About the only basketball that’s been going on these days is over in Europe, where Andrei Kirilenko and his Russian comrades upset Spain in the title game of the FIBA EuroBasket tournament Sunday. Kirilenko was named MVP of the tournament after averaging 18 points, 8.6 rebounds and 2.4 assists over 9 games. What’s more, he’s really happy about it, as TrueHoop reports.

And why shouldn’t he be? It’s a bigger achievement (qualifying for the Olympics and beating a heavily favored Spanish team) than anything he’s yet done with the Jazz (except perhaps his only All-Star appearance). It’s got to be especially sweet considering the way 2006-07 went for him and his role on the Jazz. Clearly, the AK-47 can still play (granted, against weaker competition, but still).

The Painted Area has a great post about Kirilenko’s performance in the tournament, including this glowing description:

Kirilenko did it all offensively: jumpers, turnaround jumpers, post-ups, and driving lay-ins. His key sequence of the second half came in the third quarter, after Lithuania made a run to tie the game at 52, and they seemed ready to take the momentum away from Russia. But AK47 single-handedly sparked a 8-0 run with a three-pointer, then on the next offensive possession he snaked his way to a falling down lay-in plus the foul. Then on the ensuing defensive possession AK made a gigantic block on a Kleiza dunk attempt, which led into a J.R. Holden bucket to all-of-a-sudden make the game 60-52. Huge sequence for Russia. But that was not it for AK; he added some more big plays in the fourth when Lithuania made a few more mini-runs. Andrei ended the day with 29 points on 10/14 (8/11 fts), eight rebounds (4 off), three steals, and three blocks. Jeezum Frickin’ Crow.

All this begs the question: what do we do with Andrei? The recent report from the Arizona Republic shows that, even if it was in theory only, AK-47 still commands some decent trade value. The word around the league is that Andrei is especially coveted by teams that run a wide-open style of offense — like the Suns, or the Warriors, and rather un-like our own Jazz. But as this summer has shown, even if teams are interested in Andrei: The Player, they’re terrified of Andrei: The Contract. He’s not going anywhere, and this tournament has shown that we’d be crazy to consider it.

So we play him. But how? And where? It’s easy to see that in a setting where Andrei can demand the ball and establish the offense (as with Russia, or with the Jazz in 2004), he can and will thrive. He’s simply the kind of player that needs contact with the ball to get in the flow of the game offensively. With Deron Williams, Carlos Boozer and Mehmet Okur around, he’ll never get the kinds of touches he craves, and when he does get the ball, he’ll freak out and take ill-advised shots or spastic drives resulting in charging calls or turnovers. (By the way, for those of you who were wondering, Memo averaged 10 points and nearly 8 boards a game for Turkey in EuroBasket. Decent numbers, but hardly indicative of an NBA All-Star. Hmmmm…)

Here’s my proposal: move Andrei to the bench.

Before anyone freaks out, consider this: the Jazz bench could definitely use the help. (I can’t find a team-by-team comparison of bench scoring from last season — if any Hollinger-type stat head out there can track that down, I’d appreciate it.) There were periods last year where I would look at the team the Jazz had on the floor and marvel that we expected to score at all. A team of Jason Hart, Gordan Giricek, Matt Harpring, Paul Millsap and Jarron Collins isn’t going to intimidate anyone.

Also consider that the Spurs use Manu Ginobili off the bench to tremendous effect. He doesn’t start, but he gets in the game early, leads the scoring for the second unit as their go-to option, and gets warmed up so that, by the end of the game, he’s confident and in the flow and can put up those clutch flops, er, shots the Spurs count on him for. I can see Andrei having a similar impact.

So let’s say the Jazz start a lineup of D-Will, either Mo Nuts or Gira, Ronnie Brewer or Paul Millsap at the 3, Boozer and Okur. Plenty of scoring, a designated gunner, an energy defensive guy in Brewer, and the size to crash the boards.

Now our second unit looks like this: Jason Hart or Ronnie Price, Matt Harpring (or Mo Nuts or Gira), Paul Millsap or Ronnie Brewer, Andrei Kirilenko, and Jarron Collins (or, dare I hope, if he develops fast enough, Kyrylo Fesenko). Now Andrei’s the primary offensive option out of that group, with plenty of room to roam in the post (WHERE HE BELONGS). Now the Jazz suffer less of a let-down when D-Will and Boozer are out of the game. Now Andrei gets his touches and has the energy and confidence to come in at the end of the game and do his thing. Where is the downside to this?

Being a bench player doesn’t mean sacrificing minutes (look at Ginobili). It does mean that Andrei has to accept a non-starting role. But the point is, he will get more touches, more points, and feel better about himself as the focal point of the second unit than as a fourth-option afterthought starter. He’s too talented (and too expensive) to let him suffer through another year like last year. This needs to happen.
—————————————————
Layton Shumway is the copy chief for BYU’s Daily Universe newspaper. You can reach him at lss83@byu.net.