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Written by Matthew Maurer
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...but who the hell is Ivan Renko?
Once upon a time back in 1993, a 6-foot-8, 230 pound power forward from Yugoslavia (Serbia) entered the recruiting world off the lips of Indiana’s head coach Bobby Knight. Knight brought media attention to the player claiming that he committed to play for Indiana.
Knight's story was that while attending a coach's clinic in Europe, he was made aware of the player. His account of Renko's living conditions in the war torn country created a high buzz. But what happened next is one of the greatest April Fools jokes of in all of sports. Various experts responded by ranking Renko and publishing scouting reports. One even proclaimed him to be a white Larry Johnson, which today is like saying he's the next Kevin Durant. Another expert claimed to spot the strapping power forward on Indiana’s campus. But how could this be when Knight made the whole thing up?
Renko is imaginary. He never existed. Knight concocted him to expose the so-called recruiting experts he doubted were providing real scouting information.
This is the backdrop to the Ivan Renko Awards. It's given to the players who seemingly appeared out of nowhere with tremendous hype and acclaim through various media outlets. But like every award, there are stipulations.
- Player must be drafted or declared for the draft.
- Player must have some pre-draft hype or be a huge surprise pick.
- Player must be a lemon in Renko fashion.
The draft nerd (that's me) lists the following Renko Awards from 2000 onward, with 2010 to be determined:
2000: Schea Cotton – Introduced to the world as a 10th grader through a full feature in Sports Illustrated. This would-be LeBron James of the 90’s found himself in decline when his manly physique and skills began to peak, as his peers caught up. Cotton was once projected as a potential NBA all-star, but never made it to the league.
2001: Kedrick Brown – Brown is the highest a juco player has gone and may be the reason along with Alek Radojevic why no other Juco players have been taken as high.
2002: Peter Fehse – The Seattle Supersonics admitted they didn’t even scout him. One would think an NBA draftee would have a productive career overseas, but Fehse has been anything but a star on any level, except the third division Germany league he was drafted from.
2003: Maciej Lampe – He was part of the international craze that saw 20 players drafted from international leagues. Lampe is a great player overseas, but lacks athleticism and all around skills. He is smart and fundamentally sound player for an overseas career player, but what NBA team drafted him for that?
2004: Ivan Chiriaev – Anytime a Canadian high school player heads for the pros, a scout's eyes will be watching. This relocated Russian bombed in the Canada all-star game and made no friends with his infamous interview line while announcing his candidacy for the NBA draft., “The NBA wants and needs Ivan Chiriaev.” He has yet to play in the NBA and his overseas career is extremely suspect.
2005: Orien Greene - What do you do when you're not getting playing time for a great team in a tough conference? You apparently transfer to a lower division and create a niche for yourself. At 6-4, Greene’s specialty was his self-proclaimed point guard status. With the love of a few media outlets, the Boston Celtics bit. But it turns out they ordered up the wrong meal. A greasy hamburger of a player can't be transformed into a juicy steak.
2006: Ejike Ugboaja – "Who in the world!" basically sums up my thoughts on draft night. I obtained his profile stats through some detective work. He has yet to play in the NBA and I doubt he ever will.
2007: Milovan Rakovic – I had the opportunity to see this guy play several times, and each time I came away with the thought that Rakovic is a career overseas player who will play in a decent league, but not with a premier overseas team. Who is his genius agent? He's definitely earned more than his standard commission. Give that man double.
2008: John Riek – While not an unknown on the prep level nationally, few had heard of him. First, everyone thought he was just a sophomore. Second, he only played a handful of games after spending his initial time in the Sudan. Then suddenly, a few (suspect) legal documents surfaced to claim Riek was a post graduate 19-year old. The more answers that were given, the more questions arose; from his real age to how good of a player can he really be.
2009: Taylor Griffin – No offense, but no one on draft night (except maybe his brother, Blake, and their parents) felt that both brothers would be drafted. It smells like an Agent favor, but thanks to his brother, Taylor had one of the best sports agencies backing him up.
Congratulations to the Ivan Renko clones. So who's next? As if there won't be one for 2010? Someone is going to take a dud for no good reason. TDR will be here with draft day giggles to hand out the Award.
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