Kukoc rips modern-day NBA players

SPLIT, CROATIA (TICKER) —Former Chicago Bulls star Toni Kukoc has branded modern-day NBA players “selfish” and claims he can no longer watch the poor quality of play in the league.

Kukoc won three NBA titles with the Chicago Bulls in the 1990s, and also played for Philadelphia, Atlanta and Milwaukee before retiring prior to the 2006-07 season.

Now back in his native Croatia, the 39-year-old Kukoc wants to take up coaching. He will not, however, be doing it in the NBA.

“The NBA is a league of selfish people and it is no longer a part of my life,” Kukoc said in the Jutarnji list newspaper. “Last year, I watched just three games of the Chicago Bulls.

“I hardly ever go to the United Center because there’s little to see. It irritates me to see the poorness of the game of today and the lack of intelligence on the court.”

Kukoc claimed that players are putting themselves before their teams and, by doing so, are sacrificing their chance of glory.

“There are too many selfish players in basketball nowadays,” he said. “I could also have scored 30 points per game but, how many titles would I have won playing with that style?”

During the late 1980s Kukoc established himself as one of the best players in Europe and he was drafted by the Bulls in 1990. He stayed in Europe three more years before heading to the NBA, where he would win his first title in 1995-96 when the return of Michael Jordan gave the Bulls the edge they needed.

But for all of his brilliance, Kukoc wonders if Jordan’s legacy hasn’t damaged the game.

“Fifteen years ago, a more collective basketball was played,” Kukoc said. “Today, the players believe themselves to be very smart when they say ‘give me the ball to prove to you what I can do.’

“The last team was that of the Detroit Pistons. Afterwards, everyone wanted to imitate Michael Jordan.”