Young Kukoc's time has come at Highland Park

Highland Park's Marin Kukoc, son of former Chicago Bull Tony Kukoc, gets ready with the Giants.
(Josh Peckler/News-Sun)

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His dad is former Chicago Bulls standout and NBA Sixth Man of the Year, Toni Kukoc, who played on three championship teams.

There, that's out of the way.

"Sometimes it does get to be kind of obnoxious," said Highland Park junior-to-be Marin Kukoc, a soft-spoken youngster who coach Paul Harris refers to as "humble...and a great kid."

Kukoc logged some varsity minutes last season as a sophomore, coming off the bench for a senior-led Giants team that grabbed a share of the Central Suburban League North Division title and won a regional championship, finishing 22-6.

He will be asked to make a giant leap for his team this coming season, going from a role player to team leader. At 6-foot-5, he'll be the tallest player on the team. A ball-handling big man was just what Marin's father was, and it appears he has that same type of ability.

"We need him to score," said Harris. "He's the most skilled offensive player we have. He's very skilled handling the ball and he's comfortable on the perimeter. He also has the ability to take advantage of smaller guys who might guard him inside. We're counting on him to score, rebound and defend.

"He's growing so fast in both strength and assertiveness. But we don't want him to fall prey to expectations people might have for him because of who his father is. People want to knock people in his position down. We have confidence in him."

He came of age as a sophomore against the humongous squad from Lake Forest Academy, which featured two 7-footers, a 6-9 player and a guard who was Kukoc's size. Harris needed added height, and Kukoc responded with his best game of the year, rebounding and scoring among the trees as the Giants beat LFA 50-39.

His basketball IQ is constantly reinforced by the lessons from his father.

"He's helped me a lot," said Kukoc, who also gets one-on-one experience from former Valparaiso player Marko Punda, his father's cousin.

"During a game, he's (Toni) always yelling something to me," said Kukoc. "And he's not shy about helping our players with tips following a game."

"He's going to have a lot more stuff to yell about this coming year."