First Scott Carefoot wondered, and now Doug Smith chimes in on the Curious Case of Roko Ukic. Both make some good points.

The former:

I’m not saying that Ukic is a future All-Star, but he is a compelling prospect and it’s becoming increasingly apparent that Calderon has several significant flaws that he’ll probably never overcome. Plus, Ukic is just plain fun to watch — and if the Raptors are going to lose anyway, I’d at least like to have something enjoyable to watch and write about as the team’s death spiral continues. [...]

This isn’t about tanking — well, not entirely. Jose has a sore hammy so I don’t see the point in continuing to give him so many minutes when there is absolutely no chance of this team making the playoffs. Ideally, the Raptors would just have Calderon sit out the rest of the season. If that’s not going to happen, then Ukic should at least be splitting minutes with him over the remaining 18 games. Let’s see if his amazing performance against the Spurs last month was a fluke.

And the latter:

Finding out whether Ukic can play – and I think he’ll eventually be a solid rotation contributor – was one of the keys to this season and finding him a consistent 12-15 minutes a night was going to do that. [...]

Yes, Anthony Parker has done a good job as the backup point guard most games and it’s a role he might play next season. But that’s only if he comes back and that’s not a certainty. I don’t know how much they’ll want to pay him, I have no idea if some European team might throw enough money at him to send him back over there but the simple fact is Ukic is under contract next year and Parker isn’t.

And as Eric Koreen noted:

After Bosh and Bargnani, the most reliable fourth-quarter performer on this team might be Roko Ukic, the backup point guard.

That probably speaks to the Raptors’ lack of depth as much as it does Roko’s skillset. Nevertheless, isn’t this another compelling reason to give Roko more minutes?

***************

Now, looking at the future:

Sami Asad wants to see Steve Nash in Toronto. Who doesn’t, eh? But with Jose, Roko and Marcus Banks already under contract, how would this work?

Robert Seagal says, Move Banks to the two-guard slot:

Between Ukic and Banks you have a speedy, defensively sound back court which truly [complements] each other. At 6?5, Ukic is a point guard in a shooting guard’s body, while at 6?2 Banks is a shooting guard in the body of a point guard.

By taking the ball out of Banks’ hands on offense and giving it to either Anthony Parker or Roko Ukic, the Raptors could turn Banks’ career around much like Colangelo and D’Antoni did for Boris Diaw in Phoenix.

Sure, that sounds great. However, as mentioned in Banks’ Ultimate Scouting Report, he’s been through this before with the Phoenix Suns. It’s not so much position, but desire – he ain’t got none.

***************

And now for something completely different.

Another nickname – now over a dozen! – for Roko:

Horseface Killa (via Raptors Republic via Hoop Heads North)