very much. And I’ve got to work my body because it’s different, the American game. ... Here, it’s more athletic, more strong.”

The Clippers, though, are excited about his potential.

“His IQ for the game is tremendous,” Dunleavy said. “He’s a very unselfish, talented player, sees the floor. ...

“He’s got a great all-around game and if we get lucky and the guy grows any more the next couple years. ... I know my son at this age grew another three inches. So, you never know. That skill level on somebody that size could be tremendous.”

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Sofoklis Schortsanitis, a 6-10 forward-center who was the Clippers’ second-round draft pick two years ago, will play for the club’s summer league team next month in Las Vegas after playing the last two seasons in Greece. ... The Clippers waived backup center Mamadou N’Diaye. ... The free-agent negotiating period starts tonight at 9 and Dunleavy said, “We’ll be working the phones.” The Clippers are in the market for a shooting guard to replace Kerry Kittles.

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Many picks, few sticks

The Clippers have had a history of not holding on to their first-round draft picks. Their selections the last 10 years and outcome:

YEAR; No.; PLAYER; WHAT HAPPENED

2004; 4; Shaun Livingston; Guard missed most of season because of injuries.

2003; 6; Chris Kaman; Center averaged 7.4 points, 6.1 rebounds in two seasons.

2002; 8; Chris Wilcox; Forward/center has 7.0 career scoring average; one year left on contract.

; 12; Melvin Ely; Forward traded with Eddie House to Charlotte for second-round picks in 2005, 2006.

2001; 2; Tyson Chandler; Traded on draft day with Brian Skinner to Chicago for Elton Brand

2000; 3; Darius Miles; Forward traded to Cleveland with Harold Jamison for Andre Miller, Bryant Stith in 2002.

; 18; Quentin Richardson; Forward signed as free agent by Phoenix in 2004.

1999; 4; Lamar Odom; Forward signed as restricted free agent by Miami in 2003.

1998; 1; Michael Olowokandi; Center signed as free agent by Minnesota in 2003.

; 22; Brian Skinner; Forward traded with Tyson Chandler in 2001 to Chicago for Elton Brand.

1997; 14; Maurice Taylor; Forward signed as free agent by Houston in 2000.

1996; 7; Lorenzen Wright; Forward traded to Atlanta in 1999 for two first-round picks.

1995; 2; Antonio McDyess; Traded on draft day with Randy Woods to Denver for Rodney Rogers, Brent Barry.