October 22, 2001

After the high hopes of the summer league and pre-draft workouts, Vladimir Radmanovic has yet to capture the imaginations of fans inside Key Arena.

That's should come as news to no one as the Seattle media, coaching staff, and vast majority of Sonic fans understand about Radmanovic what is obvious: He is a 20-year-old rookie, who has a double task of adjusting to the NBA and a new country, in addition to adjusting to a new system, new teammates, and new rules.

He went from being a marquee player in Yugoslavia to complimentary player in America.

During that adjustment period, most do not expect much immediately by way of box scores, particularly when observing the trend of past young European talents, such as Sacramento's Predrag Stojakovic and Dallas's Dirk Nowitzki.

Nonetheless, not everyone shares this seemingly logical perception.

Someone expected so much more out of Radmanovic, even early on; someone that knows him better then anyone else, someone he sees everyday, someone he can't escape.

Put quite simply, Vladimir Radmanovic's toughest critic is Vladimir Radmanovic.

It has become evident that he is putting terrible pressure on himself to succeed early, and has not been able to appease his own expectations.

Radmanovic, whose NBA experience consists of only about an hour and a half of play, showed his feeling of disappointment last week when he arrived to practice with a different look.

Radmanovic, to some did the unthinkable. He shaved off his chic messy black locks, his staple to date, going from McMillan's GQ model-of-the-year hopeful, to a Jason Williams look-a-like.

Radmanovic alluded to it being partly responsible for his difficulty shooting the ball early on, and came to McMillan to apologize for his self-described "poor" play.

(Whatever will the girls think?)

Radmanovic is no pretty boy and in his defense, this isn't the first time he has shaved off his head. He sported the look for some time while playing in Yugoslavia where his legends originate.

However noble, McMillan insisted he is not down on Radmanovic and realizes it'll take time for him to significantly contribute. Following the reassurance, Radmanovic's shot attempts have noticeably taken a self-imposed decline.

McMillan feels it's too early to place pressure on Radmanovic and particularly wants to avoid placing the burden of replacing Ruben Patterson on Radmanovic's shoulders.

In any event, the shot decline largely appears voluntary, as Radmanovic tries to let the game come naturally to him instead of, as McMillan says, being in such a rush.

All indications suggest we shouldn't be surprised if it continues and stretches into the regular season. Hopefully, Radmanovic's pacing of himself will manifest itself in majestic ways in the future.

On a darker note, there still exists some skepticism over the drafting of Radmanovic, mostly resonating from the disappointing results of the first coming of Vladimir, center/small forward, Vladimir Stepania.

Sonics majority owner Howard Shultz has jokingly said in the past, "this is a different Vladimir" and the comparisons, they believe are more along the lines of Predrag Stojakovic and former Sonic Detlef Schrempf.

The coaching staff overall is very high on Radmanovic, with Dwayne Casey recently describing him as, "a fearless ... Stojakovic clone".

As with most 20-year-olds, and especially those from Europe, the word on Radmanovic is going to be patience. He is an NBA infant getting his first taste of the NBA competition, while still learning the offense, the English language and the tendencies of his teammates. To date, only six preseason games in, Radmanovic has yet to have his break out game, but like Stojakovic and Nowitzki, Radmanovic's time will come.

All indications point to him being more then ready when it does.

But despite his early disappointment, one has to admire the overall confidence in his demeanor.

Quoting Radmanovic, "Next season, I expect to be one of the most important players; this season, I just need to find my place. Whatever coach wants from me, I'll do it."

Right now, that's all we can ask.

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