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.

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