We’re fully into the dog days of August here, with precious little NBA news to wet our (crooked ref) whistles. But we do have a bit of news, and a few links for you. Let’s get to it.

– Our boy Deron Williams is playing for the Stars and Stripes in the Tournament of the Americas, and although he’s behind Jason Kidd and Chauncey Billups on the roster, he’s still doing well (tonight’s line: 10 points on 4-6 shooting, including two 3-pointers, 4 assists, 1 rebound, 1 steal).

– I love Kyrylo Fesenko more and more each day. [TrueHoop, via JazzHoops.net] By the way, his contract has been finalized now. [Deseret Morning News]

– Other personnel updates:

Rafael Araujo has found a new home. [Deseret Morning News]

Gordan Giricek is, for the moment, staying put. [Salt Lake Tribune]

And who knows what’s going on with C.J. Miles. [Salt Lake Tribune]

Meanwhile, Dee Brown is blogging about working out in Chicago, dropping a mixtape, playing Madden, and staying positive about getting signed. He says his preference is to remain with Utah. (And let me just take this moment to mention what a classy person Dee Brown is. Even while in contract limbo, he has kept his commitments to appear at Junior Jazz clinics, team appearances, and has maintained the highest level of professionalism about his situation. Truly just a good man.)

– Random YouTube magic featuring Gordan Giricek, a woman, and a stuffed animal of some kind. [AOL FanHouse]

– The Trib’s official Jazz blog from beat writers Ross Siler and Steve Luhm. Stick it in your RSS reader, it’s good stuff.

– A couple of new (well, new to me) finds on the Interwebs: JazzHoops.net and JazzFanz.com. Two of the better Utah Jazz communities out there. Sign up, log in, chat away, and send us any good insights you see. We’re all in this together.

That’s it for now. Hang in there, everyone — training camp is just around the corner. (It helps if we keep telling ourselves that.)

Today’s signing of Kyrylo Fesenko means, as discussed yesterday, that Rafael Araujo is more than likely on his way to Europe, where he can get more playing time in an effort to refine his game and improve his value to an NBA team in a few years.

You can hardly blame the guy for not wanting to sit on the end of an NBA bench for another season. The man wants to get better; he’s trimmed his body impressively towards that end; he practices his butt off, impressing other players, coaches and trainers. If he does in fact leave (he has an invite to Jazz training camp in the fall), I will miss his presence on the team.

A lot of Jazz fans, myself included, would rather see Hoffa stick around than Jarron Collins, the veteran Jazz big man. The Salt Lake Tribune’s Jazz blog recently had a post regarding the pitch that Araujo’s agent used to show the Jazz his usefulness by comparing his numbers to Collins, given equal playing time. It was a convincing argument.

Collins gets a bad rap from a lot of Jazz fans. I have to say, he is an underrated defender and actually has a surprisingly decent shot when he’s wide open. Of course, he has no offensive game, so the only reason he ever is wide open is because defenses are collapsing on Boozer and D-Will. But I was sold on Araujo when I saw the way he frustrated Tim Duncan in Game 1 of the Spurs series this year.

Collins and Araujo actually offer very similar things — solid, physical defense, a big body, not much shot-blocking, and can hit a wide-open jumper from 15 feet and in. The differences — Collins is MUCH smarter, usually doesn’t get stupid fouls, knows how to take charges and has the veteran experience to keep his head in pressure situations. On the other hand, Araujo is MUCH tougher, more physical, plays with more passion, and gets in his opponent’s heads by being nasty, though he has a penchant for picking up dumb fouls.

It’s more or less a push in my mind. But Collins does not have an attractive contract when it comes to trades, and his market demand is non-existent. So I’m sure the Jazz figured, since they were stuck with him, they might as well play him rather than sign another player who does virtually the same things. Plus, Jerry likes him.

If it were up to me? I’d keep Araujo and see if he could develop further with more playing time, since he’s younger and has more potential than Collins. But one of these players already has a contract, and the other doesn’t. In the end, money talks — the money Utah is already paying Collins and can’t get out of — and because of that, Hoffa is going to have to walk. Best of luck, big guy.

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

The Kyrylo Fesenko Era has begun.

It isn’t official yet, but local newspapers are reporting that a deal is in place to bring the 7-foot Ukrainian to the Jazz this season, either to play with the senior squad or to join the Utah Flash of the D-League when they open play this fall. The Jazz will have to buy out Fesenko’s current contract with Cherkaski Mavpi, his team in Ukraine, for a sum of $500,000, rather than pay the $1 million it would take to bring Fess over next year.

As the Salt Lake Tribune article mentions, this deal could mean Rafael Araujo is heading to Europe. It would be hard to let Hoffa take up another roster spot, whether Fess stays with the parent club or not. The departure of Araujo is going to be a bummer, because I really feel like he never got a decent shot in the NBA and think he suffered under the weight of unfair expectations. (I also have some residual loyalty to him as a former Cougar, but I digress.)

The best part of this news? Fesenko is a beat writer’s dream — he’s so quotable you just have to stick a tape recorder near his mouth and the stories write themselves. Prepare for wackiness, Jazz fans.

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

Well, this offseason has slowed down since the signings of Ronnie Price and Jason Hart, and right now the news around the NBA is that former stars Reggie Miller, Allan Houston, Charles Oakley, and others would like to return for another chance at an NBA title.

(By the way, Greg Ostertag will not really be coming out of retirement, or signing with the Jazz.)

Considering the names of Ronnie Price and Jason Hart don’t yet instill fear in the hearts of Jazz opponents, here’s a list of former Jazz players who the Jazz should try to bring out of retirement. To qualify for this list, players must have played at least 250 games in a Jazz uniform (sorry Darryl Dawkins and Spencer Haywood), no longer play in the NBA, and be a registered member of the AARP looking for another NBA paycheck.
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One of the biggest weaknesses for the Jazz has been the shooting guard spot. Not just on our end of the court, but defensively as well.

1. Michael Redd (57 points)
2. Ray Allen (54 points)
3. Kobe Bryant (52 points)
4. Gilbert Arenas (51 points)

This past season, the five biggest scoring outputs against the Jazz were all by shooting guards. Of the 12 games where a player scored more than 50 points last season, four were against the Jazz.

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