University of Tennessee Athletics
Haislip, Yarbrough Ink NBA Contracts
July 31, 2002 | Men's Basketball
July 31, 2002
Tennessee's two NBA Draft choices signed with their respective teams today for the upcoming basketball season.
Marcus Haislip, who was the Milwaukee's first-round selection with the 13th overall pick, inked with the Bucks, while Vincent Yarbrough signed with the Denver Nuggets, who picked him in the second round of last month's NBA Draft.
Haislip, under the NBA's rookie salary scale, will receive within 20 percent of $3.87 million over three seasons.
Haislip averaged 16.7 points and 6.7 rebounds last season as a junior at Tennessee. He is currently playing for the Bucks' summer league team in Boston.
"Marcus is already doing the things he needs to do to get better,'' general manager Ernie Grunfeld said. "He's playing hard, he's listening to the coaches, and he's learning to compete at the NBA level. We're very pleased with his progress.''
Yarbrough's signing was one of three rookie contracts the Nuggets completed today.
Predrag Savovic, Lorinza Harrington, along with Yarbrough each inked deals, Nuggets general manager Kiki Vandeweghe announced Thursday.
Terms of the deals were not disclosed.
Yarbrough, a second-round pick in the 2002 NBA draft and the 33rd selection overall, averaged 18.1 points per game as a senior at the University of Tennessee last season. The 6-foot-7, 210-pound forward left Tennessee as the school's all-time leader in steals (211). Savovic, 26, averaged 20.3 points per game at the University of Hawaii last season. The 6-foot-6, 225 pound guard is Hawaii's all-time leader in 3-point field goals.
Harrington, also a guard, averaged 14.8 points per game while shooting .515 from the field as a senior at Wingate University last season. The 6-4, 180-pounder also averaged 6.4 assists per game and 5.9 rebounds per game.
