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.
———————————-
Layton Shumway is the copy chief for BYU’s Daily Universe. You can reach him at lss83@byu.net.