With the 25th pick in the 2007 NBA draft, the Utah Jazz select…
Morris Almond, from Rice University.
Jazz fans got the man they wanted here (as evidenced by the fans at the ESA). Almond is a 6-6, 215 lb. shooting guard who shot over 45 percent on 3-pointers last season, while averaging 26 points a game for the Owls in Conference USA (a somewhat weak conference except for Memphis). According to Sloan, Almond’s 3-point shooting is his “one great skill”, which has pundits like Gordon Monson at the Tribune worried. But outside shooting was exactly what the Jazz lacked in these recent playoffs — someone to spread the floor so teams couldn’t pack the lane against Boozer’s low-post game and Williams on dribble penetration. If Almond is at all an improvement over Gordan Giricek (and really, how could he NOT be), he’ll be worth the pick.
(I will say, Monson makes a decent point, and Brad Rock says similar things in today’s Deseret News — the Jazz have drafted so many shooting guards recently, what makes anyone think this one will be different? Because he’s saying all the right things? Because he sucks up to Matt Harpring? Big deal. Any rookie who gets drafted by the Jazz knows he’s got to pay lip service to Mr. John Deere. Ronnie Brewer and C.J. Miles have said all the right things, too, and they haven’t gotten the burn we think they deserve, even though C.J. and Dee Brown have been given qualifying offers to stay with the Jazz. Couple this with the very likely possibility that the Jazz will make a run at Morris Peterson of the Raptors, who would instantly be the starter if he came to Utah, and things are getting awfully crowded at the 2-spot. Will Almond get a chance to prove himself? We can only hope.)
In the second round, the Jazz took Herbert Hill from Providence with the 55th pick. ESPN’s John Hollinger liked him, but apparently Kevin O’Connor didn’t, because he swapped Hill to Philadelphia for…
Kyrylo Fesenko, from Ukraine.
I know that half of you are saying, “Who?” and the other half of you are remembering that one Seinfeld episode where Kramer plays Risk on the subway. (”Ukraine not weak!”) But really, this is an interesting move. Fesenko was considered borderline first-round talent. In fact, the Pistons liked him so much, they tried to keep him from working out with other teams, hoping that no one would notice him. But “Fess,” as he likes to be called, wasn’t born yesterday, and scheduled several other workouts, including one in the SLC. And while Jazz staff didn’t get to see him match his 6-foot-11, 20-year-old self against other low-post players, he apparently made enough of an impression for the Jazz to trade for him. For his part, he said he liked Salt Lake City, called the atmosphere “healthy” (wait till a winter inversion, brother) and seemed excited about the prospect of playing here.
Fesenko has quite a lot of talent and athleticism, raw as he may be. But if the language issues and cultural difficulties of the NBA are still plaguing Andrei Kirilenko (as his wife Masha suggested during the Houston series), heaven help poor Kyrylo. This from the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, via Detroit Bad Boys:
About halfway through the 70-minute workout, Bucks assistant coach Brian James told the players he wanted them to “put the ball on the floor,” meaning take a dribble before shooting. Fesenko was first up, and after taking a pass near the baseline, he softly set the ball on the court and walked away looking puzzled as if to say, “Why did you want me to do that?”
After pausing to take in what happened, the coaches, including head coach Terry Stott and Dave Babcock, the Bucks’ director of player personnel, broke into laughter.
“Well, he’s coachable,” James said as another coach explained to Fesenko what the jargon meant. “He did exactly what I told him to do.”
Fesenko smiled about it but did not seem to think it was as amusing.
“I just don’t understand,” he said in rough English. “He told me to put it down. I don’t know what it means.”
The last drill of the workout was a two-on-two, full-court game. When it was announced that the next team to score won, Fesenko, who was taking out the ball under the far baseline, threw it off Grier’s backside, hopped back inbounds and raced down for the dunk.
The other players, including teammate Bennerman, watched in confusion. The coaches threw up their hands, laughed again and counted the point as Fesenko walked back as if nothing was unusual.
No no no no no no no no. Where Terry Stott laughs, Jerry Sloan will spew profanity. Ugh. Somebody get that boy an English tutor.
(The thought does occur, though, maybe getting another guy who speaks Russian will cheer AK-47 up a bit.)
It remains to be seen whether the Jazz will bring Fesenko straight over, or stash him with his Ukrainian team for another year or two and let him develop. We’ll keep you updated.
At the least, the new draft picks should make for an interesting Rocky Mountain Revue this summer. Can’t wait to see them on the court.
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Layton Shumway is the copy chief for BYU’s Daily Universe. You can reach him at lss83@byu.net.
With the NBA draft looming tonight, I thought I’d pump out a quick mock draft (originally published today in BYU’s Daily Universe). It’s sometimes hard to do these, since you can’t account for trades or other decisions, but this is my best shot. Comment below as the draft continues tonight!
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Saturday night I saw my good friend Ben at the Utah Arts Festival. It was a lovely gathering of expensive art, loud music and stinky hippies. Tons of fun. Of course, instead of talking art, Ben and I jumped right into talk of the draft… he was pimping the pickup of Morris Almond. Almond is a nice player, but I just feel that the Jazz are going to try to move AK, and I told Ben that the Jazz should look to Boston to make a deal for the 5th pick.
And then we get this today from the Deseret News.
HE WROTE IT: Peter May, in Sunday’s Boston Globe: “There is someone out there the Celtics might be able to obtain, a former All-Star who would give them a dimension they don’t have and might not have any objection (like Minnesota’s Kevin Garnett) to playing in Boston: Andrei Kirilenko of the Jazz.
“He was an All-Star in 2004. He would give the Celtics something they lack — a defensive presence and shot-blocker — and you’d have to think the Jazz would at least entertain a proposal in which Boston surrendered the fifth pick (Thursday), Theo Ratliff and his wonderful, expiring contract, and a couple young-uns. Boston might have to take back a bad contract (Matt Harpring or Derek Fisher) to make it balance, but not necessarily.
“If the Celtics sent Gerald Green, (Delonte) West, the fifth pick, and Ratliff for Kirilenko and (Utah’s) 25th pick, it’d work. You could also insert (Al) Jefferson and (Sebastian) Telfair into the mix instead of Green and West, but … I’d think long and hard about dealing Jefferson.
“Why would Utah do it? Well, for starters, the Jazz would be happy to get rid of the Kirilenko contract … There seems to be some concern as to whether Kirilenko and (coach Jerry) Sloan can coexist. Utah also has to re-sign Deron Williams in the next year or two and, given the way he’s going, he’s going to demand big bucks.
“The Celtics would be absorbing a big contract, but not nearly as big as Garnett’s or (Jermaine) O’Neal’s. They’d also avoid having to re-sign a pair of their kids, which would account for untold millions … Once they make that trade, I would do what I could to turn the 25th pick into former Boston College center Sean Williams (by moving up via another trade). With him and Kirilenko on board, the Celtics could amp up their defense considerably and not lose a whole lot of offense. And with Kirilenko in the East, he could be an All-Star once again.”
Are you kidding me? If the Jazz could make that deal they have to jump on it. The 5th pick could be huge. I personally think that Corey Brewer has the type of game and game time experience to step in and play meaningful minutes for the Jazz right away. Delonte West is a great combo guard that can hit the three and lock up the opposing point guard, Gerald Green is an incredible athlete that can be the finisher on the break that the Jazz lack and has shown the ability to hit the three. Not to mention that Theo Ratliff has declared that he will be healthy next year. If he can even give the Jazz 15 minutes a night of solid defense in the post, the Jazz would fill all of their gaps in one move and save a load of cash next year.
Kevin O’Conner, if this deal is on the table take it. Don’t hesitate, fill out the papers and make a move.
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Of course, I would still be stoked if the Jazz could somehow pull off a trade for Rashard Lewis.
That trade would be unbelievable, not only for the Jazz but for the Sonics. With a core of AK, Kevin Durant and Ray Allen, to go along with a bunch of other talented young players, the Sonics would be in the playoff hunt immediately and in title contention within a couple of years.
But it is for the Jazz that I cheer for, and in that regard this trade is remarkable.
Think about it. Boozer down low with your other front-line players… Memo and Lewis on the wings. D-Will can break down any defender to get to the hole and Brewer could be the slasher on offense. That is a perfect half-court offensive team. Furthermore, that is an incredibly long-athletic team.
Williams 6′3″
Brewer 6′8″
Lewis 6′10″
Boozer 6′9″ - (but plays much bigger as we know)
Memo 6′11″
Then with Millsap, Harpring and Fisher coming off the bench, the Jazz would simply tear down the opposition. Add in Araujo with those three and the Jazz bench would just beat up the opposition.
I can’t keep writing, I am too excited just thinking about it.
You’ve heard from my colleagues about some possible off-season moves for the Jazz, including trading Andrei Kirilenko and draft possibilities. I’d like to take a look at the third way the Jazz can improve this off-season: free agency.
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Well, the draft is 10 days away, and the Utah Jazz officially start their workouts today. The Jazz worked out Jaycee Carroll last week, but he withdrew from the draft. I’d like to either see the Jazz move up into the lottery or acquire an early second-round pick, but here are my picks for the Jazz at #25.
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