He was part of the Timberwolves' organization, technically, for nearly five years, yet never played a game for them.

He was, for a time, a possible answer to the team's crying need for size up front, yet was traded before he ever had a chance to disappoint the Wolves like so many others.

Zeljko Rebraca finally made it to Target Center on Monday night as a 29-year-old rookie with the Detroit Pistons. He is the 7-foot Yugoslavian forward/ center who became the Wolves' property on draft night in 1994, when they shipped a future second-round pick to Seattle for his rights.

Rebraca (pronounced Reh-brha-tcha) was under contract to KK Partizan Belgrade then and later signed a four-year deal with Benetton Treviso in Italy's pro league, so he never was available to join the Wolves. Finally, they traded his rights to Toronto in January 1999 in the three-way deal that delivered Dean Garrett and Bobby Jackson before the lockout season.