...New Jazz players

So as the Jazz turning over half the team through free-agency and trades, they had to follow that pesky rule of having to have at least 13 players on the roster.  Not to mention they might want to have more than a 7-man rotation (6 given that Memo was going to be out for a while).

2010 NBA Draft

Things got underway with the draft in June.  The Jazz had two picks, the #9 overall pick as a result of a trade 6 years ago and the the 55th pick.

With that 9th pick, they selected the kid out of Butler, Gordon Hayward.  He had already made his impact a few months earlier in the ESA when he helped the Bulldogs win the West Regional and advance to the Final Four.  His pick seemed to signal the end of free agent Kyle Korver.

The 55th pick seemed like one the Jazz could use to draft a foreign player and let him develop overseas for a couple of years.  Instead, they went with Western Kentucky Hilltopper Jeremy Evans, a high-flying forward that absolutely nobody had heard of.  Well, that's not entirely true.  The Jazz had brought him in for a workout prior to the draft.  I guarantee almost no Jazz fan knew who he was.  They know who he is now though.  His alley-oops, dunks, and  rebounds have caught everyone's attentions.  

His summer league and pre-season play impressed the Jazz coaches and front office.  With Memo out to start the season, his good play, and the minimum roster requirement, he was a near lock to make the team.

Trade

The biggest news of the off-season came when the Jazz actually used the traded-player exception from the Boozer S&T and used it to bring Al Jefferson to the Jazz.  In addition to the TE, the Jazz sent the second-round pick from the Ronnie Brewer trade, another second-round pick, and Kosta Koufos to Minnesota.  Dallas also had  their sites on Big Al but couldn't beat Utah's deal.

Al was immediately welcomed to Utah by the fans and the team.  With the Jazz losing Boozer and Okur out, he would be able to step in and help fill in the offensive holes left by those two.    He was genuinely grateful to be able to land with a team such as the Jazz, playing along side Deron Williams, and being coached by Jerry Sloan.  He's said and done all the right things since coming to the Jazz.  His honesty and sincerity has endeared him to Jazz fans everywhere.

Free agency

Utah still had to fill out their roster.  After losing Wesley Matthews to the Blazers, the Jazz had to find a replacement before they announced that they would not be matching Portland's offer.

One of the most unlikely signings came when the Jazz announced they had re-signed fan favorite Raja Bell.  Bell had left the team several years earlier as a free agent and joined the Phoenix Suns. After bouncing around a few teams, Raja turned down the Lakers and the Heat in order to be reunited with Jerry Sloan and the Jazz organization.

Bell's return helped ease the sting by Matthews' departure.

Rounding out the free agent signings were journeymen Earl Watson and Francisco Elson.  Most fans might have known who Watson was, but most did not know about Elson.

Fran has been with 6 different teams, including the 2007 championship Spurs team, before joining the Jazz.  Watson had been with 5 different teams (2 stints with SEA/OKC).  His arrival meant the end of the short Sundiata Gaines era.

Both have been solid pickups for the Jazz.  Watson has shown to be a competent backup to Williams and can also play with Deron in the back court.

Elson has brought a bit of toughness to the team and has shown to be an adequate shooter and has missed just one FT on the year.

I think they've both been better than expected.

Finally...

It's amazing that the Jazz have swapped out all but one player in their starting lineup from last season to now.  Deron is the loan holdover.  It's quite remarkable that a team is able to go through that much change and start out the season with such a good record.  We still see the starters struggling to start games.  Overall though, they've been able to get stronger as the game wears on.

Hopefully they figure things out soon as everyone gets healthy and everyone gets accustomed to their regular rotations.  It is quite a feat to turnover so many players and still keep the wins coming.

Read previous 10 Days of Christmas posts

...Player exodus.

This was supposed to happen in the summer of 2009.  Mehmet Okur, Carlos Boozer, and Kyle Korver all had player options and could have headed elsewhere.  Boozer was the most likely to go as he was going to get his regardless.  As it was though, all of them opted back in when the free-agent money dried up and none of them were going to get more than what they were making at the time.  The economy would be better the next summer and more teams would have cap space.  So it was an all in.

Well, the summer of 2010 came and a huge chunk of the core left for greener (dollar bills y'all) pastures.  The first to sign was Carlos Boozer.  He got his near max deal from the Bulls.  It was a five-year deal worth about $75-80M.  It was reported that Boozer wanted a sixth year in order to stay with the Jazz.  When Utah wouldn't commit to that, Boozer signed  with Chicago. Technically, he signed with the Jazz who then traded him and a protected second-round pick to the Bulls for a traded player exception.

Shortly following Boozer's signing, it was announced that Korver would join him in the Windy City.  The Jazz surprised a lot of people by drafting a wing player in Gordon Hayward.  The essentially ended Korver's stint in Utah.  It was a bit of a blow to the fans and to the players.  He was a fan favorite and had just broken the all-time NBA mark for three-point shooting in a season.  In addition to his play on the court, he was even better off it with his charities and work in the community.  You also count discount the impact that it had on Deron Williams, who was one of his closest friends on the team.

With Memo having been locked up with a three-year extension after returning to the team, the only other free agent the Jazz had to worry about was Wesley Matthews.  He was a restricted free agent but didn't fall under the normal rookie scale because he was undrafted.  As a result, teams could offer him a lot more in free agency, up to the full mid-level exception.

As a result, Portland was able to swoop in and offer a front-loaded contract with a signing bonus that would have pushed the Jazz far into the luxury tax this season.

This is where things turn into a he-said, they-said situation.  Matthews and his agent stated that the Jazz never made him a fair offer.  Kevin O'Connor denied that vehemently and said that the Jazz weren't given an opportunity by his agent to negotiate at all.  As Siler stated, we're likely never going to really find out what happened there.  Either way you look at it, his offer from the Blazers cost too much and the Jazz let him go.

The free agents weren't the only ones who wouldn't be with the team last summer.  Over the course of the year, the Jazz made two trades to dump players and contracts.  The first came when they traded Matt Harpring and his expiring contract to Oklahoma City for cap relief.  The Thunder weren't going to do the Jazz any favors though.  The salary dump came with a price and that was recently drafted rookie Eric Maynor.

The second trade came when the Jazz shipped Ronnie Brewer, another close friend of Deron's, to Memphis for a second-round draft pick.  This move coincidentally caused the rise of Wesley Matthews to the starting 2 spot and increased his value.  And in order to establish the eastern conference version of the Jazz, Brewer also ended up signing with the Bulls after being released by the Grizzlies.

They also had to bring on players Othyus Jeffers and Sundiata Gaines as a result of those trades.  They signed them to 10-day contracts and then for the season.  They were let go though before the end of training camp this season.

So from the 15 players that were with the Jazz last season, exactly 7 carried over when this season got underway.  

One player that is no longer with the team, but hasn't been mentioned, is Kosta Koufos.  We'll hit on that later.

You have to go back to the 2004 season to have more turnover.  There were only 6 that carried over from Stockton and Malone's final season together.

...New York's first-round pick

"With the 9th pick in the 2010 NBA draft, the Utah Jazz select..."

Normally those are the words you would expect to hear as a result of missing the playoffs in the previous season.  It's the highest draft pick the Jazz have had since 2005 when they picked Deron Williams and the second-highest pick since they took Thurl Bailey with the #7 pick in 1983.

While other teams are accustomed to an annual visit to New York to participate in the lottery, the success of the Jazz has ensured a mid to low 20's pick each year.

So how did a playoff team land a top 10 pick?  Thankfully for the Jazz, Isiah Thomas was allowed to run a team in the NBA.

Back in 2004, he traded Howard Eisley, Antonio McDyess, Charlie Ward, a 2004 draft pick, and what has become the Knicks Pick to the Phoenix Suns for Stephon Marbury and Penny Hardaway.  The key to the Knicks Pick was that it was protected until 2010.  By the end of the 2010 season, the thinking was that the Knicks should be back in the playoffs and therefore the pick would be a low one.

That pick was burning a hole in the Suns' picket because they then flipped it, along with Tom Gugliotta's expiring contract to the Jazz for Ben Handgloten and Keon Clark.

The Knicks however, never got better.  After winning 39 games in 2004, they only got 33 the following year.  Larry Brown took over after Lenny Wilkins was fired in 2005 and finished worse putting together just 23 wins.  The next two seasons Isiah Thomas took over as coach and had deja vu all over again as the New York won 33 and 23 wins respectively.

Thomas was finally shown the door and Mike D'Antoni was brought in.  Thankfully he had to wait a couple of seasons before he had a roster that was able to compete.

Each season that passed with Knicks futility drove up the value of the pick.  Once the protected status came off, it was time to openly root against the Knicks even though they had never been an enemy of the Jazz.  I can say it felt bad to root for a team to lose that had suffered for a decade and that were not rivals for the Jazz in any way.  So while I tried not to relish another fan's misery, each loss was met with a silent first-pump.

Knicks Pick watch was on.  The season started out promising enough for Jazz fans as New York started the season 3-14.  Then a crazy thing happened, the Knicks didn't suck in December and went 9-6 over that span.  They were still 8 games below .500 at that point but that was their only winning month on the season.

Just three more losses that month, or at any point in the season, and they would have landed a top-5 pick.  With the way the 2010 draft had played out so far, those seem to the only sure-thing picks right now.

That was the start of the frustration for the fans.  This pick had the potential to be a franchise-changer.  And for a perennial playoff team such as the Jazz, it could have landed them a player that put them over the top and made them not only contenders, but favorites in the years to come.

Even though the team only had a 7.9% chance of moving into the top 3 and a 2.2% chance of getting the top spot, it was a bit disheartening to not strike it big.

So when the time came for David Stern to call out the pick that we had been waiting on for 6 years, Gordon Hayward's name was anti-climactic at best.  It wasn't a knock on Hayward, most Jazz fans didn't even know who he was.  Those that did likely only remembered him from Butler's run in the NCAA tournament.  I believe the boos that echoed at the ESA weren't really directed at Hayward but at who he wasn't.  He wasn't the big name that many fans had thought this draft would yield.

Still, the Jazz had no control over where they would pick, unless you want to blame them for beating the Knicks in both meetings last season.  They couldn't use the picks from previous seasons because they were at least top 22 protected.  Once we got past the 2006 season, I think using the pick in 2010 was always the goal for the team.  The fact that it would coincide with the a big free-agency season for the Jazz made it more valuable to the team.

We'll be debating Hayward as the pick for some time, but you'll take a shot at a top-10 pick for Keon Clark and the Hand any day.

...First-round playoff win.

I debated about including this one for a bit.  After all, should we celebrate a first-round victory when the ultimate goal is to win a championship?  Given the way the Jazz closed out the season, it kind of felt anti-climactic at the time.  There wasn't much difference between the 3-seed and the 5.  To have to go on the road again to start the playoffs was not an improvement.

Of course, because you're reading this, you know I ultimately chose yes.  There are a few reasons why the upset over the Nuggets was a top story of 2010:

1. The Nuggets are one of, if not the, biggest rival team for the Jazz.  Denver beat the Jazz soundly during the regular season, 3 games to 1.  As a result, the Jazz lost home-court advantage in the first round when the two teams ended up with identical 53-29 records.  So to be able to take 4 of 6 from the Nuggets vindicated the regular season failure in a way.
2. It was a huge series win given that the Jazz were underdogs even before Memo went down with his Achilles injury in game 1.  Memo's popping his Achilles is what I first wanted to do for one of the top ten stories of the year.  It was, but it was part of something bigger, and that was the team's series win over the Nuggets.
   
   Had Memo not gone down, the Jazz could have won a game or two in the next series against the Lakers but ultimately I think they still would have dropped that series regardless.  That's why I wanted to focus on this one.
3. Carmelo Anthony:
   "Fesenko? Fesenko? Don't get me wrong. He is a great player. He's playing with a lot of confidence, but … Fesenko?"
   
   That was after game 4 and a 3-1 series lead for the Jazz.  Fess made 4-7 from the line that night.  Fess stepped in and played admirably for Memo.  His play in games 3 and 4 helped get the series win.
4. The rise of Deron Williams.  Deron was the best player in that series for the Jazz putting up 25.8 & 11 in those 6 games.  He always seems to keep kicking things up a notch.  His play in the playoffs appears to have spilled over into this year.
   
   For as much as an All-star cane break out, we saw that with Deron Williams in the playoffs last season.

...Malone Hall of Famer

The summer of 2010 ended an incredible Hall of Fame run for the Jazz.  In 2008. Adrian Dantley finally got the much deserved call.  In 2009, Coach Jerry Sloan and John Stockton entered Springfield together.  And finally, in 2010, Karl Malone followed those two and received basketball's highest honor.  We won't talk about what (or where) he was doing to cause him to have to wait another year to enter the HOF.

As soon as he called it a career, the 5-year timer started.  The waiting period was a mere formality for the Mailman.  

• 36,928 points (2nd all-time)
• 9,787 FTs (1st), 13,188 FTAs (1st).  Had he only worked his FT% to 60% (an improvement  from the 49% his rookie year), he would have missed out on almost 1,900 points.  He still would have been the second all-time leading scorer though.
• 14,968 rebounds (6th all-time)
• 5,248 assists (44th all-time, 3rd for forwards)
• 2,085 steals (10th all-time)
• Out of a possible 1,434 games that he played for the Jazz, he missed exactly 9 games.  That's 99.37%.  3 of games were due to suspension.
• 2 MVPs
• 11 All-NBA 1st teams.
• 14-time All-star (2 MVPs)
• 3 All-NBA Defensive 1st Teams
• 11 consecutive seasons with at least 2,000 points 
• 2 NBA Finals appearances

Deron Williams All-star

In 2010 Deron Williams finally broke through and was selected to the All-star game for the first time in his career.  It definitely wasn't the first  time he was deserving.  

His first-time select was made sweeter by the fact that it was held in his hometown (close enough) of Dallas in front of the biggest crowd to ever watch an NBA game in the newly constructed Cowboys Stadium.

He didn't make it on on the fans' vote for one of the two starting spots despite the much-ballyhooed VoteDeron.com that no doubt led to tens of dozens of votes cast his way.  With Kobe Bryant securing one guard spot for as long as he laces them up, the race will always be for second place for the other guard spot.  

With the glutton of premium point guards in the West (Deron, Nash, Paul, Westbrook), it's going to be an uphill battle for Deron to become a fan favorite.  The rest are deserving, and Deron's vote totals are improving,  but it may take Kobe finally hanging them up for him to have a chance at a starting spot.  I'm fine with that.  In some ways being selected by the coaches is a bigger honor that getting selected by fans.  Fans should still have the vote for who they want to see play.

 It would be great for him to get a starting nod, but being chosen by the coaches of the league speaks a lot, especially when you consider who they have to leave out to include him.  When you talk about a 3-time All-star, a 5-time All-star, or a 10-time All-star, you never mention whether or not that person started.

He's played himself into being a no-brainer for the coaches selection this season.  Deron's not just an All-star this year though, he could be an MVP candidate in a few month's time if he continues his play and the Jazz keep on winning.   I'm sure he'll take winning over anything else.

...Sundiata Gaines

Or more specifically, the shot that killed King James and the Cavs.

It in a made for Disney story, Sundiata Gaines hits the biggest shot of his life just days after he was busing it around the D-League for the Idaho Stampede.  His game-winning three was the culmination of an amazing comeback in that game for the Jazz.

I broke down the last 6 minutes of that game here.  You'll remember that the Jazz were actually up 10 point with over five minutes to go before LeBron went medieval on the team.   The Jazz were down 6 with 30 second left.  Everything fell the right way for Utah that night.  There were missed free-throws by Cleveland, a HORSE-type shot by Korver, and clutch free-throws by Millsap.

Even more incredible was that the Jazz were without Deron (injured), AK (injured), and Boozer (fouled out) to end the game.  Gaines never gets this shot in the first place if Deron doesn't go down.

After Big Z misses 1 of two, the Jazz are down 96-94 and the stage is set:

Gaines game-winning shot to beat the Cavs (via NBA)

It was a shot that I termed Jughead due to the LOST-type consequences it had on the season.  In LOST, the nuclear explosion created an alternate timeline.  It seemed to have the same effect on the Jazz as well.  The team was 21-17 at that point and there seemed to be chemistry issues.

That shot though galvanized the team.  There was no bigger bonding moment that to see Carlos Boozer run out onto the floor to join the jubilation while trying to keep his shorts up.  Jerry Sloan hadn't been that overjoyed on a basketball court since the original shot in 1997.  Gaines was mugged by his teammates and proceeded to pound his chest on top of the scorers table (after which he was given ten lashes by Sloan the next day).

The Jazz would go on to win 14 of their next 16 games and overall you could tell this was a different team.  Some things happen for a reason.  Gaines was in the right place at the right time and made the most of his call-up.

It doesn't get any more fairy tale than that.

It's that time of the year again where we count down the top Jazz stories of the season.  Because the end of the year normally coincides with Christmas, I make a hybrid top-ten and twelve days of Christmas mash-up.  It's not lame, it's the ten days of Christmas.  You can read previous years here.  Without further ado...

...the old Jazz note!

Last season, the NBA announced their Hardwood Classics series where the Jazz and other teams would wear some of their retro uniforms.  The Jazz used it in part to see how receptive the fans would be to the classic uni from the team's days in New Orleans and early days in Utah.  By all accounts, it was a rousing success both on and off the court.

I'm not privy to jersey sales numbers, but from what I heard they were a popular item.  I even made it my first jersey purchase.

The team excelled when they wore them.  They put up an incredible 10-1 record when they harnessed the power of the green and yellow.  The lone loss came against the Lakers but avenged that loss later.

All of this was in preparation to bringing back the old colors and note that a lot of fans had been clamoring for.  The Jazz made a move away from the note for the 1996 season.  The new logo featured the a prominent mountain background while changing the color scheme dramatically.  The mountains better represented the location in Utah while still paying homage to the team's roots with the J taking the form of a saxophone.  It was arguably the team's most successful uniform as they went to the finals in two straight years.

via sportslogos.net

After Stockton and Malone left the team, the uniforms went away from anything that distinguished Utah from any other team by eliminating the mountains and the note while moving to a blue/light blue color scheme:

via sportslogos.net

While the unis were clean and well-designed, they had no character to them at all.  The Jazz kept the mountain logo but it no longer appeared on the jerseys.  You could have put any team's name on them and it wouldn't have mattered.

Then, back in February, we learned that the team was exploring the option of bringing back the note.  It would follow the old note design but have new colors of green, blue, and gold.

Greg Miller teased us with the first peek at the new unis.  Then we finally got a look at the new logo officially.  Later came the uniform reveal:

It's an excellent combination of the old note with a modern look.  I'm a big fan of both unis.  My only wish now is for the team to leave it as is and not go away from it again in the future.